A global challenge

The US presidential elections have been a gripping spectacle, not only because they were spectacularly ugly and divisive but also because of what is at stake in America and the world.

The great challenges that the planet faces demand unity of spirit and cooperation - from the need to adapt to globalization so as to achieve greater equality and justice, to trying to deal with climate change.

The new US president will have to work hard to heal the divisions that this campaign revealed and exacerbated among Americans.

If this challenge is not met, the superpower will have neither the will nor the credibility to lead efforts to deal with global problems.

At a time when leadership everywhere is struggling, no one can be pleased by a distracted America.

With the election over, with the great problems in the US and the world evident to all, it is time for the...