Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

News

Hard Numbers: A Quarter of a Billion People Far From Home

Make us preferred on Google

29: Even before Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro's response to fires raging in the Amazon fueled global scorn, his approval rating was tepid. It was 50 percent at the beginning of the year, dipping to 39 percent in February. Now it's just 29 percent.


57: Severe drought in Afghanistan over the past few years has led to a food crisis in the violence-plagued country. Some 57 percent of Afghans report having struggled to afford food in the past year, according to a Gallup poll. The proportion of those who said they are "struggling financially" was the highest on record last year.

400 billion: According to a study by the Center for Climate Integrity, the cost of building bulwarks against rising seas levels around the US by 2040 is projected to be $400 billion. That's almost as much as it took to build the original interstate highway system, which took decades to construct, and cost over $500 billion when accounting for inflation.

250,000,000: Out of a global population of 7.7 billion, a quarter billion people live outside the country of their birth. While most are migrants in search of better economic opportunities, one-tenth are refugees from crisis areas such as Syria, Venezuela and Myanmar.

More For You

Another Polymarket ban
Will Fitzpatrick
Spain temporarily banned the US-based prediction markets Polymarket and Kalshi on Tuesday, as well as its rival Kalshi, arguing that they were operating without a gambling license. The ban will last three to four months, pending a review from the country’s gambling watchdog. The move comes as other bans against Polymarket, in particular, are [...]
French President Macron shaking hand with Norway's Prime Minister of the Kingdom Jonas Gahr Støre
The President of the French Republic, Emmanuel Macron, receiving the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Norway, Jonas Gahr Støre, at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, on May 27, 2026.
Quentin de Groeve / Hans Lucas via Reuters Connect
France to give Norway nuclear protectionWhen the sun shines, we’ll shine together — but when it doesn’t, you’ll have the protection of France’s nuclear arsenal. That, to adapt the classic Rihanna record, was the message from French President Emmanuel Macron to Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre at a bilateral meeting in Paris on Wednesday. [...]
​Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a ceremony commemorating Israel’s Remembrance Day for fallen soldiers on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem, on April 21, 2026.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a ceremony commemorating Israel’s Remembrance Day for fallen soldiers, or Yom HaZikaron, at the Military Cemetery on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem, on April 21, 2026.

ILIA YEFIMOVICH/Pool via REUTERS
The United States and Iran seem to be moving closer to a deal to end the war, recent skirmishing and mixed signals notwithstanding. If concluded – still a big if – this agreement would reopen the Strait of Hormuz, lift the US blockade, unfreeze Iran’s frozen assets (via Qatar), and extend the ceasefire – while kicking nuclear negotiations down the [...]
Iranian President Pezeshkian and Acting Minister of Defense Brigadier General Ebn-e-Reza during a meeting in Tehran.

May 26, 2026, Tehran, Iran: Iranian President MASOUD PEZESHKIAN (L) and Iranian Acting Minister of Defense Brigadier General MAJID EBN-E-REZA (R) during a meeting in Tehran.

Iranian Presidency via ZUMA Press
US-Iran: Is a deal still possible? The merry-go-round of negotiations between the two countries continues. The latest began on Saturday, when US President Donald Trump said an agreement was “largely negotiated,” before Iran poured cold water on this. The US military then hit Iranian missile launchers and boats suspected of dropping mines in the [...]