International News
Coverage of international events and global policy shifts. The Daily Signal offers news reporting with opinion and commentary on world affairs.
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opinion
What the US Achieved by Sailing Into the South China Sea
After months of discussion, and an interval of three years, the United States has finally matched actions to its verbal challenges of China’s island-building in the South China Sea. The destroyer USS Lassen (DDG-82) sailed within 12 nautical miles of the Chinese construction effort on Subi Reef in the Spratlys. When PACOM Commander Admiral Harry… -
opinion
Russia and Iran Are Winning a War of Images in Syria
The leaders of Russia and Iran both have ramped up their propaganda machines to project images of surging regional influence within Syria. This aggressive news management by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, not so incidentally, coincides with the waning of U.S. power and influence. Since the start of the Russian… -
news
Baker Who Doesn’t Want to Make Wedding Cakes for Same-Sex Couples Takes His Case to Colorado Supreme Court
Another layer has unfolded for cake artist Jack Phillips. He has asked the Colorado Supreme Court to rule that the government cannot force him to bake a cake in celebration of a same-sex wedding. In August, the Colorado Court of Appeals ruled that Phillips and his bakery, Masterpiece Cakeshop, must bake cakes for same-sex weddings,… -
news
Lawmakers Probe Taxpayer-Funded Academic Who Wants Obama to Prosecute Climate Change Skeptics
Taxpayer-funded college professors and researchers who cite climate change to advocate regulations that would raise energy costs for consumers have some explaining to do, congressional investigators say. A House committee wants to know more about the relationship between taxpayer money received by the academics and their urging of President Obama to use federal racketeering law… -
news
Meet the Lawmakers Who Will Serve on the House’s Select Panel Investigating Planned Parenthood
Outgoing House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, announced Friday the Republican appointments to the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Select Investigative Panel on Planned Parenthood. Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., will serve as the panel’s chair. “No issue is more deserving of our undivided attention than protecting the dignity of human life,” Blackburn said in a statement provided… -
opinion
When It Comes to Prosperity and Poverty, the UN Still Doesn’t Get It
The announcement last week that Angus Deaton of Princeton University won the 2015 Nobel Prize in economics offers an opportunity to celebrate the gains the world has made, and to reflect on how we can do better. Unfortunately, the United Nations has not taken that opportunity. Deaton’s research focuses on the use of data from… -
opinion
China Breaks Cyber Agreement: Congress Should Move Beyond “I Told You So” and Address the Problem
Last month, President Obama and President Xi Jinping of China announced that “neither country’s government will conduct or knowingly support cyber-enabled theft of intellectual property, including trade secrets or other confidential business information, with the intent of providing competitive advantages to companies or commercial sectors.” When the agreement was announced, The Heritage Foundation was incredibly… -
news
Meet the Yale Law Grad Who Abandoned Her Career to Help Save 200 Chinese Babies
The past month marked two important milestones for human rights activist and lawyer Reggie Littlejohn. As of Sept. 25, China’s so-called “one-child policy” has officially been in effect for 35 years. On Oct. 11, Littlejohn observed the third anniversary of a campaign her organization, Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, launched to protect women and female children… -
opinion
State Department Fumbles Response to Palestinian Violence
For a brief moment the State Department got its reaction right to the Palestinian knife attacks against Israeli citizens last week. A very brief moment. Then it was back to business as usual. Posting on Oct. 15, the State Department on its official twitter account correctly characterized the attacks, advertising remarks by Secretary of State… -
opinion
Obama’s Middle East Strategy Continues to Fail as Cuban and Iranian Troops Join Russian-Backed Offensive in Syria
Russia is not the only country that feels free to intervene in Syria on behalf of the Assad regime and attack U.S.-supported Syrian rebels. Cuba and Iran, two countries eagerly courted by the Obama administration that have recently signed controversial diplomatic agreements with the United States, also are deploying troops to join the fight there…. -
news
NRA Reacts to California Lieutenant Governor’s Proposed New Gun Laws: ‘State Will Be Next Australia’
California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a new ballot initiative Thursday that would tighten restrictions on ammunition purchases and gun ownership should voters turn out in support of the proposed legislation. According to the Associated Press, Newsom’s proposal comes in response to national levels of gun violence “and three recent San Francisco Bay Area killings… -
opinion
Putin Begins Propaganda Blitz to Sell his Syrian Bombing Campaign
The Russian government has launched an all-out media campaign to sell its involvement in Syria to the Russian people. On all official television channels (which are pretty much the only ones in Russia that count), viewers have been subjected to a nonstop barrage of the Russian bombing campaign over the past two weeks. Bombers are… -
news
The Daring Escape From a North Korean Prison That Took One Life but Saved Another
SEOUL, South Korea—North Korea will be at the top of the agenda when President Barack Obama meets with his South Korean counterpart Park Geun-hye at the White House Friday. Shining light on North Korea’s human rights abuses has been a priority of activist Shin Dong-hyuk for a decade. He wants the international community to know… -
opinion
Masters of Psychological Warfare: How the Chinese Are Winning a Secret War
The comprehensive nature of issues discussed during Xi Jinping’s visit once again illuminated the extent of China’s political and social influence in the United States. On October 6, The Heritage Foundation, in cooperation with The Project 2049 Institute, cosponsored the public program event “Influence Operations: Chinese Political Warfare in East Asia and Beyond.” The event… -
news
As Obama’s Time in Office Lengthens, Number of Democrats Who Think Government Has Too Much Power Has Grown
A Gallup poll released Friday shows that 60 percent of Americans believe that the federal government has too much power. Where once distrust of government power was a distinctly conservative trait during President Barack Obama’s presidency, now the concern about increasing federal power has crept across party lines and brought the level of distrust for the government… -
opinion
Putin Is Not a Child. Obama Should Stop Treating Him Like One.
In last Friday’s press conference, President Obama called Vladimir Putin’s incursion in Syria “an act of weakness.” It’s his pat answer when Putin misbehaves. The White House likes to portray the Kremlin as a place filled with petulant children who don’t understand what’s in their own best interest and will one day rue their misguided… -
news
Meet the Single Mom Who Took On the IRS
Sabina Loving always knew she wanted to work for herself. So much so that, when an abandoned storefront was renovated and became available for rent across the street from her house on the South Side of Chicago in 2010, she decided that one day she would operate her budding tax-preparation business out of it. “When… -
opinion
North Korea Will Launch a Missile, but Not on Oct. 10th
It had become an article of faith among the media and punditgentsia that North Korea would launch a long-range missile on Oct. 10 to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Korea Workers Party. But while Pyongyang has been publicly emphatic about having the sovereign right and intent to launch, it never declared… -
opinion
Meet Bill Main, a Tour Guide Who Fought D.C. to Be Able to Give Tours Without Government Permission
Many politicians want to know what holds workers back. Too often they don’t need to look any farther than the laws they pass. One in three jobs in the economy now requires government permission to hold. Workers without a license can’t work in them. This makes sense for surgeons and pharmacists. But many jobs, like… -
news
21 Questions With Washington Florist Who Refused to Serve Gay Wedding
Barronelle Stutzman, more commonly known as the “Washington florist,” came under fire this year for refusing to make flower arrangements for a gay couple’s wedding. Stutzman, owner of Arlene’s Flowers in Richland, Wash., cited her Christian religious beliefs about marriage. After she was labeled a “bigot” by those who oppose her, The Daily Signal sat down with…