We have updated our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use for Eurasia Group and its affiliates, including GZERO Media, to clarify the types of data we collect, how we collect it, how we use data and with whom we share data. By using our website you consent to our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy, including the transfer of your personal data to the United States from your country of residence, and our use of cookies described in our Cookie Policy.
Hard Numbers
Hard Numbers: Russia shoots down space resolution, US economy sputters, Nigerian prisoners make slippery escape, Ecuador gets lifeline
A Russian Soyuz rocket is carried to the launching pad at Russia's Baikonur cosmodrome on the territory of the former Soviet Kazakhstan on December 18.
13: A UN Security Council resolution reaffirming a long-standing prohibition on arms races in outer space got 13 votes in favor this week, but it was shot down by a single veto from UNSC permanent member Russia. Moscow says it wasn’t necessary to support a resolution that merely reaffirmed a 1967 treaty that Russia is already part of, but the US ambassador to the UN asked, “What could you possibly be hiding?” In recent months, the US has said it believes Russia is developing a new space-based, anti-satellite weapon.
1.6: The US economy expanded by just 1.6% in the first quarter of the year, lagging analyst forecasts by nearly a full percentage point, as consumer spending slowed. Normally that would create momentum for the Fed to cut interest rates to spur growth, but there’s no joy there either: Core inflation (which excludes food and energy) rose 3.7%, higher than economists expectations, limiting the scope for any near-term rate cuts.
118: Authorities in the Nigerian capital of Abuja are on high alert after a rainstorm destroyed a fence at a nearby penitentiary, allowing as many as 118 inmates to escape. A prison service spokesperson blamed “colonial era” facilities. Weak security and run-down buildings contribute to frequent prison-breaks in the West African nation.
4 billion: After months of talks, Ecuador and the IMF agreed to a $4 billion loan agreement meant to help stabilize the small Andean country’s finances as it grapples with a vicious cycle of economic hardship, rising poverty, and skyrocketing homicides. Just days earlier, Ecuadorians had voted yes in a referendum to boost the government’s ability to crack down on drug violence.Dairy farmer Brent Pollard's cows stand in their pen at a cattle farm in Rockford, Illinois, U.S., April 9, 2024.
8: Bird flu continues to spread its wings in the US, where agriculture authorities on Wednesday ordered the dairy industry to test milk-producing cows for the virus after herds in eight states tested positive for the disease. Authorities say they are confident that normal pasteurization processes will eradicate the pathogen from any milk, but tests are ongoing. So far this year, millions of American chickens have met a crueler fate – culled to stop the spread of the illness.
50: Wildfire season has sprung in Alberta, with at least 50 people forced to leave their homes ahead of fast-spreading blazes in the province this week. Provincial authorities warn that this season could be particularly bad, with 755 hectares already burnt this year – more than three times the five-year rolling average for this time of year. 2023 was the worst on record.
1: At least one company has already been granted an exemption from Canada’s recent sanctions on Russian titanium exports. European planemaker Airbus will be permitted to continue using Russian titanium at its Canada-based plants. Russia is one of the largest titanium exporters in the world, accounting for 15% of the global market in titanium metal precursors. Earlier this year, Canada became the first country to slap sanctions on VSMPO-Avisma, a state company that accounts for the lion’s share of Russia’s exports of the metal.
31: Speaking of underground things that roil above-ground politics, Canada says it is working with its Five Eyes partners (US, UK, Canada, and Australia) to stop global price manipulation of 31 critical metals by rival producers. Canada & Friends say that large producers of copper or rare earths, such as China or Indonesia, have been “dumping” huge quantities of their products at bargain prices in third markets to undercut Western producers. Canada’s government last month raised the alarm about this practice occurring with minerals that are essential for EV production.
Two horses on the loose bolt through the streets of London near Aldwych on Wednesday, April 24, 2024.
5: Talk about a rough commute … Five military horsesescaped their handlers and galloped through London in a slightly terrifying rush hour spectacle, injuring several people and narrowly dodging crowds of innocent bystanders. Before being recaptured by handlers, the horses gallivanted through the center of town for two hours, traversing roughly six miles. Theimpact of Beyonce’s “Cowboy Carter” era should never be underestimated.
