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
Venezuela’s Economic Crisis
The effects of 21st-century socialism in Venezuela are horrifying. According to the International Monetary Fund, Venezuela’s economy will shrink by at least 10 percent in the upcoming year. Venezuela is suffering from the fastest inflation rate in the world, with the rate reaching triple digits. Their currency, the bolivar, is practically worthless despite the exchange… -
opinion
China Is Trying to Redefine International Norms on the Reach of States
With the decision to conduct a Freedom of Navigation operation (FONOP) in the waters around China’s artificial islands in the South China Sea, U.S.-Chinese relations appear set to deteriorate in the coming year. Given the likely rise in tensions, especially if the United States conducts additional FONOPS, it is essential that U.S. leaders understand the… -
news
Meet the Priest Who Cares for Hundreds of Christian Refugees Fleeing ISIS
AMMAN, JORDAN—In the small town of Marka, Jordan, about 20 minutes from downtown Amman, hundreds of Christian refugees and their families live under the steadfast care of Father Khalil Jaar, a humble priest originally from Bethlehem. Here, at a small church complex called St. Mary’s, children receive an education. On this particular Sunday, French missionaries… -
opinion
China-Owned Radio Stations Are Spreading Chinese Propaganda in the US
China’s drive to influence how Americans think—and, by extension, U.S. policy—takes many forms. Beijing has sought to buy its way into our top universities and biggest Hollywood studios, for example. Now it appears that China is also surreptitiously taking over U.S. radio stations to spread its own propaganda. In fact, with radio, China has acted so… -
news
Bernie Sanders Says US Should Curb Fossil Fuels to Clean Up Russia, China
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., wants to pledge American resources to clean up the Chinese, Indian, and Russian environments. Flanked by environmental activists Wednesday on the Capitol’s East Lawn and joined by Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., the Vermont senator touted the pair’s legislation to prohibit all new fossil fuel developments on federal land, a measure aimed… -
opinion
Happy Birthday, United Nations! 70 Years Is Enough.
Did it escape your attention that last month was the 70th birthday of the United Nations? Did you miss the opportunity to celebrate by following Elyx on an “exciting 70-day (virtual) trip around the world to shine light on the U.N.’s work”? What? You’re not familiar with Elyx, the United Nations’ first “digital ambassador”? Allow me to… -
opinion
China Has a Serious Demographic Problem and Its New Two Child Policy Will Not Fix It
China’s recent decision to abandon the one-child policy in favor of a two-child policy, while welcome, is neither a fundamental policy shift nor a long-term solution to China’s economic dilemma. At root, the one-child policy was merely another means by which the China maintained control over the Chinese people. The newly invoked two-child policy continues… -
opinion
What I Learned From Tibetan and Ukrainian Freedom Fighters
KATHMANDU, Nepal—About two months before a mortar killed him, 19-year-old Ukrainian soldier Daniel Kasyanenko smoked a cigarette with me in a trench in eastern Ukraine. On that hot June afternoon, with random sniper potshots and artillery rounds comprising the background din, our conversation touched on many topics, most of which are not fit for print…. -
opinion
The Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Is Still a Bad Idea
Like the antagonist in a bad horror film, some ideas just won’t die. The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) is one of those ideas. The Senate refused to ratify the treaty back in 1999, the first time the Senate rejected a treaty since Woodrow Wilson’s League of Nations. Still, Secretary of State John Kerry and… -
news
Challenger Unseats School Board Member Who Supported Transgender Policy
A school board member in Northern Virginia who supported a new policy on transgender students lost re-election Tuesday at the polls. The Fairfax County School Board voted earlier this year to include “gender identity” in its nondiscrimination policy. Jeannette Hough defeated incumbent board member Ted Velkoff, who backed the policy. Velkoff has been on the board… -
opinion
China Has More Billionaires than US
The number of Chinese billionaires has increased by almost 70 percent in the past year, according to figures in the 2015 “Hurun Rich List,” an annual report released by the Hurun Research Institute. Last year’s report indicated that China had 354 billionaires. This year’s report found there are now 596 Chinese billionaires. China has now… -
opinion
Thanks, Russia, for Spurring American Action on ISIS
I never thought I’d say this, considering recent events, but we may have to—gulp—thank Russia for something: a potential positive (and long overdue) shift in our Iraq/Syria/Islamic State/al-Qaeda policy, which has been both flailing and failing. While the White House would deny it, it’s very likely that the Kremlin’s intervention into the Syrian civil war… -
news
North Korean Defector’s ‘Winter Butterfly’ Film Unveils Extremes of Starvation in North Korea
Young 11-year-old Jin-ho treks into the North Korean mountains every morning collecting firewood to earn just enough to keep him and his starving mother alive. One morning, he trips and breaks his leg, leaving him unconscious for multiple days in the isolated, freezing woods. He eventually staggers home, but his injury takes him out of… -
news
As China Abandons One-Child Policy, Experts Agree Change Won’t Be Enough to Avert Demographic Crisis
China is abandoning its controversial “one-child policy” in favor of a universal two-child policy, according to Chinese news agency Xinhua. The move comes after several years of the Chinese government slowly relaxing the 35-year-old mandate. The most recent policy modification came last year, when Chinese men and women who are only children were told that… -
opinion
Recent Elections in Latin America Carry Heavy Consequences
Over the weekend, four important elections occurred in the Western Hemisphere. Argentina and Guatemala held presidential elections; Colombia held local and municipal level elections. (Haiti also had an election, but the result will be unknown for several weeks.) For now, the results in Argentina, Guatemala, and Colombia raise key questions for the United States and… -
opinion
People Who Sell Jelly With Six Fruits or More as Food Are Criminals
Pushing the boundaries of jelly science is risky. You may sell food labeled as “jelly” only if it has a combination of two, three, four or five fruit juice ingredients pursuant to the specifications in paragraph (b)(1) of section 150.140 of title 21 of the Code of Federal Regulations. You are free to sell a… -
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…