Major media outlets in France have recently decided not to publish the names and faces of terrorists so as not to glorify them and encourage copycats. On the surface, this might seem like reasonable self-imposed discretion in the interests of national security. But it’s actually self-censorship — and it’s dangerous. It reflects a subtly mistaken conception of why extremists ...
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Clinton and Trump should be debating taxation
Imagine what could happen if Donald Trump hadn’t turned the presidential campaign into an argument over who founded IS or whether there should be ideological entrance tests for foreign visitors and immigrants. Then he and Hillary Clinton could have a rational debate over taxes, a serious topic on which they have clear differences. Trump wants to cut taxes massively, ...
Read More »To cure Brexit paralysis, invoke Article 50 soon
The European Union says it wants clarity on whether U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May is serious in her pledge that “Brexit means Brexit.†That clarity would be good for Britain as well as the rest of Europe, and there’s a simple way to get it: Extend the two-year deadline triggered by formal notification of the decision to leave the ...
Read More »Rio must sustain Olympics benefits
Brazil has overcome the Olympics challenge in style, but now comes the bigger challenge: to sustain the benefits ensuing from the Games. Before the mega sporting event started, many were sceptical about the country’s ability to put up a good show. The worst recession facing the nation, shooting inflation, swelling unemployment and the political upheaval caused by impeachment of ...
Read More »A change means continuity at India’s Central Bank
The Indian government’s decision to elevate a well-respected deputy governor at the Reserve Bank of India to become the country’s next central banker is, frankly, a bit of a relief. The naming of Urjit Patel comes after months of quite unnecessary drama — first over whether current RBI chief Raghuram Rajan and the government were getting along, then whether ...
Read More »China tries to build trust in its markets
When China’s top securities regulator said recently that it plans to delist Dandong Xintai Electric Co. for falsifying initial public offering documents, it didn’t grab many headlines. But it suggested some far-reaching changes may be afoot. Xintai is the first company to be expelled from Shenzhen’s ChiNext board for such an offense, and one of only a handful that ...
Read More »Hillary Clinton’s first White House record
Although First Ladies have been given important responsibilities in their husbands’ presidencies, none has taken such an active part in policymaking as Hillary Rodham Clinton did. Here are excerpts from interviews my colleagues and I conducted with Clinton administration officials and others who discussed her personality and her role. Did you get the impression that she may have been ...
Read More »Tech dominates S&P 500 like no time since dot-com bust
Bloomberg Don’t look now, but technology companies are exerting more control over the US stock market than any time since the internet bubble. Fueled by three-year rallies in which Microsoft Corp. and Alphabet Inc. doubled, Amazon.com Inc. tripled and Facebook Inc. surged fivefold, computer and software stocks have increased to almost 21 percent of the S&P 500 Index’s value, near ...
Read More »China’s Kingsoft aims to take on Alibaba in cloud computing
Bloomberg Kingsoft Corp Ltd., the Chinese software company whose chairman is Xiaomi Corp. co-founder Lei Jun, is preparing to go head-to-head with Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. in the rapidly growing market for cloud-computing services. Kingsoft Chief Executive Officer Hongjiang Zhang is banking on new businesses from mobile games to cloud computing to help pull the company out of the ...
Read More »Intel showcases ‘merged reality’ with Project Alloy headset
Relaxnews At the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco, USA, the microprocessor maker demo-ed Project Alloy, a standalone virtual reality headset allowing wearers to explore and interact with a virtual world while keeping one foot firmly in reality. The headset was presented by Intel CEO Brian Krzanich, who claimed that Project Alloy completely redefines what’s possible from a VR ...
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