Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

News

Hard Numbers: China zeroes out zero, German tanks run low, Turkey jails a journalist, Greek train crash, police find ‘spiritual girlfriend’ in Peru

A person wearing a protective suit sits in the Beijing Railway Station after China lifted its COVID-19 restrictions in Beijing, January 20, 2023.

A person wearing a protective suit sits in the Beijing Railway Station after China lifted its COVID-19 restrictions in Beijing, January 20, 2023.

REUTERS/Thomas Peter
Make us preferred on Google

0 x 0: Remember China’s zero-Covid strategy? No you don’t, at least not if you’re the Chinese Communist Party, which is now aggressively zeroing out public mentions of the draconian lockdowns that kneecapped the country’s economy and provoked rare widespread protests against Xi Jinping. Here’s our own portrait of zero-Covid life from last spring.

62: Despite promising to give tanks to Kyiv, Germany and other NATO allies have struggled to rustle up enough of them — 62 to be precise — to fill two Ukrainian battalions worth. Part of the problem is that no one on the continent has planned for a major European land war in 30 years, so tanks, parts, and trainers are limited.


10: Turkey has sentenced a journalist to 10 months in prison for posting an unsubstantiated allegation that police officers and soldiers had sexually assaulted a young girl. This is the first jail term handed down under a new law meant to combat disinformation that critics fear will be used to stifle criticism of the government.

36: A train collision has killed at least 36 and injured dozens more near the city of Larissa in northern Greece. Railway employees reported that there were issues with electric coordination of traffic control, despite recent modernization of Greece’s railway system, which is operated by Italy’s state-owned railway company Ferrovie dello Stato Italiene.

1.5: The sentence you are about to read does not end the way you think it will: Police searching a delivery man who was acting drunk at a Peruvian archaeological site found in his backpack a 1.5-meter tall pre-hispanic mummy named “Juanita.” He said the mummy, which once belonged to his dad, lives with him as “a kind of spiritual girlfriend.” We love this LatAm remake of "Fin de Semana at Bernie’s.

More For You

Medical workers treat injured people at Ameth Bek hospital after a drone strike on a market in the disputed Abyei region along the border between South Sudan and Sudan, October 19, 2026.

Medical workers treat injured people at Ameth Bek hospital after a drone strike on a market in the disputed Abyei region along the border between South Sudan and Sudan, October 19, 2026.

REUTERS/Medecins Sans Frontieres
Drone strike raises tensions between Sudan and South SudanSouth Sudan is accusing neighboring Sudan of launching a drone strike that killed at least 73 people at a market in Abyei, a disputed, oil-rich region of roughly 4,000 square miles claimed by both countries. The attack has heightened tensions between the two states, which split in 2011 [...]
Rare earths aren’t so rare in China
Lottie Tellyn
The minerals include yttrium oxide, which is crucial for manufacturing jet engines and semiconductors. Inside China, one kilogram costs a mere $9. But outside of China? $1,150. China’s rare earth export controls — imposed partly in response to new US tariffs — are now threatening global supply chains. Japan has warned that it could run out of some [...]
Supporters of the Forever Canadian group, who want Alberta to remain in Canada, wave Canadian flags as they wait for the results of a non-binding referendum on Alberta sovereignty in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada October 19, 2026.

Supporters of the Forever Canadian group, who want Alberta to remain in Canada, wave Canadian flags as they wait for the results of a non-binding referendum on Alberta sovereignty in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada October 19, 2026.

REUTERS/Todd Korol
Alberta is staying in Canada. After a long night of ballot counting, with some polling stations open until 10:30 pm due to long lines and late starts, voters in the oil-rich western Canadian province decisively rejected taking steps toward independence. Seventy-six percent voted to remain part of Canada, while 24% voted to initiate a secession [...]
Protesters set up barricades and burn materials near Place de la Republique in Paris, France, on October 18, 2026, the day following a large demonstration.

Protesters set up barricades and burn materials near Place de la Republique in Paris, France, on October 18, 2026, the day following a large demonstration.

Jerome Gilles via Reuters Connect
Weekend of unrest rocks FranceOngoing student protests in France descended into looting and riots over the weekend as more than half a million people took to the streets across the country. The unrest briefly spread to Portugal, Belgium, and Italy as well. Although the French protests began with demands for more education funding, the latest [...]