500 million: Since Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office in 2014, his government has spent some $500 million on advertising, much of which features slick images of the prime minister himself. Don’t give Trump any ideas, Mr. Modi.
63,800: Last year, Brazil surpassed its previous record for homicides, reaching an annual total of 63,880—a 3 percent spike from 2016—according to recently released figures. That’s one of the factors bolstering the candidacy of far-right law and order candidate Jair Bolsonaro ahead of the country’s pivotal presidential election in October.
346: The Turkish government has opened a probe into 346 media accounts after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan blamed people “conducting economic terrorism on social media” for the lira’s recent free fall. #clickingatwindmills
66: The Trump administration has scrapped 66 slots routinely set aside for training Pakistani military officers in a program that has long been a staple of bilateral ties. This is the first known consequence of Trump’s decision last year to suspend US military to the South Asian nation in an effort to encourage it to crack down on Islamic militants.
10: In one of Latin America’s largest ever mass migrations, more than half a million Venezuelans fleeing the economic and political crisis in their homeland have crossed into Ecuador this year, according to the United Nations. That’s nearly 10 times the number of migrants and refugees who attempted to cross the Mediterranean into Europe during the same period.
