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Smoke billows from Nabatieh district, following Israeli strikes, according to two Lebanese security sources, as seen from Marjayoun.
200 billion: Philanthropist Bill Gates has pledged to give away $200 billion over the next quarter of a century. Gates, who made his fortune as the co-founder of Microsoft, said the money would go towards reducing poverty, stamping out diseases like polio and malaria, and ending preventable deaths among women and children. The move comes as the Trump Administration continues to cut US development assistance. Gates accused DOGE Czar Elon Musk, who is overseeing the cuts, of “killing the world’s poorest children.”
95 billion: The EU is readying tariffs on €95 billion ($107 billion) worth of US cars in the event that talks with the Trump Administration fail to end the burgeoning Transatlantic trade war. The US currently has a 10% tariff on nearly all EU exports, which could double in early July.
30: Donald Trump on Thursday demanded a 30-day unconditional ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, warning that otherwise the US would “impose further sanctions.” He spoke after a phone call with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, who has pushed for a 30-day truce that would “show real movement toward peace.” Russia is currently observing a unilateral ceasefire of only three days, timed to coincide with Moscow’s celebration of the 80th anniversary of the Soviet triumph over Nazi Germany.
Newly elected Pope Leo XIV, Cardinal Robert Prevost of the United States, appears on the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica, at the Vatican, on May 8, 2025.
78 million: The 78 million Catholics living in the US and Canada finally have one of their own at the head of the church. After two days of deliberations, the Vatican conclave on Thursday named Robert Francis Prevost as pope, the first American ever to hold the job. Pope Leo XIV, as he will be known, is seen as a middle-of-the-road choice by comparison with his reform-minded predecessor, Pope Francis. But his strong, recent criticism of the Trump administration’s immigration policy sets up immediate tension between the Vatican and the White House.
29%: Canada’s hockey success is America’s loss, if TV ratings are anything to go by. Canada has five teams in the National Hockey League playoffs for the first time since 2017, but US audiences don’t seem interested. Playoff viewership on ABC/ESPN dropped 29% from last year, and the corresponding ratings for TNT/TBS fell 16%. No team from Canada has won the Stanley Cup since 1993. If it happens, a lot of Americans might miss it entirely.
895: Speaking of hockey, US President Donald Trump appears to think that the Washington Capitals’ star player Alexander Ovechkin is Canadian. “You happen to have a very, very good hockey player right here on the Capitals,” Trump said during his meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney. “Just broke the record, and he’s a great guy.” Ovechkin, who just broke the record for all-time goals in the NHL with his 895th gino last month, is Russian. At least the US president knows where The Great One is from.
72 hours: Wildfires northeast of Edmonton have caused two county offices to issue states of local emergency, with Thorhild County ordering the residents of rural Boyle to evacuate their homes for 72 hours. But the effects may not be confined to Alberta: two years ago, Canadian wildfire smoke and pollution turned blue skies orange across North America.
1,383: The number of confirmed or probable measles cases in Ontario hit 1,383 on Tuesday, with another 265 cases in Alberta, and 40 more in Quebec. Canada’s total cases now exceed those in the United States, which stand at 935. On a per-capita basis, Ontario’s outbreak is 21 times larger than America’s. Experts blame the measles spread on falling vaccination rates – a study last year found that immunization rates among Canadian children in five provinces fell seven percentage points between 2019 and 2023.
2,894: Coffee shop owner Cory Bowman, half-brother of Vice President JD Vance, advanced to the general election for Cincinnati mayor, despite receiving just 2,894 votes (13%) in the all-party primary. Incumbent Mayor Aftab Pureval, a Democrat, dominated the primary election, winning 18,505 votes. The general election will take place in November.
Traders work as screens broadcast a news conference by US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell following the Fed rate announcement, on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, USA, on May 7, 2025.
4.5: The US Federal Reserve on Wednesday left its key interest rate unchanged for the third time in a row, keeping it at 4.25%-4.5%, where it’s been since December. President Donald Trump has publicly pressured Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to lower rates. “The economy itself is still in solid shape,” Powell told reporters Wednesday, but he said a “great deal of uncertainty” remains about the impact of Trump’s global tariffs and wider trade wars.
