News
Hard Numbers: Ukraine’s food storage dilemma, American tourists behaving badly, Vietnam’s health minister in cuffs, British journalist missing in the Amazon
Ukraine's grain exports are being held hostage.
REUTERS/Dado Ruvic
23.5 million: Ukraine is being forced to find storage capacity for a whopping 23.5 million tons of grain thanks to Russia’s blockade of Black Sea ports usually used to transport Ukrainian exports like corn and wheat. Kyiv is trying to up its storage capacity ahead of a summer harvest, wary that improperly stored grains can easily spoil.
150: After being criticized for a slow initial response, Brazil has deployed 150 soldiers to the Amazon to search for a British journalist who went missing on a reporting trip along with a Brazilian indigenous expert. But critics say far more people are needed to comb the vast landscape. Meanwhile, Brazil’s brash President Jair Bolsonaro blamed the men for embarking on “an unadvisable adventure” in the first place.
45: Vietnam’s Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long has been arrested for his role in a massive price-gouging scheme of COVID-19 test kits. Long, along with the mayor of Hanoi, is accused of allowing a pharmaceutical company to inflate sale prices to hospitals and clinics by up to 45% in exchange for kickbacks.
25,000: An American tourist was slapped with a fine after throwing an electric scooter down Rome’s 18th-century Spanish Steps, causing €25,000 ($26,788) worth of damages. The Yankee was also banned from revisiting the world heritage site in the future. Damaging historical landmarks is a crime in Italy that could land an offender in prison for up to one year.This comes to you from the Signal newsletter team of GZERO Media. Subscribe for your free daily Signal today.
Ian Bremmer sits down with Ivan Krastev, Chairman of the Centre for Liberal Strategies and political scientist, to discuss Hungary's consequential upcoming election and what it means for the far right globally.
A new US regulatory framework sets clear rules for stablecoins, defining issuer responsibilities and laying the groundwork for consistent federal and state oversight. With guardrails in place, stablecoins are shifting from crypto experiment to payment infrastructure. Explore the stablecoin framework with Bank of America Institute.
See: “Raphael: Sublime Poetry at the Met.” The first Raphael retrospective ever mounted in the US is running through June 28 at the Met Museum.
Forty-eight countries have officially qualified for the World Cup, after Iraq booked the final spot with its win against Bolivia on Tuesday.