Special Reports
Innovators toil to revive Canada oil sands as majors exit
CALGARY, Alberta/HOUSTON In the boreal forests and on the remote prairies of Alberta, a handful of firms are running pilot projects they hope will end a two-decade drought in innovation and stem the exodus of top global energy firms from Canada's oil sands.
South African supermarket giants in fine food fight
JOHANNESBURG As South Africa slides into recession, and households have less and less to spend, the number one supermarket group Shoprite is adopting an unlikely strategy: it's pushing upmarket.
Special Report: Cancer agency left in the dark over glyphosate evidence
LONDON When Aaron Blair sat down to chair a week-long meeting of 17 specialists at the International Agency for Research on Cancer in France in March 2015, there was something he wasn't telling them.
Secret rebates send European plastics benchmark above true cost
LONDON An unregulated benchmark used to set the price of plastics in Europe has veered above the true cost in recent years, because of secret rebates chemical companies give each other that disguise the price of the main precursor, four sources familiar with the industry say.
Cattle slaughter crackdown ripples through India's leather industry
AGRA, India In the backstreets of Agra's Muslim quarter, where shoes have been made for centuries, small-scale manufacturers are firing workers and families cutting back on spending as a government crackdown on cattle slaughter ripples through the community. | Video
In Pakistan, China presses built-in advantage for 'Silk Road' contracts
ISLAMABAD Last year, Pakistan held informal talks with General Electric, Siemens and Switzerland's ABB to build the country's first high-voltage transmission line. Chinese power giant State Grid committed to building the $1.7 billion project in half the time of its European counterparts – and clinched the deal.
Special Report: Regulator blocks public scrutiny of firms with tainted brokers
NEW YORK In three years of managing investments for North Dakota farmer Richard Haus, Long Island stock broker Mike McMahon and his colleagues charged their client $267,567 in fees and interest - while losing him $261,441 on the trades, Haus said.
Radiation, risk and robots: Ripping out a reactor's heart
MUELHEIM-KAERLICH, Germany As head of the Muelheim-Kaerlich nuclear reactor, Thomas Volmar spends his days plotting how to tear down his workplace. The best way to do that, he says, is to cut out humans.
In China, stocks-for-loans under stress as markets slide
SHANGHAI A sharp drop in mainly small-cap Chinese stock prices has exposed a new and potentially destabilizing pocket of leverage in the world's second-largest economy.
How the race tightened in Britain's 'Brexit' election
BLACKPOOL, England When Britain's election campaigning began, Peter Anthony, a candidate for the Conservatives, was hopeful that he could win in Blackpool, a working class town on England's north-west coast. Though the seat he is standing for has been held by left-leaning Labour for 20 years, Anthony felt change was in the air.
Britain's May condemns 'sickening' attack as van rams Muslim worshippers
LONDON A van plowed into worshippers near a London mosque on Monday, injuring 10 people in what Prime Minister Theresa May said was a sickening, terrorist attack on Muslims. | Video
