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2 billion: Cryptocurrencies' decentralized ledgers make them hard to counterfeit. But they're apparently easy to steal. Since 2017, hackers have made off with at least $2 billion worth.

378,000: The global shipping industry relies on the labor of 1.2 million professional mariners. More than a quarter of them – 378,000 – are from the Philippines. As competition has risen from cheaper crews elsewhere in Asia, the concerns of Filipino seamen, who are a huge source of remittances, are becoming an important issue in domestic politics.


80: Of the millions of migrants in Africa who leave their countries in search of security and economic opportunity every year, around 80 percent stay on the continent. Five of the world's top ten refugee-hosting countries are in Africa.

8: A new report from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike says that Russia's hackers are the swiftest in the world – they can get into networks and start extracting data 8 times faster than their nearest competitors, the North Koreans.

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The surge of new West Bank outposts
With the help of government funds and the police, settlers have been creating new settlements at a rapid clip since Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu formed a coalition with far-right leaders Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir. The current coalition government itself has approved over 100 such communities. But settler groups have also [...]
​Israeli soldiers walk near a damaged car in Halhul, near Hebron, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on May 20, 2026.

Israeli soldiers walk near a damaged car, which Palestinians say was burned by Israeli settlers, in Halhul, near Hebron, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on May 20, 2026.

REUTERS/Mussa Qawasma
This week, far-right Israeli minister Bezalel Smotrich used an alleged arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court against him to insert fresh impetus into the effort to build settlements in the West Bank, saying on Tuesday that he wanted to make the settlements “irreversible.” He also ordered the eviction this week of Palestinian [...]
Fidel Castro and his brother, Armed Forces Minister Raul Castro (L), preside over the 100th anniversary of the death of independence hero Antonio Maceo, in this photo from December 7, 1996.

Fidel Castro and his brother, Armed Forces Minister Raul Castro (L), preside over a ceremony marking the 100th anniversary of the death of independence hero Antonio Maceo, in this photo from December 7, 1996.

REUTERS
US amps up pressure on Cuba by indicting ex-presidentThe Justice Department yesterday charged Raúl Castro, the younger brother of Fidel, with murder and a conspiracy to kill American citizens over a 1996 incident in which the Cuban military shot down two civilian planes belonging to Cuban exiles off the coast of the communist-run island. The [...]
Don’t worry, renminbi happy
Natalie Johnson
Previously, the volume hadn’t topped $117 billion monthly, but analysts say the Iran war has stoked the use of China’s currency by oil exporters like Russia and Iran, who are seeking to avoid US sanctions. While the trend does reflect a slight erosion of the dollar’s international dominance, something we’ve been keeping our eye on, it’s worth [...]