World News Insights: Opinion Articles

One of my Lebanese friends and a reader of Asharq Al-Awsat has blamed me. He said: “You go to Berlin to write about the situation of Ukrainian and Syrian refugees. Do you think our conditions are better than theirs? Haven’t you been told that cancer medicines are lacking? That the number of those…

High school teacher S. Jeeva has spent two days in the baking sun lining up for cooking gas in the north of Sri Lanka’s capital. He’s been standing with thousands of others waiting for a delivery that, so far, hasn’t come. Meanwhile, many of his students, who will sit for important national exams…

I have never taken up the opportunity to attend the Davos meeting and I will pass again this year. That, however, does not mean that I do not follow its evolution and outcomes. I am certainly interested in what could emerge from a meeting that brings together so many leaders of governments, civil…

It's been more than two years since countries started closing their borders to visitors to prevent the spread of Covid-19. Now China, facing its worst outbreak of the pandemic, is trying a new tactic. Henceforth, “unnecessary” overseas travel by Chinese citizens will also be restricted,…

The recent Lebanese elections, which saw Hezbollah losing its allies and the parliamentary majority, and the entry of independents into parliament, is not only a lesson for the party, Iran and the Lebanese, but rather a message for the entire region. The first lesson is “not to rely on agents,”…

There are countless reasons, in theory at least, for the Lebanese to change their allegiances: the economic crisis, the evisceration of their bank deposits, the explosion at the port of Beirut, political and security instability... But other factors that most established political analysts do not…

When the global elite meets at the Swiss resort of Davos this week, for a spring gathering of the World Economic Forum (WEF), war will have forced its way to the top of the agenda. The pandemic has shrunk the annual jamboree of the great and the wealthy. Absent will be Russian oligarchs who hung…

This is one of a series of interviews by Bloomberg Opinion columnists on how to solve the world’s most pressing policy challenges. It has been edited for length and clarity. This interview was conducted on Instagram Live on May 18. Sarah Green Carmichael: As the founder of “The Formula Mom” (…

Discussions with representatives of countries and international organizations at Palais des Nations (Palace of Nations) in Geneva reveal divergences, almost to the point of contradiction, on issues related to environment and development. The only element cooling the heat of dialogues seems to be…

The UK cost-of-living crisis is becoming increasingly apparent to people, in the growing gap between the wages they earn and what they spend on groceries and fuel bills. But it is also squeezing the most vulnerable in another less visible but no less fundamental part of life — rent. Happily, there…

When I talk to business groups these days, the most commonly asked question is, “Are we headed for stagflation?” I’m pretty sure they find my response unsatisfying, because I tell them it depends on their definition of the term. If they understand it to mean a period of rising unemployment…

The saga of Elon Musk’s Twitter Inc. deal has overshadowed nearly everything else happening in the social-media business in the past two months, including signs that the industry’s biggest players are trying to imitate an increasingly powerful competitor: TikTok. Owned by Beijing-based Byte…