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A member of the M23 rebel group walks on the outskirts of Matanda in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, March 22, 2025.
Hard Numbers: Civilian killings in the DRC, Musk scraps plans for third party, Swedish church moves to altar-nate site, & More
140: Rwanda-backed rebels killed at least 140 civilians in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in July, per Human Rights Watch, and the number could rise to 300. The two sides had seemed on the path to peace after signing a peace deal in the White House in June, but the killings suggest the conflict is far from settled.
30: Eemeli Peltonen, a 30-year-old Finnish Member of Parliament, passed away in the parliament building yesterday. It appears he died by suicide. The death of Peltonen, who was a member of the center-left Social Democratic Party, has shocked the country. He was one of the youngest politicians in the Finnish government.
79: A bus carrying Afghans who had been expelled from Iran crashed in western Afghanistan yesterday, killing 79 people. It was on its way from the border to the capital Kabul. Iran has deported hundreds of thousands of Afghans this year, in part over unsubstantiated claims that they were spying for the Israelis.
$290 million: So much for that third-party idea: Tesla owner Elon Musk is quietly shelving his own plan to fund a third party in the United States. Musk donated over $290 million to Republican campaigns ahead of the 2024 election, but had threatened to create a new party – and inject it with some of his cash – when Congress passed the One Big Beautiful Bill. It seems he realized he had a mountain to climb.
672: Talk about a pilgrimage! A 133-year-old church in northern Sweden – all 672 tons of it – completed its two-day relocation today, after shifting three miles down the road in the village of Kiruna. Risk of ground subsidence forced the move – the town’s history of iron ore mining meant the church was no longer on terra firma. To achieve the move, the whole building was placed onto a giant trailer and hauled at a steady pace of roughly 550 yards per hour.A woman lights a cigarette placed in a placard depicting Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, during a demonstration, after the Hungarian parliament passed a law that bans LGBTQ+ communities from holding the annual Pride march and allows a broader constraint on freedom of assembly, in Budapest, Hungary, on March 25, 2025.
What We’re Watching: Budapest Pride parade, Rwanda and DRC peace agreement, SCOTUS ruling on Trump’s executive power
Pride and Politics: the drama in Budapest
Hungary’s capital will proceed with Saturday’s Pride parade celebrating the LGBTQ+ community, despite the rightwing national government’s recent ban on the event. The culture war between the city and “illiberal” Prime Minister Viktor Orbán reflects wider urban/rural splits in Hungary. The European Union has urged Orbán to lift the ban and is probing the legality of Hungarian police using facial recognition to identify attendees. Many countries have expressed support for the parade, but the Trump administration, sharing Orbán’s misgivings about LGBTQ+ culture, is not among them.
Rwanda and DRC to sign Trump-brokered peace deal
Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo will sign a peace deal in Washington today, hoping to end a conflict that has killed thousands and displaced millions. The war in a nutshell: Rwanda has backed rebel groups that have seized large swaths of territory in the mineral-rich DRC. The Trump administration, which wants a Nobel peace prize for its efforts, brokered the agreement in part to gain access to DRC critical minerals, but critics say the economic terms are still vague.
US Supreme Court hands Trump a win versus the judiciary
The US top court on Friday limited federal judges’ ability to issue nationwide injunctions against executive orders, but did not rule directly on the constitutionality of President Donald Trump’s order to limit birthright citizenship. The 6-3 decision, which halts Trump’s citizenship order for 30 days while other legal challenges play out, was split along ideological lines – the liberal minority dissented. The ruling could affect the roughly 255,000 children born annually in the United States to parents who are neither citizens nor permanent residents, per a Penn State estimate. But it also expands executive power vis-a-vis the courts more broadly. For more on this, watch Ian Bremmer’s recent interview with Yale Law School senior fellow Emily Bazelon.Russian President Vladimir Putin visits the Kursk-II nuclear power plant under construction, in the Kursk region, Russia, on May 21, 2025.
What We’re Watching: Putin celebrates in Kursk, “Death camp” discovery in Mexico, & DRC seeks US help against China
Putin takes a victory lap
Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Kursk on Tuesday for the first time since the Kremlin declared that it had ejected Ukrainian fighters from the Russian region. It’s another flex for a leader who signals no interest in halting the war in Ukraine. The next challenge for Moscow: Can its army secure major battlefield gains this summer to further boost its bargaining position?
