Trending Now
We have updated our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use for Eurasia Group and its affiliates, including GZERO Media, to clarify the types of data we collect, how we collect it, how we use data and with whom we share data. By using our website you consent to our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy, including the transfer of your personal data to the United States from your country of residence, and our use of cookies described in our Cookie Policy.
{{ subpage.title }}
Fleeing office workers run from the scene of an active shooter in Midtown Manhattan, Monday, June 28, 2025, in New York City.
Hard Numbers: Shooter kills four in New York skyscraper, Deadly floods in China, Abducted Nigerians killed after ransom payment sent & More
4: A gunman killed four people, including a police officer, at a Midtown Manhattan skyscraper in New York City on Monday. The shooter, identified as Shane Tamura, was armed with an M4 assault rifle when he entered the building, which is home to the headquarters of the National Football League (NFL) and other corporations. Tamura was carrying a note claiming that he suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy – a degenerative brain disease common among football players – because of the NFL.
38: At least 38 people are dead after days of heavy rains and flooding in Northern China, prompting President Xi Jinping to initiate “all-out” search and rescue efforts on Monday. The extreme weather has also led officials to evacuate 80,000 residents from Beijing, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
35: Nigerian gunmen killed at least 35 hostages despite receiving a ransom payment of 50 million naira ($32,600) for the release of 56 people that they had abducted from a village in northern Nigeria. Mass kidnappings are commonplace in Africa’s most populous country, and there has been a spate of them in the first half of 2025 (read more here).
1: In a bid to better control online information and protect “moral and ethical values”, Kyrgyzstan’s government has decreed that all internet traffic will be handled by one state monopoly. As part of the move, the small Central Asian nation has also banned online “skin flicks” (sorry for the archaic term, readers, but we’ve got spam filters to beat!)
13: After a case that lasted 13 years, a Colombian lower court judge found former President Álvaro Uribe guilty of bribery on Monday, in what was the first major criminal conviction of an ex-leader in Colombia. The conservative Uribe, who led the country from 2002 to 2010, will likely appeal the ruling, meaning the case is far from over.
A drone view shows a flooded area in the city of Bahia Blanca, in the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Hard Numbers: Deadly Argentinian floods, Palestinian protester arrested, Mexico’s grim discovery, DRC sets rebel bounties, America losing its butterflies, Internet shutdowns imperil democracy
13: The port city of Bahia Blanca, Argentina, was devastated by a massive rainstorm this weekend that dumped a year’s worth of rain in just a few hours, killing 13 people and displacing hundreds. A similarly devastating rainstorm in December 2023 also claimed 13 lives in Bahia Blanca.
200: A grim discovery was made in a clandestine crematorium in Jalisco, Mexico: 200 pairs of shoes. The footwear is believed to belong to people killed by organized criminal gangs. It was uncovered by relatives of some of Jalisco’s 15,000 missing people, the most of any state in Mexico, where over 100,000 people are registered as “disappeared.”
5 million: The Democratic Republic of Congo has announced a $5 million reward for information leading to the arrest of three M23 rebel leaders, and a $4 million reward for the arrest of two journalists in exile deemed as “accomplices.” But with the DRC’s army increasingly outmatched by rebel forces, the chances of capture are considered slim.
22: A new study reveals that America’s butterfly population has declined by 22% since 2000, with the Southwest hardest hit with a drop of over 50%. The change is primarily attributed to insecticides, climate change, and habitat loss, and it could imperil certain crops, including Texas cotton, of which half is pollinated by butterflies.
296: The latest twist in cyber warfare? Internet shutdowns. In 2024, 296 shutdowns were reported across 54 countries, compared with 283 shutdowns in 39 countries the previous year. Shutdowns were used for political control, to suppress dissent, and to disrupt elections, and they were particularly acute in Africa, where at least five have been in place for over a year.
Anna Sawai, winner of the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series award, and Hiroyuki Sanada, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for "Shogun."
Hard Numbers: Diversity wins at Emmy Awards, Space tourism blasts off, European floods prove deadly, Russia and Ukraine swap prisoners, US leaves Niger, Germany holds fake horse contest
18: Diversity won the night at Sunday’s Emmy Awards, honoring a lineup of Latino, LGBTQ+, and Japanese artists. The FX drama “Shogun” nabbed the best drama prize, collecting 18 Emmys overall, including best actor awards for Anna Sawai and Hiroyuki Sanada.
