Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Hard Numbers

China’s mass military purge, Louvre director quits, South Korea’s fertility rate inches up, Trump’s record SOTU speech

​He Weidong, Zhang Youxia, and Li Shangfu swear oaths as they are selected as China's Central Military Commission members during the National People's Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, on March 11, 2023.

He Weidong, Zhang Youxia, and Li Shangfu swear oaths as they are selected as China's Central Military Commission members during the National People's Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, on March 11, 2023.

The Yomiuri Shimbun
Make us preferred on Google
100: The estimated number of senior officials who’ve been sidelined or have disappeared from China’s military since 2022, according to a study released on Tuesday. According to analysts, those swept up in President Xi Jinping’s purge of his armed forces make up roughly half of the top military leadership.

5: The number of months it took for Louvre director Laurence des Cars to resign from her post following the infamous jewel heist at the world-renowned Paris museum in October. President Emmanuel Macron accepted her resignation on Tuesday. The jewels, valued at $102 million, remain missing. Strikes from Louvre workers over pay and working conditions have exacerbated the crisis.

0.8: South Korea’s fertility rate – the average number of children a woman is expected to have in her lifetime – in 2025, up from 0.75 in 2024 and 0.72 the year prior. The figure exceeded the government’s expectations and marks a sustained comeback for the country, which has the world’s lowest fertility rate. The rate remains far below the 2.1 threshold required to sustain population numbers.

108: The number of minutes US President Donald Trump spoke during last night’s State of the Union address, breaking a previous record he set in 2025. Congratulations to the two GZERO Community members who correctly guessed about how long his speech would be!

More For You

Ebola death toll continues to rise
Will Fitzpatrick
The Ebola outbreak, caused by a rare strain of the Bundibugyo virus, has ballooned into the fastest outbreak of the virus in history. The World Health Organization said this week that 80% of the confirmed cases are coming from unknown chains of transmission, meaning that the cases are likely emerging in communities where people aren’t receiving [...]
Where is the world’s oldest head of state?
Will Fitzpatrick
Cameroon’s ruling party faces growing criticism over the prolonged absence of the president, the world’s oldest head of state who has been in power since 1982. It’s not the first time Biya’s disappearance has sparked questions: in 2024, he spent 42 days abroad, triggering rumors that he was actually dead. The government responded by banning public [...]
Hard number: Clemency denied
Earlier this month, the Trump administration had suggested it might mark America’s 250th birthday by granting clemency to hundreds of people. Instead, it issued 11 pardons in early July, including to people convicted of environmental crimes and a political donor, while denying clemency to thousands of other applicants. Reports suggest most of the [...]
The ‘gooolllll’ heard around the world
Will Fitzpatrick
Ferran Torres scored the decisive goal in extra time, prompting the emphatic call from Cantor, the Argentine-born announcer who has now been at the microphone for ten World Cups. But the 44-second call on Sunday wasn’t his longest of the tournament. That honor belongs to his 52-second celebration when Curaçao scored its first-ever World Cup goal [...]