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Russian Minister of Transport Roman Starovoit attends a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, in Moscow, Russia January 30, 2025.
Hard Numbers: Fired Russian official found dead, X calls out India, Myanmar clashes drive refugee wave, Liberian president offers apology
$246 million: Ousted Russian Transport Minister Roman Starovoit was found dead in his car with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound on Monday, just hours after being fired by President Vladimir Putin. Starovoit, a former governor of the Kursk region – which was invaded by Ukraine last summer – was potentially implicated in an embezzlement probe focused on $246 million which was earmarked for border defenses. The Kremlin says that it was “shocked” to learn about his death.
2,355: X said the Indian government ordered it to take down 2,355 accounts last week, including two belonging to Reuters. The Indian government, which has come under fire from press freedom watchdogs in recent years, said it had “no intention” of blocking international news orgs. X warned that it was “deeply concerned about ongoing press censorship in India.”
4,000: Clashes between armed groups in Myanmar have driven around 4,000 refugees across the border into India’s Mizoram state in recent days. While both of the warring groups oppose Myanmar’s military junta, they are also competing for territorial control among themselves.
200,000: Liberian President Joseph Bokai issued a formal state apology to victims of the country’s brutal 14-year civil war, as part of the country’s ongoing reconciliation campaign. The war, which raged from 1989 until 2003, claimed the lives of around 200,000 people and saw widespread abuses including mass killings, rape, and the use of child soldiers.
FILE PHOTO: A man walks past the offices of the New York State Department of Labor in the Queens borough of New York City, NY, January 8, 2021.
HARD NUMBERS: US jobless claims rise, Ukrainian refugees in Germany face cuts, The Vatican and Taiwan, US vets lose mortgage protection, Alabama kangaroo hits the road
241,000: In another sign of trouble for the limping US economy, weekly first-time jobless claims surged to a higher-than-expected 241,000 this week. Continuing claims, which provide a broader view of layoff trends, rose to 1.92 million, the highest level since November 2021.
77: According to a new poll from YouGov, 77% of Germans favor benefit cuts for Ukrainian refugees. Ukrainians who arrive in Germany after April 1, 2025, will be treated as “asylum-seekers” rather than “refugees,” and they’ll receive significantly lower benefit payments as a result. Just 11% of those surveyed disagreed with this change. More than a quarter of Ukrainians who have fled their country are now in Germany.
1 of 12: The Vatican is one of just 12 governments — and the only one in Europe – that recognize Taiwan as a country. But without explanation, Taiwan’s president, William Lai, did not attend the funeral for Pope Francis, though a former vice president was in attendance. There is now much speculation in Taiwan on whether Lai will be present when the next pope is inaugurated, or whether pressure from Beijing is forcing the Vatican to rethink its ties with Taiwan.
20,000: The US Department of Veterans Affairs has ended a new mortgage-rescue program that has helped some 20,000 veterans avoid foreclosure on their homes. This news comes at a time when nearly 90,000 VA loans are well past due, with 33,000 of those already in the foreclosure process.
2: A runaway kangaroo in the US state of Alabama was involved in a two-car collision on an interstate highway this week. The animal, named Sheila, was captured unharmed by state troopers and the bouncing beast’s owner. No word yet on whether Shiela will face justice in a kangaroo court.Visite d’Etat de M. XI Jinping, Président de la République populaire de Chine, en France en presence de Ursula Von der Leyen
HARD NUMBERS: China lifts EU sanctions, Harvard reports on discrimination, Turkish police continue crackdown, Argentines scoop up dollars, Plastics kill
5: China lifted sanctions on five European Union lawmakers on Wednesday as Beijing seeks to balance the growing trade war with the United States by warming ties with Europe. The sanctions were originally imposed on members of the European Parliament’s Subcommittee on Human Rights in relation to European condemnations of human rights abuses against Uyghur minorities in Xinjiang.
500: Two Harvard University reports on anti-Muslim and antisemitic sentiment on campus released Monday stretched to over 500 pages cumulatively, noting that sizable minorities of Muslims (47%) and Jews (15%) did not feel physically safe. The reports, which were commissioned before the Trump administration took office, also showed that 92% of Muslims and 61% of Jews feared professional and academic repercussions for expressing political beliefs.
