The Economist (June 4)
“You are having too many babies. For decades that crude message was drilled into the minds of Indians by their rulers.” Slogans on schools proclaimed, “Two or three children, enough.” There were even forced sterilizations in the 1970s. “But when Indian school textbooks are reprinted this summer, they will carry a very different message. They will warn not of the dangers of having too many babies, but of the risks of having too few.” The “surprise baby bust” taking place in India “is a warning to the world. It is not just rich places that are becoming less fertile.”
Tags: 1970s, Babies, Baby bust, Children, Fertile, Forced sterilizations, India, Rich places, Schools, Slogans, Surprise, Textbooks, Warning
Investment Week (June 3)
“The OECD revised its 2026 global GDP growth figure down from 3.4% to 2.8%, as prices of energy and other key agricultural and industrial inputs have soared and pushed up inflation.” The organization “provided two scenarios for the global economy in its outlook; a time-limited disruption scenario, in which disruptions are assumed to remain relatively short-lived, and a prolonged disruption scenario, where broader disruptions last well into 2027 and have much longer-lasting negative consequences.”
Tags: Negative consequences
The Guardian (June 3)
“Although western Europe is now mostly free from last week’s heat dome – which shattered temperature records for May in the UK and Ireland – it is already bracing for yet another sweltering summer. Oppressive days, restless nights and furious fires are brewing.” Though there are some “exceptions to the collective denial,” Europe is “still not ready for extreme heat.” It must get fully prepared. “Heat kills more people in Europe than almost any other issue you worry about – from crime to terror attacks – with many tens of thousands of early deaths each year.”
Tags: Crime, Deaths, Extreme heat, Fires, Heat dome, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/03/why-is-europe-still-not-ready-for-extreme-heat Europe, Ireland, May, Oppressive, Restless, Shattered, Summer, Sweltering, Temperature records, Terror attacks, UK
Wall Street Journal (June 2)
“Exxon Mobil shareholders last week voted to support management’s decision to move its corporate domicile to Texas from New Jersey. It’s a smart move that raises a question for other companies: Is it becoming a corporate governance duty to leave states that punish business for states that don’t?” While some companies may opt for higher taxes and costs to take advantage of talent clusters, “don’t be surprised if Exxon is a harbinger of more shareholder-driven relocations.”
Tags: Companies, Corporate domicile, Corporate governance, Costs, Duty, Exxon Mobil, Harbinger, New Jersey, Punish, Relocations, Shareholders, Smart move, Taxes, Texas, Voted
The Times (June 2)
“Since the blocking of the Strait of Hormuz, schools have closed in Dhaka, food prices have surged in Lagos, and air fares have risen in Seoul. And in Tokyo, otherwise respectable men have started exposing their hairy knees.” Cool Biz and Super Cool Biz had already toppled expectations for suits and ties, but “it took the Hormuz crisis, for a country that imports 90 per cent of its energy from the Middle East, to topple this final bastion of formality.” There have been dire consequences of the Iran war, but “none as bizarre as the fate that has befallen the Japanese.”
Tags: Air fares, Bizarre, Consequences, Cool Biz, Crisis, Dhaka, Dire, Energy, Food prices, Formality, Lagos, Middle East, Respectable, Schools, Seoul, Strait of Hormuz, Suits, Ties, Tokyo, War
Seoul Economic Daily (June 1)
“Chinese imported cars overtook Japanese vehicles in Korea’s import market for the first time in April…. The result is striking, considering that all Chinese imports came from a single brand, BYD.” The “Red Tech threat” extends beyond EVs and looks poised “to engulf the AI and advanced manufacturing ecosystem. Before it is too late, the public and private sectors must mobilize all their capabilities to drive structural reform of mainstay industries such as steel and petrochemicals, where competitiveness is weakening, and to nurture new industries. If we fail to confront the reality of the crisis and respond complacently, we will surrender not only future growth engines but also industrial leadership itself.”
Tags: Advanced manufacturing, AI, BYD, China, Competitiveness, Confront, Crisis, EVs, Future, Growth engines, Industrial leadership, Japan, Korea, Mainstay industries, Mobilize, Petrochemicals, Red Tech threat, Steel, Structural reform, Surrender
Fortune (May 31)
Wall Street is awash in rumors that following the mid-June IPO of SpaceX, it will merge with Tesla. “While the $3.4 trillion valuation is breathtakingly big, the combined profits generated by the two potential partners wouldn’t even qualify as shockingly small––based on recent results, they’d be negative.” If Elon Musk succeeds in this merger “he’ll create a $3.4 trillion behemoth—with zero profits.”
Tags: $3.4 trillion, Behemoth, Breathtaking, Combined profits, IPO, Merger, Mid-June, Musk, Rumors, SpaceX, Tesla, Valuation, Wall Street, Zero profits
New York Times (May 31)
China’s biotechnology sector passed a milestone. This year’s prestigious meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) features “a presentation of a clinical trial conducted only in China.” Typically, the headliners have “featured drug trials that were run mainly at American and European hospitals.” This milestone “reflects the dizzying growth of China’s biotechnology sector. In just a few years, it has transformed from a sleepy industry into a juggernaut rapidly inventing and testing cutting-edge medicines.”
Tags: ASCO, Biotechnology, China, Clinical trial, Cutting-edge medicines, Drug trials, Europe, Growth, Headliners, Inventing, Juggernaut, Milestone, Oncology, Prestigious, Testing, U.S.
MarketWatch (May 30)
“Rising gas prices and inflation are causing a majority of U.S. households to fall behind financially… and the longer the situation goes on, the more stress it will place on the economy.” According to Gregory Daco, chief economist at EY Parthenon, the U.S. expansion is supported by a fragile pillar formed by “Three A’s,” namely “Affluent consumers, AI investment and Asset appreciation.” This pillar “masks an important reality. A huge swath of middle-class and lower-income families with little or no savings in stocks have not benefited much from the bull market or the AI boom.”
Tags: Affluent consumers, AI boom, AI investment, Asset appreciation Savings, Bull market, Daco, Economist, Economy, Expansion, Fragile, Gas prices, Households, Inflation, Pillar, Stocks, Stress, Three A’s, U.S.
Reuters (May 28)
“Japan Inc’s fears of a breakup boom are understandable. There were a record 56 activist campaigns against Tokyo-listed companies last year, according to Barclays. The tally was more than all of Europe put together and second only to the United States.”
Tags: Activist campaigns, Barclays, Breakup boom, Companies, Europe, Fears, Japan Inc., Record, Tokyo-listed, U.S., Understandable
