The Common Core curriculum seeks to standardize education programs across the country, but New York, an early adopter of the program, is rethinking its support.

One test for whether doctors are delegating more care is the success of scope-of-practice bills. One bill of this kind just passed in Kentucky, and two are pending in Florida and West Virginia.

The difference between the United States and Russia in both Syria and Ukraine has been that while the United States talks, Russia acts.

What is happening to speech and press freedoms in India? We’ve seen a slew of high-profile resignations of senior journalists, whispers of a clampdown on anti-Modi sentiment, including tweets and op-eds, and a loud and intimidating Indian right.

Charter schools and school vouchers have dominated most of the education debate over the past decade, but magnet schools are making a comeback as well. As a urban school districts begin to lose students to charter schools, many are looking to magnet schools as a way to compete.

Scottish hopes for independence are being clobbered from all sides. After the UK’s three main political parties stepped up efforts in their Better Together campaign last week, EU president Jose Manuel Barroso is now saying that it would be “extremely difficult, if not impossible” for an independent Scotland to gain membership in the EU. Working out a confederation within the UK while backing the UK against European overreach seems increasingly like the best bet for Scotland.

Big changes might be coming to Latin America. The Pacific Alliance, an historic trade agreement between Mexico, Peru, Chile, Colombia and soon-to-be Costa Rica has the potential to recolor Latin America’s economic makeup and introduce some new players onto the world stage.

Sunni militants in Pakistan recently kidnapped several Iranian border guards in a cross-border raid. Will Tehran’s increasingly belligerent demands to Islamabad for their return push Pakistan and Saudi Arabia even closer together?

Genetic modifications have vanquished the potato’s greatest enemy: blight. In a recent three-year-long study, a GM potato outperformed its more “natural” counterpart not only in yield (by a factor of two), but was also “fully resistant” to the vegetable’s most dangerous disease.

Democrats are significantly more likely than independents and Republicans to believe that astrology is scientifically based, according to NSF research. So much for the “party of science” meme.