The British journal The Tablet, which I find very useful for what goes on in the Roman Catholic Church, came out with a “Pentecost edition” on May 18, 2013 (the feast was on May 19). Pentecost was the event recounted in the Book of Acts, when the Holy Spirit was poured out over a gathering […]

As I write a battle is raging in Qusayr, Syria. It has been going on now for several days at various levels of intensity, having started in earnest on May 19. As of yesterday midday one way to measure that intensity is by the number of rocket attacks on rebel areas: approximately 55 per minute, […]

Instead of travelling long distances to faraway hospitals, rural and other geographically remote veterans are receiving their care via local clinics that use telemedicine technology to connect with hospitals.This way of delivering care not only saves time, money and travel costs (the Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that 800,000 travel miles have been eliminated); it’s […]

A pair of stories about the Israeli auto industry reveals global implications for the future of driving. On Sunday, the Israeli electric vehicle manufacturer Better Place called it quits after struggling to gain a foothold and producing fewer than a thousand cars—a far cry from the 100,000 it predicted would be here by 2010.Better Place […]

For a union, Europe can’t seem to agree on much. The latest disagreement is over whether to tax imports of Chinese solar panels. Some countries see the flood of cheap Chinese solar panels as cheating. China has propped up its solar industry with subsidies, and many believe its companies are foregoing profits and selling their […]

Two and a half trillion dollars: That’s the most recent estimate for US states’ total unfunded pension liabilities. Nathan Benefield at USA Today breaks down the painful consequences of letting a defined-benefit system run amok for decade after decade: One inescapable fact remains: Without meaningful reform, paying down these liabilities would cost the average American […]

The battle lines between friends and rivals are coming into sharper focus in Asia’s Game of Thrones.Chinese Premier Li Kequiang traveled straight to Pakistan following his trip to India. There, Li deftly avoided touching on sensitive subjects; in Pakistan, he praised the military, promised to strengthen the two countries’ economic links, and gushed that “the China-Pakistan friendship has […]

California’s high-speed rail project would be a bad idea in the best of times, but the state is handling it so poorly it almost seems like it’s trying to fail. The LA Times reports that Tutor Perini Corp. beat out five companies to build the train’s first 29 miles. Tutor Perini submitted the lowest bid, but it ranked lowest on design, safety and engineering […]

The upcoming summit between China’s new president Xi Jinping and President Barack Obama in California could be consequential, if stage-setting reports in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times are to be believed. Xi believes that relations between the two countries are at a “critical crossroads” and that it is time to explore “a new type of […]

…and it’s all thanks to fracking. Members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries are meeting Friday to discuss cutting production in response to the new US addition to the global oil market. But delegates have already hinted that the asymmetric impact of the shale revolution on OPEC’s member countries has weakened the bloc’s resolve […]