Hard Numbers

12,000,000: This week, Rwanda became the first low-income country to provide universal eye care to its 12 million citizens. Two decades on from civil war, the would-be Singapore of Africa has an ambitious agenda to become a middle-income country by 2020.

2024: By 2024, AI could eliminate the jobs of 260,000 customer service representatives, 210,000 assemblers and fabricators, and 76,000 tractor-trailer drivers in the US. That’s just six years from now. Not 20.

70: The Taliban actively operates in 70 percent of the districts in Afghanistan, according to the BBC. America’s longest foreign warslogs on.

47: US oil production has returned to a record high last reached forty-seven years ago. Shale technology has put the US on course to overtake Saudi Arabia and Russia as the world’s largest crude producer.

4: In the past month, four prominent electoral challengers to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi have quit the presidential race, in large part because of pressure from the country’s security services.

More from GZERO Media

In this new episode of Tools and Weapons, Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith sits down with Ted Sarandos to discuss how bold leadership and a culture of innovation keep Netflix ahead, not just as a media company, but as a force shaping both industries and audiences. Ted shares how intuition and data combine to turn daring ideas into practical solutions, from scaling storytelling across 190 countries to relentlessly creating content that gets under the skin of viewers and makes them feel deeply connected to the stories they watch. Subscribe and find new episodes monthly, wherever you listen to podcasts.

Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting with members of the Security Council via video link at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, on October 24, 2025.
Sputnik/Alexey Babushkin/Pool via REUTERS

The US president imposed sanctions on the two largest Russian oil firms. The effectiveness of this strategy depends on whether it forces China and India to stop buying Russian crude.

- YouTube

The real US-China AI race isn’t about who builds the most powerful technology, but who applies and governs it in ways that strengthen—rather than undermine—society, Tristan Harris tells Ian Bremmer on GZERO World.