Charter students consistently perform much better on math and reading than public school students, according to a new MIT study in Boston. What’s more, this achievement gap grows the longer the students stay in school. Boston Business Journal reports: The researchers found a gain each year in the proficiency of middle school students’ on the MCAS of […]

With the revelation this week that the NSA had allegedly spied on none other than Angela Merkel, President Obama finds himself in hot water once again over his administration’s intelligence gathering practices. Germany’s Foreign Minister summoned the US Ambassador to his offices for a formal chewing out, and a furious Merkel herself reportedly called the […]

The idea of delaying the penalty associated with the ACA’s individual mandate is becoming more and more popular among Democrats every day. WSJ: Sen. Kay Hagan (D., N.C.), who is up for re-election in 2014, said in a Thursday statement that the $95 penalty on individuals who fail to enroll in a health insurance plan should be […]

On Friday, a provincial court in Shandong upheld a life sentence for Bo Xilai, the once-rising star of Chinese politics whose sudden fall marked the biggest  crisis at the top levels of China’s political leadership in decades. Bo is now on his way to jail—that is, a jail reserved for elite political prisoners, north of […]

Is the University of Wisconsin going to do away with the credit-hour model? Perhaps not, but it’s taking a big step in that direction. This fall, the university system is beginning to accept applications for a new program called the “Flex Option,” which dispenses with credit-hours entirely. Essentially, rather than paying to take individual courses, […]

Algerian troops discovered a war chest of weapons stashed along Libya’s border, on Thursday—presumably a rainy day fund for the Islamic militants who wreak havoc in the region. Reuters reports: Algeria and Libya’s other neighbors are worried about a dangerous spillover from growing turmoil in that country as Tripoli’s fragile central government struggles to contain militias and Islamist […]

Canadian ambassador to the US Gary Doer reiterated his country’s support—and its need—for the Keystone XL pipeline on Tuesday. Doer appealed to North America’s desire for greater energy security, saying “it makes good sense to proceed with energy independence and go with Canada, go with your friend, your neighbor and your ally since the war of […]

Seriously. Everywhere. Except India.India’s central government finally took action to ease a worsening onion crisis by providing roughly $154 million in assistance for farmers and distributors in Maharashtra, one of the states experiencing the worst damage to this year’s onion crop. Although India has the largest area under onion cultivation in the world, onion prices have […]

Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored four goals, including a rocket volley that clocked in at 93mph, yesterday as his team, Paris St. Germain, triumphed over Anderlecht and put one foot in the next round of the Champion’s League. But “the Zlatan,” as he is sometimes called, and his team have a serious problem: François Hollande.“Clubs in France’s top […]

Yesterday’s Amnesty International report on the high civilian death toll of CIA’s secret drone program, and today’s report in the Washington Post on the Pakistani government’s complicity in that drone program, must be making Imran Khan a very happy man.The cricketer-turned-politician and leader of opposition party PTI has been the most vocal critic of the […]