Forget the apple. Saudi Arabia is offering its best teachers a Bimmer

Saudi Arabia has big plans for how it's going to reward its best teachers. And these aren't $500 Christmas bonuses we're talking about, or a used Ford Pinto. According to Arab News, the Saudi government will offer top educators cash bonuses of between $2700 and $32,000, as well as luxury cars, like BMWs.

The Ministry of Education is responsible for choosing the winners, and some have already been chosen for this year. The awards, according to the ministry, are aimed at promoting excellence in education. Reportedly, there will also be similar rewards for top students. Lucky kids.

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Pro-Putin monks plan to rescue Russia from its mozzarella shortage

The disagreement between Russia and the West has led to shortages of popular foreign foods from Russian shelves, such as imported cheeses. Gone are the ubiquitous mozzarella, the less-known morlacco and smoked ricotta. But Russian lovers of Italian cheese have received some apparently divine intervention — a cheese-making monastery.

Now, these aren't just any old monks. The Telegraph reports that the Valaam monastery is a favorite stop for Russia's President Vladimir Putin. Father Agapy, the monastery's agricultural manager, went to Italy to learn how to make Italian cheese, so he could bring the technique back to the monks, who live near St. Petersburg.

The monastery has already purchased new milk and cheese processing machines and planned to get into cheese-making even before the import ban went into effect. The fortuitous timing, though, is giving them a bit of a monopoly on the market.

Hollywood gave us a taste of the Ebola outbreak three years ago

In the 2011 bio-thriller film "Contagion," a new infectious disease passes from animals into humans and launches a pandemic that kills millions around the world. The film follows the reactions of people as public health workers try first to contain the disease and then to launch a vaccination program to protect survivors. Sound familiar?

The movie, while fictional, was based on extensive research at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — where the current campaign against Ebola is being waged. PRI's The World talked to the film's screenwriter, Scott Z. Burns, about what he learned at the CDC and how that shaped the movie — and how the film relates to what's going on today.

In particular, both the movie and today's campaign against Ebola focus heavily on "contact tracking" — finding those who are infected and then tracking down who they may have been in contact with since becoming contagious. While the virus in the movie is far more contagious than Ebola, Burns says the film captures the reality of how scientists fight diseases like Ebola.

This magazine spread celebrates the dead among us

In Sedlec Ossuary, a chapel beneath a church in the Czech Republic, bones are used to make crosses and other decorations on the walls. In Indonesia, some indigenous people don't bury their dead, but rather leave them out in bamboo cages to decompose. Beneath the bustling streets of Paris lie the Catacombs, where thousands of Paris's dead have been buried.

The Atlantic has gathered a collection of photographs of "crypts, catacombs, chapels and memorials around the world" where human remains are kept on public display. They stretch from Europe to Africa to Asia. Some are meant to memorialize those who died. Others are meant to inspire thoughts of the afterlife in worshippers. All represent lives from centuires ago and are, well, kind of spooky.

Iraq's chemical weapons hurt American soldiers — and the US kept it a secret

The New York Times this week reported a disturbing story out of Iraq: Hundreds of US soldiers, sailors and Marines were exposed to old, but still potent, Iraqi chemical weapons in the aftermath of the Iraq War. They never received proper treatment, nor appropriate recognition, because of government orders and policies. Many of them continue to suffer the effects to this day.

The stunning story, which was the most retweeted story The New York Times has ever tweeted, was written by C.J. Chivers, who spoke with PRI's The Takeaway about the report. Chivers told The Takeaway that he thinks the military's "culture of secrecy" is responsible for soldiers not getting proper medical treatment, let alone medals for the risks they took and the wounds they suffered.

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Weather around the world

People in Bermuda are preparing for Gonzalo as the category 4 hurricane roars toward the island nation, according to the Washington Post. The storm currently has sustained winds of 145 mph and is expected to pass within 29 miles of the island on Friday. The last Atlantic hurricane to make landfall was Hurricane Sandy in 2012. Bermuda was last hit by a hurricane in 2003.