Opinion

Good luck finding a major bank in Europe that hasn’t breached money laundering regulations. In Denmark, the two largest banks, Danske Bank and Nordea, are both currently subject to criminal investigations. BNP Paribas received the highest-ever fine in 2014, when it settled with US authorities and had to pay $9 billion for sanctions violations. Many others — from HSBC and ...

Complacency, populism and poor infrastructure fueled a devastating second wave of Covid-19 in India, a disaster that has infected millions and wrought havoc well beyond its borders thanks to a new, more contagious variant. But none of those failings are unique to the country. So why are we not paying more attention to surges elsewhere in the neighborhood, in places ...

Many people knew this was coming. Cryptocurrencies had one of the worst days in their short history last week. Bitcoin’s price careened, plunging 31% before recovering to a loss of about 10%. Ethereum, Dogecoin and Binance Coin all fell about 20%. The reasons why are still being sorted; crypto is a relatively new market and we don’t have much data ...

Recycling is “dead,” say the obituaries. And if it’s not dead it’s “broken,” “not working,” “in the bin,” “failing,” a “charade,” “a lie,” and of course “too good to be true.” This gloomy narrative has gained momentum over the past three years as cities struggled to find places to send the stuff that people toss in their blue bins. Some ...

Governments wanting to stop big businesses from shifting profits to low-tax jurisdictions have a carrot and a stick at their disposal. The stick involves regulating practices such as corporate inversion, aggressive transfer pricing and license royalties so that tax avoidance is effectively outlawed. The carrot involves lowering your own tax rates so that the advantages of moving profits offshore disappear. ...

Lately, India has had very little to smile about. Something that Colgate-Palmolive Co’s tepid growth in the world’s pandemic epicenter amply demonstrates. The toothpaste maker’s results offer a fresh look at a puzzle: the Indian stock market’s apparent disregard for the country’s worst humanitarian disaster in almost 75 years. Scientists are forecasting 1.2 million deaths by end-August, hospitals are running ...

Epic Games Inc, the maker of Fortnite, may pull out a surprising last-minute victory in its court battle against Apple Inc with potential wide-ranging ramifications for how millions of iOS app developers make money. First, a brief recap: The conflict that spawned the trial began last August when Epic deliberately broke Apple’s App Store rules by updating its Fortnite video ...

Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, back in 1987, called for the Arctic to be a “zone of peace” — and it has been. Yet warmer temperatures are heralding ice-free summers, opening up all sorts of economic opportunities from potential oil and gas riches to new shipping routes. Military might is being cranked up, too. Decades of harmonious exceptionalism may be coming ...

The Biden administration’s decision to begin sharing US-authorised Covid-19 vaccines with the rest of the world is welcome news. Now coronavirus czar Jeff Zients, who will lead US efforts to fight the pandemic abroad, must swiftly craft a global vaccine strategy that’s as focused, ambitious and effective as the one that’s worked so well domestically. Those who ask whether the ...

The Western world has a problem, and Intel Corp is here to fix it. That’s the apparent message from Chief Executive Officer Pat Gelsinger, who announced plans in March to return his company to the made-to-order chip business and in the process rebalance the supply chain “for something that’s critical to humanity.” “The majority of leading edge foundry capacity is ...