Activists press Mexico’s government on cartel “death camp”
Pressure is growing on Mexico’s government to take action against drug cartels that have kidnapped, tortured, and killed tens of thousands of people over the last two decades, after relatives of some of the 120,000 disappeared persons learnt this week about a “death camp” in the western state of Colima. Authorities discovered mass graves there 18 months ago, but only just passed on the information to victims’ families. Taking on these gangs is a complex task for President Claudia Sheinbaum, as local authorities lack the manpower and firepower to quell them.
US vs China in the DRC
Felix Tshisekedi, president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, has picked a fight with China over its cobalt and wants US help. The sub-Saharan nation banned exports of the metal – an essential input for the battery, defense, and aerospace industries – in February, but China’s top cobalt producer, COMC, is now pushing the DRC to lift the ban. The DRC produces about three-quarters of the world’s cobalt, and is seeking to engage the Trump administration to find new investment partners in a bid to limit Chinese influence in its cobalt trade.
A child, suffering from malnutrition, is treated at Port Sudan Paediatric Centre, during a visit by WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to the country, in Sudan, on Sept. 7, 2024.
Hard Numbers: Cholera spreads in Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo turns to an unlikely source to boost tourism, Mass executions held in Iraq, Gunman hijacks bus in LA
430: Over 430 people have died from cholera in Sudan in the past month, according to the country’s health ministry, and the devastating civil war there is making it hard to provide treatment. Doctors Without Borders recently described the health system in Sudan as “decimated” and warned that the humanitarian response amid the cholera outbreak is “regularly obstructed by both warring parties.”
3: AC Milan, one of Italy’s top soccer teams, is reportedly in talks with the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo for a three-year sponsorship deal that would see the club promote the African country as a tourism destination. But there’s an ongoing war in the DRC. Vacationing in a war zone – what could go wrong? The Italian ambassador to the country was killed there just three years ago when the convoy he was traveling with was ambushed, making it no surprise that Italy currently advises people against visiting the country.
21: Iraq executed 21 people, including a woman, on Wednesday, with most reportedly charged with terrorism. Rights groups like Amnesty International have fiercely criticized Iraq for convicting people on “overly broad and vague terrorism charges,” and they have urged the Iraqi government to halt executions.
7: A bus was hijacked by a gunman in Los Angeles on Wednesday and traveled nearly seven miles before coming to a stop after police used spike strips and punctured one of the tires. One passenger reportedly died from gunshot wounds. The suspect has surrendered, but the motive remains unclear.
Jeong Bo-mi, 37, and her baby in Seoul, South Korea, April 7, 2016.
Hard Numbers: South Korea's baby money, Cobalt and reproductive issues in the DRC, Egypt gets bailed out, Calif. braces amid storms, New Japanese words hit dictionary
75,000: In South Korea, where the overall fertility rate is expected to plummet to 0.68 this year, significantly lower than the 2.1 deemed essential by the OECD for maintaining a relatively steady population, a construction firm is providing employees with a $75,000 reward for every child they have. This initiative is just one of numerous attention-grabbing incentives being introduced as policymakers and businesses contend with the nation's demographic challenges.
56: A study from NGO’s Rights & Accountability in Development and Afrewatch found 56% of respondents in 25 villages near five major cobalt mines reported serious concerns over related health issues, including miscarriages and birth defects. Cobalt production is critical for electric vehicles and batteries and has ramped up over the past decade fueled by the green energy transition.
8 billion: The International Monetary Fund confirmed Saturday it will more than double the bailout loan it is issuing to Egypt to $8 billion, as Cairo’s economy nears collapse with dwindling foreign reserves and soaring inflation. Egypt secured a similarly sized aid package from the EU as well, which will be disbursed over three years.20 million: Some 20 million West Coasters were facing flood watches thanks to a big storm that slammed the Golden State over the weekend. While much of the state faced up to three inches of rain, the foothills of Southern California were expecting up to six. The havoc came just a week after Gov. Gavin Newsom expanded a state of emergency to 11 counties that struggled with powerful storms in early February.
23: The Oxford English Dictionary added 23 Japanese words in its latest update. More than half of the borrowed words relate to cooking, while a number also relate to art like Kintsugi, an increasingly popular way of repairing broken pottery with gold lacquer.
Santa does his holiday shopping
Hard Numbers: Santa sees holiday sales surge, Ukraine scores a win at sea, Catholic monasteries busy brewin’ beer, Opposition candidates cry fraud in Congo
360: As the Ukraine War grinds into a stalemate on land, at sea Kyiv scored a win against Moscow’s Black Sea Fleet when it destroyed a 360 foot warship at port in Russian-occupied Crimea. The successful attack came as Ukrainian officials acknowledged that they had lost the month-long battle to maintain control of the eastern city of Marinka.
