World News Insights: Opinion Articles

I’m not one of those people who think women make naturally better leaders than men, more collegial and collaborative. I’ve covered enough women in the upper ranks, and worked for and with enough women, to know that it depends on the individual. Yet when I look back at 9/11 and the torrent of…

There’s no shortage of excitement for electric vehicle battery startups or multibillion dollar investments in the industry, as companies, backers and scientists look for the winning play. China, though, is already moving on to the next leg in the race — one that isn’t dependent on a big, bold…

Many differences distinguish fairy tales from legends, and the most important of them might be the following: legends tell tales of supernatural heroes who deliver what humans cannot, be it something positive or negative. We don’t believe what is attributed to the protagonists, but they amaze us,…

If you are a child of the “terrible Middle East,” then it is not odd for you to sense that you have endured two decades under the rule of the great killed called September 11, 2001. I know, dear reader, that no one wants such a painful date to be etched in their memory. But it is a day that we…

In the days before Covid, I’d often get frustrated by the response that doctors would give when I turned up at their clinics with some infection or other: “It’s just a virus,” they’d say. As someone who’s long been fascinated by the detective work that goes into tracing the origins and history…

For years, China has purported to be a new type of great power: one that rises peacefully and respects the rights of other states rather than chasing the foreign domination of empires past. “China will never seek hegemony, expansion or a sphere of influence,” President Xi Jinping said in April. …

In the winter of 1848, a 26-year-old Prussian pathologist named Rudolf Virchow was sent to investigate a typhus epidemic raging in Upper Silesia, in what is now mostly Poland. After three weeks of meticulous observation of the stricken populace — during which he carefully counted typhus cases…

Apple Inc.’s dominance over the mobile-app economy has just suffered its first significant setback. It could mark the beginning of a real antitrust reckoning for the technology giant that may benefit the livelihoods of millions of app developers. On Friday, US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez…

Let me ask you an honest question. How do you feel about Mindestbeitragsbemessungsgrundlage? Your answer could determine how you’d vote in Germany’s federal election on Sept. 26, because the center-left Greens make much of it in their party platform — although it’s not entirely clear what it is, or…

Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Patricia Espinosa, sent a letter of thanks to the governments that have reported on their Nationally Determined Commitment (NDC). These are the voluntary commitments to reduce greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions, as…

In the wake of President Joe Biden’s announcement on Thursday of new, more aggressive tactics against the Covid-19 pandemic, including expanded vaccine mandates, some of those who support vaccination are worried that it could all backfire. National Journal’s Josh Kraushaar put it this way: …

Twenty years ago, on September 11, 2001, on a warm summer afternoon, the people of the Middle East learned that the Afghanistan-based al-Qaeda had attacked the twin buildings of World Trade Center in New York City. The world had witnessed one of the largest terrorist attacks in contemporary…