Hard Numbers: EU bans (most) Russian oil, Israel-UAE trade deal, crowdfunded drone for Ukraine, Pokemon zero-COVID protest

May 30, 2022

Models of oil barrels seen in front of a "stop" sign and the EU and Russia flag colors.

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic

2/3: After weeks of tense negotiations, EU leaders agreed late Monday to an embargo on two-thirds of the oil the bloc now imports from Russia. But there's a catch: holdout Hungary will likely get an indefinite exemption in order to drop its veto.

96: On Tuesday, Israel and the UAE will sign a landmark free trade agreement, Israel's first with an Arab country. The agreement will eliminate 96% of tariffs between the two countries, which normalized ties less than two years ago under the Abraham Accords.

5 million: Lithuanians chipped in 5 million euros ($5.4 million) in an online crowdfunding drive to buy a Bayraktar TB2 military drone for Ukraine. The Turkish-made UAVs are making a difference on the battlefield for the Ukrainians because they enable high-precision airstrikes.

200: A Pokemon character who always has a headache has become one of China's most in-demand toys because people are using it to vent about the government's zero-COVID policy. Plastic figures of Psyduck, given away in KFC children's meals, are being resold for $200 after going viral on social media.

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Yoon Suk Yeol can’t take “yes” for an answer

A 24-hour Yonhapnews TV broadcast at Yongsan Railway Station shows South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol delivering a speech at the Presidential Office in Seoul. South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, defended his botched martial law declaration, as an act of governance and denied insurrection charges facing him, while vowing to fight until the last moment against whether it is impeachment or a martial law probe.

Kim Jae-Hwan / SOPA Images via Reuters Connect

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol looks highly likely to be impeached on Saturday after the leader of his own party on Thursday told members to vote according to their “conviction and conscience.”

Turkey mediates key agreement to defuse Ethiopia-Somalia conflict

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan poses with Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed following a press conference in Ankara, Turkey, December 11, 2024.

Murat Kula/Presidential Press Office/Handout via REUTERS

Ethiopian President Abiy Ahmed and Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud announced a critical agreement to end a yearlong dispute over Ethiopia’s access to the Arabian Sea.

Hard Numbers: EU bans (most) Russian oil, Israel-UAE trade deal, crowdfunded drone for Ukraine, Pokemon zero-COVID protest

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Hard Numbers: EU bans (most) Russian oil, Israel-UAE trade deal, crowdfunded drone for Ukraine, Pokemon zero-COVID protest

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The Assad regime is gone, but how much of the old regime's personnel should the country's new rulers keep around?

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol looks highly likely to be impeached on Saturday after the leader of his own party on Thursday told members to vote according to their “conviction and conscience.”

Ethiopian President Abiy Ahmed and Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud announced a critical agreement to end a yearlong dispute over Ethiopia’s access to the Arabian Sea.

GZEROMEDIA

Subscribe to GZERO Media's newsletter: Signal

For Romania and Bulgaria, former Soviet Bloc countries that are now EU members, the light finally changed from red to green on Thursday as EU interior ministers agreed to let the two countries fully join the border-free Schengen zone on Jan. 1.

US President-elect Donald Trump has extended an unprecedentedinvitation to Chinese President Xi Jinping to attend his inauguration in Washington, DC, on Jan. 20, 2025.

Think you know what's going on around the world? Here's your chance to prove it.