FT : Latin America trade halt with China would be disaster, says outgoing OAS ch

Latin America trade halt with China would be disaster, says outgoing OAS chief
Luis Almagro laments failure of political leadership

US pressure on Latin America to cut trade with China could lead to economic disaster because the region is so dependent on trade with Beijing, according to the outgoing head of the main political forum grouping 35 nations across the Americas.

Luis Almagro, secretary-general of the Organisation of American States for the past decade, told the Financial Times in an interview ahead of his departure on May 25 that trade with China was essential.

“China is the biggest or second biggest trading partner of practically every Latin American country. Take that out of the equation . . . and you are going to have a very violent regional economic disaster,” he said.

The Trump administration has been pressing Latin American nations to downgrade relations with Beijing. It has forced Panama’s exit from the Belt and Road infrastructure initiative, hinted at trade sanctions on Colombia if it joins Belt and Road, and urged Mexico to reduce Chinese investment in its factories.

But Almagro, a 61-year-old Uruguayan diplomat who is stepping down this month after 10 years leading the Washington-based OAS, said that “the worst thing that can happen to Latin America is to be forced to choose” between the US and China.

“You must have the best trade relations you can with everyone,” he said.

Trump has pushed aggressively in his second term to reassert US control over the American-built Panama Canal, ceded to Panama at the end of the last century under an international treaty.

In his first administration he revived the idea of the Monroe Doctrine, a 19th century concept that Latin America was a zone of exclusive US influence.

“The stronger you are, the more power you have, the more you are obliged to keep to agreements you have signed,” Almagro said of the US and Panama. “That’s a demonstration of your strength and your integrity. For us, that should never be in doubt.”

Almagro gave a bleak assessment of Latin America’s progress over the past decade. Repeated failures of political leadership had compounded long-standing problems of discrimination and inequality, holding back economic progress, he said.

The answer was “better democracies”, with properly functioning institutions, respect for the rule of law, clean elections, freedom of expression, greater social equality and less discrimination.

In his native Uruguay, often held up as an example of successful development, the marginalisation of groups such as single mothers and people of African descent has not changed since independence from Spain in the early 19th century, he said. “Two hundred years later, we have the same social structure.”

In his decade at the OAS, a forum for political co-operation and promoting democracy and human rights across the Americas, Almagro was known for outspoken criticism of Venezuela’s authoritarian socialist government and Cuba’s communist rulers.

His leftwing Frente Amplio party in Uruguay expelled him in 2018 for aligning himself too closely with the first Trump administration’s efforts to force regime change in Caracas through “maximum pressure” sanctions.

Almagro is unrepentant, lashing out at what he called the “very poor” development of ideology in Latin America across the political spectrum. “We are stuck in a personal confrontation between leaders,” he said. “Ideas have disappeared and enmities have remained.”

Neither Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro nor Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel are genuine leftwingers, he says. “Call them fascist dictators and where are you wrong? Nowhere.” But both are likely to remain in power, thanks to a “well-oiled repressive machine”, he said.

Michael Shifter, former president of the Inter-American Dialogue think-tank in Washington, said Almagro inherited a difficult task at the OAS.

“The cost of his principled stand on Venezuela, which he deserves credit for, was that he alienated other governments,” he said. “In their view, if you are leading a multilateral organisation, you need to consult and seek consensus.”

Almagro’s successor is Albert Ramdin, the former foreign minister of Suriname, a Caribbean nation with 630,000 people.

Ramdin has previously served as OAS assistant secretary-general but Shifter said he faced a tough challenge as he takes up his new post on May 30. “It will be very very difficult, especially with the US,” he said. “He doesn’t inherit a very robust organisation.”

FT : Don’t underestimate the Chinese consumer

Don’t underestimate the Chinese consumer
Reforms, urbanisation and demographic shifts could all sustainably boost domestic spending

The notion that China needs to rebalance its economy towards greater consumer spending is now well established. For over a decade, economists have been warning that there are limits to delivering high, sustained growth from Beijing’s investment- and export-led model.

But there is widespread scepticism that the Chinese Communist party can oversee a significant boost to household consumption. So this week, I asked analysts to outline why long-term consumer spending growth in China might surprise on the upside (even if that was not their view). Here’s what they said.

First, the downbeat narrative around China’s consumption underplays how large it already is. Consumer spending accounts for around 40 per cent of the country’s economy. Although the global average is about 20 percentage points higher, in absolute terms China’s consumer market is the world’s second largest (behind the US) and has grown at an unrivalled rate.

In the two decades prior to the pandemic, Chinese consumer spending grew at a compounded annual growth rate of 9 per cent in real terms, according to BCA Research.


Its share of global consumption far exceeds its share of global GDP in several aspirational and discretionary spending categories, based on data compiled by the McKinsey Global Institute. “China is the largest market in terms of volume and value for almost any consumer product — ranging from vehicles and smartphones to luxury goods and cinema,” says Rory Green, chief China economist at TS Lombard.

For measure, it would not take much for China to replace exports to the US with domestic consumption. Calculations from Capital Economics show that retail sales in the country are 10 times larger than its exports to America.

