The Federal government has just approved Maryland’s new attempt to bring down health care prices with a cap on hospital spending. Since the 1970s, Maryland has been setting prices for procedures (it is the only state to do so), but controlling costs through bureaucratic fiat isn’t as simple as it might seem. The first system produced perverse incentives, and undoubtedly this system will produce all sorts of unexpected costs as well—perhaps, for example, doctors leaving the state to practice where they can make more money.

Ukraine will enjoy discount Russian natural gas for the first quarter of 2014. Kiev relies heavily on Moscow to keep the lights on, but until now was saddled with some of the highest prices in Europe for the privilege. Ukraine, teetering on the edge of a financial crisis, has been chafing at those prices, and the long-term, take-or-pay contracts they’re tied to, for some time. That dissatisfaction was one of the main drivers of its courtship of the European Union—a saga that came to an abrupt end back in November—and the cheap gas is Ukrainian President Yanukovych’s reward for choosing Russia over its Western suitors.

Cutting the fat in New York City’s chaotic pension system would increase efficiency, cut costs, and save the city billions. But smaller management boards would mean fewer sweet positions for union leaders, something Mayor Bill De Blasio likely isn’t prepared to sacrifice.

Devyani Khobragade is on her way home. The Indian diplomat, accused of mistreating and underpaying her nanny, was the focus of an international incident when US authorities had her arrested and strip-searched. In India, the retaliation for the alleged mistreatment of Khobragade was swift: defense barriers around the embassy in New Delhi were removed, US diplomats’ privileges revoked, and a torrent of criticism poured forth in newspapers and on TV.

the schools got some good news today when the Independent Budget Office released a study finding that students do not transfer out of charter schools at a higher rate than traditional ones. This may sound like a small finding, but complaints that charter had a high attrition rate have been a key talking points for critics for years. Special Education, however, remains a problem.

There will always be a France. President Francois Hollande, who long ago dumped his wife and the mother of his four children Segolene Roya, now lives in the Elysée Palace with partner Valerie Trierweiler. But rumors are swirling in Paris, at last making it into the news, that he’s also having an affair with actress Julie Gayet.

Why the world’s poorest nation is embracing Chinese investment over Western aid.

California Democrats have eked out a draw in their ongoing fight with Governor Jerry Brown (D) over what to do with the state’s projected $4.7 billion surplus. Governor Brown will propose a budget using the state’s extra revenue to both pay off long-term debt and let loose the cash flow for the state’s failing public school system. This still looks more like a California in decline than one on the rise.

Boosters of the shale boom like to highlight is the idea of energy independence—that, thanks to fracking, the US won’t need to rely on foreign sources of oil for much longer. It’s a nice-sounding story, but unfortunately it’s a myth. Even if the US produced all of the oil it consumed, the price we pay for oil will still be vulnerable to shocks from supply disruptions abroad. Barring a kind of oil isolationism—a difficult undertaking that would alienate our allies—or a complete transition away from oil as an energy source, that’s the reality we have to live with. But while energy independence is fantasy, there’s no question that fracking has improved America’s energy security, and that’s being borne out in the global price for oil.

Compliers of a new persecution watch-list found that Christian deaths due to religious violence doubled last year, and the prospects for this year don’t look any better. A recent UN report puts the CAR in an especially alarming light. According to the NBC news, UN officials are now saying, “this is Darfur, plus anarchy.” The public discussion about the CAR—and other places on the Open Doors list—has been comparatively restrained, even though the threat that some of these conflicts could spiral into genocide is very real.