China's schoolkids beat American students in all academic categories

The academic performance of American schoolchildren hasn't budged in two decades, despite billions of dollars in increased funding.

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Politics & Current Affairs
  • The results come from the PISA survey, OECD's triennial study of 15 year-old students across the world.
  • Compared to other OECD member nations, American students performed especially poorly in math.
  • Alarmingly, only 14 percent of American students were able to reliably distinguish fact from opinion in reading tests.
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Russia to replace Wikipedia with the 'Great Russian Encyclopaedia'

The encyclopedia offers more "reliable" information than Wikipedia, said Russian President Vladimir Putin.


Mikhail Svetlov / Contributor
Politics & Current Affairs
  • A government resolution said the measure will ensure that "reliable information that is constantly updated on the basis of scientifically verified sources of knowledge."
  • The move is likely part of Russia's effort to crack down on citizens' internet access.
  • Russia has centuries-old history of censorship, and state officials have even been observed to edit Wikipedia articles to serve Russian interests.
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Kamala Harris drops out of 2020 presidential race

How will Harris' departure affect the remaining 15 candidates in the Democratic field?

Photo credit: Heidi Gutman / Contributor
Politics & Current Affairs
  • U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris of California announced Tuesday that she was ending her presidential campaign due to a lack of financial resources.
  • Harris had once been considered one of the top candidates in the Democratic field, but her support has been falling in national polls since the summer.
  • Former Vice President Joe Biden currently leads the Democratic field, with an average of 27 percent support in national polls.
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Spot, Boston Dynamics' robot dog, has joined a police squad

The semiautonomous could help to protect officers, but some are concerned about how exactly police plan to use it.

MSP
Politics & Current Affairs
  • Spot is a four-legged, semiautonomous robot developed by Boston Dynamics.
  • The robot has been used in at least two police "incidents," according to documents obtained by the ACLU.
  • The ACLU said that government agencies should be more transparent about how they plan to use robots in the field.
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