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

Oil workers drilling a well in an oil field, Venezuela.

Oil workers drilling a well in an oil field, Venezuela.

REUTERS/Science Photo Library
US strikes controversial Venezuela oil dealThe US government will take a majority stake in a new company that has the rights to develop 65 million barrels of Venezuelan crude, or about one-fifth of the country’s total proven reserves. The deal aims to secure massive investment in the dilapidated Venezuelan oil industry, boost US energy security, [...]
Big win in the Little League World Series
Will Fitzpatrick
It’s the second time Curaçao has won the Little League World Series, a global tournament for baseball teams of 10- to 12-year-olds. The tiny Caribbean nation of 150,000 people — once a Dutch colony and still affiliated with the Kingdom of the Netherlands — is an unexpected baseball powerhouse. The sport was introduced by Dominican and Venezuelan [...]
The Strait Escape | Six months into the Iran war, oil exporters are finding ways to bypass Hormuz | image shows a map with arrows and location hotspots depicting ways exporters are bypassing the Strait of Hormuz
Oil exporters are finding ways to bypass the Strait of Hormuz, which has been strangled since the Iran war began.
GZERO MEDIA/Tim Rickard (Data source: Global Energy Monitor)
Six months into the Iran war, oil exporters are finding ways to bypass HormuzScroll to readhttps://public.flourish.studio/story/3799883/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://public.flourish.studio/story/3799883/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://public.flourish.studio/story/3799883/" target="_blank" rel="noopener [...]
People hold a sign that reads "No" during a rally of the "No to EU" campaign ahead of a referendum on whether Iceland should resume accession negotiations with the European Union, in Reykjavik, Iceland.

People hold a sign that reads "No" during a rally of the "No to EU" campaign ahead of a referendum on whether Iceland should resume accession negotiations with the European Union, in Reykjavik, Iceland, August 27, 2026.

REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger
Iceland votes on restarting EU accession talks Polls remain tight as Iceland holds a referendum tomorrow on whether to restart EU accession talks. Membership has long been a divisive topic on the island, which gained independence from Denmark in 1944 and remains fiercely protective of its sovereignty. During previous talks, the bloc’s fisheries [...]