The UK’s government has just promised to make Britain the country with the world’s “most generous tax regime” for shale gas. The FT reports that the government plans to reduce the tax of shale production to 30 percent—most of the rest of the energy industry pays 62 percent—while requiring shale companies to provide £100,000 in “community […]

From July 22–29 Catholic youth will gather in Rio de Janeiro for World Youth Day, a celebration initiated by Pope John Paul II in 1985. Every three years (two in this case) a different city hosts WYD, a week of prayer and talks that culminates in a Mass celebrated by the Pope. Attendance at WYD […]

Germany is relying more and more on the US as a principal export market, reports the WSJ: Exports to the U.S.—Germany’s second-largest overseas market after France—grew 3.5% in the first four months of 2013 compared with the same period last year, according to UniCredit. They fell 1.2% to France and 2% to China, Germany’s fifth-biggest […]

Secretary of State John Kerry was at a Syrian refugee camp in Jordan yesterday, tasked with the thankless job of being berated for his boss’s decision-making. The Secretary discovered that average Syrians pretty much agree with what WRM wrote in the WSJ last week: that this administration has a habit of substituting rhetoric for action. […]

Ben Skinner is one of the foremost experts on modern slavery, a former Team Mead researcher who went on to write an acclaimed book and a number of in-depth investigations into a prevalent and troubling phenomenon. Ben previously uncovered dirty truths about slave-caught fish that is sold by the supermarkets where many of us shop. […]

If there’s one thing you need to read today, it’s the transcript of General Michael Hayden’s interview with the Australian Financial Review. To say that excerpting it does it no justice is a massive understatement. Any VM readers interested in geopolitics, Asia, China’s rise, and cyber-espionage owe it to themselves to make their way through the […]

Having closed 11 percent of the city’s public schools in May, Chicago Public Schools (CPS) has now been forced to fire 2,000 employees, including 1,000 teachers—half of whom were tenured. The Chicago Tribune reports: “We’re not going to be able to cut our way out of this crisis,” [CPS Spokeswoman Becky] Carroll said. “Our revenues […]

Yesterday President Obama came out swinging in defense of his signature health care law, but among his top talking points is a comparison that has been really distorting the ACA debate. The LA Times reports: Obama touted recent news from New York, California, Oregon and other states that have reported that insurance companies will charge […]

Newly independent South Sudan has lowered its daily oil output by 20 percent in response to Sudan’s accusations that its new southern neighbor has supported rebel groups. Sudan has threatened to shut down the pipelines that travel through its territory unless the South agrees to stop fomenting rebellion. This comes just months after the two […]

Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami Arakan, an organization with links to al-Qaeda, recently declared Burma a new front for jihad in response to escalating ethnic tensions there. The group includes youth from Burma, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Pakistan, all of whom were trained in Karachi. After a central al-Qaeda office announced the group’s arrival in Burma, violence broke out, as the Long […]