Opinion

  A short time before voting closed in the latest elimination round of the Tory leadership contest, Michael Gove, a Conservative Party heavyweight whom Boris Johnson sacked from cabinet before his own downfall, made the case for Kemi Badenoch. Speaking to the think tank Policy Exchange, he called Badenoch his “intellectual superior,” who had three things the next leader needed: ...

There’s no doubt what July 18’s biggest market news was in New York. Apple Inc stock fell more than 2% in its worst session in almost three weeks after Bloomberg revealed the company’s plans to slow hiring and spending to cope with a potential economic downturn. The news, shortly after midday, sparked an immediate tumble. Until now, shares of the ...

Nothing ruins a Chinese neighbourhood like a vacant skyscraper owned by a bankrupt real estate developer. But Hefei, the capital of Anhui Province, has something worse: the first floors of a building intended to be one of the world’s tallest. Its owner, cash-strapped China Evergrande Group, has suspended construction while it tries to avoid a default that would shake China’s ...

  Here’s a great idea that unfortunately won’t become reality any time soon: Germany should recognise English as a second official language. So should most countries, in fact. The idea popped up this month in a 10-point program put forth by the Free Democrats, the business-friendly and liberal junior partners in the German governing coalition. Their motivation is to attract ...

  President Joe Biden’s administration is reportedly rewriting its National Security Strategy, which the White House is required to send to Congress annually, to account for the lessons of the war in Ukraine. One issue that this document will have to grapple with outside its traditional focus on statecraft and diplomacy: food. The conflict in Ukraine has put the geopolitics ...

It’s a falling chain of energy dominoes — one in which each tile is worth many billions of euros. A failed utility here, a nation’s supply there. When the dust settles, the total bill for rescuing the European energy market this winter will easily top $200 billion. This may sound flippant, and it’s admittedly a rough estimate. But the calculus ...

After years of sitting on an over 20% stake in China’s BYD Co, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway may be mulling an exit. A similarly-sized position showed up in Hong Kong’s clearing system, fuelling worries that the Sage of Omaha was over the hot Chinese electric vehicle and battery maker. It sure seemed like odd timing: BYD has risen to the ...

  The world has moved on. Many have packed up and left. Those still living in Hong Kong seem to fall easily into a mental coma induced by years of Covid-19 restrictions. With its border to mainland China — and everywhere else — still partly shut, this island city can feel suffocating. But pessimism is not in our nature. Now ...

  Democratic discontent with President Joe Biden is boiling over into the press. His polling is abysmal, his age is showing and the Democrats are facing a potential wipeout in the midterm elections in November. Democrats are taking their complaints, mostly off the record, to reporters. Democratic commentator Ed Kilgore forecasts that “if things go as badly as expected for ...

Can “Thatcherite candidate” Rishi Sunak win the contest for Tory leadership? Or will his party plump for a rival who follows in the footsteps of the Iron Lady’s great ally, Ronald Reagan? This is not just a question of style or positioning: Herein lies the wider economic choice facing the UK in the years to come. In their hearts, many ...