High production has, in part, helped to nurture China’s domestic retail market. Goods and services are relatively cheap. (On a purchasing power parity basis, China has a bigger economy than the US.) This means high-income households can sustain decent living standards using less of their salary.

Despite economic pressures, young Chinese consumers are also not retreating from spending. “Gen Z and millennials are still eagerly spending on travel, outdoor experiences and gaming”, said Keyu Jin, a global economist currently affiliated with the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. “The bulk of consumer credit goes to people under 35. With one click on Alibaba, you can borrow to buy a lipstick.”

Simply put, there is an established consumer culture in China that provides a large, solid base on which to grow. By 2030, Boston Consulting Group estimates that the country’s middle- and upper-class population will exceed half a billion people (well above the entire US population). This means even a slight uplift in spending propensities would notably boost total consumption. The nation’s uniquely high levels of investment and savings have detracted from this.



China’s zero-Covid pandemic approach and its real estate crash have, however, scarred households. Consumer confidence remains significantly below pre-2020 levels, and precautionary savings are elevated.

There are nascent signs of a turnaround. “Households have now largely filled the hole in their balance sheets from the decline in property prices with bank deposits,” says Adam Wolfe, emerging markets economist at Absolute Strategy Research. “House prices are stabilising, and demand for safe financial assets should ease.”

A first-quarter Deutsche Bank poll found that 52 per cent of Chinese consumers were willing to increase their discretionary expenditures, the highest share in a year.

Stimulus initiatives have helped a bit. In September, the People’s Bank of China reduced bank reserve requirements, cut mortgage rates and boosted support for the equity market. In March, the government outlined a “special action plan” which included promises of higher wages and childcare subsidies. A trade-in scheme — which provides financial incentives to exchange old goods for new ones — is also propping up expenditure. But further jolts are needed.


Still, a sustained, long-term increase to consumer spending would require a permanent boost to household confidence and a significant reduction in savings.

Beijing’s long struggle to raise consumption and its focus on production have however caused analysts to doubt that households can play a significantly stronger role in its economy. There are three upside structural risks to that view: reforms, urbanisation and demographics.

The importance of raising consumption has gained political traction. It also dovetails with President Xi Jinping’s philosophies of “dual circulation” (strengthening domestic and international demand) and “common prosperity” (reducing inequality).

US President Donald Trump’s global tariff agenda adds a further nudge to Chinese policymakers. Disruptions to external demand raises the salience of its internal market. Trade partners are also on alert for US-bound exports from China being diverted elsewhere. Beijing will be wary about burning bridges, and may be more conscious about exporting its high production abroad.


“After years of trade-related tensions with the European Union, Australia and other major players, Beijing may see an opportunity to bolster its global standing by playing nice on trade while Washington continues to play hardball”, says Morning Consult’s head of political intelligence, Jason McMann.

Urbanisation is another potential upside. Two-thirds of China’s population live in cities. In OECD nations, the average is above 80 per cent. Continued and faster migration to urban areas would boost income and spending on services.

China’s Hukou household registration system does however limit rural migrants’ access to social services and benefits in urban areas. Rhodium Group reckons granting full access to basic urban services would significantly boost consumption. A 2025 study found migrants’ per capita consumption increased by 30 per cent when they move to a city, with an additional 30 per cent rise when they are fully integrated into urban life.

More broadly, even the capitalist-in-chief US spends more on social transfers than communist China. Beijing also only raises around 1 per cent of its GDP from income tax, well below advanced economies.

China’s weak welfare system incentivises higher precautionary savings (and a reliance on debt in poorer, rural areas). Xi has spoken against “welfarism”. But what China has now is some way off a system that “encourages laziness”.


Further, long-term uplift could come from its ageing population. As a higher proportion of Chinese retire, the ratio of savers to consumers will decline.

“In east Asia the pattern of high working-age saving is particularly strong”, notes Green. Indeed, South Korea and Japan also both experienced peak savings rates when the working-age share of their populations topped out.

Green reckons China’s choppier population pyramid could result in a faster drop in its savings rate, relative to other Asian nations. “Even if policy reforms are ineffective, China is going to save less”, he said in a recent note.


President Xi remains focused on “new quality productive forces”. This could indeed support jobs and income. But Michael Pettis, senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, says that it would be unrealistic to rely on this strategy alone to boost consumption.

Generating the required productivity gains, and ensuring they mostly accrue to workers, will be an uphill task. Indeed, the efficiency of China’s capital spending has been on a downtrend, according to BCA Research. “It has led to excess capacity, deflation and scores of lossmaking enterprises”.

Other options to sustainably boost household incomes would necessitate significant policy reform (which Beijing so far has been hesitating over), says Pettis. “Beijing could transfer income from local governments, particularly to poorer, more indebted households. Or it could strengthen the social safety network.”


Continuing the shift into higher-value added production could support growth. It will require more targeted investment. But if Beijing is serious about turning China into a “medium-developed country” by 2035, it needs to unleash the potential of its large consumer base.

