World News Insights: Opinion Articles

China is turning back to low-cost coal to boost its ailing economy. It's an understandable reaction to the toll caused by Covid lockdowns. But it will come with a steep price for the environment and the health of its citizens. It's also likely to worsen food insecurity in China just as the world…

Tickets for marquee sporting events don’t come cheap. A top Premier League match, where a stadium can pack 40,000 to 60,000 football fans, easily runs £100 ($121) for club members, with prices far higher on the secondary market. A weekend at the just completed Silverstone Grand Prix starts at a…

Since the dawn of man, human beings have been organizing themselves into groups. Human beings have always been careful to manage their affairs within the community and manage their community’s relations with others. Before the concept of a modern state emerged, the concept of authority was…

“Turtles all the way down” is a handy phrase for describing how the human mind creatively fills in holes of logic. It allegedly springs from one person’s attempt to justify to the philosopher Bertrand Russell her belief that the world was floating on a giant turtle by imagining another turtle…

The Public Investment Fund (PIF) today occupies a prominent, influential position as a major investment force among the world’s top sovereign wealth funds. Its strategies act to boost national economic growth through investment in projects and opportunities on the national and international levels,…

As energy security becomes a growing source of angst, it’s clear that large-scale, reliable use of renewable resources remain a distant reality in many countries. That’s allowed a more controversial — and almost perfect — alternative to make a comeback: nuclear. Trouble is, nobody wants a reactor…

When the BRICS Summits officially began in 2009, the goal was clear, giving emerging economies a voice in the international community. The group was initially composed of four countries: Brazil, Russia, India, and China, while South Africa, representing the African continent, joined the grouping…

I chose a corner in a café to write my article. The power cuts in Beirut prevent me from writing at home. I have no problem with that; I am not tied down to superstitions when it comes to writing. The profession does not allow such luxuries. One must write at home, a hotel, the airport or on the…

Myanmar’s modern history has been marked by colonial exploitation, military repression, violence and democracy denied. Grass-roots activists like me and thousands before me have dedicated our lives and sacrificed our safety to change this. But over the past year, an even deeper darkness has…

The idea of time travel is an old British preoccupation, from H.G. Wells’s 1895 novel to the seemingly immortal television series “Doctor Who,” which first aired in 1963, the year before I was born. Although I didn’t travel by Tardis or encounter any murderous Daleks, returning to my native land…

Risking a public appeal while caged in Iran’s notorious Evin Prison speaks volumes about the depth of my despair. I have suffered quietly as nearly 2,500 of what should have been the best and most productive days of my life were lost behind these bars. But I am compelled to break that silence now…

The US and Iran’s indirect nuclear deal negotiations in Doha ended in failure, with an American official saying that reviving the deal with Iran has become less likely after the meeting in Qatar. The question now is: Why have the negotiations failed? Last week, I wrote that time is not on the…