If Singapore and Vancouver can create liveable cities, why can’t Hong Kong?

Among the plethora of statistics, benchmarks and generalities in Hong Kong 2030 Plus, the government’s policy vision document, one word is...

America and Its Wall of Violence

I intended to write in a light manner about President Trump’s wall, the wall he wants to put across the length of the border with Mexico, on...

These are the biggest global risks of 2019

THERE'S a lot going on right now. At times it can feel like the world is tearing itself apart with more than enough problems to keep you up at...

Eventually There Will Be One State Between the Mediterranean and the Jordan

Gideon Levy is wrong about the past, the present, and I believe the future as well

Vampire bat breakthrough shows bloodsuckers could save lives

They’re often feared for their gruesome diet and ghoulish name, but the maligned vampire bat could help revolutionise certain medical treatments....

The Think-Tank Dilemma

TOKYO – The Brookings Institution in Washington, DC – perhaps the world’s top think tank – is under scrutiny for receiving six-figure...

Tackling the twin challenges of climate change and inequality

As the elite descends on Davos for this year's World Economic Forum, the world faces a twin crisis of rising inequality and climate disruption....

The truth about China’s surplus? There isn’t one

When Donald Trump complains about China’s trade practices, he inevitably points at China’s monster trade surplus with the United States as...

Moralna iztirjenost sindikatov

Ko je David A. Kideckel v knjigi The Unmaking of an East-Central European Working Class (2002) razpravljal o razlogih za slab položaj delavskega...

Desivé čísla

Podľa výročnej správy britskej neziskovky Oxfam by jediné percento globálnej dane z bohatstva prinieslo viac ako 400 miliárd dolárov, čo by...

No, America's Activist Left Is Not Inherently, or Irreparably, anti-Semitic at All

Our commitment to racial or gender equality can't be derailed by one Palestine-related bullet point, or one celebrity's insensitive gaffes. And our...

Why California’s crusade against receipts is pointless

KUALA LUMPUR - Can grandstanding empty the oceans of plastics and the landfills of trash? For the last five years, California’s been conducting...

Xi: Smooth talker vs. brass knuckle operator

BERLIN - Exactly two years ago, in his first appearance before the World Economic Forum in Davos, China’s President Xi Jinping created a global...

Solidarity for Adamowicz, Poland, and Europe

BRUSSELS – As the birthplace of Solidarity, the movement that helped bring communism to an end in Europe, Gdańsk has long served as a symbol of...

The Great Reconstruction

GENEVA – If the “Great Disruption” of 2018 is to be overcome, the world will need a new framework for global cooperation. After World War II,...

Why Trump’s trade truce talk is too late for the global economy

Has the sharp decline in America’s stock market – still down almost 9 per cent from its peak at the beginning of last October, despite a fierce...

China Inc. is battling a crisis of confidence

China’s industrial sector is facing a crisis of confidence. So far, Beijing’s solutions haven’t been enough to shore it up. In response to...

Old inheritance document

By Mark Peterson Some years ago, in my study of Korean history and culture, I came upon a document that was revealing on many levels. It was a 1688...

Shutdown clouds U.S. consumption growth

NEW YORK — After tax cuts, rising incomes and buoyant stock markets set off a consumer boom in 2018, signs are emerging that the main engine of...

Demsetz y la extinción de las gallinas

“Cacería furtiva de gallinas pone en riesgo a la especie”, “Las vacas se encuentran en peligro de extinción” o “Preocupación por la...

Demand for ‘expat apartments’ remain high in Bangkok

THE outlook for the single-ownership apartment market in Bangkok remains positive despite increased competition from rental units in condominiums,...

When the Liberal Pile-on Targets Catholics and Evangelicals, That's Bad News for Jews

The eager attacks on 'racist' Covington Catholic students and 'homophobic' Karen Pence is yet more proof that America's liberals are tolerant of...

Germany Still Has a Holocaust Problem

40 years ago a U.S. TV series, initially slammed as 'cheap' and 'kitsch,' forced West Germans to confront the Holocaust. Today, 40 percent of...

