Hard Numbers: Slovenia votes, global defense spending soars, gridiron culture war at SCOTUS, guess who flouted the Russian arms embargo?

Slovenia votes, global defense spending soars, gridiron culture war at SCOTUS, guess who flouted the Russian arms embargo?
A man casts his ballot at a polling station during the Slovenian parliamentary elections in Lobnica.
Milos Vujinovic / SOPA Images

11: Marine Le Pen wasn’t the only rightwing Euroskeptic who took an L on Sunday — Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša’s SDS Party lost by 11 points to the Freedom Movement, an upstart green party, which won 34% of the vote. Janša, like Le Pen, noted that his party still got more votes than ever before.

2 trillion: Global military spending topped $2 trillion for the first time last year. Nearly two-thirds of that came from the US, China, India, UK, and Russia. Washington’s world-leading $800 billion tab dipped slightly from 2020 but still outstripped the next nine countries combined.

273 million: Speaking of the arms trade, Germany and France reportedly made a combined 273 million Euros selling arms to Russia, flouting an embargo that the EU slapped on the Kremlin after Putin’s annexation of Crimea in 2014. Critics say some of those weapons are now being used in Ukraine.

50: Another US culture war battle begins this week as the US Supreme Court takes up the a case of a public high school football coach praying with his players at the 50-yard line after games. Coach Kennedy says it’s a matter of his private religious freedom, but the school board feared it would be seen as an inappropriate endorsement of one religion over others. The justices will decide.

More from GZERO Media

In this episode of Tools and Weapons, Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith sits down with Ed Policy, President and CEO of the Green Bay Packers, to discuss how purpose-driven leadership and innovation are shaping the future of one of the world’s most iconic sports franchises. Ed shares how technology and community-focused initiatives, from Titletown Tech to health and safety innovations on the field, are transforming not just the game of football, but the economy and culture of Green Bay itself. He explains how combining strategic vision with investment in local startups is keeping talent in the Midwest and creating opportunities that extend far beyond Lambeau Field.

Subscribe and find new episodes monthly, wherever you listen to podcasts.

People walk past a damaged building during the funeral of Hezbollah's top military official, Haytham Ali Tabtabai, and of other people who were killed by an Israeli airstrike on Sunday, despite a U.S.-brokered truce a year ago, in Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon November 24, 2025.
REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir

The Israeli military assassinated a senior Hezbollah commander in an airstrike on the Lebanese capital of Beirut on Sunday. The attack killed at least five people overall.

Servicemen of the 148th Separate Artillery Zhytomyr Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine fire a Caesar self-propelled howitzer towards Russian troops at a position on the front line, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near the frontline town of Pokrovsk in Donetsk region, Ukraine November 23, 2025.
REUTERS/Anatolii Stepanov

After facing backlash that the US’s first 28-point peace deal was too friendly towards Russia, American and Ukrainian negotiators drafted a new 19-point plan on Monday.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi (R) answers a question from Katsuya Okada of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan during a House of Representatives Budget Committee session in Tokyo on Nov. 7, 2025. At the time, Takaichi said a military attack on Taiwan could present a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan.
Kyodo via Reuters Connect

Tensions between Tokyo and Beijing hit a boiling point last Friday after Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi suggested that her country would defend Taiwan if China attacked the island. Tensions have grown since.

Anatomy of a Scam

Behind every scam lies a story — and within every story, a critical lesson. Anatomy of a Scam, takes you inside the world of modern fraud — from investment schemes to impersonation and romance scams. You'll meet the investigators tracking down bad actors and learn about the innovative work being done across the payments ecosystem to protect consumers and businesses alike.

Watch the first episode of Mastercard's five-part documentary, 'Anatomy of a Scam,' here.