“Welcome, welcome!” My guide, Philip, waves at me from his seat in a virtual conference room, where he’s wearing a green shirt and sitting at a desk. I’m at Facebook’s Reality Labs headquarters in Burlingame, California, wearing Meta Platform Inc.’s Quest 2 headset. Philip is in another room there as his cartoonish-looking avatar hops to another seat using a button ...

  With energy prices soaring, few houses will be fully illuminated during the festive season. Don’t expect glowing reindeers on lawns or Santas on rooftops. Up and down the country, these holiday features will likely be absent this year. But don’t think Christmas trees will be totally stripped of their fairy lights. Despite the dire predictions, Brits will try to ...

  With Pakistan reeling from devastating floods and spiraling inflation, it’s an exceptionally bad time for a political crisis. Unfortunately, that’s what seems to be shaping up in the standoff between the government and ex-prime minister Imran Khan. All sides should recognize that compromise is in their best interests — and, more to the point, in Pakistan’s. Khan bears the ...