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Hard Numbers: Migrant boat tragedy, Polish border build-up, new COVID strain, Indian lottery winners

Tire tubes used as improvised lifebuoys, as well as shoes and clothes, lie in a boat in which migrants from the northern coast of Africa crossed the Mediterranean Sea to the Italian island of Lampedusa.
Tire tubes used as improvised lifebuoys, as well as shoes and clothes, lie in a boat in which migrants from the northern coast of Africa crossed the Mediterranean Sea to the Italian island of Lampedusa.
Reuters
Willis Sparks
By Willis SparksAugust 09, 2023
Willis Sparks
Willis Sparks is a senior editor for GZERO Daily. He is also a Director in the Global Macro practice at Eurasia Group, where he has worked since 2005. He has made speeches on international politics on every continent except Antarctica. Willis holds degrees from Brown University, the Juilliard School, Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs, and the Institut d'Etudes Politiques in Paris. He also holds an honorary degree from the Moscow Art Theatre School. A native of Macon, Georgia, Willis has worked as a stuntman at New York's Metropolitan Opera. As a child, he declined an opportunity to spend an afternoon riding the Great American Scream Machine, a rollercoaster, with Ronald McDonald, for money. He has never regretted that decision.
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41: The Italian Red Cross and rescue groups reported Wednesday that 41 people drowned after a boat carrying migrants capsized off Tunisia in rough seas. Just four survivors were rescued.

2,000: Poland announced on Wednesday it will send 2,000 troops, double the expected number, to patrol its border with Belarus. The larger-than-expected mobilization may be intended to discourage fighters from Russia’s Wagner Group from making trouble inside Poland, a NATO member. It may also be to stop Belarus and Russia from pushing Middle Eastern and African migrants across the border.

17: The EG.5 variant, known as Eris, now makes up about 17% of all COVID cases in the US, according to the Centers for Disease Control, making it the most dominant current strain of the disease. Fortunately, it does not appear to cause serious illness.

100 million: Eleven female sanitation workers in the Indian state of Kerala have won a 100 million-rupee ($1.2 million) lottery jackpot. The women have vowed not to quit their jobs collecting non-biodegradable waste from households and public bins and prepping it for recycling.

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