A dedicated graffiti zone was set up at the Great Wall of China, in the hope it would stop visitors from scratching their names on the historic barrier. Most of the graffiti on the wall, said the Chinese media, is in English.
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One year after Boko Haram abducted 276 Christian teenage girls from a northern Nigerian boarding school, authorities are no closer to finding them—and more have been taken. Amnesty International said this week that the Islamist group has captured at least 2,000 women and girls since the start of 2014. Those who escape say they were raped in forced marriages and trained […]
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Florida Gov. Rick Scott, thought he was announcing the phone number of a meningitis hotline, but provided the number of a phone sex line. Callers heard a woman say, “Hello, boys….”
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A solar-powered airplane landed in India on March 10, completing the second leg of its bid to become the first aircraft to circle the world by solar energy alone. Solar Impulse 2, which launched in Abu Dhabi, will make 12 stops on its 22,000-mile (35,000 km) journey.
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The Pew Research Center forecast that by 2050 the number of Muslims globally will nearly equal the number of Christians. Here is how major religions are projected to grow from 2010 to 2050: Islam: +73% Christianity: +35% Hinduism: +34% Judaism: +16% Buddhism: – 0.3%
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After eight years of war, bombings, and brutal sectarian violence, Iraq’s civilian population is now suffering an epidemic of depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and other mental illnesses, health officials there say. But there are only 100 psychiatrists to serve a population of 39 million.
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British scientists invented a cellphone battery powered by urine. This “is about as eco as it gets,” said one researcher, noting that urine is a renewable resource.
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Estimated number of cases pending in India’s court system: 30,000,000
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141: The number of seasonal former IRS employees rehired by the agency between 2010 and 2013 despite having botched or failed to file their own tax returns, according to a February report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. 8.8 Million: The number of tons of plastic waste dumped into the oceans every year, according to a study in the journal […]
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A New York City hotel is offering wealthy guests a chance to go “glamping”—glamorous camping—so they can experience the outdoors with four-star amenities. Guests at New York’s AKA Central Park can spend $2,000 a night to sleep on a queen bed on the terrace of the hotel’s penthouse. “It’s basically being able to sleep under the stars in a luxury […]
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