Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

News

Hard Numbers: El Salvador to take Bitcoin, France freezes CAR aid, US donates (more) shots, a Chinese “Trojan horse”

Hard Numbers: El Salvador to take Bitcoin, France freezes CAR aid, Biden and Gitmo, a Chinese “Trojan horse”
Gabriella Turrisi

90: After an overwhelming majority of lawmakers voted in favor of President Nayib Bukele's plan to accept Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency will become legal tender in El Salvador in 90 days. Bukele says using the cryptocurrency will help poor people without bank accounts, but it may also complicate his plans to get a big loan from the IMF.


10 million: France has frozen 10 million euros ($12.1 million) in economic assistance and suspended military cooperation with the Central African Republic amid worsening ties with its former colony. Paris says the CAR government is doing little to stop an anti-French disinformation campaign likely orchestrated by Russia, which seeks to gain influence there and in other parts of Africa.

500 million: The Biden administration will purchase 500 million doses of Pfizer's COVID vaccine to donate to other countries in need. This is more than five times the amount America had pledged to give until now, and previews how President Biden will push at this week's G7 meeting for other wealthy nations to do more to augment the global supply of jabs for low-income nations.

1.5 billion: Protesters are up in arms over Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's plans to spend 1.5 billion euros ($1.83 billion) to build a Chinese university campus in Budapest, a first on EU soil, which they view as a "Trojan horse" for Chinese intelligence. Two years ago, Orbán closed the George Soros-backed Central European University, also in Budapest, after accusing the Hungarian-born US billionaire — and prominent Orbán critic — of meddling in domestic politics.

More For You

Fidel Castro meets with the American parents of the The Bay Of Pigs Prisoners in Havana, Cuba, on March 1, 1963.

Fidel Castro, center left with hands on hips, meets with the American parents of the The Bay Of Pigs Prisoners, who were released after a deal with America for $63 million, in Havana, Cuba, on March 1, 1963.

Keystone Press Agency/Keystone USA via ZUMAPRESS.com
Sixty-five years ago this morning, nearly 1,500 CIA-trained Cuban exiles stormed a beach on the southwestern coast of Cuba. Their aim was to spark a nationwide uprising against the new, revolutionary government of Fidel Castro. The Americans were confident – after all, they’d used a similar approach to overthrow the leftist president of Guatemala [...]
​A crowd celebrates after a 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel went into effect, in Sidon, Lebanon, on April 17, 2026.

A crowd celebrates as displaced people return to their homes after a 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel went into effect, in Sidon, Lebanon, on April 17, 2026.

REUTERS/Aziz Taher
Is an end to the Iran war in sight?The 10-day ceasefire negotiated between Israel and Lebanon took effect last night – one that the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah acknowledged but hasn’t said whether they’d abide by – has added some momentum to the US-Iran ceasefire talks. US President Donald Trump said Thursday that the war “should be ending [...]
Hard number: Haiti’s hunger crisis
Natalie Johnson
Five years after President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated, the turmoil in Haiti – where gangs control large swaths of the country and continue to sow chaos – shows no signs of abating. The consequence is a burgeoning humanitarian crisis, with 1.4 million people displaced, and millions more facing food shortages. Officials fear the Iran war could [...]
Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, on April 14, 2026.​

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with Rosseti CEO and Board Chairman Andrei Ryumin at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, on April 14, 2026.

Sputnik/Alexander Kazakov/Pool via REUTERS
Putin ups the ante – but should he?Russia continues to bombard Ukraine, killing 17 people in a wave of drone and missile attacks overnight. But the Parliament also signed a law on Tuesday that would allow the military to attack any country that holds Russians captive. Europe fears that Russian President Vladimir Putin will use this as a pretext to [...]