HARD NUMBERS: Ugandan runner killed in arson attack, How climate change wrecks education, King of Bahrain goes on a pardoning spree, Germany’s jobless rate rises, US indicts Russians for a careless “Whisper,” Father of suspect in Georgia school shooting arrested
4: Four days after being doused in gasoline and set on fire by her boyfriend, Ugandan Olympic marathon runner Rebecca Cheptegeidied on Thursday in Kenya. She is the third prominent female athlete to be murdered in the country since 2021. According to a 2022 UN study, Africa is the most dangerous region of the world for women.
457: The King of Bahrain on Wednesday pardoned 457 prisoners as part of celebrations marking a quarter century of his rule over the Persian Gulf island nation. It was the largest mass release of prisoners since the country undertook a series of crackdowns on dissidents in the wake of the region-wide 2011 Arab Spring uprisings. Activists said that some of those freed were political prisoners.
400 million: How many students have missed school over the past two years as a result of floods, droughts, storms, wildfires, or other climate-related disasters? A staggering 400 million, according to a new report by the World Bank. And the poorest and most vulnerable communities often bear the brunt of climate-related interruptions to learning. But it costs less than $20 per student to address the problem by making schools more resilient to extreme weather.
6: The jobless rate in Germany has risen to 6%, raising concerns about the longer-term economic picture in Europe’s largest economy. Experts worry that Germany, an export powerhouse, isn’t generating enough high-paying jobs in the manufacturing sector as firms cope with automation, higher fuel prices due to the war in Ukraine, and slack demand.
5: The US on Thursday indicted five senior Russian military intelligence officials for orchestrating a series of cyberattacks on the US, Nato allies, and Ukraine in the weeks before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The operation, known as “Whisper Gate,” reportedly failed as the result of timely action by Kyiv, with help from the US military and major US tech companies.
2: The father of the 14-year-old suspect in a fatal Georgia school shooting has been arrested and charged with two counts of second-degree murder, four counts of involuntary manslaughter, and eight counts of cruelty to children. State officials said that Colin Gray, 54, knowingly allowed his son to possess a weapon. These charges come less than a year after a mother and father in Michigan were found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in relation to a deadly 2021 school shooting involving their son — the first time in US history that parents of a school shooter were held criminally responsible.