Hard Numbers: Restricting Afghan women costs the economy, the world’s most expensive city, Michigan school shooting, Ugandan troops in the DRC

Afghan women hold signs as they gather for a women's rights protest march in central Kabul, Afghanistan October 21, 2021.

1 billion: In restricting women from working, the Taliban could cost Afghanistan’s economy $1 billion, according to a UN report. That’s 5 percent of the country’s total GDP. Banning women – who make up 20 percent of the Afghan workforce – from many aspects of social life is risky business as the country faces a humanitarian and economic crisis.

4: Four students were killed and eight people were injured Tuesday when a gunman opened fire at a high school in the US state of Michigan. The 15-year old shooter reportedly used a gun bought by his father recently on Black Friday. The incident has put the issue of lax gun laws in the US back into focus.

4: Ugandan troops have entered the Democratic Republic of Congo in a joint effort to crack down on the Allied Democratic Forces, an Islamic insurgency group linked to ISIS and responsible for a string of attacks on civilians. This move comes weeks after twin suicide attacks by those affiliated with ADF in Kampala, the Ugandan capital, killed 4 people and injured dozens.

1: Inflation and an economic downturn caused by the pandemic have increased the cost of living in many places. But Tel Aviv now takes the cake as the world’s most expensive city, up from fifth place last year, according to the Economist’s Cost of Living Index. Property prices are astronomical in Tel Aviv, which is followed on the list by Paris and Singapore.

More from GZERO Media

Listen: Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, made his fortune-breaking industries—space, cars, social media—and is now trying to break the government… in the name of fixing it. But what happens when Silicon Valley’s ‘move fast and break things’ ethos collides with the machinery of federal bureaucracy? On the GZERO World Podcast, Ian Bremmer sits down with WIRED Global Editorial Director Katie Drummond to unpack the implications of Musk’s deepening role in the Trump administration and what’s really behind his push into politics.

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.

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.

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 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.

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?

The Canadian flag flies on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.

REUTERS/Blair Gable

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.