Hard Numbers: Lebanon riots, Philippine economy nosedives, women in Somali politics, the end of the world

Hard Numbers: Lebanon riots, Philippine economy nosedives, women in Somali politics, the end of the world
A demonstrator gestures as others warm up near a fire during a protest in Tripoli, Lebanon.
REUTERS/Omar Ibrahim

1: At least one person died and more than 200 were injured in clashes between security forces and citizens protesting new pandemic restrictions in Tripoli, Lebanon's second-largest city. Lebanon is currently mired in a staggering economic crisis and the government has provided little relief for people forced to shutter their businesses because of lockdowns.

9.5: The Philippines economy contracted 9.5 percent last year, the government announced on Thursday. It's the biggest annual decline on record for the country, which currently trails only Indonesia in COVID cases and deaths among Southeast Asian nations.

30: Ahead of next month's elections, Somali Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble recently announced a quota reserving 30 percent of parliamentary seats for women. But women's rights groups say they want the requirement written into the constitution so that it cannot be reversed in Somalia, where women currently make up just under a quarter of the legislature.

100: The Doomsday Clock — used by a group of nuclear scientists to illustrate how close we are to a man-made disaster that could end the world — remains for the second year in a row at 100 seconds to midnight, the closest it's ever been. The pandemic was bad, the clock's keepers at the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists noted, but they also pointed to better-than-expected progress on climate change and the recent extension of a major US-Russia arms control pact.

More from GZERO Media

US President Donald Trump pardons a turkey at the annual White House Thanksgiving Turkey Pardon in the Rose Garden in Washington, D.C., USA, on Nov. 25, 2025.
Andrew Leyden/NurPhoto

Although not all of our global readers celebrate Thanksgiving, it’s still good to remind ourselves that while the world offers plenty of fodder for doomscrolling and despair, there are still lots of things to be grateful for too.

Marine Le Pen, French member of parliament and parliamentary leader of the far-right National Rally (Rassemblement National - RN) party and Jordan Bardella, president of the French far-right National Rally (Rassemblement National - RN) party and member of the European Parliament, gesture during an RN political rally in Bordeaux, France, September 14, 2025.
REUTERS/Stephane Mahe

Army Chief Asim Munir holds a microphone during his visit at the Tilla Field Firing Ranges (TFFR) to witness the Exercise Hammer Strike, a high-intensity field training exercise conducted by the Pakistan Army's Mangla Strike Corps, in Mangla, Pakistan, on May 1, 2025.

Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR)/Handout via REUTERS

Field Marshal Asim Munir, the country’s de facto leader, consolidated his power after the National Assembly rammed through a controversial constitutional amendment this month that grants him lifelong immunity from any legal prosecution.