Opinion

Starting next year, Singapore will treat packaged sugary drinks such as Coca-Cola the way that other countries treat cigarettes. Advertisements will be banned, and a label attesting to a beverage’s unhealthiness will be mandatory. The goal is to reduce the high rate of sugar consumption and associated health problems — such as diabetes and heart disease — that are now ...

British Conservatives, from the time of Margaret Thatcher, have long admired Singapore’s economic success. Low tax rates, minimal regulation and hyper-modern infrastructure are a magnet for foreign direct investment and keep government coffers overflowing. Could that be Britain after Brexit? The idea titillates Tories and terrifies European Union leaders. But such fears say more about the EU’s own vulnerabilities than ...

Since the beginning of the trade war between China and the US, most economists have warned that rising protectionism would trigger an economic slowdown. A few years into this conflict, the evidence suggests that a deceleration is indeed taking place. This week, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned that global growth will fall to 3% this year, the lowest rate ...

Stick a pickle fork in Boeing Co.’s hopes of getting past its 737 drama anytime soon. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has required urgent inspections of certain 737 Next Generation planes — the predecessor to the troubled 737 Max — after Boeing reported cracks in a part called the “pickle fork” on jets being overhauled in China. The pickle fork ...

Arriving in the midst of hurricane season, Puerto Rico’s new debt restructuring plan is a small ray of sunshine. But even if the proposal prevails in court — a big “if” — the territory’s prospects aren’t bright. With its obligations reduced, Puerto Rico will still outstrip every US state in per capita debt. Hopes for a lasting recovery will continue ...

Do economic sanctions serve US policy objectives? An important new report from the Government Accountability Office raises the question, but supplies an unsatisfactory answer: Although the departments of Treasury, State and Commerce all pay close attention to the impact of specific sanctions on their targets, there’s no reliable way to assess whether — or even to what extent — broader ...

Masayoshi Son could be on track for the biggest triumph of his career. Or the biggest failure. His decision to jump in and save a drowning unicorn, WeWork, goes against the precepts of the SoftBank Vision Fund that he founded, and could cause reputational damage worth more than the billions of dollars in this one deal. SoftBank Group Corp. may ...

CSX Corp.’s results were better than many feared they would be, but they came at the expense of several hundred jobs. The railroad said third-quarter revenue declined 5% as the uncertainty wrought by the trade war and a slump in coal shipments weighed on cargo volumes. Even so, CSX’s earnings per share for the period beat analysts’ estimates and its ...

Bank of America Corp. likes to brag about its online and mobile banking capabilities. Just as it did at this time last year, the bank last week trumpeted its “leadership in high-tech” in its third-quarter earnings news release and boasted that it’s “No. 1 in mobile banking, online banking and digital sales functionality,” citing accolades from J.D. Power, Javelin and ...

By acquiescing to Turkey’s invasion of northeastern Syria, President Trump has opened the door to what could become a genuine nightmare for the United States and its allies: the revival of the deadly terrorist organisation that called itself the IS. The danger lies not simply in the group’s sleeper cells that are still active — and that detonated three suicide ...