President Barack Obama’s surging approval rating is becoming a major plot line of the 2016 election. Obama has reached 53 percent approval from Gallup, a three- year high, and he’s been at or above 50 percent in that survey for four weeks. HuffPollster’s aggregate of all current polls gives Obama an average approval rating of 49.2 percent,compared with 47.3 percent …

As you’ve no doubt noticed, companies and investors around the world are feeling the pain of China’s economic slowdown. They’re worried about all the layoffs, cuts to surplus capacity and deleveraging to come on the mainland, which will further depress demand. The natural temptation is to blame China for the world’s woes. But outsiders should focus just as much on …

One of the best pieces of news in years is that China’s finally getting serious about cleaning up its environment. Renewable energy use is growing rapidly while coal use is declining. Air pollution targets are being tightened. Contaminated farmland is finally getting high-level attention. Yet all that good could be undermined if China simply exports its environmental problems elsewhere. A …