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Charred vehicles in Balochistan province, Pakistan, following separatist militant attacks.
The Balochistan backstory: Pakistan’s festering rebellion
At least 70 people are dead after a wave of attacks in Pakistan claimed by the Baloch Liberation Army.
The who? Well, let’s start with where:Balochistan. A sprawling, mountainous province in Southwest Pakistan that borders Iran, Afghanistan, and the Arabian Sea. It’s home to about 15 million people, a plurality of whom are Balochis, a Persian ethnic group. Despite huge natural resource wealth, which Pakistan and others have exploited, Balochistan is extremely poor. This has fueled tensions with the Pakistani government for decades.
The Baloch Liberation Army began its struggle for independence around 2000, launching terror attacks against the central government and non-Baloch communities in Balochistan.
Pakistan and the US consider the BLA a terrorist group, and Pakistan accuses India, Iran, and Afghanistan of supporting it. The group is believed to fund itself through smuggling and donations from the Baloch diaspora.
In recent years, the BLA has begun attacking the citizens and interests of China, which in 2015 took control of the province’s port at Gwadar as part of a $65 billion China-Pakistan economic corridor project.
A recent rise in BLA violence compounds the headache for a Pakistani government that took over a country in crisis following heavily disputed elections in February.Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and New South Wales Premier Chris Minns join other politicians as they lay flowers at the scene of Saturday's mass stabbing at Bondi Junction, Sydney, Australia April 14, 2024.
Hard numbers: Sydney stabbing, Pricey Pakistan, US Steel deal, Costco gold rush
6: Australia is reeling from one of the country’s deadliest mass killings after six shoppers were stabbed to death at a mall in Sydney on Saturday. The attack left several others injured, including a baby who is in intensive care. The assailant, who was shot dead by police, was known to authorities and had been diagnosed with a mental illness as a teenager.
25: Pakistan has the highest cost of living in Asia, according to a report from the Asian Development Bank, and it’s only set to grow with a crushing 25% inflation rate. Authorities have hiked interest rates to 22% to try to alleviate the problem, but Pakistan’s economy will likely require further support from the International Monetary Fund.
14.9 billion: Shareholders in US Steel overwhelmingly voted to approve an offer from Nippon Steel to acquire the company at about $55 a share — but don’t expect the deal to close anytime soon. US President Joe Biden has expressed opposition to the deal, which could cost him crucial support from steelworkers in upper Midwestern swing states like Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
200 million: Wholesaler Costco is estimated to be selling over $200 million worth in one-ounce gold barsevery month, according to an analysis by Wells Fargo. Those who made their purchases in the fall, when Costco was selling the bars for around $2,000 each have earned a nice bit of profit, as gold has surged to over $2,300 an ounce since March.Former President Donald Trump gestures to supporters as he hosts a campaign rally at the Forum River Center in Rome, Georgia, March 9, 2024.
Hard Numbers: Truth Social’s big day, Missing migrants, Chinese workers killed in Pakistan, Palestinians drown reaching for aid
50%: Shares in former President Donald Trump’s social media business, Trump Media & Technology Group, jumped by more than 50% on Tuesday after going public under the ticker DJT. The stock rose as high as $79.38. The company’s stock market debut was made possible by a merger between Trump Media (which owns Twitter-clone Truth Social) and Digital World Acquisition. Trump owns 58% of the company’s shares, but it’s unlikely to help with his recent money issues because he can’t sell his shares for six months.
63,000: Over 63,000 people have died or gone missing while migrating over the past decade, according to a report published Tuesday by the International Organization for Migration, the UN migration agency. Most of the recorded deaths were caused by drowning, and the majority — over 28,000 — occurred in the Mediterranean. The report cautioned that its tally was “likely only a fraction of the actual number of lives lost worldwide.”
5: At least five Chinese workers and a Pakistani driver were killed in Pakistan on Tuesday when a suicide bomber slammed into the van they were traveling in. No group has claimed responsibility. China has invested billions in infrastructure projects in Pakistan, but Chinese workers and interests have repeatedly come under attack by Baluch separatists and the Pakistani Taliban.
