Hard Numbers

Hard Numbers: Trump adds to travel-ban list, China lowers tariffs on EU pork, Alaskan rivers turning orange and red, Panama Canal deal hits impasse

People gather outside the Tom Bradley International Terminal at Los Angeles International Airport to decry President Trump's travel ban on 19 countries which went into effect this morning.​
People gather outside the Tom Bradley International Terminal at Los Angeles International Airport to decry President Trump's travel ban on 19 countries which went into effect this morning.
5: US President Donald Trump added five new countries – Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, South Sudan, and Syria – to the list of nations banned from traveling to the US. The US will also reject people with travel documents issued by the Palestinian Authority. Fifteen other countries also face partial travel restrictions under the expanded order.

19.8%: China will impose tariffs of up to 19.8% on European Union pork products, far less than the preliminary levy that Beijing had imposed, which were up to 62.4%. China first put down these tariffs in response to the EU placing duties on Chinese-produced electric vehicles.

200: A new report from the US’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says record temperatures and rainfall are turning 200 Alaskan rivers orange and red, as iron spills into the rivers from once-frozen ground.

$22.8 billion: The $22.8 billion deal for a Western-led consortium to purchase two Panama Canal ports – as well as 40 others worldwide – has hit an impasse, as Beijing demands that the Chinese shipping firm COSCO get a majority stake. China had previously just sought for the firm to have an equal stake. The White House signaled that it wouldn’t accept this condition, but China has leverage because a Hong Kong-based firm currently owns the ports.

More For You

Supporters of the youth-led satirical political movement Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) celebrate the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, in Mumbai, India, 26 July 2026
Deep Nair/ZUMA Press Wire

For weeks, tens of thousands of people in India – most of them young people – protested outside the Jantar Mantar, a historic observatory in New Delhi, to demand the resignation of the country’s education minister, Dharmendra Pradhan. Five days later, they got what they asked for.

A U.S. military aircraft takes off from an unknown location during what U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) says are strikes on Iran, in this screengrab from a handout video released on July 29, 2026.
U.S. Central Command/Handout via REUTERS

Egypt said two ships were hit with a drone in the port of Damietta on Wednesday, just 40 miles from the exit of the Suez Canal, the first attack in the country since the war began.