Americans own nearly 300 million firearms, a new national study found. This translates to nearly nine guns for every 10 people, a per capita ownership rate nearly 50 percent higher than any other country’s.
Read more
Share of the world’s wealth that will be held by the richest 1% across the globe by 2016, according to a report from the antipoverty charity Oxfam: 50%
Read more
In the United States, a theft occurs every 4 seconds, a burglary every 10 seconds, an assault every 29 seconds, a rape every 5 minutes and a murder every 21 minutes.
Read more
Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched India’s first air-quality index in April, but pollution will keep growing unless India stems coal production, which Modi has pledged to double by 2020.
Read more
A quarter-century has passed since the meltdown at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant unleashed a radioactive cloud across the northern hemisphere. A new study estimates that 27,000 people have died worldwide as a result of the worst nuclear accident in history, in large part from cancers stemming from the release.
Read more
Annette Fredskov, of Naestved, Denmark, ran 26.2 miles every day for a year, despite having multiple sclerosis. She marked the anniversary of her daily feat with a double marathon two weeks ago, running over 52 miles in just over 10 hours. Since July 2012, she has run almost 10,000 miles and worn through 20 pairs of running shoes. Fredskov says […]
Read more
Bird calls, after firefighters in Idaho rushed into a burning building when they heard voices calling “Help! Fire!” only to discover a pair of “talking” parrots. “There was nobody besides the birds inside,” said one fireman. “Smart birds.”
Read more
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 Syria or sub-Saharan Africa, fleeing war and poverty. European Union officials said some half-million people are massed in Libyan ports […]
Read more
Percent increase in armed robberies at pharmacies since 2006: 81
Read more
About 25 percent of the world’s population, or 1.6 billion people, do not have electricity in their homes.
Read more