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Hard Numbers
Stranded passengers at Heathrow Terminal 5 in London on Friday, March 21, 2025.
1,300: Traveling through the UK will be hectic today after London’s Heathrow Airport, which handles roughly 1,300 flights per day, unexpectedly closed overnight due to a power outage. The airport, one of the world’s busiest, will remain closed until 11.59 p.m. tonight following a fire at a nearby electrical substation, which supplies the facility’s power. Thousands of travelers have been left stranded.
40,000: Israel’s cabinet on Friday unanimously voted to dismiss Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, marking the first such removal in the country’s history. The move intensifies Israel’s political and constitutional crises, as Bar was investigating Netanyahu’s aides over alleged payments from Qatar, and critics fear Netanyahu will appoint a loyalist to politicize the agency. The long-anticipated decision was met with over 40,000 people protesting in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
1,000’s: Thousands of Turks are protesting the detention of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu, a key rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, after he was arrested Thursday on graft and terrorism-related charges. Opposition leaders have condemned Imamoglu’s arrest as a political coup, and he posted to X, “We must stand against this evil as a nation.”
50: The European Union has postponed two sets of retaliatory tariffs on US products, including a 50% levy on American whiskey, from April 1 to mid-month. According to EU spokesperson Olof Gill, the delay represents a “slight adjustment” to allow more time for negotiations. American tariffs against a wide range of EU goods are still set to take effect on April 2, though their exact amount remains unknown.
4.2: US existing home sales surged 4.2% in February, despite higher mortgage rates, upending expectations that sales would drop by a monthly rate of 3.2%. But sales remain below levels from a year ago, and homes are taking longer to sell as high prices and borrowing costs continue to deter some buyers.
24: The United States fell from 23rd to 24th place out of 147 countries – its lowest ranking ever – in the annual World Happiness Report, which was released Thursday. Finland remains the happiest nation for the eighth year in a row, followed once again by Denmark, Iceland, and Sweden.
Flags of Canada and China.
4: The Canadian government has strongly condemned China’s use of the death penalty, following revelations the country executed four Canadian citizens for drug-related offenses, despite appeals for clemency. China carries out more executions than any other country and has a conviction rate of over 99%.
2.2: US President Donald Trump's tariff tiff with Canada is dampening economic growth on both sides of the border. Canada’s GDP was set to rise by 2% in 2025, and America’s by 2.4%. An OECD analysis has revised those figures to 0.7% and 2.2%, respectively, as a result of the trade war.
6 billion: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a CA$6 billion purchase of an Over-the-Horizon Radar system from Australia to enhance Arctic early warning capabilities. Carney’s move both asserted Canada’s northern sovereignty and allowed Australia to find a buyer for its technology after DOGE cuts impacted possible US spending on the project.
4.5: The US Federal Reserve held overnight interest rates steady on Wednesday, in the target range of 4.25 to 4.5 %. But the Fed also signaled a willingness to cut borrowing costs by half a percentage point later this year, anticipating economic growth to slow to 1.7% and inflation to rise to 2.7%.
116: US Customs and Border Protection says it made 3,254 egg-related seizures in January and February 2025, a 116% increase compared to the same period one year ago. US egg prices have ballooned 59% since February 2024 because of the culling of flocks due to bird flu. In comparison, fentanyl seizures at the border dropped by 32% during the same period compared to the previous year.Kaja Kallas, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of European External Action Service, attends the special EU leaders meeting with the heads of state in Brussels and the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Brussels, Belgium, on March 6, 2025
150,000,000,000: The European Commission on Wednesday presented a White Paper proposing the borrowing of 150 billion euros to fund defense spending loans, aiming to bolster the continent’s security against mounting Russian threats and uncertainties around US support. “We really can do better. It’s time for us to take responsibility for the defense of Europe,” said EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas. The defense funding push would be open to arms companies within the bloc, or those that sign security agreements with Brussels.
175,000,000: On Wednesday, the Trump administration announced a freeze of $175 million in federal funds to the University of Pennsylvania due to policies that allow transgender students to participate in sports. The day before, a federal judge blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order banning transgender people from serving in the military. Judge Ana Reyes said the policy is “soaked in animus,” while a spokesperson for the Department of Justice blamed the ruling on “an activist judge attempting to seize power at the expense of the American people.”
4.5: The US Federal Reserve held interest rates steady on Wednesday, in the target range of 4.25 to 4.5 %. But the Fed also signaled a willingness to cut borrowing costs by half a percentage point later this year, anticipating economic growth to slow to 1.7% and inflation to rise to 2.7%.
