Hard Numbers: The world economy hasn't looked this glum since when?

14: At least 14 police were killed and three injured when drug cartel gunmen ambushed a convoy in Michoacán state in western Mexico. The attack highlights the difficulties facing Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, whose first year at the helm may end with a record number of killings in his country.

200: Two-hundred Hong Kong protestors have been arrested since the weekend, when a spike in violence and vandalism swept the city: unrest has been rising since the government invoked colonial-era emergency powers several weeks ago. More than 2,300 demonstrators have been arrested since June.

⅓: At least one-third of all food produced for human consumption globally is wasted or lost every year, according to a United Nations report. While enough food is produced to feed everyone on the planet, the hunger rate is rising: 820 million people around the world are "chronically undernourished," the UN says.

0.8: Global economic growth this year will slow to its weakest level since the 2008 global financial crisis, the International Monetary Fund predicts in its latest forecast. The US-China trade war is a big reason why: the tariff spat between the world's two largest economies could knock 0.8% off global GDP by 2020.

More from GZERO Media

President Emmanual Macron
President Emmanual Macron addresses the French nation on Wednesday.
Frederic Petry / Hans Lucas via Reuters

French President Emmanuel Macron has issued one of his strongest warnings yet about growing security threats in Europe, declaring, “Ukraine has become a global conflict.” In a national speech on Wednesday, he urged France and the European Union to accelerate efforts to strengthen military capabilities, even hinting at extending France’s nuclear deterrent to the rest of the EU.

US President Donald Trump gave America’s Big Three automakers a one-month tariff reprieve but expects them to use the time to shift production from Canada and Mexico to the United States. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced the temporary exemption Wednesday after Trump held a call with the CEOs of Stellantis, Ford, and GM, at their request. Levitt also made it clear that, as of April 2, reciprocal tariffs will go into effect worldwide.

- YouTube

Is the transatlantic relationship permanently damaged by what we have seen during the last 10 days or so? Carl Bildt, former prime minister of Sweden and co-chair of the European Council on Foreign Relations, shares his perspective on European politics from Stockholm, Sweden.

South Sudan's President Salva Kiir, left, and Riek Machar, shake hands after a meeting in which they reached a deal to form a long-delayed unity government in Juba, South Sudan back in December 2019. How times have changed.

REUTERS/Jok Solomun

South Sudan, the world’s youngest country, could soon devolve into renewed civil war. On Wednesday, soldiers surrounded Vice President Riek Machar’s home in Juba, the capital, following the arrest of key allies, including Petroleum Minister Puot Kang Chol and his bodyguards and family.

A Ukrainian serviceman searches for a target with a US Stinger air defense missile launcher on the front line in the Zaporizhzhia region.
Andriy Andriyenko/SOPA Images via Reuters Connect

The US has cut off intelligence-sharing with Ukraine. The move, which follows an announcement from President Donald Trump that halts US weapons provision to Ukraine’s military, will cripple Ukraine’s ability to monitor Russian troop movements and defend against missile and drone strikes on its cities. Unlike the weapons cutoff, the loss of US intelligence will have immediate battlefield effects.