5: In Russia, the latest polls suggest there’s a good chance that none of Vladimir Putin’s seven opponents will receive more than 5 percent of the vote in this weekend’s presidential election. But will Putin achieve his goal of capturing 70% of votes and generating 70% turnout?
14: In Indonesia, police have arrested 14 members of a self-proclaimed cyber-jihadist network known as the Muslim Cyber Army. The group is accused of running an online operation designed to provoke religious and ethnic tension by spreading fake news about gay citizens, alleged communists, and the country’s Chinese minority. They also like to publish defamatory material about President Joko Widodo.
24: In Venezuela, a country trapped in economic crisis, a university study has foundthat nearly two-thirds of people surveyed said they had lost an average of 24 pounds (11 kilos) in body weight in the past year. About 20 percent of citizens depend on monthly government food deliveries for their survival.
910: In Syria, “extreme and indiscriminate violence” killed 910 children in 2017, a 50 percent increase on 2016 and the most of any year since the war began, according to UNICEF.
0: While per capital income has more than doubled in the US since 1972, subjective measures of well-being, like happiness, remain unchanged, according to the UN’s 2018 World Happiness Report. Health crises — from opioids to obesity — haven’t helped.
