Puerto Rico now has another problem on top of its ravaged finances and poor credit rating: citizens are fleeing the island in droves. Since the year 2000, Puerto Rico has lost nearly 300,000 people to the mainland—a large number of an island with a population of 3.6 million—and the exodus is only speeding up, with an average of 54,000 leaving the island over the past few years. And with the unemployment rate hovering near 15 percent, nearly double that of the mainland, the trend shows few signs of reversing.

Look out, China: your two biggest rivals in Asia are growing closer together. The Japanese defense minister, Itsunori Onodera, on a multi-day trip to India, met with his counterpart in Delhi today to discuss strengthening their countries’ collaboration in several key areas of defense. During the coming year, Japan and India will hold their fourth Defence Policy Dialogue, third “2 plus 2” Dialogue, and third joint naval exercise. Japan will play host to the Indian defense minister, and the two ministers have said they hope for deeper cooperation between their air forces.

Britain may be jumping on the higher-ed reform bandwagon, thanks to a new plan proposed by Labour Party MP John Denham. Rather than give students loans to attend college that prove difficult to pay back, the government would partner with businesses to jointly pay for the education of young employees in relevant fields. This is an interesting proposal with some merit, but can reforms like this coexist with liberal education?

Last month’s ruling that Detroit could reduce pensions in bankruptcy was a major setback from the city’s unions, but the latest defeat may be even bigger. Effective January 1st, all public workers in the city, with the exception of police and firefighters, will find their pensions frozen. What’s more, new and existing employees will find their defined-benefit plans replaced with a defined-contribution plan along the lines of a 401(k).

Turkey’s prime minister signaled a willingness on Sunday to allow a retrial of hundreds of army officers who were convicted of a conspiracy to overthrow the government. Former military chiefs, alongside hundreds of more junior officers, journalists, and opposition lawmakers, were sentenced to lengthy prison sentences in the so-called “Ergenekon” trial in 2013. “Our position on a retrial is a favorable one,” Erdogan told reporters in Istanbul.

MOOCs have always been most promising in the STEM fields, but lab science has long been a major weakness for digital learning. One professor at Stanford University may have found a solution to this problem: digital laboratories.

Happy New Year from the AI staff! Here’s what we’ve been reading this week:

1. MOOCs as sporting events.

2. Jobs of the future…or something.

3. A dangerous provocation.

4. Avoiding the picnic-table crisis.

5. Cigars go up in smoke.

6. New Year’s resolution: Stop lying to pollsters.

And, as always, readers are encouraged to let us know what you’re reading.

India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, an octogenarian economist, announced he would be stepping down from his position after elections next year. It was the first news conference the notoriously aloof and mellow Singh has given in three years, and he used it to fire biting comments at an opposition rival who is widely seen as the man who will replace him.

The US ended 2013 with a months-long spree of good news for the manufacturing sector. Total factory output hit a two-year high in November, a hot streak which continued in December where output grew nearly as fast. Manufacturing employment was going strong as well, hitting a high it hasn’t seen since 2011. We may never return to the mass employment in manufacturing of the type we saw in the mid-20th century, but America’s manufacturing sector looks well positioned to keep growing in the decades to come.

The Turkish military issued a demand yesterday that puts a new wrinkle in a scandal that has gripped the nation over the past few weeks. The military’s general staff accused judicial prosecutors and police of manipulating and falsifying evidence in two high-profile trials, which resulted in convictions on charges of treason and espionage for hundreds of officers, including former chiefs of the air force and navy. The accusations came on the heels of a surprising statement made by one of Prime Minister Erdogan’s advisors, who spoke of a “plot” against the military. Now, opposition parties and the military are calling for an investigation.