13: The Christmas season is a busy time for Catholic monasteries around the world, but especially for 13 Trappist monasteries across Europe, responsible for producing the world’s supply of Trappist beer. Trappist beer – often lauded as the best, as well as the holiest, beer – flies off the monastery’s shelves at Christmas, with the sole UK monastery selling nearly a third of the 105,000 liters it produces each year over the holiday season.
18: The 18 opposition candidates in Democratic Republic of Congo’s presidential election plan to march on the capital city, Kinshasa, on Wednesday over alleged election fraud. Although the official results won’t be released until December 31st, early results show the incumbent Felix Tshisekedi far ahead of his challengers, winning almost 79% of the 6.1 million votes counted so far.Aftermath of a Russian missile strike, in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine.
Hard Numbers: Russia's deadly hit in central Ukraine, pandemic money vanishes, AI comes to Jesus, DRC refugee camp attacked, Russian birds on “strike”
10: At least 10 people were killed Tuesday when Russian forces hit a number of civilian buildings in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih. An industrial hub, Kryvyi Rih had already been impacted by last week’s dam breach, prompting authorities to instruct residents to consume less water because of a drop in supplies.
400 billion: Did the pandemic lead to the biggest grift in US history? An Associated Press analysis found that at least $400 billion in US federal COVID relief funds were either stolen or lost. That’s about 10% of all US federal pandemic funds, and it’s about equal to the GDP of Hungary or Greece. As Washington scrambled to pump cash to vulnerable businesses and individuals, oversight fell apart – fraudsters posing as dead people even got some of the money.
45: At least 45 people were killed in an attack on an internally displaced persons camp in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Local officials blamed CODECO, a coalition of militias that has frequently attacked IDP camps. The country, wracked by numerous civil conflicts since the 1990s, is home to more than 5 million IDPs, the largest number in Africa.
300: Can there be Deus IN Machina? More than 300 churchgoers in Germany recently attended a sermon – replete with biblical quotes and prayers – led by an AI that was personified by four humanoid avatar “priests” projected on a screen. The AI priests’ creator, a 29-year old Viennese theologian who used ChatGPT, says he wants AI to help human clerics expand their reach and scholarship, not replace them.
82: Incidents in which Russian airliners were damaged by bird strikes have soared 82% so far this year. That’s according to a leaked letter from the head of Russia’s civil aviation service, which warns of “serious problems” in airport functioning (source in Russian). Some experts have suggested war-related shortages of funding, manpower, or equipment could be to blame. But what if the birds are just very pro-Ukrainian?
French President Emmanuel Macron speaks to the media in Brussels.
What We're Watching: Macron gets a boost, East Africa trade bloc welcomes DRC
Macron’s Ukraine boost
Less than two weeks before France’s presidential election, incumbent Emmanuel Macron has a nine-point lead ahead of far-right firebrand Marine Le Pen. The war in Ukraine has given Macron a chance to showcase his statesman bonafides, boosting his lead in the polls. He has spoken with Vladimir Putin many times over the past month and is trying to coordinate a humanitarian corridor for residents of Mariupol (though that seems to have failed). Macron’s critics say he’s used the war to avoid going head to head with rivals on domestic issues. Still, Macron isn’t popular. The centrist is seen by many as an aloof elitist detached from real people’s problems. What’s more, while unemployment is at a 13-year low, soaring food and fuel prices are fueling voter antipathy and, for some, apathy. A recent poll found that only one-third of French voters plan to cast their ballots. But with the left imploding and the far-right remaining divided, Macron wins by default (though the second-round runoff with Le Pen could be much closer than their 2017 face-off).
DRC joins East African economic bloc
The Democratic Republic of Congo was admitted on Tuesday into the East African Community, the regional economic bloc. Once lawmakers ratify accession, DRC’s citizens will be able to travel visa-free to the other six members — Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda — while most tariffs will be lifted for most DRC products. The EAC, in turn, theoretically gains access to the Atlantic Ocean via a tiny strip of DRC land, as well as the DRC’s 90 million people and natural resources. But there are two big problems. First, the DRC urgently needs to upgrade its road and rail networks. Second, and more importantly, the DRC government must do a much better job on security. Last December, it asked Ugandan troops to help combat the Allied Democratic Forces, one of several rebel groups operating in the resource-rich eastern part of the country. On Monday, DRC forces clashed with M23 militants, which a decade ago controlled swaths of Kivu province but have since mostly retreated to neighboring Rwanda and Uganda (which the DRC and UN have accused of supporting the rebels).