Hard Numbers: Deadly Mexican fire, ZAUKUS, terror in the Sahel, Luke Skywalker saves Ukraine

Mexican authorities and firefighters remove injured migrants, mostly Venezuelans, from inside the National Migration Institute (INM) building during a fire, in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico March 27, 2023.
Mexican authorities and firefighters remove injured migrants, mostly Venezuelans, from inside the National Migration Institute (INM) building during a fire, in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico March 27, 2023.
REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez

38: Migrants fearing deportation set an immigration detention center ablaze in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, killing 38 asylum-seekers and critically injuring dozens. The blaze was one of the deadliest incidents ever for Mexico's immigration system, which is accused of mistreating migrants as it struggles to accommodate the rising number of asylum-seekers arriving at the U.S-Mexico border.

4: New Zealand may become the 4th country to join the US, UK, and Australia in the AUKUS alliance – or shall we say ZAUKUS? While less concerned with the non-nuclear pillar of the alliance – the part Wellington may join – China has already signaled its opposition to AUKUS’S potential to disrupt the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific.

2,000: The number of terrorism victims has increased by 2,000% in the Sahel region of Africa over the past 15 years, according to the 2023 Global Terrorism Index. More than 20,000 civilians have been killed by terrorism in the region since 2007 – a concern for local governments and European leaders faced with increased migration as a result of the violence.

14 million: Luke Skywalker has joined the fight. Mark Hamill, who played Skywalker, is the new voice of Ukraine's aerial bombardment Air Alert app. The app has been downloaded over 14 million times, and now Ukrainian users will hear the Jedi Knight warn them when to find shelter – before sending them on their way (when the danger has passed) with the iconic phrase: “May the force be with you.”

More from GZERO Media

There’s a new strain of cybercrime in online retail. It targets consumers going about their everyday business, whether it’s booking flights on a major airline or purchasing concert tickets from their go-to platform. It’s called digital skimming, also known as e-skimming, online card skimming, or web skimming, and it’s the evolution of an older scam known as card skimming. That’s when criminals install equipment on point-of-sale systems or tiny cameras at ATMs or gas pumps to capture card data. With digital skimming, hackers plant malware at online stores to harvest that information. It can be harder than physical skimming to detect, and it can strike more victims at once. Read our explainer to learn more and understand how to stay safe.

Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk reacts next to Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. president Donald Trump during a campaign rally, at the site of the July assassination attempt against Trump, in Butler, Pennsylvania, U.S., October 5, 2024.
REUTERS/Brian Snyder

Elon Musk, the world’s wealthiest person, has thrown his full weight behind former President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.

FILE PHOTO: Yahya Sinwar, Gaza Strip chief of the Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement, waves to Palestinians during a rally to mark the annual al-Quds Day (Jerusalem Day), in Gaza, April 14, 2023.
REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/File Photo

Ever since 1,200 Israelis were brutally murdered by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, in southern Israel, the Jewish state has been on the hunt for the mastermind, the terrorist group’s leader, Yahya Sinwar.

Acting Director of the U.S. Secret Service Ronald Rowe Jr. speaks during a press conference as the FBI investigates what they said was an apparent assassination attempt in Florida on Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump, in West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S. September 16, 2024.
REUTERS/Marco Bello/File Photo