200 million: Germany plans to resume funding UNRWA – the UN’s main aid organization for Palestine — which it funded with over $200 million in 2023. The move follows the conclusion of an independent review stating Israel did not provide enough evidence of allegations of widespread UNRWA infiltration by terrorist militants that initially caused the suspension. More than a dozen countries paused funding as a result of Israel’s accusations. Germany will be joining Canada, Australia, and Sweden in resuming funding. Other major donors like the US and UK remain on pause.
100,000: Students are protesting nationwide in Argentina, and in a much bigger way than antiwarprotesters on US campuses. Police say 100,000 students and supporters (organizers say closer to half a million) took to the streets of Buenos Aires aloneon Tuesday in defense of free public universities. Annual inflation in Argentina is approaching 290%, and budget cuts are putting public universities in jeopardy.
7: Seven Australian teenagers werearrested Wednesday following a knife attack earlier this month that injured an Assyrian Orthodox bishop and priest at a Sydney church. Police said the suspects were motivated by religious and “violent extremist ideology.” Video of the attack was shared widely before Australian courts banned it from major social media platforms. Unsurprisingly, Twitter/X owner (and self-appointed free speech czar) Elon Musk wasnot too pleased about the order.
38: Geopolitical tensions — including the wars in Ukraine and Gaza — are puffing up commodity prices, which are currently still 38% higher than pre-COVID averages, according to a new report by the World Bank. That’s keeping inflation from falling — and that’s the benign scenario, where global crises don’t get any worse. If they do, the Bank warns, oil prices could surge above $100 per barrel, driving up global inflation by another full percentage point.
Hard Numbers: Argentina in the money, China-Libya drones plot in Canada, Recording Gaza’s casualties, Arms spending peaks
Javier Milei, the President of Argentina, speaks at the final day of the conservative conference on February 24, 2024.
0.2: Argentina is in the black for the first time since 2008. The South American country is starting Q2 with a 0.2% fiscal surplus in quarterly revenues. President Javier Milei took a victory lap and promised to continue his fiscal austerity program, causing bond valuations to jump.
2: Two former UN employees in Montreal were charged with participating in a conspiracy to sell Chinese military equipment to Libya, including large drones capable of carrying multiple missiles. The men are accused of violating sanctions related to the Libyan civil war (2014-2020) between 2018 and 2021. One of the suspects was arrested Tuesday, but the other remains at large.
80,000: The US State Department’s annual human rights assessment found that nearly 80,000 people in Gaza have been killed or injured during the Israeli offensive, amounting to some 3% of the population.
2.4 trillion: The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute found that global military expenditures reached an all-time high of $2.4 trillion, a year-over-year increase of 6.8%. The United States alone made up 37% of that spending, and with China spending another 12%, the two leading military powers cumulatively spent just under half of the world’s entire military budget.
Hard Numbers: Google’s spending spree, Going corporate, Let’s see a movie, Court-ordered AI ban, Energy demands
Demis Hassabis, CEO of DeepMind Technologies and developer of AlphaGO, attends the AI Safety Summit in Bletchley Park, near Milton Keynes, Britain, November 2, 2023.
100 billion: AI is a priority for many of Silicon Valley’s top companies — and it’s a costly one. Google DeepMind chief Demis Hassabis said that the tech giant plans to spend more than $100 billion developing artificial intelligence. That’s the same amount that rival Microsoft is expected to spend in building an AI-powered supercomputer, nicknamed Stargate.
72.5: The free market is dominating the AI game: Of the foundation models released between 2019 and 2023, 72.5% of them originated from private industry, according to a new Staford report. 108 models were released by companies, as opposed to 28 from academia, nine from an industry-academia collaboration, and four from government. None at all were released through a collaboration between government and industry.
