Amidst all the controversy surrounding fracking, it can be difficult to find reliable answers to questions about the U.S. shale boom. Fortunately, we’ve found two excellent pieces that can help.

If Iran’s Supreme Leader is in fact seriously ill and a succession struggle is about to break out, this casts a dark cloud over the prospects any sort of nuclear deal with the United States happening any time soon.

The majority of the alcohol industry’s profits come from Americans who consume about ten drinks per day. This is predatory, but higher taxes could help bring down consumption and ensure that people pay the full social cost of their drug use.

This week Norway, outraged over demands made by the International Olympic Committee, withdrew its name from consideration for the 2022 Winter Games. We hope it inspires other countries to give corrupt international bodies like the IOC the swift kick they deserve.

Russia may be difficult to deter at this point, with a highly motivated, overconfident and dismissive Putin believing that nothing can stand in his way.

Ugly disagreements are rearing their heads again in the EU, as Italy backs France in busting through its balanced budget commitments.

Turkey’s top cleric has announced plans for a new Islamic university that aims to supplant Islam’s equivalent of the Ivy League.

Russian assistance to rebel fighters in eastern Ukraine is as brazen as ever, as fighting rages around Donetsk airport. And they’re still calling this state of affairs a ceasefire.

We Americans talk about sex publicly all the time these days, but it rarely dawns on America’s cultural warriors that foreigners overhear these conversations. The consequences are not always trivial.

In recent years Arkansas has gone from all blue to nearly all red. The November senate race could deepen the state’s crimson hue.