Hard to believe, but that’s what the decision handed down by the regional court in Cologne, Germany means: circumcising a child under the age of consent is a crime, notwithstanding the religious beliefs of the parents.Many judges who loyally served the Third Reich finished their careers in perfect peace and quiet after World War Two; […]

More signs of trouble in China. This time the news is that cash-strapped local governments are having to sell off the luxury cars assigned as perks to government officials. These cars are a badge of office throughout China’s vast bureaucracy, even in the middle ranks of government. Such perquisites have traditionally attracted considerable anger among […]

Our regular readers are well aware that the Arab Spring has been far messier and more problematic than breathless media reports would have had one believe. Now, months later, the BBC has issued a mea culpa on its own coverage. Reports the Daily Mail: The BBC’s coverage of the Arab Spring has been heavily criticised—by […]

President Rousseff isn’t taking Brazil’s economic deceleration lying down. Her administration is responding to slow growth with massive government investment in infrastructure. It is also continuing to push interest rates down by strong-arming the country’s two largest national banks. The good news is that Brazil needs infrastructure and investment, so many of these projects are […]

A case of forced abortion—not uncommon but here documented in rare detail—is breathing new life into the smoldering resentment of China’s one-child policy, the Economist reports: Even three years ago, Ms Feng’s suffering might have gone unnoticed outside the remote village in the north-western province of Shaanxi where she lives—just another statistic in China’s family-planning programme. But […]

The academic world has been in a tizzy over the (possibly soon to be reversed) ouster of University of Virginia President Teresa Sullivan by the Board of Visitors earlier this month. Much of the controversy has stemmed from the fact that the reasons for her ouster are less than clear; Sullivan was almost universally well-regarded […]

Although the Big Decision isn’t scheduled until Thursday, the Supreme Court may have already set the tone for the week by judging like Solomon. There was a decision for conservatives upholding Citizens United. There was a decision for liberals banning mandatory life in prison without parole for juvenile offenders. And there was a split decision […]

The ongoing saga of Israeli-Russian rapprochement has produced an intruiging subplot: the deterioration of Israel’s bond with the Republic of Georgia.Once upon a time, Georgia saw Israel as a model and an inspiration, another small country who had survived a struggle for statehood in the face of overwhelming hostility from its neighbors. Israel, in turn, […]

Humanitarian watchdogs are aghast at the news of sizable cuts of European development aid to poor countries. The BBC reports on how the pressures of Europe’s economic crisis have reversed a decade-long upward trend in aid: In the year 2010-11, Spain cut its aid budget—the sixth largest in Europe—by nearly a third.Greece cut its much smaller […]

The biggest scam going in American financial life may be the collusive effort by Wall Street, the political class, and public sector unions to use union retirement money to prop up Wall Street speculation.Step One: state politicians promise big pension and health care benefits to their unionized work forces, but don’t set aside enough money […]