Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

News

Hard Numbers: Big Biz funds Net Zero, ANC on the ropes in South Africa, Brazil COVID deaths drop, Asia’s mega-trade deal

Hard Numbers: Big Biz funds Net Zero, ANC on the ropes in South Africa, Brazil COVID deaths drop, Asia’s mega-trade deal
Paige Fusco
Make us preferred on Google

130 trillion: A group of the world's top banks, insurance companies, and asset managers will raise an astounding $130 trillion worth of private capital to help the world achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050. The initiative, launched at COP26 by former Bank of England boss Mark Carney and known by its somewhat odd acronym Gfanz, bans its members from funding any fossil fuel projects.


50: With three-quarters of votes counted, South Africa's ruling ANC party looks set to win less than 50 percent in Monday's local elections for the first time since the end of apartheid. The final result has been delayed due to power outages that the government promised to fix before the vote.

2,188: Brazil's weekly COVID death toll has fallen to 2,188, the lowest figure since the start of the pandemic. Latin America's largest nation has now fully vaccinated more than half the population, and a higher percentage of Brazilians have gotten a first shot than Americans.

53: Australia and New Zealand have ratified the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, which will become the world's largest trade agreement — covering 53 percent of global exports — when it goes into effect next year. The RCEP also includes China, Japan, South Korea, and the 10 ASEAN member countries.

More For You

A plane, carrying passengers who were on the FlyDubai aircraft bound for Israel from the United Arab Emirates, which was diverted to Saudi Arabia following an emergency signal, on the tarmac as it arrives at the Ben Gurion International Airport, in Lod, near Tel Aviv, Israel.

A plane, carrying passengers who were on the FlyDubai aircraft bound for Israel from the United Arab Emirates, which was diverted to Saudi Arabia following an emergency signal, on the tarmac as it arrives at the Ben Gurion International Airport, in Lod, near Tel Aviv, Israel, September 30, 2026.

REUTERS/Ammar Awad
Attempted hijacking suspected in Dubai-Israel flight chaos A flight from Dubai to Israel plunged nearly 20,000 feet on Wednesday during a blood-spattered fight in the cockpit. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said the co-pilot had tried to stab the pilot in an attempt to hijack the plane and crash it. Passengers and crew intervened to land the plane [...]
US forces leave Iraq
Will Fitzpatrick
This is actually the second time the US has left Iraq. The first was in 2011, when Washington ended the occupation which began with the 2003 invasion. But US forces returned in 2014 to lead a multinational fight against ISIS, the jihadist militant group born amid the chaos and sectarian strife triggered by the original US invasion. Today’s exit [...]
Rohingya refugees gather in front of the office of the U.N. refugee agency after being evicted from their homes, at Kuala Lumpur Malaysia.

Rohingya refugees gather in front of the office of the U.N. refugee agency after being evicted from their homes, at Kuala Lumpur Malaysia July 27, 2026.

REUTERS/Hasnoor Hussain
Malaysia sends Rohingya back to Myanmar despite security concernsThe Malaysian government started repatriating Rohingya refugees to Myanmar today with the goal of sending about 5,000 home over the next few weeks. Since 2017, millions of Rohingya, a predominantly Muslim ethnic minority, have fled Myanmar amid widespread persecution under both [...]
A destroyed tank is seen in a field in the aftermath of fighting between the Ethiopian National Defence Force (ENDF) and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) forces in Kasagita town, in Afar region, Ethiopia.

A destroyed tank is seen in a field in the aftermath of fighting between the Ethiopian National Defence Force (ENDF) and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) forces in Kasagita town, in Afar region, Ethiopia, February 25, 2022.

REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri
Four years ago, a peace agreement ended one of the deadliest conflicts of this century, the Tigray War in northern Ethiopia. Fighting between the Ethiopian federal government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), a political party and armed rebel movement controlling the northern Tigray region, claimed 600,000 lives and displaced over 5 [...]