As Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused Iran of “unprovoked attacks” near the Strait of Hormuz, video screens behind him showed thick black smoke billowing from the two tankers that were struck on June 13. It was the dramatic imagery that sometimes precedes armed conflict. Pompeo didn’t offer hard evidence, and Iran denied the attacks. The US response in escalating ...

Three years on from the UK’s vote to quit the European Union (EU), its failure to come up with a realistic plan for how to withdraw is pretty farcical. Officials at the Bank of England aren’t laughing, though. Mark Carney, the bank’s governor, has gone slowly on raising interest rates as he waits for the fog of Brexit to clear. ...

Closing a leveraged buyout in Germany can be as painful as pulling teeth. That isn’tdeterring KKR & Co. as it tries to grab a stake in the country’s most influential publishing business. The US private equity firm’s 6.8 billion-euro ($7.7 billion) deal to take Axel Springer SE private with its founding family comes with some big compromises. They only highlight ...