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Students at Martin Van Buren High School in Queens

Kyle Mazza / SOPA Images via Reuters

Hard Numbers: Segregation is back, Thai activist dies in jail, French “Fly” freed, New US arms sale to Israel

19.8: Over the past three decades, the share of US public schools where 90% of the students are non-white has nearly tripled to 19.8%, according to a UCLA report. Experts say the rise of charter schools and expansion of school choice is partly to blame for this de facto segregation. The data, crunched by the UCLA Civil Rights Project, come on the eve of the 70th anniversary of the landmark Brown vs. Boardof Education case in which the US Supreme Court outlawed racial segregation at schools.

110: A young Thai activist jailed for demanding reform of the country’s uncriticizable monarchy has died after a 110-day hunger strike. Twenty-eight year old Netiporn “Bung” Sanesangkhom had been jailed under Thailand’s severe lèse-majesté laws after asking people’s opinion of the monarchy in public spaces in 2022.

2: A manhunt is underway in France after two masked gunmen ambushed a prison van and freed a notorious drug dealer nicknamed “The Fly.” The incident is the latest in a trend of rising narco-related crime in Europe, as authorities seize record volumes of cocaine entering the EU while rival gangs fight for turf and clientele. Of course, when it comes to jailbreaks, the cinema-obsessed French gangster Rédoine Faïd remains the master of the craft.

1 billion: The Biden administration reportedly told lawmakers it’s moving forward with a new sale of roughly $1 billion worth of arms to Israel, including tactical vehicles and ammunition. This news comes as the administration continues to butt heads with Israel over the Rafah operation, and just days after President Joe Biden put a hold on a shipment of bombs to the Jewish state as concerns rise over the mounting death toll amid the war with Hamas in Gaza.

FILE PHOTO: Parts of a ghost gun kit are on display at an event held by U.S. President Joe Biden to announce measures to fight ghost gun crime, at the White House in Washington U.S., April 11, 2022.

REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo

The Supreme Court takes aim at “ghost guns”

The US Supreme Court agreed Monday to rule on a challenge to the Biden administration’s efforts to crack down on untraceable “ghost guns.”

What are “ghost guns”? Basically, privately manufactured kits that give customers all the individual parts they need to build a firearm themselves, like a deadly version of IKEA.

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FILE PHOTO: Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (left), President of Mexico, and Justin Trudeau (right), Prime Minister of Canada, are delivering a message to the media at the National Palace in Mexico City,on January 10, 2023, on the occasion of their meeting with Joe Biden, President of the United States, at the 10th North American Leaders' Summit, where they are discussing migration, economic and drug trafficking issues.

Gerardo Vieyra via Reuters Connect

Will Trudeau bring back visas for Mexican visitors?

Justin Trudeausaid last week that Canada is in talks with Mexico to try to find ways to cut down on the number of asylum-seekers flying into Canada with the help of organized criminal groups.

Trudeau is under pressure from the Conservatives, and the Americans to reinstate a visa requirement on Mexican travelers, which his government lifted in 2016. The government said last month it is considering doing so.

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Soldiers keep watch in the militarized Litoral prison, part of the measures taken by Ecuador's President Daniel Noboa to crackdown on gangs, during a media tour in Guayaquil, Ecuador, Feb. 9, 2024.

REUTERS/Santiago Arcos/File Photo

Ecuador to vote on emergency measures amid spiraling violence

Ecuadorians will get their say on a slew of emergency measures meant to combat skyrocketing murders in their country — but they’ll have to wait more than two months.

A court has set April 21 as the date for a referendum on expanding the army’s powers, tightening control over guns and prisons, and raising penalties for trafficking.

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Jess Frampton

Car thieves hit the gas. Drivers foot the bill.

Auto thefts, including carjackings, are up in the United States and Canada. Politicians are noticing – and so are insurance companies. Last week, Ottawa went as far as to convene a national summit dedicated to the problem, and the criminal trend has grabbed headlines in both countries, tracking the many locations where vehicles end up, from Malta to Mexico to Ghana.

The jump in stolen vehicles on both sides of the border has some concerned about a return to the bad old days. In 1991, there were 659 car thefts for every 100,000 people in the US. In 2022, there were 283 – much lower than in the 90s but the most since 2008 and an increase of 10% from 2021. More than a million vehicles were pinched, and Kias and Hyundais have been particularly hard hit, with a leap of 1,000% since 2020.

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El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele, who is running for reelection, greets people, on the day of the presidential and parliamentary elections in San Salvador, El Salvador, February 4, 2024.

REUTERS/Jose Cabezas

Crime fighter cruises to victory in El Salvador

Salvadorans voted overwhelmingly on Sunday to reelect President Nayib Bukele, the self-styled “world’s coolest dictator” – even though the constitution says he can’t serve a second term. Provisional results show he won 83% of the vote.

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Britain's King Charles and the President of Kenya, Dr William Ruto

Victoria Jones/Pool via REUTERS

Hard Numbers: Charles III visits Kenya, deadly sectarian violence in India, US murders plunge, antisemitic mob arrests in Russia

1: King Charles III is set to launch his first state visit to an African country — and his very first to a Commonwealth nation — since becoming Britain’s monarch in May. On Tuesday, he and Camilla will touch down in Nairobi, Kenya, where he is expected to face pressure to address the historic brutality of British colonial rule.

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Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan greets the crowd before a meeting of his ruling AK Party to announce the party's election manifesto ahead of the May 14 elections, in Ankara, Turkey April 11, 2023.

Murat Cetinmuhurdar/Presidential Press Office/Handout via REUTERS

Hard Numbers: Erdogan’s opposition, Myanmar military’s deadly air raids, Italian coastguard’s rescue mission, Bonnie without Clyde

6: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan kicked off his reelection campaign Tuesday in a bid to defeat six opposition parties that have joined forces ahead of the May 14 poll. Erdogan, who has been in power for two decades, vowed to cut inflation – now at 50%, thought analysts say it's higher – to single digits, though his aggressive slashing of interest rates continues to baffle economists.

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