World News Insights: Opinion Articles

Perhaps German policy toward Russia must first descend into farce before it can re-ascend to reason. Let’s start with the farce. Gerhard Schroeder leaps to mind. He’s a former German chancellor and the most recent Social Democrat in that role before the incumbent, Olaf Scholz. In a podcast over…

The right and left may not agree on what constitutes misinformation, but both would like to see less of it on social media. And as the world faces the third year of the Covid-19 pandemic, the threat medical misinformation poses to public health remains real. Companies like Twitter and Facebook have…

Amazon.com Inc.’s investors were bracing for the worst a day after Meta Platforms Inc.’s dreary earnings report sparked a historic stock plunge and spread worries that tech stalwarts were losing their mojo. Amazon’s shares tumbled nearly 8% in regular trading Thursday ahead of its own earnings news…

French care-home operator Orpea was once a bet on better retirement. In an aging society, demand for long-term care would only rise — and so would demand for long-term returns, hence why Canada’s top pension fund bought a 15% stake in 2013. It was going to be the virtuous circle of the “silver…

The brilliant thing about technology is how it tends to become smaller (and cheaper) over time. One glaring exception has been the most expensive piece of kit many of us buy: the automobile. Due to the popularity of bulbous, gizmo-laden SUVs and pickup trucks — some driven no further than a…

The nationwide truckers’ protest in Canada, known as the “Freedom Convoy” and centered in Ottawa, reflects so many global trends that it’s hard to say what it means. But the movement may well end up as the most consequential story of the year. Under one plausible reading, many Canadians are…

Omicron is no respecter of titles or jazzy labels. The Hong Kong government’s “Dynamic Zero Infection” strategy, for which the city has sacrificed much in pursuit of resumed links with mainland China, is hanging by a thread. Confirmed Covid cases surged to 614 on Monday, almost double the previous…

For countries with high vaccination rates, 2022 may be the last year when strong measures are required against Covid-19. The end of the pandemic, however, will not come easily. One might imagine that the end of the emergency would be joyfully welcomed. But conflicts over whether schools should…

Moroccan Rayan took us to his timing. His story haunted our days. We stuck to our television screens and phones. He stole the spotlight from everything else. His fate seemed like a test of our humanity. From faraway places, people became involved in his father’s pain and his mother’s sorrows…

After Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s meeting in Beijing last Friday, China and Russia declared that the two countries “oppose any future expansion of NATO.” They also decried the influence of the US and the role that NATO and the AUKUS defense alliance have…

Parmy Olson: With the plunge in Meta Platforms Inc.’s stock this week, shareholders are focusing scrutiny on Facebook’s decision to re-brand itself and stake its future on the metaverse: a 3D, immersive world where we talk and do things as avatars. Second Life had all this when it launched…

In the final weeks of World War I, a German general sent a telegram to his Austrian allies summarizing the situation. It was, he wrote, “serious, but not catastrophic.” The reply came back: “Here the situation is catastrophic, but not serious.” It’s a joke, of course. But it captures, in a…