18: Turkish police have arrested 18 municipal employees in Istanbul as part of a growing crackdown against city Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu, who was imprisoned last month. Imamoğlu is widely considered the only opposition figure able to go toe-to-toe with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the next presidential election, but legal obstacles may effectively bar him from running. The municipal employees were among a group of 52 detained over the weekend, and are accused of taking bribes and participating in criminal conspiracy.
1 billion: Argentines deposited $1 billion in US dollars into their bank accounts over the last eight business after the government lifted restrictions on buying US currency following five years of strict controls. The dollar’s relative value has been sliding under the Trump administration and hit a three-year low last week after the president repeatedly criticized the chair of the Federal Reserve.
350,000: What stretchy inanimate thing killed 350,000 people in 2018? One word. Are you listening? Plastics. More specifically, chemicals that are added to the plastics that we encounter in everyday items like food packaging, lotions, and shampoos. A new study suggests that these “phthalates,” as they’re called, contributed to hundreds of thousands of deaths from heart disease, especially in emerging economies where middle-class consumption has grown rapidly in recent decades.
A pair of wolf cubs explore their surroundings in Dallas, Texas, on April 7, 2025.
Hard Numbers: Trump explores drones over Mexico, House Dems go big, Dominican roof collapse leads to tragedy, Electricity generation crosses green threshold, South African citrus goes bad, Dire wolves are back (sort of)
5: Five years ago, President Donald Trump suggested firing missiles into Mexico as a way to curtail drug cartels, according to former US Defense Secretary Mark Esper’s memoir. While that never happened, the commander-in-chief is exploring something similar, but this time with drones. Plans are still in their early stages, but American forces have already started reconnaissance flights – with Mexico’s approval – in a bid to acquire more information about the cartels.
35: Last week’s special elections in Florida appear to have House Democrats all giddy, as the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the campaign arm of the House Democratic Caucus, released a list of 35 Republican-held seats that it plans to target in next year’s midterms. Some are realistic, others less so: Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY) is on the list, despite winning reelection last year by 26 points.
98: At least 98 people have died and scores more were injured in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, after the roof of the Jet Set nightclub collapsed early Tuesday. The authorities reported that rescuers made 134 trips to the hospital, sometimes carrying two to three patients at a time due to the overwhelming number of casualties. One video captured the extent of the damage.
40: Environmental think-tank Ember found that electricity generated from low-carbon sources – solar, wind, hydropower, nuclear – exceeded 40% in 2024, the first time it has crossed this threshold since the 1940s. The fast rise of solar underscored this milestone, but the report also had some sobering news for environmentalists: Carbon dioxide emissions reached an all-time high last year.
35,000: The Trump administration’s expansive new tariffs are a sour fruit to swallow for South Africa’s citrus industry, as the new 31% duty on imports from the Rainbow Nation could spoil some 35,000 jobs, according to the Citrus Growers' Association of Southern Africa. Pretoria exports $100 million worth of citrus to the United States each year.
>10,000: Over 10,000 years since dire wolves went extinct, Biotech firm Colossal claims to have effectively brought them back from the dead. Using preserved DNA, Colossal scientists rewrote the code of a common gray wolf and used domestic dogs to birth three dire-like wolves, called Romulus, Remus, and Khaleesi. The species became a feature of public consciousness after they starred in the hit show “Game of Thrones.” Experts are skeptical about how closely these three pups resemble the dire wolf; one paleogeneticist suggested that these lupine creatures are grey wolves with dire wolf-like characteristics.
Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) speaks during a marathon address from the US Senate floor on Tuesday, April 1, 2025.
