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Hard Numbers: French civil war(ning), US money for Central America, $1 trillion in arms, displaced Colombians

Hard Numbers: French civil war(ning), US money for Central America, $1 trillion in arms, displaced Colombians

French soldiers patrol near the Eiffel Tower in Paris as part of the highest level of "Vigipirate" security plan after a shooting at the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo.

REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes

1,000: Around 1,000 current and former members of the French military have signed a letter warning of a looming "civil war" in France over immigration and Islam. The text — released on the 60th anniversary of a failed coup meant to force then-President Charles de Gaulle to retain Algeria — was supported by far-right leader Marine Le Pen.


310 million: The US has pledged an additional $310 million in economic assistance to help Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala stem the flow of Central American migrants to the US southern border. Migrant arrivals from the "Northern Triangle" countries have been steadily growing since the beginning of the year.

1 trillion: Global military spending rose to almost $1 trillion last year, up 2.6 percent from 2019. The biggest spenders were the US, China, India, Russia, and the UK.

27,000: More than 27,000 people have been displaced in Colombia in the first quarter of the year, according to the country's human rights ombudsman. That's a 177 percent increase over the same period in 2020, as the country has suffered a pandemic-related uptick in violence.

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PA via Reuters Ukraine's Vladyslav Heraskevych, with his helmet, which features pictures of people killed in the war with Russia. Heraskevych was ruled out of the Men's Skeleton event by the International Olympic Committee just over an hour before competition began, pictured at the Cortina Sliding Centre, on day six of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, Italy. Picture date: Thursday February 12, 2026.

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