Mortgages are perhaps the only specialist lending that will survive in India. Every other form of credit, especially subprime, is made so risky by the country’s fickle policies and populist politics that it must eventually lose its independence in the safety of a deposit-taking bank. Bharat Financial Inclusion Ltd., India’s biggest micro-lender, is a good example. Bad loans at …

  British Prime Minister Theresa May recently surprised the country — and most of her ministers — by calling an election for early next month. Up against self-imposed deadlines, and anxious to increase her majority in Parliament, she’s scrambling to devise a policy platform. With Brexit looming, this isn’t a normal election, and the usual litany of detailed proposals won’t …

  First, the sandpaper-tongue US president called him a “smart cookie.” Then Trump says he is open to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un if conditions allow. Although Trump has made many policy U-turns, this is a classic one and steeped into irony. “If it would be appropriate for me to meet with him, I would absolutely, I would be …