Hard Numbers: Zuma sentenced to jail, EU asylum numbers fall, al-Shabab members executed, Swedish clock ticks

Hard Numbers: Zuma sentenced to jail, EU asylum numbers fall, al-Shabab members executed, Swedish clock ticks
Former South African President Jacob Zuma appears in court where he faces charges that include fraud, racketeering and money laundering in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, October 15, 2019.
Michele Spatari /Pool via REUTERS

15: Sometimes hard numbers are hard time. South Africa's top court has sentenced former president Jacob Zuma to 15 months for failing to appear at an inquiry into corruption that occurred during his time in office. Separately, Zuma is facing charges over graft involving a $5 billion arms deal from the 1990s, before he was president.

32: Annual asylum applications in the EU and several affiliated countries fell 32 percent last year to 485,000 claims, the lowest total since 2013. Officials say the decrease was due chiefly to pandemic-related travel restrictions rather than any softening of demand for safe haven in Europe.

21: The semi-autonomous state of Puntland in Somalia has executed 21 men who were convicted of being members of al-Shabab, a jihadist group that controls large swaths of Somalia and has wreaked havoc across East Africa. The men were killed by firing squad.

3: Rightwing Swedish opposition leader Ulf Kristersson has three days to try to cobble together a government after center-left PM Stefan Löfven resigned as a result of losing a no-confidence vote last week. If he fails, other parties can try, but after four failed attempts the country would go to snap elections.

More from GZERO Media

A combination photo shows a person of interest in the fatal shooting of U.S. right-wing activist and commentator Charlie Kirk during an event at Utah Valley University, in Orem, Utah, U.S. shown in security footage released by the Utah Department of Public Safety on September 11, 2025.
Utah Department of Public Safety/Handout via REUTERS
A drone view shows the scene where U.S. right-wing activist, commentator, Charlie Kirk, an ally of U.S. President Donald Trump, was fatally shot during an event at Utah Valley University, in Orem, Utah, U.S. September 11, 2025.
REUTERS/Cheney Orr

The assassination of 31-year old conservative activist Charlie Kirk at a college event in Utah yesterday threatened to plunge a deeply divided America further into a cycle of rising political violence.

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro stands next to members of the armed forces, on the day he says that his country would deploy military, police and civilian defenses at 284 "battlefront" locations across the country, amid heightened tensions with the U.S., in La Guaira, Venezuela, September 11, 2025.
Miraflores Palace/Handout via REUTERS

284: Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro has deployed military assets to 284 “battlefront” locations across the country, amid rising tensions with the US.

A member of Nepal army stands guard as people gather to observe rituals during the final day of Indra Jatra festival to worship Indra, Kumari and other deities and to mark the end of monsoon season.
REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar

Nepal’s “Gen-Z” protest movement has looked to a different generation entirely with their pick for an interim leader. Protest leaders say they want the country’s retired chief justice, Sushila Karki, 73, to head a transitional government.