Hard Numbers: EU crowdfunds vaccines, Afghans beaten at the border, Venezuelan prisoners "massacred"
7.4 billion: European leaders have pledged a collective 7.4 billion euros to help develop and distribute a vaccine for COVID-19. Brussels opted for a novel online crowdfunding platform to raise the funds, with France and Germany pledging 500 and 525 million euros towards the vaccine hunt, respectively.
50: Some 50 Afghan migrantswere beaten and thrown into a river by Iranian border officials who prevented them from crossing the frontier into Afghanistan. At least half are known to have died. Thousands of Afghans who fled war to find work in neighboring Iran are now trying to go home as their adopted country battles one of the worst COVID outbreaks in the world.
130: More than 130 migrants traveling in small boats tried to reach the UK from France in the past 24 hours alone, many originally seeking refuge from Iraq and Iran. Some 559 migrants reached the UK by sea in March, a record for a single month.
40: At least 40 inmates were killed during an uprising at a Venezuelan prison near the city of Guanare. Prisoners were protesting the scarcity of food and water at the prison when guards cracked down on the unrest in what families say was a "massacre."