☰
HomeLiving Beyond BordersGZERO WorldSignalIn 60 SecondsPuppet RegimeGZERO World PodcastContact UsAbout UsCareersPrivacy PolicyTerms

Hard Numbers: WHO-China COVID probe questioned, Russian spies in Italy, Honduran drug lord gets life in US, global forest destruction

March 31, 2021
Carlos Santamaria
Hard Numbers: WHO-China COVID probe questioned, Russian spies in Italy, Honduran drug lord gets life in US, global forest destruction
An illustration of COVID-10 created at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Reuters

14: Fourteen countries dispute the findings of the World Health Organization's latest report on the origins of COVID-19 in the Chinese city of Wuhan. A team of WHO experts has concluded that the virus was likely transmitted from bats to humans through another animal, but nations including the US, the UK, Denmark and Australia have taken issue with the fact that the report was jointly written with the Chinese.

2: Italy has expelled two Russian diplomats and arrested an Italian navy captain accused of delivering state secrets to Moscow in exchange for money. It's the latest episode in a series of recent Russian espionage scandals in EU countries, following similar cases in Bulgaria and the Netherlands.

138.5 million: A US federal judge sentenced Tony Hernández, a former Honduran lawmaker and brother of President Juan Orlando Hernández, to life in jail for drug trafficking, and ordered him to forfeit $138.5 million in frozen US assets. The prosecution named the Honduran president himself as a co-conspirator, though he has not been charged with a crime.

12: Tropical forest cover — crucial to maintaining biodiversity and offsetting global carbon emissions — declined by 12 percent globally last year compared to 2019, according to a new study by the World Resources Institute. The area of lost forest is roughly the size of Switzerland, and added twice as much carbon dioxide to the atmosphere in 2020 as US cars do annually.

From Your Site Articles

More from GZERO Media

How AI is transforming cybersecurity

- YouTube

youtu.be

"We are seeing adversaries act in increasingly sophisticated ways, at a speed and scale often fueled by AI in a way that I haven't seen before.” says Lisa Monaco, President of Global Affairs at Microsoft.

Trump hits oil states

US President Donald Trump has been piling the pressure on Russia and Venezuela in recent weeks. He placed sanctions on Russia’s two largest oil firms and bolstered the country’s military presence around Venezuela – while continuing to bomb ships coming off Venezuela’s shores. But what exactly are Trump’s goals? And can he achieve them? And how are Russia and Venezuela, two of the largest oil producers in the world, responding? GZERO reporters Zac Weisz and Riley Callanan discuss.

Jacinda Ardern on AI's role in countering extremism online

- YouTube

youtu.be

Former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says AI can be both a force for good and a tool for harm. “AI has either the possibility of…providing interventions and disruption, or it has the ability to also further harms, increase radicalization, and exacerbate issues of terrorism and extremism online.”

Shutting down dissent: Tanzania’s election goes offline

Demonstrators carry the dead body of a man killed during a protest a day after a general election marred by violent demonstrations over the exclusion of two leading opposition candidates at the Namanga One-Post Border crossing point between Kenya and Tanzania, as seen from Namanga, Kenya October 30, 2025.
REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya

Tanzania has been rocked by violence for three days now, following a national election earlier this week. Protestors are angry over the banning of candidates and detention of opposition leaders by President Samia Suluhu Hassan.

Hard Numbers: Trump administration lowers refugee limit, 6,7 enshrined in the dictionary, Jamaica’s preparedness paid off in Hurricane Melissa

Illegal immigrants from Ethiopia walk on a road near the town of Taojourah February 23, 2015. The area, described by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) as one of the most inhospitable areas in the world, is on a transit route for thousands of immigrants every year from Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia travelling via Yemen to Saudi Arabia in hope of work. Picture taken February 23.
REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic

7,500: The Trump administration will cap the number of refugees that the US will admit over the next year to 7,500. The previous limit, set by former President Joe Biden, was 125,000. The new cap is a record low. White South Africans will have priority access.

About UsCareers PressContact Us Privacy PolicyTerms of Use
© 2025 GZERO Media. All Rights Reserved | A Eurasia Group media company.