Analysis by Sireen El Khalili, Contributor

The COVID-19 pandemic pushed firms to accelerate their “digitalization”, in order to satisfy the new market demand. Will this adaptive change persist, or will companies rewind to their old business models once the pandemic is over?

Opinion Analysis by Albert Geokgeuzian, Staff Writer

Most of us use Facebook on the daily, we interact with posts on our timelines, share photos, ideas on a daily basis. What if I told you that everything that you do on facebook can be used to create a profile for you and are able to accurately predict your tendencies, qualities, attributes? Depending on your background, you might say that’s normal or you might be scared; there’s one thing that’s undeniable regarding Facebook, and it’s that if you’re not being careful, you can very easily be manipulated to do something you might not have done previously.

Opinion Policy Analysis by Johnny Achkar, Contributor

At a time when rich countries are hoarding supplies of the COVID-19 vaccine, which prompted the World Health Organization to warn the world that we were "on the path to catastrophic moral failure," poor countries are desperate for their own safety. Experts say China perceived an opportunity and has promised to send millions of doses of COVID-19 vaccine abroad in the hope of gaining some political concessions in return.

Op-Ed by Georges Haydar, Staff Writer and Sandro Joseph Azzam, Staff Writer

While major gaps, ranging from power consumption concerns to tax compliance, need to be filled, it is undeniable that Bitcoin will go down in history as the first major attempt to digitize money exchange and make currencies obsolete. But if we want to go even further into the world of bits and make Bitcoin reach the sky, we need to make sure our wings aren’t made of wax.

Opinion Analysis by Johnny Achkar, Contributor

A political impasse in Haiti has transformed into an early international test for the Biden administration, as the U.S. State Department seemed to back President Jovenel Moïse's decision to stay in power for one more year in spite of calls from human rights groups for him to resign.

Analysis by Francesco Pitzalis, Staff Writer and Sandro Joseph Azzam, Staff Writer

On the 8th of September 2020, former Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte visited Beirut and pledged support for Lebanon in the wake of the port explosion. Conte declared, “There’s a very ancient tradition of relations and of very intense ties between Italy and Lebanon. This bond has been revived even more in this moment of emergency.” The following three-part series investigates the intimate intertwining of Lebanese/Italian history, the concurrent struggles that both countries face at present and projections for the future.

Opinion Policy Analysis by Gaelle Nohra, Staff Writer

The Tragedy of the Commons is a problem in economics where individuals consume a shared resource with self-centered attitudes and at the expense of others’ well-being, it also postulates some of the reasons why consumers act the way they do. This article will attempt at explaining the reason behind New Zealand’s success at containing the virus in terms of this theory and the role played by closure.

Op-Ed by Maria Wehbe, Staff Writer

The MENA region is putting students’ future at stake, as the rising prevalence of chaos and crises is very evident. In fact, more than 8850 education facilities have been attacked and demolished in Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Libya, which left them incapable of hosting the students within these premises. To give a more specific example, the 4 th of August Beirut Port Explosion shook the entire country, affecting approximately 163 public and private schools and over 70 000 students and 7600 teachers. As well, around 20 Technical and Vocational Education and Training Schools were damaged, affecting around 7300 students, according to UNICEF.

Op-Ed by Cibelle Korban, Staff Writer

After decades of extensive investment in research and development, the UAE successfully makes takes its first stroll on Mars, the Red Planet, outshining the top nations who have been in the race to space for more than decades. How does the UAE rise from the desert to make its first landing on a similar desert and what are the opportunities and challenges it will face along its journey in the space race?

Analysis by Francesco Pitzalis, Staff Writer and Sandro Joseph Azzam, Staff Writer

On the 8th of September 2020, former Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte visited Beirut and pledged support for Lebanon in the wake of the port explosion. Conte declared, “There’s a very ancient tradition of relations and of very intense ties between Italy and Lebanon. This bond has been revived even more in this moment of emergency.” The following three-part series investigates the intimate intertwining of Lebanese/Italian history, the concurrent struggles that both countries face at present and projections for the future.

