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Hard Numbers: COVID bursts Olympic bubble, Italian prez re-elected, Yemeni child soldiers, Peruvian ecocide

January 30, 2022
Carlos Santamaria
Hard Numbers: COVID bursts Olympic bubble, Italian prez re-elected, Yemeni child soldiers, Peruvian ecocide
An employee is seen while people undergo PCR tests for COVID-19 upon their arrival at Beijing Capital International Airport ahead of the 2022 Winter Olympics. The 24th Winter Olympic Games are scheduled to take place in Beijing on February 4-20, 2022.
Valery Sharifulin/TASS

34: The organizers of the Beijing Winter Olympics reported on Sunday 34 new COVID infections within the "bubble" set up for the Games, where athletes can only compete if they test negative twice in 24 hours. Troubling news for China's zero-COVID policy.

8: After eight rounds of secret voting, Italian lawmakers on Saturday "elected" Sergio Mattarella to serve another seven-year term as president. Mattarella, 80, agreed to postpone his retirement so Mario Draghi could stay on as PM.

2,000: According to the UN, almost 2,000 child soldiers recruited by Houthi rebels died fighting in Yemen's civil war from January 2020 to May 2021. GZERO World recently reported on the Yemeni conflict, the biggest humanitarian crisis you've probably never heard of.

12,000: Peru has barred execs from Spanish energy giant Repsol charged with "ecocide" from leaving the country, while authorities investigate an oil spill that leaked almost 12,000 barrels of crude into the sea. Repsol says the accident was caused by the tsunami triggered by a massive volcanic eruption in Tonga.

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Illegal immigrants from Ethiopia walk on a road near the town of Taojourah February 23, 2015. The area, described by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) as one of the most inhospitable areas in the world, is on a transit route for thousands of immigrants every year from Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia travelling via Yemen to Saudi Arabia in hope of work. Picture taken February 23.
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7,500: The Trump administration will cap the number of refugees that the US will admit over the next year to 7,500. The previous limit, set by former President Joe Biden, was 125,000. The new cap is a record low. White South Africans will have priority access.

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