Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

News

Hard Numbers: Malaysia detains Rohingya, US polling on Floyd killing, COVID cases hit 7 million

Hard Numbers: Malaysia detains Rohingya, US polling on Floyd killing, COVID cases hit 7 million

270: Malaysia has detained some 270 Rohingya Muslims who fled persecution in Myanmar in April. They had languished in rickety boats off the Malaysian coast ever since, unable to dock because of coronavirus-restrictions. Now that they have been taken into custody, their future in the country is uncertain.


75: For the first time in the United Nations' 75-year history, world leaders will not meet in in person for the annual General Assembly in New York this fall, because of pandemic-related travel restrictions and social distancing requirements. In the coming weeks, the UN will map out how heads of state can participate in the gathering virtually.

74: Some 74 percent of Americans believe the killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis reflects a "broader problem" in American society, according to a recent ABC-Ipsos poll. Conversely, 26 percent of respondents saw Floyd's death as an isolated incident.

7 million: The world reached a grim milestone this week when the number of confirmed coronavirus cases surpassed 7 million. This comes as the World Health Organization issued a stern warning Sunday that daily COVID-19 cases had reached new highs, suggesting that the pandemic is worsening globally.

More For You

Members of security forces stand guard outside a polliong station, a week late in a special election, after the local governing party kept voting closed on election day, amid accusations of sabotage and fraud, in a presidential race still too close to call as counting continues, in San Antonio de Flores, Honduras, December 7, 2025.

Members of security forces stand guard outside a polliong station, a week late in a special election, after the local governing party kept voting closed on election day, amid accusations of sabotage and fraud, in a presidential race still too close to call as counting continues, in San Antonio de Flores, Honduras, December 7, 2025.

REUTERS/Leonel Estrada
More than a week after Hondurans cast their ballots in a presidential election, the country is still stuck in a potentially-dangerous post-election fog. With 97% of votes tallied, the race remains a dead heat: former Tegucigalpa Mayor Nasry Asfura, who has been backed loudly by US President Donald Trump, holds a paper-thin one-point edge over [...]
​Israa Mukhtar, a witness of the RSF attack in April 2025 on a medical clinic, sits inside a tent in Tawila, North Darfur, Sudan, on June 13, 2025.

Israa Mukhtar, a witness of the RSF attack in April 2025 on Relief International's medical clinic in Sudan's Zamzam camp, uses a mobile phone as she sits inside a tent in Tawila, North Darfur, Sudan, on June 13, 2025.

REUTERS/Stringer
114: Drone strikes on a kindergarten and hospital in Sudan last Thursday left 114 people dead, including 63 children, according to the World Health Organization. The attack is just the latest atrocity in the Sahel State’s brutal two-and-a-half-year civil war. The Rapid Support Forces, the rebel group, was blamed for the assault. The attack took [...]
Vilnius International airport, forced to shut down due to the presence of air balloons, on October 25, 2025.

Vilnius International airport, forced to shut down due to the presence of air balloons, on October 25, 2025.

Scanpix Baltics via Reuters Connect
Balloon crisis in the Baltic skiesLook there, in the skies over Lithuania! It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s… a balloon from Belarus carrying contraband cigarettes? This story is more than just hot air, as hundreds of the deviant dirigibles have wafted across the border in recent weeks, forcing the closure of Lithuania’s main airport and flight [...]
Egyptians head to the polls to elect a new parliament during the first round of the Egyptian parliamentary elections in Giza, Egypt, on November 10, 2025.

Egyptians head to the polls to elect a new parliament during the first round of the Egyptian parliamentary elections in Giza, Egypt, on November 10, 2025.

Photo by Islam Safwat/NurPhoto
Egyptians are voting this month in parliamentary elections that aren’t expected to change who’s in charge, but could allow President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to rule beyond 2030. 596 seats are up for grabs in Egypt’s House of Representatives, but mostly parties friendly to his regime made the ballot in an election rife with irregularities. [...]