Posts by Kim Browne
What America Made of Marx
The larger message of Marxism wasn’t getting through: As Hartman remarks, “Either there was something wrong with their theory, or there was something wrong with the working class.” The literary critic Kenneth Burke argued that paying closer attention to how Americans actually talked about their problems could help Marxists appeal to them in terms they…
Read MoreNathan Fielder’s “The Rehearsal” Takes Flight
As this list of rehearsals might suggest, while most of what happens in the show starts in the airport, it’s not really about that. In fact, the more the show becomes about the airline industry, the less its insights seem to land there. The show is about Fielder himself, but, specifically, it’s about Fielder as…
Read MoreChinese EV stocks tumble after BYD slashes prices as much as 34%
[HONG KONG] BYD led Chinese electric vehicle stocks lower in Hong Kong on Monday (May 26), as investors digested the auto giant’s sweeping price cuts of as much as 34 per cent late last week. Shares of China’s No 1 selling car brand tumbled as much as 8.3 per cent, while peers Li Auto, Great…
Read MoreAustralia’s WiseTech agrees to buy E2open for US$2.1 billion
The deal, which will be fully funded through a new US$3 billion debt facility underwritten by a syndicate of nine lenders Published Mon, May 26, 2025 · 04:19 PM [BENGALURU] Australian software company WiseTech Global on Monday (May 26) announced its biggest deal to date, buying out US cloud computing firm E2open for US$2.1 billion…
Read MoreChina’s ambassador warns Australia over Port of Darwin lease
The decision to lease the port to Landbridge has been criticised in the decade since the deal was announced, including by former US president Barack Obama Published Mon, May 26, 2025 · 01:34 PM [CANBERRA] China’s ambassador to Australia has warned Canberra to be careful in its handling of the lease of a strategically important…
Read MoreFrance, Vietnam sign Airbus, satellite deals as Macron visits Hanoi
[HANOI] France and Vietnam signed a deal on Monday (May 26) for 20 Airbus planes, among other pacts, as President Emmanuel Macron visited Hanoi seeking to boost France’s influence in its former colony, grappling with threats of crippling US tariffs. Macron’s first formal visit to Vietnam, the first by a French president in nearly a…
Read MoreFrance, Vietnam sign Airbus, defence deals as Macron visits Hanoi
[HANOI] France and Vietnam signed a deal on Monday (May 26) for 20 Airbus planes, as well as defence and space pacts, as President Emmanuel Macron visited Hanoi seeking to boost France’s influence in its former colony, grappling with threats of crippling US tariffs. Macron’s first formal visit to Vietnam, the first by a French…
Read MoreAlibaba chair says Asian firms can seek growth outside US
[BEIJING] Alibaba Group Holding chairman Joe Tsai said Asian companies can look to inter-Asia opportunities and the European market for growth as tensions between Washington and Beijing persist. During a tech conference in Macau on Saturday (May 24), Tsai also called out “some governments” who “try to tear down this bridge that we have built…
Read MoreAsia’s rich trim US exposure, head to Europe amid tariff turmoil
[SINGAPORE] Asian private banking clients sprang into action over the past month, refusing to sit idle when faced with the whiplash in global financial markets caused by the tariff turmoil. Individuals have been rebalancing their portfolios, according to some senior private bankers, whose clients each have at least S$2 million in investible assets. Global financial…
Read MoreAsia: Markets mixed as Trump dials down after EU tariff threat
[SINGAPORE] Asian stocks were mixed on Monday after Donald Trump thrust his trade war back into the spotlight by threatening the European Union with huge tariffs before extending a deadline for their implementation. Just as markets were showing signs of settling following their bond-fuelled selloff last week, the US president hurled his latest grenade across…
Read MoreFrasers Property’s bid to privatise Frasers Hospitality Trust does nothing for offeror’s minorities
[SINGAPORE] Minority investors of Frasers Hospitality Trust (FHT) are getting a second chance to exit their holdings by way of a privatisation offer. FHT’s sponsor Frasers Property recently proposed privatising the stapled group at S$0.71 per stapled security via a trust scheme of arrangement. In September 2022, Frasers Property’s earlier attempt to privatise FHT at…
Read MoreChinese steel exports to drop as barriers mount: Goldman
Domestic consumption is forecast to fall 2% in 2025 to 839 million tonnes, the fifth straight year of decline Published Mon, May 26, 2025 · 11:41 AM THE blowout in Chinese steel exports has likely peaked, as trade barriers mount and domestic production falls, according to Goldman Sachs. Exports climbed last year to a nine-year…
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