World News Insights: Opinion Articles

So here we go again. The coronavirus has mutated, as we’ve always known it would, and the new variant, called omicron, is spreading fast. Should we be scared or sanguine? Should we change our behavior and plans or carry on? To answer these questions, we need three pieces of information that we don…

When General Motors Co.’s $27 billion EV program went up in flames in August, it also singed EV enthusiasts’ high hopes for a new generation of long-lasting batteries that could take cars farther while keeping costs low. The storied American car company was forced to recall the 140,000 electric…

What do India, Iraq and the Solomon Islands have in a common? The answer is that US President Joe Biden has certified all three as “democracies” along with 106 other countries, by inviting them to a virtual “democratic” world summit on 9 and 10 December. Biden’s move reminds me of one of my…

How does the scene in the Middle East look at the end of 2021, keeping in mind that most observers and those who follow the situation in the region agree that we have been living in a chaotic regional system for years…A system that has seen a weakening or regression of the international rules or…

The telecoms sector is proving a rich hunting ground for bidders and bankers. Surely stock-market investors can put up more resistance. Reliance Industries, the Indian conglomerate led by billionaire Mukesh Ambani, denied a report it was mulling an offer for BT Group Plc on Monday, but the UK…

Hinting that you might run for president in France is a lot easier (and more exciting) than joining the race for real. The country is always on the lookout for its next homme providential to rescue it from the jaws of chaos — but it takes luck, skill and money to win as an outsider. Emmanuel Macron…

For years, Facebook and other large technology companies grew into vast digital conglomerates by making so-called killer acquisitions, small deals for companies that could one day pose a competitive threat. Internal emails between executives at Facebook show Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg…

Partial returns suggest Honduras has voted overwhelmingly in favor of its first alternation of power in over a decade, breaking the hold of a ruling party that presided over human rights abuses, democratic erosion and high-profile cocaine-trafficking scandals. A peaceful transfer would be rare good…

People’s memories fade over time. That is obvious. Numbers, dates, and names speak to this fading more than anything else. With that, it is nonetheless strange for a pillar of politics to forget the date of his country’s independence. At the very least, remembering these occasions is considered…

Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. have pledged to compensate their Hong Kong employees for the mandatory hotel quarantine the territory imposes on travelers and residents as part its stringent Covid-zero strategy. JPMorgan was the first to move, saying it would…

I spent nearly 10 years on the deep ocean — entirely out of sight of land. During the long voyages, I would track the massive civilian cargo ships and oil tankers sailing near my warships. An exquisite system keeps them running essentially 24/7, hustling cargoes among a network of global megaports…

This was no typical start to the work week in Singapore. At a bus depot in the city-state's northern suburbs, people were lining up to do something extraordinary: make the journey of less than a mile across the water to Malaysia. Once almost as routine as the commute between New York and New Jersey…