World News Insights: Opinion Articles

Face masks were the most ubiquitous visual symbol of the Covid-19 pandemic, but they’re fading from sight as more and more people get vaccinated. Roughly 177 million Americans — or 68.7% of the adult population — have received at least one dose, according to Bloomberg’s Vaccine Tracker. New York…

There's rising anxiety in the US about the future of work. And for good reason. As technology and trade disrupt existing systems of production, there’s a good chance that many workers will eventually lose their jobs. But instead of trying to freeze the economy in place, the government should help…

President Joe Biden has spent his political career steeped in, and observant of, the rituals of global diplomacy. President Vladimir Putin of Russia, a former intelligence operative, deploys statecraft as a blunt instrument. Biden should swap ritual for realpolitik after the two leaders meet in…

As nations race to roll out vaccines in the global effort to contain Covid-19 and allow for a return to normal, the rise of dangerous virus variants threatens to prolong the pandemic. In the UK, the spread of the so-called delta variant, first identified in India, has led officials to send military…

I don’t like memories. It is the house of the past, which sometimes revive painful feelings. It was a hot and bloody summer. Ariel Sharon’s forces surrounded the city and blocked its arteries with tank chains. He wanted to punish the city because Yasser Arafat turned it into a podium to publicize…

“If RafiK Hariri were alive, we wouldn’t be suffering as we are today.” This phrase, recently repeated by several Lebanese citizens, was also published as articles, and it found a space for itself in political interventions and statements. “If he were alive” is the heading of a theory flourishing…

Way back when, I made three predictions about the Affordable Care Act, which survived another brush with death on Thursday in yet another court case. The one I was right about was that Obamacare would survive. That was relatively easy. The US political system has a strong status-quo bias, and…

The return of international football tournaments in front of a live crowd is worth cheering, with the star power of Cristiano Ronaldo and Kylian Mbappe bringing fans out in droves to bars and pubs eager to make up for a lost pandemic year. Less cheerful is the fact many fans remain glued to…

In midtown Manhattan, they’re dancing in the streets. Literally. At the Greek restaurant on W. 44th St. where I ate dinner last week, a live band played on the sidewalk and the space between the sidewalk and the restaurant’s extensive outdoor seating became an impromptu dance floor for dozens of…

China’s decision to anoint a chip czar is the latest step to advance its semiconductor industry. It won’t be a magic solution for all the challenges the nation faces in catching up to the US, Taiwan and South Korea. Vice Premier Liu He is an obvious and worthy choice to spearhead the development…

The world is spoiled by Covid vaccine success. Speedily developed shots have proved highly and even exceptionally effective. That made weak results revealed late Wednesday by Germany’s CureVac about its mRNA vaccine especially disappointing. Previously hyped by Elon Musk's repeated endorsement and…

When US climate envoy John Kerry called to transform the science of climate change into policies and laws, he only got it half right, because setting public policies is not a simple matter. It rather is a complex issue that requires compromises to balance economic, social and environmental aspects…