In the early days of the current economic expansion, Texas led the way. That stopped being true a couple of years ago; according to state jobs data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, California has added the most payroll jobs (2.4 million) since employment bottomed out nationally in February 2010; Utah is the leader on a percentage …

  Leonid Bershidsky While it’s unclear how well Russian President Vladimir Putin will get along with Donald Trump and his team of Republican hawks, it looks as though he has already won the French presidential election. The front-runner in the primary vote of the French center-right, Francois Fillon, is nearly as enthusiastic a Russophile as Marine Le Pen, leader of …

  Taipei / AFP Taiwan’s troubled TransAsia Airways said on Tuesday it would close down after two deadly plane crashes, massive financial losses and an insider trading probe. Board members reached the decision at a hastily called meeting, with all flights immediately axed. Chief executive officer Liu Tung-ming bowed in a sign of contrition as he told reporters of the …