The World Almanac and Book of Facts 2014

1008 Pages·2013·95.34 MB·English

by  Sarah Janssen

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CONTENTS
PUBLISHER’S NOTE
2013: SPECIAL FEATURES AND YEAR IN REVIEW
Top 10 News Topics
World at a Glance
Marriage in the U.S.: A Changing Picture
Voter Guide, 2014
Chronology of the Year’s Events
Obituaries
State Government
Supreme Court Decisions
Notable Quotes
Offbeat News Stories
Historical Anniversaries
Time Capsule
2013: YEAR IN PICTURES
ECONOMY, BUSINESS, & ENERGY
Economics
Trade
Transportation & Travel
Agriculture
Employment
Energy
CRIME
MILITARY AFFAIRS
HEALTH & VITAL STATISTICS
Health
Vital Statistics
PERSONALITIES, ARTS, & MEDIA
Noted Personalities
Arts & Media
Awards, Medals, & Prizes
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Science
Environment
Meteorology
Disasters
Aerospace
Astronomy
Calendar
Weights & Measures
Computers & Telecommunications
CONSUMER INFORMATION
Postal Information
Social Security
Taxes
Education
Directory
U.S. FACTS & HISTORY
U.S. Facts
Chronology of Events in U.S. History
Historical Documents & Speeches
National Symbols
U.S. GOVERNMENT
Supreme Court
Presidents of the U.S.
Presidential Elections
Obama Administration
Cabinets
Congress
U.S. CITIES, STATES, & POPULATION
States & Other Areas of the U.S.
100 Most Populous Cities
U.S. Population
WORLD HISTORY & CULTURE
World History
Historical Figures
Exploration & Geography
Religion
Language
Buildings, Bridges, & Tunnels
NATIONS OF THE WORLD
WORLD MAPS & FLAGS
SPORTS
Sports Highlights, 2013
Memorable Winter Olympic Moments
Olympic Games
College Sports
College Basketball
College Football
Other College Sports
Professional Sports
Football
Baseball
Basketball
Hockey
Soccer
Golf
Tennis
Auto Racing
Boxing
Horse Racing
Other Sports
GENERAL INDEX
Quick Reference Index
THE WORLD ALMANAC AND BOOK OF
FACTS 2014
Top 10 News Topics of 2013
1. Budget Disputes Force a U.S. Government Shutdown. For the first time since
1995, large parts of the federal government were shut down, Oct. 1, when the new fiscal
year began without budget legislation in place. A number of conservative congressional
Republicans opposed any spending legislation unless the measure included a cutoff of
funding to implement Obamacare. Key provisions of Obamacare, or the Patient
Protection and Affordable Care Act, take effect Jan. 1, 2014; exchanges intended to
help Americans buy health insurance began operating Oct. 1. With the government
about to run out of authority to borrow money to pay its bills and creditors by Oct. 17,
Congress passed legislation the night of Oct. 16 to fund government operations through
Jan. 15, 2014, and to increase the debt ceiling to cover borrowing into early Feb. 2014.
The legislation did not include the defunding of Obamacare.
2. Syria’s Civil War Intensifies; Chemical Weapons Are Used. The civil war
between the forces of Syrian Pres. Bashar al-Assad and a coalition of secular and
Islamic-fundamentalist opposition groups entered its third year in Mar. 2013. The
United Nations estimated in July that the war’s death toll had passed 100,000, and
reported in Sept. that more than 2 mil Syrians had fled the country, with many living in
refugee camps in neighboring Jordan, Turkey, and Lebanon. An estimated 4.25 mil
were displaced from their homes within Syria. A UN report in June found credible
evidence that chemical weapons had been used by at least one side. After 1,400 people
were killed Aug. 21 in a chemical weapons attack apparently by government forces,
Pres. Barack Obama threatened U.S. military action against the Assad regime. U.S.
strikes were put on hold when Assad agreed in Sept. to turn over his government’s
chemical weapons to international inspectors.
3. U.S. Supreme Court Rules on Voting Rights, Same-Sex Marriage. In a 5-4
decision June 25, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a portion of the Voting Rights
Act requiring certain states and localities (mainly in the South) to obtain prior federal
approval for changes in their voting laws. The court invalidated the historic legislation’s
formula for determining what areas needed pre-clearance on the grounds that it was
based on 40-year-old data. The ruling cleared the way for affected states to change their
laws on voter ID requirements, electoral districts, and polling hours without consulting
federal authorities. On June 26, in another 5-4 decision, the court struck down a
provision of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) that prohibited the federal
government from recognizing legally performed same-sex marriages. The ruling made
same-sex married couples eligible for a number of federal benefits and tax advantages.
