Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Hard Numbers

Hard Numbers: Guatemala wins first-ever gold medal, F-16s fly in Ukraine, CAR meets on mpox outbreak, China’s housing market declines

​Trap Women's Final - Chateauroux Shooting Centre, Deols, France - July 31, 2024. Adriana Ruano Oliva of Guatemala in action.

Trap Women's Final - Chateauroux Shooting Centre, Deols, France - July 31, 2024. Adriana Ruano Oliva of Guatemala in action.

REUTERS/Amr Alfiky
Make us preferred on Google

1: Adriana Ruano won Guatemala its first-ever gold medal at the Olympics in shooting on Wednesday. Going into the 2024 Games, there were 69 countries that had never won a Summer Olympics medal and another 37 that had never won gold. We’ll be watching to see how much shorter that list gets as the Games progress.

60: American-made F-16 fighter jets have begun to arrive in Ukraine and are expected to give Kyiv’s air defenses a much-needed boost in its fight against Russia. Although the US approved the delivery last August, it won’t be providing any of its own planes. Instead, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Norway have committed to providing Ukraine with more than 60 of them over the coming months in what is likely to be a slow trickle of deliveries.


20,000: Central African Republic officials say they are meeting with the governments of neighboring countries to stop the spread of mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, which has been rapidly spreading in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon, and Nigeria. The DRC alone has seen 20,000 cases and more than 1,000 deaths from mpox, mainly among children, since the start of 2023.

20: In a rocky start to the third quarter, data shows a continued decline for China’s property sector. Transactions among the country’s top 100 real estate developers fell 20% last month from a year ago, equivalent to about $38.7 billion. On a month-over-month basis, sales dropped 36%.

More For You

Hard Number: Is Russia stuck in the mud?
More than four years into its war with Ukraine, the Russian military appears to be stuck in the mud. With the loss of access to Starlink satellites, which were previously used to help guide their drones, the Russians have turned to deploying small teams of soldiers in attempts to break through the front lines, with little success. This sluggish [...]
Hard Number: US eyes Cuba, literally
Natalie Johnson
The US military is reportedly increasing surveillance missions over Cuba, mostly around the country’s two biggest cities, Havana and Santiago de Cuba. Flights of this ilk were previously rare in this area. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump is reportedly growing impatient that the Cuban regime hasn’t fallen, despite a de facto US oil blockade on [...]
US labor market holds steady despite Iran war
Natalie Johnson
Employers in the world’s largest economy are shrugging off the uncertainty brought on by the Iran war and higher energy prices – at least for now. Experts expected roughly 65,000 jobs to be added last month, a significant slide from the 185,000 in March. But if higher gas prices persist, and Americans pair back spending, economists say that could [...]
Record Israeli settlements in the West Bank
Natalie Johnson
Israel’s right-wing government has overseen a record expansion of settlements in the West Bank in recent years. The settlements, which are illegal under international law, are driving the displacement of Palestinians. One proposal the government is now advancing is the controversial E1 settlement plan, which would effectively slice the West Bank [...]