Opinion

  The comeback of the Nokia 3310, the icon of the “dumb phone” industry, is mainly a marketing gimmick by a Finnish startup. But there’s plenty of reasons to embrace it as something more — as an antidote to these digitally toxic times. Unlike the original, which was discontinued more than a decade ago, the rebooted model by HMD offers ...

  We live in an age of disbelief. Many of the ideas and institutions that have underpinned Americans’ thinking since the early years after World War II are besieged. There is an intellectual and political vacuum into which rush new figures (Donald Trump) and different ideas (America First). These new ideas and leaders may be no better than the ones ...

  China is counting on heady valuations and its power as the gatekeeper to get tech stars like Ant Financial to go public at home rather than in New York or Hong Kong. Listing candidates should be wary — no matter how much it’s reformed, the domestic market is full of fickle investors and regulators. China Securities Regulatory Commission Chairman ...

  Donald Trump’s latest harsh immigration orders leave little doubt about how he and his administration view outsiders who have come to the U.S. illegally. His views on high-skilled, legal immigrants are more complicated. He’s vowed to punish companies that bend the rules to replace American workers with cheaper foreigners, but he’s also said he welcomes talented innovators to America’s ...

  The influence-peddling scandal, which led to the impeachment of South Korean President Park Geun-hye, is getting knottier. It took the dramatic turn when a court granted special prosecutor’s request for permission to arrest Samsung Group’s de facto leader Jay Y Lee over allegations of bribery and embezzlement. Lee is accused to have made payments of tens of millions of ...

  India’s slow-moving banking crisis continues to drag on, as ponderous and unstoppable as the state-controlled banking sector itself. A recent study found that the gross “non-performing assets” of state banks rose 56% in 2016, and 135% in the last two years. They now account for 11% of all state bank loans. These are hardly reassuring numbers. Yet the government—which, ...

  An aging, fading, military-controlled Thai economy is on the cusp of its long-delayed infrastructure revolution, but you wouldn’t know it from the share prices of the big four in the nation’s construction industry. Ch. Karnchang Pcl, the largest by market value, fell to a four-month low last Friday after tepid results at its power and transportation units. While rising ...

  Perhaps even more than in the typical debate over tech company IPOs, opinions are split on whether Snapchat’s shares are worth buying in its initial public offering and whether it will prove a fit and lasting public company. The answer to the first question will come on Wednesday, when Snapchat is expected to close its first stock sale to ...

  One of the most startling allegations in a January report by US intelligence agencies about Russian hacking was this sentence: “Russia has sought to influence elections across Europe.” This warning of a campaign far broader than the US got little attention in America. We may be missing the forest for the trees in the Russia story: The Kremlin’s attempt ...

  Standard Chartered Plc’s shares soared over the past year on hopes that CEO Bill Winters was turning around the troubled emerging markets lender. From Friday’s disappointing earnings, it appears investors had run ahead of themselves. There’s still no sign of a return to dividends, and the growth outlook is far from strong. While StanChart swung to a pretax profit ...