Hard Numbers: India COVID cases spike, Colombia protest turns deadly, Sudan floods, global wildlife destruction

Daily wage workers and homeless people wearing face masks on the banks of Yamuna river in India. Reuters

95,000: India recorded more than 95,000 COVID-19 infections on Thursday, its biggest single-day spike to date. India recently overtook Brazil as the country with the second highest global caseload, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi struggles to contain the coronavirus amid an economic implosion.

7: Seven people were killed on Wednesday night when a protest against police brutality turned deadly in Colombia's capital, Bogotá. The protests were sparked by a video widely shared on social media of cops repeatedly using a stun gun on an unarmed man until he died.

500,000: More than 500,000 people have been affected by unprecedented mass flooding of the Nile river in Sudan. Although floods are regular during the country's rainy season (and in fact help farmers irrigate their land), this year they have been catastrophic, killing more than 100 Sudanese and leaving thousands homeless.

68: Wildlife populations around the world have fallen an average of 68 percent since 1970, according to a new WWF study. The report said that the decline is clear evidence of humanity's destruction of the natural world, and that the coronavirus pandemic is a grim reality check of the consequences of wildlife habitat loss.

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.