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

Hard Numbers: China’s quantum leap, Russian cease-fire, North Korean drones, Argentine peso canvas

January 05, 2023
Carlos Santamaria
Japanese electronics giant Hitachi displays a silicon wafer of quantum computer chips at its laboratory in Tokyo.
Japanese electronics giant Hitachi displays a silicon wafer of quantum computer chips at its laboratory in Tokyo.
Yoshio Tsunoda/AFLO via REUTERS

24: A group of 24 Chinese researchers claims to have cracked the code for the most common form of online encryption with the current generation of quantum computers. If true, this means that government secrets are up for grabs for whoever has the tech until more powerful quantum computing allows tougher encryption.

36: Starting Friday, Russia will observe a 36-hour cease-fire in Ukraine for Russian Orthodox Christmas. This is Vladimir Putin’s response to a plea by Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church. Kyiv says it's an attempt to stop its advancements and has rejected the cease-fire.

2.2: A North Korean drone briefly penetrated a 2.2-mile radius no-fly zone around the residence of South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol. The South Korean military has gotten an earful because it failed to down the drones — the first to penetrate the South’s airspace since 2017 — despite scrambling fighter jets and attack helicopters.

1,000: Argentina's local currency has become so worthless that a local artist is using even the highest-denomination bill of 1,000 pesos (equivalent to $3 on the black market) as a canvas for paintings. Don't miss his take on the iconic poster from the 1975 US film "Jaws."

More from GZERO Media

Viewpoint: When Chinese robots replace service jobs

A robot waiter, serving drinks at the Vivatech technology startups and innovation fair, in Paris, on May 24, 2024.

  • Magali Cohen / Hans Lucas via Reuters Connect

Imagine sitting down at a restaurant, speaking your order into your menu, and immediately watching a robot arrive with your food. Imagine the food being made quickly, precisely — and without a human involved, because the entire restaurant is fully roboticized.

What spies can teach us about persuasion

- YouTube

youtu.be

Forget the fancy cars, futuristic gadgets, and martinis “shaken, not stirred.” In his book "Sell Like a Spy: The Art of Persuasion from the World of Espionage", Jeremy Hurewitz tells GZERO's Tony Maciulis that intelligence officers are a lot more like therapists than James Bond-style action heroes.

Calm down about Zohran Mamdani

ZOHRAN MAMDANI, Rama Duwaji, MIRA NAIR, MAMOOD MAMDANI during an election night event at The Brooklyn Paramount Theater in the Brooklyn borough of New York, US, on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025.
(Photo by Neil Constantine/NurPhoto)

Last Tuesday, a self-identified democratic socialist who ran on making New York affordable for the 99% won the city’s mayoral race in a landslide, defeating former Governor Andrew Cuomo. And the reactions have been predictably hysterical.

Lights out in Ukraine, prices up in Europe

A fruit and vegetable stall is lit by small lamps during a blackout in a residential neighborhood in Kyiv, Ukraine, on November 6, 2025, after massive Russian attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure in October.
(Photo by Maxym Marusenko/NurPhoto)

As a fourth winter of war approaches, Russia is destroying Ukraine’s energy grid faster than it can be rebuilt.

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