A devastating attack on a historic marketplace in Peshawar caps a particularly deadly week for Pakistan, even by its own standards. After a double suicide bombing at a Christian church killed 83 people last Sunday, a bus bombing killed 21 government officials on Friday, and yesterday at least 40 people were killed as a bomb […]

Textiles, the cutting edge industry of the 19th century, are making a surprising comeback in the 21st-century US. The New York Times profiles the unexpected economic twist, noting that manufacturers are becoming more concerned with safety and quality workmanship than with rock-bottom wages—two areas where America enjoys an advantage over countries like China.The industry, however, still […]

Another day, another dreary episode in Washington’s shutdown/debt limit soap opera, reports CNN: In a move that makes a shutdown appear very likely, House Republicans approved a spending plan early Sunday morning that would delay Obamacare for a year and repeal its tax on medical devices.The temporary budget resolution now goes back to the Senate, where Democrats […]

The media fawned over the Kellogg-Briand Pact, too, you know.

It is being called one of the most significant moves since Deng Xiaoping created the Shenzhen special economic zone in 1980s: on Friday, China unveiled its plans for a Shanghai free trade zone. A small sub-section of the metropolis, 28 square kilometers, has been marked off as an area where restrictions on foreign investment will […]

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro decided to skip New York and forfeit his speaking slot at the United Nations last Wednesday because of unspecified threats to his personal safety. The Beeb: “When I got into Vancouver I evaluated the intelligence which we received from several sources.“I decided then and there to continue back to Caracas and […]

China dominated news out of Asia this week. It’s experiencing a perverse consequence of its one child policy: a sharp uptick in adoptions of “designer babies” from the United States. China’s demography has a more problematic effect on the horizon, as the country sees a pension disaster looming in its near future. But it’s the country’s polluted […]

TEHRAN, SEPTEMBER 28: Iranian newspapers show pictures depicting Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, US President Barack Obama, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his American counterpart John Kerry. Iranian newspapers hailed the first contact between presidents Rouhani and Obama but warned that opponents like arch-foe Israel would seek to torpedo the historic opening to Washington. […]

Rahul Gandhi attacked a position of his own Congress Party this week, joining the BJP in opposition to a bill allowing convicted lawmakers to run while their appeals are pending. The New York Times reports: The Congress Party’s vice president, Rahul Gandhi, in a brief and dramatic press conference in New Delhi spoke out strongly against the ordinance to […]

Will China live up to its promise of becoming the world’s pre-eminent economic superpower? To hear the financial press tell it recently, China’s rather spectacular growth to date is coming to an end for any number of reasons, from its dependence on exports to industrial overcapacity. It’s quite a change from the prevailing conventional wisdom […]