It’s easier for American tourists to travel to North Korea than to Cuba. It’s also more dangerous, as the death this week of college student Otto Warmbier after 17 months of North Korean captivity shows. But never mind the absurdity of President Donald Trump’s reimposition of travel restrictions to a relatively open and safe island 90 miles off the American ...

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has now formally enlisted in the fight against IS extremists. It can begin by helping to stem the flow of refugees trying to reach Europe from North Africa. This would be more than a humanitarian exercise; it would be a counterterrorism operation. Wherever refugees gather in hopelessness, violent extremists have a fertile recruiting ground. ...

In environmentalist circles, there’s a common trope that for humanity to prevent catastrophic climate change, economic growth must stop. This idea has helped to turn what should be a hard-headed, rational debate into a partisan political one — many on the right suspect that climate-change activism is a thin veneer for a socialist plot to throttle the economies of the ...

The Italian government looks set to put Veneto Banca and Banca Popolare di Vicenza, two troubled regional lenders, into liquidation, selling off the good assets to a rival bank for a symbolic price. The toxic assets would be transferred to a bad bank, mostly funded by the government. Shareholders and junior bond-holders would contribute to the rescue, while senior creditors ...

Apple Inc. has long proved adept at negotiating China’s notoriously challenging market, responding to fickle consumer tastes and unpredictable regulation far more adeptly than its competitors. But a recent decision to start taking a 30 percent commission on “tips” paid to artists and entertainers online threatens to undermine that savvy reputation — and quite possibly Apple’s long-term prospects in China. ...

Bloomberg After China finally got a start on seeing its local stocks into global equity indexes, focus turns to what could be an even bigger deal — winning inclusion into the world’s benchmark bond gauges. China is preparing the final touches for the next stage in that campaign — a “Bond Connect” program with Hong Kong that will allow international ...

Bloomberg The euro erased gains, bonds pared losses and equities jumped after the European Central Bank suggested financial markets misinterpreted comments from Mario Draghi on the rise of inflation. Draghi’s speech was intended to strike a balance between recognizing the currency bloc’s economic strength and warning that monetary support is still need, according to people familiar with the situation. The ...

Bloomberg Deutsche Bank AG, the German lender seeking to overhaul how it manages risks, made a bet on US inflation that puts the firm on course to lose as much as $60 million, people familiar with the matter said. The trade used derivative products tied to US inflation, said the people, who requested anonymity because the details aren’t public. The ...

Bloomberg South Africa’s central bank filed court papers to reverse an instruction by the anti-graft ombudsman that its mandate of protecting the value of currency be changed, saying the “reckless” proposal is harming the economy. Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane in a report earlier this month instructed parliament to start a process to change the nation’s constitution to make the central ...

Bloomberg Australia’s central bank could increase interest rates eight times in the next two years, former board member John Edwards said. The Reserve Bank of Australia is probably already considering a program of rate increases given its forecasts for inflation returning to target and economic growth to accelerate to 3 percent against a stronger global backdrop, Edwards said in a ...