Hard Numbers: France's contact tracing, Spain hits zero, migrants wait off Malta, blacks targeted in Minneapolis

600,000: French authorities said 600,000 residents downloaded its new coronavirus contact tracing up within the first few hours of its release. The app, which aims to prevent a second wave of infections in that hard-hit country, has stirred controversy in France amid concerns that the data it gathers could be abused by the government to surveil people.

0:For the first time since March, health officials in Spain have reported zero new deaths from the coronavirus in a 24 hour period. As one of the countries hardest hit by the virus, Spain recorded a 155 percent spike in mortality in the first few months of this year compared to the same period in 2019.

60: In Minneapolis, where the anti-racism protests now sweeping the US first emerged after the police killing of George Floyd, 60 percent of people who suffer police violence are black, according to the city's own records. The data also show that black Minneapolitans are 7 times more likely to be victims of police aggression than their white neighbors.

400: More than 400 migrants are languishing in crowded boats off the European island nation of Malta after the country's government rescued them from smuggling vessels back in April. The migrants are now waiting for EU countries to agree to resettle them. So far, France is the only country that says it will accept some of the asylum-seekers, but has not specified how many.

More from GZERO Media

US President Donald Trump has been piling the pressure on Russia and Venezuela in recent weeks. He placed sanctions on Russia’s two largest oil firms and bolstered the country’s military presence around Venezuela – while continuing to bomb ships coming off Venezuela’s shores. But what exactly are Trump’s goals? And can he achieve them? And how are Russia and Venezuela, two of the largest oil producers in the world, responding? GZERO reporters Zac Weisz and Riley Callanan discuss.

- YouTube

Former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says AI can be both a force for good and a tool for harm. “AI has either the possibility of…providing interventions and disruption, or it has the ability to also further harms, increase radicalization, and exacerbate issues of terrorism and extremism online.”

Demonstrators carry the dead body of a man killed during a protest a day after a general election marred by violent demonstrations over the exclusion of two leading opposition candidates at the Namanga One-Post Border crossing point between Kenya and Tanzania, as seen from Namanga, Kenya October 30, 2025.
REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya

Tanzania has been rocked by violence for three days now, following a national election earlier this week. Protestors are angry over the banning of candidates and detention of opposition leaders by President Samia Suluhu Hassan.

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.
REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic

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.

- YouTube

In an era characterized by rapid technological advancement, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence present both challenges and opportunities. At the 2025 Paris Peace Forum, GZERO’s Tony Maciulis engages in an insightful conversation with Dame Jacinda Ardern, former Prime Minister of New Zealand, and Lisa Monaco, President of Global Affairs at Microsoft, discussing strategies for a secure digital future.