Hard Numbers: Ether price surges, Tigray’s food crisis, Belgium-France border moved, space-aged wine

Hard Numbers: Ether price surges, Tigray’s food crisis, Belgium-France border moved, space-aged wine
A representation of virtual currency Ethereum are seen in front of a stock graph in this illustration.
REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

3,456: The price of one Ether, the world's second most popular cryptocurrency after Bitcoin, hit an all-time high of $3,456 on Tuesday. Ether, which has quadrupled in value so far in 2021, is gaining ground as governments around the world grapple with how to regulate digital currencies.

4.5 million: Six months after a war started in Ethiopia's Tigray region, 4.5 million people currently need food assistance. Aid groups fear tens of thousands of people have been killed since November, when clashes erupted between the Ethiopian army and Tigray nationalists.

2.29: A Belgian farmer inadvertently altered his country's border with France by moving a stone marker 2.29 meters (7.5 feet) inside French territory because it was in his tractor's path. Although the incident has not yet caused a diplomatic spat, failure to return the marker to its original location could trigger a Franco-Belgian border commission that was last convened in 1930.

1 million: A bottle of a rare vintage French wine that spent more than a year aboard the International Space Station will be auctioned off, with an asking price of $1 million. The wine was "aged" in a near zero-gravity environment as part of a study to make Earth-based plants more resilient to new stresses.

More from GZERO Media

- YouTube

Do you think the Signal controversy in the US will have an impact on the transatlantic relationship? What impact do you think the Turkish protests and instability will have on Turkish relationships with its European allies? Carl Bildt, former prime minister of Sweden and co-chair of the European Council on Foreign Relations, shares his perspective on European politics from Stockholm, Sweden.

U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks on tariffs in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 2, 2025.
REUTERS/Carlos Barria

During a speech in the White House Rose Garden on Wednesday, Donald Trump announced a 10% across-the-board tariff on US imports, with higher rates for countries that have a larger trade surplus with the United States – to the tune of 20% for the EU, 54% for China, and 46% for Vietnam, to name a few of the hardest-hit. Trump also confirmed that he’s imposing 25% levies on foreign-made cars and parts.

Palestinians travel in vehicles between the northern and southern Gaza Strip along the Rashid Road on April 2, 2025.

Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto via Reuters

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that Israel was seizing more territory in Gaza to “divide up” the besieged enclave. He spoke as Israeli forces increased the intensity of their assault on Hamas in Gaza, which resumed two weeks ago after phase one of the ceasefire agreed to in January ended.

Vice President JD Vance and his wife, Usha Vance, tour the US military's Pituffik Space Base in Greenland on March 28, 2025.
JIM WATSON/Pool via REUTERS

How much would it cost for the United States to maintain Greenland as its territory? And what are the revenue possibilities from the Arctic island’s natural resources? Those are two questions the White House is reportedly looking into in the surest sign yet that Trump’s interest in Greenland is genuine.

Protesters demanded the ouster of South Korean President Yoon in central Seoul on March 29, 2025.
Lee Jae-Won/AFLO via Reuters

South Korea’s Constitutional Court will tie the legal bow on what has been a tumultuous period for the country as it rules Friday on whether to formally dismiss or reinstate impeached President Yoon Suk-yeol.

After voters elected her to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, liberal candidate Judge Susan Crawford celebrates with Wisconsin Supreme Court Judge Ann Walsh Bradley at her election night headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin, on April 1, 2025.

REUTERS/Vincent Alban

Republicans expanded their lean House majority after a pair of special elections in Florida, but a conservative candidate lost badly in a Wisconsin judicial race — despite a huge cash injection from Elon Musk.