Short-term stimulus packages help. But they do little to raise long-term household confidence. Welfare (and tax) reforms would recycle high savings into spending in the real economy, generate higher growth from urbanisation and, in turn, help build China’s mature and innovative retail ecosystem.

Policymakers are taking consumption more seriously. Gradual, albeit small-scale reforms have been taking place within the hukou, pensions and benefits systems. As the economic and geopolitical limits of the country’s existing growth strategy becomes clearer, Beijing could leverage its centralised policy apparatus to turbocharge consumer spending.

“Beijing has time and again demonstrated the ability to do the unexpected, to reach its longer-term goals,” says David Goodman, director of the China Studies Centre at the University of Sydney, who has been studying the nation for more than 50 years.

China’s consumers have struggled in recent years. But there is enormous spending power yet to be unlocked, and Beijing holds the key.

SCMP : Job creator or industry killer? Europe’s EV sector faces Chinese investme

Job creator or industry killer? Europe’s EV sector faces Chinese investment dilemma
Truck maker Windrose wants to be ‘first of many’ to bring EV ecosystem to Europe, matching Macron’s ambitions for ‘Battery Valley’ in France

Eyebrows raised and brow furrowed into a puzzled smile, French President Emmanuel Macron held a model of a cleanly sculpted, sheer white truck. To his left, Wen Han, a 35-year-old Chinese entrepreneur, beamed through thick, black-rimmed glasses.

In Macron’s hand was a miniature Windrose electric lorry, its sleek, forward-leaning nose and central driving position evoking science fiction more than the gritty world of road haulage.
The Chinese company, founded by Han just three years ago, announced this week that it would build a €175 million (US$199 million) factory in northern France. Bigger investments and flashier names came to last week’s Choose France summit, but few were set against a geoeconomic backdrop as charged as Windrose Technology’s.

The European Union is locked in a trade dispute with China over electric vehicles. It is also wrestling with whether and how to harness Chinese investment in the sector. Around the continent, a debate is being waged on whether China’s prowess in the sector can be a job creator or an industry killer.
Han is certain it is the former.

“He told me he wants me to bring the whole ecosystem to France,” Han said in an interview, when asked what Macron told him.

Although only 30 Windrose trucks are on the roads worldwide, Han is ambitious. He wants to make 4,000 of them a year in France from 2027 and is eyeing an American plant too. He is already planning to float Windrose on a US stock exchange and told Macron he would like a secondary listing in France.

“So I asked him how he can make that less painful. He promised that he’ll help me sell trucks and raise money – it was so nice of him to say that to a young guy, everyone else was a billionaire,” Han said, namechecking guests including Blackstone Group’s Stephen Schwarzman and Stella Li, the executive vice-president of Chinese EV maker BYD.
Han’s electric truck factory, which will bring 300 jobs to Onnaing, a town of under 9,000 people near the Belgian border, fits nicely with Macron’s strategy of turning northern France into “Battery Valley”.

Down the road from where Han hopes to soon break ground, French company Alteo and South Korea’s W-scope were discussing a €600 million investment in a car battery component factory, French daily Le Monde reported.

Among the big players already present, Taiwanese battery company Prologium is building a €5.2 billion gigafactory in Dunkirk, and Chinese-Japanese firm Envision is constructing a plant to build batteries for a nearby Renault factory in Douai.

But there have not been as many big ticket Chinese investments as expected, given Macron’s outward courting of the likes of BYD, which sold more cars in Europe than Tesla for the first time last month.

On a call with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday, the French leader told him that “Chinese investments are welcome in France. But our companies must benefit from fair conditions of competition in our two countries. This is a fundamental point”, according to a social media post by Macron.
“Building an EV battery supply chain is a clear priority for President Macron, and attracting players from Asia is essential to France’s ambitions,” said Mathieu Duchatel, director of the Asia programme at the Institut Montaigne, a Parisian think tank.

“On EVs, France’s strong support for the EU’s anti-subsidy action and Macron’s personal involvement in seeking to attract BYD in France are the two sides of the same coin – the priority is industrial capacity in France,” he added.

But while Macron will welcome the 300 jobs, European leaders have made no secret of the fact that they want to attract value-added manufacturing, rather than assembly plants.

“From Macron’s standpoint, it is important to stress reciprocity. The Chinese market has been closing to European companies while Chinese companies have been pretty aggressive in France lately. Many are looking for opportunities, especially in fields such as batteries and EVs,” said Philippe Le Corre, a senior fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Centre for China Analysis in Paris.

The European Commission is now haggling with the Chinese government over investments that would be linked to a lowering of the tariffs on Chinese-made EVs. It wants China’s market leaders to transfer know-how and technology to European companies and to make sure the most valuable part of the vehicle – namely the battery – is made in Europe too, but talks are not going well.

