The world’s food-import bill is expected to climb to an all-time high this year, with the soaring cost of staples hitting poor nations particularly hard and threatening to fuel global inflation. The cost of importing food is set to rise by 12% to $1.72 trillion, led by increases in grains, vegetable oils and oilseeds, the […]
Amid an escalating new Cold War, the Biden administration is mobilizing allies and partners to slow China’s technological strides and arrest its rising global influence. In particular, the US has doubled down on reviving the so-called Blue Dot Network, a long-dormant initiative launched by the previous Trump administration to counter Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative […]
Tony Blair and David Cameron were polished and formidable. Gordon Brown and Theresa May were rigid, fearful, cautious. Johnson might as well be another species. He is lively and engaged, superficially disheveled but in fact focused and watchful. He is scruffy, impulsive, exuberant. Read More Here
As a key player in the recent Israeli-Palestinian ceasefire and with its diplomats more active than they have been in years, Egypt is back as a major influencer in Middle Eastern affairs. From Gaza to Libya, the Eastern Mediterranean to the Horn of Africa, Cairo is now key in a host of contentious disputes that […]
Set to embark on the first overseas trip of his term, President Joe Biden is eager to reassert the United States on the world stage, steadying European allies deeply shaken by his predecessor and pushing democracy as the only bulwark to rising forces of authoritarianism. Read More Here
The G7 agreement on taxation of global corporations still needs formal approval from a wider set of countries, and there remain many details to be worked out for it to be effective. Nonetheless, it would not be farfetched to describe the deal as historic. Read More Here
By allowing Beijing more control over the strategically situated naval base, which could provide China a new southern flank in the contested South China Sea, the US perceives Phnom Penh is dangerously close to adopting a full-fledged pro-China foreign policy. Read More Here
Chinese lawmakers are making progress on legislation to retaliate for foreign sanctions amid the country’s growing rivalry with the U.S. A National People’s Congress committee filed the second draft of legislation aimed at countering sanctions imposed by foreign governments, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. Read More Here
Cryptocurrencies might turn out to be a massive speculative bubble that ends up hurting many naive investors. Indeed, many cryptocurrency fortunes have already evaporated with the recent plunge in prices. But whatever their ultimate fate, the ingenious technological innovations underpinning them will transform the nature of money and finance. Read More Here
There is growing public support among the world’s scientific community for fully exploring the possibility the coronavirus may have emerged from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, leading to the global outbreak that has killed more than 3.7 million people worldwide. Read More Here
looking beyond borders 