Hard Numbers: China’s quantum leap, Russian cease-fire, North Korean drones, Argentine peso canvas

Japanese electronics giant Hitachi displays a silicon wafer of quantum computer chips at its laboratory in Tokyo.
Japanese electronics giant Hitachi displays a silicon wafer of quantum computer chips at its laboratory in Tokyo.
Yoshio Tsunoda/AFLO via REUTERS

24: A group of 24 Chinese researchers claims to have cracked the code for the most common form of online encryption with the current generation of quantum computers. If true, this means that government secrets are up for grabs for whoever has the tech until more powerful quantum computing allows tougher encryption.

36: Starting Friday, Russia will observe a 36-hour cease-fire in Ukraine for Russian Orthodox Christmas. This is Vladimir Putin’s response to a plea by Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church. Kyiv says it's an attempt to stop its advancements and has rejected the cease-fire.

2.2: A North Korean drone briefly penetrated a 2.2-mile radius no-fly zone around the residence of South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol. The South Korean military has gotten an earful because it failed to down the drones — the first to penetrate the South’s airspace since 2017 — despite scrambling fighter jets and attack helicopters.

1,000: Argentina's local currency has become so worthless that a local artist is using even the highest-denomination bill of 1,000 pesos (equivalent to $3 on the black market) as a canvas for paintings. Don't miss his take on the iconic poster from the 1975 US film "Jaws."

More from GZERO Media

People celebrate after President Yoon Suk-yeol's impeachment was accepted, near the Constitutional Court in Seoul, South Korea, on April 4, 2025.
REUTERS/Kim Hong-ji

South Korea’s Constitutional Court on Friday voted 8-0 to oust impeached President Yoon Suk-yeol over his decision to declare martial law in December. Supporters of Yoon who gathered near the presidential residence in Seoul reportedly cried out in disappointment as the court’s unanimous decision was announced. Others cheered the ruling.

President Donald Trump speaks to the media as he leaves the White House for a trip to Florida on April 3, 2025.
Andrew Leyden/NurPhoto via Reuters

Stocks have plummeted, layoffs have begun, and confusion has metastasized about the bizarre method the United States used to calculate its tariff formula. But Donald Trump says it’s “going very well."

African National Congress (ANC) members of parliament react after South African lawmakers passed the budget's fiscal framework in Cape Town, South Africa, April 2, 2025.
REUTERS/Esa Alexander

The second largest party in South Africa’s coalition, the business-friendly Democratic Alliance, launched a legal challenge on Thursday to block a 0.5% VAT increase in the country’s new budget, raising concerns that the fragile government could collapse.

The Israeli Air Force launched an airstrike on Thursday, targeting a building in the Mashrou Dummar area of Damascus. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant confirmed Israel's responsibility for the attack, which resulted in one fatality.
Rami Alsayed via Reuters Connect
A man leaves the U.S. headquarters of the social media company TikTok in Culver City, California, U.S. January 17, 2025.
REUTERS/David Swanson

Remember the TikTok ban? The new deadline President Donald Trump set for the app to find an American buyer or be banned from US app stores, midnight Saturday, is rapidly approaching.

National Security Advisor Mike Waltz looks on as he sits next to US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in the Oval Office on March 13, 2025.

REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

Someone needs to take National Security Advisor Michael Waltz’s phone out of his hand.

President Donald Trump holds a "Foreign Trade Barriers" document as he delivers remarks on tariffs in the Rose Garden at the White House on April 2, 2025.

REUTERS/Carlos Barria

Donald Trump’s much-anticipated “liberation day” tariff announcement on Wednesday is the biggest disruption to global trade in decades, so the political, diplomatic, and economic impacts will take time to become clear.