KOLKATA — The world is battling a deadly virus that refuses to go away. War and brutality have returned to Europe, thanks to an unhinged tyrant in the Kremlin.

THACA  —  Food shortages are beginning to cast a shadow over the world. One long-term factor is the warming of our planet, which has slowly destroyed agricultural land.

ITHACA  —  Inflation has suddenly become a major problem in virtually all countries.

NEW YORK  —  The use of economic weapons during war has a long history. But the rise of globalisation and cross-border supply chains has given these nonviolent munitions unprecedented power.

NEW YORK  —  This year began amid widespread despondency about the resurgent COVID-19 pandemic and the struggling global economy, as well as premonitions of heightened political conflict in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and even the United States.

NEW YORK — US President Joe Biden’s recent Summit for Democracy was an important global event, but it slipped by almost unnoticed.

ITHACA — Until a few months ago, talk of inflation was little more than a murmur: Dry data from the statistical office, reports tucked away in the newspaper and an occasional commentary.

ITHACA — Both anxiety and hope are increasing in the run-up to the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow. There is anxiety because, barring a handful of the willfully blind, we can all see the damage we are doing to the planet.

NEW YORK — When the sitar maestro Ravi Shankar and Nobel laureate economist Amartya Sen received the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian award, a journalist is said to have asked them, “Between the two of you, who is the more talented?” Comparing musical and economic talent is