Facts & Trends

The almost-bankrupt Italian city of Naples began DNA-testing dog feces on its poop-covered sidewalks, so it can prosecute residents who don’t pick up.  “I know some people find it funny that with all the problems the city has, we would focus ...

Pope Francis has declared Oscar Romero a martyr of the faith, paving the way for the murdered Salvadoran archbishop to be beatified, a step toward sainthood.  A right-wing death squad executed Romero in a hospital chapel in 1980 while he ...

The Department of Defense has 562,000 military bases and facilities located around the world, which collectively cover 24.7 million acres—nearly the size of Virginia. Much of that space is now unused, but Congress has barred the Pentagon from conducting a ...

The average American's income declined almost 1 percent in 2014, to $64,432.The income of the poorest fifth of the population fell by 3.5 percent, to $9,818, while the income of the wealthiest fifth rose by nearly 1 percent, to $166,048 ...

The world's most pierced man has been refused entry to Dubai over fears that he might be an evil sorcerer. Rolf Buchholz, who has 453 piercings on his face and body as well as fake horns implanted in his forehead, ...

Pope Francis accidentally cursed in Italian while delivering his weekly blessing at the Vatican, using the word cazzo, the equivalent to the F-bomb, rather than caso, which means “example.” ...

Visiting your doctor for an annual physical examination might actually have a negative impact on your health, WebMD.com reports. Danish researchers analyzed studies involving 183,000 patients and found that those who received regular checkups were no less likely to die ...

The European Space Agency’s incoming director general, Jan Worner, wants to build a village on the moon. Other nations have similarly out-of-this-world ambitions: Japan Launched a probe to mine an asteroid in 2018 China Plans to build a huge solar-power ...

The 400 richest Americans have as much wealth as all 41 million African Americans ...

A gang of German bank robbers trying to blow open an ATM machine used too much explosive and destroyed the entire bank.  The blast reduced the bank building in the village of Malliss to rubble and damaged cars more than ...