Paul Rudd, 52, the affable actor best known for playing “Ant-Man,” was named People magazine’s sexiest man alive, joining the likes of Idris Elba, George Clooney and Bradley Cooper. Rudd played the kind boyfriend of Lisa Kudrow’s wacky Phoebe on TV comedy “Friends” and later took larger roles in comedies like “Knocked Up” before playing Ant-Man in the Marvel superhero movie, followed by a sequel and appearances as the character in “Captain A

　The percentage of Americans who identify as Christian dropped 15 percentage points over the past 14 years, while those who consider themselves religiously unaffiliated increased by 14 percentage points, a Pew study released indicates. 　Pew‘s National Public Opinion Reference Survey found that the majority of Americans - 63 percent - consider themselves Christian, down from 78 percent in 2007. Meanwhile, 29 percent of adults list their religion as “none,” meaning they conside

　Enrollment of foreign students in US colleges and universities plunged 15 percent in the 2020-21 school year even though American institutions remain in high esteem, research showed. 　Fewer than 1 million foreign students enrolled for either online or in-person classes at US universities in the 2020-21 school year, marking a 15 percent year-over-year decrease from the previous school year, according to data from the Institute of International Education analyzed by the Pew Research Center

　The percentage of US employers requiring workers to get vaccinated against COVID-19 has flattened at 36 percent, according to a Gallup poll. 　According to the Nov. 29-Dec. 5 Gallup tracking survey, 36 percent of workers said their employers are requiring COVID-19 vaccination. That was unchanged from October tracking survey results. 　Meanwhile, 55 percent of US workers supported COVID-19 vaccine requirements at work, while 35 percent of workers opposed them. 　Gallup’s tracking survey r

　North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is the third most-searched politician by internet users worldwide this year, data showed . 　Online searches for Kim totaled a monthly average of 1.9 million, behind US President Joe Biden, who topped the list with 7 million searches, and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson with 2 million, according to German data analytics firm Statista. 　Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel ranked fourth with 1.4 million searches. 　The most-searched keyword related to the

More than 22 million Afghans will suffer “acute food insecurity” this winter, UN agencies said, warning the already unstable country faces one of the world‘s worst humanitarian crises. The crisis is already bigger in scale than that facing Yemen or Syria, and worse than any food insecurity emergency apart from the Democratic Republic of Congo, officials said. According to the statement issued by the World Food Program and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, one in two A

　South Korea has the third-highest ratio of youth “not in education, employment or training,” or NEET youth, among members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a report showed. 　The average monthly number of NEET people aged 15-29 in the country is estimated at 1.56 million in the January-October period, according to the report from the Korea Employment Information Service. 　Of the total, 778,000 were preparing for employment or seeking jobs, with another

　Isolation. Anxiety. Uncertainty. The stresses of the coronavirus pandemic have taken a toll on Americans of all ages, but a new poll finds that teens and young adults have faced some of the heaviest struggles as they come of age during a time of extreme turmoil. 　Overall, more than a third of Americans ages 13 to 56 cite the pandemic as a major source of stress, and many say it has made certain parts of their lives harder. But when it comes to education, friendships and dating, the disruption

　The United States is by far the biggest contributor to global plastic waste in the world, according to a new report submitted to the federal government that called for a national strategy to tackle the growing crisis. 　Overall, the US contributed around 42 million metric tons in plastic waste in 2016 - more than twice as much as China and more than the countries of the European Union combined, according to the analysis.  　On average, each American generates 130 kilograms of plastic wast

The governor of an island province in the central Philippines said Sunday at least 72 people died in the devastation wrought by Typhoon Rai in more than half of the towns that managed to contact him, bringing the death toll in the strongest typhoon to batter the country this year to at least 146. Gov. Arthur Yap of Bohol province said 10 others were missing and 13 injured, and suggested the fatalities may still considerably increase with only 33 out of 48 mayors able to report back to him due

Germany is tightening travel restrictions for people coming from Britain in response to the rapid spread of the omicron variant there. The country's national disease control center, the Robert Koch Institute, added Britain to its list of “virus variant areas” late Saturday. This means anyone traveling from the U.K. to Germany must enter a mandatory quarantine for 14 days, regardless of vaccination status. The new restrictions, which will go into effect at midnight Sunday, come as

　Some 2.9 billion people - 37 percent of the world’s population - have still never used the internet, the United Nations said, despite the COVID-19 pandemic driving people online. 　The UN’s International Telecommunication Union estimated that 96 percent of those 2.9 billion live in developing countries. 　The agency said the estimated number of people who have gone online rose from 4.1 billion in 2019 to 4.9 billion this year, partially due to a “COVID connectivity boost.&rdq

　Olaf Scholz became the ninth Chancellor of Germany on Wednesday, ending the era of Angela Merkel. Among the 707 lawmakers of the German parliament Bundestag who participated in the voting, Scholz earned 395 votes, indicating the first political transition of Germany in 16 years. 　Although Merkel was a center-right wing politician from the Christian Democratic Union while Scholz is a center-left wing politician of the Social Democrat Party, they have shown profound mutual respect. Scholz prais

　Tel Aviv is the world’s most expensive city to live in, as soaring inflation has pushed up living costs globally, according to a survey.  　The Israeli city climbed five rungs to top the list for the first time in the authoritative ranking compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit. 　The Worldwide Cost of Living Index is compiled by comparing prices in US dollars for goods and services in 173 cities.  　Tel Aviv climbed the rankings partly due to the strength of the national