“They are not making progress, so much so that we were supposed to hold the high-level economic [and] trade dialogue, and I’m afraid we are not going to hold it because … in order to hold it, we need progress. We need deliverables,” EU ambassador to China Jorge Toledo said on Friday at a conference in Beijing.
Windrose’s modular manufacturing processes will involve importing batteries from CALB and Eve, two of China’s biggest battery makers. It will assemble the vehicles and make parts such as the truck’s chassis and power train in France, but Han said he was confident the supply chain would follow.
“We would like to be the first of many movers – we want to show that it is possible,” Han said, adding that “Europe is generally friendly for Chinese companies”.

Speaking on the phone from Brussels Airport, he pointed to the fact that all of the buses whizzing past the window were made by BYD.

“After we announced we would be manufacturing in Europe, we had great interest from battery cell and motor makers to come to the area,” Han said. “We want to bring the ecosystem to Europe.”

Mark Duchesne is Windrose’s head of global manufacturing and a veteran of Tesla and the recently bankrupt Swedish battery company Northvolt.

He said the company was “battery cell-agnostic”.

“We are willing to work with anyone,” he said. “We can use cells from anybody, it just needs to have the performance, reliability and efficiency. We would love to have a French [battery] supplier, but it does not exist.”

Duchesne dismissed the idea that companies would start handing over technology to European firms, saying the dynamic was “much more complicated than a reverse brain dump”.

“The technology started in Europe … none of it is new – it’s a truck, but we like to think we’re better at integration. We see the challenge as a transfer of attitude rather than knowledge,” said Duchesne.

Even though he dismissed the suggestion that “nobody in the world can compete with China”, he said attitudes in the West had allowed it to fall behind.

“Companies got access to low-cost manufacturing and they thought China would be happy to stay as a source of cheap labour … little did they know. The world fell asleep while China became the experts,” he said.

“Some of us have just forgotten what it is like to be nimble, quick and efficient,” Duchesne added.

At US$250,000, Windrose’s truck retails at a fraction of the price of the Tesla Semi model with the most comparable range. Many have pointed to the visual similarities between the two models, but Duchesne laughs it off.

“We get asked all the time – did we copy Tesla? But we didn’t, we copied the laws of aerodynamics,” he said.

While many Chinese investors in Europe prefer to keep a low profile, Han wants to make a splash. Last summer, he paid to sponsor the basketball team in Antwerp, where the company has its European headquarters, renaming it Windrose Giants Antwerp.

“Chinese manufacturers have been fantastic at building but not at marketing,” Han said, adding that he wanted to “make trucks cool again”.

He is also confident that the scepticism in Europe towards Chinese investments will subside. “Being a Chinese person – it’s always been hard,” he said, laughing. He added that “many people are anti-innovation”.

Han said the Japanese faced a similar situation 30 years ago, but noted that in the US, some of the most popular pickup trucks – the “quintessential American product” – were now made by Toyota.

“The Koreans had the same issue, Hyundai needed to give lifetime warranties, and look at them now,” Han said.

“It shows that things can change.”

WSJ : Why More Adults Than Ever Are Being Diagnosed With Autism

Why More Adults Than Ever Are Being Diagnosed With Autism
A surge in diagnoses reflects increased awareness and the broadening definition of the condition

Key Points
  • More U.S. adults are being diagnosed with autism, often later in life, due to increased awareness and broader definitions.
  • The most rapid rate of growth was in adults between the ages of 26 and 34, per JAMA studies analyzing health records.
  • Adults diagnosed often have social struggles, repetitive behaviors and co-occurring mental-health conditions.

More U.S. adults than ever before have autism, and many are being diagnosed not as children, but in later years.

While the data don’t pinpoint how many people are over age 18 when diagnosed, clinical psychologists say many more adults are seeking evaluations for autism than a decade ago.

“We have adults reaching out every week,” said Paige Siper, chief psychologist at the Seaver Autism Center for Research and Treatment at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York.

Overall, the rate of autism in people 18 or older more than doubled between 2011 and 2019, from 4.2 per 1,000 to 9.5 per 1,000, according to an analysis of Medicaid data published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry in 2023.

Researchers saw the most rapid growth in adults between the ages of 26 and 34, according to a study, published in the journal JAMA Network Open in 2024, that analyzed U.S. health records and insurance claims for more than nine million individuals a year from 2011 to 2022. That group’s rate of autism increased from 0.7 per 1,000 people in 2011 to 3.7 per 1,000 in 2022.

Some of this growth comes from autistic children aging into adulthood.

For adults seeking evaluations for the first time, scientists attribute the rise to a variety of factors.

Social media has increased awareness of autism. Autism has shed the stigma it used to hold. The definition of the condition has expanded over time to include a broader range of behaviors. And some parents who have children diagnosed with autism then recognize their own challenges and seek out evaluations, said Michelle Gorenstein-Holtzman, a clinical psychologist who works with adults at the NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center and the Center for Autism and the Developing Brain.

Three years ago, before she joined, the center did one adult autism evaluation a month. Now Gorenstein-Holtzman does two a week.

People diagnosed as adults typically don’t have severe communication challenges or intellectual disabilities, clinical psychologists said. But they have struggled socially, and show subtle repetitive behaviors like rocking in a chair, or nearly obsessive interests in certain topics. They often have other continuing mental-health conditions, such as anxiety, bipolar disorder or ADHD.

