World News Insights: Opinion Articles

With Chinese high-yield issues experiencing their worst selloff in a decade, murmurs are growing that China is poised to blink and relent on its property tightening measures. That hope was shattered on Friday. At a news briefing, the People’s Bank of China broke its silence on China Evergrande…

The last few days, the Middle East witnessed two visits by two senior Iranian and American officials, as well as Iraq’s general elections. But if the nature of the visit of Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian was clear and widely mentioned in the media, I can claim no knowledge of the…

As soon as United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen announced that the sixth round of Constitutional Committee meetings would begin in Geneva on Oct.18, questions emerged about the viability of this committee and the need for prominent Syrian opposition and civil society figures…

Electronic Arts Inc. is considering the unimaginable: dumping the FIFA name from the company’s billion-dollar soccer video-game franchise. Given the excessive demands from the global soccer governing body, ending the partnership might be prudent. On Wednesday, the New York Times said FIFA was…

Bravo Iraq! This was the phrase that automatically came to my mind the other day as the Iraq’s latest general election was completed without an incident. The kudos was deserved for several reasons. First, last week’s election, the fifth in Iraq’s history since liberation in 2003, shows…

As a worsening power shortage ripples through China Inc., with provinces asking high-energy industries to curtail usage, semiconductor machinery makers and manufacturers along the electric-vehicle supply chain have had to shutter production. That the outages are now hitting such key sectors is…

It appears that President Joe Biden’s administration is finally taking “no” for an answer from Iran. Since the summer, Secretary of State Antony Blinken has signaled that his patience is not infinite when it comes to his offer to re-enter the 2015 nuclear deal. This week, Blinken went a bit further…

All the Lebanese are faced with a TV series, with the bogus lawsuits aimed at removing Judge Tarek Bitar being filed in succession. The lead investigator into the Beirut port blast crime is facing off against governmental and political interference and Hezbollah’s threats of “removing him,” the…

A villain is emerging in China’s efforts to rein in its energy prices: inefficient, power-hungry industry. With flooding in the coal hub of Shanxi province driving prices up to 1,508 yuan ($234) a metric ton even as the government tries to kickstart extra production, further measures are clearly…

With so many conspiracy theorists embracing the view that the coronavirus escaped from a laboratory, it’s tempting to dismiss the idea out of hand. But it's important to keep an open mind — because the possibility of a lab leak still exists, and needs to be investigated. Serious people are…

The nifty app CamFind has come a long way with its artificial intelligence. It uses image recognition to identify an object when you point your smartphone camera at it. But back in 2015 its algorithms were less advanced: The app mostly used contract workers in the Philippines to quickly type what…

When I was traveling around Kabul a few weeks ago, the city felt worlds apart from my last visit in 2019 — and not just because a 20-year war had finally ended. The economy is spiraling out of control. And unless money starts flowing soon, a total economic collapse will plunge Afghans into a…