For the Record

‘I still feel like I had to do it.’

Dylann Roof, in a statement before being sentenced to death for the killing of nine African-American parishioners in Charleston, S.C., in June 2015

$20 million

Amount of cash hidden in a mattress box in an apartment in Westborough, Mass., seized by authorities who were investigating an Internet telecom company suspected of being a pyramid scheme

52 million

Age in years of fossilized tomatillos that paleontologists found in Patagonia, Argentina, making the plants at least 25 million years older than previously believed

5,000

Estimated number of black holes that scientists have discovered in the Chandra Deep Field South, in deep space; it’s the highest concentration of supermassive black holes ever seen

‘Anytime, anywhere.’

Unnamed North Korean foreign ministry spokesman, on the nation’s preparedness to deploy an intercontinental ballistic missile, a week after dictator Kim Jong Un announced that his country had reached the “final stage” of readying a test of its launch capabilities

The Joshua Tree

U2 announced a tour to celebrate the album’s 30th anniversary

GOOD WEEK

BAD WEEK

Pioneer Cabin Tree

A storm toppled California’s historic giant sequoia, whose trunk had a tunnel

‘There are no homes left.’

Muhammad Shafiq, refugee, describing the Burmese militia’s ongoing counterinsurgency against the Rohingya, a long-oppressed Muslim ethnic group in the mostly Buddhist nation; amid reports of widespread rape of girls and women, Human Rights Watch calculated that soldiers have razed at least 1,500 homes in the Rakhine state, where Shafiq is from

‘If you’re tired of arguing with strangers on the internet, try talking with one of them in real life.’

President Obama, calling for more proactive and personal democracy during his farewell address on Jan. 10

‘I want you to know that I see you.’

Tracee Ellis Ross, black-ish star, dedicating her Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Television Series, Musical or Comedy, to women and people of color “whose stories, ideas, thoughts are not always considered worthy and valid and important”

SOURCES: ASSOCIATED PRESS; NASA; NEW YORK TIMES; SCIENCE