Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

News

Hard Numbers: Brits host Ukrainians, Turkmen succession, deadly COVID in HK, Puerto Rico in the black

Hard Numbers: Brits host Ukrainians, Turkmen succession, deadly COVID in HK, Puerto Rico in the black

Ukrainians wait to board a train to Poland as they flee Russia's invasion in Lviv.

REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach
Make us preferred on Google

100,000: Over 100,000 Brits have signed up for a new government program to host Ukrainian refugees in their homes. The UK has been criticized for granting so few visas to Ukrainians thus far, but those without UK family ties will now be eligible.


73: The son of outgoing Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov was “elected” to succeed his dad on Saturday. But Serdar Berdymukhamedov only got 73% of the vote, 24 percentage points less than what his eccentric father got five years ago in the gas-rich Central Asian nation.

25: Hong Kong’s daily COVID death rate has this month surpassed 25 per 100,000 people, the highest in the world. The big problem there is that more than half of elderly Hong Kongers don’t want to get vaccinated, in part because they don’t trust jabs from mainland China.

70 billion: The US territory of Puerto Rico formally exited bankruptcy on Tuesday, almost seven years after defaulting on over $70 billion in debt. But Puerto Ricans aren’t out of the woods yet — they need to get their books checked before being able to borrow money again.

More For You

Europe’s first full solar eclipse in decades
Natalie Johnson
The skies over Greenland, Iceland, and Spain will briefly darken today as continental Europe experiences its first total solar eclipse in over 25 years. Millions more across Canada, the northern US, and northwest Africa will see a partial eclipse. The celestial spectacle has also revived an earthly debate: Do you really need special glasses to [...]
Oil tankers pass through the Strait of Hormuz, December 21, 2018.

Oil tankers pass through the Strait of Hormuz, December 21, 2018.

REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed
The Strait escape Iran refused again on Tuesday to reopen the Strait of Hormuz unless the US meets its demands, flexing its leverage over the world’s most important artery for oil and gas shipping. But now, that leverage is prompting a rethink of global shipping routes. Saudi Arabia, one of the top oil producers in the world, plans to increase [...]
Residents dig through the debris of a collapsed building after an earthquake.

Residents dig through the debris of a collapsed building after an earthquake, in Cali, Colombia August 10, 2026.

REUTERS/Juan Pablo Arbelaez
Earthquake rocks Colombia days into new president’s termA 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck Colombia yesterday – at least 160 people have died, though officials expect the toll to rise as rescue efforts continue. The quake’s epicenter was in the Chocó region – one of Colombia’s poorest areas that has also been wracked with clashes in recent years [...]
Zambia’s elections put its democratic reputation to the test
Will Fitzpatrick
Zambians head to the polls this week in national elections that will test a country that’s garnered a reputation as one of southern Africa’s most stable democracies. Since Zambia returned to multiparty elections in 1991, it has had six different presidents from three different parties. President Hakainde Hichilema is seeking reelection after [...]