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.
