As the United States under President Trump recedes from world leadership, things are not looking so good elsewhere on earth. Two new books—with similarly morbid titles—have arrived to warn of big trouble ahead for both the European Union and the emerging economies of Asia. The End of the Asian Century by Michael Auslin offers a point-by-point debunking of the “Asiaphoria” that gripped so many imaginations a decade ago. James Kirchick’s The End of Europe tours a continent in which democratic and liberal forces are losing ground to Russia-infatuated extremists of right and left. The conclusion l

Late last year, India sought to force people with large amounts of cash stashed away to deposit it in bank accounts. It was a tax-collecting exercise to get people to disclose unreported wealth and pay up. The government credits the move for a 12 percent increase in tax collections from the previous year. Enlarging that base in no small thing in a country where only a tiny percentage of people actually pays income tax. India ranks 13th of 18 among its democratic peers within the G-20 countries when it comes to paying tax, according to the country's 2017 Economic Survey. At a cavernous office

P R Sanjai and Archana Chaudhary • Coke and Pepsi find themselves boycotted in Kerala and Tamil Nadu • “Shopkeepers are making a politically correct stance” A potent blend of pride, economic nationalism, and mounting concerns over water security has the world’s two biggest cola brands in a bind in southern India. On March 15 shopkeepers in drought-hit Kerala state said they will join their counterparts in neighboring Tamil Nadu in boycotting locally made beverages from Coca-Cola Co. and PepsiCo Inc. Retail associations blame the companies for siphoning off groundwater and selling products