The BRICS summit ended with no new currency and all 5 members issuing differing and contradictory commentary on de-dollarization | China's BYD breaks into world's top 10 automakers with EV push | Italy’s hard-right government is starting to look more radical

View online | Unsubscribe (one-click). For inquiries/unsubscribe issues, Contact Us

Don't like ads? Go ad-free with TradeBriefs Premium The BRICS summit ended with no new currency and all 5 members issuing differing and contradictory commentary on de-dollarization    A group of major emerging economies wrapped up a summit in South Africa last Thursday by welcoming six new members — but without a new dollar-challenging currency. The summit of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa or BRICS nations added Saudi Arabia, Iran, Ethiopia, Egypt, Argentina, and the United Arab Emirates to its fold. It is the bloc's first expansion in 13 years as it seeks to be an alternative to Western-led groupings. While there was talk about the bloc's possible creation of a common currency to rival the US dollar, that didn't happen – in fact, chatter from the BRICS nations on the issue was divided, pointing to different opinions that may delay any such development. Continued here You Might Like � � � � � � � � � China's BYD breaks into world's top 10 automakers with EV push    TOKYO -- China's BYD has joined the world's 10 biggest car companies by sales for the first time, surpassing Mercedes-Benz Group and BMW in a sign of how electric vehicles are reshaping the auto industry. BYD's global new vehicle sales grew 96% on the year to 1.25 million autos in the first half of 2023, putting it in 10th place, behind Japan's Suzuki Motor, data from research company MarkLines and automakers shows. Continued here Italy's hard-right government is starting to look more radical    ADMIRers of Giorgia Meloni and her Brothers of Italy (FdI) party like to describe them as “Latin conservatives”—no more radical than, say, Britain’s Tories. For the most part, the Italian prime minister has indeed been reassuringly pragmatic since coming into office last year. But the comparison ignores two significant differences: a widespread hostility among the Brothers to social diversity, be it ethnic or sexual; and a deep distrust of free markets and enthusiasm for vigorous state intervention. Both differences have burst to the surface in recent weeks, prompting open splits in the governing coalition, which also includes the populist Northern League and the more liberal Forza Italia party. The latest row erupted after Roberto Vannacci, a serving army general and a former commander of Italy’s elite parachute brigade, self-published a polemical book inveighing against “the dictatorship of the minorities”. In the general’s view this includes feminists, environmentalists and even animal-rights groups. His book is offensively homophobic (he laments no longer being able to use terms such as the Italian equivalents of “faggot” and “poofter”) and profoundly racist (he writes of Paola Egonu, an Italian-born black volleyball star, that “her physical features do not represent Italian-ness”). Some of the general’s warmest words are reserved for Vladimir Putin’s Russia, where he served in the Italian embassy. The army swiftly and publicly dissociated itself from the general’s opinions. So did the defence minister, Guido Crosetto, who described them as “ravings”. Major General Vannacci was suspended from his job as head of the military geographical institute and Mr Crosetto said an inquiry would be held. Though a founder of the FdI, Mr Crosetto, unlike most party members of his generation, never belonged to its forerunner, the defunct neo-fascist Italian Social Movement (MSI). Nor was he ever a member of the MSI’s youth movement, as Ms Meloni was. “We are different—and very much so,” he remarked of his party colleagues amidst the tumult over Mr Vannacci. Continued here

You are receiving this mailer as a TradeBriefs subscriber. We fight fake/biased news through human curation & independent editorials. Your support of ads like these makes it possible. Alternatively, get TradeBriefs Premium (ad-free) for only $2/month If you still wish to unsubscribe, you can unsubscribe from all our emails here Our address is 309 Town Center 1, Andheri Kurla Road, Andheri East, Mumbai 400059 - 433006120