Greek lawmakers were pragmatic when they took the painful decision on Sunday to approve unpopular tax increases, a new privatisation fund, and free up sale of non-performing loans in exchange for much-needed bailout loans and debt relief. They will hit Greeks where it hurts, with increases in value added tax by one point to 24 per cent, more tax …

  Christopher Flavelle There may now be more campaigns devoted to selling a carbon tax than there are members of US Congress willing to support one. It’s unclear whether this shows progress toward an economy-wide price on carbon or how very far away it remains. The latest effort is the Climate Leadership Council, run by Ted Halstead, founder of the …

  A new study by researchers at Harvard University estimates that Chinese government employees fabricate 488 million social media posts each year. As the first rigorous analysis of China’s online propaganda machine, the team found that the “Fifty Cent Party” or Wumao Dang—a derogatory term used to describe contract workers popularly believed to be making fifty cents per post—largely consists …