Hard Numbers: Taiwanese pushback, Kosovo license plates, Indian aircraft carrier, Japan’s war on floppy disks

Hard Numbers: Taiwanese pushback, Kosovo license plates, Indian aircraft carrier, Japan’s war on floppy disks

1: Taiwan shot down Thursday for the first time a suspected Chinese drone flying over one of its outlying islets near the mainland. It's the latest sign that Taipei is now pushing back more forcefully against China's military muscle-flexing around the self-governing island.

50,000: Not now, Kosovo! A week after patching things up with Serbia, the Kosovo government announced Thursday that it'll require some 50,000 ethnic Serbs living there to get Kosovo-issued license plates for their cars. NATO peacekeepers are on alert in case things get ugly.

13: India will unveil Friday its first locally-made aircraft carrier, which took 13 years to build. Delhi wants to become a naval power capable of challenging regional rival China, which boasts the world's largest navy.

1,900: Japan’s government has declared “war” on floppy disks, scrapping a decades-old requirement that they be used as storage devices for more than 1,900 official transactions. Shed a tear for the old floppy if you like, but take heart: it will still live forever as the universal symbol for “save.”

More from GZERO Media

US President Donald Trump pardons a turkey at the annual White House Thanksgiving Turkey Pardon in the Rose Garden in Washington, D.C., USA, on Nov. 25, 2025.
Andrew Leyden/NurPhoto

Although not all of our global readers celebrate Thanksgiving, it’s still good to remind ourselves that while the world offers plenty of fodder for doomscrolling and despair, there are still lots of things to be grateful for too.

Marine Le Pen, French member of parliament and parliamentary leader of the far-right National Rally (Rassemblement National - RN) party and Jordan Bardella, president of the French far-right National Rally (Rassemblement National - RN) party and member of the European Parliament, gesture during an RN political rally in Bordeaux, France, September 14, 2025.
REUTERS/Stephane Mahe

Army Chief Asim Munir holds a microphone during his visit at the Tilla Field Firing Ranges (TFFR) to witness the Exercise Hammer Strike, a high-intensity field training exercise conducted by the Pakistan Army's Mangla Strike Corps, in Mangla, Pakistan, on May 1, 2025.

Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR)/Handout via REUTERS

Field Marshal Asim Munir, the country’s de facto leader, consolidated his power after the National Assembly rammed through a controversial constitutional amendment this month that grants him lifelong immunity from any legal prosecution.