Opinion

  Justin Fox Amazon.com and Facebook had great earnings reports this week. They also reported spending a lot of money on the future. Capital spending was up 35 percent at Amazon and 125 percent at Facebook in the first quarter compared with the same quarter last year. Research and development spending was up 28 percent at Amazon and 26 percent ...

People tend to fear spiders and snakes more than they do electrical sockets or fireworks, even though the latter present a far greater danger. This might help explain why humans have such a hard time seeing the threat of climate change. Evolutionary psychologists argue that much of human behavior can be understood only by studying our ancient ancestors. Through 99 ...

  The bugbear of deflation is threatening to claim new victims Down Under, after having already wreaked havoc across some of Asia’s biggest economies. The latest inflation data from Australia showed the world’s 12th-largest economy has slipped into deflation for the first time in seven years. Falling clothing, food and gasoline prices pushed the consumer price index down 0.2 percent ...

  Donald Trump’s foreign policy speech lays out what would be a disastrous course for the U.S. with regards to Russia and European security. On the other hand, for Europe and its eastern neighbor, the disengagement he is proposing might work out quite well — just not in the way Trump intends. Trump’s most specific statement — an extremely rare ...

Donald Trump’s damage to the Republican Party, although already extensive, has barely begun. Republican quislings will multiply, slinking into support of the most anti-conservative presidential aspirant in their party’s history. These collaborationists will render themselves ineligible to participate in the party’s reconstruction. Ted Cruz’s announcement of his preferred running mate has enhanced the nomination process by giving voters pertinent information. ...

  Brexit is no more a domestic issue as its impact spreads eastward, where bonds from Poland, Hungary and Romania, underperform most of their emerging peers. But the “leave” campaign maintains reports being made about potential negative economic impacts “are part of scaremongering”. Yet, many strategists have drawn pessimistic scenario towards eastern Europe as Britain’s departure threatens billions of euros ...

  Robert Farley SPECIAL TO EMIRATES BUSINESS Do states acquire weapons because of security needs or out of a desire for prestige? Analysts have asked this question about a wide range of weapons, including advanced fighter jets, nuclear submarines, aircraft carriers, battleships, and (perhaps most importantly) nuclear weapons. On the prestige side, nuclear weapons convey modernity, power, and a spot ...

  The Asia-Pacific region’s successful achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development needs to be driven by broad-based productivity gains and rebalancing of economies towards domestic and regional demand. This is the main message of the Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2016, published last week by the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the ...

  Environmental degradation remains at the center of scientific conversation on the South China Sea as more marine scientists sound the alarm about the environmental consequences of China’s island-building activities. A Closer Look at the Problem The problems facing the sea are as vast, deep, and seemingly intractable as the oceans themselves, and the need to address issues of acidification, ...

  Yuki Tatsumi SPECIAL TO EMIRATES BUSINESS On April 26, the Australian government announced that it has chosen DCNS of France as the partner for joint development in its SEA 1000—Collins-class submarine replacement—program. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said in his joint statement with Defense Minister Marise Payne that the French proposal best met Australia’s unique requirements as well as ...