Tag: Political/General News

Xenophobia Drives Foes of Nippon Steel’s Deal
Health

Xenophobia Drives Foes of Nippon Steel’s Deal

Election-year jitters have the Biden administration and a few swing-state members of Congress from both parties parroting union concerns about Nippon Steel’s takeover of U.S. Steel. The United Steelworkers union favored Cleveland-Cliffs’s offer, which was almost 50% lower than Nippon’s $14.1 billion bid. There is no real cause for concern other than xenophobia and the damage it could do to Cleveland-Cliffs’s position as the sole U.S. producer of electrical steel for transformers and electric vehicles. The rest is imported.Nippon’s steelmaking is at least as advanced as U.S. Steel’s, so technology export control isn’t an issue. National security could be a concern if American mills were shutting down due to unfairly subsidized Japanese exports to the U.S. But Nippon never used gimmicks to ...
Big Tech Braces for Wave of Antitrust Rulings in 2024 
Technology

Big Tech Braces for Wave of Antitrust Rulings in 2024 

U.S. antitrust cases against tech giants Google and Meta Platforms are expected to come to a head in 2024, likely producing long-awaited rulings that could shape the legacies of top Biden administration regulators.Silicon Valley and its critics have seen their patience tested on some of these cases. A U.S. antitrust case brought against Alphabet’s Google unit in 2020 went to trial in 2023 and now heads to closing arguments in May.Copyright ©2024 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Israel’s Highest Court Strikes Down Controversial Law to Curb Its Power
World

Israel’s Highest Court Strikes Down Controversial Law to Curb Its Power

By Carrie Keller-Lynn and Anat PeledUpdated Jan. 1, 2024 1:36 pm ETTEL AVIV—Israel’s highest court has struck down a controversial judicial overhaul law enacted last year by the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that would have limited the justices’ power.Israel’s Supreme Court ruled against a central piece of a judicial overhaul that Netanyahu was pushing before the war in Gaza erupted last October. The court struck down a law, which was passed in July and was akin to a constitutional amendment, that would have taken away the court’s powers to abrogate government decisions it deems to be “unreasonable in the extreme.”Copyright ©2024 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
John Fetterman Plays Against Type
Business

John Fetterman Plays Against Type

West Mifflin, Pa.It’s a warm December morning, and Sen. John Fetterman is walking along the Great Allegheny Passage across the Monongahela River from his home in Braddock. “I spend as much time as I can out here,” he says of the trail, which runs 150 miles from downtown Pittsburgh to Cumberland, Md.Copyright ©2024 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Biden’s ‘Proportionate’ Defense of U.S. Troops Has Failed
World

Biden’s ‘Proportionate’ Defense of U.S. Troops Has Failed

On Christmas Day, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced that U.S. military forces conducted “proportionate” strikes against Iraqi militias that attacked and wounded American service members (“Biden Endangers U.S. Troops,” Review & Outlook, Dec. 27). The statement defines the equivocating, timid and wholly unsuccessful strategy of the Biden administration, but also of successive administrations for years.After nearly daily attacks on U.S. forces over months, resulting in dozens of wounded Americans, “proportionate” ought to have been revealed as having no deterrent value. It is past time for the U.S. to signal to those who attack our forces that they will pay disproportionately and severely. Continued attacks will see increasingly robust spankings. In this case, if the Iraqi governm...
Shale Is Keeping the World Awash With Oil as Conflicts Abound
World

Shale Is Keeping the World Awash With Oil as Conflicts Abound

Updated Jan. 1, 2024 12:05 am ETA surprise surge in American oil and gas production and exports is helping to keep the world stocked, blunting the impact of widening conflict in the Middle East that has crimped key shipping lanes. When Iranian-backed Houthi militants began launching missiles and drones at ships crossing the Red Sea near Yemen in October, many feared disruption to the vital shipping lane would drive up energy prices. But oil and gas prices this past month have sunk about 5% and 23%, respectively. Copyright ©2024 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Kim Jong Un’s 2024 Wish List: More Nuclear Bombs, Spy-Satellite Launches
World

Kim Jong Un’s 2024 Wish List: More Nuclear Bombs, Spy-Satellite Launches

SEOUL—Throughout 2023, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for the expansion of his country’s weapons arsenal. This year, he plans more of the same. Pyongyang plans to carry out three more spy-satellite launches and accelerate nuclear-weapons production in 2024, Kim told top North Korean officials in recent year-end meetings. The 39-year-old dictator ruled out reunification with South Korea. And he echoed prior dissatisfactions with the U.S., urging his country to prepare for an armed conflict that could occur at any time. Copyright ©2024 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Tsunami Warning Issued in Japan After Powerful Earthquake
World

Tsunami Warning Issued in Japan After Powerful Earthquake

TOKYO—A tsunami warning was in effect on the west coast of Japan after a powerful earthquake. Public broadcaster NHK said a tsunami slightly higher than one meter struck the Noto Peninsula on the Japan Sea coast of Japan and tsunamis of up to five meters were possible. NHK said the earthquake struck at around 4:10 p.m. Monday at the tip of the peninsula. The U.S. Geological Survey, in a preliminary estimate, said the earthquake had a magnitude of 7.5.Copyright ©2024 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8