An investigation has just found that British health officials deleted a damming report linking the death of 16 babies to poor practices at a UK hospital. Problems with Furness General Hospital’s maternity care were first raised in 2008; in 2010 the regional organization overseeing gave it a positive report. In 2011, however, an internal review by the Care Quality […]

The Lowy Institute in Australia launched a special page to monitor the combined Indian and Pacific Ocean theater yesterday, a smart step for one of the region’s best think tanks and an important resource for analysts. The monitor advances a controversial and relatively uncommon view of Australia’s environs and its strategic place therein: “In recent […]

Every year, the Energy Information Information Administration (EIA) releases its energy outlook, a survey of the global energy landscape with predictions for the future. This year’s report included two scenarios involving an energy self-sufficient America, something that wouldn’t have been within the realm of imagination even ten years ago. Though they exist on the fringe […]

All-star professors at New York University who are tapped for jobs in cheaper cities may think twice about moving. Under the stewardship of NYU President John Sexton, loans to professors for pricey vacation homes in the Hamptons and beyond have become part of the potential benefit package. The NYT reports: N.Y.U. has already attracted attention […]

Americans entering the workforce are less educated than those exiting it, according to a new report by the Council on Foreign Relations. Quartz:  For 55- to 64-year-olds, the US has the highest percentage of high-school graduates and the third-highest percentage of college graduates; in people aged 25 to 34, the country is 10th and 13th […]

There are a lot of reasons to embrace teleworking: a better work-life balance, cutting out a polluting and unhealthy commute, saving money on office real estate and gas, and even boosting productivity. Given the advantages, we’d like to see more businesses adopt telework policies for their workers (looking at you, Yahoo!) and more government policies enable […]

China has just launched its first cap-and-trade experiment in Shenzhen, one of seven cities singled out for pollution cuts by 2014. The policy starts today in Shenzhen, and will then be rolled out in Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Chongqing and the provinces of Hubei and Guangdong. If the program is successful in these areas, China plans […]

At the end of September 2011, after Burma’s President announced that construction on a huge dam on the Irrawaddy River would be suspended indefinitely, the head of the Chinese company in charge of the project told a newspaper reporter that he was “totally astonished” by the news. Canceling construction on the dam was the most eyebrow-raising event […]

Blue power is in big trouble in Detroit, where the threat of bankruptcy has both public sector unions and municipal bondholders at the barrel of a gun. Mary Williams Walsh’s report in the NYT today makes it clear that unless unions can find a way to make other creditors take all the pain, they’re going […]

More than a hundred thousand protesters gathered in big cities across Brazil yesterday after the government raised bus fares across the country. As in Turkey, the protests spread rapidly and soon turned violent, tapping into a broader discontent around the country. Part of the state legislature in Rio de Janeiro was set on fire. NYT: While […]