Hard Numbers

50,000: Ongoing Yellow Vest protests in France saw some 50,000 people take to the streets across the country last Saturday, up from 29,000 the week before.

The Yellow Vest movement shows little sign of wavering, despite President Macron's decision to backtrack on the controversial tax proposal that initially sparked the wave of discontent.

50: In more than 50 villages across India, people have petitioned the government to change town names they view as bizarre, embarrassing, or even racist. In some cases, these changes have involvedreplacing names perceived to carry the Islamic cultural vestiges of the Mughal empire that ruled India for centuries with Hindu-inspired words.

32: Civilian gun ownership increased by 32 percent globally in the decade through 2017, rising to a total of 857.3 million guns, according to the Small Arms Survey research project. Firearm possession has increased steadily in Europe, in part in response to heightened perceptions of insecurity, though European gun-wielding still lags behind the global average.

8: Nearly eight people die every day commuting on the suburban railway system in Mumbai, India due to overcrowding that often sees trains filled at three times their recommended capacity. A new $3.3 billion underground replacement is expected to carry an estimated 1.6 million riders a day when it opens in 2021.