83: The UK has issued 83 licenses for French fishing vessels to operate in the English Channel, a significant concession by London in its ongoing fight with Brussels and Paris over post-Brexit fishing rights in the contested waters. Still, French fishers said they would go ahead with plans to block British goods at some ports next week because London had not met all of Paris’ demands.
280 million: After months of wrangling about whether to allow Afghanistan access to funding, donor countries have agreed to release $280 million from a frozen trust fund, giving the money to the World Food Program and UNICEF. UNICEF estimates that some 18.4 million Afghans now require humanitarian assistance.
4: Nigeria will ban flights from four countries — Argentina, Canada, Saudi Arabia, and the UK — in retaliation for being put on their no-travel lists over the detection of the omicron variant. The World Health Organization has repeatedly warned that “blanket bans” won't stop the spread of the new COVID variant.
73 million: Indian PM Narendra Modi’s Twitter account was hacked Sunday, with the hackers posting to his 73 million followers that Bitcoin would become legal tender in the country — and that the government would distribute the currency to all its citizens. The tweet has since been deleted, and comes as the Indian parliament prepares to crack down on the country’s booming cryptocurrency trade.
