For this Independence Day, at a moment when the tone of our political life would probably shame our Founders, here are snapshots of some brave American soldiers and civilians I met inside Syria last week who should make us all proud. Let’s start with a bearded sergeant major from Oklahoma. He’s driving an armored SUV down a dusty road toward ...

Executives at South Korea’s carmakers recently blamed strained Chinese relations for a massive sales shortfall in the world’s largest auto market. Foreign affairs only partly explains the story. Just as Bejing’s boycott over Seoul’s plan to host a US missile defense system hurt Korean makeup and toy brands, it also hit the auto industry: in the first half of the ...

With the ouster of Travis Kalanick, its founder and chief executive, Uber has vowed to mend an array of broken and frayed relationships. It can start with cities. It can focus on the sharing of some basic information. Its competitors, including Lyft, can join in this project, too. App-based ride services have changed the urban world, often for the good. ...

By 2050, more than one-quarter of the world’s population will live in Africa — up from about one-sixth today. Even if these projections are slightly off, that fact should serve as a call to action for a continent whose long-term promise is equaled by wide-ranging perils. The numbers come from the latest United Nations report on population trends, which projects ...

When North Korea tested an intercontinental ballistic missile this week — what its boy tyrant called a ‘gift to the American bastards’ — the response from the Trump administration was fairly conventional. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson correctly called it an escalation. He announced America’s intention to bring the matter before the UN Security Council. And he assured, “We will ...

A taxi company that owns no cars. A media titan that creates no content. A retailer with no stores. A couple of years ago, this was the view of Uber, Facebook and Amazon: growing powerhouses even though they consisted of little more than software engineers and data centers (and, in Amazon’s case, a back room with no storefront). Perhaps the ...

As technology changes, a country’s industrial mix changes. A century and a half ago, most Americans — and indeed, most human beings — worked on farms. Today almost nobody does. Nowadays, a substantial number of Americans work in retail, ringing up purchases, stocking shelves or helping customers find what they need. But in a decade or two, it’s anyone’s guess ...

Bloomberg Samsung Electronics Co. heads into the latter half of 2017 with record quarterly earnings under its belt, hoping to sustain that momentum as Apple Inc. prepares to debut the 10th-anniversary iPhone. Samsung intends to use its well-received Galaxy S8 to extend its lead against its American rival. But it will also lean heavily on its position as the world’s ...

Bloomberg Cyber crime insurers largely avoided costly claims from the recent attacks that hit businesses around the globe. The next global virus could change that. “It’s exceptionally likely that we will see an event over the next months that will seriously affect insurers,” Graeme Newman, chief innovation officer at CFC Underwriting, said in an interview. “It would only need a ...

Bloomberg Rambus Inc., a chip designer with a lengthy history of patent litigation, is considering a sale even as it has expanded its business to include sales of its own branded chips, people familiar with the matter said. The Sunnyvale, California-based company is working with a financial adviser to evaluate sale options and seek potential suitors, the people said, asking ...