Hard Numbers: Booker sets record for longest Senate speech, Israel expands latest Gaza offensive, Netanyahu and Orbán defy the ICC, Oz universities cut off Confucius, Argentina’s poverty plunges
25+: The Democrats may not have the White House or a majority in Congress, but one thing they do have, still, is words. Lots and lots of words. Words for days, even, as Democratic Sen. Cory Booker showed by taking to the podium on Monday with a broadside against Donald Trump that lasted more than 25 hours. The veteran lawmaker from New Jersey, a former football player, had vowed to stay up there as long as he was “physically able.” Before yielding the floor on Tuesday night, Booker broke the record for the longest Senate floor speech, surpassing one set in 1957 by the late Sen. Strom Thurmond, who filibustered against civil rights.
42: The first stage of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire, brokered in January, officially lasted 42 days. The deal now looks to be far in the rearview mirror, as Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced on Wednesday that he would expand his army’s latest military offensive in Gaza. The two sides are still negotiating another ceasefire deal via mediators but haven’t yet reached an agreement.
5: Benjamin Netanyahu leaves Wednesday on a five-day visit to Hungary. It’s the Israeli PM’s second trip abroad since the International Criminal Court last year issued an arrest warrant for him over alleged war crimes in Gaza. In February, he visited the US. Hungary is an ICC member, but the country’s proudly “illiberal” PM Viktor Orban says he won’t honor the court’s warrant. In recent years, the right-winger Netanyahu has cultivated controversial ties with populist nationalist parties in Europe, including some with histories of overt antisemitism.
6: In recent years, half a dozen Australian universities have closed the Chinese-funded Confucius Institutes on their campuses. The CIs educate students about Chinese language, history, and culture. The moves come amid broader tensions between Australia and China, and they reflect fears that Beijing has used the institutes to spread pro-Chinese propaganda and cultivate possible intelligence assets.
38: Argentina’s poverty rate plunged from 53% to 38% last year. Analysts credit “anarcho-capitalist” president Javier Milei, who drastically slashed government spending to put the mismanaged economy on a more stable footing. After an initial bout of pain, those measures brought inflation down from nearly 300% to 70%, easing poverty as people’s spending power increased.
A man holds a picture of hostages of Shiri Bibas and her two children Kfir and Ariel, on the day of their funeral procession, at a public square dedicated to hostages in Tel Aviv, Israel February 26, 2025.
HARD NUMBERS: Bibas family snubs government, Crypto bros cry, South Korea sees mini baby boom, Morocco suffers sheep shortage, Trump to tariff the EU
0: In a reflection of the deep political divisions within Israel over the government’s approach to freeing the hostages held in Gaza, zero government officials were invited to the funeral of a mother and her two children, whose remains Hamas returned to Israel last week. A relative of the three victims – Shiri Bibas and her two sons, Ariel, 4, and Kfir, 9 months – recently rebuked the government for leaking details about their deaths. Hamas said the three were killed in an Israeli airstrike, but Israel says they were beaten and strangled to death. Thousands of Israelis poured into the streets on Wednesday to pay their respects to the family. Meanwhile, Hamas returned the bodies of four more slain Israeli hostages and Israel began releasing 600 Palestinian prisoners in what is envisioned as the final swap of the first phase of the Israel-Hamas hostage deal.
800 billion: Global cryptocurrencies have lost $800 billion in value since January, a huge reversal of the crypto-euphoria that preceded Donald Trump’s inauguration. Traders blame the rout on worries about the global economy, disappointment with the slow rollout of Trump’s anticipated pro-crypto agenda, and a series of high-profile scandals (looking at you Javier Milei.) All told, here’s the mood in the crypto space right now, by way of a small camel.
9: Oh baby, this is good news from South Korean maternity wards. The country’s fertility rate rose last year for the first time in 9 years. An average Korean woman will now have .75 babies during her lifetime. That’s up .03 points compared to 2023, but it’s still the lowest in the world – and it’s way below the “replacement rate” of 2.1. Experts say the birth bump was partly due to a surge of post-pandemic marriages. The government has recently boosted parental leave and has increased financial support for childcare.
38: Morocco is suffering a sheep shortage so bad that King Mohammed VI has asked his people to refrain from the tradition of slaughtering the animals as part of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha in June this year. Years of drought have reduced the North African country’s sheep population by nearly 40% over the past decade. This year alone, rainfall was 53% lower than the 30-year average. The kingdom recently signed a deal to import 100,000 sheep from Australia.
