WASHINGTON — A deal to avert a Christmastime government shutdown teetered on Thursday after President Trump told House Republican leaders he would not sign a stopgap spending bill to keep funds flowing past midnight Friday if it does not include border-wall funding. “We protect nations all over the world, but Democrats are unwilling to protect…
This year has been a turning point in the maturing marijuana market. Cannabis-related companies raised nearly $13.8 billion so far this year, compared to just $3.5 billion in 2017, according to data from Viridian Capital Advisors, a financial and strategic advisory firm for the cannabis industry. The spike in capital flowing into marijuana businesses in…
Stock markets around the world are tumbling Thursday after the US Federal Reserve dashed hopes that it would go into 2019 with a more dovish policy outlook. The central bank's Federal Open Market Committee unanimously voted to raise the fed funds rate by 25 basis points to a range of 2.25% to 2.5% on Wednesday,…
THEIR WORDS were guarded, their tone sober. At a Politburo meeting to discuss economic plans for 2019, China’s top leaders agreed that they should be ready for problems and must, above all, maintain domestic stability. It was a striking contrast with the same meeting a year earlier. Then the Politburo oozed confidence, concluding that China…
WASHINGTON — President Trump has ordered a rapid withdrawal of all 2,000 United States ground troops from Syria within 30 days, declaring the four-year American-led war against the Islamic State as largely won, officials said Wednesday. “We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency,” the president said…
The King of Beers wants to be the King of Weed, too. Anheuser-Busch has announced a partnership with marijuana producer Tilray to begin researching non-alcoholic beverages that contain THC and CBD, the two most prominent chemicals in marijuana. For now, even if the research does yield a product from the companies, its distribution will be…
Facebook has admitted that it allowed external companies, namely Spotify and Netflix, to access millions of people's private messages. Responding to a bombshell New York Times report on how Facebook shares user data with partners, the company acknowledged it had given third-party companies extensive access to messages. It said this was so people could log…
MENTION SOFTBANK and most Japanese people, understandably, think of telecoms—it is Japan’s third-largest wireless carrier. The company hopes to weaken that association. SoftBank is listing its telecoms arm; shares in the unit were due to begin trading on December 19th, after The Economist had gone to press. SoftBank Group was expected to raise ¥2.6trn ($23.4bn)…
WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Tuesday postponed the sentencing of Michael T. Flynn, President Trump’s first national security adviser, after warning Mr. Flynn that he could face prison for lying to federal investigators about his conversations with the Russian ambassador during the presidential transition and hiding his role lobbying for Turkey. At Mr. Flynn’s…
Uber Technologies Inc., which is producing a new generation of its electric bikes in China by the thousands, has asked the U.S. government for an exclusion from new tariffs on Chinese imports. Uber has ambitious plans for its bike and scooter business, and the tariffs could pose a significant cost for the San Francisco-based company.…
