Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

News

Hard Numbers: US inflation spikes, Nicaraguan visas scrapped, COVID booster debate, global hunger soars

Hard Numbers: US inflation spikes, Nicaraguan visas scrapped, COVID booster debate, global hunger soars
Make us preferred on Google

5.4: Inflation spiked 5.4 percent last month, marking the fastest monthly pace since the Great Recession in 2008. The Biden administration says that this is a "bump in the road" as temporary post-pandemic supply shortages distort prices, but some economists say that high prices are here to stay because of too-generous government stimulus doled out during the pandemic.


100: The US State Department on Monday scrapped travel visas of 100 Nicaraguan legislators, judges and prosecutors who have backed Daniel Ortega's Sandinista government. Ortega, who is running for his fourth term in November elections, has arrested dozens of opposition candidates and journalists in recent months, and has long been labeled an abuser of human rights by the international community.

1: Israel has become the first country to offer COVID-19 booster shots as a bulwark against the spreading Delta variant, offering the third dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech shot to immunocompromised people. This comes as the World Health Organization slammed the idea of high-income countries offering third shots before many low- and middle-income states have secured access to first doses.

811 million: About a tenth of the global population — 811 million people — was undernourished in 2020, an uptick in global hunger linked to the pandemic. More than half of the world's undernourished population lives in Asia, while one third lives in Africa.

More For You

​A woman votes on Election Day, in Arden, North Carolina, on November 5, 2024.

A woman votes during the 2024 US presidential election on Election Day, in Arden, North Carolina, on November 5, 2024.

REUTERS/Jonathan Drake
Young voters are splitting up, and gender is the wedge. In countries around the world, young women are moving steadily left while young men are shifting toward conservative and nationalist parties. [...]
Out of Le Pen-alty box
Farida Dowidar
Le Pen, who leads the National Rally party, can run for president for a fourth time next year in 2027, after the Paris Court of Appeals shortened her ban on holding public office. However, she may have to run under conditions she won’t like: the court ruled Le Pen must wear an ankle bracelet, which she previously said she wouldn’t accept. Le Pen [...]
​US President Donald Trump and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan at the Bestepe Presidential Compound in Ankara, Turkey, on July 7, 2026.

US President Donald Trump and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan participate in a state arrival ceremony and honor guard review, before attending a NATO leaders summit, at the Bestepe Presidential Compound in Ankara, Turkey, on July 7, 2026.

REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
NATO summit opens with Trump at center stageWorld leaders arrived in Ankara, Turkey, for this week’s NATO summit, where a light official agenda is being overshadowed by side deals that could hand US President Donald Trump some early wins. During his meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Trump announced plans to lift sanctions [...]
The new smoke-free craze
Farida Dowidar
Nicotine pouches have exploded in popularity, and Zyn, the leading brand, is expected to see nearly $33 billion in sales growth. Like vapes, pouches are part of the wave of smoke-free nicotine products creating new revenue streams for tobacco companies while sales of cigarettes in places like the US have seen a sharp decline. While the [...]