Hard Numbers: Dutch farmers roar, Biden offers Griner swap, EU gas prices soar, Teva’s opioid settlement, carnage in Haiti

Dutch farmers roar, Biden offers Griner swap, EU gas prices soar, Teva’s opioid settlement, carnage in Haiti
Dutch farmers block food distribution sites with tractors in Woerden, Netherlands.
Robin Utrecht via Reuters

24.6 billion: Dutch farmers resumed protests Wednesday over the government’s plan to rein in emissions produced by livestock, which they say will decimate the agriculture industry. The Netherlands has earmarked $24.6 billion to help reduce emissions, but the farming sector says it is being unfairly targeted while the aviation, construction, and other industries are getting off scot-free.

25: The Biden administration has reportedly offered to exchange Viktor Bout — a Russian arms dealer currently serving a 25-year sentence in the US — in exchange for the release of two US citizens. WNBA player Brittany Griner has been held in Moscow on drug charges since February and faces a decade behind bars, while Paul Whelan, a former US marine, has been locked up since 2018 for alleged spying. Will Putin take the deal?

2: European gas prices rose by as much as 2% Wednesday after Russia further slashed natural gas output to Germany via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline. This comes after EU countries agreed to voluntarily cut natural gas consumption by 15% until April 2023. But some experts say that EU countries will need to make further cuts as winter approaches.

4.25 billion: Israeli pharmaceutical company Teva reached a whopping $4.25 billion settlement with US local and state governments — and tribes — over its role in fueling the country’s deadly opioid crisis. Teva’s opioid output in recent decades reportedly dwarfed that of better-known companies like Purdue Pharma, which makes OxyContin.

200: More than 200 people have been killed in just 10 days in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince according to the UN, as two gangs battle it out for control of a key neighborhood. Gang violence has exploded in crisis-ridden Haiti since President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated by mercenaries last summer.

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