Hard Numbers: Thais come clean on Pegasus, Salvadoran emergency extended, Tunisian pol questioned, Chinese boycott mortgages

July 20, 2022

A protester wears a face mask with a sticker reading "Chase Prayuth" and raising the three-finger salute during a rally against the Thai PM.

Chaiwat Subprasom / SOPA Images/Sipa USA

30: Thailand admitted using the Israeli-made Pegasus spyware to track phones in cases related to drugs or “national security.” The government reportedly also deployed Pegasus to spy on 30 activists linked to the ongoing youth-led mass protests against coup-leader-turned PM Prayuth Chan-ocha, which triggered a political earthquake by questioning the role of the monarchy.

46,000: El Salvador has extended the state of emergency it imposed in March to deal with rising gang violence. Over 46,000 people have been arrested so far under the controversial decree, which tough-on-crime President Nayib Bukele claims is necessary for public safety — but human rights groups argue has led to countless arbitrary detentions where dozens have died.

9: Tunisian opposition leader Rached Ghannouchi was released after more than nine hours of questioning in a corruption and money-laundering probe just days ahead of President Kais Saied's constitutional referendum on Monday. Ghannouchi, head of the moderate Islamist Ennahdha party, is a vocal critic of Saied and warns a majority "yes" vote will turn Tunisia into a dictatorship.

91: Some Chinese homebuyers have stopped paying their mortgages in at least 91 cities because developers have run out of cash to finish the projects. The revolt is exacerbating China's real-estate slump, which last year caught global attention when the Evergrande debt crisis threatened to infect the wider financial system.

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Trump wants more Ukrainians drafted

Former (and incoming) President Donald Trump and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy meet at Trump Tower in New York City, on Sept. 27, 2024.

REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

President-elect Donald Trump promised on the campaign trail to end the war in Ukraine “on Day One” of his administration. His supporters have long argued Trump should be taken seriously but not literally, and his team has since rolled back that expectation and insists on a 100-day ceasefire timeline instead.

North Korean troops reportedly face brutal treatment in Russia

Photos published by Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Jan 11, 2025 shows two North Korean military personnel captured by Ukraine forces soldiers in the Kursk region. Two soldiers, though wounded, survived and were transported to Kyiv, where they are now communicating with the Security Service of Ukraine, Zelenskyy said. This was not an easy task: Russian forces and other North Korean military personnel usually execute their wounded to erase any evidence of North Korea’s involvement in the war against Ukraine, he said. I am grateful to the soldiers of Tactical Group No. 84 of the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as our paratroopers, who captured these two individuals.

(Ukraine Military handout via EYEPRESS) via Reuters

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced Saturday that his troops had captured two North Korean soldiers in the Kursk region and released a video of them describing their experience fighting for Russia.

Politics inflamed amid California wildfires

LOS ANGELES, CA - JANUARY 07: A wind-driven fire burns on January 7, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. Santa Ana wind is fueling wildfires in Los Angeles that have destroyed homes and forced the evacuation of thousands of people.

(Photo by Qian Weizhong/VCG ) via Reuters

As California’s most destructive wildfires continue to blaze across Los Angeles County, having killed 16 and displaced more than 166,000 residents, emergency response efforts have become politicized, both at home and abroad.

TikTok ban likely to be upheld

A person holds a placard on the day justices hear oral arguments in a bid by TikTok and its China-based parent company, ByteDance, to block a law intended to force the sale of the short-video app by Jan. 19 or face a ban on national security grounds, outside the U.S. Supreme Court, in Washington, U.S., January 10, 2025.

REUTERS/Marko Djurica

On Friday, the Supreme Court appeared poised to uphold the TikTok ban, largely dismissing the app’s argument that it should be able to exist in the US under the First Amendment’s free speech protections and favoring the government's concerns that it poses a national security threat.

The rise of a leaderless world: Why 2025 marks a turning point, with Francis Fukuyama

Listen: On the GZERO World Podcast, we’re taking a look at some of the top geopolitical risks of 2025. This looks to be the year that the G-Zero wins. We’ve been living with this lack of international leadership for nearly a decade now. But in 2025, the problem will get a lot worse. We are heading back to the law of the jungle. A world where the strongest do what they can while the weakest are condemned to suffer what they must. Joining Ian Bremmer to peer into this cloudy crystal ball is renowned Stanford political scientist Francis Fukuyama.

Trump avoids jail in hush money sentencing

President-elect Donald Trump appears remotely for a sentencing hearing in front of New York State Judge Juan Merchan in his hush money case at New York Criminal Court in New York City, on Jan. 10, 2025.

REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/Pool

President-elect Donald Trump was sentenced in his New York hush money case on Friday but received no punishment from Judge Juan M. Merchan, who issued an unconditional discharge with no jail time, probation, or fines

Hard Numbers: Thais come clean on Pegasus, Salvadoran emergency extended, Tunisian pol questioned, Chinese boycott mortgages

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Syria seeks sanction relief

Diplomats and foreign ministers from 17 Arab and EU states convened in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Sunday to discuss the lifting of economic sanctions on Syria, originally imposed during the rule of ousted president Bashar al-Assad.

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North Korean troops reportedly face brutal treatment in Russia

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced Saturday that his troops had captured two North Korean soldiers in the Kursk region and released a video of them describing their experience fighting for Russia.

Politics inflamed amid California wildfires

As California’s most destructive wildfires continue to blaze across Los Angeles County, having killed 16 and displaced more than 166,000 residents, emergency response efforts have become politicized, both at home and abroad.

TikTok ban likely to be upheld

On Friday, the Supreme Court appeared poised to uphold the TikTok ban, largely dismissing the app’s argument that it should be able to exist in the US under the First Amendment’s free speech protections and favoring the government's concerns that it poses a national security threat.

The rise of a leaderless world: Why 2025 marks a turning point, with Francis Fukuyama

Trump avoids jail in hush money sentencing

President-elect Donald Trump was sentenced in his New York hush money case on Friday but received no punishment from Judge Juan M. Merchan, who issued an unconditional discharge with no jail time, probation, or fines

Hard Numbers: Thais come clean on Pegasus, Salvadoran emergency extended, Tunisian pol questioned, Chinese boycott mortgages

GZEROMEDIA

Subscribe to GZERO Media's newsletter: Signal

More from GZERO Media

After 15 months of war in Gaza, the organization continues to operate and even to expand.

The biggest risk of 2025 is the culmination of the G-Zero World—a leaderless global order, as the U.S. retreats from its role and power vacuums invite instability. Francis Fukuyama joins Ian Bremmer on GZERO World to discuss this and more.

Diplomats and foreign ministers from 17 Arab and EU states convened in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Sunday to discuss the lifting of economic sanctions on Syria, originally imposed during the rule of ousted president Bashar al-Assad.

GZEROMEDIA

Subscribe to GZERO Media's newsletter: Signal

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced Saturday that his troops had captured two North Korean soldiers in the Kursk region and released a video of them describing their experience fighting for Russia.

As California’s most destructive wildfires continue to blaze across Los Angeles County, having killed 16 and displaced more than 166,000 residents, emergency response efforts have become politicized, both at home and abroad.

On Friday, the Supreme Court appeared poised to uphold the TikTok ban, largely dismissing the app’s argument that it should be able to exist in the US under the First Amendment’s free speech protections and favoring the government's concerns that it poses a national security threat.

President-elect Donald Trump was sentenced in his New York hush money case on Friday but received no punishment from Judge Juan M. Merchan, who issued an unconditional discharge with no jail time, probation, or fines