The Walk Free Foundation, based in Australia, estimates that there are about 45 million slaves in the world today, and that the majority of those slaves live in India, (18.4 million), followed by China (3.4 million), Pakistan (2.1 million), Bangladesh (1.5 million), and Uzbekistan (1.2 million). The Foundation released its Global Slavery Index which has a wealth of information about this incredible situation. It is hard to believe that despite laws against slavery in every country on the planet that this practice is so pervasive.
Reuters has published a satellite map of the Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs) that are currently transporting petroleum from the Middle East to Asia. The yellow dots on the map indicate the location of VLCCs on 11 April–as much as 200 million barrels of oil were floating on the oceans on that date. In the article, Reuters also shows the location of crude carriers that were waiting in line to offload their cargo at various ports in Asia. The traffic jam is incredible as traders are waiting for the price of oil to rise so that greater profits can be made when the oil is offloaded.
The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research has released poll results which show a very high level of disillusionment among Americans with their political system. According to the poll:
“Seventy percent of Americans say they feel frustrated about this year’s presidential election, including roughly equal proportions of Democrats and Republicans….. More than half feel helpless and a similar percent are angry.
“Nine in 10 Americans lack confidence in the country’s political system, and among a normally polarized electorate, there are few partisan differences in the public’s lack of faith in the political parties, the nominating process, and the branches of government.
“Americans do not see either the Republicans or the Democrats as particularly receptive to new ideas or the views of the rank-and-file membership.”
These results suggest that the American political system is far more fragile than is popularly believed.
World Politics News 
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