World News Insights: Opinion Articles

Forty-one years ago, on a cold, drizzly day in Washington, four people were shot by a young man who had concealed a gun in his jacket. This was long before mass shootings became a frequent reality of our lives. It was long before semiautomatic weapons became commonplace. There were many “good…

The English poet Andrew Marvell wrote famous lines on King Charles I’s 1649 execution: “He nothing common did or mean/upon that memorable scene.” Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s hero, Winston Churchill, often recited those lines to his staff, or even to himself. The great wartime prime minister was…

Inflation prognostication tends to come down to reading statistical tea leaves. Friday’s report of strong US job growth looks like a sign of economic strength that keeps inflationary pressure high. Recent declines in commodity prices reassured some analysts that the danger could be receding. …

China’s growing influence in the microstates of the Pacific Ocean has raised alarm among the powers that traditionally dominated the region — Australia, New Zealand, and the US. If they want to halt Beijing’s advance, they’re going to have to start offering more in return. A security pact with…

In May, for the first time in more than three decades, Germany’s storied trade surplus disappeared. Not only is imported natural gas more expensive, but demand in China is falling — neither of which is good news for Germany. Nevertheless, the fallout will be more manageable than many people expect,…

It’s the summer calm before the winter storm in Europe. Tourists are back in Paris, Madrid and Rome, but they can’t save the Old Continent from the threat of recession. Strikes and staff shortages give a hint of the high inflation eating into people’s pockets -- and darkening their mood. France…

Political opponents are usually too quick to label each other “anti-science.” But the label is entirely deserved when it comes to the US Congress, which has spent months denying a White House request for billions in additional Covid-19 research funds. There’s still so much to learn about the…

Prime Minister Boris Johnson will be remembered for Britain’s exit from the European Union long after the world has forgotten the tousled hair, the quotations in Homeric Greek, the fibs, fabrications and scandals — not to mention the time he got stuck on a zip line while serving as London mayor,…

The Federal Reserve’s runway for raising interest rates to tackle the worst inflation in 40 years just got a little bit longer after a Labor Department report Friday showed unemployment remained near generational lows in June. That means the Fed is likely to deliver on another 75-basis-point…

Samsung Electronics Co. reported just enough earnings data Thursday to tease us about what might be heading our way. Second quarter revenue and operating profit at the South Korean Goliath portend a tough second half for global technology hardware manufacturers. Sales pipped estimates by a…

No single term is as ubiquitous in the strategy documents of the free world today as “Indo-Pacific.” And yet the phrase never appeared in defense white papers or summit readouts two decades ago. The geopolitical, geo-economic, and military links between these two great oceans, as well as the…

Japan has been brought to a standstill by the news that former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe died after being shot on the campaign trail for Sunday’s upper house elections. A lone gunman attacked Abe, who was pronounced dead at a hospital in Nara from wounds in his chest and neck. This is a tragedy…