Opinion

One of the saddest stories of the year has gone largely unreported: the slowdown of political and economic progress in sub-Saharan Africa. There is no longer a clear path to be seen, or a simple story to be told, about how the world’s poorest continent might claw its way up to middle-income status. Africa has amazing human talent and brilliant ...

Do senior officials from the US, China and Russia really plan to keep talking to the Taliban as if its fighters are not murdering civilians — including female activists — across Afghanistan, attacking schoolgirls and telling women they cannot leave the house without a man to accompany them? Plenty of governments seem happy to break bread with Taliban negotiators since ...

SoftBank Group Corp’s prolific spending on startups and listed companies underpins founder Masayoshi Son’s entire strategy, driving both earnings and share price. But such massive outlays have forced its balance sheet into a hole that suggests the only way out is to start selling. Net income at the Japanese company dropped 39% for the June quarter, while profit at its ...

Moderna Inc’s highly effective Covid vaccine, in addition to protecting millions, is officially a cash cow. The company disclosed during its earnings presentation that it expects the shot to generate $20 billion in sales this year. Now it has to figure out what to do with its windfall as it tries to justify a market valuation that has surged by ...

“Some modest tightening of monetary policy over the forecast period is likely to be necessary” was how the Bank of England worded the forward guidance at its quarterly review on Thursday. It sounded like tough talk. Indeed, the BOE is the first of the major central banks to set out a template for reducing stimulus, with parameters for when the ...

Memories of India’s devastating second wave of Covid-19 are slowly receding. The pandemic has once again fallen out of the headlines; malls and mountain resorts are crowded with shoppers and tourists. Business activity is nearly back to pre-pandemic levels, as it had been just before the second wave hit in March. In fact, just like then, many Indians seem to ...

Warren Buffett gets lots of investments right with his patient and deliberate buy-and-hold strategy. And it’s becoming apparent that he’s doing it again with electric vehicles. For investors pouring money into the technology, it would be wise to consider how the Sage of Omaha has looked into the future of the sector. The value of Berkshire Hathaway Inc’s holdings in ...

Most people agree that executive pay should reflect their firm’s progress on diversity. That’s easier to say than to do. Measuring financial performance objectively is pretty straightforward, and scoring climate credentials isn’t the headache it once was. But rewarding inclusion will necessarily be subjective. It’s unclear investors are ready to trust corporate boards to exercise such judgement given their track ...

It might seem as if the combination of oil selling off just as the latest United Nations climate-change assessment landed represents a sudden realisation about the hidden costs of fossil fuels. But oil never sells off because we’re using too much of it. The latest drop is tied to that other natural disaster, the pandemic, and what Delta might do ...

Boris Johnson is lucky in his enemies. They want to win rhetorical battles while he wants to win the next election. Every week at prime minister’s questions in the House of Commons, the leader of the opposition nails him for his economical ways with the truth and demonstrates that Johnson has performed another screeching U-turn. Invective rains down from commentators ...