Hard Numbers: Afghanistan's impending collapse, US sending shots to Brazil, Palestinian activist dead, US economy healing

Armed men attend a gathering to announce their support for Afghan security forces and that they are ready to fight against the Taliban, on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan June 23, 2021.

6: The Afghan government could fall within six months of the US withdrawal, set to be completed by September 11, according to a groundbreaking new US intelligence report. This is a revision of earlier estimates in the wake of massive territorial gains made by the Taliban in recent weeks.

3 million: The United States will send Brazil 3 million doses of the one-shot Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccine. The shipment comes as Brazil's COVID death toll surpassed 500,000 this week, with less than a third of the country's population having received one shot.

25: Nizar Banat, a prominent anti-corruption activist and critic of the Palestinian Authority — which governs in the West Bank under President Mahmoud Abbas — was killed hours after 25 PA security forces stormed his home and arrested him. Hundreds of Palestinians protested outside the compound of the deeply unpopular Abbas on Thursday, demanding the release of another activist who was questioned after criticizing the PA on Facebook.

411,000: Federal unemployment claims in the US trickled down to 411,000 this week, a drop of 7,000 from the previous week. It's a sign, economists say, that the economy is healing, given that over 900,000 weekly claims were still being filed in January.

More from GZERO Media

- YouTube

"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.

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.

- YouTube

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.”

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.

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.