Hard Numbers: Hackers slide into DMs, actual Nazi convicted, US shells out vaccine cash, Chinese sex toys surge
36: Hackers who targeted verified accounts on Twitter earlier this month gained access to at least 36 of those account-holders' Direct Message inboxes, including an"elected official in the Netherlands," believed to be anti-Islam firebrand Geert Wilders. The ability of hackers to slide into elected officials' DMs has raised fears of blackmail.
5,230: As a teenager in Nazi Germany, Bruno Dey worked as a guard at the Stutthof concentration camp. On Thursday, a German court convicted him of 5,230 counts of accessory to murder, one for each person killed on his watch. The ruling against Dey, who is 93 years old, is likely to be one of the last convictions of living participants in the Holocaust.
1.95 billion: The US government has committed to paying $1.95 billion for 100 million doses of a coronavirus vaccine currently in development by US pharma giant Pfizer and Germany's BioNTech. Earlier this year, the White House shelled out $1 billion to reserve 300 million doses of the rival vaccine being made by Oxford University and the British-Swedish company AstraZeneca. The White House says vaccines will be free for all Americans.
50: Sales of Chinese-made sex toys have increased by 50 percent so far this year due to higher demand from customers in Western countries under lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. China's sex doll exports have doubled globally, and risen five-fold in Italy alone.