David Fickling

Could the world be on the brink of a new, cleaner era of aviation? That’s certainly what you might think from the way some people are talking. Mandates for blending so-called Sustainable Aviation Fuel into jet kerosene form one plank of the European Union’s recently announced plans to reduce…

The web of commercial ties spun between the world’s two largest economies over the past two decades is fraying. Early in the US Democratic primary, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris came across as two of the least confrontational candidates on China issues. Their administration, however, is offering not…

Is a nuclear power plant on the edge of China’s 60 million-strong Pearl River Delta megalopolis on the verge of an emergency? It doesn’t look like it — but that doesn’t mean there’s no cause for concern. The US government has been assessing a report of a leak at the Taishan No. 1 nuclear power…

On Feb. 18, 1522, a secondhand clothing merchant named Geronimo Bambarara in the crowded Rialto district of Venice came up with a new way of clearing out stock. Instead of selling his goods directly for money, he decided to enter customers in a draw. In exchange for a 1 lira ticket, they might…

If China hopes to avert a fall in its population by raising the maximum number of children per mother from two to three, it’s going to have its work cut out. That’s because declining fertility, once started, tends to be an inexorable force that few nations have managed to arrest, let alone…

For airlines, one of the most alarming aspects of the forced landing in Belarus to seize a journalist is how easily it was done. Restarting international travel amid a faltering recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic will be difficult enough as it is. The threat of a new era of state-sponsored…

Paranoia is never a good basis for decision-making. Australia’s Department of Defense ought to consider that in its review of the 99-year lease that China’s Landbridge Group took over the Port of Darwin in 2015. The department has been tasked with looking into security implications of the deal…

Covid-19 is going to kill more people in 2021 than it did last year. To see why, look at India, where daily case numbers spiked to 314,835 Thursday, outstripping levels the US experienced at the peak of its epidemic. Signs that the country is cracking under the strain are legion — from…

Covid-19 is going to kill more people in 2021 than it did last year. If you want to see why, look at what’s happening in India. Cases have been surging in the country of 1.37 billion people. On Sunday alone, 261,500 new infections were recorded. That’s as bad as the US during all but the worst…

To judge by the headlines, you’d think the most critical immunization issue facing the world is the safety and hesitancy concerns over the AstraZeneca Plc and Johnson & Johnson vaccines. That debate is genuinely important. Still, it shouldn’t distract from the biggest challenge the world will face…