Hard Numbers: France faces terror threats, US sanctions Hamas, WFP tries to help quake-plagued Afghans, Cambodian court punishes opposition figure

The Louvre was evacuated following a bomb threat on Saturday, October 14.
The Louvre was evacuated following a bomb threat on Saturday, October 14.
Edouard Monfrais-Albertini / Hans Lucas via Reuters

3: Airports in the French cities of Lyon, Toulouse, and Lille closed and were evacuated on Wednesday after receiving email threats. This followed similar recent evacuations from other tourist attractions like the Louvre Museum and Palace of Versailles. A government spokesperson encouraged French citizens not to allow terror tactics to overwhelm them, urging “Vigilance, yes. Fear, no.”

10: The US Treasury Department on Wednesday sanctioned 10 members of Hamas involved in managing the terrorist network’s global financial operations. Access to any funds held in the United States will be blocked, and they will be prohibited from doing business with American companies and individuals. Treasury officials said they would even clamp down on fundraising done via cryptocurrency.

19 million: The World Food Program is asking donors for $19 million in emergency funds to assist survivors of the series of major earthquakes in western Afghanistan that have killed thousands and flattened entire villages. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg: The WFP urgently needs $400 million to bring food to Afghan communities before winter, when many are cut off from the wider world for weeks at a time as snow and landslides prevent access to mountain towns.

3: A Cambodian court sentenced opposition politician Thach Setha to another three years in prison over a social media post that criticized then-Prime Minister Hun Sen’s policy toward Vietnam. It’s a sensitive subject in Cambodia, as Hun Sen was originally installed in 1985 in a government backed by Vietnam, which had invaded the country to force out the Khmer Rouge in 1979. The Hun Sen regime has been known to target the opposition with legal harassment and imprisonment.

More from GZERO Media

Republican U.S. Representative Matt Gaetz speaks at a campaign rally for Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump in Henderson, Nevada U.S. October 31, 2024.
REUTERS/Mike Blake

President-elect Donald Trump’s unconventional picks for a number of important Cabinet positions in his second administration have set him on a collision course with the GOP-led Senate.

Accompanied by tugs, the LNG tanker "Hellas Diana" transports a cargo of LNG to the "Deutsche Ostsee" energy terminal.
Stefan Sauer/Reuters

While other countries in Europe still import small amounts of Russian LNG under long-term contracts, the EU broadly is looking to import more of the stuff from the growing American market.

Luisa Vieira

Cabinet-building has long been crucial for both the success of a presidency and the direction of the United States. From the presidencies of Abraham Lincoln to Donald Trump, the team often tells the tale of power. Publisher Evan Solomon looks at what Trump’s Cabinet picks are telling us all.

A member of the cleaning crew walks past a G20 Summit sign outside the Museum of Modern Art, the venue of the G20 summit, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Nov. 14, 2024.
REUTERS/Pilar Olivares

Amid geopolitical tensions fanned by wars in Europe and the Middle East and Donald Trump’s reelection in the US, world heads of state will gather in Rio de Janeiro for the G20 Leaders’ Summit from Nov. 18-19. We sat down with Eurasia Group expert Julia Thomson to learn more about this year’s G20 Summit.