Hard Numbers: Deadly shelling, drug kingpin's jail security, Lai sighting, Sweden soccer semi, twin takeover

​A woman outside the damaged house of her son, who was killed the day before by shelling in Donetsk, Russian-controlled Ukraine.
A woman outside the damaged house of her son, who was killed the day before by shelling in Donetsk, Russian-controlled Ukraine.
REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko

7: Shelling in the southern Ukrainian province of Kherson Ukraine on Sunday killed seven people, including a 23-day-old baby girl. The attack followed denials by Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar that Ukrainian forces had engaged in Russian-occupied territory in the region.


4,000: The Ecuadorian government dispatched 4,000 military and police personnel to the Zonal 8 Detention Center in Guayas province, to “establish control over weapons, ammunition and explosives within the prison.” The jail is home to José Adolfo Macías Villamar, the drug trafficker who murdered presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio claimed had threatened him prior to his assassination. President Guillermo Lasso this weekend said Macías was relocated to La Roca maximum security prison in the same penitentiary complex.

23: Photos have surfaced of former Hong Kong newspaper publisher Jimmy Lai, the first taken since 2021. They show Lai accompanied by two guards at the maximum security Stanley Prison in Hong Kong, where the pro-democracy activist is kept in solitary confinement for 23 hours each day. Lai was sentenced to more than five years in prison for fraud in 2022, but he is awaiting trial on charges of endangering national security, which could lead to a life sentence.

4: Sweden’s women’s soccer team has advanced to the World Cup semi-final — its fourth big semi in four years. They reached the semi-finals of the 2019 World Cup, the 2020 Olympics, and Euro 2022, but they have yet to take home the crown. To make it to the finals this time, Sweden's women must beat Spain on Tuesday.

17: Must be something in the water. Primary schools in the Scottish town of Inverclyde, population 76,700, are preparing to welcome 17 sets of twins this fall. “Twinverclyde,” as the town has become known, has welcomed 147 sets of twins to its primary schools since 2013, an average of 13 sets a year.

More from GZERO Media

Endorsed by steelworkers onstage, then-Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump puts on a hard hat during his Make America Great Again Rally in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, on Oct. 19, 2024.

REUTERS/Brian Snyder

US President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday imposing 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports to the US. This raises the tariff rate on aluminum to 25% from the previous 10% that Trump imposed in 2018, and it reinstates a 25% tariff on “millions of tons” of steel and aluminum imports previously exempted or excluded.

- YouTube

“France has a special message in AI,” says Justin Vaïsse, director general of the Paris Peace Forum. Speaking to GZERO’s Tony Maciulis at the 2025 AI Action Summit in Paris, Vaïsse highlighted France’s diplomatic and technological role in shaping global AI governance.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue eats an ear of corn at the Brabant Farms in Verona, New York, U.S., August 23, 2018. Picture taken August 23, 2018.
REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

On Donald Trump’s first day in office, he ordered the Agriculture Department to freeze funds for agricultural programs established under the clean-energy portion of Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.

President Donald Trump before the Super Bowl.
REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

In the game “Two Truths and a Lie,” a player discloses three statements, each of which seems both plausible and unexpected. Over his first month in office, President Donald Trump has presented a range of policy prospects as possible. He has also undertaken a wide number of presidential actions. Together, these measures have shifted the global context, leaving partners and rivals to orient to a vastly changing reality and wonder how seriously they should take him.

- YouTube

Ian Bremmer's Quick Take: Trump envisions Gaza as a Mediterranean paradise, but what does this mean for the region, and how has it been received? In this Quick Take, Ian Bremmer breaks down the latest developments.

U.S. President Donald Trump talks with Jordan’s King Abdullah at the White House in 2018. On Tuesday, King Abdullah will return to Washington, becoming the first Arab leader to meet with Trump since he returned to the US Presidency.
REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Donald Trump insists that he will force Palestinians out of the wrecked Gaza Strip and resettle them in neighboring Arab countries, including Jordan.

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a visit to the Lomonosov Moscow State University, in Moscow, Russia, on Jan. 24, 2025.

Sputnik/Ramil Sitdikov/Pool via REUTERS

What future does Vladimir Putin imagine for Russia? That’s been a crucial question for those in Europe and the United States who want to know what he might want in exchange for peace with Ukraine. A leaked Russian government report offers a few possible answers.

A woman votes during the parliamentary elections, in Pristina, Kosovo, February 9, 2025. R
REUTERS/Florion Goga

The Republic of Kosovo held parliamentary elections on Sunday, and with 88% of the votes counted, Prime Minister Albin Kurti's party, Vetëvendosje (Self-Determination Movement), is ahead with 41% of the vote – a drop from the 50% Kurti got in 2021. This means he will likely need to form a coalition to stay in power.