The American student loan crisis is often seen as a problem of  predation. Colleges raise tuition every year even as middle-class wages stagnate and unscrupulous for-profit colleges bilk the unwary. The result is mounting unmanageable debt. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/29/upshot/student-debt-in-america-lend-with-a-smile-collect-with-a-fist.html There is much truth in this diagnosis. But it does not explain the plight of Liz Kelley, a […]

The splintering of politics in Europe has spawned the rise of numerous upstart parties, usually on the extremes, be they left or right. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/29/world/europe/in-spain-new-political-party-makes-gains-from-surprising-place-the-center.html?smtyp=cur&_r=0 But in Spain’s shifting political landscape one new party, surprisingly, is managing to attack from the center, challenging conservatives and Socialists alike, and is now poised to be the potential king […]

Consumers wanting to avoid genetically engineered salmon, if it eventually reaches grocery stores, might have a hard time being sure. That is because the Food and Drug Administration said on Thursday that the salmon would not have to be labeled as genetically engineered. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/20/business/genetically-engineered-salmon-will-not-be-labeled.html?ref=us That is consistent with the F.D.A. stance on the widely eaten […]

Three Americans have been flown out of Yemen to Oman, the Omani Foreign Ministry said Thursday, according to a report by the state-run Oman News Agency. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/20/world/middleeast/yemen-3-detained-americans-are-allowed-to-leave.html?ref=world The three were flown out of Yemen’s capital, Sana, which is controlled by the Houthi rebels, on an Omani Air Force flight late on Wednesday, the news agency […]

When the National Security Agency’s bulk collection of records about Americans’ emails came to light in 2013, the government conceded the program’s existence but said it had shut down the effort in December 2011 for “operational and resource reasons.”  http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/20/us/politics/records-show-email-analysis-continued-after-nsa-program-ended.html?ref=world&_r=0 While that particular secret program stopped, newly disclosed documents show that the N.S.A. had found […]

Saudi Arabia will host a conference in mid-December aimed at unifying the Syrian opposition , Saudi-owned television station Al-Arabiya Al-Hadath said on Thursday. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-saudi-idUSKCN0T82JT20151119#vDdi1eo3OK The conference comes after an international agreement to launch talks between government and opposition by Jan.1 A Saudi government official said the conference is expected to take place on December 15. […]

Federal regulators on Thursday approved a genetically engineered salmon as fit for consumption, clearing the last major obstacle for the first genetically altered animal to reach American supermarkets and dinner tables. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/20/business/genetically-engineered-salmon-approved-for-consumption.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news The approval by the Food and Drug Administration caps a long struggle for AquaBounty Technologies, the small company that first applied for approval […]

‘‘Once organs from willing death-row prisoners are included in our national distribution system, they will be considered voluntary citizen donations, and the expression ‘death-row donations’ won’t exist any more.’’ http://sinosphere.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/11/18/fresh-doubt-over-chinas-pledge-to-amend-transplant-policy/?ref=world That statement, reported by The Beijing Times last year, by Huang Jiefu, a former deputy minister of health and China’s leading organ transplant official, makes […]

The American Medical Association on Tuesday called for a ban on advertising prescription drugs and medical devices directly to consumers, saying the ads drive patients to demand expensive treatments over less costly ones that are also effective. http://bigstory.ap.org/article/645dff9967b04f12b863a9229b724d97/american-medical-association-backs-prescription-drug-ad-ban The influential doctors’ group said the new policy reflects physicians’ concerns that marketing spending on a proliferation […]

It’s a wretched yet predictable ritual after each new terrorist attack: Certain politicians and government officials waste no time exploiting the tragedy for their own ends. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/18/opinion/mass-surveillance-isnt-the-answer-to-fighting-terrorism.html?emc=eta1 The remarks on Monday by John Brennan, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, took that to a new and disgraceful low. Speaking less than three days after […]

A black man shot by police in an incident that sparked large protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota, has died. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-34848250 Jamar Clark, 24, had been on life support in hospital since the shooting on Sunday morning. Police say that he was the suspect in an assault case and was interfering with medics who were working on […]

A court has given Facebook 48 hours to stop tracking people in who are not members of its social network. http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-34765937 Facebook says it will appeal against the decision and that the order relates to a cookie it has used for five years. The cookie is installed when an internet user visits a Facebook page […]

Apps on Apple and Android smartphones leak lots of users’ information to third parties, research has suggested. http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-34732514 Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Harvard, and Carnegie-Mellon universities studied 110 apps available on Google Play and the Apple App Store. They found 73% of the Android apps shared users’ email addresses, and 47% […]

In the lobby of a Mexico City office building, people scurrying to and fro gazed briefly at the digital billboard backing a candidate for Congress in June.  They probably did not know that the sign was reading them, too. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/04/world/americas/neuropolitics-where-campaigns-try-to-read-your-mind.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=second-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news Inside the ad, a camera captured their facial expressions and fed them through an algorithm, […]

United States citizen Amir Mohamed Meshal of Tinton Falls, N.J.,  alleges that he was illegally taken to Ethiopia, where he was threatened with torture by American officials. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/03/opinion/how-the-fbi-can-detain-render-and-threaten-without-risk.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=opinion-c-col-right-region&region=opinion-c-col-right-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-right-region Eight years after Mr. Meshal’s rendition, his case ended up before a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. The […]