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25: China has announced that it will increase its defense budget by 7.5 percent to $179 billion in 2019. While that's smaller than last year's 8.5 percent boost, it marks the 25th consecutive year that Beijing has increased military spending.

3.5: A child born in Venezuela today can expect to live 3.5 years less than one born into the previous generation, according to the Universidad Central y la Simón Bolívar.


$226,500: Spain's far-right Vox party brought in $226,500 in online donations in just two days this week. The upstart party is relying on grassroots support ahead of parliamentary elections on April 28 because it's too small to qualify for the public subsidies given to the country's dominant political groups.

$8.7 billion: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg saw his net worth shrink by $8.7 billion in 2018, amid tightening margins and a political backlash against the tech giant. Not to worry, though – Zuck is still sitting on $62.3 billion, according to latest Forbes billionaires ranking.

95: French President Emmanuel Macron has delivered or begun the process of legislating 95 percent of the 60 reforms he's initiated since coming to office in 2017, according to the think tank iFRAP. The question now is whether he can achieve similar success at the European level, after outlining an extensive agenda to do so this week.

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​Israeli soldiers walk near a damaged car in Halhul, near Hebron, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on May 20, 2026.

Israeli soldiers walk near a damaged car, which Palestinians say was burned by Israeli settlers, in Halhul, near Hebron, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on May 20, 2026.

REUTERS/Mussa Qawasma
This week, far-right Israeli minister Bezalel Smotrich used an alleged arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court against him to insert fresh impetus into the effort to build settlements in the West Bank, saying on Tuesday that he wanted to make the settlements “irreversible.” He also ordered the eviction this week of Palestinian [...]
Fidel Castro and his brother, Armed Forces Minister Raul Castro (L), preside over the 100th anniversary of the death of independence hero Antonio Maceo, in this photo from December 7, 1996.

Fidel Castro and his brother, Armed Forces Minister Raul Castro (L), preside over a ceremony marking the 100th anniversary of the death of independence hero Antonio Maceo, in this photo from December 7, 1996.

REUTERS
US amps up pressure on Cuba by indicting ex-presidentThe Justice Department yesterday charged Raúl Castro, the younger brother of Fidel, with murder and a conspiracy to kill American citizens over a 1996 incident in which the Cuban military shot down two civilian planes belonging to Cuban exiles off the coast of the communist-run island. The [...]
Don’t worry, renminbi happy
Natalie Johnson
Previously, the volume hadn’t topped $117 billion monthly, but analysts say the Iran war has stoked the use of China’s currency by oil exporters like Russia and Iran, who are seeking to avoid US sanctions. While the trend does reflect a slight erosion of the dollar’s international dominance, something we’ve been keeping our eye on, it’s worth [...]
The tide is turning in Russia-Ukraine war
In the early hours of May 17, more than 500 Ukrainian drones punched through three of Moscow’s four air-defense rings. They hit oil infrastructure, military-industrial plants, and apartment buildings in and around the capital, killing at least four and wounding a dozen. Coming three days after a deadly Russian barrage that Ukrainian officials [...]