In another ruling the same day, the court dismissed on technical grounds a challenge to
a lower court decision allowing same-sex marriages to be performed in California. New
Jersey became the 14th state to perform same-sex marriages in Oct., after a ruling by
the state’s supreme court.
4. Leaked Documents Reveal Widespread U.S. Surveillance Program. Classified
documents provided to journalists revealed a program by the U.S. National Security
Agency to monitor phone calls, emails, and Internet activities of millions of Americans.
NSA contractor Edward Snowden announced June 9 that he was the source of the
leaked documents and maintained that he acted out of concern over violations of
Americans’ civil rights. The U.S. government charged Snowden with violating the
Espionage Act, revoked his passport, and sought his extradition from Hong Kong.
Snowden traveled to Russia, where (after spending weeks at the Moscow airport) he
was granted temporary asylum Aug. 1. In Oct., U.S. relations with European allies were
strained following reports that U.S. surveillance extended to foreign electronic
communications, including those from a mobile phone of German Chancellor Angela
Merkel. In another case in which the central figure claimed to be a whistleblower, Army
Pfc. Bradley Manning pleaded guilty Feb. 28 to some of the lesser charges filed in
connection with the 2010 release of thousands of classified documents to the website
WikiLeaks. Manning was convicted on additional counts July 30 but found not guilty of
aiding the enemy, the most serious charge. Sentenced to 35 years in prison Aug. 21,
Manning came out as transgender the following day, taking the name Chelsea Manning.
5. Military Removes Egypt’s President. Mohammed Morsi, who in 2012 had
become Egypt’s first democratically elected leader, was removed from office by the
country’s military leaders July 3. The action by the military, which placed Morsi under
arrest, followed large-scale demonstrations in Cairo against what were characterized as
authoritarian and pro-Islamist actions by the Morsi government. Demonstrations by
Morsi supporters followed his ouster, and hundreds of protesters were killed in the
succeeding weeks in clashes with security forces. A government prosecutor announced
Sept. 1 that Morsi would be put on trial for inciting murder in connection with the
deaths of anti-Morsi protesters outside the presidential palace in Dec. 2012.
6. Bombs Explode at the Boston Marathon. Two bombs exploded near the finish
line of the Boston Marathon Apr. 15, killing three and injuring more than 200. Video
footage led investigators to identify the bombers as two brothers of Chechen origin,
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Tamerlan Tsarnaev. After the brothers apparently killed an MIT
security officer Apr. 18, Tamerlan was killed in a shootout with police outside Boston.
A daylong hunt for 19-year-old Dzhokhar followed, during which officials ordered a
lockdown of the entire Boston area. Dzhokhar was captured in Watertown, MA, Apr.
19. At his arraignment July 10, he pleaded not guilty to 30 federal charges.
7. As Gun Violence Continues, Gun Control Legislation Fails. In a series of votes
Apr. 17, the U.S. Senate failed to pass a number of gun control measures, including bills
that would have mandated background checks for gun purchasers, banned some types of
assault weapons, and limited the size of ammunition magazines. The measures had been
introduced in the wake of a mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in
Newtown, CT, on Dec. 14, 2012, in which 20 children and 6 staff members were killed.
In another mass shooting, 12 people were killed Sept. 16, 2013, at the Washington Navy
Yard in DC before police fatally shot the gunman. In a trial that drew wide media
attention, neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman was acquitted July 13 of
murder and manslaughter charges arising from his 2012 shooting of unarmed black
teenager Trayvon Martin.
8. New Leader of the Roman Catholic Church Is Elected. Cardinal Jorge Mario
Bergoglio, archbishop of Buenos Aires, Argentina, was elected pope Mar. 13 by the
Roman Catholic Church’s College of Cardinals, meeting in Rome. He became the first
Jesuit and first Latin American pope in the Church’s history, as well as the first pope to
take the name Francis. The election occurred soon after the resignation, effective Feb.
28, of Francis’s predecessor, Benedict XVI, for health reasons. In his first international
trip as pope, Francis traveled in July to Brazil, where he celebrated an outdoor mass
before more than 1 mil people in Rio de Janeiro.
