Opinion

  The imminent failure of Italy’s third-largest bank, Monte dei Paschi di Siena, is finally bringing the country’s long-festering banking crisis to the center of European leaders’ attention. This may be a blessing in disguise, offering the best chance yet to achieve a lasting solution — and even strengthen the European Union. Italy’s financial woes have been years in the ...

  Syrian troops reclaimed rebel-held east Aleppo. The residents anxious to return to their homes entered into the war-ravaged city after the regime’s announcement of full control of the city. Assad army recaptured the former rebel stronghold after a landmark evacuation deal that saw thousands of opposition fighters and residents bussed out. The evacuation operation ended more than four years ...

  As Beijing and more than 20 other cities in northern China have been plunged into another winter air-pollution crisis, with choking, toxic air and many people afraid to wander outside, observers wonder when China will start making significant progress on this problem. But there is some good news, namely that when it comes to clean air improvements, China probably ...

  To firms planning to buy other companies with borrowed money in the new year: Please take a moment to reconsider and learn from those who have gone before you. It’s true that companies flop all the time. But those that borrow gobs of money have a narrower margin for error. And companies in some sectors popular for leveraged buyouts, ...

  How much is a child’s future success determined by innate intelligence? Economist James Heckman says it’s not what people think. He likes to ask educated non-scientists — especially politicians and policy makers — how much of the difference between people’s incomes can be tied to IQ. Most guess around 25 percent, even 50 percent, he says. But the data ...

  Far from jolting the US into a protectionist lurch, might President-elect Donald Trump unwittingly help buoy global trade next year? Here’s one scenario to mull over: A strong dollar and a tight US labour market, combined with Trump’s proposed fiscal plans, may fuel a rise in net US imports in 2017, a boon for commodity exporters and goods manufacturers ...

  A new year is just around the corner, and pressure on the yuan means Beijing can look forward to a host of fresh outflows into Hong Kong insurance, curbs or no. The annual $50,000 cap on foreign-exchange conversions resets on Jan. 1, and it’s a safe bet sales of dollar-denominated premiums in the city will spike. Before October’s ban ...

  There’s no good place to start a nuclear arms race — and Twitter is an especially bad venue. So it’s unfortunate that President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday tweeted his desire for the US to “greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability,” then followed up on Friday morning by saying, “Let it be an arms race.” It’s hard to know ...

  The Obama administration abstained from voting on a United Nations Security Council resolution condemning Israel’s West Bank expansion. Israel reacted fiercely. Tel Aviv accused Washington of abandoning its closest Middle East ally. The resolution called Israeli settlements illegal and demanded that country immediately stop construction in West bank and other territories seized in 1967 Middle East war. Some 430,000 ...

  This year’s news about what artificial intelligence can do in the arts has been both exciting and scary. Neural networks have learned to paint like masters and compose sophisticated music. Those of us in creative endeavours might be as endangered by technological advances as blue-collar workers are often said to be — though we are protected by certain limitations ...