Among the issues being debated by Israel’s new government is what to do with its energy wealth. Israel’s neighbors are listening in on this debate closely. One country in particular has its ear pressed against the door: Turkey. The FT reports: As for pipelines, senior Israeli and Turkish officials have suggested that Turkey is the […]

Preliminary signs suggest that China is sitting on the world’s largest shale gas reserves, but the motley crew of firms that recently won exploratory drilling rights all lack that one crucial bit (pun intended) on their resume: none of them has drilled a gas well before. Reuters reports: China’s potential is clear. The government puts […]

During the past several months, David Kramer, president of Freedom House, and Lilia Shevtsova, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Moscow Center, have written a series of sharp criticisms of the Obama administration’s Russia policy and outside experts who advocate a strategic approach toward Russia, as opposed to their preferred normative one. Their latest missive […]

Telepresence technology is giving new meaning to the phrase “doctors without borders.” Telepresence robots are like Skype on wheels: long columns with video screens mounted on top. According to an excellent article in The Economist, doctors are already using these robots to see patients around the world: Robotic-telepresence technology for hospitals is now so good “it’s like being at the […]

America’s most successful anti-blue idea is thriving in a deep blue state: Democratic lawmakers in Massachusetts want to lift caps on charter schools and charter-school funding in 29 low-performing school districts. This has charter proponents very excited. The WSJ reports: “This demonstrates that charter schools are a viable reform,” said Nina Rees, president of the National Alliance […]

Today marks the two-year anniversary of the Fukushima Daichii disaster, when a monstrously powerful earthquake—so big it was felt from space—led to meltdowns at a nuclear power plant. The backlash against nuclear power was swift: Japan shut down all its reactors and to date has only restarted two. Germany, meanwhile, vowed to rid itself of nuclear energy […]

We’re shocked, shocked to hear that there may be yet another way Obamacare is costing more than originally advertised.One of the key features of the Affordable Care Act was the creation of a Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan to help those with pre-existing conditions get and keep coverage. According to MedPage Today, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid […]

After Operation Pillar of Defense, during which Hamas and other Gazan militias launched hundreds of missiles into Israel, the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) claimed its Iron Dome defense system intercepted 84 percent of incoming missiles. That would mean just 58 rockets landed in Israel. If these figures are correct, wonder MIT’s Professor Theodore Postol and two other scientists, how is […]

Marissa Mayer’s move to ban telework at Yahoo prompted some harsh criticism for working women, but what about men? Three fathers shared a male perspective on balancing work and family in The Atlantic: In dual-income families at least, fathers have even greater work-life conflict issues than mothers (according to the National Study of the Changing Workforce in […]

This weekend, more than 3,000 dead pigs showed up in a river that bisects the megacity of Shanghai. The river is the primary water source for approximately 22 percent of Shanghai’s 23 million residents. And no one could say for sure who was responsible.Events like this “pig soup” disaster have incited calls for increased government transparency […]