News
Hard Numbers: Real snow disrupts Winter Games, French airstrikes in the Sahel, “blasphemy” lynching in Pakistan, Canadian cops arrest protesters
Cross country skiing at the 2022 Beijing Olympics
REUTERS/Lindsey Wasson
222 million: Several ski and slalom events had to be pushed back at the Beijing Olympics Sunday due to heavy snow and poor visibility. Ironically, China has been criticized for using 222 million liters of water to create artificial snow conditions for the Games.
40: In coordination with local forces, the French military conducted airstrikes in Burkina Faso Saturday, killing 40 militants believed to be linked to local terror cells. The French, who have been operating in a counterterrorism capacity in the jihadist-plagued Sahel region, said the targets were responsible for recent attacks in neighboring Benin, which killed a French national.
80: More than 80 people have been arrested in Pakistan’s Punjab province for lynching a man who allegedly burned pages of the Quran. Pakistan’s British-era blasphemy law triggers a potential death sentence for anyone who insults Islam, but critics say that the law is often used by vigilantes to target minorities and settle personal scores.
1.6: Canadian police started arresting protesters Sunday in Windsor, Canada, in an attempt to unblock the 1.6 mile Ambassador Bridge that runs from there to Detroit, Michigan, and accommodates more than a quarter of all trade between the US and Canada. This comes as weeks-long protests against vaccine mandates and other measures that have crippled Ottawa, the capital, continue to grow.The war in Iran is entering a more dangerous phase.
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In this Quick Take, Ian Bremmer breaks down the escalating US-Israel war with Iran and its ripple effects on global markets and supply chains.
As missiles fly and oil prices soar, the Iran war is exposing another major resource vulnerability in the Middle East: water. Fresh water has been a scarce commodity in a region defined by a dry climate and low rainfall, but attacks on the region’s desalination plants, which convert seawater into drinking water, threaten to open a new front.