Today, a unanimous panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit held unconstitutional a provision of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) defining “marriage” exclusively as opposite-sex unions, setting up an all-but-certain Supreme Court case for next year. Acting in response to a Hawaii Supreme Court …
In its latest joint report with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the World Trade Organization (WTO) issued sharp warnings on global trade restrictions: The past seven months have not witnessed any slowdown in the imposition of new trade restrictions. …
It seems that the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) has decided that drastic measures are needed to address the Defense Department’s cyber needs, both offensive and defensive. The decision is clearly the right one; it is simply amazing that in the face of ever-growing cyberattacks, it has taken them …
The SpaceX Dragon capsule has returned to Earth after delivering nearly a half-ton of supplies in the first purely commercial replenishment mission to the International Space Station (ISS). With its successful completion, SpaceX is now on its way to providing a private-sector alternative for keeping the ISS supplied, with 12 …
Almost four years after the Russian invasion of Georgia in August 2008, approximately 10,000 Russian troops still occupy the Georgian provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. This occupation represents 20 percent of Georgia’s internationally recognized territory and is in direct violation of the Six Point Ceasefire Agreement brokered by then-French …
With Spain’s lavish support for renewable energy projects drying out, companies that relied on these government handouts to make a buck are either leaving the country in search of new misguided benefactors or risking going bust. According to Bloomberg: Spanish renewable-energy companies that once got Europe’s biggest subsidies are deserting …
Obamacare’s medical loss ratio (MLR) provision began this year and requires insurers in the individual and small-group markets to spend 80 percent of premiums—85 percent for insurers in the large-group market—on medical claims or quality improvements. If the insurer doesn’t spend the required percentage, it must issue a rebate to …
President Obama and his surrogates have repeatedly insisted that federal backing for green energy companies like Solyndra is somehow superior to private equity investing, since federal bureaucrats are concerned with more than enriching investors. But “investors” in an Obama presidency – i.e. his top supporters – have reaped the benefits …
