“3,800 deaths ... and more on the way”

Rickety boats that should never have sailed Rickety boats that should never have sailed. Unscrupulous smugglers with no regard for life. And desperate people risking everything. That mix of fear, hope and greed has now produced a horrifying record. More people have drowned in the Mediterranean this year than ever before: at least 3,800. That's 73 a week. That's 13 every day. Here's a look at how we got to this point. They have no choice. They are Syrians, Afghans, Iraqis, escaping war and in search of a better life. Crossing the Mediterranean is so difficult, so dangerous, so expensive, that attempting the journey is a mark of desperation. A quarter of the world's refugees come from a single country. More than a million people have fled Somalia. Nearly three million have escaped Afghanistan. But it is Syria, wracked by civil war for more than five years, that produces the most refugees: nearly five million. President Obama vowed that the United States would resettle 10,000 Syrian refugees this year, and by August, the administration was saying it would surpass the target. But far more are claiming asylum in Europe. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said her country would take one million refugees.

In Other News After well over a century in the car business, Mercedes-Benz is just getting around to making its first luxury pickup truck. A concept version was revealed Monday. Plans for the truck were first announced in March, 2015, but this is the first detailed look we've had at the design. It's expected to go on sale late next year in parts of Europe, Africa, South America and Australia. But it won't be available in the United States, even though big, luxurious trucks are extremely popular here. It turns out the selfie Justin Timberlake took is "Not a Bad Thing.” There had been some question about whether the singer was in trouble after snapping a photo of himself inside a polling station in his hometown of Memphis, Tennessee. The singer had flown into town from Los Angeles to participate in early voting there where he's still registered. He posted the now-deleted photo on his Instagram account with a caption encouraging others to vote. But taking photos inside polling stations is illegal in Tennessee. But on Wednesday the district's attorney's office said it had no plans to investigate. "No one in our office is currently investigating this matter nor will we be using our limited resources to do so," the statement added.