Opinion

  For almost half a decade, the world’s only superpower has mostly abdicated its role in helping to resolve the world’s most consequential conflict. Now former President Barack Obama’s excessive caution about Syria has given way to President Donald Trump’s unstrategic uncertainty. The question is whether this qualifies as an improvement. It’s certainly good news that Russia has invited the …

  US President Donald Trump’s immigration ban and curb on refugee admission sparked a global backlash. It is highly confusing and utterly condemnable. Refugees, visa holders and permanent US residents are all among those affected. On the other hand, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly issued a statement declaring that the entry of green-card holders is in the national interest. He …

  For much of my life, I loved the idea of nuclear power. The science was so cool, futuristic and complicated, the power plants so vast and majestic. I devoured science-fiction novels like “Lucifer’s Hammer,” where a plucky nuclear entrepreneur restarts civilization after a comet almost wipes us out. I thought of accidents like Three Mile Island and even Chernobyl …

  With most of its state-run lending businesses resembling one giant bad bank, it’s puzzling why India keeps toying with the idea of setting up a new one. The government’s annual assessment of the economy even invokes Sherlock Holmes to make a fresh case for an asset reconstruction company within the public sector. Other schemes have not worked, years have …

  Deutsche Bank, for which fines have become almost a routine expense, has agreed to pay $630 million to end US and UK investigations into a scheme that helped wealthy Russians move $10 billion out of Russia. But those clients have little need for such a channel anymore: Capital outflow from Russia has slowed to a trickle. Between 2012 and …

  In 2013, a college student assigned to research a deadly substance sought help via Twitter: “I can’t find the chemical and physical properties of sarin gas someone please help me.” An expert at a security consulting firm tried to be helpful, telling her that sarin is not gas. She replied, “yes the [expletive] it is a gas you ignorant …

  You break it, you fix it. That’s the sentiment ahead of India’s annual budget this week. Amid signs that New Delhi’s 8 November ban on 86% of the country’s currency has disrupted demand, snapped supply chains and cratered credit growth, investors expect a fiscal lollipop from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and finance minister Arun Jaitley. Bigger tax rebates for …

  Hostility to supposedly bad trade deals was a main theme of President Donald Trump’s campaign, and he seems to mean business: Not only has he withdrawn the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, but he also confirmed his intention to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta). His exact plans for Nafta, however, aren’t clear. Nafta could stand some …

  Six people killed in an assault on a Quebec City mosque in one of the worst terrorist attacks in the Canada’s history. All the victims are male, ranging in age from 39 to 60 years old, and had gathered for prayers at the mosque. Alexandre Bissonnette, 27, a political science student at nearby Laval University, has been charged with …

  The Chinese New Year holiday is traditionally a time of gift-giving and celebration in the Middle Kingdom. This year, no one celebrates more than China’s President Xi Jinping. On Monday, Xi’s US counterpart signed an order withdrawing American support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The move fulfilled one of President Donald Trump’s central campaign pledges. Since the 12-nation free-trade pact …