5: SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn mission splashed down in the Caribbean on Sunday after a five-day mission that made cosmic history. Billionaire Jared Isaacman became the first non-astronaut to complete a spacewalk, and the four-member team he bankrolled flew further away from Earth than anyone else has in half a century. His mission will allegedly open opportunities for commercial space tourism — but this reporter will live and die entirely within the Earth’s atmosphere, thank you very much.
8: At least eight people are dead and four are missing amid the catastrophic floods devastating Central Europe. Authorities in the Czech Republic have ordered 10,000 people to evacuate, and Vienna declared a state of emergency in Lower Austria.
206: Russia and Ukraine exchanged 206 prisoners on Saturday — 103 each — in a deal brokered by the United Arab Emirates. Moscow said the prisoners it brought home had been captured during Ukraine’s incursion into Kursk last month.
11: The United States officially ended its military mission in Niger and pulled out the last of its troops on Sunday, ending an 11-year mission that was crucial to fighting terrorists in West and Central Africa. The withdrawal leaves US Africa Command bereft of close military partners in the region, though Washington’s position in East Africa is stronger, with major bases in Djibouti, Kenya, and Somalia.
~300: Germany held its first ever, uh … hobby horse competition on Saturday, where about 300 competitors — mostly children — pretended to ride horses through obstacle courses. The appeal of the sport is inexplicably, but undeniably, growing, and the US and Australia each held their first-ever championships earlier this year as well.
A drone view shows a flooded area following heavy rainfall in Rock Valley, Iowa, U.S. June 22, 2024, in this still image obtained from a social media video.
Hard Numbers: Massive US floods, Dagestan attacks, Bad booze, Deadly Hajj, Toodaloo to Taylor Swift
1,000,000: Over a million people in the Upper Midwest were under flood warnings on Sunday after several days of heavy rain forced thousands to evacuate in parts of Iowa and South Dakota. Iowan officials said the inundation has already exceeded the 1993 flood that killed 50 people, and the worst of the flooding is expected Monday and Tuesday.
15: Terrorists in Russia’s Dagestan province killed at least 15 police officers, four civilians and an Orthodox priest in coordinated attacks on churches, synagogues, and police stations in two cities on Sunday. Dagestan is a majority Muslim region with a history of extremist violence, and the tragedy follows ISIS-K's brutal slaying of 140 civilians in a Moscow concert venue in March, but no group has yet claimed responsibility for the attacks.
54: At least 54 people in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu have died after drinking alcohol polluted with methanol. Dozens more have been hospitalized. Methanol is, chemically speaking, also a type of alcohol, but it needs to be filtered from ethanol (the fun stuff) or it can cause severe liver damage, blindness, and death. The likely culprit is homebrewed alcohol, which many in India consume despite the health risks because store-bought booze is too pricey.
1,000: Over 1,000 people died during this year’s Hajj pilgrimage, Saudi officials said Sunday. No explanations were offered for the deaths, but the governments of Jordan and Tunisia blamed excessive heat, and reporters on the scene witnessed pilgrims passing out, vomiting, and collapsing under the searing sun.
88,446: Taylor Swift said 88,446 people attended her concert in London’s iconic Wembley Stadium on Friday. The Prince of Wales attended – he was celebrating his 42nd birthday – and netted a selfie with the pop star and two of his children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte.Municipality workers remove debris from the streets after flooding in Sheikh Jalal district, Baghlan province, Afghanistan May 12, 2024.
Hard Numbers: Devastating floods, COVID reporter released, Catalonia votes, Swiss contestant wins Eurovision
315: At least 315 people in northern Afghanistan have died in severe floods that also injured over 1,600 others, wiped out thousands of homes, and devastated livestock herds that feed the region. Aid agencies expect chaos. It’s been a bad month for floods worldwide — similar inundations in southern Brazil and Kenya have killed hundreds in recent weeks.
4: Lawyer and journalist Zhang Zhan has been released from prison in China four years after being detained for her reporting on the government’s draconian response to the COVID-19 outbreak. In jail, Zhang’s health suffered severely, with her weight dropping to below 90 lbs at one point. Her former lawyer says Zhang will either be returned home or sent somewhere to do a few months of “soft prison” time while cloistered from the rest of the world.
9: Candidates from nine parties competed for seats in local elections in the wealthy, independence-leaning Spanish region of Catalonia on Sunday, and the Socialist candidate supported by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is expected to squeak out a win. If no party wins a majority outright, the Socialists will likely need to hammer together a coalition to maintain control.
2: Students walked out on two major commencement speakers this weekend. Dozens of Duke graduates turned their backs on comedian Jerry Seinfeld, and Virginia Commonwealth University grads gave the same treatment to Gov. Glenn Youngkin. In addition to the walkouts, several more campuses saw major demonstrations surrounding their commencement activities.
