By Milton R. Wolf
Americans must repudiate the political class

The economic crisis that began in 2008 eroded public confidence in free markets - unjustifiably, in the minds of many - and set U.S. policy squarely on a path of increased financial regulation and governmental tinkering in the economy.

Along with the cherry blossoms, hordes of bureaucrats descended on Washington for the spring meeting of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The meeting concluded with, among other things, a communique from the International Monetary and Financial Committee urging the United States and the European countries, including the United Kingdom, to keep the money spigots flowing and ease up on austerity.

Swarthmore College students successfully ran off former Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick — whom they termed a "war criminal" — from serving as commencement speaker at the upcoming graduation ceremony.
In a story March 10 about Sierra Leone charging 29 people with fraud, The Associated Press erroneously identified the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's vaccine program. The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, or GAVI, is a recipient of Gates Foundation money, but it also receives funds from other sources including the World Health Organization, UNICEF and the World Bank.
The Marshall Islands and other low-lying island nations appealed to the U.N. Security Council to recognize climate change as an international security threat that jeopardizes their very survival.
The Marshall Islands and other low-lying island nations appealed to the U.N. Security Council on Friday to recognize climate change as an international security threat that jeopardizes their very survival.

Nassau, The Bahamas
An amount of freshwater almost the size of the Dead Sea has been lost in parts of the Middle East due to poor management, increased demands for groundwater and the effects of a 2007 drought, according to a NASA study.

Supermarkets in Argentina can't raise prices over the next two months. This is the government's latest idea for bringing rising inflation under control, but it's based on tired, old notions that have always failed in the past.

Russia — hoping to overcome its global reputation as a breeding ground for graft — has hired Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to advise on government communications and investor dealings.
Baidu Inc., which operates China's most popular search engine, said Tuesday its quarterly profit rose 36 percent as an economic rebound helped to boost advertising spending.
Will 2013 be a watershed in U.S.-Bangladeshi relations? My country of 150 million people, located between India and Myanmar, has been independent since 1971, when the United States was one of the first nations to recognize our right to self-determination.
For years, Karnataka's land records were a quagmire of disputed, forged documents maintained by thousands of tyrannical bureaucrats who demanded bribes to do their jobs. In 2002, hopes emerged that this was about to change.

China's new Communist Party leaders promised Sunday to be ready to spend more if needed to shore up a shaky economic recovery and pledged more market-opening reforms.

Occasionally, embattled Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus gets a star and two smiley faces for bustling into action, intent on steering weary Republicans towards political productivity.