Hard Numbers: Dog title temporarily revoked, Young Irish adults live with parents, Russian air travelers live in fear, Houthi strikes crush cargo

The dog, Bobi, that broke the record for oldest dog ever at 30 years-old, is pictured at Conqueiros, in Leiria, Portugal, February 4, 2023.
The dog, Bobi, that broke the record for oldest dog ever at 30 years-old, is pictured at Conqueiros, in Leiria, Portugal, February 4, 2023.
REUTERS/Catarina Demony
31: Hold up, dawg. Guinness World Records has temporarily rescinded the title of World’s Oldest Dog that was awarded last year to a Rafeiro do Alentejo guard dog in Portugal that was allegedly 31 when it died (that’s more than 200 human years). New vet testimony has cast doubt on the dog’s real age.

⅔: Ireland is suffering from a serious housing crisis. Rents are so high that some two-thirds of Irish young adults live with their parents, which is nearly 20 points higher than the EU average. Experts blame a failure to invest in social housing and an overreliance on market solutions, which created incentives for developers to build luxury or short-term rental properties rather than lower or middle-income housing.

8: Russia’s commercial airline industry is hitting some serious turbulence. In the first eight days of December, according to a new report, Russian civilian airliners suffered at least eight separate serious mechanical failures. The rash of incidents is part of a wider problem: Western sanctions preventing the delivery of parts and service to Western-made aircraft in Russia are causing Russia’s commercial fleets to fall apart,

65: Houthi airstrikes on commercial ships navigating the Red Sea have caused cargo volumes through that waterway to fall 65% from normal levels. On Tuesday, even after two rounds of US-led airstrikes on Houthi targets, a Houthi missile struck a Greek-owned ship off the Yemeni coast. The Houthis say they’ll stop when there’s a cease-fire in Gaza, a call echoed by Qatar’s prime minister on Tuesday at Davos. (See our explainer on why Qatar is a small country with big influence these days.)

More from GZERO Media

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, a leader of the democratic opposition of Belarus, is seen here in Krakow, Poland, in 2022.

Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Reuters

Belarusian strongman Alexander Lukashenko has been in power for more than 30 years and just won another election widely regarded as rigged. Why are the streets of Minsk quiet? Exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who continues to advocate for democracy and increased Western pressure on the Belarusian regime from Lithuania, talked to GZERO’s Alex Kliment about the road ahead.

Thousands of people take part in a protest against CDU Leader Friedrich Merz and his action to vote with AFD to tighten immigration policy in Duesseldorf, Germany, on January 30, 2025. The poster reads "Hey Merz, Judas would be proud of you!"
Ying Tang/NurPhoto

Friedrich Merz cooperated with the Alternative for Deutschland party in order to pass new limits on immigration.

Kash Patel, Trump’s nominee for Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), testifies at a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing in Washington, DC, January 30, 2025.
Photo by Allison Bailey

Kash Patel faced intense questioning on Thursday during his Senate confirmation hearing for FBI director and attempted to distance himself from past controversial statements and to address concerns about how he would run the powerful law enforcement agency.

Salwan Momika, an anti-Islam activist, gestures as he speaks, in Malmo, Sweden, September 3, 2023.
TT News Agency/Johan Nilsson via REUTERS

5: At least five people have been arrested in Sweden in connection with the murder of Salwan Momika, an Iraqi Christian extremist known for burning Qurans in public and leading anti-Islam protests.

Elon Musk departs the office of Senate Minority Whip and incoming Senate Republican Leader-elect John Thune (R-SD) after a meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S. December 5, 2024.
REUTERS/Benoit Tessier/File Photo

What is it? Donald Trump used an executive order to turn the little-known US Digital Service, a unit created within the Executive Office of the President under the Obama administration to enhance government technology, into the Department of Government Efficiency – or DOGE.