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Hard Numbers: UN chief backs Kenyan cops for Haiti, US curbs Hungarians’ perks, US debt rating cut, Iran creates hot new holiday, Trump and Biden tie it up, Rishi Sunak’s wardrobe gets pantsed
Members of the Haitian National Police patrol a street amid ongoing gun battles between rival gangs.
1,000: UN chief Antonio Guterres has backed a proposal by Kenya to lead a 1,000-strong police force to Haiti, where soaring gang violence has plunged the country into an acute political and humanitarian crisis (see Ian Bremmer’s Quick Take). To our knowledge it would be the first time that an African Union country leads a UN-backed policing or peacekeeping force in the Americas.
1 million: The US has tightened visa restrictions for Hungarians because of concerns that Budapest didn’t adequately vet the identities of 1 million people who acquired Hungarian citizenship by ancestry over the past decade. The people are mostly ethnic Hungarians living in neighboring Romania, Ukraine, and Serbia. PM Viktor Orban – who openly laments the historical losses of Hungarian territory – simplified the process for naturalization in 2011 in a move critics said was designed to help him at the polls.
3: Worried about US budget problems over the next 3 years, the Fitch Ratings on Tuesday downgraded the US debt rating from AAA to AA+. The agency wasn’t amused by Congress and the White House playing fiscal chicken this spring, risking a default by the world’s largest economy.
2: Amid a global heatwave, it’s now hot enough to officially do nothing for a few days in Iran. The government has decreed that Wednesday and Thursday will be public holidays due to “unprecedented heat.” Temps are expected to surpass 100 degrees Fahrenheit in the capital of Tehran later this week.
43: Speaking of heats, there’s now a dead one between US President Joe Biden and presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump. In a new Times/Siena poll, each man got the support of 43% of registered voters. Think Trump’s mounting legal troubles might change that? As we wrote yesterday, it sure doesn’t seem like it …
2-4”: Oh no, UK PM Rishi Sunak has been hit where it hurts – his wardrobe! Derek Guy, the menswear blogger whose controversial Twitter thread about the Spanish King’s “level of tailoring” got more than 30M views last month, now alleges that the sharply dressed British premier actually has “sleeves and trousers 2-4” too short.” No word from nearby Savile Row just yet …CORRECTION: An earlier version of this piece stated incorrectly that Romania is not an EU member. The country joined the Union in 2007. We regret the error and adore Bucharest.