Hard Numbers: French Riviera ablaze, New Zealand records a COVD case, German polls, a little humanity in Afghanistan

Smoke rises from a massive wildfire in Gonfaron, seen from the heighys of Saint Tropez, south of France on August 16, 2021.

6,000: France is the latest country to suffer from uncontrollable summer wildfires, with 6,000 people forced to evacuate homes and vacation rentals in the Riviera region. Fires, caused by strong winds coming from the Mediterranean Sea, have spread across 5,000 hectares of land. France joins the ranks of countries including Turkey, Greece, and Algeria that have been hit hard by blistering heat waves in recent weeks.

170: New Zealand entered a snap three-day lockdown Tuesday, after detecting its first locally-transmitted case of COVID in 170 days. The country's 4.8 million people will only be allowed to leave their homes for reasons deemed essential, and businesses will be closed.

23: German Chancellor Angela Merkel's CDU/CSU bloc is plummeting in the polls, with a recent survey putting the bloc at 23 percent approval, a 13-point drop from January. The decline, just six weeks out from elections, is in large part because Armin Laschet, the center-right Christian Democrats' candidate for chancellor, has very low personal approval ratings.

640: Around 640 Afghans jumped onto a US Air Force cargo plane as it prepared to leave Kabul for Qatar on Monday. Seeking to flee as the Taliban descended on the capital, the Afghans — men, women and children — rushed aboard the flight. Rather than force them to disembark, "the crew made the decision to go," a defense official said.

More from GZERO Media

Vice President JD Vance participates in a Q&A with Munich Security Conference Foundation Council President Wolfgang Ischinger at the Munich Leaders' Meeting in Washington, DC, on May 7, 2025.
Munich Security Conference.

GZERO's Emilie Macfie reflects on a week of discussions between top European and American leaders at the Munich Security Conference's Washington, DC installment.

Customizing AI strategies for every region, culture, and language is critical | Global Stage

As artificial intelligence races ahead, there’s growing concern that it could deepen the digital divide—unless global inclusion becomes a priority. Lucia Velasco, AI Policy Lead at the United Nations Office for Digital and Emerging Technologies, warns that without infrastructure, local context, and inclusive design, AI risks benefiting only the most connected parts of the world.

AI can only help people who can access electricity and internet | Global Stage

Hundreds of millions of people now use artificial intelligence each week—but that impressive number masks a deeper issue. According to Dr. Juan Lavista Ferres, Microsoft’s Chief Data Scientist, Corporate Vice President, and Lab Director for the AI for Good Lab, access to AI remains out of reach for nearly half the world’s population.

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.