An independent Scotland, it now appears, would not be able to keep the pound in a currency union with the UK and it would not be able to charge British university students higher tuition rates than other EU students. That throws two big monkey wrenches into the SNP’s case. Voters in the referendum on September 18 may just decide to stick with the devil they know.

Putin is the thorn in Obama’s side, the pebble in his slipper, the fly in his borscht. Whenever Washington seeks to get something productive done abroad, the Kremlin makes sure to drop a few banana peels on the road. A smart piece from Victor Davis Hanson over at the National Review makes a point about Putin that […]

Former two-term mayor of New Orleans and the face of its recovery from Katrina Ray Nagin has been found guilty on twenty charges of conspiracy, bribery and fraud. Like Detroit, New Orleans was the victim of an urban crime family masquerading as a political machine.

Banished from Spain in 1492, Sephardic Jews around the world may finally be seeing some indemnification. A new bill proposed in Spain promises the possibility of dual-citizenship for the Sephardic diaspora.

Rick Perry is enjoying more good news at California’s expense: Texas has surpassed California as America’s leading tech export state, partly because manufacturing costs are lower there. It’s mostly blue voters and officials who have been bemoaning the export of America’s factory jobs to China. But it’s our bluest state whose labor costs are so high that it can’t retain the manufacturing jobs its own tech sector creates.

Only 40 percent of New York City voters support Bill de Blasio’s plan to raise taxes on the wealthy to pay for an expansion of pre-K programs, preferring Cuomo’s tax-free approach. Cuomo is beating de Blasio on his home turf.

The South Korean edition of Maxim magazine should just stick to what it’s good at: racy photos of attractive women. When the editors deviate from their bread and butter content, like with the February issue, which features a stunningly insensitive headline, bad things happen.

House Speaker John Boehner decided not to repeat last Fall’s showdown and allow a vote on a “clean” debt ceiling bill. Many Republicans are angry with the speaker for caving to the President, but if it helps the party take the Senate their negotiating position next year will be much stronger.

After 13 years of obstruction and disagreement, a pest-resistant genetically modified crop of corn could finally be making it way to EU’s fields. Bureaucracy is doing what scientific analysis couldn’t: override intractable green resistance and bring a smarter kind of corn to Europe.

Obama and Hollande have made the fruitless pursuit of a Global Climate Treaty one of the key focuses of this week’s visit. The GCT may be dead, but that doesn’t mean the embattled heads of state don’t have a green leg to stand on: