Wednesday , 17 December 2025

Opinion

Imax China needs another kind of hero

Imax China Holding Inc. has a bigger challenge than a Chinese box office in the doldrums. Barring a surprise hit or two, the Hong Kong-listed subsidiary of Imax Corp. needs a strategy overhaul to win fans. The giant-screen operator posted a 6.3 percent drop in first-half revenue to $51.6 million, sending profit down 7.1 percent to $16.5 million. That drove …

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There’s one place the US still dominates in Asia

For all the talk of America’s decline and China’s rise, Asians still seem obsessed with events in one corner of Washington, D.C.: the Federal Reserve. This week’s meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee was the first I’d observed from Asia in 15 years. During that period, China’s economy has grown from about the size of Italy’s to surpass Germany …

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Star-crossed history of CIA military action

What did the CIA’s covert assistance program for Syrian rebels accomplish? Bizarrely, the biggest consequence may be that it helped trigger the Russian military intervention in 2015 that rescued President Bashar Al Assad – achieving the opposite of what the program intended. Syria adds another chapter to the star-crossed history of CIA paramilitary action. These efforts begin with the worthy …

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Paytm tie-up gives chance for ailing Alibaba unit to lift its game

An announcement by two of Asia’s most important Internet firms could be instrumental in propelling the take-up of mobile payments in India. It may also help turn around an ailing company. AGTech Holdings Ltd will form a joint venture with India’s Paytm group to develop mobile games and other entertainment products, the Hong Kong-based company said in an exchange filing. …

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Polish president says enough is enough

Polish President Andrzej Duda just surprised almost everybody by vetoing parts of new government legislation that assaults judicial independence. “As president, I don’t feel this law would strengthen a sense of justice,” he said. He’s right. Poland’s democratic institutions are under threat, and the new initiative is only the latest of many. The government should weigh this embarrassment carefully, and …

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UK’s Brexit bill shouldn’t derail talks

The first sticking point in Brexit negotiations is the size of the UK’s final bill with the European Union. It’s a silly dispute that both sides need to get past as quickly as possible so they can move on to more consequential matters. This needn’t be difficult. All it requires is a willingness to compromise — something neither party, as …

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US special relationship with Britain needs a rest

Many Americans still regard Britain as the US’s political and cultural parent. Despite the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, the US and the UK eventually developed a special relationship that endured throughout the 20th century. Together, the two defeated the Axis and communism, and established a global order based on free trade and (eventually) universal human rights. But …

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China’s internet giants may find a calling in Unicom

If there’s a lesson that China’s private firms should take away from the crackdown on Dalian Wanda Group Co. and its freewheeling cohorts, it’s that there’s no better time to get into bed with state-owned enterprises. That’s even the case if the partner up for grabs is China Unicom Hong Kong Ltd., the weakest of the country’s big three telecom …

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Germans are too hard on their automakers

Germans can be relentless at beating themselves up. When it comes to their auto industry, this tendency may be getting out of hand. The latest scandal for German automakers started with a cover story in the respected newsweekly Der Spiegel, which suggested that Volkswagen, Daimler and BMW have operated as a cartel since the 1990s. It described how the companies …

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How the health care is controlling Americans

If we learned anything from the bitter debate over the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) – which seems doubtful – it is that we cannot discuss health care in a way that is at once compassionate and rational. This is a significant failure, because providing and financing health care has become, over the past half-century, the principal activity of the federal …

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