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Oil demand in India rises most since cash clampdown

Bloomberg India’s oil demand bounced back in May, led by the highest growth in gasoline consumption in nine months and the fastest increase in diesel usage since November. Total fuel consumption rose 5.4 percent to 17.79 million tons in May, the most in six months, according to the Oil Ministry’s Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell. Demand for diesel, which accounts ...

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Britain’s hung parliament raises business hopes for softer Brexit

Bloomberg After the shock comes the silver lining. Most business leaders are dismayed at the political chaos unleashed by the UK election, which left a damaged Prime Minister Theresa May trying to forge a shaky coalition government. But some are quietly hoping that it may lead to softer terms for the country’s exit from the European Union. UK Plc was ...

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Canada adds wage gains to stellar jobs performance

Bloomberg Canada’s labor market continued surprising in May, with a greater-than-expected 54,500 jobs gain that also finally came with signs of a pick-up in wages. The employment gain — the third biggest one-month increase in the past five years — was driven by the addition of 77,000 new full-time jobs, which offset falling part-time employment. Economists had forecast a 15,000 ...

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Are we ‘present at the destruction’?

Seventy years ago on Monday, Secretary of State George Marshall delivered a Harvard commencement day address that became the framework for what we call the ‘Marshall Plan’ for European recovery. It’s a cruel anniversary this year, as we watch President Trump dismember the world order that Marshall and his colleagues helped build. Dean Acheson, one of Marshall’s colleagues and his ...

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Europe shows how to deal with a failing bank

Credit where credit’s due: The sale for 1 euro of Banco Popular Espanol SA, a failing Spanish bank, to rival lender Banco Santander SA shows how the euro zone should handle such cases. The regulators acted swiftly and fairly. Global markets barely noticed. This is a model for future interventions. Banco Popular’s troubles date back to Spain’s real-estate crisis, which ...

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War on leakers is off to a bad start for Trump

The prosecution of intelligence contractor Reality Leigh Winner under the Espionage Act is a sure sign that the Trump administration’s war on leakers has begun. But as the opening battle, it’s poorly chosen, and a serious mistake in prosecutorial discretion by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who should know better. Winner has the wrong profile for a headline-grabbing prosecution by ...

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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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