Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

News

Hard Numbers: The Spaniards are Going Home

Make us preferred on Google

89: In South Korea, 89% of consumer payments are now cashless, and paper money is becoming increasingly rare in Chinese cities. Here's an interesting look at what happens when cash disappears.

47 million: Spain's population grew in 2018 to 47 million, its highest point ever. The growth comes from an influx of migrants from North Africa but also from other European countries. In addition, the number of Spaniards returning home last year topped those who left the country for the first time in at least seven years. This population surge is fueled in part by a national economic growth rate that's forecast at double the Eurozone average in 2019.


76: According to a new survey from Gallup, 76% of US adults say immigration is good for the country — the highest figure to date by just one percentage point. But 23% say immigration is the country's most important problem — also the highest figure ever by one point.

0: The masses headed for this weekend's famed Glastonbury Music Festival are in for a surprise. Just two years ago, the Glastonbury crowd consumed one million plastic bottles. This year, that number will be zero as event organizers take the festival green. No word yet on what all those people will be drinking from.

More For You

Hard number: Seeking owners
Will Fitzpatrick
It’s not known whether these works were among the hundreds of thousands that the Nazis looted – especially from Jews – during their time in power, but in displaying these pieces, the museum hopes that the public can identify their original owners. Perhaps the most famous lost painting of this kind was Gustav Klimt’s “The Woman in Gold”, which was [...]
CIA Director John Ratcliffe meets with Cuban officials

CIA Director John Ratcliffe attends a meeting with Cuban officials at a location given as Havana, Cuba in this image released May 14, 2026.

CIA via X/Handout via REUTERS
Cuba has run out of fuel, and the CIA director is there for it.US spy chief John Ratcliffe traveled to Havana yesterday just hours after the communist-run island said it had run out of fuel due to the ongoing US energy blockade. Ratcliffe, the highest ranking Trump administration official to visit, went to reiterate his boss’s vision of a “deal”: [...]
Saudi Arabia's MBS shaking hands with the UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman receives UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, in Saudi Arabia, on September 3, 2025.

IMAGO/APAimages via Reuters Connect
For many years, mutual concern about Iran helped to paper over deeper disagreements between Saudi Arabia and the UAE. The two powerful and ambitious Sunni Gulf monarchies have been on opposite sides of the civil wars in both Sudan and Yemen, as well as in fierce competition for regional dominance in AI. But two months into the so-far unresolved [...]
Chinese court compensates AI-replaced worker
A court in Hangzhou ruled that companies are not permitted to fire employees or reduce their salaries because their positions are being automated or replaced by AI. The case was brought by a worker who was initially offered a 40% pay cut and a demotion when his job as a quality assurance supervisor was automated. After he refused the reduced [...]