Hard Numbers: Fenced-off Shanghai, Tigrayan soldiers seek asylum, Saudi royals sell assets, overtaxed Argentine farmers

Hard Numbers: Fenced-off Shanghai, Tigrayan soldiers seek asylum, Saudi royals sell assets, overtaxed Argentine farmers
Annie Gugliotta & Jess Frampton

6: After partly relaxing its COVID-19 lockdown last week, Shanghai is now erecting metal barriers to keep people indoors in high-risk districts. Frustration among residents is mounting, as seen in a six-minute video about the lockdown’s impact that's gone viral on Chinese social media despite censors' attempts to block it.

500: Over 500 Ethiopian soldiers from the war-torn Tigray region deployed as UN peacekeepers in Sudan say they won't return home because they fear for their safety. They want asylum in the neighboring country, which has a beef with Ethiopia over a controversial dam on the Upper Nile.

600 million: Big-spending members of the Saudi royal family have recently sold more than $600 million worth of art, real estate, and yachts stashed in the US and Europe. The royals are worried about getting cut off by de-facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who — by Saudi standards — is somewhat more frugal.

64.9: Thousands of Argentine farmers took to the streets of Buenos Aires on Saturday for an anti-tax protest. You'd probably do the same if an estimated 64.9% of your income went to the government.

More from GZERO Media

Or Levy, Eli Sharabi, and Ohad Ben Ami, hostages held in Gaza since the deadly Oct. 7, 2023 attack, are released by Hamas militants as part of a ceasefire and a hostages-prisoners swap deal between Hamas and Israel on Feb. 8, 2025.

REUTERS/Hatem Khaled

Hamas released three Israeli hostages on Saturday in exchange for 200 Palestinian prisoners. But the return of Eli Sharabi, Ohad Ben Ami, and Or Levy sparked outrage in Israel due to their severely malnourished state.

President Donald Trump speaks at the White House in Washington, on Feb. 5, 2025.
REUTERS/Kent Nishimura

US President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday halting all “non-essential” assistance to South Africa. He also ordered American agencies to assist white South Africans fleeing racial discrimination and resettle them as refugees in the US.

Spanish Vox party leader Santiago Abascal presided over the European Patriots Summit in Madrid over the weekend. The event brought together numerous conservative leaders from across Europe under the banner of "Make Europe Great Again."

Photo by David Cruz Sanz/Alter Photos/Sipa USA via Reuters

Leaders of the far-right Patriots for Europe bloc addressed 2,000 supporters in Madrid on Saturday under the slogan “Make Europe Great Again.”

Listen: President Trump has already made sweeping changes to US public health policy—from RFK Jr.’s nomination to lead the health department to withdrawing the US from the World Health Organization. On the GZERO World Podcast, New York Times science and global health reporter Apoorva Mandavilli joins Ian Bremmer for an in-depth look at health policy in the Trump administration, and what it could mean, not just for the US, but for the rest of the world.

Elon Musk walks on Capitol Hill on the day of a meeting with Senate Republican Leader-elect John Thune (R-SD), in Washington, U.S. December 5, 2024.

REUTERS/Benoit Tessier

As the deadline for federal employees to resign in exchange for eight months of pay closed in on Thursday, a federal judge in Massachusetts stepped in and temporarily blocked it. Judge George A. O’Toole Jr. ordered that a hearing be held on Monday afternoon. In response, the Office of Personnel Management – the agency Elon Musk has harnessed to carry out the Department of Government Efficiency’s efforts to downsize the government – has postponed the deadline until Monday.