Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

News

Hard Numbers: Viva Zapata

Make us preferred on Google

30,000: According to the UN, just over 30,000 refugees have reached Europe by boat across the Mediterranean so far this year. That compares with 114,000 for all of 2018, 171,000 in 2017, 363,000 in 2016, and more than 1 million at the height of the crisis in 2015.

4.25: Turkey's central bank slashed interest rates by a whopping 4.25 points this week, the biggest cut in 17 years. This is an important story because it shows just how desperate President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is to boost the local economy out of a recession that threatens his political popularity.


37,900: About 37,900 people held jobs in American newsrooms in 2018, according to Pew. In 2008, the figure was 71,000. Only a fraction of those journalists have been re-hired by digital media outlets.

10: Remember Franky Zapata, the former jet ski champion and inventor riding a hoverboard while carrying an assault rifle above the Bastille Day celebrations in Paris? Franky attempted this week to cross the English Channel on that board in 20 minutes at an average speech of about 87 mph at an average height of about 50 feet above the water. But 10 minutes into the flight, Franky got very wet. He says he'll try again. #TheRealRonObvious

More For You

Mexico’s newest export boom
Natalie Johnson
Mexico’s top export to the US might surprise you. For decades, cars dominated trade, but computer servers have taken the top spot, according to a Financial Times analysis. Over the past year, Mexico has rapidly increased exports to the US of servers used in AI data centers. As in the auto industry, many core components come from Asia, particularly [...]
A person casts a vote at a polling station during Zambia's general elections, including a presidential election, in Lusaka, Zambia.

A person casts a vote at a polling station during Zambia's general elections, including a presidential election, in Lusaka, Zambia, August 13, 2026.

REUTERS/Jean Mandela
Zambians want their slice of the copper piePolls closed in Zambia’s presidential election on Thursday as voters in one of Africa’s most stable democracies weighed whether the country’s economic turnaround has actually affected their wallets. President Hakainde Hichilema, who is seeking a second term, has overseen a successful debt restructuring, [...]
Nearly 5,000 protesters took part in a march against illegal immigration in Pretoria.

June 30, 2026 , Pretoria, South Africa: Nearly 5,000 protesters took part in a march against illegal immigration in Pretoria. The demonstrations were reportedly organized by more than 20 anti-migrant organizations and civil society groups, including the March and March movement.

© Manash Das/ZUMA Press Wire
South Africa bills other nations for deportationsSouth Africa is asking other African countries to reimburse them for the costs of deporting their citizens, after spending nearly $18 million on a massive deportation campaign. In recent months, the government has deported or helped other nations repatriate more than 80,000 migrants as it responds [...]
Japan’s outside-the-icebox way to stay cool
Will Fitzpatrick
A Japanese company has come up with a novel way to beat the heat: a human-sized refrigerator. The “Do Hiemon” personal cooling booth blasts users with cold air and claims it can lower body temperature in just minutes. The product comes as Japan endures another punishing summer marked by temperatures over 104 degrees and a surge in heat-related [...]