25: Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he will soon slap a 25% tariff on all imports from the European Union. By way of explaining the measure, which could affect up to $30 billion of European exports, the US president said the EU was "formed to screw the United States." In fact, the origins of the EU lie chiefly in postwar efforts, backed by the US, to create political and economic interdependencies that would prevent future conflict on the continent.
Washington, DC, USA; President Donald Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, outgoing United States President Joe Biden and first lady Dr. Jill Biden participate in the departure ceremony for the Bidens on the East Front of the United States Capitol in Washington, DC after the swearing-in of Donald Trump as President on January 20, 2025.
Hard Numbers: Biden’s preemptive pardons, Trumpcoin, Billionaires blow up, India convicts hospital rapist
5: With just minutes left in his term, President Joe Biden issued preemptive pardons to five members of his family, explaining that he feared people associated with him could be prosecuted under the Trump administration. Hours earlier, he pardoned Gen. Mark Milley and Dr. Anthony Fauci, as well as the members and staff of the Congressional committee investigating the events of Jan. 6, 2021, and police officers who testified before that committee. Biden also commuted the sentence of Leonard Peltier, an Indigenous activist who was controversially convicted of killing two FBI agents on the Pine Ridge Reservation in 1975.
5.5 billion: A cryptocurrency token launched by President Donald Trump, known as $Trump, reached a value of nearly $5.5 billion within hours of its launch on Saturday. A Delaware company called CIC Digital LLC and Fight Fight Fight LLC owns 80% of the coins, but it is unclear how much money Trump will make from this launch.
3: Oxfam, the UK-based anti-poverty charity, reported that the wealth of billionaires grew three times as fast in 2024 than in 2023, accelerating wealth inequality while the global rate of poverty has barely changed. The report comes as the World Economic Forum, the marquee gathering of the world’s political and financial bigwigs, gets underway in Davos, Switzerland.
1: A court in India has convicted one person, Sanjay Roy, of the brutal rape of a trainee doctor in Kolkata last year that launched nationwide protests — but the parents of the victim maintain that the crime was committed by a group, not a single man. Despite Indian police claiming before the court that the rape was “rarest of rare” incidents, the most recent data available in India shows 31,516 reports of rape in 2022, a fraction of the true number of assaults as many are not reported.
A man walks past a Jio-bp fuel tanker, an Indian fuel and mobility joint venture between Reliance Industries (RIL) and British Petroleum (bp), in Navi Mumbai, India, October 26, 2021
Hard Numbers: BP cuts thousands of jobs, UK drug seizures soar, Astronauts take a hike, Nigeria kills dozens of jihadists
5: Energy giant BP announced Thursday it would cut 4,700 employees and 3,000 contractors, a total of more than 5% of its global workforce. The move is part of a broader strategy that aims to bring down costs by $2 billion over the next two years.
3.66 billion: Drugs is big business, innit. In the year ending March 2024, UK authorities seized a record 119 tons of illegal narcotics, with a street value of $3.66 billion. About two-thirds of the haul was cannabis, and a fifth was cocaine. Elsewhere in Europe, drug interdictions have also surged – a massive Interpol operation last spring led to the seizure of more than 600 tons of narcotics or precursor chemicals. The UN says cocaine consumption in European cities has risen 80% since 2011.
7: If you’ve got cabin fever, go for a walk – if you’ve got space station fever, go for a spacewalk! That’s what US astronaut Suni Williams did Thursday, stepping out of the International Space Station for the first time since arriving more than seven months ago. Williams and her colleague Butch Wilmore were supposed to be at the station for only a week, but spacecraft trouble has kept them stranded in space, where they’ll likely remain until April or May.
76: In recent weeks, Nigerian forces have killed 76 jihadists in the country’s northeastern state of Borno. The militants belonged either to Boko Haram or to Islamic State West Africa, whose jihadist insurgency against the Nigerian government has displaced more than 2 million people and killed as many as 30,000 since it began in 2009. Growing violence and extremism in the Sahel region (which includes Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, and Chad) remains one of Africa’s biggest security challenges.