Hard Numbers: Not a Good Start, Boris!

7,000: The Philippines is the latest country to be hit by the African swine flu, a fatal pig virus that has spread across Asia over the past year, driving up pork prices. Authorities culled more than 7,000 pigs within a short radius to prevent an epidemic in the world's eighth biggest pork producer.

13: The new European Commission, a cohort of 27 commissioners charged with enforcing EU rules and treaties, will include 13 women and 14 men when it takes office on November 1, making it the most gender diverse leadership team in EU history.

38: According to a new Pew survey, 38 percent of Americans think colleges are having a negative impact on the direction the country is headed. These views increased by 12 percentage points since 2012, and are linked to partisanship: the jump was driven almost entirely by hardening attitudes among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents.

6: On Tuesday, British MPs voted to block Boris Johnson from holding snap elections, marking his sixth parliamentary loss in six days. This capped a bad few days for Britain's prime minister after a new law came into effect on Monday, blocking him from pursuing a "no deal" Brexit.

More from GZERO Media

​Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell testifies during a U.S. House Oversight and Reform Select Subcommittee hearing on coronavirus crisis, on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., June 22, 2021.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell testifies during a U.S. House Oversight and Reform Select Subcommittee hearing on coronavirus crisis, on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., June 22, 2021.
Graeme Jennings/Pool via REUTERS

Friday’s new US jobs report showed that unemployment ticked down to 4.2% and employers added 142,000 jobs in August, lower than the 161,000 expected.

Former President Donald Trump gives brief remarks alongside his attorney Todd Blanche at the conclusion of his hush money trial at Manhattan criminal court on July 11.
Michael M. Santiago/Pool via USA TODAY NETWORK

Former President Donald Trump’s sentencing in his New York hush-money case, which had been scheduled for Sept. 18, has been delayed until after Election Day.

People react inside a damaged residence following an Israeli raid, in Jenin, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on Sept. 6, 2024.
REUTERS/Raneen Sawafta

An American woman was fatally shot at a protest against settlement expansion in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Friday, the State Department confirmed.

Honduras' President Xiomara Castro delivers a speech during a ceremony to commemorate the National Flag Day, in Tegucigalpa, Honduras September 1, 2024.
REUTERS/Stringer

Honduran President Xiomara Castro faced calls to resign on Wednesday after journalists released a video of her brother-in-law negotiating payoffs with convicted drug traffickers.

FILE PHOTO: A Kenyan police officer stands guard during a joint operation with Haitian police, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti July 29, 2024.
REUTERS/Jean Feguens Regala/File Photo

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Haiti for the first time on Thursday, underscoring American support for the struggling Caribbean government and the Kenyan-led security mission meant to stabilize the country.

Hunter Biden
REUTERS

Just as jury selection was about to start for his federal tax evasion trial, Hunter Bidenhas offered to plead guilty in a last-ditch effort to avoid a costly and potentially damning public trial.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell testifies during a U.S. House Oversight and Reform Select Subcommittee hearing on coronavirus crisis, on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., June 22, 2021.
Graeme Jennings/Pool via REUTERS

Uncertainty will be high as the markets open today. Selloffs in the US market this week have raised recession fears while investors await the release of Friday’s US jobs report.