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Hard Numbers: The world economy hasn't looked this glum since when?


14: At least 14 police were killed and three injured when drug cartel gunmen ambushed a convoy in Michoacán state in western Mexico. The attack highlights the difficulties facing Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, whose first year at the helm may end with a record number of killings in his country.


200: Two-hundred Hong Kong protestors have been arrested since the weekend, when a spike in violence and vandalism swept the city: unrest has been rising since the government invoked colonial-era emergency powers several weeks ago. More than 2,300 demonstrators have been arrested since June.

⅓: At least one-third of all food produced for human consumption globally is wasted or lost every year, according to a United Nations report. While enough food is produced to feed everyone on the planet, the hunger rate is rising: 820 million people around the world are "chronically undernourished," the UN says.

0.8: Global economic growth this year will slow to its weakest level since the 2008 global financial crisis, the International Monetary Fund predicts in its latest forecast. The US-China trade war is a big reason why: the tariff spat between the world's two largest economies could knock 0.8% off global GDP by 2020.

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Photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon - Pool/Getty Images

TOKYO, JAPAN - FEBRUARY 8: Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), places a red paper rose on the name of an elected candidate at the LDP headquarters on general election day on February 08, 2026 in Tokyo, Japan. Voters across the country headed to polls today as Japan's Lower House election was held.

Photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon - Pool/Getty Images
When Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi called snap elections last month, it was a big gamble. Holding a winter election just four months into her tenure with no real policy record to run on? Staking her sky-high approval ratings – then hovering around 70% – on an untested bet that personal popularity would translate into seats? The [...]
​February 11, 2026, Dhaka, Bangladesh: February 11, 2026 Dhaka, Bangladesh: Ansar and VDP memberrs carried ballot boxes in Dhaka, They were preparing for the polling stations on then eve of day before Bangladesh's national election.

February 11, 2026, Dhaka, Bangladesh: February 11, 2026 Dhaka, Bangladesh: Ansar and VDP memberrs carried ballot boxes in Dhaka, They were preparing for the polling stations on then eve of day before Bangladesh's national election.

Credit Image: © KM Asad/ZUMA Press Wire
In Bangladesh, toppling the regime may have only been half the battle. On Thursday, the country will have its first competitive election since 2009. Voters will determine whether the uprising that ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in August 2024, kicking off a wave of Gen Z-led protests in Asia, can transform Bangladeshi politics, or whether [...]
​US Vice President JD Vance and second lady Usha Vance at the Tsitsernakaberd Armenian Genocide Memorial, in Yerevan, Armenia, February 10, 2026.

US Vice President JD Vance and second lady Usha Vance hold flowers as they walk towards the eternal flame at the Tsitsernakaberd Armenian Genocide Memorial, in Yerevan, Armenia, February 10, 2026.

REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/Pool
1.5 million: The number of Armenians killed by Ottoman Turkss during World War I, per one estimate, in what historians consider to be a genocide. Why mention this now? US Vice President JD Vance visited a memorial to the mass killing in Yerevan on Tuesday. His office then posted about it on social media, before deleting it. The reversal may have [...]
​Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks during a press conference after meeting with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk in Kyiv on Feb. 5, 2026.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks during a press conference after meeting with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk in Kyiv on Feb. 5, 2026.

Kyodo
Zelensky to hold election and war referendum, per reportIn a major political pivot, Volodymyr Zelensky reportedly plans to hold presidential elections alongside a referendum on any peace agreement with Russia. The move comes after mounting pressure from US President Donald Trump, who has signaled that the US security guarantees to Ukraine are [...]