Hard Numbers

1.6 million: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro says the country's civil militia, which supplements its armed forces, has ballooned to 1.6 million members, more than three times its size at the beginning of the year.

Facing a dire economic situation, many Venezuelans have turned to the armed forces as the only reliable source of income.

$100,000: Sunday's election in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which heralds its first transition of power in 17 years, will likely serve to further entrench the power of a ruling elite backing current President Joseph Kabila. Simply to participate in the election, prospective candidates had to pony up $100,000, a prohibitive threshold for almost all except those tied to the deeply corrupt state apparatus.

63: While the high-profile murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi captured a lot of attention, in all, 63 professional journalists were killed in 2018, according to Reporters Without Borders. That's up 15 percent from the previous year.

0: There is currently not a single country in the world in which women have the same economic opportunities as men, according to a new report from the World Economic Forum. The opportunity gap applies at the global level as well: where today there are just 17 female heads of state or prime ministers across the 149 countries tracked by WEF.

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Artificial intelligence is transforming the global workforce, but its impact looks different across economies. Christine Qiang, Global Director in the World Bank’s Digital Vice Presidency, tells GZERO Media’s Tony Maciulis that while “every single job will be reshaped,” developing countries are seeing faster growth in demand for AI skills than high-income nations.

Hamas militant stands guard, as heavy machinery operates at the site where searches are underway for the bodies of hostages killed after being seized by Hamas during the October 7, 2023 attack, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, October 17, 2025.
REUTERS/Stringer

On Monday, Hamas freed the remaining 20 living hostages, while Israel released nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners — the first step in the ceasefire deal the two sides struck last week.

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As the US economy continues to defy expectations, Eurasia Group Managing Director of Global Macro Robert Kahn says the key question is whether a slowdown has been avoided or merely delayed. “The headline here is the impressive resilience of the US, maybe also the global economy over the last six months,” Kahn tells GZERO Media’s Tony Maciulis on the sidelines of the 2025 World Bank–IMF Annual Meetings.