Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

News

Hard Numbers: Lithuania cuts off Russian gas, Shanghai mass-testing, food aid reaches Tigray, Costa Rican runoff

Hard Numbers: Lithuania cuts off Russian gas, Shanghai mass-testing, food aid reaches Tigray, Costa Rican runoff

Model of a natural gas pipeline in front of EU and Russia flag colors.

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic
Make us preferred on Google

1: Lithuania has become the first EU country to stop importing Russian natural gas in response to the war in Ukraine. What a turnaround for the Baltic nation, which in 2015 relied almost exclusively on Russian gas for its domestic needs and is now asking other EU states to follow its lead.


26 million: On Sunday, Shanghai’s 26 million residents were ordered to self-test for COVID. China’s most populous city has been under lockdown for almost a week as authorities struggle to contain the country’s largest virus outbreak in two years — the biggest test to date of Xi Jinping’s zero-COVID policy.

500: A convoy of trucks carrying over 500 metric tons of food entered Ethiopia's war-torn Tigray region on Friday, the first since mid-December. This time, the rebel Tigray People's Liberation Front observed the government's cease-fire to allow in badly needed shipments of food aid.

53: Costa Rica’s Finance Minister Rodrigo Chaves won the presidential runoff election on Sunday with 53% of the vote. The combative populist upstart beat the centrist former President Jose María Figueres by promising to root out corruption and use referendums to cut through the red tape.

More For You

What is the “AI race” anyway?
Talk of the “AI race” is everywhere these days. The competition to master this technology shapes everything from high-level tensions between the US and China to the local politics of where to build data centers. And the stakes are high. Whoever masters AI will “rule the world,” according to Russian President Vladimir Putin. US President Donald [...]
Oil hits six-month high
Will Fitzpatrick
Ongoing Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia have raised concerns about further disruptions to global energy supplies, especially after Saudi state oil company Aramco ordered the evacuation of its headquarters on Thursday. And the situation could get worse: The US and Israel are reportedly discussing renewed new strikes on Iran after the US midterms in [...]
​Brazilian presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro speaks during a presidential debate, ahead of the runoff presidential election, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, October 18, 2026.

Brazilian presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro speaks during a presidential debate, ahead of the runoff presidential election, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, October 18, 2026.

REUTERS/Jean Carniel
Brazil finally decides: Lula or Bolsonaro?After a deeply polarizing campaign, Brazilian voters will finally go to the polls on Sunday to choose: left-wing incumbent Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva, who has served three terms since 2002, or right-winger Flávio Bolsonaro, whose father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, was jailed for plotting a coup. [...]
In this special edition of “ask ian,” Ian Bremmer reflects on the life and passing of his beloved dog, Moose. [...]