Hard Numbers: COVID surges in Gotham, UK asylees arrive in Rwanda, Biden pivots to Asia, smugglers spin spider web

34: COVID infection rates in New York City have shot up 34% since May 1. Hospitalization rates are ticking up too, but remain far below earlier peaks. With much of the city vaccinated or recovered from previous infection (3/5 of Signal team has had it!), we’re hoping it stays that way. Mayor Eric Adams has vowed not to impose a new mask mandate.

50: Within days, Rwanda is set to receive the first group of 50 asylum seekers transferred from the UK. Under a controversial policy, London will send people who seek refuge in Britain to the East African country instead.

5: US President Joe Biden begins Friday a five-day trip to Asia, where he’ll visit key US allies Japan and South Korea, and join an in-person summit of the Quad, the US-India-Australia-Japan grouping that China doesn’t like one bit.

1,200: You may have heard about the illegal trade in exotic birds, or the lawless poaching of big game animals on shady safaris, but a new study has turned up a global web of dark commerce that moves more than 1,200 different species of . . . spiders!