57: On Monday, France's data regulator fined Google nearly $57 million in a privacy case. It's the first fine levied against a major tech firm under Europe's General Data Protection Regulation, which set tough new standards for the use of EU citizens' personal data when it took effect in 2018, and another sign of European nations' intentions to get tough with Big Tech.
33: In 2015, residents of the Canadian town of Moose Jaw were left bereft after a 33-foot tall chrome moose statue near a rest stop in Norway displaced their locally beloved Mac the Moose as the world's tallest. Last week, a pair of local comedians launched a fundraiser to correct the "egregious offence" by adding extra height to the 32-foot-tall Mac, who had held the world record for 30 years. As of this writing, they had raised a little under $7,000.
26: Russia's trade with Africa rose 26 percent in 2017 to $17.4 billion, reflecting President Vladimir Putin's effort to extend his country's influence on a continent where many countries aligned with the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Between 2012 and 2017, Russia's weapon sales in Africa doubled, and it ships more arms there than China and the US combined.
5.3: China's population grew by just 5.3 million people last year, as the number of births declined. It's the lowest rate of population growth since the early 1960s, when China was still reeling from a massive famine sparked by Chairman Mao's Great Leap Forward.
