Building a wall
To keep out foreign extremists and refugees seeking work, Saudi Arabia is now building a 600-mile wall along its border with Iraq, and is strengthening fortifications along its 1,060- mile border with Yemen.
Read moreTag: trends
Unruly Passengers
Reported incidents of unruly passenger behavior on airplanes soared from 339 in 2007 to 8,217 in 2013.
Read moreThe Real Beliefs of Islam
“We can’t end terrorism any more than we can end crime in general. But I look forward to the day when an act of terrorism by self proclaimed Muslims will be universally dismissed as nothing more than a criminal attack of a thuggish political organization wearing an ill fitting Muslim mask. To get to that point, we will need to […]
Read moreShooting His Computer
A Colorado man was given a ticket by police this week for shooting his balky computer eight times and “killing” it. Police say Lucas Hinch, 37, had become “fed up with fighting his computer for the last several months,” so he took it outside and repeatedly blasted it with a handgun. Hinch said he didn’t realize he was breaking the […]
Read moreAnger at Pope’s Mention of Armenian Genocide
Turkish leaders reacted with outrage this week after Pope Francis referred to the mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks during World War I as “the first genocide of the 20th century.” Turkey recalled its Vatican envoy, and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned the pope “not to repeat his mistake,” saying, “It is not possible for the Turkish Republic to […]
Read moreThe Most Popular Names
The five most popular names for baby girls in 2014 were (in order) Emma, Olivia, Sophia, Isabella, and Ava, according to the U.S. Social Security Administration. For boys, the most popular were Noah, Liam, Mason, Jacob, and William.
Read moreSeparated at birth
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 moreThe Oldest Person In The World
The oldest person in the world, JeraleanTalley of Michigan, turned 116 last week. The two oldest persons ever known to science, Sarah Knauss of Pennsylvania and Jeanne Calment of France, reached 119 and 122, respectively.
Read moreOdds Of Being Killed At School
Yearly odds of a U.S. student being killed at school: 1 in 3 million
Read moreMissing Airplanes
Total number of passenger planes that have gone missing without a trace since 2000: 10
Read more