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Hard Numbers: Santa sees holiday sales surge, Ukraine scores a win at sea, Catholic monasteries busy brewin’ beer, Opposition candidates cry fraud in Congo

December 26, 2023

Riley Callanan

Santa does his holiday shopping

(Photo by Telmo Pinto/NurPhoto

3.1: The Christmas spirit proved stronger than inflation this December, with American retail sales rising 3.1 percent over the same period last year. But Santa Claus can’t take all the credit. The holiday sales surge was largely driven by a healthy labor market and wage gains, suggesting that although inflation is hurting Americans’ pocketbooks, the overall US economy remains strong.

360: As the Ukraine War grinds into a stalemate on land, at sea Kyiv scored a win against Moscow’s Black Sea Fleet when it destroyed a 360 foot warship at port in Russian-occupied Crimea. The successful attack came as Ukrainian officials acknowledged that they had lost the month-long battle to maintain control of the eastern city of Marinka.

13: The Christmas season is a busy time for Catholic monasteries around the world, but especially for 13 Trappist monasteries across Europe, responsible for producing the world’s supply of Trappist beer. Trappist beer – often lauded as the best, as well as the holiest, beer – flies off the monastery’s shelves at Christmas, with the sole UK monastery selling nearly a third of the 105,000 liters it produces each year over the holiday season.

18: The 18 opposition candidates in Democratic Republic of Congo’s presidential election plan to march on the capital city, Kinshasa, on Wednesday over alleged election fraud. Although the official results won’t be released until December 31st, early results show the incumbent Felix Tshisekedi far ahead of his challengers, winning almost 79% of the 6.1 million votes counted so far.

GZEROMEDIA

The biodiversity-shaped piece in the climate crisis puzzle: How to solve it

Mastercard

The clock is ticking on efforts to help halt and reverse biodiversity loss, but there’s still time to help support the animals, plants, and ecosystems that are all necessary for a healthy planet. In order to protect biodiversity — every living organism and ecosystem from microbes to mangroves — citizens, companies, and countries all need to do their part. That’s why the Mastercard-led Priceless Planet Coalition is on a mission to restore 100 million trees and regenerate biodiversity-rich forests. Read more about the Coalition's approach and progress.

Hot topics at the IMF-World Bank meetings

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Delegates at the IMF and World Bank Annual Meetings have been giving rosy outlooks to the press while the cameras are rolling, but GZERO Senior Writer Matthew Kendrick heard a different story in private settings. He told Tony Maciulis that the global outlook depends heavily on US policy continuity — which is highly unlikely under a second Trump administration — and successful efforts in China to revive its own floundering economy.

Can the IMF change to help more women?

Matthew Kendrick

When a country hits rock bottom financially, the International Monetary Fund is meant to step in with funds to stabilize the economy without damaging its society — or the gender gap. But studies show that these programs often push women out of work at a disproportionate rate to men as the economy contracts. Matthew Kendrick reports from the World Bank-IMF Annual Meetings on a push to build more equitable programs.

GZEROMEDIA

North Korean troops move into Russia’s border area with Ukraine

Russia's President Vladimir Putin and North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un attend a farewell ceremony before Putin's departure at an airport in Pyongyang, North Korea June 19, 2024.

Gavriil Grigorov/Reuters

Kyiv says that roughly 12,000 North Korean troops are in Russia, a far greater number than reported by the US, though it remains unclear precisely how many have entered what Ukraine referred to as the “combat zone.”

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Hard Numbers: Santa sees holiday sales surge, Ukraine scores a win at sea, Catholic monasteries busy brewin’ beer, Opposition candidates cry fraud in Congo

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This week World Bank announced a bold initiative to bridge the gender divide by creating more economic opportunity, broadening female leadership, and reducing gender-based violence in the next 5 years as 2030 approaches.

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Kyiv says that roughly 12,000 North Korean troops are in Russia, a far greater number than reported by the US, though it remains unclear precisely how many have entered what Ukraine referred to as the “combat zone.”

Georgian Dream insists the country is still on track to join the EU, as critics accuse the party of pushing Georgia in an increasingly anti-Western, authoritarian direction.

In 2001, a Goldman Sachs economist coined an acronym for the four largest and most promising “emerging market” economies: Brazil, Russia, India, and China became known as the “BRIC” countries.

With the latest polls still showing Donald Trump and Kamala Harris neck and neck in the swing states, both candidates are heading to Texas, a far less competitive state, with hopes of reaching key voter groups nationwide.