40: Police identified all 40 victims – including a pair of 14 year olds – of the deadly New Years’ Eve fire in the Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana. It took investigators multiple days to identify victims due to the severe scale of the burns. Another 119 were injured in the blaze. Investigators believe champagne sparklers caused the fire.
$100,000: That’s what it will cost you to purchase citizenship of Botswana, after the government introduced the new “golden passport” scheme – similar to the Trump administration’s $5 million gold card – in a bid to alleviate the economic issues that the country has faced as a result of the diamond downturn. Botswana has also decided to start selling the gem to Russia.
30: Violence continues to rock Nigeria, as gunmen stormed a village in the western part of the country on Saturday and killed at least 30 people and abducted several others. It comes less than two weeks after the US hit targeted sites in the northwestern part of Africa’s most-populous nation. No group has claimed responsibility, although the Lakurawa is considered the dominant armed group in the region.
$29 million: Tangle, a new app aimed at limiting what its founders call the “terrible devastation” from social media, has already raised $29 million. The invite-only network focuses on intentional use. Its founders are no strangers to the industry: they are none other than the co-founders of Twitter and Pinterest. Having helped create today’s social media ecosphere, can the proverbial foxes guard the henhouse?
32: As part of its strikes on Venezuela over the weekend, the US military killed 32 Cuban officers that were on mission in the South American country, Havana said. It’s unclear what the Cubans were doing in Venezuela, but Cuba is a close ally of Venezuela and provided some security assistance for ousted strongman Nicolas Maduro during his time in power. US Sen. Lindsey Graham warned the Cuban government yesterday that its “days are numbered.”
