Faced with an unholy tonnage of chip bags, soda bottles, takeout containers and other disposable plastic items flowing into our landfills and our waters, winding up in wildlife, drinking water and food, policymakers in California have tried reining in plastic waste bit by bit. For example, more than 100 cities have adopted restrictions on polystyrene takeout containers, and the state has banned single-use plastic grocery bags.　Considering the magnitude of the problem, however, this item-by-item,

Kim Yong-chol, vice chairman of the Workers’ Party of North Korea, said North Korean leader Kim Jong-un wanted to improve ties with Washington and had “ample intentions of holding talks” with the US, the South Korean presidential office said in a statement Sunday.　The North’s delegation led by Kim Yong-chol also agreed that “South-North relations and US-North Korean relations should be improved together,” the statement said.　Kim made the remarks during a meeting with President Moon Jae-in for ab

The Russian presidential election is such a formality that President Vladimir Putin won’t even be filmed for his own TV spots. One thing, though, Putin is keen to ensure before the election: that Russians’ real disposable incomes as measured by official statistics don’t decline. So the State Statistical Service has made sure of it.On Monday, the government agency reported that in January, the disposable income measure was unchanged from January 2017. To produce that result, it had to disregard a

Moviegoers have been going crazy over “Black Panther,” the new Marvel comic book superhero film. In addition to being a fun romp, the movie holds special emotional significance for many -- not just because of its mostly black cast, but because of its setting, Wakanda. A fictional country located somewhere in Africa, Wakanda avoided colonization by foreign powers, and is now wealthy and highly developed. That image speaks powerfully to many in the global African diaspora, and to many Africans as

What are the limits of inequality? In a world with virtual reality, history might be an unreliable guide.　Time was you could imagine a peasant revolt: If the poorest were starving, they wouldn’t wait around patiently for political change. Riots would disrupt the status quo. If things were really bad, the army might join in. Self-preservation would then compel elites to respond by redistributing wealth, rather than continuing to hoard resources. For a while, society would be more equal.　In the de