(Reuters) – Elliott Advisors has become increasingly frustrated with Whitbread Plc’s strategy of owning Premier Inn hotels outright and wants the company to offload chunks of its 5.8 billion pound ($7.64 billion) property portfolio, the Sunday Telegraph reported. According to the report on Saturday, the activist investor believes Whitbread’s strategy is “depressing” the company’s share […]

When the Food and Drug Administration announced last month that it couldn’t guarantee the long-term safety and efficacy of vaginal mesh products — medical devices that have been on the market for decades — the collective response from tens of thousands of women harmed by the products sounded something like this: Duh. The mesh, which […]

Back in the golden age of presidential conduct, before Donald Trump wrecked every norm and smashed every guardrail, someone — either in Lyndon Johnson’s White House or in Langley, accounts differ — decided to have the C.I.A. spy on Barry Goldwater’s presidential campaign. The agent assigned to lead that illegal operation, in one of history’s […]

America’s biggest mistake over the last half-century arguably had nothing to do with the war in Vietnam or Iraq, or with Watergate or Donald Trump. Rather, I’d say that it was mass incarceration, fueled by the war on drugs. The United States used to have incarceration rates similar to those of Europe — and then, […]

If the supposedly unlikable Hillary Clinton didn’t break the highest, hardest glass ceiling in 2016, she made enough cracks in it to encourage others to try again: Six women are competing for the Democratic nomination today. But guess what? We don’t seem to like them either. As Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar and others […]

President Trump has made no secret of his desire to isolate and impoverish Iran. After withdrawing last year from the nuclear deal negotiated by the Obama administration and five other nations, Mr. Trump launched his campaign of “maximum pressure” designed to change Iran’s behavior — and perhaps its leadership. Mr. Trump dialed up the heat […]

If Canada faces real and serious terrorist threats, then the government owes it to Canadians to be clear and specific about what those threats are and from whom. If we have the luxury of ambiguity and obfuscation on this point, and the luxury of prioritizing potential hurt feelings over security concerns, then perhaps those threats […]

To the Editor: Re “Pelosi Says Barr, Defying the Law, Lied to Congress” (front page, May 3): There has been lots of talk and little action. Democratic leaders should stop dragging their feet and do their job. Stop talking about subpoenas and start issuing them. Stop threatening contempt and start bringing contempt proceedings. The Democrats […]

To the Editor: For decades, United States farm policy has encouraged the overproduction of dairy products and other commodities, and as a result, we are faced with a chronic glut of cow’s milk (“Wisconsin’s Milk Farmers Face Extinction,” Business Day, April 27). Our government should stop propping up this untenable situation and wasting billions of […]

(Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the sign-up.) Good evening. Here’s the latest. 1. “That’s a crime.” That’s what House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said about Attorney General William Barr’s testimony in April, when he said was unaware that the special counsel, Robert Mueller, had protested Mr. Barr’s portrayal of his report’s conclusions. She […]