Chris Christie’s sixth credit downgrade since 2010 ties him with former Democratic Governor James McGreevey for the most credit downgrades for a New Jersey Governor. Not all the blame lies with Christie, however. The embattled Governor inherited the state’s pension mess, and a Democratic-controlled legislature is reluctant to help him fix it.

Young households without student debt accumulate seven times the net wealth of young households with student debt. And student debtors also rack up far more debt of every sort.

American green groups successfully stalled construction of a new coal export facility in Oakland, California, on grounds that the terminal would be detrimental for our climate. In their quest to save the planet, environmentalists want to deprive developing countries from one of the cheapest sources of baseload power.

More Jews will have left France for Israel by the end of 2014 than in any other year since 1948, when Israel was founded—and a new poll shows that Jew-hatred is a worldwide problem.

A tiny school district in Pennsylvania decides to compete with the state’s growing charter movement—with great results.

Lithuania’s Prime Minister claims to have secured at least 20 percent lower prices for Russian natural gas. Lithuania’s position has strengthened recently, but this also may be the result of Russia overextending itself.

Butcher Assad, Russia, and Iran are slowly winning the Syrian civil war.

Chinese prime minister Li Keqiang just signed a deal to build an East African railway. The network could eventually connect South Sudan to Kenya’s coast, and offer the landlocked country another way to export its crude.

The recent Supreme Court ruling about prayer before town meetings is a setback for militant Kemalists in the United States.

People with outstanding student debt are less likely to own a home, says Vox. Since more people than ever are going into debt to pay for college, that’s a bad sign for the American economy.