What does the below mathematical rebus mean?

John gave half of the apples he had plus one more to Jacob. He gave half of the remaining ones plus one more to James. Now, John was left with just one apple.

Can you find out how many did he have in the beginning?

The following "Brain Bat" means Slow Down.
S
L
O
W

Using the same logic, can you tell us what does the following Brain Bat means ?
E
V
I
G

If six children and two dogs were under an umbrella, how come none of them got wet?

You have two buckets of 11 liters and 6 litres.
How can you measure exactly 8 litres?

Christina is practising her dance steps along with her friends. In a particular sequence, all of them form a row. At that point, Niharika is standing in the 4th position from either end of the row.
Can you find out how many girls are practising together?

Three brothers Jacob, John, and James live in Mexico City. The product of the ages of these brothers is 175. Jacob and John are twins. How old is James?

I am soft and cuddly that soothe your heart. But, If you pick my last name I am going to tear you all apart. Who am I?

Can you replace the X (both small and big x) with the numbers between 1 to 19 such that all the rows of 3 numbers between X (big x) sum to 23?

Begin with a word, five letters to my name,
Remove the first and last but I am the same
Take out my middle and still, I remain.
What word am I?