Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

News

Hard Numbers: HK “protest,” Lebanese time warp, US Veep in Africa, Taiwan’s few friends, straight outta Helsinki

Protest against a land reclamation and waste transfer station project in Hong Kong.

Protest against a land reclamation and waste transfer station project in Hong Kong.

REUTERS/Tyrone Siu
Make us preferred on Google

80: That’s how many Hong Kongers joined the first authorized protest in the territory since China passed a sweeping national security law in 2020. Demonstrators were obliged to show numbered tags on lanyards and were not allowed to wear masks during the demonstration against a land reclamation and rubbish processing project, where attendance was restricted to 100 participants.


2: What’s the time in Beirut? Good question. Lebanese are confused following a sectarian spat between authorities over when to begin Daylight Savings Time. PM Najib Mikati, a Sunni Muslim, announced that clocks will go forward at the end of Ramadan in late April so Muslims can end the fast earlier, while the influential Christian Maronite Church wants to do it on the last Sunday of March.

3: US Vice President Kamala Harris on Sunday began a week-long tour of three African countries: Ghana, Tanzania, and Zambia. Harris, the highest-ranking Biden administration official so far to visit the continent, will focus on economic development, food security, and leveraging Africa’s youth population as the US president continues his efforts to win African hearts and minds amid China’s growing influence.

13: After Honduras established diplomatic ties with China and broke off relations with Taiwan, the self-ruled island’s international recognition has dwindled to only 13 countries. The shift demonstrates Beijing’s rising diplomatic clout in Central America on the heels of a visit to the region by Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen.

2: Two Finnish MPs are spinning rhymes as they battle for votes, releasing rap music videos ahead of the April 2 election. Johan Kvarnstrom, from the ruling center-left Social Democratic Party, and Coel Thomas from the Green Party have been winning rave reviews for their vids, done in collaboration with a local rapper.

More For You

The GOP’s Musky scent
Musk’s cash splash – which makes him the largest known midterm donor – is meant to help Republicans head off a so-called “Blue Wave” of Democrat support that could cost the GOP not only the House, but possibly the Senate as well. It signals that Musk intends to remain a fixture of Republican politics, despite his rocky exit from the Trump [...]
Boxes of perished goods are seen outside an Intermarche supermarket in Paris the day after a cyberattack targeted refrigeration systems at French supermarket chains, causing food losses and fires at several stores, France, October 13, 2026.

Boxes of perished goods are seen outside an Intermarche supermarket in Paris the day after a cyberattack targeted refrigeration systems at French supermarket chains, causing food losses and fires at several stores, France, October 13, 2026.

REUTERS/Lucien Libert
Supermarket cyberattacks turn the heat up in France Hackers set their sights on an unusual target in France this week: supermarkets. On Monday, attackers used remote software to raise the temperature on fridges and freezers to around 122 degrees Fahrenheit, spoiling food and sparking fires. While the full scale of the attack remains unconfirmed, [...]
MF Communications Officer Jose Luis De Haro, Director of the Research Department at the IMF Silvana Tenreyro, Deputy Director of the Research Department at the IMF Petya Koeva-Brooks and Division Chief at the Research Department of the IMF Deniz Igan attend a press briefing during the IMF/World Bank 2026 Annual Meetings at Queen Sirikit National Convention Center (QSNCC)

IMF Communications Officer Jose Luis De Haro, Director of the Research Department at the IMF Silvana Tenreyro, Deputy Director of the Research Department at the IMF Petya Koeva-Brooks and Division Chief at the Research Department of the IMF Deniz Igan attend a press briefing during the IMF/World Bank 2026 Annual Meetings at Queen Sirikit National Convention Center (QSNCC) in Bangkok, Thailand, October 13, 2026.

REUTERS/Patipat Janthong
The people tasked with safeguarding the world’s financial stability are gathering in Bangkok, Thailand, this week. Central bankers, finance and development ministers, private sector leaders, civil society representatives, and academics from nearly 200 countries are attending the IMF-World Bank’s annual meetings to discuss soaring public debt, the [...]
EU puts the brakes on Chinese EVs
Will Fitzpatrick
The EU has new plans to limit the flow of Chinese-made goods into the continent to address its massive trade imbalance with China. China exported more than $7.5 billion worth of electric vehicles to the bloc in the first half of this year, nearly three times as much as during the same period last year. An estimated 800,000 Chinese-made fully [...]