HARD NUMBERS

20: El Salvador last week granted early release to three women serving 30-year prison sentences for having abortions after each spent a decade behind bars. As many as 20 other women remain imprisoned in the Central American country on similar charges, according to activists.

70: White farmers control about 70 percent of farms in South Africa that are held by individual owners, according to government statistics. President Cyril Ramaphosa's governing African National Congress, under pressure from the far-left, is pushing to change the country's constitution to allow expropriation of farmland ahead of elections in the country later this year.

50: The Taliban killed or captured an entire Afghan army company – about 50 soldiers – during ongoing US peace talks. That's one way to drive a hard bargain.

29: A recent Pew study showed that 29% of US adults say they make no purchases using cash during a typical week, up from 24% four years ago. Going cashless is convenient for some, but a number of US cities are considering banning cashless businesses, because of concerns that they exclude poorer people who don't have credit/bank cards. Philadelphia has already done so, and others may follow soon.

More from GZERO Media

A Sudanese man smiles while carrying his luggage, as families displaced by conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) crowd at Cairo's main station to board a free train with a voluntary return coordinated by the Egyptian government to Aswan, where buses will take them back to their homes in Khartoum, in Cairo, Egypt July 28, 2025.
REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh

More than 60% of Walmart suppliers are small businesses.* Through a $350 billion investment in products made, grown, or assembled in the US, Walmart is helping these businesses expand, create jobs, and thrive. This effort is expected to support the creation of over 750,000 new American jobs by 2030, empowering companies like Athletic Brewing, Bon Appésweet, and Milo’s Tea to grow their teams, scale their production, and strengthen the communities they call home. Learn more about Walmart's commitment to US manufacturing. *See website for additional details.

Last week, as part of its European Digital Commitments, Microsoft introduced new initiatives to support the development of multilingual AI models and to help safeguard Europe’s cultural heritage. To help close the AI language gap, the company is working with partners across Europe to expand access to multilingual data and to advance open-source models that reflect the region’s linguistic diversity. Microsoft is also launching a new call for proposals to increase digital content for ten underrepresented European languages and is expanding its Culture AI initiative. Building on successful projects in Greece and Italy, the company is partnering with the Ministère de la Culture and Iconem to digitally recreate Notre-Dame. This work aims to ensure that Europe’s iconic landmarks are preserved for future generations through immersive, AI-powered experiences. Read more here.