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New York police enter an upper floor of Hamilton Hall at Columbia University to arrest protesters.

New York police storm Columbia University, arrest dozens

Police moved in to arrest pro-Palestinian protesters at the Ivy League university, which has been struggling to balance freedom of speech with antisemitism concerns.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers regulatory reform agenda is widening.

Deal makers deeply sceptical about Chalmers’ FIRB reboot

While a clearer approval path for foreign buyers who are “frequent flyers” has been welcomed, bankers and lawyers worry the devil is in the detail.

The ASX is set to drop.

ASX down 1.2pc as all sectors sell off; Qantas shares fall

Shares decline at the closing bell after US data spooks Wall Street; Rabobank expects two RBA rises this year; Qantas app breached, airline investigating cause. Follow here for more

Down markets draw out the year’s biggest share trades

Big block trades are flying this week, which only ramps up the chase for the next big trade.

Ex-Bapcor boss braces for the worst after CEO no-show

“I should have sold a long time ago,” says former Bapcor CEO Darryl Abotomey, adding that it is disappointing to see the company go through more turmoil.

Judge in Lehrmann case slams Ten lawyer’s ‘misleading’ interviews

Justice Michael Lee criticises Ten’s lawyer as he determines how much Bruce Lehrmann should pay in costs; Albanese pledges almost $1 billion for domestic violence victims. Here’s how the day unfolded.

Fed, RBA to talk tough on inflation and rates

The central banks are expected to take harsher tone on tackling inflation at their upcoming policy meetings, further tempering rate cut hopes that have underpinned equities this year.

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best places to work

Why these companies are Australia’s best places to work

An intensive and “confronting” two-year leadership program underpinned the decision to award online recruitment firm Seek the 2024 AFR BOSS Best Place to Work – Large Organisation.

staff

This company pays you for your commute with extra days off

This fintech has taken a different approach to getting people back into the office and the results are paying dividends for diversity, too.

The Royals’ Andrew Siwka and Kristy Camarillo.

How a weekly Shark Tank challenge turned The Royals family around

Suffering high turnover and low engagement, creative agency The Royals decided to carve out a day each week dedicated to one pitch. It worked.

How we picked the award winners

The AFR BOSS Best Places to Work ranks the best workplaces in Australia and New Zealand across nine different industries.

Employees want more autonomy, so it’s in bosses’ interest to listen

Convinced that happier workers are also more productive, Australia’s most progressive employers are giving staff greater freedom and choice, writes Euan Black.

Features include the ability to save articles, dark mode and real time notifications.

Get the latest business news on the go with the AFR’s new iOS app.

Find out more

Companies

Mike Henry must have carefully planned his move for Anglo.

How BHP’s ‘Meticulous Mike’ prepared for Anglo American rebuff

Dubbed “Meticulous Mike” by the Australian media, the Canadian executive must have carefully planned his move for Anglo, down to the inevitable initial rejection.

An issue with Qantas’ app caused the names and flight details of other passengers to appear.

Qantas says it’s aware app isn’t fixed after saying it was

The Flying Kangaroo is investigating a system malfunction that gives passengers access to other Qantas customers’ data.

Nigel Ferguson, CEO of AVZ.

AVZ flags delisting, shareholders face $2.8 billion wealth wipeout

The lithium explorer will delist on May 13 as more than 21,000 shareholders remain trapped in a company that joined the S&P/ASX 200 in 2022.

Woolworths sold a 5 per cent in stake in Endeavour Group but retains 4.1 per cent.

Woolworths shareholders to pocket proceeds from Endeavour sale

The supermarket giant offloaded a 5 per cent stake in the owner of Dan Murphy’s, realising $468 million for its shares.

Airwallex’s local outpost reverses to loss

The local outpost of one of Australia’s largest technology start-ups tripped to a deep loss after a big increase in costs.

‘The future is the future’: Anglo American won’t rule out a merger

Chairman Stuart Chambers told the miner’s AGM that his job in coming weeks was to see if major shareholders backed the board’s rejection of BHP’s $60 billion bid.

ASIC chairman ‘very disturbed’ about CBA’s bonus move

Joe Longo said he had raised concerns about CBA’s breach of bonus caps directly with the bank’s chairman Paul O’Malley and urged the bank to reconsider.

