Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

News

Hard Numbers: Trillion Dollar Joe, Iran bans crypto mining, EU wants its jabs on time, Indonesian cleric sentenced

Hard Numbers: Trillion Dollar Joe, Iran bans crypto mining, EU wants its jabs on time, Indonesian cleric sentenced

6 trillion: Joe Biden's first budget as US president will propose a whopping $6 trillion in federal spending on infrastructure, education, and healthcare to make America more competitive. This would be the highest level of sustained US government spending seen since the end of World War II. (And that's why we call him Trillion Dollar Joe.)


4: Iran has banned cryptocurrency mining for four months following a surge in power outages that the regime blamed on computers churning through blockchain transactions. Cryptocurrency mining can be immensely lucrative, but it has a huge carbon footprint.

10: The European Commission has warned AstraZeneca that it will start charging it 10 euros ($12.2) per dose per day if the Anglo-Swedish company fails to deliver 300 million COVID vaccine doses to the EU by the fall. Brussels and AstraZeneca are embroiled in an ongoing legal dispute over this issue, and have been at odds for months over the scant supply of jabs, which has contributed to the bloc's sluggish vaccine rollout.

8: An Indonesian court has sentenced prominent hardline cleric Rizieq Shihab to eight months in prison for violating COVID restrictions by participating in multiple mass in-person events after his return last year from self-imposed exile in Saudi Arabia. Rizieq is the leader of the outlawed Islamic Defender's Front, one of the country's most extreme militant groups.

More For You

Putin looks on over missiles flying between Israel and Iran.

Putin looks on over missiles flying between Israel and Iran.

Three weeks into the US-Israeli war against Iran, the list of losers is unusually long. Iran is getting devastated. The United States is trapped in an asymmetric conflict it can't exit. Gulf states are absorbing infrastructure damage they never signed up for. The developing world is facing food and energy crises. I could keep going.Washington and [...]
Workers are unloading coal from a cargo ship on the Turag River in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on May 06, 2024.

Workers are unloading coal from a cargo ship on the Turag River in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on May 06, 2024.

Iran conflict has Asia looking for coalMuch as Europe did when Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine four years ago, Asia is turning to a retro, highly-polluting fuel source as the Iran conflict limits the supply of liquefied natural gas: coal. The continent relies heavily on natural gas for its electricity, much of it imported – in the [...]
Venezuela outfielder Javier Sanoja reacts in the fifth inning during the 2026 World Baseball Classic Championship game at LoanDepot Park in Miami, Florida, USA, on March 17, 2026.

Venezuela outfielder Javier Sanoja during the 2026 World Baseball Classic Championship game at LoanDepot Park in Miami, Florida, USA, on March 17, 2026.

Sam Navarro-Imagn Images
3: The number of runs scored by Venezuela’s national baseball team in their stunning upset of top-seeded USA in the World Baseball Classic final in Miami last night. In an epic game fraught with geopolitical overtones – the US government abducted Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro in January – the arepa-powered pitching staff held the fearsome US [...]
​Explosions in Iran and gas prices increasing.

Explosions in Iran and gas prices increasing.

Natalie Johnson
Nearly a month ago, the US and Israel started a war with Iran. Over 2,000 miles away, one continent that wants little to do with the war is nevertheless uniquely impacted: Europe.European Union leaders met in Brussels on Tuesday to discuss skyrocketing energy prices resulting from the conflict. It comes after US President Donald Trump issued a [...]