Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Africa

Hard Numbers: Muddy festival, climate credits, Ukrainian amputees, astronauts return, "Barbie" tops charts

​Vehicles are seen departing the Burning Man festival in Black Rock City, Nevada, U.S., on Sept. 4, 2023.

Vehicles are seen departing the Burning Man festival in Black Rock City, Nevada, U.S., on Sept. 4, 2023.

REUTERS/Matt Mills McKnight

70,000: An unexpected storm this weekend trapped 70,000 attendees of the annual counter-culture Burning Man festival in the Black Rock Desert of northern Nevada, as floods turned the sand to mud. One person reportedly died, but officials said the incident was “unrelated to the weather.” Many have now begun their trips home.


450,000,000: At the first-ever African Climate Summit in Kenya, the United Arab Emirates committed to buying 450,000,000 of carbon credits from the Africa Carbon Markets Initiative. The initiative seeks to boost Africa's carbon credit production 19-fold by 2030.

20,000: According to the Superhumans Center for rehabilitation in Ukraine, 20,000 Ukrainians have become amputees since the start of the war with Russia. These include soldiers and civilians, with most injuries being blast-related.

4: Four astronauts returned to Earth in a SpaceX capsule after spending six months in the International Space Station. The crew included two NASA and one Russian astronaut, as well as the first astronaut from the United Arab Emirates to spend an extended time in space.

1: This week, "Barbie" beat the "Super Mario Bros. Movie" for the title of number one film of the year. The dynamic doll pulled in $1.38 billion globally, overtaking the cartoon character’s $1.36 billion. Sparkle!

More For You

Beyond Gaza and Ukraine: The wars the world is ignoring
- YouTube
Gobal attention has been (rightly) focused on Gaza and Ukraine this year, but around 60 conflicts are raging the world. Do they risk falling off the radar? International Crisis Group President and CEO Comfort Ero joins Ian Bremmer on GZERO World to talk about some of the global crises that have received less of the world’s focus this year. Ero [...]
Pro-democracy protesters carry portraits of North Yemen's late president Ibrahim al-Hamdi.

Pro-democracy protesters carry portraits of North Yemen's late president Ibrahim al-Hamdi.

REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
Group of Yemeni ministers announce support for UAE-backed rebel coalitionIn the latest twist to Yemen’s decade-long civil war, a group of government ministers declared support for the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC), a rebel group that broke the war’s deadlock earlier this month by seizing control of the oil-rich Handramout region. [...]
US President Donald Trump announces tariffs on US trading partners at the White House in Washington, DC, USA, on April 2, 2025.

US President Donald Trump arrives to announce reciprocal tariffs against US trading partners in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, on April 2, 2025.

POOL via CNP/INSTARimages.com
As GZERO readers will be all too aware, 2025 has been a hefty year for geopolitics. US President Donald Trump’s return to office has rocked global alliances, conflicts have raged from Khartoum to Kashmir, and new powers – both tangible and technological – have emerged.To put a bow on the year, GZERO highlights the biggest geopolitics stories of 2025. [...]
The state of global conflict in 2025
- YouTube
While Gaza and Ukraine captured headlines this year, nearly 60 other wars and armed struggles are raging around the world—the most active conflicts since the end of WWII. On GZERO World, Ian Bremmer is joined by CNN's Chief International Correspondent Clarissa Ward and Comfort Ero, President and CEO of the International Crisis Group to look back [...]