Author: IA PressRoom

A self-made Chinese billionaire with a fascination for metallurgy is posing a fundamental challenge to a traditional auto industry already struggling to compete with China in the development of electric vehicles and batteries.Bai Houshan, the 59-year-old founder and chair of Shanghai-listed Ronbay Technology, dominates a key part of the global market for cathode electrodes, which are core building blocks in EV batteries and account for 30 to 50 per cent of component costs. With battery chemistries and components constantly evolving in the search for lower material costs and higher energy density, Ronbay has led a shift from cathodes with a…

5/5 © Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A man cooks noodles on a street in Shanghai, China May 27, 2023. REUTERS/Aly Song 2/5 By Nicoco Chan and Ellen Zhang SHANGHAI/BEIJING (Reuters) – Wang Chunxiang pushes a cart around busy areas of Shanghai, playing cat and mouse with the authorities as she tries to sell pastries. The jobs she could get do not pay enough for her to make ends meet. “Salaries are too low,” said the 43-year-old, after serving a customer steamed sweet rice cakes from a wok. “At my age, without much knowledge, I could only earn 5,000 to 6,000 yuan…

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Qantas planes are seen at Kingsford Smith International Airport in Sydney, Australia, March 18, 2020. REUTERS/Loren Elliott/File Photo (Reuters) – Qantas Airways on Tuesday forecasted a higher capital expenditure guidance for fiscal 2024 as the company aims to add to its fleet. Australia’s flagship carrier expects its capex in 2024 to be between A$3 billion ($2.03 billion) to A$3.2 billion, compared to its outlook of A$2.6 billion to A$2.7 billion for fiscal 2023. ($1 = 1.4743 Australian dollars)

© Reuters. Investing.com– Gold prices fell slightly on Tuesday, sticking to more than two-month lows amid optimism over a debt ceiling deal and as expectations of more interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve spurred flows into the dollar.  The yellow metal tumbled from record highs hit earlier this month as a string of hawkish signals from Fed officials saw investors pivot into the dollar. This also saw gold see little buying even as sentiment worsened amid uncertainty over a U.S. debt default. But with policymakers now signaling that they had reached a tentative agreement to raise the debt ceiling…

jetcityimage/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Rolls-Royce (OTCPK:RYCEY) (OTCPK:RYCEF) said Monday it has made no decisions on changes to its workforce, refuting claims made during the weekend by The Sunday Times that it was preparing to cut ~3K jobs. The report said Rolls-Royce (OTCPK:RYCEY) (OTCPK:RYCEF) had hired consultants to streamline the company, and part of the program would involve merging non-manufacturing departments in the company’s civil aerospace, defense and power systems divisions. New CEO Tufan Erginbilgic has expressed the need for the company to improve its cash generation and reduce debt, while launching a comprehensive strategic review with results expected to…

The Supreme Court stayed two elections only five days ahead of the vote.Joaquin Temes Did Argentina’s Supreme Court overstepping its boundaries by calling off two provincial elections a few weeks ago, only five days before voters were set to go to the ballot box? This seemingly simple question has become almost impossible to respond objectively, absolutely breaking the Argentine political ecosystem in two along the standard polarized lines of “la grieta.” For the dishevelled pan-Peronist Frente de Todos coalition it couldn’t have come at a better time, despite the large probability that Peronist incumbents in San Juan and Tucumán, Sergio…

Live news: Oil rises on debt ceiling optimism

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Staff members stand in front of the logo of Mitsubishi Motors at Tokyo Auto Salon 2022 at Makuhari Messe in Chiba, east of Tokyo, Japan January 14, 2022. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon TOKYO (Reuters) – Mitsubishi Motors (OTC:) Corp will extend the suspension of its production in China beyond May, the Yomiuri Shimbun daily reported on Tuesday.

Source: AdobeThe Bank of Japan released the results and findings of a report on central bank digital currencies Japan launched a pilot program in April, the bank said in its report on Monday.“We have launched in April 2023 and are proceeding with the pilot program. In the pilot program, the end-to-end process flow will be tested, the measures and potential challenges for connection with external systems will be explored, and considerations and solutions indicated as necessary in the PoCs [proof of concept] will also be explored,” the bank said. The bank started its first phase for the “proof of concept” in April…

President Joe Biden on Monday responded to Republican criticism of the defense spending included in the deal he reached with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy over the weekend to avert a potentially catastrophic default in the nation’s debt.Speaking with reporters on the South Lawn of the White House as he departed for Delaware, Biden brushed off the concerns and suggested that if any further defense spending was needed, he had “no doubt” it would have bipartisan approval.”Look, whatever the fighting force needs, if there’s another – first of all, they’ve passed my budget. What I asked for in defense, they passed…