$16 million: Brazilian police seized $16 million worth of cash and luxury watches from the son of Equatorial Guinea’s president when he landed in the country last Friday. Just last year, Teodoro Obiang, who is also the country’s vice president, had his exotic car collection and sprawling Paris mansion seized by French authorities. Around 76 percent Equatorial Guinea's population lives in poverty.
30,000: The Trump administration will cap the number of refugees that can settle in the US at 30,000 in 2019. That’s the lowest since the US refugee resettlement program was created in 1980 and a third fewer refugees than the US agreed to let in this year. Some perspective: The United Nations estimates that on average around 44,000 people around the world were forced to flee their homes every day due to conflict and persecution last year.
54: By 2022, 54 percent of all workers will have a “significant” need to boost their skills to deal with advancing technology, according to a new World Economic Forum survey, with over a third requiring additional training of up to six months. Governments around the world are grappling with how to prepare their workforces for the jobs of the future.
44: If current trends hold, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo will account for 44 percent of all people living in extreme poverty by 2050, according to a new Gates Foundation report. Today, they are home to around a fifth of the world’s poorest.
23: Ethiopian authorities said at least 23 people were killed during unrest that flared after members of the country’s Oromo ethnic group ransacked homes and businesses of members of other ethnic minorities. Renewed violence could scuttle Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s efforts to pursue a policy of reconciliation that has been greeted with optimism around the world.
