Has the world’s most annoying movie character taken up residence in Tehran?Either that, or inept Iranian news editors have used a fake, photo-shopped picture of a missile into which some prankster had placed the image of the world’s least favorite Star Wars character.According to The Atlantic Wire, which did heroic detective work in tracking down […]

Every student in America thinking of going to law school on borrowed money needs to read this article in New York magazine. Every dean of every law school in the country, every parent or teacher giving young people career advice needs to read it. Every policy wonk thinking about the future of American society needs […]

When it comes to smoking in America, there is some good news and some bad news. The good news is that America seems to be making progress in the war on smoking. While smoking remains (appropriately) legal across the country, the number of smokers is steadily falling due to the high price of cigarettes and […]

The outbreak of large scale clashes in Syria’s largest city and commercial capital opens a new chapter in what still looks to be the slow decline and fall of the House of Assad. From the beginning of the revolt, keeping Damascus and Aleppo relatively peaceful and calm has been the key to Assad’s longevity.Syria’s political […]

An analysis of recent jobs figures at Investor.com reveals a disturbing development: the biggest beneficiaries from the economic recovery are Boomers, while everyone else is getting the shaft.Since the Obama administration took office, there has been an epochal shift. Young workers have continued to lose jobs and incomes, while older workers have actually gained ground.In […]

This morning we discussed the bad economic news from the most recent jobs report. Hiring is slowing, the workforce is shrinking, and private sector jobs are not growing quickly enough.For a visual representation of the problem, a new chart from Calculated Risk puts the problem in perspective (h/t Business Insider):

Kashmir may be the most dangerous place in the world. It is the only place where two nuclear powers have an active boundary dispute, and terrorism and political violence are also in the mix.Things may be about to get much, much worse.Kashmir is a Muslim-majority province which ended up in India back when Pakistan and […]

The latest twist in the Chen drama: the US and China have announced a set of new agreements and steps under which the blind “barefoot lawyer” and his family will be free to come to the United States. As the FT reports, “Assuming this new deal stands, this has been, on balance, a good week […]

At the beginning of France’s election season, German Chancellor Angela Merkel took the unprecedented step of crossing country lines to campaign for Nicolas Sarkozy, and showed little desire for a relationship with Socialist challenger François Hollande. But with Hollande now leading in the polls ahead of this weekend’s election, Merkel is changing her tune: In […]

Lots of people like to say that the spread of communications technologies and social media across the globe promotes press freedom and makes governments more accountable in societies ruled by repressive regimes. But a recent Freedom House report reveals that it’s not that simple. As this Radio Free Europe summary of the report shows, press freedom throughout the world […]