Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

News

Hard Numbers

15: Facebook turned 15 years old on Monday. Around 1.5 billion people used the social network every day in December, more than reside in any single country on Earth.

13: Last year was the 13th successive year that freedom declined around the world, according to Freedom House. Political rights and civil liberties were curbed in 68 countries in 2018, with the worst repression coming in Nicaragua, Tanzania, and Venezuela.


4: Just 4 percent of likely 2020 US voters have a favorable view of former Starbucks boss Howard Schultz, who is considering an independent run for the presidency. That means that as of right now, Darth Vader, Boba Fett, and even Jar Jar Binks would handedly beat Schultz out in a head-to-head matchup.

2.3: Russia's economy grew 2.3 percent last year, according to an estimate issued by Russian statistics agency Rosstat. The official figure, which comes as President Vladimir Putin's popularity has been falling, was .6 percentage points higher than the projection of the International Monetary Fund.

More For You

A photograph posted by U.S. President Donald Trump on his Truth Social account shows him sitting next to CIA Director John Ratcliffe as they watch the U.S. military operation in Venezuela from Trump's Mar a Lago resort, in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., January 3, 2026.

A photograph posted by U.S. President Donald Trump on his Truth Social account shows him sitting next to CIA Director John Ratcliffe as they watch the U.S. military operation in Venezuela from Trump's Mar a Lago resort, in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., January 3, 2026.

@realDonaldTrump/Handout via REUTERS
The stunning US removal of Nicolás Maduro opens up a number of questions. Here are several to watch in the coming days and weeks. If there are others that you have, let us know here.How will Venezuelans react? Maduro was a deeply unpopular leader in Venezuela. Under his rule, millions fled the once-wealthy country amid twin political and [...]
Venezuelans living in Colombia hold flags as they gather at Plaza de Bolivar to celebrate after U.S. President Donald Trump said the U.S. has struckVenezuela and captured its President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, in Bogota, Colombia, January 3, 2026.

Venezuelans living in Colombia hold flags as they gather at Plaza de Bolivar to celebrate after U.S. President Donald Trump said the U.S. has struckVenezuela and captured its President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, in Bogota, Colombia, January 3, 2026.

REUTERS/Andres Galeano
303 billion: Venezuela is home to 303 billion barrels of oil reserves – the largest of any country, accounting for nearly a fifth of all proven reserves in the world. Proven reserves refers to oil that is known to exist and could be extracted with current technology. [...]
Protesters demonstrate against poor economic conditions in Tehran, Iran, on December 29, 2025.

Protesters demonstrate against poor economic conditions in Tehran, Iran, on December 29, 2025, with some shopkeepers closing their stores in response to ongoing hardships and fluctuations in the national currency.

ZUMA Press Wire via Reuters Connect
With economy in dire straits, Iranians take to the streetsIran saw its largest protest in three years on Monday, as traders and shopkeepers in Tehran shut their stores to show their displeasure at the government’s handling of the economy. The demonstrations are notable amid Iran’s intensified crackdown on dissent, including arrests of opposition [...]
​Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy listens to US President Donald Trump at the Mar-a-Lago club, in Palm Beach, Florida, USA, on December 28, 2025.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy listens to US President Donald Trump, after Trump said that Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed willingness to help Ukraine "succeed," during a press conference at the Mar-a-Lago club, in Palm Beach, Florida, USA, on December 28, 2025.

REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
50: Ukrainian President Volodoymyr Zelensky said he wants a 50-year security guarantee from the United States, far longer than the 15-year guarantee that US President Donald Trump reportedly offered. A peace agreement still looks unlikely, for now. What’s more, Russia accused Ukraine of attempting a drone strike on one of President Vladimir [...]