Opinion

  With a promise to fly US passengers to Europe for as little as $65, Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA is poised to transform transatlantic travel. While terrific news for consumers, its low-cost long-haul strategy might be a little more turbulent for shareholders and lenders. Having built Norwegian from a handful of aircraft into Europe’s third-largest budget carrier, founder and CEO ...

  China appears to be thriving in the age of Trump. Faced with a protectionist U.S. administration in Washington, Communist Party leaders have improbably recast themselves as champions of globalization, free trade and openness. Recently, they’ve admonished Western policymakers to treat Chinese investors more graciously before expecting China to open its own markets further. Greater liberalization, central bank chief Zhou ...

  Per capita gross domestic product is much higher in the US than in the other major developed economies, and no one really seems to be catching up. Life expectancy, on the other hand, is lower in the US than in those same peer countries — and the gap has been growing. In the past, one could argue that the ...

  Few bigger challenges loom for Hong Kong’s new Chief Executive Carrie Lam than bringing down real-estate prices in the city, the world’s least affordable. Increasing the supply of available land may take time, so she could start with removing property curbs. They’ve done little to tame soaring prices and in fact have worked to create ever tinier apartments. Last ...

  In his very first executive order, directing federal agencies to “waive, defer, grant exemptions from, or delay” various parts of the Affordable Care Act, President Donald Trump stated his intention to repeal the law. Two months later, with that effort in shambles, the order has become the administration’s entire game plan on health care. That’s not only inadequate, but ...

  Thousands of Russians protested in many cities across the country against official corruption. It was apparently the biggest anti-government demonstrations since 2012, when the wave of protests against alleged vote-rigging led Kremlin enforce harsher laws to suppress dissent. People heeded the call of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, a bête noir of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Police have arrested hundreds ...

  Relatively quietly, India’s government has just undertaken an unprecedented power grab—one that should worry not just citizens and taxpayers but also foreign investors. And it comes in the most unlikely of places: the annual Union budget. The presentation of the budget is a fairly splashy event; it’s announced by the finance minister in a speech to Parliament that usually ...

  Tesco Plc is close to settling with prosecutors over its 2014 profit overstatement. The retailer could within weeks strike a deal with Britain’s Serious Fraud Office, according to Sky News, including a fine of more than 100 million pounds ($126 million). That’s not insignificant. Tesco’s operating profit is expected to be about 1.2 billion pounds in this financial year, ...

  The San Francisco-based photo-sharing site Pinterest would seem to rank low on the list of potential threats to China. Beloved by fashion designers, photographers, cooks and hobbyists, the seven-year-old website is a global hub for the sharing of images, trends and ideas on topics ranging from living-room design to what to cook at your Saturday barbecue. Unfortunately, Pinterest Inc.’s ...

  Donald Trump boasts that he has been an economic genius, creating jobs, cutting $12 billion off the national debt and overseeing a soaring stock market in just his first two months. These claims are largely phony. He may need braggadocio, though, because on the economy he has been dealt a bad hand politically. This problem is likely to be ...