In an effort to make MOOCs a more serious credential, providers are looking to create the kinds of for-credit courses that employers will take seriously, and LinkedIn wants in. Yesterday LinkedIn reported that it is partnering with Coursera, Udacity and EdX, along with some lesser-known MOOC platforms, to create “Direct-to-Profile certifications,” which appear as an official credential […]

Flashback to 2005: the NYT reports on, and seems to endorse, worries among Democrats that Obamacare could become the administration’s Hurricane Katrina, a catastrophe that permanently damages public faith in its competence and trustworthiness. But it does cover the latest defense of Obamacare making the rounds: [U]nlike Mr. Bush, who faced confrontational but occasionally cooperative […]

As Muslims the world over commemorate Ashura, the death anniversary of Prophet Muhammad’s grandson Hussain, the day serves as a grim reminder of the deepening fault lines between Sunni and Shia.In two days, more than 61 people were killed in attacks targeting Shia pilgrims and security officials designated to protect them. In multiple cities in Pakistan, […]

Will the market still lend to cities after they’ve gone bankrupt? Jefferson County, Alabama is looking to find out, announcing plans to sell nearly $2 billion in new debt on its sewer system, only two years after filing for bankruptcy in 2011. Many investors are skeptical that this is a good investment—after all, 2011’s bankruptcy […]

A blueprint for reform was released today as Chinese leaders met for the fourth day of a major policy-making conference. Social and economic issues were high on the agenda, and changes to the country’s oppressive one-child policy appear to be forthcoming, the WSJ reports: The document said China would significantly ease its one-child policy, allowing […]

A little more than a week ago two French journalists were kidnapped in Kidal, a town in northern Mali, driven into the desert and murdered. Today a prosecutor in Paris named the chief suspect: Baye Ag Bakabo, a drug trafficker and known member of al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.Close to a year after an offensive […]

Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto has his country on the precipice of historic constitutional reforms to its energy sector. Mexico’s oil and gas resources were nationalized in 1938, and while the country’s state-owned oil company Pemex has long been held as a point of cultural pride by many Mexicans, its production has stagnated in recent […]

The details of the proposal made by the US and other leading powers negotiating with Iran (the P5+1) at the recent Geneva talks are still unclear, but were designed to freeze the nuclear program so that Iran would not be able to continue development during the negotiations for a final agreement, expected to take six […]

In what feels like the first bit of good news for President Obama in months, US oil production surpassed imports last month for the first time since 1995. It was the highest October production in a quarter century, a reflection of the remarkable transformative power of fracking. Reuters reports: It is the latest milestone reached by […]

President Obama went live earlier today to announce a “fix” to the cancellations that have been fueling public anger about his health care law. Democrats nervous about their re-election prospects—and the explainer-in-chief himself, Bill Clinton—have been pushing for a way to allow people to keep plans they liked, and Obama now claims to have provided […]