Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

News

Hard Numbers: UK economic growth, US voter frustration, Fukushima liability ruling, halted Tour de France

Hard Numbers: UK economic growth, US voter frustration, Fukushima liability ruling, halted Tour de France

Dana Howard wearing a Union Jack-themed costume outside Buckingham Palace during Queen Elizabeth's Platinum Jubilee celebrations in London, Britain.

REUTERS/Tom Nicholson

0.5: The UK economy enjoyed unexpected growth in May, according to the Office for National Statistics. It grew 0.5% and is now believed to be at 1.7% above pre-COVID levels. But experts expect continued volatility and attribute the bump to celebrations ahead of Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee.


80: Ahead of US midterms in November, and following the recent overturning of Roe v. Wade, a New York Times/Siena College poll shows that close to 80% of American voters believe the US is headed in the wrong direction.

94 billion: A Japanese court has found four former executives of TEPCO, the utility operating the Fukushima nuclear power plant, liable for the 2011 tsunami-related disaster. They’ve been ordered to pay the company $94 billion.

15: The tenth stage of the Tour de France, one of the world’s most-watched annual sporting events, was interrupted for 15 minutes this week by climate protesters who want France to commit to renovating buildings to be more energy-efficient by 2040.

More For You

People walk past near a campaign billboard featuring Milorad Dodik, Aco Stanisic, Savo Minic, Zeljka Cvijanovic and Damjan Skipina, candidates of the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD) in Bosnia and Herzegovina's 2026 general election, in Pale, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

People walk past near a campaign billboard featuring Milorad Dodik, Aco Stanisic, Savo Minic, Zeljka Cvijanovic and Damjan Skipina, candidates of the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD) in Bosnia and Herzegovina's 2026 general election, in Pale, Bosnia and Herzegovina, September 29, 2026.

REUTERS/Amel Emric
EU vs. Russia on the ballot in BosniaBosnians will head to the polls this weekend for elections in one of the world’s most complicated political systems. Voters will elect three national presidents representing three main ethnic groups – one Bosniak, one Croat, and one Serb. Collectively, they serve as the country’s head of state. But the biggest [...]
A person holds a depiction of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, as people gather on the day of a campaign rally of a pre-candidate of the right-wing Brazil's senator Flavio Bolsonaro, ahead of the presidential elections, in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

A person holds a depiction of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, as people gather on the day of a campaign rally of a pre-candidate of the right-wing Brazil's senator Flavio Bolsonaro, ahead of the presidential elections, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, March 1, 2026.

REUTERS/Jorge Silva
Brazilians head to the polls on Sunday to take the first step in deciding the future of Latin America’s largest economy, and potentially the political direction of the entire continent.The field is crowded, but two major players stand out: left-wing president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva seeking a fourth nonconsecutive term, and right-wing Senator [...]
Unemployment on the up
Lottie Tellyn
Republicans won’t be happy with the final jobs report before the midterms. Job market growth was weaker than expected, adding fewer than half of the jobs economists had predicted. It was particularly bad for Black Americans, for whom the unemployment rate rose a whole percentage point to 7% – nearly double that of white Americans. Overall [...]
US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping watch a military demonstration from a balcony of the White House in Washington, D.C.

US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping watch a military demonstration from a balcony of the White House in Washington, D.C., US, September 24, 2026.

REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
Just three years ago, people around the world viewed the US more favorably than China. That is no longer the case. According to data published by the Pew Research Center this summer, China now receives more favorable ratings in most of the 36 countries surveyed.It’s a dramatic change from just a year ago, when 49% of those surveyed had a favorable [...]