672: India's top court has ordered the country's states to compensate the families of each person who died from COVID with 50,000 rupees ($672) for their loss within 30 days. India has reported almost half a million COVID deaths after suffering a devastating wave in the spring, but that figure is almost surely an undercount.
1,200: The US left a lot of weapons in Afghanistan amid its chaotic withdrawal, and now they're on sale in the black market. A single Beretta M9 handgun, standard issue for US service members, now goes for about $1,200, double what it costs in America and $300 less than a Russian-made Kalashnikov rifle, the weapon of choice for the Taliban.
281: Romania's center-right coalition government collapsed on Tuesday after a majority of 281 lawmakers voted in favor of a no-confidence vote in parliament. PM Florin Citu, who took over only nine months ago, has come under fire for his handling of the pandemic in Romania, which is grappling with a horrendous COVID wave while other EU states are relatively stable.
5 billion: Up to five billion people could lack access to clean water by mid-century, according to a new report by the UN weather agency. Global water supplies have declined by 1 cm (0.4 inches) over the past two decades, in part due to climate change-induced droughts.Think you know what's going on around the world? Here's your chance to prove it.
The trade deal between the European Union and South America’s Mercosur bloc is on the chopping block, facing an end-of-year deadline to be approved or shelved until 2028.
5: US President Donald Trump added five new countries – Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, South Sudan, and Syria – to the list of nations banned from traveling to the US.
With the release of its National Security Strategy, the Trump administration has telegraphed how the US intends to engage with allies, and what it expects from them.