World News Insights: Opinion Articles

The Group of 20 meeting of high-level policy makers in Rome this weekend provides a timely opportunity to assess progress on the four broad policy responses that I have argued repeatedly are vital for the global economy. They hold the key to maintaining a strong and durable recovery that is also…

If a stock market is a mirror of a society’s state of mind, then the US is feeling exuberant right now. But in China, it is all about trepidation. Investors there are worried the government is going to mess things up. Both economies face the same set of problems: Supply chain disruptions,…

US President Joe Biden is pushing for a temporary increase in oil and gas production at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland. While Biden himself has acknowledged that his effort might seem ironic, to some climate activists, it is more than that: It’s hypocritical, especially coming from a…

As global leaders thrash out plans to cut carbon emissions and corporate chieftains tout renewable energy, the world’s biggest tech companies need to be uttering one word much more often: reuse. Major gadget makers like Apple Inc., Lenovo Group Ltd. and Samsung Electronics Co. want to be taken…

Within axis of resistance circles in Lebanon, an argument has been circulating: to defend Information Minister Kordahi is to defend freedom of speech, while to attack him is to attack freedom of speech. That is not true. Freedom of opinion and speech is the right of Kordahi and anyone else,…

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan finally got his meeting with Joe Biden last Sunday after the Americans had postponed it for several days. Erdogan said in September that he did not have good relations with Biden and the bilateral relationship between their countries was not healthy. Biden…

For decades, IT administrators have waged an endless war to protect their systems from hackers. That struggle started half a century ago with audio tapes and floppy discs the primary weapon, before faster wired and mobile communications allowed an adversary to breach a target’s network to steal…

The race to power electric vehicles has set off a competition to capture lithium. That’s a troubling sign for batteries. This week, investors got very excited when Tesla Inc. and Ganfeng Lithium Co. signed a three-year deal for battery-grade lithium hydroxide products from 2022 to 2024…

Even official money is quasi-private in Hong Kong, with people interchangeably using the IOUs of its three note-issuing banks. But as central banks around the world plan to take cash digital, can this arrangement hold up? Or will the city’s 7.5 million residents have to deal in a brand new currency…

Facebook Inc. managed to distance itself from the most damning document leak in its history by renaming itself as Meta Platforms Inc. last week, but that doesn’t mean it won’t face greater regulatory scrutiny around the world. Where will it get the most heat? My bet is the UK. After blundering…

It started with an innocuous question from a town hall audience: A student asked President Biden whether he would vow to protect Taiwan from China. Mr. Biden’s response — a quick “yes,” then “yes” again when pressed by a CNN anchor — was instant breaking news globally. The White House almost…

Vaccines to protect young children from Covid-19 are likely soon on their way. The Food and Drug Administration has authorized the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use in children ages 5 to 11. If the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention signs off, vaccinations could begin next…