World News Insights: Opinion Articles

President Joe Biden’s White House usually gets the nuts and bolts of the presidency right. Recently, one example of getting it very wrong was in the news, and it’s worth considering what lessons it holds. The story: White House science adviser Eric Lander, who had cabinet status, resigned after…

People think they know misinformation when they see it. But I’ve spent more than a year studying medical misinformation as part of a Pulliam Fellowship and have come to find the term isn’t particularly enlightening. The dictionary calls it “false information, especially that which is deliberately…

“There’s no value in digging shallow wells in a hundred places. Decide on one place and dig deep.” This advice comes from the ancient Yoga Sutras as interpreted by Swami Satchidananda, an Indian guru who died in 2002. The trouble is, the insight is only half-true, and therefore in need of an…

It is conventional wisdom that misinformation — particularly about Covid and vaccines, and often enabled by social and other media — is worse than it’s ever been. It’s hard to measure misinformation over time. But the premise that there was ever a golden age of accurate information, especially…

Local media is rife with speculation about Hong Kong leaning on the mainland to rein in the latest Covid-19 outbreak, with cases rising to record numbers since the start of the pandemic. Over the last week, the government has severely tightened restrictions on just about every aspect of life in…

Democrats have been frustrated in their hopes to pass a comprehensive voting rights bill. But with Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia on board, things are looking up for the most important voting rights legislation that is actually possible right now: the Electoral Count Modernization Act. The…

The first shipment of liquefied hydrogen, which recently left Australia for Japan, heralded a new era in energy technology and trade. It is true that the extraction of hydrogen by electrolysis is not a new discovery, and the properties of hydrogen as an efficient energy carrier are well known;…

Last Wednesday, during the mass service on Saint Maroun's Day attended by most Lebanese leaders, Maronite Patriarch Bechara al-Rahi looked into the eyes of President Michel Aoun and said, with an assuaging tone, that, “We are struggling together so that Lebanon does not continue to be a…

Twitter Inc.’s shares are rising after another weak earnings performance. While it’s tempting to play down the reaction as just a relief rally after the stock’s recent plunge, there are legitimate grounds to be more optimistic about the social media company. Yes, the perennially underachieving…

Browsing the internet has never really been free. Each time you visit a website, a silent auction for your eyeballs is conducted to show you an ad that effectively makes you pay with your personal information. Location, birthday, browsing data and more are broadcast to hundreds of vendors within a…

States across the US have dropped their mask mandates this week, worrying Americans who think they’re still needed and cheering people who are ready to go “back to normal.” Both groups need to take a deep breath: Dropping mask mandates isn’t the same thing as ignoring Covid-19. Masks have been…

“Will Russia invade Ukraine?” has become the biggest guessing game in Washington. Most US officials apparently think the answer is “yes” — and soon, as National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan warned on Friday. Russia continues to deny any intention to invade. Yet if Russian President Vladimir…