Bloomberg The auto show in Detroit this week is stuffed with cars. Not 6,000-pound SUVs or spacecraft-hauling pickup trucks, but regular old sedans and coupes—spinning on the industry’s greatest stage like so many boring vanilla cakes. Of the 20 or so new models unveiled at the North American International Auto Show, about half were low to the ground. Granted, …

  Frankfurt / DPA It’s too soon to sound the all clear, but international conservation organizations have recorded a modest rise in the number of mountain gorillas in the volcanic mountains of central Africa. Estimates put the number in Congo, Rwanda and Uganda at 800. This means that they are still highly endangered, but the population has risen from just …

  Cologne / DPA Dietmar is one of the bestsellers today. The youths listen spellbound as he tells them how 35 years ago he robbed a bank — because he needed money so he could marry his girlfriend. He almost got away with it, escaping for a whole year before he was arrested, charged and sentenced to four years in …