China’s efforts to reduce its horrific pollution are creating a new problem: fraud. To clear its smoggy skies, China put in place incentives for power plants to reduce air pollution, but many plants cheated that system by claiming to have cut down on their emissions without actually doing anything. Now the Chinese government is having to crack down on these swindling power producers.

For the fourth year in a row, the rate at which health care costs are growing has slowed down. But this time it’s extra-special because for the first time new data also finds that health care costs shrunk as a percentage of the economy in 2012. ACA supporters have jumped on these trends as the latest piece of evidence that the law is working well (e.g. this op-ed at the WSJ).

Yesterday we reported that Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr had frozen the pensions of city employees while replacing their defined-benefit plans with a 401(k)-style defined contribution plan. But only hours after the decision was made known to the public, Orr abruptly reversed course, planning to delay the freeze until bankruptcy negotiations with the city’s retirement funds play themselves out.

Puerto Rico now has another problem on top of its ravaged finances and poor credit rating: citizens are fleeing the island in droves. Since the year 2000, Puerto Rico has lost nearly 300,000 people to the mainland—a large number of an island with a population of 3.6 million—and the exodus is only speeding up, with an average of 54,000 leaving the island over the past few years. And with the unemployment rate hovering near 15 percent, nearly double that of the mainland, the trend shows few signs of reversing.

On Sunday, 60 Minutes ran a segment highlighting recent struggles in the field of renewable technologies. The piece was, as one might glean upon reading its title, highly critical of the industry’s failures, and of our government’s role in funding some of these high-profile flops. If we’ve learned anything from flops like Fisker and Solyndra, it’s this: rather than directly funding companies looking to peddle cleantech, we should be funneling taxpayer money towards the research and development of the technologies that undergird the industry.

Europe is becoming a coal sink, and, ironically, much of the blame for its increasing reliance on the dirty energy source can be attributed to its green policies. Now, in a move emblematic of the complex interconnectivity of the global energy market, Europe’s green policies and the American shale boom are spurring a new growth of Europe’s dirtiest variety of coal.

Look out, China: your two biggest rivals in Asia are growing closer together. The Japanese defense minister, Itsunori Onodera, on a multi-day trip to India, met with his counterpart in Delhi today to discuss strengthening their countries’ collaboration in several key areas of defense. During the coming year, Japan and India will hold their fourth Defence Policy Dialogue, third “2 plus 2” Dialogue, and third joint naval exercise. Japan will play host to the Indian defense minister, and the two ministers have said they hope for deeper cooperation between their air forces.

A New York Times feature on a fierce GMO debate in Hawaii casts the idiocy and hypocrisy of the modern green movement on the issue in stark relief. For anyone curious themselves about the GMO debate, this is a piece worth reading in full. But here’s the quick and dirty summary: our best scientific understanding of genetically modified crops suggests that they’re just as safe as their non-modified counterparts.

Britain may be jumping on the higher-ed reform bandwagon, thanks to a new plan proposed by Labour Party MP John Denham. Rather than give students loans to attend college that prove difficult to pay back, the government would partner with businesses to jointly pay for the education of young employees in relevant fields. This is an interesting proposal with some merit, but can reforms like this coexist with liberal education?

Last month’s ruling that Detroit could reduce pensions in bankruptcy was a major setback from the city’s unions, but the latest defeat may be even bigger. Effective January 1st, all public workers in the city, with the exception of police and firefighters, will find their pensions frozen. What’s more, new and existing employees will find their defined-benefit plans replaced with a defined-contribution plan along the lines of a 401(k).