Hard Numbers: Party with Bolsonaro, Foxconn quits India, Egyptian inflation soars, China fights gluttony

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro with a happy birthday banner
Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro with a happy birthday banner
Annie Gugliotta

149.9: Most former presidents would not be in a celebratory mood if they lost reelection and then got banned from running in the next two elections. But not Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro, who is now hawking a Bolsonaro-themed birthday party pack on his online store. The kit includes party hats, cake decorations, and a plastic banner featuring the smiling far-right firebrand saying: “It’s party time, alright?” If you’ve got 149.9 reais (about $30) burning a hole in your pocket, it can be yours.

19.5 billion: Foxconn, the Taiwanese company that makes iPhones in China for Apple, pulled the plug on a $19.5 billion joint venture to make semiconductors in India after its application for a government subsidy that would've covered more than half the investment got bogged down by red tape. This is bad news for PM Narendra Modi, who wants India to become a chipmaking hub and pushed hard for the plant to be in his home state of Gujarat.

36.8: Egyptian inflation reached a record 36.8% year-on-year in June, beating the previous high from 2017, when the country devaluated its currency following an IMF bailout. Prices have skyrocketed since Russia invaded Ukraine, which made wheat imports prohibitively expensive and depleted foreign exchange reserves, putting Egypt on the brink of default.

108: A restaurant in China is in trouble for offering a free meal to whoever eats 108 spicy dumplings the fastest, earning the title of "King of the Big Stomach." Authorities are looking into a possible violation of China's anti-food waste laws, enacted two years ago to crack down on gluttonous food influencers in a nation where it's customary to offer more food than your guests can gobble up.

More from GZERO Media

Secretary of Treasury Janet Yellen speaks about her key priorities for the 2024 Annual Meetings of the IMF and World Bank during a press conference in Washington DC, USA, on October 22, 2024, at the Department of Treasury Headquarters.
(Photo by Lenin Nolly/NurPhoto)

The International Monetary Fund and World Bank released their much-watched World Economic Outlook on Tuesday, projecting that the world economy will grow by 3.2% in 2025 as inflation cools to an average of 4.3%.

North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson, whom Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump has endorsed in the race to be the state's next governor, speaks before his arrival for a rally in Greensboro, North Carolina, U.S., March 2, 2024.
REUTERS/Jonathan Drake

When Americans head to the polls on Nov. 5, they’ll vote for more than just the next president.

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a welcoming ceremony for participants of the BRICS Summit in Kazan, Russia October 22, 2024.
REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov/Pool TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

For an “isolated” world leader with a global arrest warrant to his name, Vladimir Putin is throwing a pretty decent party this week. Russia is hosting a summit of the BRICS+, a loose grouping of Global “South” countries led by Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.

In the last year, the cyber threat landscape continued to become more dangerous and complex. The malign actors of the world are becoming better resourced and better prepared, with increasingly sophisticated tactics, techniques, and tools that challenge even the world’s best cybersecurity defenders. Microsoft published its 5th annual Microsoft Digital Defense Report sharing insights and trends from cyberattacks between July 2023 and June 2024. Explore the findings here.

Walmart is fueling American jobs and strengthening communities by investing in local businesses. Athletic Brewing landed a deal with Walmart in 2021. Since then, co-founders Bill Shufelt and John Walker have hired more than 200 employees and built a150,000-square-foot brewery in Milford, CT. Athletic Brewing is one of many US-based suppliers working with Walmart. By 2030, the retailer is estimated to support the creation of over 750,000 US jobs by investing an additional $350 billion in products made, grown, or assembled in America. Learn more about Walmart’s commitment to US manufacturing.

- YouTube

BRICS Summit: A "new world order" or already a relic of the past? Is Sinwar's death the beginning of the end of the war in Gaza? Yankees versus Dodgers. Who's winning? Ian Bremmer shares his insights on global politics this week on World In :60.

The US Commerce Department is looking into whether Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, is — knowingly or unknowingly — producing computer chips for the Chinese technology giant Huawei.