Many are highly educated, and some have successful careers, though some have been in and out of jobs.

Many are women whose autism was missed when they were children, said Catherine Lord, a clinical psychologist and autism researcher at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. About three times as many boys are diagnosed with autism as girls, partly because some of the behaviors psychologists look for are less pronounced in girls, and partly because researchers have been trained to better recognize the condition in boys.

Growing up, Sonia Chand said she felt out of touch with her peers and judged by teachers and therapists. “I was made to feel like I was the bad kid,” she said. “I wasn’t trying to act up in a bad way. I was just trying to fit in.”

In sixth grade, she was diagnosed with depression, prescribed lithium and flagged at risk for suicide. At age 20, after a new therapist had heard her story and referred her for an advanced neuropsychological evaluation, she was diagnosed with Asperger’s in 2002. Now 42, she works as a therapist herself, runs marathons and hosts a podcast in her free time.

At the time Chand was diagnosed, Asperger’s syndrome was considered a developmental disorder in which people had trouble with social interactions but didn’t have language delays or cognitive impairments associated with autism.

Autism first appeared as a distinct diagnosis in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, a standardized classification system for mental disorders, in 1980. Initially, the diagnosis required children by age 2.5 years to exhibit a narrow set of behaviors that typically applied only to those with severe disabilities.

Each subsequent edition of the manual has broadened the definition of the condition, said David Mandell, director of the Penn Center for Mental Health at the University of Pennsylvania.

In 2013, Asperger’s and other developmental disorders were included under the category of autism spectrum disorder, which acknowledged varying levels of severity—and helped to pave the way for more diagnoses in adults.

Holden Thorp, editor in chief of the Science family of journals, was in his 50s when a psychologist evaluating senior administrators at Washington University in St. Louis, where he was provost, told him he was autistic in 2016.

Thorp had established himself as a research scientist, climbed the ranks of university leadership and served as chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

“A lot of things came together all at once,” Thorp said, ranging from his habit of staring at a wall when people were talking to him to student evaluations that said he was “a great teacher” but “very monotone.”

Now, he tells classes on the first day that he’s on the spectrum and explains that expressive intonations or big arm gestures are a challenge. “That was very liberating,” he said.

Some adults welcome the diagnosis as a way to make sense of the challenges they have faced all their lives.

“When I started in the field, everyone’s vision of autism was more like Rain Man,” said Gorenstein-Holtzman. “Now, I think people have more ideas of what autism could look like.”

WWD : The Top Six Longevity Retreats to Restore and Advance

The Top Six Longevity Retreats to Restore and Advance
Here, a look at some of the leading wellness destinations globally, including Clinique La Prairie and The Ranch.

Lanserhof Sylt

With summer in full swing, the calendar can fill up quickly with weekend getaways, barbecues, beach days and more. As the never-ending to-dos continue to pile up, it is time to reset. While wellness programming is seemingly popping up at every hotel across the world, a select few destinations are doubling down on longevity, which focuses on health span — or finding ways to experience more healthful and beauty-full lives for longer.

These offer guests ultra-personalized programming driven by diagnostic testing and scientific evidence — think blood tests to determine what workout you need to do or a three-day detox to get you off your phone. When it comes to these spots, although they can feel intensive, there is truly something for everyone, no matter the goal.

Here, a look at six of the most advanced longevity destinations globally.

Clinique La Prairie in Montreux, Switzerland starting at approximately $25,000 depending on program
Clinique La Prairie
Courtesy

For many, Clinique La Prairie, nestled on the shores of Lake Geneva, is synonymous with longevity. The medical clinic and wellness destination was founded in 1913 by Dr. Paul Niehans. Clinique La Prairie offers weeklong retreats around an array of focuses including brain health, weight management and more. For those looking for the most scientifically advanced and medical-backed program, Clinique La Prairie is a must. With more than 50 medical specialists and its newest Longevity Master Assessment, a diagnostic that looks at more than 300 biomarkers, guests leave knowing more about their bodies than they learn at a routine doctor’s visit.

Specifically, visitors can learn the likelihood of a cardiovascular event, discover their inflammation markers and more.

Euphoria Retreat in Mystras, Greece starting at approximately $8,700 for a seven-day programexcluding accommodations
Euphoria Retreat

For many, the highlight of Euphoria is the location. Situated on a hillside along a pine forest, the property overlooks ancient Sparta and the ruins of Byzantine Mystras. While the destination is teeming with history, the offerings combine the ancient atmosphere with state-of-the-art wellness tech, such as hydrotherapy, sound therapy, on-call doctors, custom IV drops and a Human Regenerator machine, which heals the body via cold atmospheric plasma. However, with the natural setting and calming design elements, Euphoria doesn’t give off a clinical feel. Guests can explore a variety of wellness-centric programs from more medical plans to leadership retreats.

