| Readers write: Israeli land claims, and a response Posted: 01 May 2017 01:56 PM PDT ![Readers write: Israeli land claims, and a response]( "Readers write: Israeli land claims, and a response") In the Feb. 20 Christian Science Monitor Weekly UpFront column, "What decides a claim on land?" columnist John Yemma negatively portrays Israel's West Bank settlement policies. Accusing Israel of violating international law by virtue of its settlement enterprise, Mr. Yemma writes, "Under the Geneva Conventions, which Israel has signed, an occupying power cannot transfer its population onto occupied territory." In fact, the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention in Article 49, Paragraph 6 to which Yemma presumably refers does include this provision: "The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies." But Israeli government policy has not compelled any Israeli citizens to move into the territory.
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| How Congress can be productive Posted: 01 May 2017 01:48 PM PDT ![How Congress can be productive]( "How Congress can be productive") Productivity growth, or a rising output per worker, has slowed, as it has in much of the world, reducing living standards. The first step is for elected leaders to focus on ways to foster innovation, such as investments in education, infrastructure, and research. In 2010, it set up a Productivity Commission that reviews government actions on their ability to boost the productivity of people, ideas, and capital.
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| Jehovah's Witnesses as 'extremists': Court sharpens edges of Russia's religious space Posted: 01 May 2017 11:58 AM PDT ![Jehovah's Witnesses as 'extremists': Court sharpens edges of Russia's religious space]( "Jehovah's Witnesses as 'extremists': Court sharpens edges of Russia's religious space") There is no outward sign of awareness that Russia's Supreme Court has just banned the Jehovah's Witnesses as an "extremist" group on a par with terrorist organizations like ISIS and Al Qaeda – nor that carrying out these very activities may soon be grounds for criminal charges and prison. It is the first major post-Soviet instance in which Russia has moved to outlaw an entire religion, deploying "extremism" laws against a group that poses no threat whatsoever of violence, racism, or hate speech. Recommended: Sochi, Soviets, and czars: How much do you know about Russia?
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| As North Korea's economy grows, Kim tries to wield a double-edged sword Posted: 01 May 2017 10:01 AM PDT ![As North Korea's economy grows, Kim tries to wield a double-edged sword]( "As North Korea's economy grows, Kim tries to wield a double-edged sword") When Rüdiger Frank visited a shopping center in the North Korean capital in February, he was amazed to find not one, but at least 10 different kinds of toothpaste for sale. Customers could buy whitening toothpaste, children's toothpaste, and toothpaste made with "nanotechnology" that sold for 30,000 won, about $33. "We need to understand that North Korea is in the middle of a consumerist transformation," Professor Frank, the head of East Asian studies at the University of Vienna, wrote about his trip on 38 North, a website on North Korea news.
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