Opinion

  Donald Trump’s views on vaccines have long been out of sync with science. Childhood vaccines cause autism, he asserted at a debate in 2015, echoing statements he had made in 2014 and 2012. But now the president-elect is poised to do more than just pass along misinformation: He has asked a die-hard “anti-vaxxer” to lead a commission on “vaccination …

  US Secretary of State nominee Rex Tillerson seems to be almost at variance with President-elect Donald Trump over key foreign policy issues, which he would face as America’s top diplomat. At his confirmation hearing, the former Exxon Mobil Corp CEO, under intense questioning on US-Russian relations and other foreign issues, called Russia a danger and vowed to protect America’s …

  There’s a big threat to Germany’s traditional political parties ahead of this year’s general election, and it isn’t immigration or populism. It’s the inflation eating away at Germans’ savings as the European Central Bank keeps interest rates near zero. Germans, from serious economists to tabloid writers, have long decried the ECB’s lax monetary policy. With its stated goal of …

  An entire library could be filled with books about how the bright minds in Silicon Valley find and fund the next Google or Facebook. But there are four basic steps to startup investing: 1) Persuade people to give you lots of money. 2) Use that money to buy shares in young companies. 3) Cash out those shares in an …

  The irony of the yuan rally that took bears by surprise last week was that the surge came just days before China announced that its foreign currency reserves shrank by $41 billion in December. The stockpile is now $3 trillion, a decline of more than $1 trillion since its peak in 2014. Authorities have been drawing upon the huge …

  Donald Trump wants to be a great jobs president. But the forces that really affect employment are beyond his control — and they are working against him. Over the long run, when it comes to job growth, demographics is destiny. The Reagan and Clinton presidencies, so strong economically, coincided with the baby boomer generation being in its peak years. …

  Evan Spiegel, Snap. Inc.’s founder, has used his knack for sensing the zeitgeist to make Snapchat a hit among young people and entirely baffling to anyone over 30. The 26-year old has detected another trend as he plots Snap’s global expansion: lower tolerance for aggressive tax planning in Europe. Snap is setting up its European headquarters in London, which …

  Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer says President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet nominees ‘need a thorough vetting.’ He’s right, but exactly what he and his colleagues mean by that won’t be clear until the Senate’s confirmation process begins this week. So here’s a suggestion: Its hearings will best serve the public interest by striving to clarify, not politicize. The constitutional requirement …

  Samsung is getting sucked further into the vortex of South Korea’s influence-peddling scandal. Special prosecutors summoned Jay Y Lee, Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman, for questioning as a suspect in the bribery investigation. The scandal has already led to the impeachment of South Korea President Park Guen-hye. The questioning of the two top guys at Samsung Group had given the …

  Sign up to receive the Brexit Bulletin in your inbox, and follow @Brexit on Twitter. Theresa May was keen to stress on Monday she doesn’t ‘accept the terms hard and soft Brexit.’ Investors may need to move beyond them too, after spending much of 2016 trying to guess if the prime minister would go hard (by focusing on controlling …