Hard Numbers: Deaths mount after Pakistan terror attack, Biden-McCarthy showdown, Latin America gives Scholz cold shoulder, Rhinos on the brink

People and rescue workers gather to look for survivors after a suicide blast in a mosque in Peshawar, Pakistan
People and rescue workers gather to look for survivors after a suicide blast in a mosque in Peshawar, Pakistan
REUTERS/Fayaz Aziz REFILE

100: The death toll has climbed to 100 following Monday’s horrific mosque attack in Peshawar, the deadliest terror attack in Pakistan in years. Officials blame the Pakistani Taliban (also known as TTP) for the attacks, but while a TTP commander initially claimed responsibility, the group has since distanced itself from the bombing, saying they do not attack mosques. Authorities have remained mum, but several suspects have now been arrested.

100 billion: President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy meet on Wednesday for what promises to be a showdown over raising the debt ceiling, with just over four months left to avoid default. The White House has asked for specifics on proposed Republicans spending, charging that earlier proposed cuts to the Internal Revenue Service would add $100 billion in debt over 10 years.

0:None of the three countries on Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Latin America visit – Argentina, Brazil and Chile – will provide weapons for the war effort in Ukraine. The German leader’s difficulty in rallying support in the region comes amid soaring food and energy prices, with many doubting the West’s approach to the war.

87: The illegal poaching of rhinos in Namibia, home to the world’s last population of free-roaming black rhinos, doubled to 87 last year, the highest-ever annual total. Rhino populations have been decimated in recent years due to demand for the supposed medical benefits of rhino horns, and experts worry that some populations in southern Africa may be extinct in six years.

More from GZERO Media

US President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., attend a Cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C., USA, on August 26, 2025.
REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

The Trump administration is divided over its approach to Venezuela, according to Venezuelan journalist Tony Frangie Mawad.

A Ukrainian soldier is seen at a checkpoint at the road near a Crimea region border March 9, 2014. Russian forces tightened their grip on Crimea on Sunday despite a U.S. warning to Moscow that annexing the southern Ukrainian region would close the door to diplomacy in a tense East-West standoff.
REUTERS/Viktor Gurniak

60: Ukraine will allow men aged 18–22 to leave the country, easing a wartime ban that kept males under 60 from crossing the border.

- YouTube

In Argentina’s Patagonia, Indigenous Mapuche communities say they are facing increasing persecution under President Javier Milei, the Libertarian leader whose promises of economic reform are intensifying long-standing conflicts over land rights and environmental protection.

Five years ago, Microsoft set bold 2030 sustainability goals: to become carbon negative, water positive, and zero waste—all while protecting ecosystems. That commitment remains—but the world has changed, technology has evolved, and the urgency of the climate crisis has only grown. This summer, Microsoft launched the 2025 Environmental Sustainability Report, offering a comprehensive look at the journey so far, and how Microsoft plans to accelerate progress. You can read the report here.