Opinion

  Most Indians are getting a tax break, thanks to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s botched demonetisation program. A halving of the tax bill for the lower middle class and a 5 percentage point rebate for most companies should go some way to help steady consumption and employment, both of which were hurt by the 8 November ban on high-denomination cash. ...

  Iran’s recent test of a medium-range ballistic missile is an early indicator that it doesn’t fear the bellicose rhetoric of Donald Trump any more than it did the passive approach of Barack Obama. Unfortunately, the Trump administration’s immediate response — National Security Adviser Michael Flynn said the US is “officially putting Iran on notice” — seems straight out of ...

  US President Donald Trump slapped sanctions against Iran in retaliation to Tehran’s recent ballistic missile test. More than two dozen people and companies from the Persian Gulf to China face new restrictions for supporting the missile program and providing support for Iran’s hard-line Revolutionary Guards Corps. They are now prohibited doing any business in the United States or with ...

  Like many a divorce, the UK’s separation from Europe threatens to get bogged down over money. While the UK wants to focus straight away on building a post-European Union identity, for the EU the first order of business will be the 60 billion euros the bloc says Britain owes it. Prime Minister Theresa May plans to formally trigger Brexit ...

  We may need to brace for the demise of America’s largest department-store chain. Hudson’s Bay Co., the Canadian owner of Lord & Taylor and Saks Fifth Avenue, is in talks to take over Macy’s, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal on Friday. It would be a spectacular end to a years-long struggle for what was once ...

  The International Monetary Fund’s involvement in Greece has been an unmitigated disaster: Time and again, its failure to heed crucial lessons has visited suffering upon the Greek people. When the fund’s directors meet on Monday, they should agree to forgive the country’s debts and get out. The IMF should never have gotten into Greece in the first place. As ...

  Tight labour markets shrink income inequality by causing employers to bid up the price of scarce labor, so policymakers fretting about income inequality could give an epidemic disease a try. This might be a bit extreme but if increased equality is the goal, Stanford’s Walter Scheidel should be heard. His scholarship encompasses many things (classics, history, human biology) and ...

  Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s newly-anointed e-commerce czar is absolutely right: Offering two-day shipping is mere table stakes. So why hasn’t the retailer upped the ante? Walmart smartly dropped its Amazon copycat membership program on Tuesday and said all customers would now get free, two-day shipping, which was the main feature of the failed $49-a-year ShippingPass program. The only catch is ...

  Keystone XL is back — along with the usual misconceptions about its virtues and dangers. There should be no doubt, however, that President Donald Trump’s executive order advancing the project is a good thing. The reason is simple: By carrying heavy crude from the oil sands of Alberta, Canada, to refineries on the US Gulf Coast and beyond, Keystone ...

  US President Donald trump did it again. He seems to be intent on going against every deal that Obama administration struck with nations around the world. Trump blasted a refugee resettlement deal with Australia reached last year with the Obama administration. The resettlement deal was heralded as the solution, and held up by the Turnbull government as an example ...