Opinion

India coal deal may prove a truckload of dying embers

  Fancy a truckload of the world’s biggest coal miner? New Delhi is planning to sell a 10 percent stake in Coal India Ltd., the Economic Times reported, without saying where it got the information. Such a deal could be worth about 197 billion rupees ($2.9 billion) at current market prices, and would reduce the government’s share in the company ...

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PCCW chasing blue sky is a costly new dawn

  In the space of a week, PCCW Ltd., Richard Li’s company, has cheered investors by getting out of the U.K., then brought them back to earth with plans to bulk up video streaming in Asia. Days after Li sold the loss-making British broadband provider to his father Li Ka-shing, PCCW is disposing of a $1.1 billion stake in telecom ...

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Spy agencies should kick the contractor habit

  Are government cyberoperations safe when they involve people from the private sector? That’s the question raised by the indictment of former National Security Agency contractor Harold Martin on 20 counts of obtaining and keeping national defense information. While Martin held various security clearances — including ‘top secret’ — between 1993 and his arrest in August 2016, he worked for ...

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The danger of an IS breakout

Michael Flynn, the national security adviser to President Trump, shows visitors a map predicting what will happen to the IS after its stronghold in Mosul is captured. It shows menacing black arrows reaching west toward other, future battlefronts in Iraq, Syria and beyond. That’s the worry that motivates the Trump administration as it plans strategy against the terrorist group: Rather ...

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Leaving Greece in limbo helps no one

  Greece is back in the news, for all the wrong reasons. Wrangling between the International Monetary Fund and the European Union threatens to prevent a bailout deal by the time euro-region finance ministers gather in Brussels on Feb. 20. Both sides should acknowledge the efforts Greece has made to boost tax revenue, sell off state assets and return the ...

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Trump’s unwanted gift to Wall Street

  President Donald Trump says he wants to reduce the regulatory burden on the finance industry. But by taking aim at a new rule on retirement advice, he’ll most likely add to that burden — and harm many small investors at the same time. In the US, saving for retirement can be a perilous endeavor. “Free” advice often isn’t. Advisers ...

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Travel ban threatens US-Iraq fight against IS

Trump’s executive orders have rattled United States and many capitals around the world. The Republican billionaire seems to have fallen for campaign-style rhetoric, which was meant to gain votes. But he continues to shoot from the hip undermining the US values and diplomatic gains with many countries so far. And Iraq is one of such cases. It is the prerogative ...

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Tidal power can make UK a green energy leader

  The UK government is mulling whether to support a 1.3 billion pound proposal to build a tidal lagoon in South Wales. It should stop dithering and subsidize the project to help meet the country’s green energy goals, produce cheaper power, and establish Britain as the world leader in technology that harnesses the power of the tides to generate electricity. ...

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Italy’s strongest bank is harming itself

  Intesa Sanpaolo SpA is one of the few Italian banks that could accurately claim to be strong, profitable and shareholder-friendly. It’s curious, therefore, that CEO Carlo Messina seems intent on jeopardizing that record with a strategically questionable and poorly-communicated tilt at Assicurazioni Generali SpA, the country’s largest insurer. Even if a bid fails to materialize, he will have to ...

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The treacherous path for firms after #DeleteUber

  The Uber boycott sparked by the company’s refusal to join an anti-Trump strike poses a question many US businesses will have to answer: Do they openly stand with those of their customers who abhor the president’s policies or does it make more business sense for them to stay neutral? The #DeleteUber movement appears to be something of a disaster ...

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