The Wall Street Journal reports that two of the most important indicators of health in the housing market—construction of new homes and sales of pre-existing homes—both rose last month to highs not seen in the past four or five years.The numbers on existing-home sales are particularly encouraging, as they mean that we are finally cutting into the […]

Via Meadia is hiring!We are pleased to announce that Via Meadia is looking for three new staff writer positions: a senior writer and two junior writers. All would likely be relatively recent college grads; the “senior” writer would have some experience and expertise in important domestic policy issues that Via Meadia follows — or intends to follow as we expand […]

Dozens of people have been killed in fighting between secularist Tuareg rebels and an Islamist extremist group in northern Mali, AFP reports: “It’s a real massacre. There are dozens dead,” said a Malian security source, referring to the fighting in the region of Gao. Witnesses on the ground confirmed the scale of the clashes.The fighting […]

Ten years ago, the airwaves were ripe with complaints that big-box retailers like Wal-Mart and Target were driving local mom-and-pop stores out of business. How quickly times change: Now the big-box stores are the ones struggling to find a reason to exist as online shopping begins to eat into their market share. The Washington Post has a […]

Jerry Seib made some interesting observations over at the Wall Street Journal yesterday about the ongoing Gaza war and how it pertains to Iran. Iran, he surmised, may have pushed for the current conflict with Hamas’ leadership in order to tie Israel down militarily on its southern border, thereby limiting Israel’s ability to contemplate taking action […]

A bomb ripped through a bus in the Little Somalia neighborhood of Nairobi on Sunday, killing nine civilians. Many Kenyans immediately put the blame on Nairobi’s Somali community. “People are angry. They are angry because of the people throwing bombs and grenades. They are blaming the Somalis. These Somalis are living with us but you […]

Two positions have been eliminated on China’s Politburo Standing Committee, including the powerful head of the Political and Legal Affairs Committee. That committee oversees China’s internal security apparatus and has a declared budget of more than $100 billion—larger than that of the Chinese military.It’s not entirely clear what motivated the decision; Chinese politics are notoriously […]

The Financial Times reports this week that confidence among homebuilders has hit a six-year high following reports that sales of previously-owned homes are again on the rise: After the five weakest years in its postwar history, the housing sector is starting to regain some vigour against a backdrop of record-low mortgage rates, a bottoming out of […]

The age of missile defense proceeds apace. South Korea, wary of its northern neighbor’s arsenal, is talking to the Israelis about an extensive arms deal, likely involving a purchase of Iron Dome technology: The [Israeli] Ministry of Defense is in talks with South Korea’s Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. Ltd to purchase four patrol boats […]

The Guardian usually takes a pretty strong stand on the green side of environmental issues. Its editors lambast politicians the world over for failing to do more to curb greenhouse gasses or to promote renewable energy, and its reporters often push a green agenda.But now even the Guardian is signing on to the energy revolution narrative […]