Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Hard Numbers

Cuba’s fuel shortage prompts garbage crisis, Cyclone in Madagascar kills dozens, China set for Lunar New Year travel, Israel issues Hamas disarmament deadline

​A man throws trash on a street in downtown Havana, Cuba, February 16, 2026.

A man throws trash on a street in downtown Havana, Cuba, February 16, 2026.

REUTERS/Norlys Perez
Make us preferred on Google
41.5%: The proportion of Havana’s garbage trucks that were operational this month, according to state-run media, as Cuba’s fuel crisis prompts a garbage crisis. Rotten food, cardboard boxes, and plastic bottles have been piling up on the streets. Just 44 of 106 garbage trucks were functioning.

59: The number of people who have died in Madagascar due to Cyclone Gezani, which hit the island nation last week. Another 15 remain missing, while over 16,000 people have been displaced. The cyclone had sustained winds of 115 miles per hour.

9.5 billion: The record number of passenger trips that are expected across China during the Lunar New Year holiday to usher in the Year of the Horse. The Chinese government is hoping the holiday will boost domestic spending, which it identified as a priority for the year ahead.

60: The number of days that Israel gave Hamas to disarm in an ultimatum issued yesterday. As expected, the militant group rejected those demands, which is a critical facet of the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal.

More For You

America’s expanding proletariat
Will Fitzpatrick
There is no official definition of “working class” – an economist might point to a certain income bracket or education level, while a Marxist might say it includes anyone who has to sell their labor to survive. But in the US now, the label seems to extend well beyond the traditional industrial proletariat – according to the poll, nearly half of [...]
China’s solar eclipse of the US
Will Fitzpatrick
China now produces more power via solar than coal for the first time ever, with rays of the sun accounting for more than 30% of the country’s total installed power generation, according to Chinese state TV. China, which remains the world’s leading overall greenhouse gas emitter, has leaned heavily into renewable energy installation and generation [...]
All eyez on the verdict
Natalie Johnson
For three decades, Shakur’s death remained one of America’s most famous cold cases, spawning dozens of conspiracy theories but no conviction. That changed yesterday, when a Las Vegas court found Duane “Keffe D” Davis, a former gang leader, guilty of orchestrating the murder, which came amid crisscrossing tensions between Los Angeles gangs and an [...]
Big win in the Little League World Series
Will Fitzpatrick
It’s the second time Curaçao has won the Little League World Series, a global tournament for baseball teams of 10- to 12-year-olds. The tiny Caribbean nation of 150,000 people — once a Dutch colony and still affiliated with the Kingdom of the Netherlands — is an unexpected baseball powerhouse. The sport was introduced by Dominican and Venezuelan [...]