Britain was rocked this week by one of the biggest scandals in the recent history of its health system—and it just might be a taste of things to come in the U.S.The scandal surrounds a recent hospital report’s findings that Stafford Hospital in Staffordshire ignored even the most basic standards of treatment to disastrous, and disgusting, […]

Rising oil and gas prices are hitting people hard enough, but now state legislators are raising gas taxes too, looking to find funds to repair aging transportation infrastructure: The infrastructure problems are especially severe among states in the Northeast but stretch across the entire nation, and they have been compounded by decades of underfunding and […]

We must enact a national service/baby bond program for America.There is a crisis of civic participation in America, one that marches in step with the erosion in social trust over the past several decades. Notwithstanding the Tea Party (not really an extra-parliamentary phenomenon anyway) and Occupy Wall Street movements, we’ve become increasingly a nation of […]

Last week, thousands of parents, students, and teachers rallied in cities across the country for National School Choice Week. Discussing the event, columnist Richard Garnett writes, It is not only wrongheaded, but also morally wrong, for our communities and governments to pretend that public education—that is, the education of the public—only happens in government-run schools, […]

India’s frail infrastructure is taking a toll on its economy as farming, mining and manufacturing have sputtered, driving growth forecasts down to their lowest level in 10 years. India’s GDP is expected to grow only 5 percent this fiscal year, well below earlier government projections. The FT reports: “The number is astonishingly low,” said Naina […]

When Obama took to the stump for health care reform, one promise came through loud and clear: “If you like your insurance, you can keep it.” That promise is officially about to be broken, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Millions of employees will soon be dropped from health insurance coverage as new provisions of […]

Ayatollah Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran, rebuffed an offer from Washington for direct talks today, saying “Negotiations with the US will not solve a problem because they have not fulfilled any of their promises in the last 60 years.”This is not the first time Iran has refused to talk directly to the U.S. Khamenei […]

Rwanda isn’t a country we typically associate with good news, but that’s exactly what we have here: The country doing extremely well on several metrics these days, particularly public health. The article, published by famous public health doctor Paul Farmer in the British Medical Journal, details the country’s vast accomplishments since the 1994 genocide. The […]

Another BRIC capital city, another air quality disaster. Move over, Beijing haze. There’s a new deadly, disgusting cloud of smog smothering a different town. New Delhi is the latest Asian mega-city to make the news for its outrageous air pollution. Delhi authorities tried to clear the skies. Metro lines were built, factories were moved out of the […]

Rebel forces attacked Damascus this morning, clashing with Assad’s forces in the east of the city. A show of strength against a teetering regime? Perhaps not. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the latest rebel move is probably an attempt by hard-line elements within the splintered opposition to snuff out last week’s effort by […]