2,400,000,000,000: Moscow started seizing property soon after the invasion of Ukraine, and Russia’s Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov announced on Wednesday that the state has now taken control of assets valued at 2.4 trillion rubles ($28.7 billion). Krasnov, without giving specifics, defended the seizures of five strategic enterprises — four of which were “under foreign control”— because they either withdrew from Russia, failed to invest in infrastructure, or didn’t pay adequate taxes.
15,000: Malaysia’s cabinet approved a renewed search for the remains of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, which disappeared after departing Kuala Lumpur in March 2014. The effort will focus on a 15,000 sq. km area in the Southern Indian Ocean under a “no find, no fee” agreement with exploration firm Ocean Infinity. Transport Minister Loke Siew Fook announced a $70 million reward for the successful discovery of the wreckage.
A bird flu warning sign and quarantine zone in Switzerland.
166 million: The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization is concerned over the spread of the H5N1 bird flu virus to mammal species, including zoo animals, pets, and cattle, which is causing havoc in agriculture and increasing the likelihood it could jump to humans. The spread among birds has already caused the culling of at least 166 million chickens in the United States, sending egg prices soaring.
31,600: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modijoined Truth Social, the social media platform owned by US President Donald Trump. In his inaugural post on Monday, Modi shared a photo with Trump taken in 2019 in Houston, Texas, and as of Wednesday morning, he had 31,600 followers.
450,000: An explosion occurred Monday night on the Trans-Niger Pipeline in Rivers State's Bodo community, threatening over 450,000 barrels of daily crude oil production and causing a fire to rage through a local mangrove. Two individuals have been arrested in connection with the incident, and an investigation is underway. The pipeline has been the subject of terror attacks before, but no such link has yet been established.
80,000: Conspiracy theorists, start your engines. President Donald Trump on Tuesday released approximately 80,000 pages of unredacted documents related to President John F. Kennedy’s 1963 assassination. While White House Deputy Press Secretary Harrison Fields claimed that Americans “are truly going to be shocked,” historians do not expect significant new revelations.
38: The latest exclusive GZERO-Echelon poll shows that 54% of American voters oppose US President Donald Trump’s 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico, while 38% support them. Republicans favor them by a 47-point margin, but Independents and Democrats oppose them by margins of 30 and 76, respectively.
36: The same poll asked respondents which of a list of world leaders they would consider to be a dictator. North Korean President Kim Jong Un topped the list at 77%, followed by Russian President Vladimir Putin at 75%, and then by US President Donald Trump, at 36%.A person in a doctor's gown with a green stethoscope and a phone.
70: Open-source AI models performed just as well — or better — than proprietary models at solving complex medical problems, according to a new study by Harvard researchers published on Friday. Notably, Meta’s Llama model correctly diagnosed patients 70% of the time as opposed to OpenAI’s GPT-4, which did so only 64% of the time. This signals that the gap between open- and closed-source models, with the former being largely free to use and customizable, is closing.
7.5 billion: The surveillance company Flock Safety raised $275 million in a new funding round Thursday. The round was led by Bedrock Capital that values Flock, which uses computer vision — a type of artificial intelligence — at $7.5 billion. The firm not only sells to private businesses, but also police departments, sparking concerns from civil liberties advocates such as the ACLU.
30: California’s state legislature is currently considering 30 bills about AI. The proposals are varied: one requires human drivers in autonomous vehicles while another mandates comprehensive safety testing. The state legislature could try to rein in the largely California-based technology sector just as the Trump administration rolls back Biden-era guardrails on AI.
31.8: South Korean chip sales to China dropped 31.8% in February, the second straight month of plummeting sales to the country, according to South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. This dropoff among Korean companies such as Samsung and SK Hynix could be attributable to new US export controls initiated at the end of the Biden administration, which restrict the sales of advanced semiconductors — even those using US parts — to China.
25: AI systems are very, very bad at reading clocks, according to new research from the University of Edinburgh, which tested models’ understanding of visual inputs. The AI systems tested correctly read analog clocks less than 25% of the time.
The June 2024 LGBTQ Budapest Pride parade in Hungary.
