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A mangrove forest is seen in Matang in Malaysia's northern state of Perak. Picture taken July 29, 2003
Hard Numbers: Pakistan plants mangroves, Hezbollah-Israel clashes deepen, Bidenomics goes bust, Liberians decide a runoff, Italy recaptures king of the jungle
142 million: A Pakistani project to revive mangrove forests in the Indus River Delta could absorb as much as 142 million tons of carbon dioxide over the next 60 years. Mangroves not only prevent erosion, they also sequester huge amounts of greenhouse gasses. But the project has stirred controversy, as it is backed by a company that is promoting it to sell carbon credits to polluting companies.
2: Israeli airstrikes on Monday killed two people in southern Lebanon, on the same day an Israeli electric worker died of wounds suffered in an earlier missile strike by Hezbollah in northern Israel. In the weeks since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, cross-border clashes between Hezbollah and Israel have surged to their deadliest levels since the two fought a monthlong war in 2006, raising fears of a wider regional war. Who are Hezbollah? Read our explainer here.
14: Well, last week’s midterm elections may have gone better than expected for Democrats, but their main problem remains: The American people just don’t think Joe Biden has been a great president. A new FT poll shows just 14% of registered voters say they are better off today than they were when he took office. The president has struggled to convince voters that Bidenomics is really helping the middle class — with Americans pointing to persistently high inflation as their biggest concern.
56: Speaking of discontent with incumbents … as Liberia heads into what will likely be an extremely close presidential election runoff, a new Gallup Poll shows 56% of Liberians believe their standard of living is getting worse, and 3 out of 4 say they have had trouble securing enough food at least once over the past year. The vote Tuesday pits incumbent George Weah, a former soccer star, against former veep Joseph Boakai. Weah defeated Boakai in the first round last month by less than half a percentage point.
8: To wish someone good luck in Italian, you’d say in bocca al lupo! — which means “into the wolf’s mouth!” But what should you say to authorities tracking an escaped circus lion in a suburb of Rome? Eight-year-old Kimba enjoyed a leisurely stroll around the seaside streets of Ladispoli on Saturday before he was captured in a massive operation involving local and national police.
Men and paramedic staff help transport a man who was injured in a blast in Mastung to a hospital in Quetta, Pakistan.
Hard Numbers: Pakistan blast, mRNA Nobel win, Kaiser Permanente strike, escaping Nagorno-Karabakh, flights to Libya, cashing in rupees
59: Fifty-nine people were killed Saturday in a bomb blast at a mosque in Mastung, Pakistan, where people were gathering to mark the birthday of the Prophet Mohammad. Pakistan’s interior ministry accused India’s intelligence service of masterminding the attack, a charge Delhi denies.
2: Two scientists, Professors Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman, won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine on Monday for having developed the technology that led to the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines. The same technology is now being tested to help fight other diseases.
75,000: In what would be the largest healthcare strike in US history, 75,000 workers at care provider Kaiser Permanente are threatening a three-day walkout as of Wednesday. While the company said hospitals and ERs would remain open, patients might see longer wait times and delays in lab work.
100,000:Over 100,000 ethnic Armenian refugees have fled to Armenia from Nagorno-Karabakh after Azerbaijan retook control of the territory. The UN has called for international assistance, and Armenia has asked the European Union for shelter assistance and medical supplies.
10: Flights resumed from Libya to Italy after a 10-year hiatus due to a ban imposed by the European Union. Medsky Airways is now offering twice-weekly service from Tunis to Rome, though it is unclear how it is getting around the EU ban that is still in force.
96: India is extending the deadline to Oct. 7 to cash in its 2,000 rupee notes, 96% of which have been returned to the national treasury. The bills, worth an estimated $24, were introduced in 2016 during a campaign to demonetize the economy in which higher-value notes were discontinued.
Rwandan President Paul Kagame attends the lighting ceremony of the Rwandan genocide flame of hope, known as the "Kwibuka" (Remembering), to commemorate the 1994 Genocide at the Kigali Genocide Memorial Center in Kigali, Rwanda April 7, 2023
Hard Numbers: Rwanda’s Kagame will run again, the EU takes on Uber, water contamination threat in Libya, US Fed keeps cool
4: Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame, who has been in power since 2000, announced that he’ll run for a fourth term in next year’s election.
Kagame, who has been accused of cracking down on the opposition, tweaked the constitution back in 2015 to extend presidential term limits. Asked about what “the West” might think of his move, Kagame, didn’t mince words: “What these countries think is not our problem.”
40: A top Uber executive has warned that an EU proposal to classify gig workers as employees could boost ride prices by as much as 40%. Brussels says Uber should provide more job security and benefits for its employees. Uber, which has come up against similar battles in Spain, the UK and elsewhere, says the measure will hurt consumers and lead to “devastating” job losses.
4,000: Over a week after a catastrophic flood tore through two dams in eastern Libya, killing 4,000 people (while 9,000 remain missing) the UN has warned that sewage is contaminating water supplies, raising the specter of waterborne diseases like cholera, diarrhea, and hepatitis.
5.25-5.55: The US Federal Reserve held interest rates steady at 5.25-5.55, still the highest level in more than two decades after 11 rate hikes beginning in March 2022. The decision gives policy makers some breathing room to plot their next moves amid subsiding inflation. Still, with price growth well above the Fed’s 2% target, rates could stay above 5% well into 2024, analysts warn.Correction:Yesterday, we incorrectly stated that the Fed's pause was the first in 18 months. The Federal reserve also paused rate hikes in June, 2023. We regret the error.
