Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Hard Numbers

Hard Numbers: Gershkovich to remain in Russian prison, Myanmar refugee camp airstrike, Micheal Jordan pumpkin breaks records, fall of the Argentine peso

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich stands behind a glass wall of an enclosure for defendants before a court hearing

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich stands behind a glass wall of an enclosure for defendants before a court hearing

Reuters
Make us preferred on Google

9: Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter detained by Russian authorities earlier this year, lost his appeal on Tuesday and will remain in a Russian prison until at least Nov. 30. At that point, he will have spent 9 months behind bars for allegations of espionage. Espionage trials in Russia can be lengthy, and the country’s Foreign Ministry says it will not consider a prisoner swap until after a verdict is reached.


29: In Myanmar, an artillery strike on a refugee camp near the Chinese border killed 29 people. Myanmar has been embroiled in a civil war since a military coup in 2021, but several ethnic insurgents, including the Kachin Independence Organization – which controlled the area where the strike occurred – have been fighting for self-rule for decades.

2,749: A new record has been set for the world's largest pumpkin. Named Michael Jordan because it resembled a basketball early on, the large orange squash weighed in at a whopping 2,749 pounds. It was planted in April by a horticultural teacher in Minnesota, who put $15,000 into the pumpkin’s care to win himself $30,000 in prize money.

17: Javier Milei, the frontrunner in Argentina’s election race who seeks to dollarize Argentina’s economy, continued his attacks on the peso this week, discouraging Argentinians from holding any investments in the currency. As a result, the peso has fallen 17% since Monday, further driving up prices amid the country’s worst financial crisis in two decades.

More For You

Fires force evacuations in Europe
Farida Dowidar
Massive fires continue to rage through France, Spain, and as of this weekend, Italy. Flames have torn through over 1,000 square miles of land, and authorities are attempting one of the continent’s biggest evacuation efforts since World War II. Spanish and French militaries joined the battle against the fires late last week, but rising temperatures [...]
Ebola death toll continues to rise
Will Fitzpatrick
The Ebola outbreak, caused by a rare strain of the Bundibugyo virus, has ballooned into the fastest outbreak of the virus in history. The World Health Organization said this week that 80% of the confirmed cases are coming from unknown chains of transmission, meaning that the cases are likely emerging in communities where people aren’t receiving [...]
Where is the world’s oldest head of state?
Will Fitzpatrick
Cameroon’s ruling party faces growing criticism over the prolonged absence of the president, the world’s oldest head of state who has been in power since 1982. It’s not the first time Biya’s disappearance has sparked questions: in 2024, he spent 42 days abroad, triggering rumors that he was actually dead. The government responded by banning public [...]
Hard number: Clemency denied
Earlier this month, the Trump administration had suggested it might mark America’s 250th birthday by granting clemency to hundreds of people. Instead, it issued 11 pardons in early July, including to people convicted of environmental crimes and a political donor, while denying clemency to thousands of other applicants. Reports suggest most of the [...]