5: The A24 film Civil War has garnered considerable controversy for its content, but its promotion is under scrutiny as well. Five posters for the film were created using artificial intelligence and depict scenes that never occur in the narrative. That’s kicked off a debate about the ethics of using AI in film marketing as well as questions of whether this is false advertising for the movie itself.
1,000: A sex offender in the UK who was found to have created 1,000 indecent images of children was banned from using any “AI creating tools” for five years by a British court. It’s not clear if he was actually using AI to create the illegal images in question, or if the order is peremptory, but it could serve as a model for future punishment in UK cases in the future. Meanwhile, on April 23, a group of AI companies including Google, Meta, and OpenAI, pledged to better prevent their tools from creating sexualized images of children and other exploitative material.
4.5: Salesforce is calling on AI companies to disclose the energy efficiency and carbon footprint of their models, and asking legislators to pass new laws aimed at demanding transparency and reducing the total energy consumption of AI. Salesforce’s best estimates put the total power generation demands of global data centers at 1.5% but warn that that figure could increase to 4.5% in the coming years absent intervention.German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is received by Chinese President Xi Jinping at the State Guest House.
3: Germany has arrested three German nationals suspected of spying for China. They’re accused of passing along sensitive military intelligence to the Ministry of State Security, China’s powerful spy agency. The timing is awkward, given that Berlin is trying to reset trade relations with Beijing.
2.3: If you’ve had a summer vacation in Europe recently, you may have felt like it was unbearably hot – that’s no coincidence. Europe is the fastest-warming continent on the planet, according to a new report from two leading climate-monitoring organizations. Temperatures there are now 2.3° Celsius above pre-industrial levels, per the latest five-year averages, compared to 1.3° Celsius globally. But Europe’s not alone: The entire planet’s surface temperature is rising.
7 billion: President Joe Biden celebrated Earth Day on Monday by announcing $7 billion in federal grants for solar power projects in residential areas that will power over 900,000 households in low-income and disadvantaged communities and help save $8 billion in energy costs, according to EPA estimates. Biden is promoting his environmental policy as he vies to woo young voters – a crucial voting bloc – at a time when many in this demographic express concern over the economy and outrage over his approach to the war in Gaza.
110,000: Flooding in China’s Guangdong province caused by heavy rains has seen 110,000 people evacuated from their homes. The extreme weather led over a million people in the province to lose power over the weekend. Flooding from relentless rain has also devastated East Africa, affecting over 200,000 in Burundi, one of the world’s poorest countries.
A Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship searching for two MSDF helicopters in waters east of Torishima Island in the Izu Island chain in the Pacific after they crashed.
2: Two Japanese navy helicopters crashed over the weekend during nighttime training in the Pacific Ocean south of Tokyo, leaving one dead and seven missing. Officials believe it’s “highly likely” that the two choppers collided. The US pledged its support after the crash, offering to help with the search and rescue. Japan in recent years has boosted defense spending and strengthened military cooperation with the US amid concerns over China’s ambitions in the region.
800,000: Top UN officials on Friday warned that Sudan’s civil war was placing 800,000 people in the city of El Fasher in “extreme and immediate danger.” Fighting there could “unleash bloody intercommunal strife throughout Darfur,” says UN political affairs chief Rosemary DiCarlo. The war in Sudan, which just entered its second year, has displaced eight million people and left 25 million in desperate need of humanitarian assistance.
50: The US on Thursday restarted deportation flights to Haiti, which has been consumed by deadly gang violence, sending about 50 Haitians back to the Caribbean nation. The move was fervently decried by rights groups and faced pushback from some Democratic lawmakers in Washington. President Joe Biden has felt pressure to take a stronger approach to illegal immigration as Republicans zero in on the issue of border security amid an election year.
14 million: Tens of thousands of people in the Canary Islands took to the streets on Saturday to protest against mass tourism, which they say is putting too much strain on the Spanish archipelago and driving up housing costs while depleting resources. Last year, nearly 14 million people visited the Canary Islands, which is home to 2.2 million people. The protesters called for authorities to limit the number of visitors and place more restrictions on property purchases by foreigners, among other steps.
Latest
