Hard Numbers: An alleged serial killer, FTX founder gets prison time, Canada’s growing population, Obama and Clinton boost Biden's campaign

​Members of the local indigenous community, activists, and their supporters gather in memory of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls on March 8, 2023, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Members of the local indigenous community, activists, and their supporters gather in memory of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls on March 8, 2023, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Artur Widak/Reuters

40 million: Ottawa and Manitoba’s provincial government have collectively pledged roughly C$40 million ($29.5 million) toward searching a landfill for the remains of two indigenous women thought to have been murdered by an accused serial killer. The alleged killer, Jeremy Skibicki, is believed to have dumped the bodies of at least two victims — Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran — in Winnipeg’s Prairie Green landfill. Human rights groups have repeatedly raised alarm about violence against indigenous women in Canada.

25: FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Thursday for stealing billions of dollars from customers on his cryptocurrency exchange platform. Bankman-Fried in November was convicted on seven charges of fraud and conspiracy in relation to the dramatic collapse of FTX in 2022, which has been described as one of the biggest examples of financial fraud in US history.

66: Canada experienced its fastest population growth in 66 years in 2023, largely driven by temporary immigration, according to Statistics Canada. The country’s population reached a record high of 40.77 million last year.

25 million: Former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton are lending their campaigning skills to President Joe Biden, and it appears to be paying off. Both ex-presidents appeared at a fundraiser for Biden on Thursday in New York City, helping him raise $25 million. This is a major boost to Biden, who is facing low poll numbers and relentless questions about his age as he vies for re-election in an expected rematch with former President Donald Trump.

More from GZERO Media

President Donald Trump talks to the media next to Tesla CEO Elon Musk, with a Tesla car in the background, at the White House on March 11, 2025.

REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

Elon Musk may have a big day ahead. On Friday, according to the New York Times, he’ll be made privy to war plans for a US military conflict with China. But President Donald Trump has denied that Musk will be briefed on China during his visit.

Secretary of Education Linda McMahon smiles during the signing event for an executive order to shut down the Department of Education next to U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington, DC, March 20, 2025.
REUTERS/Carlos Barria

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday stripping away much of the Department of Education, but he stopped short of dismantling it completely. On Friday, he announced that the federal student loan portfolio and the department’s “special needs” programs were being moved to other federal agencies.

Canadian PM Mark Carney
Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Reuters

The countdown is on! At noon on Sunday, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is expected to dissolve parliament and send voters into an election campaign that promises to be one of the most consequential — and hotly contested — in recent history.

Human rights activists hold a placard reading 'Military is a Killer of Women' during Aksi Kamisan, or Thursday's Protest, in front of the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta, Indonesia, on March 20, 2025.
Afriadi Hikmal/NurPhoto via Reuters

Indonesian activists are protesting a new law allowing active-duty military members to serve an expanded role in the civilian government — a move they warn could bring back the days of military repression under strongman leader Suharto.

Vice-President of the European Commission Kaja Kallas arrives at the Consilium building in Brussels, Belgium, on March 20, 2025.
Aleksy Witwicki/Sipa USA

Though European leaders have been excluded from Donald Trump’s plan to end the war in Ukraine, meetings on Thursday in Brussels and London aimed to demonstrate Europe’s continuing commitment to supply Ukraine with the weapons it needs to repel Russian invaders.

The BMW Foundation Herbert Quandt unites leaders and experts from business, politics, science, and civil society to tackle some of today's most pressing challenges. With our partners and a global network of over 2,600 members, we collaborate to advance solutions in our focus areas – energy transition and climate change, urbanization and infrastructure, and education and qualification. Learn more about how we create a positive dynamic that strengthens an innovative and responsible economy while also promoting an open-minded and future-proof society here.

Jess Frampton

Donald Trump has not yet made the traditional congratulatory call to Mark Carney, but the US president is not calling Carney “governor” – like he did with Justin Trudeau. Which would be ironic, considering the Canadian PM once served as governor of both the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England. Could it be that Trump had a special desire to bully Trudeau and will take a different approach with his successor? Stephen Maher reports ...