Lanserhof in Sylt,Germany starting at 9,510 euros for seven to eight days of treatment excluding accommodation, food, supplements and medicine
Lanserhof Sylt

Guests at Lanserhof on Sylt are given a diagnostic and personalized consultations to gain insight into their genetic makeup, which are then used for targeted programs created to reduce health risks and increase life expectancy. Medical practices involve bioimpedance analysis as well as blood pressure, lactate and metabolic checks. Hands-on treatments include foot reflexology massage, classical massage therapy, detox drainage and a natural detox hay pack. Nutrition from locally sourced ingredients is a key part of the program.
There are also sunrise exercises by the North Sea or in the forest, and a focus on mental clarity, emotional resilience and spiritual well-being.


Mount Med Resortin Wildschönau, Austria starting at 4,988 euros for a seven-night single occupancy program
Mount Med Resort
Courtesy of Mont Med Resort

Nestled in a high alpine valley, Mount Med Resort is a medical spa focusing on a holistic and integrated approach to health and beauty. It uses solutions to promote natural aesthetics and cell rejuvenation. Here, a doctor determines a personalized diagnostic and then the number of therapies required based on a person’s own needs. The resort’s longevity program integrates the Mylife Changer method and anti-inflammatory metabolic program that targets detoxifying and cell-regeneration treatments, biohacking and movement.

Specifically, there is neuroscience biohacking billed to enhance cognitive fitness, the reduction of inflammation markers and free radicals, as well as anti-inflammatory nutrition said to rejuvenate biological age. The treatment menu offers intensive detox and slimming programs for weight optimization, the promotion of gut health and microbiome balance, as well as personal training to bolster physical fitness.

Six Senses Kaplankaya in Bodrum, Turkey starting at 1,855 euros for three-night single occupancy program
Six Senses Kaplankaya
Courtesy of Six Senses

Six Senses Kaplankaya offers three-, five- and seven-night longevity programs designed to heighten energy, sharpen mental focus and improve health and fitness. Also working toward the end-goal of living better longer, the retreat’s treatments are meant to reduce disease risk. Guests get a wellness screening and do Pilates or yoga. There are Cellgym sessions; ancient breathwork, called Pranayama; Watsu, and time in a Turkish or Moroccan hammam. A skin analysis is made with Skin Instant Lab and wellness cuisine is served up, among other elements of this program. Overall, Six Senses sets out to help guests combat lifestyle-related aging effects by combining a healthy body, well-fed gut and happy mind.

The Ranch in Hudson Valley, New York starting at $2,850for a three-night single occupancy program
The Ranch
Mario FUENTES

While many wellness retreats, including The Ranch’s other locations, often take advantage of warm or tropical destinations, the brand’s latest outpost is embracing all four seasons. Nestled in Hudson Valley, New York at the Table Rock Estate, guests can take advantage of snow-covered mountain hikes in the winter or kayaking during the warmer months, depending on their vibe. Of course, The Ranch offers all the typical treatments of a wellness retreat, like saunas, cold plunges, fitness classes and daily massages, the destination also features a few unexpected highlights like reiki and hypnotherapy. Each program is fully customizable based on the guest, who is also prepped ahead of the trip to ease into the program — think stopping coffee a few weeks in advance so that The Ranch’s detox isn’t quite as drastic.

WWD : Le Doyenné: The Parisian Fashion Set’s Michelin-starred Countryside Escape

Le Doyenné: The Parisian Fashion Set’s Michelin-starred Countryside Escape
The Michelin-starred restaurant now has a 10-seat private dining room kitted out by Project 213A, the design firm cofounded by footwear designer Jurgita Dileviciute.

Le Doyenné
Between its excellent cuisine made using produce grown on site and a clutch of cozy farmhouse-chic rooms, Le Doyenné was already a favorite day-trip escapade for the Parisian fashion set.

Now there’s one more reason to make the one-hour trip outside Paris: a 10-seat private dining room. It’s the latest collaboration of the establishment with Project 213A, the four-year-old design firm of Theresa Marx, Clement Deboeuf and Jurgita Dileviciute, who also cofounded footwear label Jude.

They were already behind the artisanal pieces ranging from ceramic side tables to custom headboards that add a contemporary je-ne-sais-quoi to this address owned by Australian chefs James Henry and Shaun Kelly.

After cutting their teeth on the Parisian bistronomic scene, the friends moved to the area in 2017 and began this project that comes an impeccable historic, artistic and now gastronomic pedigree.

Le Doyenné

To wit: Early records place a stately hall dating back to feudal times on the property, which later became the country retreat of the Countess du Barry, the favorite of French king Louis XV. It is now owned by the Mortemart family, who have called it home for over two centuries.

In the 1970s, the space now occupied by Le Doyenné’s restaurant was the workshop in which artists Niki de Saint Phalle and Jean Tinguely created their monumental sculptures.

Some five years and a host of highly skilled local artisans capable of preserving the integrity of a listed historical site were needed to convert the centuries-old barn into its current incarnation.

Lofty windows in the restaurant open onto an orchard and expansive vegetable garden, cultivated following regenerative agricultural practices. It has since yielded the excellent produce that’s found on the table — and a Michelin star in 2023.

