Hard Numbers: Moscow’s plea for help, deadly West Bank clashes, US Congress’ choo-choo choice, those hit hardest by US murder surge, US same-sex marriage bill

November 29, 2022

Russian President Vladimir Putin waits to meet India's PM Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the SCO summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

Sputnik/Sergey Bobylev/Pool via REUTERS

500: Is a friend in need a friend indeed? The Kremlin, increasingly isolated by Western sanctions, has sent India a list of 500 items that Russia needs in order to keep manufacturing planes, trains, and automobiles. No answer yet from Delhi, which has tried to walk a fine line since Russia invaded Ukraine: hewing to its traditional non-aligned policy, but without angering the US, a key ally in India’s burgeoning rivalry with China.

5: Israeli forces killed at least five Palestinians in separate clashes in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday. Violence between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian protesters and militants has increased in recent months, and things could get dicier still: Newly reelected PM Bibi Netanyahu has named the far right’s Itamar Ben-Gvir as minister of national security, a portfolio covering the West Bank and Israeli policing.

765,000: In a rare show of bipartisanship, the US Congress will move to impose a compromise agreement in an ongoing labor dispute between rail companies and rail worker unions. President Joe Biden, who requested the intervention, says as many as 765,000 jobs could evaporate if the workers go ahead with a December strike. The dispute has put his Democrats in a tough spot: They are generally pro-union, but they can’t have a rail strike ruining Christmas on their watch.

80: It ain’t the 1990s, not by a long shot, but homicides in the US have jumped up since the pandemic. And those bearing the brunt of it, a new Washington Post study shows, are Black communities, which account for more than 80% of murder victims in America’s largest cities.

61: With 61 votes in favor and 36 against, the US Senate passed a bill that enshrines the right to same-sex marriage in federal law. It does not require states to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples but repeals the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which allowed states not to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states.

Europe divided over Macron’s “reassurance force” for Ukraine

France's President Emmanuel Macron speaks during a press conference following a summit for the "coalition of the willing" at the Elysee Palace in Paris on March 27, 2025.

LUDOVIC MARIN/Pool via REUTERS

At the third summit of the so-called “coalition of the willing” for Ukraine on Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron proposed a multinational “reassurance force” to deter Russian aggression once a ceasefire is in place – and to engage if attacked.

How Imamoglu’s arrest is deepening Turkey’s economic woes

A group demonstrators chant slogans together as they hold posters during the protest. The ongoing protests were sparked by the arrest of Istanbul Metropolitan Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu.

Sopa Images via Reuters

Last week’s arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu sparked the largest anti-government rallies in a decade and resulted in widespread arrests throughout Turkey. Nearly 1,900 people have been detained since the protests erupted eight days ago.

Chain reaction: Why Trump pulled Stefanik’s UN nomination

National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), the then-nominee for US ambassador to the UN, during a Cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, DC, on Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025.

Al Drago/Pool/Sipa USA

An internal GOP poll found a Republican candidate trailing in a special election for a conservative-leaning district in Florida, forcing US President Donald Trump to make a decision aimed at maintaining the Republican Party’s majority in the House.

South Sudan’s vice president arrested, country on brink of civil war

South Sudan's Vice President Riek Machar, pictured here addressing the press in 2020.

REUTERS/Samir Bol

Alarm bells are ringing ever more loudly in South Sudan, as Vice President Riek Machar — chief rival to Prime Minister Salva Kiir — was arrested late Wednesday in an operation involving 20 armored vehicles at his compound in Juba. He was placed under house arrest, a move that is fueling fears that the country will soon descend into civil war.

US-Taliban relations thaw amid race for Afghanistan’s mineral riches

Afghan Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani, pictured here at the anniversary event of the departure of the Soviet Union from Afghanistan, in Kabul, Afghanistan, on April 28, 2022.

REUTERS/Ali Khara

The Trump administration has dropped multimillion-dollar bounties on senior Afghan officials from the Haqqani network, a militant faction that carried out some of the deadliest attacks on American troops but has now positioned itself as a moderate wing within the Taliban government. But why?

Accelerating the net-zero transition through new collaboration models

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Hard Numbers: Moscow’s plea for help, deadly West Bank clashes, US Congress’ choo-choo choice, those hit hardest by US murder surge, US same-sex marriage bill

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Europe divided over Macron’s “reassurance force” for Ukraine

At the third summit of the so-called “coalition of the willing” for Ukraine on Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron proposed a multinational “reassurance force” to deter Russian aggression once a ceasefire is in place – and to engage if attacked.

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How Imamoglu’s arrest is deepening Turkey’s economic woes

Last week’s arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu sparked the largest anti-government rallies in a decade and resulted in widespread arrests throughout Turkey. Nearly 1,900 people have been detained since the protests erupted eight days ago.

Chain reaction: Why Trump pulled Stefanik’s UN nomination

An internal GOP poll found a Republican candidate trailing in a special election for a conservative-leaning district in Florida, forcing US President Donald Trump to make a decision aimed at maintaining the Republican Party’s majority in the House.

South Sudan’s vice president arrested, country on brink of civil war

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US-Taliban relations thaw amid race for Afghanistan’s mineral riches

The Trump administration has dropped multimillion-dollar bounties on senior Afghan officials from the Haqqani network, a militant faction that carried out some of the deadliest attacks on American troops but has now positioned itself as a moderate wing within the Taliban government. But why?

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Who’s meddling in Canada’s election?

Canada’s foreign interference watchdog is warning that China, India, and Russia plan on meddling in the country’s federal election. The contest, which launched last weekend, has already been marked by a handful of stories about past covert foreign interventions and threats of new ones.

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Hard Numbers: Moscow’s plea for help, deadly West Bank clashes, US Congress’ choo-choo choice, those hit hardest by US murder surge, US same-sex marriage bill

GZEROMEDIA

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More from GZERO Media

At the third summit of the so-called “coalition of the willing” for Ukraine on Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron proposed a multinational “reassurance force” to deter Russian aggression once a ceasefire is in place – and to engage if attacked.

Last week’s arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu sparked the largest anti-government rallies in a decade and resulted in widespread arrests throughout Turkey. Nearly 1,900 people have been detained since the protests erupted eight days ago.

An internal GOP poll found a Republican candidate trailing in a special election for a conservative-leaning district in Florida, forcing US President Donald Trump to make a decision aimed at maintaining the Republican Party’s majority in the House.

GZEROMEDIA

Subscribe to GZERO Media's newsletter: Signal

The Trump administration has dropped multimillion-dollar bounties on senior Afghan officials from the Haqqani network, a militant faction that carried out some of the deadliest attacks on American troops but has now positioned itself as a moderate wing within the Taliban government. But why?

Have you stayed atop GZERO’s news coverage this week? Here’s your chance to prove it.

Canada’s foreign interference watchdog is warning that China, India, and Russia plan on meddling in the country’s federal election. The contest, which launched last weekend, has already been marked by a handful of stories about past covert foreign interventions and threats of new ones.