Bao Lulin was always being mistaken for someone else. People would approach her at the restaurant where she worked in Guizho, China, asking why she didn’t recognize them. This October she discovered why: Lulin had an identical twin sister from whom she’d been separated at birth; she was living hundreds of miles away. Each had been adopted and raised with no […]
Read more
75% – Percentage of workers worldwide who do not have a permanent job, according to the International Labor Organization. Global unemployment reached an estimated 201 million in 2014; most people work without a contract or are self-employed.
Read more
Portion of China’s carbon emissions that is produced by manufacturing goods for export: 1/4
Read more
Percentage of U.S. stock owned by the wealthiest 10 percent of Americans: 89
Read more
Bad drivers in Shenzhen, China, who blast oncoming motorists with high beam headlights will now face in-kind punishment from police. Police officials in the Chinese city said drivers who abuse the use of high beams will be stopped by police, ticketed for roughly $50, pulled from their car, and forced to stare into police cruiser headlights for five minutes. According […]
Read more
A nonprofit group in San Francisco is helping the city’s homeless population with a former public transit bus that’s been outfitted with two bathrooms, complete with toilets and hot showers. “If you’re living on the streets and you’re filthy, you can’t interview for a job and you can’t apply for housing,” explains the group’s founder, Doniece Sandoval. “You get disconnected […]
Read more
Almost one in five women—19.3 percent—has been raped, and 44 percent have suffered sexual violence, according to a survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nearly half of the women who were raped identified the perpetrator as a boyfriend or husband.
Read more
Being overworked is the main reason Americans say they skip vacation: 40% – Heavy workload upon return 35% – Nobody else can do the work 33% – Can’t afford to take it 28% – Want to show dedication 22% – Don’t want to be seen as replaceable
Read more
A new study has calculated that there are 5.25 trillion small and large pieces of plastic, weighing a total of 269,000 tons, floating in the world’s oceans
Read more
Bottom-trawling nets, which scrape up anything in their path in pursuit of fish, have left their mark on 20 million sq. mi. (52 million sq km) of seafloor.
Read more