Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Hard Numbers

Hard Numbers: Turkey’s inflation falls, South Korea bans deepfake porn, Moonshine poisons dozens in Iran, Mexican troops kill migrants

A person holds a 100 Turkish lira banknote while on vacation in Turkey.

A person holds a 100 Turkish lira banknote while on vacation in Turkey.

Imago Images
Make us preferred on Google
50: The annual inflation rate in Turkey fell below 50% for the first time in a year this week, with prices rising by a mere 49% since last September. The data suggest President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s policy of austerity and high interest rates – currently at 50% – is working to tamp down runaway price growth. This is a big U-turn for Erdogan, who before his re-election last year took the deeply unorthodox view that low interest rates were the way to tackle inflation.

387: South Korea has detained 387 people this year for deepfake crimes – that is, using AI to create sexually explicit videos of real people without their consent. Last week, the country moved to outlaw the possession or even the viewing of such material. Experts say South Korea has the worst problem of any country in the world when it comes to sexually explicit deepfakes. Most of the perpetrators are teenage boys.

26: Tipples of toxic moonshine have killed at least 26 people in northern Iran and left hundreds hospitalized. Alcoholic beverages are generally banned under the strict Islamic revolutionary government that has held power in Iran since 1979, but where there’s a desire, there’s a drink – bootleggers and black-market booze smugglers are known to thrive.

6: At least six international migrants were dead after Mexican soldiers shot at a truck near the Guatemalan border on Wednesday. The Mexican Defense Department said troops had opened fire after hearing shots when the truck approached a checkpoint. The truck was carrying migrants from Egypt, Cuba, India, Pakistan, and at least one other country.

More For You

Denmark pays for its past
Will Fitzpatrick
The new law will offer those affected a one-time payment of 300,000 Danish kroner, or around $47,000, following a landmark report last year by officials in Denmark and Greenland. Greenlandic women and girls as young as 12 were implanted with IUDs, often without their consent or knowledge, sometimes leaving them infertile. The Danish government at [...]
A big settlement for Big Tech
Will Fitzpatrick
The Facebook and Instagram owner settled with 47 states, the District of Columbia, and US territories on Wednesday, agreeing to pay financial penalties and make changes to its products over claims that its platforms endangered children. Meta agreed to limit how long teenagers can spend on its apps, allow teens to turn off “autoplay" on videos, and [...]
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 [...]