Neha Thirani Bagri

The water has been inching closer to Rita Falgout’s house, lapping at the edges of her front yard. Her home is one of 29 in Isle de Jean Charles, a narrow island in the bayous of southeastern Louisiana that is slowly sinking into the Gulf of Mexico. The island, home to members of the Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw and the United Houma Nation tribes, is reached by a lone road that passes through the marshland with water on either side. Since 1955, the island has lost 98% of its land.

To say that this hasn’t been a good year for retail in the US is an understatement. The US retail industry is on pace to close 8,640 stores this year—more than were shuttered during the “Great Recession” of 2008. So far, the US retail industry has shed 53,000 jobs—as many as there are in the entire coal industry.

In a bid to attract applicants in a culture that worships entrepreneurship, top business schools such as MIT’s Sloan School of Business are pushing programs specifically designed for wannabe entrepreneurs.

At any time, the US coast guard has just three to five cutters, or large manned vessels, assigned to patrol about 6 million sq miles of sea spanning the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico to the eastern Pacific Ocean, through which most of the cocaine bound for the US passes.

The struggle to conserve wildlife is a real battle. Conservationists are faced with a growing international trade in wildlife parts and rising demand for bushmeat. In Kaziranga, a national park in northeastern India, rangers have resorted to protecting rhinos by shooting poachers on sight.

China has senioritis. The country is home to 230 million people over the age of 60. Longer life expectancy, coupled with three decades of the one-child policy, means that number only stands to grow. By some estimates, China’s worker-to-retiree ratio could shift to 1.6:1 by 2040, compared with 5:1 now. 

The World Economic Forum in January suggested a new way of measuring a country’s economic growth, one that took into account how widely gains from economic expansion were spread. In the Inclusive Development Index, which combined growth with parameters for development, inclusion, and intergenerational equity and stability, the US came in 23rd—faring worse than Estonia, the Czech Republic, and South Korea. 

There’s a race on to build the tallest tower in the world. Currently in the lead: Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, at 828 meters. Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah Tower, projected to cost $1.2 billion and soar 1,000 meters high, will pass it and then some when it is completed in 2020. If Dubai wants to keep the title, it will need to add a spire or two to its new building dubbed simply “The Tower” which is slated to be 928 meters when it is completed in time for the World Expo 2020 to be hosted in Dubai. It’s not a coincidence that both Saudi Arabia and Dubai also fare badly on most measures of democracy.

The esports industry has boomed in recent years, commanding an audience of nearly 150 million people who are tuning in to watch competitive gamers. Now enthusiasts can even get a scholarship to attend college based on their skills. Across the US, 34 colleges offer competitive gaming as a varsity sport. 

The British pound’s sharp fall after the UK voted to leave the European Union has meant higher prices for everything from groceries to gadgets, resulting in de facto wage cuts for the average British worker. But at least two people working in England won’t get a pay cut this year—the winners of Wimbledon.    

One of the pitfalls of being a celebrity with nearly 67 million followers on Instagram is that you might be sued for posting a picture, even if it’s a picture of you.

This week, LVMH announced a $13.1 billion deal (paywall) that would consolidate control over Christian Dior, the 70-year-old Parisian fashion house. It’s merely the latest acquisition in a battle between two families that has turned the world of luxury fashion into a virtual duopoly.

New Yorkers can be found eating, napping, flossing, changing outfits, doing their makeup, and even clipping their toe nails on the subway. When they resurface, they spend trying to speed-walk around groups of dawdling tourists and avoid being spat at. Anyone in the city that needs a respite from all this can now book a hotel room—even for just a few minutes.

The US Chamber of Commerce, which represents the interests of over 3 million companies and spent $104 million on lobbying in 2016, has been less than willing acknowledge the role that humans, and businesses, play in climate change.

Internationally, more students than ever are attending college.

Corporate America is not an easy place to be a woman.

Fifteen-year-old students in the Dominican Republic are more likely to say that they’re very satisfied with their lives than in any other country.

In Iran, homosexuality is a crime, punishable with death for men and lashings for women. But Iran is also the only Muslim country in the Persian Gulf region that gives trans citizens the right to have their gender identity recognized by the law. In fact, the Islamic Republic of Iran not only allows sex reassignment, but also subsidizes it.

In a crumbling building in the mountainous region of China’s Youyang County, Yang Jinhua, is determined to keep his school open—even though he only has two students.

In the modern workplace, autonomy is now king.

The US state of Idaho is undertaking a unique experiment to give students from low-income households a better chance at getting into, and succeeding at, university.

There’s nothing quite as American as Walmart.

While Silicon Valley had peddled the image of the 20-something, sweatshirt-wearing, college-dropout genius as the model for creativity in the 21st century, research shows that it is, in fact, older people who are more creative and productive.

Under the Trump administration, with Republicans in control of the White House and Congress, it is possible that the US sees its first significant comprehensive reform of the tax code since 1986.