More than 4.2 million people have security clearances for access to classified information, a number that vastly outstrips previous estimates and nearly rivals the population of metropolitan Washington. The number was disclosed in a new report that was mandated by Congress and marks the first time that the government has produced a detailed accounting of the clearances issued to federal, military and contract employees. Read full article > >

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How many security clearances have been issued? Nearly enough for everyone in the Washington area

Against a rousing football game on NBC, Fox’s broadcast of the Primetime Emmy Awards attracted an average of only 12.5 million people — the trophy show’s smallest audience since its famously disastrous 2008 broadcast on ABC. Last year’s Emmy show bagged about 1 million more viewers than Sunday’s, according to early reports (final national stats won’t be in until Tuesday morning). Read full article > >

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Emmy awards show attracts smallest audience since 2008

It will be of little solace as you sit in the post-Labor Day traffic morass this week that annually overwhelms Washington, but drivers in Mexico City, Beijing and New Delhi think they’ve got it far worse. Of course, all of those cities have upward of 12 million people, and none is blessed with roads as magnificent as the Capital Beltway, Interstate 270 or Interstate 66 to help them along. They’re among 11 foreign cities all judged to have worse traffic congestion than Los Angeles, the perennial winner of the worst-traffic award in national rankings in which Washington usually finishes second. Read full article > >

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District steers clear of global traffic traumas

African leaders raise more than $350m in aid for 12 million people facing starvation in the Horn of Africa’s worst drought in decades.

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African heads pledge famine aid

WILMINGTON, N.C. — People stocked up on food, boarded windows and gassed up their cars Tuesday as Hurricane Irene threatened to become the most powerful storm to hit the East Coast in seven years. Water, bread and batteries disappeared from store shelves. Lines formed at the pump. From Florida to Maine, residents were told to brace for flash flooding and power outages. Hundreds of miles south, Irene swirled through the Caribbean, giving a glimpse of what was to come. Homes were inundated with water, residents took refuge in schools and churches, and more than a million people were without electricity. One woman was killed in Puerto Rico. Read full article > >

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Irene weakens slightly to Category 1 hurricane but remains 1st big threat to US in years

DAMASCUS, Syria — Tens of thousands of people gathered in a Damascus suburb Wednesday to help unfurl an enormous Syrian flag in a mass display of support for embattled President Bashar al-Assad. The 18-yard-wide flag, which stretched 1.4 miles along Mezzeh highway in the capital, was considered an attempt by the government to project a sense of unity among Syria’s 23 million people as it expands a military crackdown on dissent elsewhere in the country. The state-backed rally was organized by Syrian Youth, a movement of young people sympathetic to the Assad government. The group sent text messages to millions of cellphone users Monday urging them to support a united Syria and to “contribute” by attending the unveiling of the flag. Read full article > >

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With flag rally, Syria papers over rifts

DAMASCUS, Syria — Tens of thousands of people gathered in a Damascus suburb Wednesday to help unfurl an enormous Syrian flag in a mass display of support for embattled President Bashar al-Assad. The 18-yard-wide flag, which stretched 1.4 miles along Mezzeh highway in the capital, was considered an attempt by the government to project a sense of unity among Syria’s 23 million people as it expands a military crackdown on dissent elsewhere in the country. The state-backed rally was organized by Syrian Youth, a movement of young people sympathetic to the Assad government. The group sent text messages to millions of cellphone users Monday urging them to support a united Syria and to “contribute” by attending the unveiling of the flag. Read full article > >

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With flag rally, Syria papers over rifts

REYKJAVIK, Iceland — Iceland closed its main international airport and canceled all domestic flights Sunday as a powerful volcanic eruption sent a plume of ash, smoke and steam 12 miles (20 kilometers) into the air. The eruption of the Grimsvotn volcano was far larger than one a year ago at another Icelandic volcano that upended travel plans for 10 million people around the world, but scientists said it was unlikely to have the same widespread effect. University of Iceland geophysicist Magnus Tumi Gudmundsson said this eruption, which began Saturday, was Grimsvotn’s largest eruption for 100 years. Read full article > >

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Iceland closes main airport as powerful volcanic eruption sends ash 12 miles (20 km) into air

Lady Gaga is the world’s most powerful person in entertainment, according to Forbes’s Celebrity 100 list. Former No. 1 Oprah Winfrey , who will say goodbye to her daytime talk show next Wednesday, fell to — gasp! — No. 2. Collectively, the 100 stars on the list made $4.5 billion over the past year. The Celebrity 100 rankings are determined by five factors: money, TV/radio, press, Web and social. According to Forbes, Gaga earned the top position “not just because of the $90 million she earned with a monster tour” but also because of her strong social media presence. Gaga has her 10 million Twitter followers to thank in part for her No. 1 ranking in the Web and social categories. Oprah , who was the biggest earner with $290 million, is followed by a measly 5.87 million people on Twitter. Read full article > >

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Oprah Winfrey loses Forbes Celebrity 100 crown to Lady Gaga

Flood the farms to save the cities. That’s the trade-off staring at the Army Corps of Engineers in Louisiana this week as a historically high Mississippi River rolls south, flooding towns in Mississippi on Wednesday, prompting evacuations farther south, and threatening the heavily industrialized petrochemical corridor running from Baton Rouge to New Orleans and beyond. About a million people live along that corridor, in addition to the New Orleans residents who endured a flooding nightmare six years ago when levees failed after Hurricane Katrina. Read full article > >

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In Louisiana, a choice between two floods

More than a million people watched the ceremony in which the late Pope John Paul II has been officially beatified.

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VIDEO: Pope John Paul II officially beatified

More than 24 million people tuned in to see Friday’s royal wedding on terrestrial TV.

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Wedding figures top 24m in the UK

Prince William and his newly titled bride the Duchess of Cambridge kiss on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, as more than a million people descend on central London for the occasion.

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Balcony kisses seal royal wedding

George Osborne will raise the income tax allowance to give 25 million people a cut of around £45 a year in the Budget, the BBC learns.

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Budget to increase tax threshold

As volleys of bullets flew in Abidjan Tuesday, the Abobo district, home to over a million people, appeared to be slipping from Laurent Gbagbo’s grasp.

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As Killings Continue, Ivory Coast’s Strongman Loses a Neighborhood