Scientists, economists and ordinary enthusiasts have all been excited, each for their own reasons, about the potential of 3D printers. We doubt many had this in mind: WikiWeapon, a small tech project founded by a group of young libertarians, has just received thousands of dollars to create a blueprint for a plastic gun which users […]

France’s Socialist government today revealed its solution to the country’s economic malaise: soaking the rich so it won’t have to cut spending. The Wall Street Journal has the details: [T]he government aims to lift revenue from household income taxes by 23% next year, while revenue from business taxation is expected to rise almost 30%.The budget […]

The U.S. wind energy market may be about to be hit by a massive bombshell. A wind power tax credit is set to expire at the end of the year, and if it is not renewed, the market could shrink by an astonishing 95 percent, according to the world’s largest manufacturer of wind turbines. With […]

Rebel commanders are calling a renewed assault on Aleppo a “decisive” battle, but in reality neither regime forces nor rebels have been able to make decisive gains in a civil war that is sputtering into stalemate. Martin Chulov reports for the Guardian: Fighting in Aleppo is reportedly heavier than at any point since rebel groups […]

The collapse of the U.S. Postal Service is rivaled only by Europe’s ongoing currency crisis as the slowest train wreck in progress. As in Europe, every month brings more bad news about the USPS’s shaky finances, and as in Europe, politicians seems unable or unwilling to make the necessary but difficult institutional changes.This week, the Postal […]

In case the mining strikes weren’t bad enough, Moody’s Investors Service lowered South Africa’s debt rating one notch from A3 to Baa1 on Thursday. The downgrade is largely in response to the continuing political unrest in the country, where the mine strikes are slowly spreading to other industries, choking the economy and revealing the powerlessness of […]

This was the real trial, and it is now over. Without the involvement of a judge or jury or lawyers, Bo Xilai has been found inconvenient to the Party.Any other decision was impossible. Bo was a bigger threat to the Chinese leadership system than anything since the Gang of Four. The BBC reports: …Mr Bo’s career […]

Student debt and undergraduate enrollment may still be growing, but grad schools are starting to feel the pinch. The New York Times reports that graduate program enrollment has fallen for the second year in a row: The declines followed surges in enrollment in 2008 and 2009 as many unemployed workers sought a haven during the recession. […]

The $10,000 BA is an idea whose time has come. In response to a call to action in Governor Rick Perry’s 2011 State of the State address, universities across Texas have been trying to figure out how to offer low-cost degrees. While some universities have discounted some of their degrees, only the University of Texas […]

Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda vowed never to compromise with China over the disputed Senkaku Islands on Wednesday in New York: . . .they are an integral part of our territory in the light of history and of international law. . . . It is very clear and there are no territorial issues as such. […]