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Hard Numbers: The Saudi City of Tomorrow

115: There are 115 people missing and presumed dead following a shipwreck off the coast of Libya last week. The numbers of migrants crossing the Mediterranean is down sharply from the height of the crisis four years ago, but significant numbers continue to try.

20: Tonight and tomorrow night, a total of 20 Democratic presidential candidates will take to the debate stage. Each will try to find some clever way to stand out from the crowd to win the party's nomination to take on Donald Trump next year. This is likely the last time so many will qualify to participate.


500 billion: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman says half a trillion dollars will go to build an entirely new city over 10,000 square miles of rocky desert and empty coastline. As envisioned by the prince's consultants, the city, known as Neom, will include flying taxis, robot dinosaurs, high-tech security cameras, sand that glows in the dark, cutting-edge hospitals, really nice restaurants, its own artificial moon, a genetic-modification project that makes people stronger, and booze. Lots and lots of booze.

353 million: Ethiopians planted a record 353 million trees in a single day yesterday, according to a government official, as part of a state-led project to plant 4 billion trees over the course of the summer to combat deforestation in a country historically plagued by droughts. India set the previous record of 50 million in 2016.

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Keystone Press Agency/Keystone USA via ZUMAPRESS.com
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Hard number: Haiti’s hunger crisis
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Five years after President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated, the turmoil in Haiti – where gangs control large swaths of the country and continue to sow chaos – shows no signs of abating. The consequence is a burgeoning humanitarian crisis, with 1.4 million people displaced, and millions more facing food shortages. Officials fear the Iran war could [...]
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Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with Rosseti CEO and Board Chairman Andrei Ryumin at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, on April 14, 2026.

Sputnik/Alexander Kazakov/Pool via REUTERS
Putin ups the ante – but should he?Russia continues to bombard Ukraine, killing 17 people in a wave of drone and missile attacks overnight. But the Parliament also signed a law on Tuesday that would allow the military to attack any country that holds Russians captive. Europe fears that Russian President Vladimir Putin will use this as a pretext to [...]