Hard Numbers

41,000: Caste-based crime in India has increased by 25 percent since 2010, reaching 41,000 incidents in 2016, the latest year for which data is available. One factor contributing to the rise in violence is a backlash against lower castes who are increasingly advocating for more rights.

440: For the low price of $440, a Japanese firm will quit your job for you. The startup, Exit, hands in job resignations for people too embarrassed to face their bosses in person. While Japan's labor markets might be getting a bit more flexible, its work culture remains strict and traditional.

98: US soy bean exports to China have fallen by an astounding 98 percent since the start of the year, as Beijing targeted the industry in retaliation to the Trump administration's tariffs on Chinese goods. It doesn't look like a resolution between the US and China is in sight, after the two sides traded barbs at the APEC summit over the weekend.

60: Since sweeping to power in March, support for Italy's two major populist parties has risen from 50 percent to 60 percent. Remarkably, the far-right League, which was once a Northern secessionist party, has seen its support grow to 20 percent in the South. Even though party chief Matteo Salvini was once caught on a video comparing southerners to dogs, he's successfully rebranded the party as a defender of all Italians against immigrants and the EU.