Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

News

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

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

More For You

Workers are unloading coal from a cargo ship on the Turag River in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on May 06, 2024.

Workers are unloading coal from a cargo ship on the Turag River in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on May 06, 2024.

Iran conflict has Asia looking for coalMuch as Europe did when Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine four years ago, Asia is turning to a retro, highly-polluting fuel source as the Iran conflict limits the supply of liquefied natural gas: coal. The continent relies heavily on natural gas for its electricity, much of it imported – in the [...]
Venezuela outfielder Javier Sanoja reacts in the fifth inning during the 2026 World Baseball Classic Championship game at LoanDepot Park in Miami, Florida, USA, on March 17, 2026.

Venezuela outfielder Javier Sanoja during the 2026 World Baseball Classic Championship game at LoanDepot Park in Miami, Florida, USA, on March 17, 2026.

Sam Navarro-Imagn Images
3: The number of runs scored by Venezuela’s national baseball team in their stunning upset of top-seeded USA in the World Baseball Classic final in Miami last night. In an epic game fraught with geopolitical overtones – the US government abducted Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro in January – the arepa-powered pitching staff held the fearsome US [...]
​Explosions in Iran and gas prices increasing.

Explosions in Iran and gas prices increasing.

Natalie Johnson
Nearly a month ago, the US and Israel started a war with Iran. Over 2,000 miles away, one continent that wants little to do with the war is nevertheless uniquely impacted: Europe.European Union leaders met in Brussels on Tuesday to discuss skyrocketing energy prices resulting from the conflict. It comes after US President Donald Trump issued a [...]
March 13, 2026, Tehran, Iran: ALI LARIJANI (C), Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran, participates in the Al-Quds (Jerusalem) Day rally, a commemoration in support of the Palestinian people on the last Friday of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, in Tehran.

March 13, 2026, Tehran, Iran: ALI LARIJANI (C), Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran, participates in the Al-Quds (Jerusalem) Day rally, a commemoration in support of the Palestinian people on the last Friday of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, in Tehran.

Supreme National Security Counci via ZUMA Press Wire
Israel says it has killed Iran’s security chief, as war drags onAli Larijani, who was head of the Islamic Republic’s influential security council and had effectively run the country since Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s death, was killed in a strike overnight, Israel has said. Tehran has not confirmed his death. If it is true, Larijani would be the [...]