The U.S. Transportation Security Administration announced that travelers with passports from fourteen countries will be super-duper-screened before boarding an airplane to the United States. This is apparently an effort to reduce terror attacks. Here are the fourteen countries (perhaps they consist of a new Axis of Evil? Share your thoughts below...)

1. Cuba
2. Iran
3. Sudan
4. Syria
5. Afghanistan
6. Algeria
7. Iraq
8. Lebanon
9. Libya
10. Nigeria
11. Pakistan
12. Saudi Arabia
13. Somalia
14. Yemen

The world's newest tallest building in the world opened today in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The 2,716 feet (828 meters) tall Burj Khalifa building is a mix of commercial, residential, and hotel.

The title of world's tallest building from 2004 to today was held by Taipei 101 in Taipei, Taiwan. The Burj Khalifa building also beat the Willis (formerly Sears) Tower in Chicago for number of stories - a whopping 160! There are no current projects in the pipeline or under construction that would take the title of world's tallest building from Burj Khalifa.

I'd like to point out several new articles from Contributing Writer Amanda Briney that have been posted in the past week or so...

• The Bering Land Bridge
  
• The Arctic Region
  
• Geography of Oceania
  
• The Northern Hemisphere
  
• The Southern Hemisphere
  
• Geography of China

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was pleased to announce that for the first time since 1995, Russia's total population saw a net increase. The Russian population grew about 20,000 in 2009 to 141.9 million (down from a peak of about 148 million in the early 1990s). While 20,000 might not be a lot of people, it does represent that Russia's population might be stabilizing and might not decrease to the 111 million that has been predicted for 2050. In addition Putin announced that life expectancy from birth is now nearly 69 years (versus above 82 in Japan). Is this good news for Russia or will population continue to decline through high death rates and brain drain?