World News Insights: Opinion Articles

Today is her final date. It is not in her habit to miss a date or to break a promise. The heart betrayed her and it is in the habit of betraying. The soil in which she will be buried has been waiting for days during which she received messages from admirers, who have stood in endless queues of…

The world is fretting over the demise of global supply chains and the threat of deglobalization, with the US trying to lure manufacturing activity back home — or at least closer. Yet supply chains have actually evolved for the better in some places — particularly in Asia — despite all the…

She died in her happy place. It was a photograph of herself and Prince Philip at Balmoral, wrapped in a tartan picnic blanket beside the hills of her beloved Loch Muick, that she chose to release on the eve of his funeral last year. Balmoral is where it is said he proposed to her and where,…

Just over a century ago, Lytton Strachey, a literary lion of the Bloomsbury Group, tried to sum up the impact of Queen Victoria’s death. She had succeeded in her 63-year reign in becoming profoundly “familiar,” he wrote, occupying “with satisfying ease a distinct and memorable place.” Consequently,…

With this week’s retirement of Roger Federer coming hard on the heels of last week’s news that Serena Williams had played her final match, encomia have rung out from every corner lamenting the loss of the two greatest tennis players in history. But were they? In every sport, we constantly hear…

It is difficult to keep up with the Israeli military strikes targeting Syria. Whether they hit the airport, its surroundings, or other sites, it seems that only intelligence services or specialized research centers have the capacity to account for them all. This is not the point. Indeed, the…

The latest development in Sweden was not granted the significance it deserves: Together, the right-wing parties won the parliamentary elections, albeit by a narrow margin (176 to 173 seats). The Swedish Social Democratic Party, which had been the leading party in the ruling coalition, still won…

On my desk I have a scuffed silver coin that I had to rummage through a box to find. It was given to me in 1977 — there was one for every child in my British primary school — to commemorate the Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. I was 7 and she had already been on the throne for 25 years. My…

Ukrainian forces have reconquered over 3,000 square kilometers of territory over the past week — more than all the territory Russia had added to its occupation in the six months since the start of the war. The Ukrainian flag is suddenly flying again over numerous towns and villages, and the…

Since day one of the crisis in Syria, Iran has been directly engaged and present on the frontlines. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, Lebanese Hezbollah, and other Shia militia from Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan have been an essential part of the Assad regime’s war effort. Assad’s other big…

A new study has upended the way researchers think about how air pollution causes lung cancer. The work cracks open a whole new way of thinking about certain cancers and how to treat and even prevent them. It also suggests environmental agencies may have good reason to impose much stricter limits on…

Perhaps you didn’t notice, but back in November, Kamala Harris made history by becoming the first woman to hold presidential power. OK, it was only for an hour and a half. But still. Joe Biden temporarily — very temporarily — transferred executive power to his vice president when he was…