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

Protesters line the street outside Alligator Alcatraz in Ochopee, Florida, holding signs during a vigil on Aug. 10, 2025.

60: A federal judge gave the White House and the Florida state government 60 days to shut down “Alligator Alcatraz,” a controversial immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades that has become a symbol of US President Donald Trump’s severe immigration policies.

US President Donald Trump speaks during a visit to the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., USA, on August 13, 2025.

REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

US President Donald Trump has made the arts a target and a tool, putting museums, cultural institutions, and federally-funded arts programs on the defensive.

A service member of the 44th Separate Artillery Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces fires a 2S22 Bohdana self-propelled howitzer towards Russian troops near a front line, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine August 20, 2025.
REUTERS/Maksym Kishka
President Donald Trump meets with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron.
LIFEGUARD SHORTAGE!

614: For all the US efforts to end it, the Russia-Ukraine war is showing no signs of slowing down, as Moscow fired 614 drones and other missiles at its neighbor.

Members of the Hargeisa Basketball Girls team wrapped in the Somaliland flags walk on Road Number One during the Independence Day Eve celebrations in Hargeisa, Somaliland, on May 17, 2024.
REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri

Last week, US Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) became the latest American conservative to voice support for Somaliland, as he publicly urged the Trump administration to recognize it as a country. Doing so would come with benefits and risks.