Opinions
Twitter has more tools to use against Trump, if it chooses
Twitter's moves to label or hide comments from President Donald Trump have escalated a feud between the social network and the White House, but there could be more to come. The messaging platform has a range of "enforcement" options for dealing with content in violation of its policies, each of… Read
Trump's pitch to voters: Trust me, economy will soar in 2021
President Donald Trump has a new pitch to voters for this fall: Trust me. As the economy faces a once-in-a-century recession, with more than 38 million people out of work, Trump is increasingly talking up a future recovery that probably won't materialize until after the November election. He's asking voters… Read
China's virus diplomacy: Global savior or 'Wolf Warrior'?
China has played two roles in the global battle against the coronavirus: a benevolent donor of aid, filling the US void, and combative superpower ready to bite back at critics. Gone are the days of low-profile diplomacy promoted by late leader Deng Xiaoping, who said Beijing should "hide your strength,… Read
Coronavirus is dark side of an urban interconnected world
Like earlier pandemics, the coronavirus is the dark side of a highly productive, urbanised, interconnected and increasingly prosperous world. Yet urbanisation has persisted, in spite of all the problems it creates, including pollution, disease and high living costs. Now some commentators have begun to wonder if coronavirus and lockdowns employed… Read
White House is in the hands of a sociopathic megalomaniac, says Noam Chomsky
The United States is on a chaotic path with no federal plan against the coronavirus pandemic as it reduces public health funding and ignores the advances of climate change, according to activist scholar Noam Chomsky, considered the founder of modern linguistics. What follows are extracts, edited for clarity, from an… Read
Will pandemic push humans into a healthier relationship with nature?
Daniel Wanjama had everything ready for this year's first seed fair in the Kenyan town of Gilgil, an important event where poor farmers exchange seeds of nutritious, hardy local crops they cannot easily buy in shops or markets. But a week before the fair Wanjama had organized for late March,… Read
Why Japanese seniors are spending their golden years behind bars
Recently, in Five Stupid Ways To Get Arrested in Japan, we mentioned the KDDI caller, a pensioner who was arrested after placing nearly 24,000 complaint calls to his telephone operator KDDI. In other reports, we covered incidents involving obstructive customers at panic-buying affected pharmacies. The common thread to both stories: an increasing number of elderly citizens… Read
Coronavirus leaves a legacy of unprecedented global debt
Enormous doses of stimulus spending are offering relief from coronavirus damage but their lifelong legacy of debt could seed future crises by hobbling economic growth and worsening poverty, especially in developing countries. Central banks and governments worldwide have unleashed at least $15 trillion of stimulus via bond-buying and budget spending… Read
Quest for 'super-duper missile' pits U.S. against key rivals
They fly at speeds of a mile a second or faster and maneuver in ways that make them extra hard to detect and destroy in flight. President Donald Trump calls them a “super-duper missile," though they’re better known as hypersonic weapons. And they are at the heart of Trump administration… Read
Me and we: Individual rights, common good and coronavirus
We, the people. But individual rights. The common good. But don’t tread on me. Form a more perfect union and promote the general welfare. But secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity. From the moment the American republic was born right up until today, this has been… Read