Op-Ed by Sandro Joseph Azzam, Staff Writer

A son asked his dad for 1 Bitcoin for his birthday. The father flipped out and said: “Son, $37.645 is a lot of money! There are a lot of things I could do with $43.698! It’s quite ridiculous for you to expect a $31.650 gift!”. The volatility of Bitcoin incites fear in any financier or regulator but could we be witnessing a paradigm shift? Is Bitcoin the next step in the evolution of money?

Opinion Policy Analysis by Francesco Pitzalis, Staff Writer

On the 22nd of February, Boris Johnson announced a cautious, step-wise approach to easing the UK’s lockdown. Removed from his typical undue optimism and satire; Johnson’s speech built on weeks of successful lockdown restrictions and a rapid vaccine roll out. One thing was clear, the PM intends to make this lockdown the last and emphatically claimed that the UK is on a “one-way road to freedom.”

Opinion Analysis by Roa Daher, Staff Writer

On February 5th of 2021, the International Criminal Court (ICC) ruled that it had the jurisdiction to investigate war crimes committed in Occupied Palestine. This comes after a long wait that started in 2015, which is when Palestine joined the court. In 2019, the Court’s chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said that there was ‘reasonable basis’ to open a probe investigating war crimes in the Gaza Strip and the illegal construction of israeli settlements in the West Bank.

Opinion Analysis by Francesco Pitzalis, Staff Writer

On the 13th of February, Storm Uri froze over Texas in an unprecedented spell of Winter weather. The result: 4.4 million Texans were left without power and over 60 perished from the bone-chilling temperatures. Instead of benefiting from constructive bi-partisan rhetoric, Texans faced climate change denial, slander of green energy and an unconscionable dereliction of duty by Texas senator, Ted Cruz. Indeed, post-truth politics energy policy and extreme libertarianism have left Texans literally and figuratively out in the cold. Welcome to the wild west.

Opinion Analysis by Taleen El Gharib, Staff Writer

“Free press is a cornerstone for democracy, and the Fourth Estate remains the most vital building block of a democratic government. The Fourth Estate, particularly in the MENA region, has been at war with fulfilling its role as “a watchdog of governmental wrongdoing”. As the fourth pillar of democracy, its foundations are unstable, or perhaps even tamperedwith, despite being a highly valuable appendage of the political system that bridges the people and the authority. However, there are sometimes much larger players and higher stakes in this game of chess that have made freedom of expression a criminal act.”

Opinion Analysis by Johnny Achkar, Contributor

The military coup against the government of Aung San Suu Kyi has kneecapped the democratic transition in Myanmar and crippled its drive to draw more foreign investment, particularly from the West. What is the endgame of the military and how will regimes like the U.S. and China respond?

Op-Ed by Georges Haydar, Staff Writer

Besides being the Lord of the Nerds and part-time billionaire Elon Musk’s favorite Twitter trend as well as the boogeyman of Wall Street, Bitcoin is an incredible technological prowess that proposes a viable virtual alternative to the greenback. And all of this is made possible by an ingenious, elaborate and technological plan.

Opinion Analysis by Johnny Achkar, Contributor

In recent years, President Erdoğan has vigorously moved to prove that Turkey sees itself as the pre-eminent political and military force in the Middle East and the eastern Mediterranean. This change in strategy represents increasing Turkish capabilities, but is alsoa result of the optimistic motives of Mr. Erdoğan, motivated by what can be characterized as ‘Neo-Ottomanism’

Op-Ed by Joelle El Sheikh, Staff Writer and Roa Daher, Staff Writer

While ‘to cancel’ was a verb previously used when referring to events or other occurrences, in recent years it has begun to be used when referring to people, in effect reflecting the nature of the harsh culture created by the internet: cruel and unforgiving. Cancel culture has become a collective force propelled by millions on the internet who are just waiting for anyone, be it celebrities, politicians, or random twitter users, to have a mistake from their past resurface so that they can be ‘cancelled’.

Op-Ed by Sarah Yehya, Contributor