Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

News

Hard Numbers: Kishida enters danger zone, Iran protests death toll, CCP vs COVID, Chile gets surplus

Photos of Japan's PM Fumio Kishida and slain former PM Shinzo Abe alongside the Japanese flag and emblem of the Unification Church
Jess Frampton
Make us preferred on Google

35: A new poll has the approval rating of Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at only 35%, the lowest since he took office a year ago. Kishida's popularity has nosedived since the assassination of former PM Shinzo Abe put a spotlight on the ruling party's ties with the controversial Unification Church.


185: That’s the number of people killed so far as women-led protests against Iran's theocracy enter their fourth week. On Saturday, the state-run broadcaster was hacked to show a picture of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei burning in flames and with a target on his head.

1,700: China reported on Sunday over 1,700 new COVID infections, more than triple the number from Oct. 2. Authorities are scrambling to contain local outbreaks just a week before the 20th Congress of the Communist Party, at which many once hoped Xi Jinping would finally relax the zero-COVID policy.

1.6: By the end of the year, Chile's government will have a bigger-than-expected budget surplus worth 1.6% of GDP. After losing the constitutional referendum vote, leftwing President Gabriel Boric has swung to the center, abandoning some big-spending campaign promises to keep Chile's finances in check as a global recession looms.


This article comes to you from the Signal newsletter team of GZERO Media. Sign up today.

More For You

Right-wing populism goes Down Under

One Nation leader Senator Pauline Hanson in the Senate chamber at Parliament House in Canberra, Wednesday, June 17, 2020.

AAP Image/Mick Tsikas
For nearly thirty years, Pauline Hanson has occupied the fringes of Australian politics. The outspoken founder and leader of the far-right, populist One Nation party has built a career railing against immigration and multiculturalism. Despite years of headlines for her political stunts and controversial quotes, her movement never broke into the [...]
​U.S. and Saudi flags flutter along a highway of Riyadh

U.S. and Saudi flags flutter along a highway of Riyadh, as pictured through the glass of a car, ahead of the arrival of U.S. President Donald Trump to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia May 12, 2025.

REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed/File Photo
Trump adds Israel caveat to Saudi nuclear dealThe US president on Thursday said that the US-Saudi nuclear deal struck this week would be contingent on the Kingdom joining the Abraham Accords, a Trump-brokered 2020 pact that normalized ties between Israel and several powerful Arab countries. Saudi Arabia has in the past said it would only do that [...]
Explosions take place on the deck of the Greek-flagged oil tanker

Explosions take place on the deck of the Greek-flagged oil tanker Sounion on the Red Sea, in this handout picture released August 29, 2024.

Houthi Military Media/Handout via REUTERS
The Iran war expanded to a new front this week. The Houthis, an Iran-backed militia which controls most of Yemen, said they attacked two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea today as part of a blockade on shipping to and from Saudi Arabia through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. [...]
Ebola death toll continues to rise
Will Fitzpatrick
The Ebola outbreak, caused by a rare strain of the Bundibugyo virus, has ballooned into the fastest outbreak of the virus in history. The World Health Organization said this week that 80% of the confirmed cases are coming from unknown chains of transmission, meaning that the cases are likely emerging in communities where people aren’t receiving [...]