The Great 9th, as the former cotton-picker and City Hall janitor who became Los Angeles’s first African American City Council member called it, is losing its position as a hub of black political power.  The LA Times reports: Two generations [after Lindsay], with the seat open and the March 5 election approaching, the area that […]

Mexicans don’t want to leave their native country any more than Americans do theirs, according to a new Gallup Poll. Only 11 percent of Mexicans said they would emigrate if given the chance, down from 21 percent in 2007 and equal to the 11 percent of Americans who would do the same.Fears that America will be […]

Yahoo’s CEO Marissa Mayer is once again making bold moves, this time by banning at-home telecommuting. In a memo sent to employees last Friday, Jackie Reses, Yahoo’s head of human resources, defended the move: “Being a Yahoo isn’t just about your day-to-day job, it is about the interactions and experiences that are only possible in […]

If you thought Texas Governor Rick Perry’s $10,000 college degree sounded good, you’ll love this.The New York Times has a profile of Thomas Edison State College in New Jersey, which lets its students cobble together coursework and test credits earned from a variety of institutions, including online, potentially at a significantly lower cost than traditional four-year institutions. One […]

Results are still coming in (and we’re following the FT live blog to keep tabs on the latest) but the Italian elections seem to have resulted in a big win for Silvio Berlusconi. While he’s nowhere near able to build a government on his own, the results up to now seem to indicate that he’s […]

A top Iranian official says that Iran will continue to produce oil for 140 years. And that’s not even counting any new sources they may discover in the future. In fact, despite heavy U.S.-led sanctions and plummeting oil production, Iran has discovered 14 billion barrels of crude oil over the past year: Iran’s offshore oil […]

Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe came to Washington for the weekend. High on his agenda was a handful of tiny, rocky islets in the East China Sea—islets claimed by both Japan and China. He came to Washington hoping to get a powerful endorsement from Obama for his country’s claim. Chinese media is gleefully reporting Abe’s failure […]

President Obama promised last year that trillions of dollars in planned defense cuts “will not happen.” That’s beginning to look like a mistake. Republicans, says the New York Times, may be willing to bite the bullet on defense: “Fiscal questions trump defense in a way they never would have after 9/11,” said Representative Tom Cole, Republican […]

For decades now, Americans have been telling the EU that if it wants the world to take it seriously, it needs to admit Turkey as a member. Turkey’s strong military forces, its growing economy and its key position in the Middle East would add considerable weight to Europe’s global position and deliver a boost to […]

Regional good news can sometimes point to larger problems. Ireland, for instance, is projected to grow faster than any other European economy over the next two years, and there are also signs that Iceland is getting back on its feet after the devastating 2008 financial crash.First, Reuters on Iceland: Iceland’s Arion Bank, formerly Kaupthing Bank, said […]