Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, whom Time magazine called “one of America’s worst mayors”, is now long gone from office, having resigned in 2008 facing a litany of felony charges that would have made Boss Tweed blush in his day. But prosecutors are still uncovering the full extent of the corruption. The Detroit News has the […]

By now it’s far too late to avert the catastrophic Libyan Afterparty, but Libya’s new government is trying anyway, closing its borders with Algeria, Sudan, Niger, and Chad, and declaring martial law in the barren south. The BBC: A parliament spokesman, Omar Humidan, said the move was aimed at stemming the flow of illegal immigrants and goods. […]

Sergei Magnitsky was a 37-year-old lawyer who was beaten, deprived of vital medical attention, and left to die in a Russian prison nearly a year after uncovering a massive fraud allegedly committed by Russian officials to the tune of $230 million. The very people whom Magnitsky implicated in the fraud arrested him in 2008; a […]

Energy companies are already focused on the shale boom in the U.S., but now they are increasingly turning to America’s neighbor to the north. Both the U.S. and Canada are sitting atop massive quantities of oil and gas that could fetch high prices on the world market. Both countries face unique sets of challenges in […]

A recent article in the Economist suggests that President Obama, contrary to most analysis on the subject, was actually right to set a deadline to pull American troops out of Afghanistan. The approaching deadline, the Economist argues, seems to be spurring warring parties in Afghanistan and Pakistan into action: Minds are being focused because of the […]

Last week we urged congressional Republicans to make a deal with Obama and accept higher tax rates on the wealthy in return for reasonable concessions on entitlement spending. Now House Speaker Boehner is edging in this direction. The FT reports: People familiar with the negotiations said Mr Boehner was proposing to allow tax rates to rise for […]

The standoff between Iraq’s central government and the de facto independent Kurdish Regional Government has taken a turn for the worse. Over the weekend, at least 26 people were killed in attacks in the ethnically mixed disputed territories (which the KRG calls “Kurdish areas not controlled by the KRG”).It’s unclear who exactly is responsible for the […]

A word of advice for those toiling through law school: Skip the fancy electives.The Wall Street Journal reports that law schools are coming under increasing scrutiny for “quirky” elective courses like “Understanding Obama” and “Bloodfueds.” These are almost always offered in the third (and final) year of law school and, unlike offerings during the first two years, […]

Spain’s youth unemployment rate, now over 50 percent, is the stuff of nightmares for economists. But even those young Spaniards lucky enough to be gainfully employed are beginning to learn that having a job doesn’t guarantee you’ll get paid. As the New York Times reports, many Spanish businesses are so strapped for cash that they can no longer […]

At age 73, Silvio Berlusconi is finally ready to close down the “bunga bunga” parties and settle down with one woman (again). At least that’s what he’s been telling the Italian public on talk shows this week, announcing his engagement to, apparently, his one true love discovered after a lifetime search, the 27-year-old Francesca Pascale. The […]