2: Speaking of uncertainty, why are US warplanes falling into the sea? According to reports, two F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jets have slid off the deck of the USS Harry S. Truman carrier into the Red Sea over the past week alone. The first plunged into the water when the warship made a hard turn to evade fire from Houthi rebels. The second may have experienced a landing problem. Each jet costs a cool $60 million – cue Commander Stinger, “you don’t own that plane, the taxpayers do!”
10: The richest 10% of the global population are responsible for two-thirds of the global temperature rise since 1990, according to new research published by Nature Climate Change. The study also claims that compared to the average person, the world’s richest 1% contributed 26 times more to extreme heat globally and 17 times as much to droughts in the Amazon. Private jets are not, as it happens, great for the environment.
350,000: Animal welfare officers in South Africa euthanized more than 350,000 chickens after a state-owned poultry company ran out of funds to feed them. Officials couldn't estimate how many other chickens had died before this intervention due to “mass cannibalism” at the farm (yes, chickens eating each other). Still, on the plus side, the NSCPA’s action saved more than 500,000 chickens who may now be… eaten by people anyway.Nuns walk at St. Peter's Square, ahead of the conclave, at the Vatican, on May 6, 2025.
26: The conclave of 133 cardinals will gather in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel on Wednesday to begin the process of electing a new pope via secret ballot. To win the job with a puff of white smoke, a candidate must garner the support of two thirds of the conclave, plus one. Cardinal Pietro Parolin, a veteran Vatican diplomat, is the favorite, per Polymarket, which gave him a 26% chance of winning.
182: Some 182 days on from the 2024 election, and North Carolina has still yet to certify state Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs’ reelection victory. The Tar Heel State did move one step closer to affirming the result on Tuesday, though, after a federal judge narrowed the number of votes that were under dispute. Last November, Riggs, a Democrat, defeated Republican challenger Jefferson Griffin by 734 votes out of 5.5 million cast.
4: All four major airports in Moscow were ordered to shut after the Kremlin accused Ukraine of launching a drone attack on the Russian capital. There were no casualties in the reported attack, which came days before Russia holds a celebration to mark the 80th anniversary of the Red Army’s triumph over Nazi Germany.
14%: The US trade deficit jumped 14% in March, setting a new record of $140.5 billion as American consumers and businesses rushed to buy foreign goods like pharmaceuticals and computer accessories ahead of President Donald Trump’s announcement of global tariffs in early April. Some economists believe US firms were still frontloading purchases well into April.
18,500: An estimated 18,500 Sudanese have crossed the country’s western border into Chad over the last two weeks alone, per the United Nations, with many severely malnourished. Nearly 800,000 Sudanese have fled to Chad since Sudan’s civil war began two years ago. For more on why one of the world’s deadliest conflicts continues, see here.
>$1 million: Chris LaCivita, who ran Donald Trump’s successful presidential campaign last year, is reportedly earning more than $1 million to advise Albania’s former Prime Minister Sali Berisha. LaCivita is rehashing the MAGA message, only with “Albania” replacing “America.” Berisha, who faces corruption allegations, is hoping to lead the Balkan country again after the parliamentary elections on Sunday.Crowds gather outside Buckingham Palace to watch a fly-past by the Red Arrows on the 80th anniversary of VE Day in London, United Kingdom, on May 05, 2025.
1,300: On Monday, the United Kingdom started celebrating the 80th anniversary of VE Day, which commemorates the Allied victory of World War II, with a slew of street and tea parties across the country. There was also a 1,300-strong military procession along the Mall, the stretch of road connecting Buckingham Palace and Trafalgar Square. One million people flooded the area on the original VE Day, May 8, 1945.
13 billion: Donald Trump’s tariff bonanza induced a huge amount of stock market volatility, and the largest European investment banks are pleased as punch. This week, UBS, BNP Paribas, Société Générale, Barclays, and Deutsche Bank posted their largest quarterly revenues in over a decade, reporting a combined €13 billion ($14.7 billion) from equities and fixed income in the first quarter of the year. The stellar performance mirrors the hefty revenues that their American counterparts gathered in the first three months of 2025.
