Hard Numbers: Afghan aid cut, humanizing Italy, covert corona cases

60: Scientists believe that asymptomatic carriers of the coronavirus are spreading the disease at staggering rates. Some estimate that as many as 60 percent of all infections globally are "covert cases" – that is people who aren't even aware that they have the disease, and go about their everyday life.

1 billion: In a major blow to the Afghan government, the US State Department said it was cutting $1 billion in aid to Afghanistan this year, and potentially another $1 billion in 2021, after rival leaders – who both claim to be Afghanistan's legitimate president – failed to support a unified government, a condition that U.S. diplomats consider crucial for peace talks to make progress.

7: Teleworking while under quarantine just isn't possible for most Americans. In 2019, only 7 percent of the country's 140 million civilian workers said that working from home was a feasible option for them.

2,000: More than 2,000 Italians died from the coronavirus in the four days leading up to March 24. With the influx of horrendous news it's sometimes hard to remember that these are people, not statistics. Watch this clip where a man flips through 10 pages of obituaries in his local newspaper.

More from GZERO Media

A cargo ship is loading and unloading foreign trade containers at Qingdao Port in Qingdao City, Shandong Province, China on May 7, 2025.
Photo by CFOTO/Sipa USA

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will meet with their Chinese counterparts in Geneva on Saturday in a bid to ease escalating trade tensions that have led to punishing tariffs of up to 145%. Ahead of the meetings, Trump said that he expects tariffs to come down.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks on the phone to US President Donald Trump at a car factory in the West Midlands, United Kingdom, on May 8, 2025.
Alberto Pezzali/Pool via REUTERS

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer achieved what his Conservative predecessors couldn’t.

The newly elected Pope Leo XIV (r), US-American Robert Prevost, appears on the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican after the conclave.

On Thursday, Robert Francis Prevost was elected the 267th pope of the Roman Catholic Church, taking the name Pope Leo XIV and becoming the first American pontiff — defying widespread assumptions that a US candidate was a long shot.

US House Speaker Mike Johnson talks with reporters in the US Capitol on May 8, 2025.

Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/Sipa USA

US House Speaker Mike Johnson is walking a tightrope on Medicaid — and wobbling.

US President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney meet in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., USA, on May 6, 2025.
REUTERS/Leah Millis

The first official meeting between Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and US President Donald Trump was friendlier than you might expect given the recent tensions in the relationship.