Opinion

  Venezuela is slipping into chaos as President Nicolas Maduro called for the popular assembly last week in a fresh attempt to consolidate his hold on the nation. The opposition has refused to help draft a new constitution, calling the process fraudulent. The opposition coalition has accused Maduro of going against the country’s charter as any constitutional change requires the ...

  What happens when strongmen meet? We know that the world is slowly filling up with populist nationalists, from Manila to Washington. But how do they plan to deal with each other? Will they join forces against the sanctimonious, supra-national powers that dismay them all? Or will they compete, as erstwhile tough guys seem most comfortable doing? Perhaps we shouldn’t ...

  News that Alipay hooked up with First Data Corp. in the US may end up being more significant for both the Chinese fintech player and for Apple Inc. than Jack Ma’s $1.2 billion bid for an old-school payments provider, MoneyGram International Inc. In one swoop, the payments affiliate of Ma’s Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. gets access to 4 million ...

  In 1989, Sears Roebuck & Co. ruled America as its biggest retailer. It loomed over rivals from a perch high above Chicago, inside what was once the world’s tallest building—one bearing the company’s name. The fall from that height may finally be nearing an end. Over the course of almost three decades, the company experienced what industry observers described ...

  Once the initial market relief plays out — that, even during an unprecedented ‘anti-establishment’ wave in both Europe and the US, French voters rejected a far right president in Marine Le Pen of the National Front — interest will shift to how relative newcomer Emmanuel Macron will manage to govern in a country accustomed to mainstream politics. And it ...

  India’s bad-loan crisis, afflicting almost 20 of banks’ assets, has moved tantalizingly close to a resolution. Giving the central bank the power to force lenders to shed soured debt is a welcome policy move. But a nine-month target to clear 60 large corporate delinquencies may be wishful thinking. The reason is an untested bankruptcy court. That’s a risk investors ...

  The stick doesn’t seem to be working, so now China’s waving carrots to bring the country’s burgeoning media landscape into line. The State Council and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China plan to boost the development of online outlets by creating new media institutions and encouraging eligible websites to go public, the official Xinhua news agency ...

  Emmanuel Macron, who started his own party En Marche! — or On the Move! a year ago, defeated National Front’s Marine Le Pen in France’s presidential election. The election threw up many surprises. Although Macron, a 39-year-old centrist, was projected as a winner by opinion polls, what is remarkable is that he became France’s youngest elected president just a ...

  Having bestowed the presidency on a candidate who described their country as a “hellhole” besieged by multitudes trying to get into it, Americans need an antidote for social hypochondria. Fortunately, one has arrived from Don Boudreaux, an economist at George Mason University’s Mercatus Center and proprietor of the indispensable blog Cafe Hayek. He has good news: You are as ...

  The benefits of OPEC’s agreement to cut output have proved elusive. With less than three weeks to go before the group’s next meeting, something is very, very wrong as far as oil producers are concerned. And they have no easy solution to put it right. The oil price is not far off where it was in November, before OPEC ...