Companies in the News

Search companies

View stories and data from an ASX listed company

Markets

Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell is expected to signal rates to stay high or even higher for longer.

Fed, RBA to talk tough on inflation and rates

The central banks are expected to take harsher tone on tackling inflation at their upcoming policy meetings, further tempering rate cut hopes that have underpinned equities this year.

MMCap has been increasing its stakes in ASX uranium developers amid a flurry of cash raisings in the sector.

ASX uranium boom lures secretive Canadian hedge fund

A flurry of retail interest and quick capital raisings in the sector has drawn the increasing attention of one Toronto-based hedge fund.

Arian Neiron, CEO of VanEck Asia Pacific.

BHP Anglo deal could create headache for ASX investors

The mining giant is already one of the largest companies on the ASX 200. A successful buyout bid of Anglo American could add to the heavy concentration of resource stocks on the index.

What will central banks do in a cashless world?

The development puts new pressure on such institutions to reimagine their role and become more innovative.

What happened overnight? Hot US labour data sank Wall Street, oil fell

Australian shares were set to fall after US stocks took a sharp turn towards a monthly loss on hotter than expected employment cost figures.

Opinion

Bullock must now warn that interest rates may rise again

When the RBA board meets next week, the key question governor Michele Bullock will be grappling with is the future pace of disinflation.

John Kehoe

Economics editor

John Kehoe

Modi mania comes at a price

Revelations that Indian spies were kicked out of Australia is a reminder of the need to be wary when it comes to dealing with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Andrew Tillett

Foreign affairs, defence correspondent

Andrew Tillett

PM must pick his winners with more care

The Prime Minister has never seen a hi-viz project he didn’t like. But industry policy must be far more discriminating in a labour-short economy.

John Quiggin

Economist

John Quiggin

Quantum a better bet than burning a billion on solar panels

But even if this is the right place to deploy such a huge sum, we know too little about whether this was the best way to spend it.

The AFR View

Editorial

The AFR View

Only quantum physics can explain an investment this weird

The federal government has replaced sports rorts with a quantum rort that will not make real revolutions like AI go any faster.

Toby Walsh

Scientist

Toby Walsh

Labor’s reforms will de-risk foreign investment

The overhaul in the budget will strengthen the review framework where we need to, streamline it where we can, and make it more transparent, writes Jim Chalmers.

Jim Chalmers

Federal treasurer

Jim Chalmers
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Politics

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese spoke from Sydney after the meeting of the national cabinet.

Women to get $5000 in new emergency support payments

A snap meeting of national cabinet called after nearly 30 deaths of women at the hands of men this year – also agreed to trial new measures to extreme online misogyny.

 Korea’s National Defense Minister Shin Won-sik (L) and Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles (R)

‘No concerns’ with Korean takeover bid for Austal: Marles

Defence Minister Richard Marles has given a fillip to Hanwha’s bid to buy Perth shipbuilder Austal, despite the deal raising security concerns.

“Diversification strategies certainly have to be on the agenda,” Gareth Evans told the Responsible Investment Association Australasia conference.

Global crises making it hard for ethical investors: Gareth Evans

The former foreign minister nominated Israel’s “disproportionate” response to the Hamas attacks and Narendra Modi’s leadership of India as challenges for investors.

New gas supplies ‘needed’ says Bowen as Gippsland wind takes off

Energy Minister Chris Bowen believes Australia has no option but to seek new supplies of gas even as he green-lights six potential offshore Gippsland wind projects.

Bail rules and offender tracking to lead national cabinet talks

High-risk violent offenders face closer tracking in the community, part of a push by state premiers for tough and immediate new responses to domestic violence.

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World

New York police enter an upper floor of Hamilton Hall at Columbia University to arrest protesters.

New York police storm Columbia University, arrest dozens

Police moved in to arrest pro-Palestinian protesters at the Ivy League university, which has been struggling to balance freedom of speech with antisemitism concerns.

Donald Trump speaks outside the courtroom at the Manhattan criminal court.

Trump threatened with jail, fined for contempt of court

The former president was ordered to pay the fine by the end of the week, and he deleted, as ordered, the offending posts from his Truth Social account.

The British print media landscape is set for a shake-up.

Moguls circle as Telegraph, Spectator go up for sale again

Rupert Murdoch could launch a bid for the Spectator magazine, after an Abu Dhabi-backed consortium threw in the towel.

