Hard Numbers

68: The downing of a Soviet-era Indian fighter jet last week has brought into sharp focus the dilapidated state of the country's armed forces. In the event of war, India could supply its troops with ammunition for just 10 days, according to government estimates, and 68 percent of the army's equipment is considered "vintage." We were going to make a Salvation Army joke but...

10,000: Since the launch of a campaign against organized crime in January 2018, China has brought more than 10,000 alleged gangsters to trial across the country. The effort aims, in part, to assuage citizens' growing concerns about gangs' control over large portions of both the formal and informal economies.

13,000: British decontamination experts spent 13,000 hours cleaning the house of former Russian spy Sergei V. Skripal, who was poisoned a year ago this week. The UK government blames Russia for carrying out the attack. The house is clean now – there's an Airbnb play there for sure.

130,000: Over the next decade, automation will erode or replace the work of around 130,000 US government employees, according to a new report.

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​U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks on tariffs in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 2, 2025.
U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks on tariffs in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 2, 2025.
REUTERS/Carlos Barria

During a speech in the White House Rose Garden on Wednesday, Donald Trump announced a universal 10% tariff on all US imports, 25% tariffs on foreign-made cars and parts, as well as a naughty list of trading partners that were hit with “reciprocal tariffs” on top – to the tune of 20% for the EU, 54% for China, and 46% for Vietnam, to name a few of the hardest-hit.

Palestinians travel in vehicles between the northern and southern Gaza Strip along the Rashid Road on April 2, 2025.

Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto via Reuters

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that Israel was seizing more territory in Gaza to “divide up” the besieged enclave. He spoke as Israeli forces increased the intensity of their assault on Hamas in Gaza, which resumed two weeks ago after phase one of the ceasefire agreed to in January ended.

Vice President JD Vance and his wife, Usha Vance, tour the US military's Pituffik Space Base in Greenland on March 28, 2025.
JIM WATSON/Pool via REUTERS

How much would it cost for the United States to maintain Greenland as its territory? And what are the revenue possibilities from the Arctic island’s natural resources? Those are two questions the White House is reportedly looking into in the surest sign yet that Trump’s interest in Greenland is genuine.

Protesters demanded the ouster of South Korean President Yoon in central Seoul on March 29, 2025.
Lee Jae-Won/AFLO via Reuters

South Korea’s Constitutional Court will tie the legal bow on what has been a tumultuous period for the country as it rules Friday on whether to formally dismiss or reinstate impeached President Yoon Suk-yeol.

After voters elected her to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, liberal candidate Judge Susan Crawford celebrates with Wisconsin Supreme Court Judge Ann Walsh Bradley at her election night headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin, on April 1, 2025.

REUTERS/Vincent Alban

Republicans expanded their lean House majority after a pair of special elections in Florida, but a conservative candidate lost badly in a Wisconsin judicial race — despite a huge cash injection from Elon Musk.