AJ McCampbell, Democrat state representative from Alabama's 71st district, calls on U.S. president Joseph R. Biden to "pick a side" on voting rights and the filibuster before a march in downtown Washington, D.C. from the African American History Museum to the White House on Wednesday, August 4, 2021.
Hard Numbers: Biden is losing Black voters, Southern Brazil gasps for air, Turkey strikes Kurdish militants, Vultures vanish from the skies of South Asia
62: A new poll finds that just 62% of Black Americans are “absolutely certain” they’ll vote in November, down 12 points since June 2020. Overall, American interest in voting dropped by four points. That’s bad news for President Joe Biden who – like all Democrats for the past half-century – has relied heavily on Black American voters at the polls. But the study, conducted by the Washington Post and IPSOS, shows Black voters, particularly younger ones, aren’t happy with his handling of the economy, criminal justice reform, or the war in Gaza.
75: At least 75 people have been killed and more than 100 reported missing after massive floods swept through the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul over the weekend, washing away roads and bridges, knocking out power and water, and causing deadly landslides. The local governor said rebuilding will require “a kind of Marshall Plan.” Trivia: You probably know a famous person from Rio Grande do Sul – supermodel Gisele Bündchen.
16: A Turkish airstrike on a camp across the border in northern Iraq reportedly killed at least 16 members of the Kurdistan Workers Party, aka PKK. The PKK, which has waged a decades-long armed insurgency against the Turkish state, has long had a presence in Kurdish-controlled regions of Northern Iraq and Syria. It is designated as a terrorist group by Turkey, the US, and the EU. Allies of the PKK, however, have helped the US to fight against ISIS.
2: The Parsis, a tiny religious minority in South Asia who follow Zoroastrian burial rites in which dead bodies are left atop “towers of silence” to be picked clean by vultures, have a big problem: a vulture shortage. In Karachi, a city of 20 million, the 800 remaining Parsis have just two towers of silence left. In recent decades regional vulture populations have been decimated because of an anti-inflammatory drug in cattle that is lethal for the scavenging birds.
Insurance companies are feeling the heat of climate crisis
To understand how bad the problem of climate change has become, it helps to follow the money.
On GZERO World, Ian Bremmer breaks down the impact of climate change on property insurance premiums, which effectively quantifies the growing risk of catastrophic weather events. Last year alone, extreme weather damage cost the world a staggering $165 billion. Formerly once-in-a-generation weather events like the California wildfires of 2017 or Hurricane Harvey in 2018 are becoming more and more common, leading to devastating financial consequences for homeowners and hikes in insurance premiums.
Insurance companies are raising rates in high-risk areas like California, warning that soon, the state may be impossible to insure altogether. It’s another reminder that even though climate change has become a political issue, those with a financial interest in the impact of extreme weather can’t afford to be complacent. Sometimes, the coolest head in the room is the one stuck in the sand.
Watch the full interview on GZERO World: Climate change: are we overreacting?
Catch GZERO World with Ian Bremmer every week at gzeromedia.com/gzeroworld or on US public television. Check local listings.
- Hard Numbers: Greece’s wildfire tragedy, Pakistan’s cable car nightmare, Japan’s radioactive water, Sudan’s hungry children ›
- Alberta wildfires send smoke far and wide – and south ›
- Smoky skies part of new normal as planet heats up ›
- The Graphic Truth: The rising (insurance) costs of climate change ›
- The global water crisis and the path to a sustainable future - GZERO Media ›
Members of the rescue team from the Egyptian army inspect the damaged areas, following a powerful storm and heavy rainfall hitting the country, in Derna, Libya September 13, 2023.
Libya’s death toll keeps rising
The death toll continues to rise in Libya, where at least 6,000 are now dead after two dams in the eastern part of the country burst due to torrential flooding. Most of the carnage is in the Mediterranean city of Derna.
The statistics are grim. The UN says that as many as 30,000 have been displaced, while other observers estimate that the death toll could rise to a staggering 20,000 as bodies continue to wash up on shore.
So far, the rescue effort has been grueling Debris and mud are hindering access to hard-hit communities. Meanwhile, destroyed roads and bridges are also compounding shortages of food and water.
Making matters worse, Libya has been mired in civil war for a decade, and political factionalism is further complicating rescue efforts.(More on that here.)
As chances of finding victims alive diminish, attention is shifting to how this part of the country became such a deathtrap. Analysts say that the dams had not been maintained by warring authorities for years, and never had any hope of suppressing heavy waters.