Search results for

While the proportion of the world's population that smokes has shrunk, the total number of smokers on the earth continues to rise. In 2012, nearly a billion people smoked daily, compared with 721 million in 1980.

Last year, illustrator Maria Fabrizio was having a slow day at work, so she drew a picture of the pope "hanging up his hat." The idea caught on, and now she creates a news-inspired image every day on her Wordless News blog. Next week, all of her pictures will be inspired by Morning Edition.

A chemical used to wash coal seeped into the Elk River near Charleston on Thursday. Customers in more than 100,000 homes and businesses that get their water from one local company have been advised not to drink, wash or bathe with what's coming from their taps. More than 480,000 people live in the affected area.

The number of people affected by a data breach during the holiday shopping season has increased dramatically. Target says customers names, mailing addresses, phone numbers or email addresses were taken. It's offering free credit monitoring and "zero liability" for any fraudulent charges.

Local and international pressure had been building against President Michel Djotodia. He took power in a military coup in the summer, plunging the country into a multi-sided civil war. Thousands have died and hundreds of thousands have been uprooted.

Four years into the conflict in Syria, relief agencies working with refugees are starting to shift their focus to permanent resettlement. But not many countries — the U.S. included — are welcoming Syrian refugees with open arms.

The unexpected dip to 6.7 percent may seem like good news, but the rate slid in December in part because the country found itself with a smaller workforce as people retired or just dropped out. At the same time, most of the jobs being created are in low-wage industries.

A new film explores the affair between Dickens and a young actress for whom he left his wife, but who for years never showed up in biographies of Dickens. It's the second film directed by Ralph Fiennes, who also plays Dickens.

Baraka was one of the key black literary voices of the 1960s. The political and social views that inspired his writing changed over the years, from his bohemian days as a young man in Greenwich Village to his later years as a Marxist. He spoke to Fresh Air's Terry Gross in 1986.

Namibian officials issue five permits per year to hunt the endangered animal. For the first time, one was auctioned off outside that country. Proceeds will go toward conservation of the herd. But critics say it's not right to kill one animal in a bid to save others.