Opinion

  To adapt the Bard: “O, wonder! … O brave new world.” Or seven of them, as it happens. Researchers revealed on Wednesday that they’ve uncovered these intriguing planets swirling outside the solar system, all of them rocky and Earth-sized. Three seem temperate enough to support life. And all are orbiting a small, dim star just 40 light-years away. The ...

  Anti-Brexit campaigner and many European leaders had warned Britain of huge economic loss after it quits EU. But the other side of the coin is that even European Union will lose on multiple fronts due to Brexit. EU would not just be losing a vital component, but also one of its richest countries, with its biggest defense budget and ...

  Losing 4.3 billion barrels of reserves could be just what Exxon Mobil Corp. needed. There’s no denying that having almost one in five barrels of oil equivalent of your proved reserves slip off the books, as Exxon announced this week, isn’t the company’s finest hour. Coming just after Exxon took a $2 billion asset impairment, it looks like newly ...

  JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s market value has surged by about 60 percent in the past 12 months to $326 billion, making it the largest U.S. lender by that measure. But when executives, shareholders and analysts gather for the bank’s investor day next week, they may have other yardsticks on their minds. The New York-based bank has yet to meet ...

  This should be a good time to be an American Internet company in Taiwan. The new president, Tsai Ing-wen, has pledged to build an Asian Silicon Valley on the island. And the new American president, Donald Trump has threatened a trade war with Taiwan’s rival in mainland China. The stars would appear to be aligned. So it’s surprising that ...

  There was a brief moment after Donald Trump’s election when it was conceivable to ask whether he would strive to be a “uniter” or a “divider.” The moment passed quickly as Trump made it clear that he does not intend to abandon the style of politics — insulting and divisive — that got him elected. His declaration last week ...

  It’s nearly a decade since Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) Group Plc was bailed out. Today, the lender is still owned by taxpayers, shunned by shareholders and ruled by regulators. The management team has little else it can really do but keep shrinking and hope the bank can eventually buck a nine-year run of losses. These are noble objectives, ...

  Say this for Donald Trump: He is forcing Europeans to think more seriously about how to protect and defend their continent. The US president’s disparagement of NATO goes too far, and his focus on getting Europeans to spend more on defense is misplaced. That said, European nations have for too long treated their defense budgets as an extension of ...

  Kim Jong Nam, the oldest half-brother of North Korean’s leader Kim Jong Un, was murdered in Malaysia more than a week ago. Initial report said that two unidentified women killed Kim Jong Nam at Kuala Lumpur’s airport with a poison needle and fled the scene. Kim Jong Nam, the eldest son of former leader Kim Jong Il, had lived ...

  The Soviet Union had a reputation for presenting fake economic statistics to the world, in order to avoid having its dysfunctional system look embarrassing in front of its rivals. But as the decline and collapse of the Soviet Union illustrates, it’s impossible to conceal poor economic performance forever. There are too many alternative data sources that will eventually show ...