In an effort to increase its faltering birthrate, Russia declared a National Day of Conception in 2007, offering any woman who gave birth exactly nine months later a refrigerator. Russia may have picked one of the more creative concepts for a fertility drive that we’ve seen, but it is not alone in looking to boost birthrates. […]

Is the EU finally ready to officially name Hezbollah as a terrorist organization? The NYT reports that Bulgarian officials have confirmed Hezbollah’s responsibility for the July 2012 suicide bombing in Burgas that killed five Israeli tourists and wounded many others. The Bulgarian government’s announcement might force the EU to reconsider its détente with the Iranian-backed terrorist group: […]

The East China Sea inched another step closer to open conflict this week when Japan accused China of aiming missiles at a Japanese destroyer. According to Japan, Chinese vessels have locked fire-control radar at Japanese military vehicles twice in the past month, an action which is one of the first steps in preparation for firing […]

The GOP has a plan to regain the upper hand on the national stage. They’re going to put their ideas to the test in red states. Finally, instead of the usual political struggle, replete with hot air and grandstanding, we have an honest-to-goodness policy race. The WSJ looks at the implications: If successful, the combined tax cuts […]

They called it the “rainforest Chernobyl.” When Texaco left Ecuador, in 1992, it allegedly left behind open pits overflowing with black sludge and rivers laced with chemicals. The damage was so bad that a number of indigenous tribes almost died out completely. Those that remained, according to a group of Ecuadoreans who waged a nearly […]

Elections are coming to China—to Chinese factories, at least. Foxconn, manufacturers of all things Apple and China’s largest private sector employer, is preparing free labor union elections for its Chinese factories, a first for a firm of its size in China. The Financial Times reports: The move is part of Foxconn’s attempts to tweak its manufacturing […]

States aren’t the only ones being bankrupted by pensions. Puerto Rico, an unincorporated U.S. territory, faces its own pension crisis, which is hitting at a time when the island’s tax-supported debt has already reached an alarming 80 percent of personal income. Things have gotten so bad that Moody’s has downgraded Puerto Rico’s credit rating and […]

The Obama administration is letting Shinzo Abe know it isn’t too keen on his plans to change the profile of Japan’s military. The Japan Times has more: Washington has told Tokyo that if Obama openly welcomes Abe’s drive to allow Self-Defense Forces troops to engage in collective self-defense—the right to come to the defense of an […]

Nuclear talks with Iran are on again, as the world gears up for yet another round of negotiations and Iran hastens its uranium enrichment program at the Natanz facility. Expectations are low among the “E3 plus 3” negotiating coalition (the UK, France, Germany, the U.S., China, and Russia) for what could be one of the […]

In perhaps an ominous sign for its economy, New York City has fallen behind both Mexico City and Toronto in new office space construction planned for 2014, Bloomberg reports. Whether you like the look of jagged city skylines or not, plans for new skyscrapers in a city’s downtown area are usually a sign that times are booming: Commercial real […]