Hard Numbers

2 billion: Cryptocurrencies' decentralized ledgers make them hard to counterfeit. But they're apparently easy to steal. Since 2017, hackers have made off with at least $2 billion worth.

378,000: The global shipping industry relies on the labor of 1.2 million professional mariners. More than a quarter of them – 378,000 – are from the Philippines. As competition has risen from cheaper crews elsewhere in Asia, the concerns of Filipino seamen, who are a huge source of remittances, are becoming an important issue in domestic politics.

80: Of the millions of migrants in Africa who leave their countries in search of security and economic opportunity every year, around 80 percent stay on the continent. Five of the world's top ten refugee-hosting countries are in Africa.

8: A new report from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike says that Russia's hackers are the swiftest in the world – they can get into networks and start extracting data 8 times faster than their nearest competitors, the North Koreans.

More from GZERO Media

Flags of Israel and Iran on broken ground.

Flags of Israel and Iran on broken ground.

IMAGO/Christian Ohde via Reuters Connect

Well, now we know the answer to the question of how Israel planned to respond to Iran’s airstrikes from last weekend. Explosions were reported near the northwestern Iranian city of Isfahan late Thursday, in what several major outlets reported, citing US officials and local sources, as an apparent Israeli airstrike.

World Bank Group President Ajay Banga listens during the G-20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors' Meetings at the IMF and World Bank’s 2024 annual Spring Meetings in Washington, U.S., April 18, 2024.
REUTERS/Ken Cedeno

GZERO has been on the ground to bring you the big takeaways from the 2024 Spring Meetings.

How to tackle global challenges: The IMF & World Bank blueprint | Global Stage

The International Monetary Fund and World Bank’s Spring Meetings in Washington have told a tale of two economies: In the developed world, inflation is falling, and recession looks unlikely. But many of the world’s poorest countries are struggling under tremendous debt burdens inflated by rising interest rates that threaten to undo decades of development progress. That means these key lenders of last resort have their work cut out for them. But according to GZERO Senior Writer Matthew Kendrick, there's a proven model.

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro leads the celebration of the 22nd anniversary of late President Hugo Chavez's return to power after a failed coup attempt in 2002, in Caracas, Venezuela April 13, 2024
REUTERS/Leonardo Fernandez

The Biden administrationannounced this week it will reimpose oil sector sanctions on Venezuela because President Nicolas Maduro’s government has backed away from a commitment to hold a free and fair presidential election this year.

Signs stand outside a Volkswagen plant during a vote among local workers over whether or not to be represented by the United Auto Workers union in Chattanooga, Tennessee, June 13, 2019.
REUTERS/Nick Carey/File

Workers at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tenn., have until 8 pm Friday to choose whether to join the United Auto Workers union, a vote that could determine the trajectory of labor unions across the American South.

Members of the Iranian Army's land force are marching in a military parade to mark the anniversary of Iran's Army Day at an Army military base in Tehran, Iran, on April 17, 2024.
Morteza Nikoubazl/Reuters

Iran says it will respond to any Israeli strikes, and on Thursday warned it could pursue nuclear weapons if any of its nuclear facilities are targeted — a prospect that Israel and its Western allies have worked against for years.

World Bank economist: The poorest are getting poorer globally | Global Stage

During the World Bank's annual Spring Meetings this week, the group announced a major new initiative to provide electricity to 300 million Africans by 2030. It is estimated that nearly 800 million people globally lack access to power, and the vast majority of them, 600 million, live on the African continent. GZERO’s Tony Maciulis met with the World Bank’s Director of Infrastructure for West Africa Franz Drees-Gross, to discuss the project's details.