Opinion

Wouldn’t it be wonderful, with the wealth of information available on the internet today, to go back to the nice village feel of the web’s earliest days, when it was free to almost everyone who had access to it, personal data weren’t bought and sold, important decisions weren’t made by algorithms and online bullying, harassment and disinformation were non-issues outside ...

A second referendum on Brexit is portrayed as an attack on democracy by ardent Leavers, and has been outright rejected by the UK government. While a growing chorus of businesses and voters like the idea, some politicians say it would be divisive, unhelpful and akin to telling Brits that they got it wrong first time. Yet over the weekend, a ...

State Bank of India (SBI) Chairman Rajnish Kumar wants to assure investors he’s in complete control of the ‘demon’ of soured loans. Not so fast, Aladdin. The bank’s first quarterly profit in 12 months is no doubt an encouraging sign, though net income of $129 million on a $284 billion loan book is hardly worth celebrating. Besides, it’s premature for ...

Very little went wrong for DBS Group Holdings Ltd. last quarter. Singapore’s biggest bank, the last to report earnings, posted a 76 percent jump in net income. Net interest margins widened 13 basis points and credit costs were 71 percent lower than a year earlier. Investment banking wobbled, but trading income surged to compensate. The joys of being a bank ...

“To get rich, first build a road” is one of those Chinese proverbs that tends to impress foreigners — evoking, as it does, a combination of farsightedness and concern for practicalities. As China is discovering with its globe-spanning Belt and Road project, though, the world doesn’t always play along. The initiative has run into trouble, and its success now depends ...

Wouldn’t it be great if we could all drive without dirtying the air we breathe? Alas, not everyone can afford an electric car. The good news is the death of the internal combustion engine is nearing and electric-vehicle sales are on a tear. Countries that together account for more than 10 percent of global auto sales have detailed plans to ...

A ride-hailing rivalry is gearing up in Southeast Asia. With a fresh $2 billion war chest, Singapore-based GrabTaxi Holdings Pte is doubling down on its expansion into Indonesia. Meanwhile, Go-Jek Indonesia PT is tiptoeing into its main competitor’s home turf, and making a foray into Vietnam’s buzzing cities. Jockeying for success probably comes naturally to the companies’ founders, who were ...

For years, analysts and journalists watching Apple Inc. have talked up the growing importance of services, as opposed to hardware sales, to the company’s top line. But it’s only now that Apple’s business model truly appears to be shifting towards collecting rent from the company’s ecosystem and increasingly relying on gadget sales to perpetuate this rent rather than drive growth. ...

If China is such a powerhouse of intellectual-property (IP) theft, why doesn’t Beijing do it any better? Take the auto industry. This would seem a sector ripe for forced technology transfer, industrial espionage and all the other sharp practices causing such tension in China’s trade relationship with the US. China is the world’s biggest producer and consumer of vehicles, and ...

The way we eat is going to have to change — that is, if we are to preserve a livable climate on Earth. A new international study makes this clear. Over the next three decades, the food system’s impact on the environment stands to at least double if humanity carries on eating the way it does now. The negative effects ...