Opinion

  Amazon is taking over the world. And paradoxically that may hurt Amazon’s ability to take over the world. It’s been clear for a while that Amazon’s ambitions know few bounds. Sure, Amazon is a global shopping mall. But it’s also making its own household products like baby wipes and batteries, becoming a silent giant in advertising, opening its own ...

  Representative Devin Nunes’ decision to recuse himself from leading the congressional investigation into Russian meddling in the U.S. presidential election is as surprising as it is welcome. His erratic behavior, much of which appeared intended to protect President Donald Trump and his top aides from scrutiny, had compromised the integrity of the probe before it even got off the ...

  What the drowning of Aylan Kurdi, the refugee toddler whose death drew an outpouring of sympathy around the world, failed to do, harrowing images of beautiful babies gasping for breath surrounded by dead bodies have done. The images brought about Trump’s change of heart on Syria. But it is too late. The protracted Syrian civil war has already killed ...

  Economists have long argued that the gross domestic product has many flaws as a measure of well-being and policy success. Yet there’s a good reason it’s still being used: There’s a certain magic to it, despite its science being somewhat iffy. Recently, the National Bureau of Economic Research published a paper by Harvard economist Martin Feldstein detailing an argument ...

  The Norwegian government is resisting calls for its $873 billion sovereign wealth fund, the world’s biggest, to add unlisted infrastructure projects to its portfolio of stocks, bonds and real estate. It should relent, recognizing both the financial and societal benefits from expanding the universe of potential investments available to the fund. Last week, the Conservative-led government rebuffed a second ...

  Since China’s four major state-owned banks reported results last week, analysts have been cheering. Profit growth was up and non-performing loan ratios were down. Much has been made about progress in improving underwriting standards. But it would be wise to hold off on the euphoric pronouncements — and to take a closer look at how the banks produced these ...

  The US is in a period of institutional sclerosis, and more people are noticing it. Even JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon is sounding the alarm. But it’s reasonable to ask whether, despite all its difficulties, the US is still the proverbial best house in a bad neighborhood. Many other rich, industrialized nations are facing their ...

  After its plan to offer free internet in India was rejected, Facebook Inc. may soon find that the fastest way to consumers’ hearts is through their wallets. Digitally. Its WhatsApp service is preparing to start digital payments in the country, a move that would leverage India’s rush to online transactions after November’s sudden demonetisation, the Financial Times reported. WhatsApp ...

  Another day, another cloud of pepper spray and tear gas in the streets of Caracas. The autocratic government of President Nicolas Maduro has hardly changed its spots. It may have seemed otherwise, after the Venezuelan Supreme Court was forced last month to reverse its unconstitutional takeover of the country’s legislature. But Maduro has continued to suppress peaceful protests of ...

  Once again, Assad gassed his own people. At least 74 civilians died, including a dozen children, in one of the worst chemical weapons attack in an opposition-held town of Khan Sheikhoun in northern Syria. The mind-numbing images of people gasping for breath and convulsing in the streets show that Assad regime atrocities against Syrians have crossed all limits. The ...