The Economist is adding its voice to the growing chorus of critics of U.S. corn ethanol policy: The 36 billion gallons of ethanol-equivalent biofuels the EPA requires to be produced by 2022 is now almost certainly a lost cause….Rather than rig things still further, as the farm lobby would like, there is one simple fix the EPA can […]

Gideon Rachman had a good column yesterday pointing out that the French have been notably absent as any kind of force in Europe ever since Francois Hollande took up the reins of power in Paris: From Jean Monnet to Jacques Delors, the French have always prided themselves on providing the intellectual leadership for the European […]

A massive sex scandal has just hit the BBC with the publication of a new book accusing two former Doctor Who producers of using their power to take advantage of underage fans throughout the 1980s. The Daily Mail reports: The next year, on the promise of Doctor Who photographs, [the book’s author] Marson visited the studio again. […]

Earlier today, Cyprus reached a deal with the EU and the IMF to get its desperately needed €10 billion bailout package. The outlines of the deal are very broadly similar to the one floated last week and then voted down in Cyprus’ parliament, but with several notable twists: while depositors with less than €100,000 in […]

Americans are moving to where the money is, says Michael Barone. Cities and states with high taxes and unwieldy regulations are losing ground to those that have taken the opposite approach. The result is staggering demographic and economic growth in places like Austin, Dallas, and Raleigh, while New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Providence and Los Angeles continue […]

The Department of Homeland Security is developing a new weapon in its war against foreign hackers: high school students. To attract young candidates to the field, various groups collaborating with DHS are holding competitions for talented youngsters with a penchant for online mischief. The NYT reports: With military exercises like NetWars, the competition had more the […]

California’s bankrupt cities can’t seem to stay out of court. Late last year, Calpers, the state pension fund, sued San Bernardino over its attempt to postpone its pension payments so it could keep basic services running. Now it’s Stockton that is being sued, this time by its Wall Street creditors, who are complaining that the […]

Following the US-brokered reconciliation between Israel and Turkey last week, officials on both sides have cooperation in sight, though improvements in relations will probably progress by baby steps. The FT reports on the early rewards of Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu’s apology to the Turks: [A] Turkish official said the instability in Syria was not the primary […]

Newly-elected South Korean President Park Geun-hye is considering a “green détente” with Pyongyang. North Korea has the world’s third-highest deforestation rate, in large part because during the 1990s it clear-cut its forests to make way for farmland. But clear-cut land leads to heavy erosion, and much of North Korea’s topsoil has washed off, making it even […]

Over the last couple of months, we’ve been working to improve our coverage and provide a more interesting and more useful experience for readers. We’ve brought on staff and with the extra capacity we are trying to cover more subjects in more depth.  We want to keep Via Meadia a personal blog with a personal […]