Queen sees ‘sombre mood’ after fire as May struggles

Bloomberg Queen Elizabeth II declared a “somber national mood” after the deadly apartment tower fire in West London killed at least 30 people as doubts mount about Prime Minister Theresa May’s handling of the crisis. For two days, May’s government has struggled to respond to the fire at Grenfell Tower, opened four decades ago as state-subsidized housing. She met survivors ...

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Even after thirteen weeks into Lee trial, no smoking gun

Bloomberg The trial of Jay Y. Lee, heir to the Samsung Group empire, has featured thousands of pages of documents and hundreds of hours of testimony from dozens of witnesses. But experts say one thing is missing: a smoking gun. The billionaire stands accused of paying bribes to South Korean President Park Geun-hye and then trying to conceal it, charges ...

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Trump would be wise to ignore his friends

Forewarned is forearmed. So perhaps the country is lucky that President Trump’s allies have floated the possibility that he might fire special counsel Robert Mueller. This speculation allows citizens to reflect on the consequences of such an action. Trump has already taken the country to a darker place than even his sharpest critics would have imagined six months ago. He ...

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China’s skyscraper age is likely coming to an end

At more than 2,000 feet, Shanghai Tower is the world’s second-tallest building. It looms over its neighbors — the world’s ninth and 19th tallest buildings — in a supercluster of supertall structures unlike any other in the world. The only problem? Finding people to work there: Only 60 percent of Shanghai Tower is rented out, and only a third of ...

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Trump’s plan for financial reform is half-right

The Trump administration’s latest plan to reform financial regulation starts in a very good place: It attacks the ridiculous complexity of the current system. But it fails to follow through with new rules that promote safety as well as simplicity. Put into practice, it could be a big step backwards. The Treasury Department’s new report is right to complain that ...

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US has the ability to spin oil market on its axis

For OPEC, Russia and others that have lived off oil (and little else) for decades, the worst-case scenario is about to become the present-tense scenario. America has discovered the magic beanstalk, and it is named “shale oil production.” The US now has the ability to not only be energy self-dependent but to become a major exporter of oil and natural ...

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In RBI’s spat with the govt, reform is the victim

During the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) press conference last week, one exchange stood out. Asked about a meeting scheduled by the finance ministry in New Delhi to discuss the RBI’s policy, the governor of India’s central bank, Urjit Patel, replied: “The meeting did not take place. All the MPC members declined the request of the finance ministry for that ...

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Mommy, Ambani broke my business

India’s billionaires believe in rugged, muscular capitalism—so at the first hint of trouble, they go running to mommy. Sunil Mittal, who controls India’s biggest wireless service, and Kumar Mangalam Birla, who’s in the process of merging his number 3 operator with the second-ranked local unit of Vodafone Plc, are seeking the Indian government’s intervention. The big three claim the entry ...

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Political correctness won’t fix Uber’s problems

There’s a disconnect between the way Uber, the ride-hailing company, is trying to transform itself and what it really needs to fix to become a sustainable business. Instead of reconsidering its business model and protecting itself against a regulatory backlash, it has decided to go politically correct. As a result of much highly public soul-searching, caused by accusations of mistreating ...

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FB enlists AI, human experts in new push against terror

Bloomberg Facebook Inc. has hired more than 150 counterterrorism experts and is increasingly using artificial intelligence that can understand language and analyze images to try to keep terrorists from using the social network for recruiting and propaganda. Monika Bickert, director of global policy management, and Brian Fishman, counterterrorism policy manager, outlined aspects of Facebook’s latest efforts in a post to ...

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