12: At least 12 Palestinians drowned on Monday while attempting to retrieve aid packages that fell into the Mediterranean during airdrops, authorities in Gaza said Tuesday. Strict Israeli restrictions on aid truck deliveries have seen a number of governments, including the US, to turn to airdrops to deliver assistance as famine looms in the war-torn enclave. It’s not clear which country dropped the aid that was tied to the reported fatalities, but the Pentagon on Tuesday said several bundles of aid dropped by the US on Monday landed in the sea due to parachute malfunctions.
A training of the fire division, guided by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (not pictured), is held in North Korea, March 18, 2024, in this picture released on March 19, 2024, by the Korean Central News Agency.
Hard Numbers: Kim Jong Un takes aim, Pakistan launches deadly airstrikes, Sunak’s asylum-seeking plan proves costly, BOJ raises rates, Death toll rises in Haiti
186: Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: On Monday, North Korea responded to a visit to South Korea by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken by firing short-range ballistic missiles from Pyongyang an estimated 186 miles into the Sea of Japan. North Korea’s military has recently staged military maneuvers in response to annual US-South Korean joint drills.
8: Pakistan launched airstrikes on Monday on suspected hideouts of members of the Pakistani Taliban inside neighboring Afghanistan. Tensions are rising between Pakistan’s military and the Afghan Taliban, which claimed the attacks killed at least eight people.
292,000: A new report from the Institute for Public Policy Research argues that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s plan to move asylum-seekers from the UK to Rwanda while their claims are evaluated could cost the British taxpayer $292,000 per person. Compare that with about 70,000 per person if migrants were allowed to remain in the UK during that period.
317: The Bank of Japan ended eight years of negative interest rates on Tuesday, raising the interest rate from -0.1% to 0%-0.1%, its first hike in 17 years. The historic move, which shifts the focus away from reflating growth with monetary stimulus, follows significant wage increases by Japan’s major corporations and a rise in consumer prices. The BOJ does not anticipate further increases in the near-term.10: At least 10 people were found dead Monday in the wealthy Petion-Ville suburb of Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital, victims of escalating gang violence amid political chaos following Prime Minister Ariel Henry’s resignation. Homes, a bank, and a gas station were attacked, and it remains unclear who was responsible. The violence has prompted increased border security by neighbors like the Dominican Republic and evacuations of US citizens.
FILE PHOTO: Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks on stage during a campaign rally tonight in Richmond, Virginia, U.S. March 2, 2024.
Hard Numbers: Republicans regret Trump, Bosnia gets EU pathway, Pakistan swears in cabinet, Somalia’s pirates seize the moment
50 million: Donald Trump may have a chokehold on the Republican Party, but that doesn’t mean he has a grip on all Republicans. The group Republicans Voters Against Trump, which first appeared in 2020, has recently raised $50 million to produce a campaign of video testimonials by Republicans who voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020 but say they just can’t do it again this year.
30: Almost 30 years since the end of the Yugoslav civil wars, Bosnia and Herzegovina will be invited to begin EU accession talks, despite still-simmering ethnic tensions between Bosniaks and Serbs in the country. The talks are no guarantee of joining, which can take many years, but the perception of growing Russian influence in the Balkans has heightened Brussels’ interest in getting membership talks on track. Of the six former Yugoslav republics, only Slovenia and Croatia are in the EU.
19: Pakistan’s newly elected Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has a cabinet in place after its 19 members were sworn in earlier this week. They have their work cut out for them. Pakistan is mired in a severe economic crisis and must, almost immediately, negotiate a fresh $3 billion IMF loan package. Meanwhile, the streets are still hot with protesters supporting jailed opposition leader and former PM Imran Khan, whose alliance won the most votes in last month’s election but was shut out of government by Sharif’s coalition.
23: For the first time since December, Somali pirates successfully hijacked a vessel off the Horn of Africa, taking the 23 crew members of a Bangladeshi-flagged bulk carrier hostage. As Houthi attacks in the Red Sea draw much of the naval security attention in the region, the fearsome pirates of Somali are letting that Jolly Roger fly.A girl waits for customers while selling meat to feed the birds, as a form of charity to bring good luck and ward off adversity, along Ravi Bridge in Lahore, Pakistan.
Hard Numbers: Pakistan’s well-fed predators, Russia’s cool prices, Biden’s unrealistic budget, Telegram’s big moment
20: What can 20 Pakistani rupees ($0.07) buy you? A defense against misfortune sounds like a bargain. That’s the price you’ll pay for a packet of scrap meat to throw to predatory birds in Lahore. The practice is an age-old tradition that has survived despite intensifying efforts by the authorities to stamp it out. Wildlife experts say it encourages overpopulation and aggression in the bird populations, but a local rickshaw driver tells Reuters he does it anyway to “keep his life safe.”
