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Hard Numbers: Missing Palestinian medics found in mass grave, Renowned Japanese species dies off, Romania’s far right keeps rolling, Trump’s latest approval ratings come in

​Palestinians mourn medics, who came under Israeli fire while on a rescue mission, after their bodies were recovered, according to the Red Crescent, at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip March 31, 2025.

Palestinians mourn medics, who came under Israeli fire while on a rescue mission, after their bodies were recovered, according to the Red Crescent, at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip March 31, 2025.

REUTERS/Hatem Khaled

15: Fifteen Palestinian medics who went missing last week were apparently killed by Israeli forces and buried in an impromptu mass grave along with their ambulances, according to the UN. Israel said its forces fired on the medical convoy after it began moving “suspiciously” and alleged that a specific Hamas operative was killed in the attack, but initial reports said his name was not listed among the dead. Gazans laid the medics to rest properly on Monday.


900,000: The days of the archetypal Japanese “salaryman” — spending his entire career with one company, toiling away by day and drinking away by night with the graybeards whom he will one day replace — are numbered. Last year, more than 900,000 Japanese people changed their full-time jobs, up 60% from a decade ago. Experts say Japan’s rapidly aging population has given younger workers fresh power to choose new paths.

35: With a little more than a month before the Romanian presidential election, polls show right-wing opposition leader George Simion as the frontrunner with 35% support. Last year, Romania canceled the results of the presidential election won by ultra-right-winger Calin Georgescu, alleging Russian meddling, and disqualified him from running again. Simion appears to have inherited his support.

49: A new poll shows 49% of Americans approve of Donald Trump’s handling of immigration, the highest mark of any issue. Meanwhile, 46% like how he has handled government spending, and roughly 4 in 10 Americans like his approach to trade and the economy.

4.6%: Fears over new US tariffs led to the S&P 500 falling 4.6% during the first three months of 2025, bringing a close to the worst quarter for the index since 2022. It’s quite the slowdown from the end of 2024, when the S&P completed a second straight year posting greater than 20% gains. The Stoxx Europe 600 index has had no such issues, running nearly 10 percentage points ahead of its American rival in the first quarter of this year.

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Kyodo via Reuters Connect
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REUTERS/Issei Kato
54: Japan is reopening the world’s largest nuclear power plant after a regional vote gave the greenlight on Monday. The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant, located 136 miles outside of Tokyo, had its 54 reactors shuttered following the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that spurred the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. The decision reflects Japan’s push to [...]
French President Emmanuel Macron arrives at the July 14, 2025 military parade on the Champs-Elysees in Paris. - 14/07/2025 - France / Ile-de-France (region) / Paris

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Julien Mattia / Le Pictorium.
1: French President Emmanuel Macron announced plans to build France’s first aircraft carrier in decades, as Europe accelerates rearmament. The ship won’t be ready before 2038. Germany, similarly, plans to recruit 80,000 troops and spend up to 3.5% of GDP on defense by 2029. [...]
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