Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Hard Numbers

Hard Numbers: China-Japan spat could hurt tourism, Pro-Russian pair accused of attacking Polish railway, Neo-Nazi pleads guilty to poison plot in NYC, South Africa blocks arrivals of Palestinians

​Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi holds talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Gyeongju, South Korea, on Oct. 31, 2025.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi holds talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Gyeongju, South Korea, on Oct. 31, 2025.

Kyodo via Reuters Connect
Make us preferred on Google

650,000: Roughly 650,000 Chinese tourists visited Japan in September, but those levels are under threat amid a diplomatic rift between the two countries. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi suggested that her country would intervene if China attacks Taiwan, prompting Beijing to cancel tour groups to Japan and ban employees of state-owned enterprises from traveling there.


2: Two Ukrainian men, who are believed to have been working with Russia, have been identified as the culprits behind the rail sabotage attacks in Poland over the weekend. The men are believed to have been recruited by Russian intelligence.

18: A Georgian man who hatched a plan to feed poisoned candy to Jewish children in New York City pleaded guilty on Monday to soliciting hate crimes. Prosecutors will seek an 18-year jail sentence. The man led a Russian & Ukrainian neo-Nazi group that has sought to sow violence worldwide.

2,000: The South African government announced that it will block the arrival of any further flights of Palestinians after hundreds arrived by air in recent weeks. Passengers said they paid $2,000 per ticket to an aid agency offering them a route out of the country, but South African Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola denounced the flights as part of “a broader agenda to remove Palestinians from Palestine.”

More For You

Fired up
Natalie Johnson
For years, an economically booming China built more gas-fired power plants each year than the US. But now that trend has reversed, as US construction of this type of plant surged by 76% this year. The main driver of the gas-fired plant boom is the staggering electricity demand of AI data centers. Gas is cleaner than coal, of course, but it is [...]
Singapore’s baby push
Will Fitzpatrick
Like many countries around the world, Singapore is experiencing a fertility crisis, with too few babies born to maintain the population level without net immigration, much less increase it. Last year, Singapore registered a record low rate of just 0.87 children per woman. At the same time, advances in healthcare that help people to live longer [...]
A ball that's about much more than sports
Will Fitzpatrick
One sports fan this weekend took home an important piece of soccer history: the ball Diego Maradona famously punched into the net with his left hand against England during the 1986 World Cup. The controversial “Hand of God” goal helped knock England out of the tournament, just four years after the two countries fought the Falklands War. It also [...]
The world’s oldest president returns to his post
He’s back! The 93-year-old finally returned from his “brief private stay in Europe,” during which rumors abounded about his health and ability to govern. Biya, the world’s oldest president, has led the Central African country since 1982 and has previously disappeared from public view for extended periods. Many worry about what would happen if Biya [...]