Le Doyenné
5 Rue Saint-Antoine, 91770 Saint-Vrain
Tel: +33 6 58 80 25 18

CrunchBase : The Week’s Biggest Funding Rounds: Fintech, AI Dominate In Slightly

The Week’s Biggest Funding Rounds: Fintech, AI Dominate In Slightly Slow Week For Large Deals

The pace of large-scale startup fundraising slowed a bit this week, with no giant late-stage rounds for GenAI unicorns. However, we did see a good bit of funding activity in the fintech area, led by business payments platform Airwallex, along with some healthcare- and AI-related dealmaking.

1. Airwallex, $300M, fintech: Business payments platform Airwallex closed on $300 million at a $6.2 billion valuation. The financing includes $150 million in Series F funding and another $150 million for secondary share purchases for the San Francisco-headquartered company, which was founded in 2015 in Melbourne, Australia.

2. Awardco, $165M, HR tech: Awardco, a platform for employee rewards and recognition, raised $165 million in a Series B round backed by Sixth Street and Spectrum Equity. The financing set a valuation of over $1 billion for the Salt Lake City-based company, which was founded in 2012.

3. LMArena, $100M, AI: San Francisco-based LMArena, which describes itself as an open community platform for evaluating AI models, secured $100 million in seed funding. Andreessen Horowitz and UC Investments led the financing.

4. Monarch Money, $75M, personal finance: Monarch, a personal finance platform offering budgeting and planning tools for consumers, closed on $75 million in Series B financing. FPV Ventures and Forerunner Ventures led the round for the 6-year-old Covina, California-based startup.

5. (tied) Siro, $50M, sales: New York-based Siro, a mobile app for tracking in-person sales performance, raised a $50 million Series B round led by SignalFire. Founded in 2020, Siro had previously raised $18 million from backers including Index Ventures and Fika Ventures.

5. (tied) RevenueCat, $50M, subscription management: San Francisco-based RevenueCat, a platform for managing subscription apps, raised $50 million in a Series C led by Bain Capital Ventures. Founded in 2017, the company says its tools are currently used to help power over one‑third of all new subscription apps worldwide.

7. Slash, $41M, fintech: Slash, a San Francisco-based banking platform for online businesses that offers checking accounts and payment cards, raised $41 million in Series B funding. Goodwater Capital led the round, joined by Menlo Ventures and NEA, setting a $370 million valuation for the 5-year-old company.

8. Fore Biotherapeutics, $38M, cancer therapeutics: Philadelphia-based Fore Biotherapeutics, a developer of therapeutics for hard-to-treat cancers, raised $38 million in Series D-2 financing. Founded in 2011, the financing brings total funding to date to more than $200 million, per Crunchbase data.

9. DataHub, $35M, AI: Palo Alto, California-based DataHub, an open source platform for metadata on AI and data assets, secured $35 million in Series B funding led by Bessemer Venture Partners. The 4-year-old company says it has seen 6x sales growth for its enterprise service, DataHub Cloud, over the past two years.

10. General Medicine, $32M, healthcare: Salt Lake City-based General Medicine, a platform for consumers to directly access care for specific medical problems, raised $32 million in venture funding led by Matrix. The company’s founders, Elliot Cohen and TJ Parker, previously launched pharmacy startup PillPack.

WSJ : Tariffs Are Challenging the Cachet of Luxury Goods From Europe

Tariffs Are Challenging the Cachet of Luxury Goods From Europe
The trade war has turned a spotlight on the artisanal clusters behind glamorous goods, inviting fresh scrutiny of one of the industry’s key selling points

Key Points
  • Ubrique, Spain, is a hub for luxury leather goods, producing for brands like Chanel and Louis Vuitton.
  • President Trump’s tariffs and the questioning of ‘Made in Europe’ value put pressure on Ubrique’s business model.
  • Luxury brands are finding it difficult to shift production to the U.S. due to challenges in recruiting and training artisans.

UBRIQUE, Spain—Europe’s luxury brands have long sold pricey handbags based on the mystique of where they are made. Now the trade war is probing the value of producing in places like this sun-kissed town.

Ubrique’s workshops have pumped out leather goods for Chanel, Louis Vuitton and other brands for years, employing about a quarter of the town’s population of 16,000. A giant statue of the patacabra, a wooden tool used to shape and smooth the leather, rises by the road leading into town.

“We’re all basically living off leather here,” said José Antonio Bautista, the town’s deputy mayor.

President Trump’s tariffs are now shaking the foundations of Ubrique’s business model—and that of the broader luxury industry. On Friday, Trump threatened a 50% tariff on goods imported from the European Union.

European brands have long cultivated the image that Old World heritage uniquely positions the continent to create goods for the world’s most discerning customers—justifying their eye-watering price tags.

While high margins offer brands some protection from tariffs, Trump’s push to shift production to the U.S. has sparked fresh scrutiny of the “Made in Europe” value proposition. The worry for some brands: Luxury goods produced in America won’t carry the same cachet with consumers.

