Hard Numbers

Hard Numbers: Argentina in the money, China-Libya drones plot in Canada, Recording Gaza’s casualties, Arms spending peaks

Javier Milei, the President of Argentina, speaks at the final day of the conservative conference on February 24, 2024.
Javier Milei, the President of Argentina, speaks at the final day of the conservative conference on February 24, 2024.
Zach D Roberts/Reuters

0.2: Argentina is in the black for the first time since 2008. The South American country is starting Q2 with a 0.2% fiscal surplus in quarterly revenues. President Javier Milei took a victory lap and promised to continue his fiscal austerity program, causing bond valuations to jump.

2: Two former UN employees in Montreal were charged with participating in a conspiracy to sell Chinese military equipment to Libya, including large drones capable of carrying multiple missiles. The men are accused of violating sanctions related to the Libyan civil war (2014-2020) between 2018 and 2021. One of the suspects was arrested Tuesday, but the other remains at large.

80,000: The US State Department’s annual human rights assessment found that nearly 80,000 people in Gaza have been killed or injured during the Israeli offensive, amounting to some 3% of the population.

2.4 trillion: The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute found that global military expenditures reached an all-time high of $2.4 trillion, a year-over-year increase of 6.8%. The United States alone made up 37% of that spending, and with China spending another 12%, the two leading military powers cumulatively spent just under half of the world’s entire military budget.

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Egyptians head to the polls to elect a new parliament during the first round of the Egyptian parliamentary elections in Giza, Egypt, on November 10, 2025.
Photo by Islam Safwat/NurPhoto

Egyptians are voting this month in parliamentary elections that aren’t expected to change who’s in charge, but could allow President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to rule beyond 2030.

An injured soldier is transferred to a hospital following a clash between Thai and Cambodian troops over a disputed border area in Sisaket Province,Thailand, December 7, 2025.
Royal Thai Army/Handout via REUTERS

Thailand and Cambodia’s ceasefire is on the verge of collapse. Strikes were launched across their disputed border today, following clashes over the weekend that resulted in the death of a Thai soldier.