Greenland, the world’s biggest island and an autonomous territory of Denmark, overturned a multi-decade ban on uranium mining in a close parliamentary vote a week ago. Chinese companies have joined Australian, British, Scottish, and other firms in an effort to elbow their way into this developing resource bonanza. The end of the ban, which had […]

Greens made a massive mistake by picking a fight over the Keystone XL pipeline. That’s the gist of a new piece by Jonathan Chait, who writes on the dysfunctional politics and poor strategic thought in the green movement for New York Magazine: [Environmental activist Bill McKibben] has spent several years organizing activists to single-mindedly fight against approval of […]

Half of all Americans now claim they don’t belong to either political party, according to a new WSJ poll. With the Obamacare “debacle” following close on the heels of the government shutdown, disillusionment with Washington is running high. In light of this, both parties need to do some serious soul-searching.Doing a bit of that soul-searching on the […]

Looks like we’ve got ourselves a natural-gas powered convoy. Looking to capitalize on the country’s glut of cheap natural gas, many US companies are looking to convert their fleets to run on compressed natural gas (CNG) instead of gasoline. The WSJ reports: About 5% of all heavy duty trucks sold next year will run on natural gas, up […]

We’re already seeing a growing body of evidence that charter schools improve students’ academic performance, but a new study suggests that the benefits continue even after students leave the classroom. Researchers from Harvard and Princeton tracked a group of students from the Harlem Children’s Zone’s Promise Academy and found that, in addition to having higher […]

As the EU looks to resolve its long-term economic issues, Chancellor Angela Merkel and other German politicians have emerged as the key figures driving EU policy. Many expect Merkel, after having won her third term, to assume even more responsibility in reforming the Eurozone economy. Der Spiegel provides us with a German take on the matter: This has […]

“The reforms this time will be broad, with major strength, and will be unprecedented,” Yu Zhengsheng, a member of the elite Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party in China, announced this weekend. “Inevitably they will strongly push forward profound transformations in the economy, society and other spheres.”When China’s President Xi Jinping came into office last year, many […]

Having raised a stink over NSA eavesdropping on their citizens, French and Spanish leaders should be feeling sheepish right about now. Testifying before Congress, General Keith Alexander said that much of the information the NSA collected had been handed over by European intelligence agencies. The outraged rhetoric of politicians like France’s Hollande and Spain’s Rajoy […]

What’s making US health care so expensive? Consider spinal fusion surgery. This expensive procedure, as the Washington Post reports, is now more common than hip replacement. Over the past 20 years the rate has increased sixfold, and not due to medical necessity, as new research suggests: More than 465,000 spinal fusions were performed in the United States […]

Obamacare supporters have a new defense of the botched rollout: Well, look at Romneycare, they say. That started off poorly, too, but things got straightened out eventually. So all will be well with Obamacare before long. President Obama plans to use that line in a speech in Massachusetts tonight, according to WaPo: The White House […]