Hard Numbers

1.2:

Just 1.2 percent of Pakistan’s 208 million people filed income taxes during the country’s most recent tax year, with many politicians and government officials thought to be among those dodging payment. Add that to the list of economic challenges facing incoming Prime Minister Imran Khan.

10,000:

Last September the UN Security Council barred governments from issuing new work permits to North Korean workers, as part of an international effort to increase financial pressure on Pyongyang. Since then, Russia has issued work permits for more than 10,000 North Koreans.

9:

About 9 million people died from pollution-related causes in 2015, according to a recent study in a prominent medical journal – half of them in Asia. India alone accounted for more than 2.5m of the deaths. It’s the downside of strong economic growth in a region that is still largely dependent on burning coal for electricity.

15:

People in Iran bought more than 15 metric tons of gold bars and coins in the second quarter of 2018 – triple the amount they purchased a year ago, as they braced for this week’s return of US sanctions. Iran’s currency, the rial, has lost about 50 percent of its value since the US pulled out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal in May.

0:

The martial artist /action movie hero Steven Seagal has earned zero Oscar nominations for his work, but thanks to his outspoken admiration of Russian President Vladimir Putin he won Russian citizenship several years ago. Now the Kremlin has appointed him as a special envoy to the US. If Dennis Rodman can build bridges to North Korea, who among us will doubt the man who once uttered the words: “I’m gonna take you to the bank… The blood bank.”