Hard Numbers: Pakistan’s mosque mandate, Morrison banned from WeChat, Thai PM visits Saudi, Bitcoin tumbles

January 24, 2022

Illumination of the stock graph is seen on the representations of virtual currency Bitcoin in this picture illustration taken taken

46: Facing an omicron wave, Pakistani authorities have announced that only fully vaccinated people will be allowed to enter mosques. In Karachi, Pakistan’s most populous city, almost half of people tested for COVID (46 percent) are returning positive results.

76,000: Amid a deepening diplomatic row between Beijing and Canberra, Australian PM Scott Morrison has lost access to his account on the Chinese messaging app WeChat and is unable to communicate with his 76,000 followers. Beijing denies claims of interference, but appeals to restore Morrison’s account have fallen on deaf ears.

30: Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha will visit Saudi Arabia this week, marking the first visit of a Thai leader to Riyadh in 30 years. Diplomatic ties between the two states broke down in 1989 after a Thai janitor stole $20 million worth of gems from a Saudi prince. Riyadh accused Bangkok of bungling the criminal investigation.

50: The price of Bitcoin has fallen 50 percent since it peaked last November. Cryptocurrencies have fallen across the board, in part because geopolitical tensions have sparked a global flight from riskier investments and in part because many governments have tried to crack down on digital assets.

25 or 50? Jobs report likely to influence magnitude of Fed’s rate cut

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.

Hard Numbers: Pakistan’s mosque mandate, Morrison banned from WeChat, Thai PM visits Saudi, Bitcoin tumbles

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Hard Numbers: Pakistan’s mosque mandate, Morrison banned from WeChat, Thai PM visits Saudi, Bitcoin tumbles

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More from GZERO Media

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

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

What on Earth is going on in Brazil? The world’s richest man, Elon Musk, is locked in a high-profile, increasingly nasty clash with Latin America’s largest economy, which has recently banned Musk’s X platform.

GZEROMEDIA

Subscribe to GZERO Media's newsletter: Signal

Here’s a breakdown of the corridor’s significance and the implications of Netanyahu’s stance.

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.

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.

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.

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.