Hard Numbers: Myanmar military kills kids, Republicans' Capitol riot conspiracy theory, India as global COVID epicenter, Niger's democratic awakening

A bruised child slingshoted by soldiers hiding his their truck during an anti-coup demonstration. Myanmar Security Forces shot at anti-military coup protesters and those close to them with slingshots, rubber bullets and other materials thus injuring young children and many were arrested

40: Myanmar's military junta has killed at least 40 children since staging a coup on February 1 and jailing the country's civilian leaders. Some kids were killed while attending pro-democracy protests with parents, while others were simply bystanders. The New York Times tells the story of one of those lost children, 10-year-old Aye Myat Thu, who dreamed of becoming a nurse or a makeup artist.

50: Three months after a violent mob stormed the US Capitol, roughly half of Republicans — 50 percent — say that the deadly event was "non-violent" or engineered by left-wing activists "trying to make Trump look bad," according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll.

100,000: India recorded more than 100,000 new daily COVID cases on Monday, the highest daily caseload since the pandemic began over a year ago. India is now recording the most explosive outbreak in the world, with most infections — 55 percent — linked to the western state of Maharashtra, home to the commercial hub of Mumbai.

1: Mohamed Bazoum was sworn in as president in Niger, marking the country's first democratic transition of power since gaining independence six decades ago. Managing the country's deteriorating security situation will be a massive challenge for Bazoum, who just days ago said his forces had foiled a coup attempt.

More from GZERO Media

- YouTube

What is Trump's long-term play with apparently treating Putin like a friend rather than an adversary? How likely would the release of all remaining captives, as proposed by Hamas, actually lead to a permanent truce with Israel? Does Bolsonaro's indictment for an alleged coup plot signal tough times ahead for Brazil? Ian Bremmer shares his insights on global politics this week on World In :60.

Delegates affiliated to Sudan's Rapid Support Forces (RSF) react during a meeting for the planned signing, later postponed, of a political charter that would provide for a "Government of Peace and Unity" to govern the territories the force controls in Nairobi, Kenya, February 18, 2025.
REUTERS/Monicah Mwangi
The U.S. and Russian delegations meet at Diriyah Palace, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, February 18, 2025.
REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/Pool

It was the first high level meeting between the two countries since Moscow's full scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Police officers stand guard as Congolese youngsters jostle to receive relief food, after fleeing from renewed clashes between M23 rebels and the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. February 18, 2025.
REUTERS/Evrard Ngendakumana

100: M23 rebels – a Rwanda-backed militia – took control of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s second-largest city, Bukavu, on Monday.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk, right, sits beside then-Senior Counselor to the President Steve Bannon, left, as President Donald Trump hosts a strategy and policy forum with chief executives of major US companies at the White House in February 2017.
REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

The latest salvo at Musk from Steve Bannon reflects the sharpening of already rough-edged rivalries within Trump’s circle between hard-core populists and hyper-libertarians.

People sit in a restaurant as Argentina's President Javier Milei is seen on television during an interview, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Feb. 17, 2025.
REUTERS/Pedro Lazaro Fernandez

Argentina’s flamboyant libertarian President Javier Milei is at the center of a cryptocurrency scandal that’s already having legal consequences. Whether there will be political consequences remains to be seen.