Tesla fires Supercharger team, raising doubts about expansion

The abrupt dismissal of the Supercharger team caught many people off-guard, and suggested that Elon Musk had changed his mind about the company’s strategy.

Our world is already ravaged by nuclear war

Annie Jacobsen’s new book, written in the style of a techno-thriller, sets out what might happen if that fateful button is pushed.

Property

House prices would continue to rise despite the prospect of further rate rises or delayed rate cuts according to experts.

‘Bullet-proof’ house prices to keep rising despite higher rates

Chronic housing supply shortage would shield prices from sharp downturn if interest rates increase further, or stay higher for longer, experts say.

City West Housing will turn the 20-26 Bourke Road site into 138 apartments for affordable housing.

Addenbrooke sells site meant for controversial land swap deal

The property developer has sold the Sydney site that sparked a reshuffle of the A2B board, ending an almost three-year saga.

Lendlease needs ‘wholesale change’ now: Allan Gray boss

Allan Gray boss Simon Mawhinney says change that would restore shareholder confidence in the property developer should come immediately.

New Pullman to breathe life into Launceston’s ‘old’ hotel scene

The 139-room hotel will form part of the repurposing of the 1930s TAFE building overlooking Launceston by developer Red Panda.

How supermarket shoppers became part of a $3.8b gold rush

As supermarkets hunt for new sources of revenues in an age of rising costs and narrowing margins, they have stumbled on one of their most valuable assets: data.

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Wealth

House and apartment prices in Victoria should be due for a solid rise.

Melbourne property market is due for a comeback

Oxford Economics predicts the median Melbourne house price will grow 21 per cent over the next three years, outpacing Sydney’s forecast 18 per cent expected growth.

We retired overseas but came back. What should we do with our money?

This couple may not be able to reopen their super accounts, but there are other tax-effective opportunities.

How to sleep easy with your investment decisions

If your portfolio is inconsistent with your risk tolerance, you’re more likely to lose sleep and make poor decisions driven by emotions.

Technology

Amazon posts strong cloud unit sales on rising AI demand

The e-commerce company’s operating income more than tripled as Amazon Web Services and adverts provided a boost.

‘Country mile ahead’: How PsiQuantum won a $1b investment

Chief scientist Cathy Foley said US-based PsiQuantum showed it was a “country mile” ahead of other Aussie companies in trying to build a world-first quantum computer.

PsiQuantum’s Jeremy O’Brien (left) and Terry Rudolph.

Quantum computing explained and what’s different about PsiQuantum

The Australian-invented machine uses light particles, which could be a fast way to build a quantum computer but might use too much power.

Work & Careers

Using housing as a reason to crackdown on foreign students is misguided.

Blaming students for housing crisis ‘simplistic’, universities say

A new report finds that conflating international students with the housing shortage is opportunistic and could have profound ramifications on the economy.

Americans have more money, Europeans more time. Which is better?

Life expectancy, happiness, sustainability and innovation are among the factors shaping work attitudes. But money matters most to many.

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Life & Luxury

The first night, I try to sauté some exotic purple cabbage and burn it disastrously.

I hesitantly went vegan to improve my heart health. Here’s how it went

In the second week, I tried some plant-based cheese, and the bottom fell out of my soul – but by the end of the month, I had some surprising news.

Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons. The gardens are a big draw, as well as the hotel and restaurant.

At this luxe Belmond hotel in Oxfordshire, food is the real star

Four decades on, Raymond Blanc has more planned for his exclusive Michelin-starred gourmet retreat, Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons.

AFR

Adults become lonelier from age 50, say scientists

An analysis of nine long-term studies of nearly 130,000 people from Western countries found a striking “U-shaped” pattern of loneliness throughout life.

Torstein Hagen, the founder of Viking Cruises.

How this founder built a $7.7b fortune by banning kids

Torstein Hagen created Viking Cruises with a focus on wealthy holiday makers travelling without kids. It’s now set to bring him a fortune.

Australian actor Hoa Xuande plays the Captain in a scene from “The Sympathizer”.

There hasn’t been a series this complex – and funny – in a long time

Dichotomies and seeing things from both sides are at the heart of “The Sympathizer”, an adaptation of Viet Thanh Nguyen’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 2015 novel.

From the gallery