$60 million: Maybe there’s no escape from Alcatraz: Donald Trump wants to reopen the island prison, which was shut in 1963. “The reopening of ALCATRAZ will serve as a symbol of Law, Order, and JUSTICE,” the president wrote on social media. The prison, which sits just over a mile off the coast in the San Francisco Bay, once housed the notorious mobster Al Capone. It is currently operated by the National Park Service, which hosts 1.6 million visitors a year, generating roughly $60 million in revenue.
$75,000: New York City hosted the Met Gala on Monday night. Individiual tickets sold for a cool $75,000, with the money raised going to the Museum’s Costume Institute. Some have used the gala to spread political messages, like when Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) wore a dress with the message, “Tax the Rich,” to the 2021 iteration.
540 million: The governments of Australia and New Zealand vowed to protect their film industries after US President Donald Trump threatened to impose 100% tariffs on foreign films. The Oceanic pair have become a popular filming spot for Hollywood filmmakers, in part thanks to lower costs and government tax incentives. Australia alone has spent AU$540 million ($349.4 million) since 2019 to attract international film productions.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks next to U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio during a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 30, 2025.
8: On NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, Donald Trump confirmed he won’t seek a third term, saying “I’ll be a two-term president. I always thought that was very important.” He named Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio as key Republican figures to carry on the MAGA mantle after his presidency.
89: Singapore’s ruling People’s Action Party, led by Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, secured a decisive victory in the general election, winning a whopping 87 of 97 seats on Saturday. The results give Wong a strong mandate to continue governing following an election focused on the economic threats of American tariffs.
283: Starbase, SpaceX’s operations hub in southern Texas, has officially become a city after residents voted to incorporate the area. The Saturday vote passed overwhelmingly, with 212 in favor and just six opposed, among 283 eligible voters — most of whom are SpaceX employees. Spanning 1.6 square miles and complete with a road called Memes Street, the new city will be governed by a mayor and two commissioners.
$8.8 billion: Dubai-based MBS Global Investments has announced a $8.8 billion plan to build a blockchain and digital assets financial hub in the Maldives, surpassing the country's $7 billion annual GDP. The Maldivian government sees the investment as a vital step toward economic diversification, with Finance Minister Moosa Zameer saying the country must “take the leap” to reduce reliance on tourism and fisheries amid a looming debt crisis.
100: Donald Trump’s complicated relationship with Hollywood took another turn last night, as he announced on social media that there would be a 100% tariff on films made outside the United States. The president even suggested that incentivizing filmmakers and film studios to operate outside the United States was a “National Security threat.” It’s unclear how this tariff would function.
FILE PHOTO: A man walks past the offices of the New York State Department of Labor in the Queens borough of New York City, NY, January 8, 2021.
241,000: In another sign of trouble for the limping US economy, weekly first-time jobless claims surged to a higher-than-expected241,000 this week. Continuing claims, which provide a broader view of layoff trends, rose to 1.92 million, the highest level since November 2021.
77: According to a new poll from YouGov,77% of Germans favor benefit cuts for Ukrainian refugees. Ukrainians who arrive in Germany after April 1, 2025, will be treated as “asylum-seekers” rather than “refugees,” and they’ll receive significantly lower benefit payments as a result. Just 11% of those surveyed disagreed with this change. More than a quarter of Ukrainians who have fled their country are now in Germany.
1 of 12: The Vatican is one of just 12 governments — and the only one in Europe – that recognize Taiwan as a country. But without explanation, Taiwan’s president, William Lai, did not attend the funeral for Pope Francis, though a former vice president was in attendance. There is now much speculation in Taiwan on whether Lai will be present when the next pope is inaugurated, or whether pressure from Beijing is forcing the Vatican to rethink its ties with Taiwan.
20,000: The US Department of Veterans Affairshas ended a new mortgage-rescue program that has helped some 20,000 veterans avoid foreclosure on their homes. This news comes at a time when nearly 90,000 VA loans are well past due, with 33,000 of those already in the foreclosure process.
2: A runaway kangaroo in the US state of Alabama was involved in a two-car collision on an interstate highway this week. The animal, named Sheila, was captured unharmed by state troopers and the bouncing beast’s owner. No word yet on whether Shiela will face justice in a kangaroo court.