Opinion

  The White House sent a secret “hotline”-style message to Russia on Oct. 31 to warn against any further cybermeddling in the U.S. election process. Russia didn’t escalate its tactics as Election Day approached, but U.S. officials aren’t ready to say that deterrence worked. The previously undisclosed message was part of the high-stakes game of cyber brinkmanship that has been …

  In the world of making everyday life more digital, something is starting to tip. You can see it at Noyes Air Conditioning Inc. on Monday mornings. They used to be a nightmare, as recently as 2013, says General Manager Chris Kaufman in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Seventy technicians would dump a week’s worth of service tickets on accountants who’d then scramble …

  A pipeline in North Dakota has become a rallying cry for protesters seeking to stop new fossil fuel projects. Their goal — reducing emissions — is the right one, but their methods —opposing and sabotaging pipelines — are wrong. Climate Change Maybe the pipeline, which once completed would carry oil to a shipping terminal in Illinois, needs to be …

  South Korean President Park Geun-hye is in the middle of a political scandal that may lead to her impeachment. It centres on Choi Soon-sil, a shadowy confidant of the president, accused of using her personal ties with Park to coerce local firms to donate millions of dollars to non-profit foundations Choi set up and then used for personal gain. …

  One week after India’s sudden declaration that 500- and 1,000-rupee notes were no longer legal tender, the economy is in chaos. And that’s perhaps because the policy was designed as much to shock and awe observers with the government’s command of the Indian economy as to control India’s “black money” problem. What seemed at first to be a masterstroke …

  Jack Rivkin, who introduced many of the innovative research practices that eventually became commonplace at Wall Street’s biggest firms, passed away last week. He was 76. He was a warm and witty observer of the investment business, and was best-known for his work running Shearson Lehman Brothers’ research department. He also served as chief investment officer of Neuberger Berman, …

  This year has been full of news about the slowing or perhaps even end of globalization. The main evidence is that global trade volumes appear to have stopped rising, something that hardly ever happens outside of a recession. Still, if you step back a little, you can make a case that the globalization train is still chugging — slowly …

  Democrats and progressives, you lost. You can fight President-elect Donald Trump, or you can join him. There will be time enough for fighting, but for now, I suggest that you join him — at least on some of his high priority items. As it turns out, several of them are your priorities too. 1: Infrastructure. The president-elect is a …

  Donald Trump was not the only septuagenarian with some strong notions about world affairs to score big in the Americas this month. On Nov. 6, Nicaraguan guerrilla-turned-strongman Daniel Ortega won his third consecutive presidential mandate. To hear Ortega’s boosters tell it, his re-election was a much needed affirmation for the Latin American leftist leaders who are now faltering or …

  By December 2015, China had endured four years of declining producer prices. Coal was down 38 percent on the year, and steel down 31 percent. That month, the Communist Party hit on a new plan for reversing this dynamic. They called it “supply-side reform,” and it was widely perceived as an attempt to eliminate the surplus capacity at mines …