Hard Numbers

2.4: Turkey fell into an official recession after data showed the economy shrank by 2.4 percent during the last 3 months of 2018 – the second successive quarter of falling output. That's bad news for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his ruling Justice and Development Party ahead of local elections on March 31.

225: The US military launched 24 airstrikes in Somalia in January and February, killing 225 people. Washington has intensified its fight against Al Shabab militants in the East African country—in all of 2018, the US carried out 47 airstrikes in Somalia, killing 326 people.

22: At least 22 United Nations staff were among the 157 people killed when an Ethiopian Airlines jet crashed shortly after takeoff from Addis Ababa on its way to Kenya this weekend. The UN's World Food Program, the International Telecommunications Union, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, and the UN offices in Nairobi all lost people.

29,000: Around 29,000 people showed up for the latest round of gilets jaunes protests across France this weekend, according to the interior ministry. That's the lowest figure since the protests began last November.

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This week World Bank announced a bold initiative to bridge the gender divide by creating more economic opportunity, broadening female leadership, and reducing gender-based violence in the next 5 years as 2030 approaches.

Matthew Kendrick

When a country hits rock bottom financially, the International Monetary Fund is meant to step in with funds to stabilize the economy without damaging its society — or the gender gap. But studies show that these programs often push women out of work at a disproportionate rate to men as the economy contracts. Matthew Kendrick reports from the World Bank-IMF Annual Meetings on a push to build more equitable programs.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin and North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un attend a farewell ceremony before Putin's departure at an airport in Pyongyang, North Korea June 19, 2024.
Gavriil Grigorov/Reuters

Kyiv says that roughly 12,000 North Korean troops are in Russia, a far greater number than reported by the US, though it remains unclear precisely how many have entered what Ukraine referred to as the “combat zone.”

Supporters of the Georgian Dream party attend a final campaign rally ahead of the upcoming parliamentary elections in Tbilisi, Georgia October 23, 2024.
REUTERS/Irakli Gedenidze

Georgian Dream insists the country is still on track to join the EU, as critics accuse the party of pushing Georgia in an increasingly anti-Western, authoritarian direction.

Louisa Vieira

In 2001, a Goldman Sachs economist coined an acronym for the four largest and most promising “emerging market” economies: Brazil, Russia, India, and China became known as the “BRIC” countries.

October 23, 2024, Kamagaya, Japan - Japanese Prime Minister and leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Shigeru Ishiba reacts to his supporters after he delivered a campaign speech for his party candidate Hisashi Matsumoto for the general election at Kamagaya in Chiba prefecture, suburban Tokyo on Wednesday, October 23, 2024.
(photo by Yoshio Tsunoda/AFLO)

As Japan heads to the polls this Sunday, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s decision to call an early election just weeks after taking office is turning out to be a high-stakes gamble.

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While the global economy shows signs of growth and decreasing inflation, the near future involves risks, including the escalation in the Middle East impacting oil prices, strained China-US relations, and an increasingly challenging tariff and trade environment, said Ayhan Kose, World Bank Deputy Chief Economist. He discussed the geopolitical tensions influencing the global economy with GZERO's Tony Maciulis at the IMF and World Bank Annual Meetings in Washington, DC, in a GZERO Global Stage interview.