World News Insights: Opinion Articles

Faced with the largest protests Cuba has seen since 1994, the regime in Havana predictably blamed the unrest on the US. The Cuban president, Miguel Diaz-Canel, said the US embargo of the island was responsible. The foreign minister, Bruno Rodriguez, said US-backed mercenaries sparked the…

Eli Lake

A surge in Covid-19 cases following the emergence of the highly transmissible delta variant has sparked fresh health concerns and raised questions about the safety and pace of reopening, even in places where vaccination rates are high such as the UK Sam Fazeli, a Bloomberg Opinion contributor who…

Sam Fazeli

The last two weeks witnessed widespread protests against the authoritarian Cuban regime, with thousands taking to the streets in Havana to express dissatisfaction with the government’s handling of the Covid-19 crisis and — above all — the torpid economy. Hit by the collapse of tourism, a…

James Stavridis

It’s good to see that some US politicians are still working on fixing the country’s broken health care system. Proposals from Senator Bernie Sanders had some very promising elements, though also some less helpful ones. Unfortunately, it seems that the only piece of his plan likely to make it into…

Noah Smith

Snap Inc. is proving itself to be a cut above the rest. Its latest results show why. The social-media company reported second-quarter earnings late Thursday that crushed Wall Street’s expectations. Revenue in the period surged 116% from a year earlier to $982 million, handily beating the…

Tae Kim

The sea floor between Hawaii and Mexico is covered in potato-sized rocks that contain many of the metals necessary to make electric-car batteries. All that’s needed is a way to lift them to the surface for processing. At least, that’s the theory behind the Metals Co., a business formed earlier this…

Adam Minter

Vaccines have been game changers in the fight against Covid-19, offering effective protection against even highly contagious and pathogenic strains such as the delta variant. But with many in the world still unvaccinated and cases on the rise – including among the vaccinated – it’s becoming clear…

Sam Fazeli

On the list of things to worry about in the age of SARS-CoV-2, boring, old winter flu probably doesn’t rank highly. Especially not in the middle of a summer heat wave. And yet it should. Humanity has grown so accustomed to annual waves of influenza that it was the baseline comparison when Covid…

Therese Raphael

A drug that can help obese people safely cut an average of 15% of their body weight sounds like a miracle for those who can’t keep pounds off with diet and exercise alone. Wegovy, a Novo Nordisk A/S drug that the Food and Drug Administration approved in early June, appears to do exactly that. It…

Max Nisen

To talk or not to talk? For Joe Biden’s administration in Washington this is the question with regard to “frozen” negotiations with Iran over its so-called “nuclear ambitions”. Initially, Biden appeared keen to team-roll the process so that he could revive what his former boss Barack Obama still…

Amir Taheri

Two hundred and sixty-six years ago this month, a column of British regulars commanded by Gen. Edward Braddock was cut to pieces by French soldiers and their Native American allies in the woods just outside today’s Pittsburgh. The defeat turned into a rout when Braddock was shot off his horse,…

Ross Douthat

This month marks the one-year anniversary of the Trump administration’s initial threat to ban ByteDance Ltd.-owned TikTok, entangling the social media platform into the unpredictable web of geopolitics. But despite the existential distraction, the app has thrived over the past year. And now with…

Tae Kim