“Something is rotten in the state of Denmark,” mutters Marcellus as ghosts and mad spirits haunt Elsinore Castle in the first act of Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet.’ After this past week of salacious leaks about foreign espionage plots and indignant denials, people must be wondering if something is rotten in the state of our democracy. How can we dispel the dark ...

  While ATMs in India are still waiting to get refilled, analysts’ spreadsheets are finally getting populated. The high-frequency statistics they need to weigh the impact of the country’s bizarre currency ban are slowly trickling in. By the looks of things, some earnings forecasts may escape with just a trim; others may need the slash-and-burn treatment. Sample two pieces of ...

  James Mattis, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for defense secretary, has called Russia the “most dangerous” short-term threat to US interests and raised the question of whether President Vladimir Putin is “delusional.” Trump, meanwhile, has praised Putin’s savvy and talked of repairing US-Russia relations. This isn’t the only issue on which Mattis is at odds with his prospective boss, and ...