“It wouldn’t make sense to me to have Italian Gucci bags made in Texas,” François-Henri Pinault, chief executive of the group that owns Gucci, Saint Laurent and Balenciaga, told French lawmakers earlier this month. “It doesn’t make sense to my clients. I can’t explain that.”

The allure of European provenance is already being questioned in the industry’s second-biggest market: China. After Trump announced his tariffs, a wave of videos flooded TikTok, purporting to reveal the true cost of luxury by showing how a range of high-end handbags—including the Hermès Birkin, which sell for more than $10,000—can be cheaply counterfeited in a Chinese factory.

The scrutiny has shone a spotlight on places like Ubrique, where first-year trainees start on the equivalent of around $30 a day, and the most experienced workers earn a daily wage of roughly $57, according to a local labor agreement.

Shifting production to the U.S., however, is easier said than done. Louis Vuitton opened a leather-goods workshop in Alvarado, Texas, in 2019 as part of a push to diversify manufacturing and meet growing demand in its largest market. But scaling up has proven difficult.

The site has faced growing pains as Louis Vuitton struggled to recruit and train local artisans. LVMH MC -1.26%decrease; red down pointing triangle CEO Bernard Arnault said he planned to hire a thousand staff at the plant when it initially opened, but years later the facility only employs around 300 people—a slower-than-expected expansion that the company partly attributes to the pandemic.

Still, Arnault recently said the group would “inevitably be forced to increase its American production” if the EU fails to reach a deal to avert Trump’s tariffs.

A town built on leather
Spain quietly plays a central role in the global luxury supply chain—especially in leather goods.

Nowhere is that more evident than in Ubrique, where leather craftsmanship took off in the 19th century—helped by the town’s abundant water supply, crucial for softening hides and dyeing leather.

The area’s isolation and poverty played a role too. Families raised livestock while women began sewing and finishing leather goods at home. By the 1970s, Ubrique had become a byword for craftsmanship, drawing brands like Dior and Loewe.

Today, handbag makers rely on Ubrique’s extensive network of suppliers, specialized machinery makers, tanneries and logistics hubs that have developed together over decades.

Their close proximity enables speed and flexibility, which are crucial in an industry that is constantly working on new designs. Workshops often work hand-in-hand with brands to develop prototypes and refine products. Longstanding relationships have fostered trust and discretion, helping protect sourcing strategies and unreleased designs.

Chanel purses are made in a discreet workshop with no signage, while Louis Vuitton relies on a longstanding supplier with several sites across town to produce pieces including a $3,000 hobo-style bag.

Ubrique’s rich industrial ecosystem would be difficult, and take years, to replicate elsewhere. Similar tightknit luxury clusters can be found in Tuscany for leather goods, La Chaux-de-Fonds for Swiss watches and the French town of Grasse for perfume.

Economic forces have threatened Ubrique before. During the 2008 financial crisis, many luxury brands moved production to lower-cost countries like China. The result: factory closures, job losses and economic pain.

“You’d see people who had nothing to eat coming here asking for help,” said Bautista, the deputy mayor.

But just a few years later the brands were back. Factories in China proved susceptible to counterfeiters. When design specifications or materials were leaked, copycat producers could flood the market with knockoffs.

Inside the workshops
Throughout Ubrique, the tap tap of the patacabra rings out from behind workshop walls.
At many of the town’s factories, workers arrive before dawn, stow their phones in lockers and wait for a 6.55 a.m. alarm. When it sounds, they head to their benches and work—mostly on their feet—until 3 p.m., broken only by a 20-minute break.

Luxury brands often promote the image of a single in-house artisan meticulously crafting a handbag from start to finish. In reality, production is more industrial, broken down into a series of repetitive, specialized tasks that require less training—in theory making it easier to shift manufacturing elsewhere.

Yet making luxury leather goods still involves a sequence of precise, hands-on steps that require a high level of skill. Leather must be inspected and cut, then thinned, reinforced, stitched and assembled—often using techniques that machines can’t easily replicate. Edges are finished by hand and hardware is carefully fitted.

More experienced workers are assigned to the most technically demanding tasks. At one factory, employees said men’s backpacks were the hardest to make—not just because of the number of components, but also the precision needed to fit the panels, handles and zips.

“Finding qualified people is tough,” said Manuel Fernández, owner of the Don Puro workshop, which supplies several luxury brands. “Out of every three new hires, you might only keep one. The others just don’t work out.”

While businesspeople in Ubrique say they have yet to feel the impact of Trump’s tariffs, the uncertainty is leading to heightened concerns in the town.

A broad luxury slowdown has already hit Ubrique’s producers. While much of the slack has been taken up by Polène, a fast-growing French brand that makes all of its handbags in the town, some workshops are feeling the pain as clients cut back on orders.

Marcos Obando, who works for a local employers’ association, is hopeful big luxury brands will keep investing in Ubrique, even if tariffs do add to costs. He argues the town should double down on quality, since it can’t compete on price—not even with lower-cost neighbors like Portugal or countries in Eastern Europe.

“There is a reason why all the brands have been working here for decades—why this town has been focused on this for many, many years,” he said.