FBI Director James Comey warned in stark terms Thursday against the push by technology companies to encrypt smartphone data and operating systems, arguing that murder cases could be stalled, suspects could walk free and justice could be thwarted by a locked phone or an encrypted hard drive. Privacy advocates called the concerns exaggerated and little more than recycled arguments the government has raised against encryption since the early 1990s.
Though braced by a resurgent United States, the global economy is under threat from other regions — from Europe and Latin America to China and Japan — where growth is stalling and prospects remain dim.