OPINION

NEW DELHI – There is no denying that plastics have delivered tremendous benefits over the past century, driving technological innovation, transforming health care, and fueling global economic growth. But as we now know, this progress has come at great cost. The adverse consequences of our overreliance on plastics are well-documented. …

BRUSSELS – In May, Google rolled out a long-expected update that incorporated generative artificial intelligence into its dominant search engine. Users searching for information in the United States are now sometimes shown an AI-generated overview that summarizes the results, followed by the usual list of websites ranked by relevance. Within days, people …

WASHINGTON, DC – Kamala Harris can win the US presidency. Yes, Donald Trump is a formidable candidate, whose campaign was bolstered by his defiant reaction to the July 13 attempt on his life. But Harris has emerged as the presumptive Democratic nominee with stunning speed following President Joe Biden’s withdrawal; …

BERKELEY – Much of the media coverage of artificial intelligence has focused on its potential negative impact. Science-fiction scenarios like the human-robot wars of the Terminator franchise and real-world controversies, such as the proliferation of deep fakes and OpenAI’s unauthorized use of Scarlett Johansson’s voice for its new digital assistant, have captured the public imagination, …

WASHINGTON, DC – Donald Trump has been convicted on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. But this is unlikely to make much difference to the Republican Party. Not only is he still the GOP’s presumptive presidential nominee; Republicans have repeatedly proved perfectly willing to forgive his indiscretions, however serious. …

NAIROBI/BOSTON/WASHINGTON, DC – On December 12, 2019, a group of patients in Wuhan, China, started showing symptoms of an atypical pneumonia-like illness that did not respond well to standard treatments. Ninety days later, with more than 118,000 cases reported in 114 countries and 4,291 deaths, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 …

BOSTON – According to tech leaders and many pundits and academics, artificial intelligence is poised to transform the world as we know it through unprecedented productivity gains. While some believe that machines soon will do everything humans can do, ushering in a new age of boundless prosperity, other predictions are at least more grounded. …

NEW DELHI – The international development sector has become fixated on calculating financing gaps. Hardly a day goes by without new estimates of the funds low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) need to meet their climate targets and achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Independent High-Level Expert Group …

LJUBLJANA – It is only April, but we already have a good candidate for photo of the year. On April 12, German police shut down a Palestine Congress that was set to take place in Berlin, and among those arrested was Udi Raz, a devout Jew with a red yarmulke. In photos and videos of the …

WASHINGTON, DC – The United States has a population of roughly 330 million, while all NATO countries combined have about 975 million. Adding NATO’s major Asian-Pacific partners – Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand – brings the total to 1.3 billion. By contrast, Russia and China together have a population …