9. Athletes Make News Off the Field. On July 22 and Aug. 5, more than a dozen
players, including former MVPs Ryan Braun and Alex Rodriguez, were suspended by
Major League Baseball for their connection with a Florida clinic said to have supplied
players with banned performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs). Rodriguez continued to play
while appealing his suspension, which included all of the 2014 season; the other players
accepted their suspensions, which were for the remainder of 2013 only. Reversing years
of denials, cyclist Lance Armstrong, seven-time Tour de France winner, admitted in Jan.
that he had used PEDs during his championship years. In South Africa, track star Oscar
Pistorius was arrested in Feb. and later indicted for murder after he shot his girlfriend to
death in their home; Pistorius said the death had been an accident. In June, NFL tight
end Aaron Hernandez of the New England Patriots was arrested and charged with
murdering a friend; he pleaded not guilty. The NFL reached a $765-mil settlement in
Aug. with thousands of former players and players’ families who had sued the league
for allegedly concealing knowledge about serious health risks from head injuries; the
league did not admit wrongdoing.
10. Heir to the British Throne Is Born. Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and wife
of Prince William, gave birth to their first child July 22, a son. Named George
Alexander Louis, the child became third in line to the British throne, after his
grandfather (Prince Charles) and his father. News media teams from around the world
had been stationed for weeks outside St. Mary’s Hospital in London, where the delivery
occurred.
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Surprising Facts
In 2009, the U.S. produced less than 10% of the world’s new motor vehicles for the first time (9.5%, vs.
75.7% in 1950 and 21.5% in 2000). But American auto production’s share of the world total was back
up to 12.5% in 2012. (p. 80)
The number of U.S. households that owned televisions decreased for the second year in a row in 2013
to 114.2 million. TV-owning households peaked at 115.9 million in 2011. (p. 257)
Only 2% of American Internet users never check email. 87% of Americans check email at least once
daily. (p. 365)
As recently as 2007, only 31% of Americans used their cell phones to send text messages. In 2012,
82% of people texted on their phones, and 59% used their cell phones to access the Internet (up
from just 8% in 2007). (p. 367)
Sales of LP and EP records have steadily increased in recent years, from 1 million in 2005 to 7.1 million
in 2012. However, that is a small share of music sales compared to the 116.7 million digital albums
and 1.4 billion digital singles sold in 2012. (p. 253)
In 1990, the average U.S. movie ticket cost $4.23; the average ticket in 2012 cost $7.96. (p. 245)
Americans paid an average of 22.7% of their gross wage earnings in income tax and Social Security
payments in 2012 (down from 24.7% in 2008); Belgians, who had some of the highest personal-
income tax rates, paid 42.8%. (p. 737)
Since 2007, the percentage of children ages 2-17 diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
(ADHD) has grown from 6.4% to 7.9% in 2012. (p. 150)
U.S. public debt has more than tripled since 2000, from $3.4 trillion to $12.4 trillion in 2013. As a
percentage of the U.S. gross domestic product, debt has doubled from 34.7% to 76.6%. (p. 60)
Since 1975, the fuel efficiency of U.S. cars has more than doubled, from 13.5 miles per gallon to 27.3
miles per gallon in 2012. (p. 83)
In almost half (46.5%) of motor vehicle crashes in 2011, state traffic authorities did not report improper
driving as a cause. (p. 170)
Nearly 30% of students ages 12-18 reported being bullied or cyberbullied in 2011. (p. 386)
In the 2010-11 school year, 82.3% of undergraduates received financial aid. (p. 390)
Number Ones
Most-visited social networking website Facebook, 144.7 million unique visitors in June
2013 (p. 364)
Most-used search engine Google, 12.8 billion searches in June 2013 (p. 364)
Airline that carried the most passengers Southwest/AirTran, 134.0 million in 2012 (p. 89)
Busiest U.S. airport by passenger traffic Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Intl. Airport, 95.5 million
passengers in 2012 (p. 89)
Top U.S. state by traveler spending California, $105.3 billion in 2011 (p. 87)
Top-selling light truck in the U.S. Ford F-Series, 607,854 sold in 2012 (p. 83)
Most popular light truck color in the U.S. White/white pearl, 24% of 2012 model year light
trucks (p. 83)
Top-selling passenger car in the U.S. Toyota Camry, 404,886 sold in 2012 (p. 82)