World News Insights: Opinion Articles

Germans are known for angst in general, and angst about inflation in particular. After all, hyperinflation during the Weimar Republic led to the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis, right? That collective memory has been cited countless times both inside and outside of Germany as the…

The Maldives and Sri Lanka, both highly tourism-dependent tropical islands, have seen the pandemic devastate their economies and finances. Government debt this year is expected to linger above 100% of gross domestic product in the two small Indian Ocean nations. Unsurprisingly, both have similar —…

Reshuffle is the right word for it — as in, take a deck of cards and mix it around. Boris Johnson’s new cabinet is mainly populated by names of those who have already been part of the ministerial team. As of Wednesday evening, at least four cabinet members have been sacked, while others have…

I’m a strong supporter of getting a vaccination for Covid-19. (I’ve had two plus my booster.) And I agree that getting shots into the arms of most of the 70 to 75 million US adults who remain unvaccinated is a matter of public urgency. But the libertarian in me believes that means are as important…

The small but diverse group of classical-music lovers is in deep mourning after one of the pillars of its community died. Primephonic, a Dutch-American app that streamed a wide catalogue of classical music went dark last month, after being acquired by Apple Inc., which aims to fold the service into…

Got both shots? Great, now please stay home. High vaccination rates may not be the passport to economic reopening and a thriving social life that we’d once hoped. As Asia’s inoculation drive recovers from a slow start, the revival of commerce is half-hearted at best. A shadow of 2019 may be the…

Boards are notorious for group think and spinelessness. In Facebook’s case, a board could make a difference. Documents reported by the Wall Street Journal earlier this week revealed a secret system at Facebook to coddle the posts of politicians and celebrities, as well as internal stats on the…

After 13 months of foundering under caretaker prime ministers, Lebanon finally has a government. That is very good news for a country suffering from the effects of economic collapse, political intransigence, financial malfeasance and the interference of foreign powers. And all that on top of…

For a brief moment last month, amid the chaotic and tragic final days of America’s longest war, it looked as if a Democratic Congress would perform honest oversight of a Democratic administration. The chasm between the reality on the ground and the rhetoric from the White House was too wide. It…

Has the war on international terrorism been lost? Have the US and its allies dropped out of the war on terror that they declared two decades ago? These are some of the questions raised by commentators across the globe last week as the US marked the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Many…

The news of bombings by Al Qaeda and Iranian militias and ISIS’s crimes have left the Middle East’s map stained with blood. However, if we were to look beyond this and our devastated region, examining the broader world, we would see that the rates of violence have receded to a degree unparalleled…

The list of candidates hoping to take on Emmanuel Macron for the French presidency in April is getting long. About 30 people have thrown their hats in the ring, including Paris’ Socialist mayor Anne Hidalgo, far-right leader Marine Le Pen and former Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier. Similar…