So not only is the U.S. about to take the global lead in oil production; a new piece in the Wall Street Journal reports that the glut of cheap gas, which is difficult and expensive to transport abroad, has made America one of the cheapest places to manufacture many energy-intensive materials. This is particularly true in […]

The U.S. is about to overtake Saudi Arabia as the world’s biggest oil producer: Driven by high prices and new drilling methods, U.S. production of crude and other liquid hydrocarbons is on track to rise 7 percent this year to an average of 10.9 million barrels per day. This will be the fourth straight year […]

And you thought the Global War on Terror was over. The Washington Post reports: Over the past two years, the Obama administration has been secretly developing a new blueprint for pursuing terrorists, a next-generation targeting list called the “disposition matrix.” The matrix contains the names of terrorism suspects arrayed against an accounting of the resources […]

It’s no secret by now that the cost of a higher education has been rising for some time now. But these reports often fail to take into account the myriad of loans, financial aid programs, and tax credits that reduce or delay the cost for many students. Over the past ten years, the amount that […]

You know that the presidential election is narrowing considerably when the foreign press is starting to perspire at the prospect of a Republican victory. If Governor Romney does indeed prevail, we can gird ourselves for provincial headlines from global periodicals on November 7 along these lines.Like most people, and especially most elites outside the U.S., […]

Is Palestinian power shifting from Fatah to Hamas?Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the ruling emir of Qatar visited Gaza on Tuesday and pledged $400 million in aid projects. But more importantly than any aid, the Emir indirectly pledged his support for Hamas by even making the trip in the first place; it marks the first […]

Two periodicals that I read regularly have just published special anniversary issues. National Catholic Reporter has come out with a special issue to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council. Der Spiegel, the German news magazine, has a special issue devoted to another fiftieth anniversary, that one of a series […]

This week Indian authorities confirmed that Saudi Arabia has again extradited a member of an Indian militant group to India. This is the third extradition this year in the fledgling friendship between Saudi Arabia and India, provoked by Saudi preoccupation with the activities of its traditional ally, Pakistan. The WSJ reports on Saudi Arabia’s shift towards its friend’s […]

As the conflict in Syria drags on, religious minorities in Damascus are increasingly arming themselves and forming neighborhood defense groups for protection against the rebels. The Washington Post has more: “Because there is no army here, we are keeping the place safe,” said Abu Nasif, leader of a community defense group stationed on a street corner […]

Hundreds of homes were burned to the ground and three people were killed as ethnic tension once again boiled over to violence in Burma’s Rakhine state. Al Jazeera has the story: At least three people have been killed in clashes between Muslim Rohingya and Buddhists in western Myanmar, authorities say.The unrest in Rakhine state also left hundreds […]