According to The Australian Financial Review, Andrew Forrest says there’s a graveyard somewhere full of failed magnetite projects, but his will be different.
Fortescue Metals Group’s Iron Bridge magnetite mine reached a first production milestone last week after surviving its own near-death experience in early 2021. The Fortescue founder and chairman breathed a great sigh of relief on May 1 when Iron Bridge started churning out magnetite with an iron content greater than 68 per cent.
The breakthrough for Fortescue comes at a time when high-grade product from the iron ore industry is seen as the quickest path to greener iron and therefore greener steel. And in a green iron world, magnetite projects make more sense than they did in the past.

https://www.afr.com/companies/mining/why-magnetite-matters-more-to-fortescue-in-the-green-iron-era-20230506-p5d6ah
 

According to The Australian Financial Review, major ASX-listed property players involved in residential development, including Lendlease, Mirvac and Stockland, can expect a boost from federal budget measures to support investment into build-to-rent projects and increase rental relief for many residents in land lease-style housing estates.
The expansion of the federal government’s home guarantee scheme for first home buyers – to allow any two people such as siblings or friends to purchase with a 5 per cent deposit – is also positive news for major developers such as Stockland and Mirvac.
The withholding tax applied to managed investment trusts used by foreign investors will be halved from 30 per cent to 15 per cent. The depreciation rate applied to build-to-rent projects will also be increased to 4 per cent a year.

https://www.afr.com/property/residential/developers-get-a-budget-boost-for-housing-20230510-p5d7a2
 

According to The Jiji News, Japanese companies are divided over whether to keep remote working arrangements in place after the country downgrades COVID-19 to a lower-risk category of infectious diseases that includes seasonal flu.
Some major companies have been shifting back to working at the office in principle. Others are cautious about fully returning to the office-based work style.

https://sp.m.jiji.com/english/show/26137

According to The Australian Financial Review, the federal budget’s $2 billion hydrogen fund would get the biggest bang for its buck by closing the gap between the cost of production and what customers are prepared to pay, potentially helping billions of dollars worth of projects to a final investment decision, aspiring producers say.
The priority must be to get green hydrogen and ammonia projects off the ground in Australia, using the available funds in a targeted way, said Daniel Kim, CEO of Korea Zinc’s Australian subsidiary Ark Energy, which is planning a $20 billion-plus project in Queensland.

https://www.afr.com/companies/energy/hydrogen-fund-needs-to-close-the-gap-on-costs-ceos-20230510-p5d79e
 

According to The Jiji News, artificial intelligence tools are in wider use in Japan to prevent oversights in medical examinations and inspections of infrastructure.
AI can be used to make computer images clearer and spot potential abnormalities from vast amounts of data, allowing workers to notice problems more easily and their workloads to be reduced. Its importance is growing as Japan suffers worsening shortages of engineers amid the decreasing population.

https://sp.m.jiji.com/english/show/26159
 

According to The Jiji News, monthly pay increases offered by small and midsize companies to their labor unions so far in this year's "shunto" spring wage talks have averaged 3.35 pct, or 8,328 yen, the Japanese Trade Union Confederation, or Rengo, said Wednesday.
The average increase rate for companies with fewer than 300 employees is up sharply from 2.02 pct from a year earlier in response to rapid price increases, the umbrella organization of labor unions in the country said.

https://sp.m.jiji.com/english/show/26208

According to The Australian Financial Review, house prices nationwide are poised to bounce back this year, albeit at a modest pace, after strong migration and low stock levels reversed the housing downturn earlier and quicker than expected, experts say.
CoreLogic’s home-value index for April shows Sydney house prices increased by 1.3 per cent during the month, slightly lower than the 1.4 per cent recorded in March, but a strong rebound from the 1.2 per cent decline in January, when prices bottomed out.

https://www.afr.com/property/residential/house-prices-tipped-to-rise-now-short-but-sharp-downturn-is-over-20230428-p5d3yy
 

According to The Perth Now, Australia's top-selling automaker has shown off a collection of big and small hydrogen-powered vehicles in an event designed to spark conversation about its potential as mainstream, pollution-cutting transport technology.
The Toyota Hydrogen Showcase, which will tour other Australian capitals over the next two months, ranges from a hydrogen fuel-cell bus and the company's Mirai sedan to a next-generation forklift and a concept van with a working kitchen installed.

https://www.perthnow.com.au/news/transport/toyota-shows-hydrogen-cars-in-push-for-new-green-tech-c-10547862

According to The Jiji News, Japanese airline All Nippon Airways said it will reduce carbon dioxide emissions from all domestic flights to and from Hiroshima Airport to effectively zero until the end of this month.
The project comes as the western Japan city of Hiroshima hosts a summit of leaders from the Group of Seven advanced economies in 19-21 May.

https://sp.m.jiji.com/english/show/26080
 

According to The Australian Financial Review, when Akiko Naka abandoned her job as a manga artist in her mid-20s to launch an online job seeking portal, she was one of Japan’s youngest entrepreneurs.
It was 2011, and she was also one of the few women leading a company that would go on to list on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
Her company, Wantedly, now has a market capitalisation of almost $190 million and more than 3.5 million users. Naka, 38, jokes she is old compared with the new wave of start-up founders building innovative companies from their tiny Tokyo apartments.

https://www.afr.com/world/asia/meet-the-tech-leaders-shaking-up-japan-20230504-p5d5n7