Countries in Asia are even more nervous about using big American tech companies like Google or Yahoo, thanks to the NSA’s leaked data collection program. Officials in Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, and Singapore once relied on mail services from Google and Yahoo to mail large attachments, but the Times of India reports that governments and businesses across […]

A new study by The Hamilton Project says that dropping out of college isn’t a total waste: you still get some benefit. The New York Times reports: The investment in even a partial college education is still worth it, amounting to average earnings of $100,000 more over a lifetime than for those who merely finish […]

The California “comeback” still hasn’t materialized, but a small specimen of good sense was finally spotted today. The WSJ reports that after much Democratic infighting over the state’s new surplus, Governor Jerry Brown may have just persuaded his fellow Dems in the state legislature to adopt a slightly more conservative budget that rejects attempts to spend […]

What is the biggest threat facing Britain’s banks? The euro crisis? Another economic downturn in the U.K.? Neither, according to Andrew Haldane, director of financial stability for the Bank of England. All five of Britain’s largest banks told him that hacking and other cyber attacks are their biggest concerns.Chinese cyber attacks on American corporations, research universities and […]

Ethiopia today dismissed Egypt’s talk of “war” as psychological intimidation and vowed that construction on what will become Africa’s largest dam will continue regardless of threats. Dina Mufti, a foreign ministry spokesman, said that Ethiopia was “not intimidated by Egypt’s psychological warfare and won’t halt the dam’s construction, even for seconds.” This comes only a couple days […]

President George W. Bush’s reputation among Americans is on the rebound. For the first time in eight years, more Americans regard W positively than negatively, says Gallup. The WSJ reports: 49% of Americans now view Mr. Bush favorably, outpacing the 46% who view him unfavorably. . . . At the end of his second term, […]

The US media and the pundit class, everywhere from the NYT to The Atlantic, are elegantly and beautifully wringing their sensitive hands over the NSA snooping scandal. Woe, alas and alackaday seems to be the reigning sentiment. Freedom is dead. Big Brother rules the roost.Outside the Beltway, however, a new Pew poll finds that a majority […]

Russia already has the world’s largest reserves of conventional natural gas and is the world’s largest gas exporter. So more could hardly be a bad thing for Moscow, right? According to the EIA, Russia has the ninth-largest technically recoverable shale gas reserves in the world. But Russia has serious fracking problems, of which the biggest by […]

A few days ago rebels were defeated and thrown out of a strategically vital town near the Lebanese border. Brigades of Hezbollah fighters reinforced troops from the Assad regime in that fight. They are now massed outside Aleppo; an invasion appears close at hand. Not too long ago pundits were predicting the imminent demise of […]

Iran’s presidential election is only three days away, and the nuclear program remains foremost in the minds of outside observers and in the statements of the seven remaining candidates. But as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad prepares to step down, it’s worth taking a closer look at Iran’s deteriorating economy. The FT‘s reporter spoke with Masoumeh, a 47-year old woman […]