One of the stranger experiences when you travel in another country on a speaking tour is that sometimes articles about your visit or your lectures appear in the local press. You’ll be sitting peacefully in the breakfast room of a hotel far, far away, reading incomprehensible stories about people whose names you can’t recognize, trying […]

Gallup reports that smoking is down to historic lows, down 2% from last year, and tied with 2009 at the lowest rate since 1944. The best part? The most profound change is among young people: Since the start of the 2000s, smoking has fallen nine percentage points among 18- to 29-year-olds — from 34% in […]

The world’s toughest regime is starting to look a little warm and fuzzy. First, a country where leaders are normally seen reviewing military parades featuring scary-looking if perhaps not quite finished missiles, showed its new leader at a Mickey Mouse musical review. Then, China’s leaders openly pressed Pyongyang to embrace market reforms amid a bit […]

A new piece in the New York Times shines a spotlight on the complexities of Asia’s industrial revolution, which is far more complicated than many understand. The piece focuses on Bangladesh, where a recent uprising at a garment factory and the subsequent response by police is only the latest in a string of labor conflicts, which are […]

A study just released by the Chronicle of Philanthropy tells us that people in religious states give a larger percentage of their discretionary income to charity than their less religious peers. The AP reports: The study found that in the Northeast region, including New England, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York, people gave 4.1 percent of their discretionary […]

After about three weeks in the world’s largest democracy, tomorrow night I’ll be heading home to what many see as the world’s most annoying one. Come the weekend, I’ll be back in the stately Mead manor recovering from jet lag and waiting nervously for all the bills from the India trip to come in.I’ve been so […]

Loyal VM readers know we’ve been following the debate over circumcision occasioned by the barbarous bans put in place in Cologne and in Vorarlberg Province. VM alum Yair Rosenberg, writing for Tablet, has seen a leaked copy of the American Academy of Pediatrics policy statement on circumcision and notes that it changes the organization’s previous recommendation […]

Just as diplomatic efforts with Iran are stalling, a new report by the International Atomic Energy Agency informs us of worrisome Iranian nuclear activity, including the construction of a number of new centrifuges. Many now believe the nuclear program is speeding up. The New York Times reports: Almost all of the new equipment is being installed […]

Another missile shield may be on the horizon. The Wall Street Journal reports that America is now planning to expand the number of missile defense systems in Asia, with new radar facilities to be deployed in Japan and a possibility of more to come elsewhere in the region: The planned buildup is part of a defensive […]

That’s the question the FT is asking. It’s an important question. Major drives by organized labor in Ohio and other Midwestern swing states are giving the president an edge. In an election where the results in Ohio could decide the contest, this is no small matter: “In Ohio, because of the recent history under Kasich, we will […]