Hard Numbers: Renewed global optimism in US, EU parliament backs vaccine IP waivers, anti-Semitic attacks surge in US, India's tragic audit

Hard Numbers: Renewed global optimism in US, EU parliament backs vaccine IP waivers, anti-Semitic attacks surge in US, India's tragic audit
Gabriella Turrisi

75: A median of 75 percent of people surveyed in a dozen countries — including Japan, Canada, Germany, and France — say they have confidence in US President Joe Biden's approach to foreign affairs, according to a Pew poll. That's a massive rebound from last year, when only 17 percent answered the same about Donald Trump's foreign policy bona fides.

355: The European Parliament has approved a resolution supporting IP waivers for COVID vaccines. A total of 355 MEPs voted in favor of removing vaccine patents, which the EU has so far vehemently opposed as a bloc. Meanwhile, the World Trade Organization says it'll start discussing the text of a potential temporary waiver to intellectual property rights.

115: Anti-Semitic attacks in the US jumped 115 percent in May compared to the same time last year, according to the Anti-Defamation League. Jews in Los Angeles, New York and elsewhere were targeted amid a recent conflict between Israel and Gaza-based Hamas.

9,429: After a government audit Wednesday, the COVID death toll in the Indian state of Bihar rose to 9,429, a 73 percent increase from the previously reported figure. Still, Bihar has only recorded the 12th highest number of deaths from COVID compared to other Indian states. This revelation comes as the country grapples with a new variant, the Delta mutation, that appears to be more transmissible, on top of a still-surging daily death toll.

More from GZERO Media

Police arrest Emory economics professor Caroline Fohlin during a rally in which Pro-Palestinian protestors set up an encampment at the Emory Campus in Atlanta, on Thursday, April 25, 2024.
Arvin Temkar/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution/TNS/ABACAPRESS.COM

Pro-Palestinian student demonstrations and encampments have popped up at dozens of US universities in recent weeks. Columbia University – where protests began – and other elite schools in the Northeast have grabbed plenty of headlines, but where they are facing the harshest pushback – and could ultimately help Republicans win back the White House – is in the South.

A cannabis rights activist waves a flag outside the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, D.C. on Oct. 24, 2022.
Alejandro Alvarez/Reuters

The Biden admin. says it’s high time to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug, and it wants to knock it from Schedule I to Schedule III — meaning it would no longer be grouped with heroin and LSD.

Supporters and armed members of the Fatah movement protest against the Palestinian Hamas government during a rally in Jabalya camp September 22, 2006.
REUTERS/Mohammed Salem

Beijing, already a global economic power, wants to cut a larger figure in diplomacy, cultivating an image as a more honest broker than the US, with closer ties to the so-called “Global South.”

TikTok logo on a phone surrounded by the American, Israeli, and Chinese flags.
Jess Frampton

Last Wednesday, as part of the sweeping foreign-aid package that included much-neededfunding for Ukraine’s defense, President Joe Biden signed into law a bill requiring that TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, sell the popular video-sharing app to an American buyer within a year or face a ban in the United States.

Russia And China benefit from US infighting, says David Sanger | GZERO World with Ian Bremmer

On GZERO World, Pulitzer prize-winning New York Times correspondent David Sanger argues that China's rise and Russia's aggressive stance signal a new era of major power competition, with both countries fueling instability in the US to distract from their strategic ambitions.

NYPD officers arrive at Columbia University on April 30, 2024, to clear demonstrators from an occupied hall on campus.

John Lamparski/NurPhoto via Reuters

Last night, hundreds of NYPD officers entered Columbia University in riot gear, one night after students occupied a building on campus and 13 days after students pitched an encampment that threw kerosene on a student movement against the war in Gaza.

Israel seems intent on Rafah invasion despite global backlash | Ian Bremmer | World In :60

How will the international community respond to an Israeli invasion of Rafah? How would a Trump presidency be different from his first term? Are growing US campus protests a sign of a chaotic election in November? Ian Bremmer shares his insights on global politics this week on World In :60.