200,000: Hungary’s ruling Fidesz Party has intensified its crackdown on LGBTQ+ rights by proposing a bill to ban the Budapest Pride March, just as the event approaches its 30th anniversary. The bill, which is likely to pass given the ruling party’s two-thirds majority in parliament, will criminalize those who violate Hungary’s “child protection” legislation that prohibits the depiction or promotion of homosexuality to minors. Event organizers have condemned the proposed fine of 200,000 Hungarian forints ($546) as a blatant assault on freedom of speech and assembly, as Viktor Orban’s Hungary continues its departure from the core values agreed upon by all members of the European Union.
5: China on Monday unveiled a new plan to revitalize its economy struggling to cope with deflation, unemployment, low household income, a property market downturn, and an ongoing trade war with the United States. The government announced steps to “vigorously boost consumption” by increasing the minimum wage and strengthening support for education and healthcare, with hopes to hit the ambitious growth target of “around 5%” for the year laid out by Premier Li Qiang. But the new guidelines lack concrete steps to stimulate domestic demand and are unlikely to upend the economy’s persistent structural issues.
30: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s spokesman told reporters on Monday that “more than 30 countries” are ready to send troops to enforce a peace deal in Ukraine. Although he didn’t name names, the UK, France, Australia, Denmark, and Sweden previously signaled their willingness to contribute forces. This “coalition of the willing” doesn’t include the United States, but Starmer and other leaders suggest an American security guarantee is still key to a successful peacekeeping mission.
8: The World Health Organization warned that eight countries are facing the exhaustion of life-saving HIV treatments after the withdrawal of US foreign aid. Haiti, Kenya, Lesotho, South Sudan, Burkina Faso, Mali, Nigeria, and Ukraine are all in danger of running out of supplies in the coming months. At a press conference, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that “disruptions of HIV programs could undo 20 years of progress,” potentially leading to 10 million additional cases of HIV and 3 million deaths.
2: A Japanese man and woman were detained for two weeks and then deported for cheeky behavior at one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations. According to the Japanese embassy, the incident stemmed from a prank in which the woman photographed the man exposing his backside at the Great Wall. Reports say exposing the lower half of the body in a public place violates Beijing’s strict decency laws.
John Green pulled a friend's body from a building in Plantersville, Ala., on Sunday, March 16, 2025, after a a deadly overnight tornado hit the area.
40: Windstorms and tornadoes wreaked havoc across the Plains and the southern US this weekend, starting Friday with dust storms and multiple-vehicle pileups. Saturday brought a string of tornadoes across the South, and millions remained on alert for extreme weather late Sunday along the East Coast. At least 40 people were killed, and several areas remain without power.
72: US Sec. of State Marco Rubio declared South Africa’s ambassador to the US, Ebrahim Rasool, persona non grata on Friday, claiming that he is a “race-baiting politician” who hates America and President Donald Trump. Rasool had described the MAGA movement as “a response, not simply to a supremacist instinct, but to very clear data that shows great demographic shifts in the USA in which the voting electorate in the USA is projected to become 48% white, and that the possibility of a majority of minorities is looming on the horizon.” The US gave Rasool 72 hours to vacate the country.
2: The two NASA astronauts, Sunita “Suni” Williams and Butch Wilmore, who blasted off for the International Space Station last June, were supposed to spend just eight days in space. But NASA determined their Boeing Starliner spacecraft wasn’t safe for the return trip, so they stayed put. Now, nine months later, they are finally set to return home — perhaps as early as this Wednesday — after NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission successfully docked with the ISS after taking off from Florida on Friday.
59: Families in the eastern town of Kocani, North Macedonia, are in mourning after a nightclub fire killed 59 revelers early Sunday. Another 155 people were injured, with 18 still in critical condition. The fire, thought to have been sparked by pyrotechnics that set the ceiling alight, spread quickly, filling the club with thick smoke. Arrest warrants have been issued against four people.
3: In a weekend email, President Donald Trump’s administration ordered journalists at Voice of America, Radio Free Asia, and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty to leave their offices and surrender their press badges and equipment. Why? The White House stated that taxpayers should not be “on the hook for radical propaganda” and has claimed that VOA “too often speaks for America's adversaries — not its citizens” and “amplified Beijing’s propaganda.” All three outlets are renowned for their international coverage.
124,000: Mexicans gathered in several cities on Saturday to remember and seek justice for the country’s 124,059 missing people, most of whom disappeared during a military-led campaign against drug cartels in the 2000s, leading to an escalation of violence. Vigils were held in the western state of Jalisco, where a mass grave has been discovered, and in Mexico City, Tijuana, Veracruz, San Luis Potosi, Guadalajara, Puebla, Veracruz, Cancun, and Colima.