0.6: New data from Russia this week will show consumer prices rose just 0.6% in February. Annual inflation is likely even lower than the last reading of 7.5%. That’s not stellar, no, but for a sanctions-wracked economy where inflation hit nearly 18% after invading Ukraine, it’s another sign the West hasn’t really crippled the Kremlin’s war machine. Vladimir Putin, for his part, is confident enough in the inflation numbers to uncork $126 billion in social spending ahead of his “election” this weekend.
7.3 trillion: Speaking of spending, US President Joe Bidenunveiled a $7.3 trillion budget proposal on Monday featuring massive new social spending financed by tax hikes on corporations and the mega-rich. Non-partisan analysts say the math is “unrealistic,” and it has zero chance of passing a GOP-run House anyway. But it’s not meant for Capitol Hill; it’s meant for the campaign trail, where Biden is trying to convince American voters that “Bidenomics” is a win. Polls show skepticism, despite improving economic data.
900 million: Social media apps owned by “China,” Mark Zuckerberg, or Elon Musk may get all the attention these days, but the messaging app Telegram has quietly hit 900 million regular users (nearly 3X that of X) and is mulling an IPO. The freewheeling Dubai-based platform, created by Russian-born entrepreneur Pavel Durov, has emerged as a major free speech hub, particularly in Russia, but it has also drawn criticism for allegedly allowing criminal activity and “misinformation.”
FILE PHOTO: Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif attends a summit on climate resilience in Pakistan, months after deadly floods in the country, at the United Nations, in Geneva, Switzerland, January 9, 2023.
Hard Numbers: Sharif’s return to power, Burkina Faso killings, Boeing’s big fine, Trump’s delegates
201: Shehbaz Sharifsecured 201 votes in Pakistan’s parliament to become prime minister after a bitterly contested election in which former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s supporters shocked the establishment, delivering the greatest vote share to independent candidates allied to Khan.
170: Authorities in Burkina Faso say jihadist factions killed at least 170 people during raids into three settlements in the country’s north, as extremism spirals in the wake of a 2022 military coup. Jihadist violence has killed over 20,000 people and displaced 2 million in Burkina Faso, one of the poorest countries in West Africa.
51,000,000: Boeing is facing a hard landing, with the aerospace giant paying $51 million to settle over 200 violations of the Arms Export Control Act and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations laws, according to the State Department. The government says Boeing may have put national security at risk when its employees downloaded sensitive technical documents while physically located in China and Russia, among other countries.
244: After winning GOP primaries in Michigan, Missouri, and Idaho on Saturday, former President Donald Trump has 244 delegates - more than five times as many as his only remaining challenger, Nikki Haley. Trump’s lead is set to grow this week on “Super Tuesday,” but Haley did win her first primary on Sunday in Washington DC, which nearly doubled her vote count.Former Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif speaks at the party office of Pakistan Muslim League in Lahore, Pakistan, February 9, 2024.
Pakistan’s new government seeks more IMF assistance
On top of facing legitimacy questions following chaotic, violent elections tainted by widespread undemocratic practices, Pakistan’s new coalition government is inheriting an economy in crisis. These economic problems have been fueled by high energy costs, political dysfunction, flooding, and supply chain issues.
An economy in freefall. Pakistan inflation hovers around a whopping 30%, and its GDP fell 0.6% in 2023, per the World Bank. Meanwhile, Tabadlab, an Islamabad-based think tank, recently warned that the country’s debt is a “raging fire” that’s become unsustainable: Interest payments are eating up roughly 57% of government revenues.
“Unless there are sweeping reforms and dramatic changes to the status quo, Pakistan will continue to sink deeper, headed towards an inevitable default,” Tabadlab’s report said.
What can be done? Pakistan barely avoided debt default last year thanks to the help of a short-term IMF lending agreement, but that’s set to expire in April. The incoming government reportedly plans to pursue a $6 billion loan from the IMF to help it stay afloat. The IMF has signaled it’s open to discussing another arrangement with the new government, but we’ll be watching to see whether Pakistan’s political turmoil becomes an obstacle to securing more funds.