Hard Numbers: Belarusian opposition leader jailed, Nicaragua gets Chinese jabs, EU rules on children from same-sex parents, Logic saves lives

Hard Numbers: Belarusian opposition leader jailed, Nicaragua gets Chinese jabs, EU rules on children from same-sex parents, Logic saves lives
Blogger Sergei Tikhanovsky wearing a protective face mask amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak speaks during a rally of opposition politicians' supporters, who collect signatures for the nomination of their candidates in the upcoming presidential election, in Minsk, Belarus May 24, 2020.
REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko

18: Belarusian opposition leader Siarhei Tsikhanouski was sentenced on Tuesday to 18 years in prison, charged with organizing street protests against the 2020 sham re-election of strongman President Alexander Lukashenko. (Earlier this year, Tsikhanouski's wife Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya told GZERO World about the fight for democracy in Europe's last dictatorship.)

1 million: Nicaragua has received one million doses of COVID vaccines from China just days after severing diplomatic ties with Taiwan in order to recognize the People's Republic. China has long been luring Latin American countries to ditch Taipei, offering cash and other incentives.

27: The EU's top court has ruled that same-sex parents and their children must be recognized as a family in all 27 member states to guarantee the child’s right to free movement. The verdict is a response to Bulgaria refusing to issue a birth certificate to a Spanish-born child because she was registered as having two mothers.

245: US rapper Logic may have helped save the lives of 245 Americans contemplating suicide since his album "Everybody" was released in 2017. According to a new study, surges of online engagement with the track “1-800-273-8255” coincided with more calls than usual to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, whose phone number the title of the song refers to.

More from GZERO Media

Last week, Microsoft committed $15.2 billion to the UAE. This strategic investment expands cloud and AI infrastructure in the Middle East. It aims to boost regional innovation, economic diversification, and digital resilience. The move underscores tech’s role in shaping global competitiveness and security. A milestone for the UAE — and a signal of where the digital future is headed. Read the full blog here.

US President Donald Trump welcomes Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the White House for bilateral discussions about trade and security on February 13, 2025.
India PM Office handout via EYEPRESS

After months of tensions between the world’s richest country and the world’s most populous one, it appears that the United States and India are on the verge of making a trade deal.

Members of the media gather outside Broadcasting House, the BBC headquarters in central London, as BBC Director General Tim Davie and BBC News CEO Deborah Turness resign following accusations of bias and the controversy surrounding the editing of the Trump speech before the Capitol riots on 6 January 2021 in a BBC Panorama documentary.
(Credit Image: © Vuk Valcic/ZUMA Press Wire)

+26: Two BBC leaders, Director-General Tim Davie and BBC News Head Deborah Turness, resigned on Sunday after it emerged that the British news organization edited footage of US President Donald Trump in a misleading fashion.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) heads back to his office following a press conference at the U.S. Capitol on November 5, 2025 in Washington, D.C. The shutdown of the Federal Government has become the longest in U.S. history after surpassing the 35 day shutdown that occurred during President Trumps first term that began in the end of 2018.
(Photo by Samuel Corum/Sipa USA)