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Hard Numbers: "Italexit" gains steam, food aid for Lebanon, Egypt elects senators, US COVID vaccine skeptics

Hard Numbers: "Italexit" gains steam, food aid for Lebanon, Egypt elects senators, US COVID vaccine skeptics

45: A new poll says that 45 percent of Italians would support leaving the European Union if the UK economy remains in a "good state" five years after Brexit. Calls for a national referendum on "Italexit" are gaining steam in Italy, where a new anti-EU party is capitalizing on the sentiment that the EU abandoned the country at its darkest hour with COVID-19 (despite Italy later getting the lion's share of the EU's coronavirus rescue package).


50,000: The UN World Food Program is sending 50,000 metric tons of wheat flour to prevent a food shortage in Lebanon. International donors have pledged millions of dollars in humanitarian aid for the crisis-ridden country, where the government resigned following last week's deadly twin explosions at the Beirut port.

200: Egyptians start voting on Tuesday to elect 200 new senators. The remaining 100 senators of the 300-member upper chamber of parliament will be directly appointed by the military, which has gained increasing power in the country under the authoritarian government of former army chief Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

35: About one in three Americans (35 percent) would refuse a COVID-19 vaccine even if it is free and approved by the Federal Drug Administration, according to a new Gallup survey. The US anti-vaxxer movement was already on the rise before the pandemic, and many of its members plan to resist vaccination mandates if they are approved by states or the federal government.

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Hard Numbers: Kenya restarts railroad project without China, South Africans return from Ukraine war, the rapper who wants to run Nepal, Russians say things are going well
$4 billion: The amount Kenya wants to raise in order to complete a partially built railway line that was abandoned in 2019. The project, which will link Nairobi with South Sudan, Uganda, and Kenya, came to a halt after initial funding from China dried up. This time around, Kenya wants to finance the project itself, through new import tariffs, [...]
​An army soldier stands guard at a post at the Friendship Gate, following exchanges of fire between Pakistan and Afghanistan forces, at the border crossing between the two countries in Chaman, Pakistan February 27, 2026. Picture taken with a mobile phone.

An army soldier stands guard at a post at the Friendship Gate, following exchanges of fire between Pakistan and Afghanistan forces, at the border crossing between the two countries in Chaman, Pakistan February 27, 2026. Picture taken with a mobile phone.

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Pakistan and Afghanistan in “open war”Pakistan has declared “open war” against Afghanistan, as the two sides engage in the fiercest clashes in years. On Thursday, Afghan’s Taliban-run forces launched six cross-border attacks on Pakistani military positions. Pakistan retaliated today with air attacks on Kabul, Kandahar and Paktia, hitting Afghan [...]
Former British ambassador to the U.S. Peter Mandelson leaves his residence after he was released following his arrest by London police on Monday on suspicion of misconduct in public office, following the release of U.S. Justice Department files linked to the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, in London, Britain, February 26, 2026.

Former British ambassador to the U.S. Peter Mandelson leaves his residence after he was released following his arrest by London police on Monday on suspicion of misconduct in public office, following the release of U.S. Justice Department files linked to the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, in London, Britain, February 26, 2026.

REUTERS/Toby Melville
The ghost of Jeffrey Epstein continues to haunt the world.This week kicked off with British police arresting Peter Mandelson, former UK ambassador to Washington, on suspicion of “misconduct in public office” from his time as business secretary between 2008 and 2010. Mandelson wasn’t named in the arrest records, part of the UK’s rules banning them [...]
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi shake hands during a press conference in Jerusalem on February 26, 2026.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi shake hands during a press conference in Jerusalem on February 26, 2026.

GIL COHEN-MAGEN/Pool via REUTERS
Modi, Netanyahu seek to boost India-Israel tiesIndia is set to advance a trade and defense technology deal with Israel, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said as he wrapped up a two-day visit to the Jewish state on Thursday, the latest sign that the relationship is blossoming. But the two countries weren’t always close friends – they only established [...]