[Faye Flam] Nature hasn’t created perfect species

For such flawed creatures, human beings are surprisingly hard to improve, at least through our genes.That’s one reason there’s so much outcry over the recent claim that researchers in China altered the genes of a pair of twins girls -- endowing at least one with resistance to HIV. The genetic change, even if it worked as advertised, would not be a clear-cut improvement but a trade-off.The claim is that the researchers disabled a gene called CCR5, which in its intact form helps HIV enter cells. G

Dec. 3, 2018

[Alexandra Borchardt] Mundane dangers confronting news media

The brutal torture and murder of the US-based Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi has focused attention on Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is widely believed to have ordered the killing. It also highlights the hazards of the news business. When the final numbers are tallied, 2018 could be the most dangerous year on record for journalists worldwide.But while physical attacks on journalists have become frighteningly bold, most dangers confronting the profession are much more mundane. Five

Dec. 3, 2018

[Julian Lee] OPEC might kick Saudi Arabia when it’s down

OPEC and friends meet in Vienna later this week, and the backdrop isn’t pretty. Oil prices are their lowest in over a year, and there’s the prospect of a glut in 2019 if the group doesn’t make a new deal to cut production.But agreement may be impossible. Saudi Arabia is adamant the burden must be shared. Others in the group argue that the kingdom’s output boost since June has created the problem and it is up to the kingdom to solve it by bearing the brunt of the cuts.From an economic perspective

Dec. 3, 2018

[John Micklethwait] China inching in the right direction

It was appropriate that US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping flew to Buenos Aires for their showdown summit at the close of a month that began with the centennial of the end of World War I. America’s economic tussles with China are all too reminiscent of the rivalry at the beginning of the last century between Britain, the superpower, and the rising power, Germany.This is not as bleak a comparison as it sounds, for two reasons. First, nobody now seems to be planning on immi

Dec. 2, 2018

[Matthew B. Kugler] Does it hurt you if your face is tracked by technology?

Would you care if a store used facial recognition to track you as you shopped? If it could link your face to your credit card and know not just what you bought, but also what you looked at? Data I’ve gathered on consumer sentiment suggests that many people do mind being tracked through their biometrics. In one study I conducted, 77 percent of people expressed interest in a coffee shop customer loyalty program that worked by ID card, but only 47 percent were interested if the same program tracked

Dec. 2, 2018

[Eli Lake] Don’t punish US for Saudi Arabia’s crimes

If you want to understand why the Senate voted last week to move forward with a resolution ending US support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen, read the speech that Bob Corker delivered from the Senate floor on Wednesday.The outgoing chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has long been an ally of Saudi Arabia in Washington. And yet Corker voted to move the Yemen resolution out of his committee. Mind you, he didn’t say he would be supporting it when it comes to the floor for a vote. Rath

Dec. 2, 2018

[Leonid Bershidsky] Martial law won’t help Ukraine’s president

Imposing martial law after a naval clash with Russia in the Kerch Strait looked like a political masterstroke for Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, coming ahead of an election that polls suggest he will lose. But by the time parliament had finished with his decree, it was clear he had snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. The president’s initial plan was to declare martial law throughout Ukraine for 60 days. With an election scheduled for March 31, this threatened to throw into disarray

Nov. 29, 2018

[Leonid Bershidsky] In Ukraine, Putin and Poroshenko don’t want all-out war

Sunday’s dramatic events in the Kerch Strait, where Russian troops seized three Ukrainian navy vessels, highlight the Kremlin’s resolve to hold on to the spoils of its aggression against Ukraine and flout its international obligations. They also show the lengths Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is willing to go to to remain in power.The clash had been brewing since April, a month before the opening of a new 19-kilometer bridge across the Kerch Strait between the Russian mainland and annexed

Nov. 28, 2018

[Brooke Sutherland] Trump-era vows take another blow with GM cuts

General Motors Co.’s aggressive cost-cutting plan shows the danger of taking corporate-investment pledges at face value in the Trump era. The automaker is on track to close five North American plants, four of which are in the US, and cut more than 14,000 salaried staff and factory workers. The company will close another two plants abroad. This belt-tightening is aimed at steering GM away from slower-selling sedans and adding to its firepower for electric and self-driving vehicle development. But

Nov. 28, 2018

[Shira Ovide] Don’t look now, but Microsoft is overtaking Apple

If you don’t follow the regular trials and tribulations of technology companies or have been living in a cave for five years, it might be surprising that Microsoft Corp. is poised to surpass Apple Inc. as the world’s most valuable public company. While the baton was passed briefly on Monday, it most likely won’t be long until Microsoft is firmly entrenched again as No. 1 in the world. This won’t be surprising to regular readers, but it will be to people whose opinion about Microsoft was frozen i

Nov. 28, 2018

[Leonid Bershidsky] Immigration politics aren’t really about immigration

A toothless United Nations document is stirring up political trouble throughout Europe, nearly toppling one government. The overreaction to the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration shows how immigration politics have decoupled from the reality of people moving across borders.In July, the text of the Compact was approved by all 193 UN member states -- except the US, which had pulled out of the talks earlier.Member states are supposed to sign it formally at a special conference i

Nov. 27, 2018

[Andrew Browne] The world can change China

The behavior of Chinese officials at last weekend’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Papua New Guinea, reportedly barging into the foreign minister’s office to try to cut mildly critical language on trade from a final communique, seemed intended to signal that China won’t budge an inch on US demands. Commerce Minister Zhong Shan has declared that those who assume Beijing will cave to President Donald Trump’s bullying “don’t know the history and culture of China.” As a matter of fact,

Nov. 27, 2018

[Lionel Laurent] Macron’s star has fallen down to earth

The French presidential cycle goes something like this: euphoria, then disappointment -- and then disillusionment, as the pace of reform slows down and popular unrest builds up. The violent clashes at this weekend’s protests show just how accelerated the decline can be once opposition takes root.Emmanuel Macron was supposed to be different. He came to power in 2017 through a grassroots movement that blew up the country’s traditional two-party establishment, put lots of first-time lawmakers in pa

Nov. 27, 2018