Opinion

  A payment system is to an economy what plumbing is to houses: The only time people talk about it is when it’s not working. That’s been the case in India since the government’s demonetization decision on Nov. 8. While that shock gutted commerce, it also upended the payment method of choice: cash. A simmering tension between two systems is ...

  President Donald Trump’s rocky start should come as no surprise. He has no experience in government or large organizations — his company is a small family office that employs a few dozen people. Before finding success through television and licensing deals, his career was defined by a series of failures and bankruptcies. The image he has cultivated for himself ...

  As crackdown on illegal immigrants began, the phone at an organization in Austin that runs a deportation hotline is always ringing. The centre received more than 1,000 calls in three days by fearful immigrants who wanted information about the raids. They are a worried lot. Those who saw a friend or family was taken are scared by the raids. ...

  About a decade ago, EBay Inc. made a legendary retreat from the Chinese auction business in the face of growing local competition. It was a defeat so humiliating that it became a business school case study. Since then, however, the Chinese e-commerce market has changed drastically — and so has EBay. As the company makes its return to the ...

  Bank of England (BOE) policy maker Kristin Forbes suggested that the need to restrain inflation might “soon suggest an increase” is required in interest rates. The central bank’s latest survey of businesses, however, suggests weakening pay growth should persuade the bank to keep borrowing costs on hold. The bank’s regional agents regularly survey about 700 businesses around the U.K. ...

  Compared with the US last year, European nations that face hotly-contested elections in 2017 aren’t seeing a major fake news explosion. In the Netherlands, where elections are scheduled for March 15, Geert Wilders’ nationalist Freedom Party is the front-runner. Wilders was recently caught out in a fake news scandal: He tweeted a Photoshopped image of a rival party leader ...

  The New York Times reported on Sunday that one of Donald Trump’s lawyers, Michael Cohen, attempted to deliver a sealed proposal for crafting a Ukraine peace accord — and lifting Russian sanctions — to then National Security Adviser Michael Flynn shortly before Flynn resigned. Cohen disputed a portion of the Times’ account in an interview with Washington Post reporters, ...

  With a disappointing buyback in the cards, shares of HSBC Holdings Plc may struggle to continue their ascent. It’s time for the London-headquartered bank to deliver on revenue growth and profitability. Stock in the lender that makes almost two-thirds of its money from Asia has risen 60 percent in London over the past 12 months. Like rival Standard Chartered ...

  By one measure, President Donald Trump’s immigration policy is one-third as harsh as his predecessor’s — but it has generated at least as much if not more controversy. This is unfortunate, both because this particular controversy is unjustified and because it distracts from bigger problems. Federal agents made 680 arrests in a series of immigration raids recently, sparking shock ...

  At present, it seems nobody can say for sure what would be the impact of Brexit on UK economy. The issue has always elicited mixed opinions. Prior to June 23 referendum, many economic and market experts had predicted an immediate and significant impact on British economy. But the economy defied forecast and grew by 6% between July and September, ...