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Hard Numbers: Kenya restarts railroad project without China, South Africans return from Ukraine war, the rapper who wants to run Nepal, Russians say things are going well

Hard Numbers: Kenya restarts railroad project without China, South Africans return from Ukraine war, the rapper who wants to run Nepal, Russians say things are going well
By Riley Callanan,
Riley Callanan

Riley is a writer and reporter for GZERO. When she isn’t writing about global politics, you can find her making GZERO’s crossword puzzles, conducting research on American politics, or persisting in her lifelong quest to learn French. Riley spends her time outside of work grilling, dancing, and wearing many hats (both literally and figuratively).

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Alex Kliment,
Alex Kliment
Alex wears a few different caps and tips them all regularly. He writes for the GZERO Daily, works as a field correspondent for GZERO's nationally syndicated TV show GZERO WORLD WITH IAN BREMMER, and writes/directs/voices GZERO's award-winning puppet satire show PUPPET REGIME. Prior to joining GZERO, Alex worked as an analyst covering Russia and broader Emerging Markets for Eurasia Group. He has also written for the Financial Times from Washington, DC, and Sao Paulo Brazil. In his spare time, he makes short films and composes scores for long ones. He studied history and Slavic literature at Columbia and has a Master's from Johns Hopkins SAIS. He's a native New Yorker, a long-suffering Mets fan, and owns too many bicycles.
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Natalie Johnson
Natalie Johnson

Natalie Johnson is the Deputy Head of Content at GZERO Media and edits the GZERO Daily newsletter. Her career has spanned producing for broadcast cable news at outlets like MSNBC, VICE TV, and NewsNation, as well as writing for digital media. She's also the creator and co-editor of an anthology called "Black Love Letters," published in 2023 through John Legend's GetLifted book imprint. Natalie studied political science at Scripps College and holds a master's degree in sociology from Columbia University.

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February 27, 2026
$4 billion: The amount Kenya wants to raise in order to complete a partially built railway line that was abandoned in 2019. The project, which will link Nairobi with South Sudan, Uganda, and Kenya, came to a halt after initial funding from China dried up. This time around, Kenya wants to finance the project itself, through new import tariffs, rather than return to Beijing. It would be the country’s biggest infrastructure project since gaining independence from Britain in 1963.

15: The number of South Africans who have returned to their country after allegedly being lured under false pretexts into fighting alongside Russia in the war with Ukraine, according to South Africa’s president Cyril Ramaphosa. Russia’s reliance on African mercenaries has been in the spotlight lately. Kenya’s government believes at least 1,000 of its citizens have been recruited as well.

35: The age of the rapper who wants to lead Nepal in the wake of the Gen-Z uprising that overthrew the government in September. Balendra Shah, known to his fans as Balen, won the race for mayor of Kathmandu in 2022, the capital, and is hoping to become the next prime minister in the general election on March 5.

64: The percentage of Russians who say their country is moving in the “right direction,” according to the latest study by the independent Levada Center in Moscow. That’s down 6 points since last September, but it still dwarfs the 23% of people who say things are going poorly. How can you trust a poll in Putin’s Russia? It’s a good question, and we answered it here.

kenya railroad projectrapper nepalsouth africans returnukraine warnepal election

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