Facebook Files for I.P.O.

On February 1, Facebook filed for an I.P.O. (Initial Public Offering), taking the first measure towards becoming a publicly traded company.  Facebook is aiming to raise $5 billion from its I.P.O., which, according to The Economist, would give it market capitalization (total value of tradable shares) similar to that of McDonald's.  Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's founder and CEO, owns 28% of the company, which will be worth approximately $28 billion.  Facebook's high value is due in large part to its ability to target individuals with advertisements which pertain to their particular interests.

Negative Press Coverage Plagues Front-Runner Romney

According to the Pew Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism, Mitt Romney is receiving more negative press coverage than at any other point in the GOP race.  Romney, who won the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary, will compete against remaining GOP candidates in South Carolina's primary on Saturday.

According to Pew's analysis, this increase in negative coverage for Romney may reflect opponents' efforts to attack the current frontrunner through negative advertisements.  In particular, negative discourse regarding Romney revolved around his career at Bain Capital.  According to an article on the Politics and Government Blog of the New York Times, GOP candidate opponent Newt Gingrich described Romney's work at Bain as "rich people figuring out clever legal ways to loot a company."

According to the same report, Ron Paul is currently receiving more positive coverage than any other candidate.  Almost half of the coverage of Ron Paul over the past week has been positive; according to the report, Paul has been described in many press accounts as "having little chance of winning the nomination." 

Of all GOP candidates, Rick Perry currently is criticized the most, with his negative coverage nearly double his positive coverage.  Coverage of President Obama from January 9, 2012 to January, 15, 2012 included fewer positive mentions than any of the GOP candidates.  Only 10% of coverage regarding Obama was positive.  These data come from an analysis of more than 11,000 news websites and mentions on Twitter.

Obama Loses Latino Approval with Rise in Deportations

The majority of Latinos in the United States oppose the way in which the Obama administration is addressing the deportation of illegal immigrants, according to a survey conducted by the Pew Hispanic Center.   

Since 2009, under President Obama, deportations have increased to an annual average of 400,000.  This represents a 30% increase in annual average of deportations since the second term of the Bush administration and is almost double the annual average of deportations during the first term of the Bush administration. 

A vast majority (81%) of the 11.2 million immigrants in the United States without authorization are of Hispanic origin.  Individuals of Hispanic origin constitute an even larger percentage of deported unauthorized immigrants, with 97% of those deported in 2010 identifying as having Hispanic origin. 

Not all Latinos are cognizant of the increase in deportations during Obama's presidency.  A little over a third of Latinos polled (36%) responded that the Bush administration deported about the same number of immigrants as the Obama administration deports currently.  Fewer than half of the Latinos polled reported knowledge of the increase in deportations under the Obama administration; 41% claimed that deportations had increased during Obama's presidency.

Foreign-born Hispanics are much more likely than native-born Hispanics to be aware of the increase in deportations since Obama assumed office.  Whereas 55% of foreign-born Hispanics were aware of this trend, only 25% of native-born Hispanics were.  Awareness of the increase in deportations is most prevalent among Hispanic individuals who have greater chances of being deported.  Almost three-quarters of Hispanic immigrants who do not have United States citizenship or a green card, a population with a high risk of being deported, are aware that deportations have increased under the Obama administration.

Those who disapprove of Obama's policy are likely to be those who are aware that deportations have increased under the Obama administration.

Countries Compared on Nuclear Security

The Economist ranked 32 countries according to nuclear security, measured by their ability to safely contain nuclear material which could potentially be used in the creation of nuclear weapons.  The 32 countries included are those which possess over one kilogram of the type of nuclear material used to construct weapons.  The nuclear security index was developed by the Economist Intelligence Unit and the Nuclear Threat Initiative.  According the the Nuclear Threat Initiative, measures of nuclear security include "indicators in physical protection, control and accounting, personnel and security infrastructure, security during transport and response capabilities."  Countries with nuclear weapons tend to rank lower on nuclear security due to the fact that they are in possession of larger quantities of nuclear materials.  Britain received a higher score on the nuclear security index than any other country known to possess nuclear weapons.

Ranking Countries by Misery Index

On Monday, The Economist published their 2011 "Misery Index", which is determined by a given country's rate of unemployment and inflation.  The Economist ranked 92 countries on this index, with Macedonia displaying the highest level of misery due to instability following the death of President Gligorov. Qatar's combined unemployment and inflation rates of roughly 2.5% earned it the lowest level of misery in The Economist's study.