Hard Numbers: US Dems cut Israel military aid, Taliban want UN rep, Lithuanians told to ditch Chinese phones, Boris the dad

Hard Numbers: US Dems cut Israel military aid, Taliban want UN rep, Lithuanians told to ditch Chinese phones, Boris the dad
Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepts a rocket launched from the Gaza Strip towards Israel, as seen from Ashkelon.
REUTERS/ Ammar Awad

1 billion: US House Democrats this week voted to cut $1 billion worth of military aid for Israel. The money — which was stuffed into a larger appropriations bill meant to fund the US government and raise the debt ceiling — was supposed to go specifically to Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system. The move sets up a showdown between progressives who want to slash US aid to Israel and the pro-Israel moderate wing of the party.

9: It'll be up to the nine members of the UN's credentials panel to decide whether to approve the Taliban's nominee to represent Afghanistan at the United Nations, who wants to speak next week on the last day of the 76th UN General Assembly. Afghanistan's UN seat is currently occupied by an official who was appointed by the previous, US-backed Afghan government.

449: Lithuania's government is asking its citizens to get rid of their Chinese-made cell phones. The Baltic country's cyber experts have found that one model has software blocking 449 search terms related to democracy in Hong Kong, Tibet or Taiwan independence, and that another is highly vulnerable to cyber attacks.

6: Ending years of speculation in the UK media, Boris Johnson has finally admitted the number of children he has: it's six, with a seventh on the way. The thrice-married British PM dropped the bomb during an interview about fatherhood, in which he also said he changes "a lot of nappies" for his 16-month-old son.

More from GZERO Media

Supporters of Jose Antonio Kast, presidential candidate of the far-right Republican Party, wave Chilean flags as they attend one of Kast's last closing campaign rallies, ahead of the November 16 presidential election, in Santiago, Chile, on November 11, 2025.

REUTERS/Rodrigo Garrido

This Sunday, close to 16 million Chilean voters will head to the polls in a starkly polarized presidential election shaped by rising fears of crime and immigration.

A robot waiter, serving drinks at the Vivatech technology startups and innovation fair, in Paris, on May 24, 2024.

  • Magali Cohen / Hans Lucas via Reuters Connect

Imagine sitting down at a restaurant, speaking your order into your menu, and immediately watching a robot arrive with your food. Imagine the food being made quickly, precisely — and without a human involved, because the entire restaurant is fully roboticized.

- YouTube

Forget the fancy cars, futuristic gadgets, and martinis “shaken, not stirred.” In his book "Sell Like a Spy: The Art of Persuasion from the World of Espionage", Jeremy Hurewitz tells GZERO's Tony Maciulis that intelligence officers are a lot more like therapists than James Bond-style action heroes.