Hard Numbers: Shenzhen lockdown, anti-war spam, Bitcoin bond, Saudi mass execution

March 13, 2022

Annie Gugliotta & Jess Frampton

17.5 million: The southern Chinese city of Shenzhen will go into lockdown and test its entire population of 17.5 million three times after logging 60 COVID infections on Sunday. Xi Jinping clearly has no plans to relax his Draconian zero-COVID policy anytime soon.

150: A Norwegian computer scientist has developed a website allowing anyone to spam 150 Russian emails at a time with messages about the war in Ukraine. Activists and hackers are getting increasingly creative with ways to circumvent Russian censorship.

1 billion: El Salvador, the only country that accepts Bitcoin as legal tender, now wants to raise $1 billion with a 10-year Bitcoin bond set to launch this week. Crypto-loving President Nayib Bukele wants to use the money to pay off debt and build a Bitcoin City.

81: Saudi Arabia executed 81 men on Saturday, its largest mass execution ever. Murder, terrorism, and holding “deviant beliefs” were among the offenses. One was Syrian and seven were from Yemen, where Saudi Arabia has been fighting a long proxy war with Iran.

China’s “dangerous” helicopter maneuver escalates tensions with US and Philippines

A Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy Harbin Z-9 helicopter sits on CNS Yulin during a display of warships ahead of an exhibition at Changi Naval Base in Singapore on May 18, 2015.

REUTERS/Edgar Su

A Chinese naval helicopter flew nearly 10 feet from a Philippine patrol plane on Tuesday over a contested reef in the South China Sea, escalating tensions with Manila and Washington in the airspace over international waterways Beijing claims as its own.

Hard Numbers: Shenzhen lockdown, anti-war spam, Bitcoin bond, Saudi mass execution

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Hard Numbers: Shenzhen lockdown, anti-war spam, Bitcoin bond, Saudi mass execution

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More from GZERO Media

“There is a sort of doubt about freedom of expression here or protection of free speech in Europe,” says Roberta Metsola, president of the European Parliament.

The war of words between US President Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky has hit a new low, with Trump labeling the Ukrainian president a “dictator” who “has done a terrible job.”

The CDU/CSU is very likely to win, making Friedrich Merz the country’s new chancellor. But he’s likely to lead a coalition government with a weak mandate, in part because he has vowed to reject any cooperation with the AfD.

Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tikhanovskaya joins GZERO Reports to discuss the fight against Lukashenko’s dictatorship, Belarus’ ties to Russia, and why she believes her country’s future depends on Ukraine’s victory.

GZEROMEDIA

Subscribe to GZERO Media's newsletter: Signal

A Chinese naval helicopter flew nearly 10 feet from a Philippine patrol plane on Tuesday over a contested reef in the South China Sea, escalating tensions with Manila and Washington in the airspace over international waterways Beijing claims as its own.