* Acela passenger spies on former NSA head, live-tweets overheard phone call. * Europeans gather in a London gentlemen's club to discuss the U.S.'s aggressive spying techniques. * Countries that suffer the highest burden of malaria tend to be the least motivated to do much of anything
* Ten countries have three-quarters of the world’s 30 million slaves; Mauritania comes out worst, with an estimated 4% of the population enslaved. * Nearly half of America's middle-class workers say they're not confident that they will be able to retire comfortably. * Iceland is the
* It will be the first time that American legislators hear direct testimony from civilian victims of a drone strike. * Because Obama's proposed clean-air rules will only apply to new power plants, the effect will be minimal. * The world's worst cities for outdoor air pollution—Bakersfield
* Hubble finds galaxy 1.3 billion light years away—the most distant cluster of celestial bodies discovered yet. * German Foreign Minister summons the American ambassador to Berlin over allegations the U.S. tapped Chancellor Merkel's cell phone. * Der Spiegel says the NSA and British GCHQ worked jointly to
* Kerry trying to charm back the Saudis over their disappointment that the U.S. strike on Syria didn't materialize. * Fewer than one in 200 Americans has a law licence, but lawyers include a third of the House and more than half the seats in the Senate. * Gallup finds
* The face of aid in Africa is Angelina Jolie and doctors in lab coats, but it should be the minimally trained community health workers. * Malcom Gladwell had his prefrontal cortex disabled to research ADD. * Brunei to implement amputation for theft, stoning for adultery; criticism of policies is virtually nonexistent. * In
* When President Obama says that the deficit has been cut in half, he is substantially understating what has happened. * U.S. jobs report shows a smaller rise in employment than is expected for this stage of economic recovery. * Mexico condemns U.S. spying after Snowden data showed the NSA read
* Drone strikes do more than end civilian life—they destroy it by grounding local troops and fostering corruption. * If the Obama administration has its way there won't be an end to the counterterrorism war in Afghanistan for years to come. * Northern China is awash with smog; small particle
* Tyler Cowen's evil twin explains why the shutdown and debt crisis were all part of a brilliant GOP plan. * In 2012, Mexico produced more than 3 million vehicles, compared with 10.8 million in the United States. * Of the $60 billion global art market, Chinese art accounts for
* Violin believed to have been played by the Titanic's bandmaster as the ship sank sells at auction for £900,000. * A growing number of young Japanese adults are uninterested in sex—their parents worry about "celibacy syndrome." * In the awful Virginia gubernatorial race, the Richmond Times-
