Hard Numbers: Kosovo indicts terrorists, Huawei tries to fold up Apple, Afghan women hold summit, Malaysia rescues hundreds of abused kids, Black enrollment at Harvard falls, The Swift effect

Kosovo police officers patrol, in the aftermath of a shooting incident
Kosovo police officers patrol, in the aftermath of a shooting incident
REUTERS/Ognen Teofilovski

45: Kosovo has indicted 45 ethnic Serbs on terrorism charges, stemming from a raid on a historic Serbian monastery in Kosovo last year that left three gunmen and a local police officer dead. The suspects are believed to be in Serbia, which has no extradition agreement with Kosovo. The indictments come as the EU pushes again for progress in normalization talks between the Serbian government and Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia in 2008. For background on the Serbia/Kosovo conflict, see here.

2,800: Do you want a smartphone that isn’t made by Apple? Does that cellphone need to have a 10-inch folding screen? If so, then for a mere $2,800, you too can have a Huawei Mate XT, the Chinese company’s answer to the iPhone 16, which was unveiled this week. So far, there are reportedly more than 5 million pre-orders for the device.

130: More than 130 Afghan women are attending an All Afghan Women summit in Albania this week, a three-day event convened to advocate for the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan. Since the Taliban retook control of Afghanistan following the US withdrawal in 2021, the group has imposed what the UN has called “outrageous” restrictions on women and girls, who are largely unable to attend school and whose voices and faces have been banned in public.

400: Malaysian law enforcement on Wednesday rescued more than 400 minors suspected of being victims of sexual abuse at Islamic charity homes. The homes were all run by Global Ikhwan Services and Business, a Malaysian conglomerate that operates a range of consumer services in at least half a dozen countries. More than 170 adult authority figures at the charity homes were arrested as part of the operation.

4: The share of Black students in the first year class at Harvard this autumn fell by 4 points, to 14%. This is the first incoming class since the Supreme Court last year ruled, in effect, that colleges could no longer use race as a factor in determining admissions. The percent of Hispanic students rose two points to 16%, while Asian-American representation was unchanged at 37%. The share of students who refused to disclose their race or ethnicity doubled, to 8%.

330K+: Despite saying on Wednesday that Taylor Swift’s post-debate endorsement of Kamala Harris “was just a question of time” and that she’d “probably pay a price for it,” Donald Trump may struggle to shake it off. Why? Because the pop icon’s Tuesday night Instagram post, which lauded Harris as a “warrior” for the rights and causes she believes in, has driven over 330,000 clicks to Vote.org, a site where wannabe first-time voters learn how to register.

More from GZERO Media

France's President Emmanuel Macron speaks during a press conference following a summit for the "coalition of the willing" at the Elysee Palace in Paris on March 27, 2025.

LUDOVIC MARIN/Pool via REUTERS

At the third summit of the so-called “coalition of the willing” for Ukraine on Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron proposed a multinational “reassurance force” to deter Russian aggression once a ceasefire is in place – and to engage if attacked.

A group demonstrators chant slogans together as they hold posters during the protest. The ongoing protests were sparked by the arrest of Istanbul Metropolitan Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu.
Sopa Images via Reuters

Last week’s arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu sparked the largest anti-government rallies in a decade and resulted in widespread arrests throughout Turkey. Nearly 1,900 people have been detained since the protests erupted eight days ago.

National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), the then-nominee for US ambassador to the UN, during a Cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, DC, on Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025.
Al Drago/Pool/Sipa USA

An internal GOP poll found a Republican candidate trailing in a special election for a conservative-leaning district in Florida, forcing US President Donald Trump to make a decision aimed at maintaining the Republican Party’s majority in the House.

South Sudan's Vice President Riek Machar, pictured here addressing the press in 2020.

REUTERS/Samir Bol

Alarm bells are ringing ever more loudly in South Sudan, as Vice President Riek Machar — chief rival to Prime Minister Salva Kiir — was arrested late Wednesday in an operation involving 20 armored vehicles at his compound in Juba. He was placed under house arrest, a move that is fueling fears that the country will soon descend into civil war.

Afghan Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani, pictured here at the anniversary event of the departure of the Soviet Union from Afghanistan, in Kabul, Afghanistan, on April 28, 2022.

REUTERS/Ali Khara

The Trump administration has dropped multimillion-dollar bounties on senior Afghan officials from the Haqqani network, a militant faction that carried out some of the deadliest attacks on American troops but has now positioned itself as a moderate wing within the Taliban government. But why?

The Canadian flag flies on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.

REUTERS/Blair Gable

Canada’s foreign interference watchdog is warning that China, India, and Russia plan on meddling in the country’s federal election. The contest, which launched last weekend, has already been marked by a handful of stories about past covert foreign interventions and threats of new ones.

The BMW Foundation is dedicated to addressing concrete challenges that, when solved, create the greatest global impact. With the first challenge, “International Collaboration to Develop Energy Transition and Infrastructure Solutions,” the foundation aims to facilitate international collaboration that accelerates the net-zero transition. Access to reliable and affordable energy powers industries and businesses. Technology is one of the most important drivers for a successful transition, but it is international collaboration that will leapfrog societies across the globe. Find out how the BMW Foundation helps drive collaboration and solutions toward a clean and secure energy future here.