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Hard Numbers: Australia ups its defense game, Biden’s emission limits, deadly blasts in Pakistan, Champagne destroys beer (literally)
Map of China and Australia.
GZERO Media
19 billion: Following a major defense review, Australia is forking out A$19 billion ($12 billion) to conduct its biggest military overhaul since World War II. With an eye on China’s expansionism in the South China Sea and its increasingly dicey bilateral relations with Beijing, Canberra will procure missiles with longer striking capabilities, with munitions built domestically.
3,400: The Biden administration will soon announce limits on the amount of greenhouse gas emissions coming from existing power plants, compelling the country's 3,400 plants to use carbon-capture technology. Currently, the plants — only 20 of which use the technology — generate a quarter of the country’s planet-warming pollution.
17: At least 17 people were killed in northwest Pakistan on Monday when two explosives went off at a police counterterrorism office in Kabal. It’s unclear who was behind the attack, but there has been an uptick in terrorism in recent months, particularly in border regions.
2,352: Belgian customs authorities crushed 2,352 cans of perfectly good Miller High Life beer after the Comité Champagne – which represents growers and traders of the French bubbly – complained that the American beer behemoth’s use of the “champagne of beers” slogan infringed upon the region’s protected right to the term “champagne.” Belgian customs said the Comité Champagne even covered the bill.In his latest “ask ian,” Ian Bremmer says the fight for Senate control is driving Democrats to make tough political tradeoffs as primary season unfolds.
In his latest Quick Take, Ian Bremmer says the Iran ceasefire is “holding on by a thread” as renewed strikes and proxy attacks undermine hopes for a broader deal.
No elected official in the country has ever taken maternity leave before.
Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has won a commanding election victory on a pro-Western platform, cementing the country's pivot away from Moscow with fresh deals signed with Washington this year.