* Fourteen coordinated blasts kill at least 63 during Baghdad rush hour, injure around 185. * Death toll from last week's massive flash flooding in two southern Philippine cities tops 1,000. * Tropical Storm Washi in pictures. * China says Christian Bale should be embarrassed; critics say director Zhang continues to
* Mexican cartels and Colombian cocaine suppliers drawn to Costa Rica's openness to outsiders. * Chart finds poverty continuing to fall in Latin America. * Wendy’s to overtake Burger King as America's second-largest fast-food chain in sales—first shuffle in the top trio since 1969. * A
* Mass mourning in North Korea closely mirrors scenes that came out in 1994, when Kim il-Sung died. * North Koreans' hysteria over Kim Jong-il's death recall ancient Greeks' violent grief. * Kim Jong-il dropping the bass with Daft Punk, Huoratron, Skrillex, etc. * Related: Shufflin'
* U.S. rated the world's most charitable country in 2011. * Mark Thoma demonstrates with a simple game why the great economic divide makes everyone poorer. * Lehrer: Our theories about cause and effect are inherently perceptual, infected by all the sensory cheats of vision. * "A slice of soapsuds
* Retired general says Egyptian protesters "deserve to be thrown into Hitler’s ovens.” * Thirteen dead in Cairo as clashes continue into fourth day. * Two days after Kim Jong-il's death, the CIA had no idea what happened—a "comparatively minor" failure. * Photographs from North Korea,
* Of drone pilots, 30% suffer high levels of stress—though not dangerous levels, the Air Force says. * The differences between your debt and American Airlines's. * Analysis of how much money top chess players can make. * Reasonably easy math on how tidal power—virtually inexhaustible and less intermittent than
* Tributes flow in after Sunday's death of Vaclav Havel, playwright and president. * Related: Remnick's profile as Havel left power, in a tailored suit rather than borrowed trousers. * Kim Jong-il's death announced by weepy Korean newscaster. * While his country suffered, Kim Jong-il realized
* Tunisia celebrates a year since its revolution. * Egyptian soliders and protestors continue to clash, undermining credibility of elections. * Keep track of the Republican candidates, debates, primaries: six debates in January. * Brazil to give World Cup soccer tickets for guns, make goalposts out of the weapons. * Favela gangs provide social services
* Standoff continues in Chinese protest village over corrupt officials and land seizures. * Japanese officials say crippled Fukushima reactors are in "cold shutdown"—so much grandstanding, say critics. * After careful analysis, it turns out that UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon just isn't very funny. * Christian Bale
* Christopher Hitchens dead at 62 from pneumonia, a complication of his esophageal cancer. * My chief consolation in this year of living dyingly has been the presence of friends. * Longform's round-up of articles by and about Christopher Hitchens. * Ian Parker's definitive bio of Hitchens: "How
