Puerto Rico’s legislature declined to pass a set of tax laws that would have opened up some extra financing to the island. Severe cuts to services, and perhaps even a disorderly default, are now in the cards.

Poland heads for presidential elections tomorrow, which are likely to be a predictable—even boring—affair. What a nice contrast with the rest of Europe, and what a remarkable achievement.

The EU announced an ambitious plan for creating a “digital single market”. But is it a stalking horse for more anti-trust suits against U.S. tech giants?

As Secretary John Kerry tries to get a humanitarian pause in Saudi Arabia’s bombing, Houthi gains in Aden, reports of swelling civilian casualties, and cross-border shelling may make a land invasion of Yemen irresistible for Riyadh.

Russia is trapped in an unsatisfying holding pattern, hoping for oil prices to recover, for the West to fragment and for Ukraine to implode.

The use of the category of “Nones” in surveys pertaining to religion should be replaced with “Buts”—that is a category for those who will say something like “I am Catholic, but…” The results of such surveys would be much more enlightening.

States rarely abstain from things that they have the power to do with ease, and modern IT makes pervasive surveillance an almost trivial matter.

Even as Secretary Kerry excoriated Burundi’s president for seeking a third term as being unconstitutional, a constitutional court was ruling in the president’s favor.

Dilma Rousseff’s mentor and predecessor Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is under investigation, as is her political fixer. With Brazil’s economy contracting, the investigations are weakening at the moment that her leadership is needed most.

Representatives of Maersk Line met with Iranian port officials as the Danish ambassador met with Iran’s foreign ministry in Tehran. They got little for their efforts.