Chinese Islamophobia was made in the West

In response to the rising international criticism regarding the detainment of more than a million Uighur Muslims in so-called "re-education camps",...

Xi should accelerate drive to help private business

Was Labour’s anti-Semitism row fuelled by pro-Israeli social media ‘guerrilla warriors’?

The Labour Party has been dogged by allegations of anti-Semitism following Jeremy Corbyn’s victory in the 2015 leadership contest. Mired in...

Benny Morris, You're Wrong: Jews and Arabs Can Live Together. And They Already Do

Benny Morris is convinced that what prevailed in the past will also exist in the future. As a historian, he should know this isn’t the case, not...

Is the US about to let Meng Wanzhou go?

Maybe American prosecutors have finally seen the light. In the case of Huawei’s top executive Sabrina Meng Wanzhou, the 60-day deadline for her...

Singles get a raw deal at work. But at least there are signs of change

It is so invigorating to see workplace discrimination against single people finally being addressed, at least partially, at one school in eastern...

Beijing’s global battle over human rights

SINGAPORE - China is leading the charge to undermine universally accepted concepts of human rights, accountability and justice. What the Chinese...

China also built a big, beautiful wall, but it failed

BEIJING - From the moment he launched his campaign for president, Donald Trump compared the barrier he wanted to build along the U.S. southern...

How China’s yuan can up its game as a reserve currency

Everyone wants to knock the US dollar off its throne as the world’s leading currency. Europe has tried and failed, with the euro’s hope for...

Japan needs to heat up efforts to slash harmful emissions

The government is stepping up efforts to reduce Japan’s emissions of substitutes for chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which were widely used as a...

Pobeg iz Alcatraza

Pravzaprav gre za pobeg iz koprskega zapora, a so ga mediji naredili za novico tedna, morda celo meseca, če dosedanji tempo člankov, komentarjev,...

When an American mum fears for her son travelling to Hong Kong

“Did you see state dept warning about going to China? Maybe re-think plans to travel there [especially] since you are a journalist. Love, mom.” I...

The Metamorphosis of Central Europe

VIENNA – In Franz Kafka’s novella The Metamorphosis, the protagonist Gregor Samsa awakens one morning “from uneasy dreams” to find that he...

Italy’s government has blood on its hands once again

Commentary. The political will to continue violating international law prevailed, and the boat sank into the depths together with its human cargo....

Op-ed: When self-improvement becomes toxic

AS we enter into the fourth week of January, I’m going to make a wild guess that most of us have already failed on our New Year’s resolutions....

Decision Time for the Future of Corporate Taxation

NEW YORK – At first glance, it appears to be a bureaucratic meeting like any other. But the discussions at the OECD in Paris at the end of this...

Hacking Westphalia: ICT Infrastructures, Fake News and Global Politics

Digital platforms and other internet services have opened the way for people to connect, debate and gather information; yet they have also...

Ex-professor has message of hope for takers of new entrance exams

Yoshiyuki Osakaya, a 68-year-old former university professor living in Sapporo, still keeps a letter he received when he was a third-year high...

How will AI change domestic politics?

My son is a musician and composer. He desperately endeavors, every day and night, to compose creative music. I dreamed of becoming a professional...

The significance of electing a new Hamas leadership in Israeli prisons

The Central Elections Committee for Hamas prisoners held by Israel announced the end of the elections in late December for the senior leadership of...

Errejón surprise candidacy leaves Podemos in crisis

Analysis. The crisis is explosive because it is not only dividing the deputies in the Madrid regional parliament, but, if Errejón succeeds in his...

Trump must not let Manbij bombing derail Syria withdrawal

On the front burner domestically is the federal government’s partial shutdown and whether Trump will get money for his wall on the Mexican border,...

Could Thailand become the next big higher-education powerhouse?

CHINESE students are flocking to universities in Thailand, with the country's affordable tuition fees and friendly visa rules prompting a...

Restive Filipino south enters autonomy vote

THE restive southern Filipino region of Mindanao is holding a plebiscite to vote on giving the nation's Muslim minority greater control over the...