Fresh out of Barnard College with a degree in political science, Riley is a writer and reporter for GZERO. When she isn’t writing about global politics, you can find her making GZERO’s crossword puzzles, conducting research on American politics, or persisting in her lifelong quest to learn French. Riley spends her time outside of work grilling, dancing, and wearing many hats (both literally and figuratively).
6: Six women – among them singer Katy Perry and TV presenter Gayle King – were hurtled into the upper reaches of Earth’s atmosphere on Monday aboard a rocket from Blue Origin, the spaceflight company founded by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos. It was the first female-only space flight since Russian astronaut Valentina Tereshkova's solo journey in 1963. The fully automated spacecraft is a part of Blue Origin’s goal to make space tourism mainstream.
12: Algeria has expelled 12 French officials in a growing spat between the two countries that began with the arrest of three Algerian nationals in France on Friday. The three were suspected of involvement in the brief abduction in 2024 of Amir Bokours, an Algerian opposition figure with a huge online following who has lived in France for more than a decade.
8.7 billion: Harvard refused to submit to the Trump administration’s demands on Monday to change its hiring and DEI procedures, report foreign students who violate conduct rules to federal authorities; and appoint an independent body to ensure a range of perspectives within each academic department. The university’s professors are also suing the Trump administration for threatening to freeze $8.7 billion in federal grants.
17: Ecuador’s sovereign bonds jumped a heady 17 cents on the dollar on Monday, following the re-election of Daniel Noboa, a tough-on-crime conservative from a banana dynasty. It was a stark turnaround after Ecuador’s debt plunged earlier this year following the strong first round electoral showing of Noboa’s opponent Alisa González, a leftist with ties to former President Rafael Correa, who oversaw a 2008 debt default.
