Facts & Trends

Reporters Without Borders ranked 180 countries on the basis of conditions for press freedom. A sampling: ...
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Nearly 10,000 desperate refugees were rescued from overcrowded boats in the Mediterranean this week, a record high, but another 400 are believed to have drowned when one of the boats sank, also a record.  Most of the migrants were from ...
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Trameka Pope has a lot to be proud of.  The 19-year-old was homeless as a child and had a daughter right before she entered ninth grade, but next week she'll graduate as valedictorian of Chicago's Wendell Phillips Academy High School ...
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The Department of Homeland Security has spent $2 million over the past three years on four studies analyzing why its workers suffer from such chronically low morale. It has yet to publish or act on the findings of any of ...
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A British pilot momentarily lost control of his passenger plane when his artificial arm fell off during landing. The captain of the FlyBe turboprop was approaching Belfast City Airport in windy conditions with 47 passengers on board when his prosthetic ...
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California firefighters spent two hours extracting a naked woman from a chimney after she tried to sneak into her ex-boyfriend's home at 5 a.m.  The 35-year-old took off her clothes in the hope it would help her fit down the ...
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THE PROBLEM Congestion caused by commuters carries an annual price tag of $121 billion in wasted time and fuel costs. The average American who drives to work wastes 38 hours in traffic each year. THE INNOVATION City planning authorities increasingly ...
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15,654 - Total known land area, in square miles (40,544 sq km), of U.S. nuclear-weapon bases and facilities 2 - Minimum number of people required to authorize a U.S. nuclear attack ...
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2,500 - Number of U.S. military dogs on duty worldwide $2,000,000 - Amount the U.S. spent on developing a robotic mule ...
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Twenty-five pilot whales beached themselves on Kice Island off southwest Florida in 2014. Sickness related to environmental problems can trigger beachings, which are on the rise ...
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