News
Hard Numbers: Germany names Nord Stream suspect, WHO declares Mpox emergency, Kiwi charity accidentally gives out meth, Panama Canal struggles continue, US inflation lowest since 2021
Nordstream pipeline explosion
7: Who blew up the Nord Stream pipeline? Germany has issued an arrest warrant for a Ukrainian diver suspected of planting the explosives that did the job back in September 2022,seven months after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The suspect remains at-large, but the warrant marks the first significant development in solving the long running mystery of who was behind the attack.
13: The World Health Organization has declared a global health emergency after detecting a surge of mpox, formerly called monkeypox, in 13 African countries. This is the second time in three years that the W.H.O. has designated mpox a global health emergency. The last time, in 2022, the disease affected nearly 100,000 people, primarily gay and bisexual men, in 116 countries. But experts warn that this strain could be deadlier, with women and children under 15 most at risk.
400: Around400 food-insecure people may have received sweets containing "potentially lethal levels of methamphetamine" in food parcels distributed by an anti-poverty charity in Auckland, New Zealand. Some of the candies were found to contain 120-300 times the commonly consumed dose of meth, giving each a street value of around $601. Police are still investigating the incident and have not confirmed whether it was accidental or a targeted operation.
35: In July, the volume of dry goods shipped through the Panama canal was down 35 percent compared to a year earlier. The number of ships carrying liquified natural gas fell by half during the same period. The data show that the canal – which handles about 5% of global maritime trade – is struggling to recover cargo volumes lost after a historic drought last year limited shipping traffic. Larger questions about the canal’s future loom as climate change drives down local rainfall and demands for safe drinking water grow.
2.9:US inflation fell to 2.9% in July, the lowest since March of 2021, indicating that the Fed is succeeding in quelling price pressures and bolstering the case for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates at its next meeting. This is good news for Harris’ presidential bid, since the economy – and inflation in particular – the top issue for the majority of voters.
Two months into the Iran war, the shooting has stopped … for now. In Quick Take, Ian Bremmer explains that the fragile ceasefire between the United States and Iran is holding, with both sides avoiding direct confrontation while continuing to apply pressure in other ways. The US blockade remains in place, and Iran is still disrupting key shipping routes, underscoring just how tenuous the situation really is.
The Iran war just proved Kim Jong Un right. His grandfather wanted the bomb, his father built it, and now the world has stopped pretending it can take it away. Ian Bremmer explains how North Korea got here, and what comes next.
At the 2026 World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings, CFA Institute former President and CEO Margaret Franklin joined GZERO’s Tony Maciulis to discuss how investors are adapting to a world where disruption has become the baseline.