Switzerland is famous for keeping its nose out of the business of other countries, but some citizens are worried it’s starting to pick sides. 

What happened: Swiss parliament voted against joining an international task force to enforce sanctions against Russia. The decision comes as lawmakers and citizens grapple with what it means to be a neutral country in an increasingly tense Europe.

Violence in the Middle East escalated over the weekend with an Iranian attack on Israel. 

Catch up: Iran launched more than 300 drones and missiles at targets in Israel on Saturday, 99% of which were intercepted in the air by Israel and its allies.

Saudi officials are learning that constructing a city from scratch is turning out to be a real financial headache. 

Driving the news: Saudi Arabia is scaling back its ambitions for Neom, a trillion-dollar desert development project aimed at diversifying its oil-dependent economy.

Sam Bankman-Fried might be having a rough go of it as he faces 25 years in the slammer,  but hey, at least he didn’t commit large-scale financial fraud in Vietnam. 

What happened: Real estate developer Truong My Lan has been sentenced to death by a Vietnamese court for orchestrating the country's largest-ever financial fraud. She embezzled over US$12 billion (or ~3% of Vietnam’s GDP) from the Saigon Joint Stock Commercial Bank.

After catching flack for not spending enough on defence, the feds fished around their proverbial couch cushions and came up with a hefty chunk of change. 

What happened: As part of Canada's first major defence policy update since 2017, the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) will receive an additional $8.1 billion in federal funding over the next five years.

The Japanese royal family wants you to know that it’s not outdated and it’s actually really cool — and it has 80+ new Instagram photos to prove it.

What happened: This week, the famously private imperial family chose to start sharing their lavish life on social media for the first time by launching an Instagram account. 

The tragic bridge collapse this week in Baltimore is putting the spotlight on the safety of North American bridges.  

Driving the news: Investigators are still trying to determine the series of events that led a 290-metre cargo ship to crash into the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, a collision that completely destroyed the bridge and led to the presumed deaths of six people. 

Donald Trump claims he has almost “$500 million in cash” at his disposal, which sounds like a lot until you realize what the guy is forking over in legal fees. 

What happened: Yesterday, investors approved a plan to take Trump’s struggling social media business public next week, which would unlock a potential US$3 billion windfall for the former U.S. president as he looks to drum up cash to cover his massive legal costs. 

Money can’t buy happiness. But enough of it can buy you a home, which we’re slowly learning is pretty much the same thing. 

What happened: This year’s rankings of the world’s happiest countries revealed that while Canada is still one of the happiest in the world — ranking 15th overall — the happiness gap between younger and older populations is the widest seen in every country on the list.

 On this week’s episode of Free Lunch by The Peak, we sat down with Graeme Thompson to talk about the record-setting number of elections happening around the world this year, what the likely outcomes are in countries like the U.K. and U.S., and what it all means for Canada.