Venture capitalist Katie Rae is trying to prove that “tough tech” is worth the tough work. The Engine, the $200 million fund she leads, invests in startups whose products require years of research and development before they’re ready. In short, they’re startups that many other venture capitalists avoid—like one firm that’s pursuing a viable form…
WASHINGTON — Republicans and Democrats are unsure about whether President Donald Trump even has the authority to use an emergency declaration to start construction on a wall along the United States border with Mexico, a move Trump has been mulling as the partial government shutdown continues. Trump has repeatedly floated the idea of using a…
DEMOCRACY stopped declining in 2018, according to the latest edition of The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index. The index rates 167 countries by 60 indicators across five broad categories: electoral process and pluralism, the functioning of government, political participation, democratic political culture and civil liberties. It is stricter than most similar indices: it concludes that…
Fitch is eyeing the U.S. and its credit rating as the government shutdown closes in on its third week. Speaking in London on Wednesday, Fitch global head of sovereign ratings James McCormack said that the agency could cut the U.S. triple-A sovereign credit rating later this year if the shutdown causes the government to hit…
President Donald Trump addressed the nation during prime time on Tuesday night in his first Oval Office speech, characterizing the state of the US-Mexico border as a "crisis" that Congress can only solve by funding a "physical barrier." "How much more American blood must we shed before Congress does its job?" he said. "To those…
THE SECOND little pig was unlucky. He built his house from sticks. It was blown away by a huffing, puffing wolf, which promptly gobbled him up. His brother, by contrast, built a wolf-proof house from bricks. The fairy tale could have been written by a flack for the construction industry, which strongly favours brick, concrete…
The stickiest issue was always Mr. Ghosn’s pay. In Japan, salarymen slave away at the kaisha (or company) with a sense of communal pride almost as important as the salary. Last year, Mr. Ghosn made $16.9 million ($8.4 million from Renault, $6.5 million from Nissan and $2 million from Mitsubishi). That’s nearly 11 times what…
The digital money known as XRP finished 2018 as the second most valuable cryptocurrency after Bitcoin, and its boosters believe it will be a key part of the world’s banking system. But there’s a catch: It’s still not clear what XRP is for. On Tuesday, the company Ripple—which is the biggest holder of XRP—announced a…
Despite daily negotiations between the two sides, neither President Donald Trump nor Democrats appear to be close to backing down in the battle over the government shutdown. The shutdown, which Trump kicked off by refusing a bipartisan, short-term funding extension before Christmas, appears poised to challenge the record for the longest federal funding lapse in…
SHORTLY AFTER his inauguration, Donald Trump paused during an awkward address to congressmen and pointed to Jim Mattis and John Kelly, two of the five retired or current generals who served in his administration early on. “I see my generals,” he said proudly. “These are central casting. If I’m doing a movie, I’d pick you…
