Opinion

Uber still doesn’t look like the next Facebook

Uber has been in the news a lot lately, and most of it hasn’t been pretty. Allegations of a sexist workplace culture, a high-profile legal battle with Alphabet Inc. (Google) over self-driving car technology, reports of attempts to skirt local laws, an anti-Uber Twitter campaign, and an exodus of top talent have put the ride-hailing giant on the back foot. ...

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A mathematician’s secret is we’re not all geniuses

You don’t have to be a genius to become a mathematician. If you find this statement at all surprising, you’re an example of what’s wrong with the way our society identifies, encourages and rewards talent. As a mathematician who studied at Berkeley, Harvard and Princeton, I’ve known geniuses. I got to hang out with Andrew Wiles, who is credited with ...

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Google wants to block advertisements to save them

Google, which controls more than 40 percent of the US digital ad market, has decided to teach the world which ads are acceptable and which aren’t. Starting next year, its Chrome web browser will block all ads — including those bought through Google — on websites that don’t follow guidelines set by an industry group. This monopolistic move is meant ...

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The moralist versus the dealmaker

What does the FBI director do when he suspects the president is a manipulative liar? The answer in James Comey’s case is that he writes memos, tries to evade demands for loyalty — and anguishes about protecting himself and the FBI. But by Comey’s own admission, perhaps he should have done more. The big news had already surfaced before Comey’s ...

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Almost everyone is a winner in India stocks this year

There’s something about the Indian stock market this year that’s turning the serious business of managing money into a kindergarten spoon race: Everybody is a winner. Well, almost everybody. Among offshore funds that primarily invest in India, the top 30, which between them account for $40 billion in assets, have produced average returns of almost 25% so far in 2017, ...

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May’s election gamble goes disastrously wrong

UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s election gamble has failed disastrously. The consequences are dire for her party and government, and could be equally bad for her country’s relationship with Europe. May had hoped to increase her Conservative majority in Parliament, and instead has seen it wiped out. The Tories are the largest party in the House of Commons and with ...

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What Comey said and what it means

As former FBI Director James Comey testifies before the Senate Intelligence Committee, it’s useful to bear two things in mind: What he’s describing isn’t normal. And it isn’t going away. In a written statement released before his appearance, Comey depicted a disturbing sequence of events related to the investigation into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election. President Donald Trump repeatedly ...

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Safer vehicles can make terror attacks harder

‘Enough is enough,’ UK Prime Minister Theresa May declared after the London terror attack, the third one this year. But what she proposed to counter the terrorist attacks was, essentially, some freedom of speech restrictions, more powers for law enforcement and longer sentences for terror-related offenses — the same old toolbox that has been used for almost two decades. There ...

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Europe gets a bank rescue right, at last

European regulators have pushed a dying Spanish bank into the arms of Banco Santander SA, the euro zone’s biggest lender by market value. The takeover of Banco Popular Espanol SA saves face for regulators and politicians eager to avoid an embarrassing taxpayer rescue. It allows Santander to boost its own balance sheet and scoop up a rival for a song. ...

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For the pound’s sake, don’t write May a blank check

The vote to have Britain exit the European Union highlighted deepening rifts across the country — between the old and the young, the rich and the poor, the North and the South. May’s proposals, which focus on lower taxes funded by cuts to education, health care and security, are likely to make Britain an even more divided kingdom. Once among ...

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