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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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Fewer migrants, but deadlier journeys to Europe
Will Fitzpatrick
The number of migrants and refugees reaching the continent by sea has dropped sharply this year as many European countries tighten their immigration rules. But despite fewer crossings, more migrants have died. Nearly 2,300 people have died or gone missing in the Mediterranean and Atlantic, up from roughly 2,000 during the same period last year, as [...]
Followers of the Shi'ite Houthi group ride on a truck at a gathering near the Yemeni capital Sanaa August 20, 2014.

Followers of the Shi'ite Houthi group ride on a truck at a gathering near the Yemeni capital Sanaa August 20, 2014.

REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
The Saudis ask China for help“Hi, China, it’s Saudi Arabia, could you tell Iran to ask the Houthis to chill out?” That, in so many words, is the current telephone game amid intensifying attacks by the Iran-backed Houthis on Saudi oil export routes. With the US seemingly unable to contain the regional consequences of its war on Iran, China is [...]
A woman walks past a billboard, displaying portraits of Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin and Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Pyotr Tolstoy and promoting the United Russia party ahead of the upcoming parliamentary election, near the Moscow International Business Centre in Moscow, Russia.

A woman walks past a billboard, displaying portraits of Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin and Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Pyotr Tolstoy and promoting the United Russia party ahead of the upcoming parliamentary election, near the Moscow International Business Centre in Moscow, Russia, September 15, 2026.

REUTERS/Ramil Sitdikov
Why does Vladimir Putin even bother with elections? It’s a fair question to ask as Russia goes to the polls this weekend for nationwide local and parliamentary votes in which the outcome is certain. The ruling United Russia party, closely associated with Putin himself, polls at nearly 40%. Its closest competitors, a small handful of occasionally [...]
U.S. President Donald Trump arrives with incoming Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh for Warsh's swearing-in ceremony at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 22, 2026.

U.S. President Donald Trump arrives with incoming Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh for Warsh's swearing-in ceremony at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 22, 2026.

REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
This week — Independent institutions: 2, Trump: 0The US president took two big domestic losses this week. First, the Supreme Court ruled against his demand for restrictions on mail-in voting in the upcoming midterms. The stinger? All three Trump-appointed justices sided with the decision. “These are not the people I interviewed,” he griped on [...]