120,000: And now for some good news—one of the most prized possessions of the National Museum of Brazil, which was mostly destroyed by a fire last month, has been found amid the rubble. The 12,000-year-old fossil, known as Luzia, is one of the region’s oldest human remains.
3,000: The death of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi has prompted broader scrutiny of the Kingdom’s sophisticated efforts to stifle online dissent, including by employing hundreds of young men to promote pro-regime message and attack critics on the web. The going rate for such a gig, according to a NY Times investigation, is a not too paltry $3,000 a month. But that can’t compare to the $1,400 Russia was reportedly shelling out to its trolls every week in the run up to the 2016 US presidential election.
640: The North Korean regime imported at least $640 million in luxury goods from China in 2017, despite international sanctions forbidding such trade. According to South Korean sources, North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un purchased his cronies items including musical instruments, liquor, sedans, watches and furs. It’s not clear who the seaplane was for.
24: Today, a median of 23 percent of Europeans see immigration as a challenge for their national government, compared to around half who said so at the height of the migrant crisis in November 2015. Still, the impact of the migrant crisis continues to reverberate through across the continent.
20: China is set to inaugurate the world’s largest sea bridge today—connecting the cities of Macau, Hong Kong, and Zhuhai. At 20 times the length of the Golden Gate Bridge, the project is part of a broader effort to build a regional economic hub in southeastern China that will encompass $1.51 trillion in annual GDP and 70 million people.
