Hard Numbers: 1,000 Days Later, Northern Ireland Remains Leaderless

13: On Monday, Spain's Supreme Court sentenced nine Catalan separatist leaders for their role in the 2017 independence referendum. The convictions were for sedition, and the lengthiest prison term handed down was 13 years. Backers of Catalan independence are already protesting the rulings. This news comes just weeks ahead of national elections – Spain's fourth in four years.

15: At least 15 people were killed when gunmen stormed a mosque in northern Burkina Faso during prayers on Friday. It's the latest attack by ISIS or al Qaeda linked groups who have brought an Islamist insurgency across the border from neighboring Mali. About 500,000 people in the region have now fled their homes, a six-fold increase since January, according to the United Nations.

1,000: It's now been more than 1,000 days since Northern Ireland had a government. A power-sharing assembly, formed in 1998 by the Good Friday Agreement, collapsed in January 2017. Political deadlock persists as Brexit stands to disrupt the flow of goods and services across the border with the Republic of Ireland.

7:Seven candidates have been killed and 62 threatened or injured since campaigning began in late June for Colombia's local and regional elections set for October 27. These elections are the first of their kind since a breakthrough peace agreement was signed between the national government and FARC rebels in 2016, but weak implementation of that deal has allowed local violence to flourish.

More from GZERO Media

South Korean presidential candidate Lee Jae Myung of the Democratic Party speaks at a campaign rally in Seoul on May 29, 2025.
Kyodo via Reuters Connect

South Koreans head to the polls this Tuesday, June 3, to elect a new president. They’ll face a choice between two candidates with sharply contrasting visions for the country’s future — and its foreign policy.

A serviceman of the 43rd Separate Artillery Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces fires a 2S7 Pion self-propelled gun toward Russian positions, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, on the front line in the Donetsk region of Ukraine, on May 30, 2025.

REUTERS/Anatolii Stepanov

A roundup of three major storylines that we’re keeping an eye on this week.

The world has its first (North) American pope. Now what? On a new GZERO World podcast, Ian Bremmer sits down with Jesuit priest and bestselling author Father James Martin to talk about the historic ascendancy of Pope Leo XIV and what his papacy means for the Catholic Church, American politics, and a world in search of moral clarity.

US President Donald Trump is joined by Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick and Vice President JD Vance while announcing a trade agreement with the United Kingdom in the Oval Office on May 8, 2025.
Emily J. Higgins/White House/ZUMA Press Wire

On Wednesday evening, the US Court of International Trade ruled that President Donald Trump could not impose his “reciprocal” tariffs. GZERO spoke to Eurasia Group’s top analysts to assess what could happen next.