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Hard Numbers: Nigerian schoolgirls freed, Brits trust vaccines, US-EU sanction Russians, birdwatchers rejoice

Girls who were kidnapped from a boarding school in the northwest Nigerian state of Zamfara walk in line after their release, in Zamfara, Nigeria March 2, 2021

279: All 279 schoolgirls kidnapped last week by gunmen in northwest Nigeria have now been released. The girls were set free after the government negotiated with the abductors, but many observers criticize this approach, saying it only emboldens militants to kidnap children for ransom.


7: The US and EU announced joint sanctions on seven Russian officials involved in the poisoning and subsequent arrest of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny. It's the first time that Moscow has been targeted by Washington since President Biden came into office and ordered a sweeping review of US foreign policy towards Russia.

89: Vaccine skepticism is a problem in many parts of Europe, but not in the United Kingdom, where 89 percent of Brits say they intend to get a COVID-19 jab, compared to 73 percent in Germany and 59 percent in France.

170: The black-browed babbler bird, native to Asia, has surfaced in an Indonesian forest for the first time in 170 years. Birdwatchers from all around the world have been contacting the bird nerds in in Borneo that discovered the babbler to coordinate a once-in-a-lifetime visit.

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