UN mobilizes to help disaster-stricken Libya and Morocco
First, there was the devastating earthquake in Morocco. And then, cataclysmic flooding in Libya. Recent natural disasters in northern Africa have shocked the world. They've also mobilized United Nations rescue and support teams, says UN Secretary-General António Guterres in an exclusive GZERO World interview.
“We have a central emergency response fund, and we mobilized $10 million to support the operation in Libya," Guterres tells Ian Bremmer. "We are discussing, with Moroccan authorities, our best way to support them...We'll be doing everything to mobilize international community to support these two countries in this very, very tragic situation."
What role can the United Nations play in these devastated zones, and how much is a warming planet contributing to recent climate catastrophes?
For the full interview, tune into GZERO World with Ian Bremmerat gzeromedia.com/gzeroworld or on US public television. Check local listings.
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.A view shows the damaged cars, after a powerful storm and heavy rainfall hit Libya.
The politics of aid in flooded Libya
Eastern Libya is reeling from devastating floods that have killed at least 3,000 people, while as many as 10,000 are missing. The deluge ripped through two dams on Monday, destroying entire towns and neighborhoods.
Much of the destruction is centered around the eastern city of Derna on the Mediterranean.
The recovery effort is underway, but there are fears that political factionalism could frustrate that mission. That’s largely because the eastern part of the country where the flood hit is largely ruled by a warlord who is vying for control of territory and energy resources.
A recap: Libya’s fractured politics. Since 2014, three years after Libya’s longtime despot Muammar Qaddafi was killed in an uprising, political power has been split between two rival governments, the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA), and a rival faction led by the self-described anti-Islamist Khalifa Haftar, a former general in Qaddafi’s army who leads the Libyan National Army (LNA).
Each side has captured oil fields – the country's economic lifeline – and each has its own central bank. What’s more, Islamic militant groups have also struggled for power.
For now, the two sides seem to be working together. After this week’s events, the government in western Libya sent 14 tons of medical supplies as well as health workers to the eastern city of Benghazi, while also earmarking $412 million for reconstruction of Derna and surrounding areas – shocking many observers who have watched the conflict devolve over the past decade.
“The priority right now is to deal with the humanitarian situation,” says Omar Monieb, a Middle East expert at Eurasia Group, adding that while “both sides are trying to showcase international support and publicizing the calls/aid that they received because it shows some form of legitimacy,” they still seem to be cooperating on the recovery effort.
Meanwhile, a top military chief from Egypt, Haftar’s main ally, has reportedly flown into Libya to help coordinate the recovery effort, while Turkey and the United Arab Emirates have also sent rescue teams.
(For more on the role of outside players in the conflict, see our explainer here.)
Despite the show of unity, political tensions remain high between the rival governments – and the militaries they control – who continue to reject international efforts to oversee fresh national elections.
Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro
Hard Numbers: Colombia ceasefire, Barbie ban, Libyan crude concerns, Holland vs. Smartphones
9: Ken, do something! Barbie has managed to wade into the choppy waters of geopolitics, as Vietnam has banned the new Warner Bros’s film because a scene shows a map reflecting China’s side of a territorial dispute with Vietnam. At issue is the infamous “nine-dash line,” which Beijing uses on maps of the South China Sea and which takes in islands and waters that at least half a dozen other countries dispute. International arbitration deemed the nine-dasher illegitimate in 2016 — but Beijing is unmoved.
1.2 million: Libya’s output of 1.2 million barrels of oil per day is in peril amid escalating disputes over revenue-sharing between the divided country’s rival power centers. Most production is located in the East, controlled by General Khalifa Haftar, a warlord backed by Egypt, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Russia. But revenues are clocked and distributed by the UN-recognized government in Tripoli. Haftar says a fair agreement has to be reached within two months or he’ll launch a fresh offensive.
0: Under a new Dutch government rule that takes effect next year, schools will allow zero smartphones, tablets, or similar devices in classrooms. “Mobile phones are intertwined with our lives,” said the education ministry, “[but] they do not belong in the classroom.” Fair enough, Dutch students probably shouldn’t be reading GZERO Daily during class anyway. See you at lunchtime!
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan greets the crowd before a meeting of his ruling AK Party to announce the party's election manifesto ahead of the May 14 elections, in Ankara, Turkey April 11, 2023.
Hard Numbers: Erdogan’s opposition, Myanmar military’s deadly air raids, Italian coastguard’s rescue mission, Bonnie without Clyde
6: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan kicked off his reelection campaign Tuesday in a bid to defeat six opposition parties that have joined forces ahead of the May 14 poll. Erdogan, who has been in power for two decades, vowed to cut inflation – now at 50%, thought analysts say it's higher – to single digits, though his aggressive slashing of interest rates continues to baffle economists.
100: Around 100 people, including children, are thought to have been killed on Tuesday when Myanmar’s military junta launched air raids on the central town of Pazigyi in the Sagaing region, 110 kilometers (45 miles) outside of Yangon. The region was considered a hotbed of opposition after the junta staged a coup in Feb. 2021.
1,200: The Italian coastguard is trying to rescue around 1,200 migrants stranded on two overcrowded boats off the coast of Sicily. One vessel originated in Libya, while the origin of the other fishing boat – carrying 800 people – is unclear. Italian ministers declared a state of emergency Wednesday that will free up cash to deal with the uptick in migration to Italy. How are Rome and Brussels responding to the surge? Read our primer.
13,000: A 78-year-old Missouri woman named Bonnie Gooch has been arrested for bank robbery. She allegedly gave a bank teller a note last week demanding “13,000 small bills” while banging erratically on the counter. This is her third such arrest, with her first heist dating back to 1977. Bonnie’s in jail with a $25,000 bond hanging over her head, and we’re left wondering: Where’s Clyde?