Hard Numbers: US hits 5 million COVID cases, Niger attack kills French citizens, Venezuela jails former US green berets, New Zealand's 100-day milestone
5 million: The number of coronavirus cases in the United States surpassed 5 million on Sunday. That's double the number of cases in the country since the end of June, as states across the Midwest, the South and the West grapple with new surges. The US now accounts for one quarter of all COVID-19 cases worldwide.
8: A deadly attack by jihadist fighters on a convoy carrying a group of aid workers in Niger resulted in eight deaths, six of whom were French nationals. Groups linked to the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda have gained a foothold in the Sahel region in recent years, imposing fear and hardship on millions of the people who live there, and capturing the attention of European leaders.
20: A Venezuelan court has sentenced two former US soldiers to 20-year jail terms for their part in a failed operation earlier this year to take down Venezuela's autocratic president, Nicolás Maduro. The two men say that the botched mission was backed by the Trump administration, a claim the White House vehemently denies.
100: New Zealand reached a new milestone on Sunday, recording 100 days without any community transmission of COVID-19. While a strict lockdown and robust testing scheme helped flatten the curve, the island nation also doesn't have the population density problem that has contributed to the infection's spread in places like India and the UK.