Flagship

Russia prepares Kursk counteroffensive

Fighting between Russia and Ukraine surged as Moscow assembled more than 50,000 troops to retake the Kursk region, and the two countries exchanged their largest drone attacks over the weekend. Kyiv has pressed for greater military support in recent weeks but fears that US President-elect Donald Trump is likely to reduce Washington’s backing upon taking office, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy campaigning for help at a recent European Union summit. The continent’s leaders should “make their own plans” to not only support Ukraine, but also protect their own security interests given the possibility of the US’ shrinking global role, a security scholar argued in The Atlantic.

China’s new trade surplus record

China’s trade surplus is on track to hit a record of nearly $1 trillion. The surplus leaves China “on a collision course” with the US by exacerbating global trade imbalances, Bloomberg reported, and provoking US President-elect Donald Trump, who mainly views Beijing “through the lens of its massive bilateral trade surplus,” the Eurasia Group’s Ian Bremmer wrote in a note to clients. Trump’s vow to impose hefty tariffs on Chinese exports to the US isn’t a bluff, Bremmer argued, but “whether it elicits a meaningful engagement to negotiate with the Chinese or a tit-for-tat response irrespective of the economic costs will depend on how hard and high he goes.”

Trump’s leverage on global trade

The US economy’s post-pandemic growth means incoming President Donald Trump will have much more leverage over trade negotiations, The Wall Street Journal argued. The US’ share of G7 GDP is higher than at any point since the 1980s, while China’s economy slows and Germany’s flounders: Europe is particularly reliant on US oil and gas after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This asymmetry means Trump’s proposed tariff plans “could pack an even greater wallop” on other countries, the Journal wrote, and governments will “try to reach some sort of accommodation with Trump,” an economist said. The “world can live” with duties on China, but across the board tariffs would usher in “a new era in global trade,” another said.

MBS slams Israel war in Gaza

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman demanded Israel stop its military aggression in Gaza and Lebanon in his opening address before Arab leaders Monday, referencing Israel’s “genocide” of Palestinians. His comments came just days after Qatar stopped mediating negotiations between Israel and Hamas because of both sides’ unwillingness to engage constructively. But Saudi Arabia has been “careful” to present a unified Arab front when it comes to the Palestinian cause, one expert told Al-Monitor, making Riyadh unlikely to fill in as chief mediator. The incoming Trump administration will likely pressure the kingdom to normalize relations with Israel, but those talks are foundering, with the US and Saudi Arabia now discussing a bilateral security deal, Axios reported.

China debuts latest stealth jet

China’s highly-anticipated J-35A fighter jet debuts at the Zhuhai air show Tuesday, but Beijing’s secrecy means little is known about its capabilities, Reuters reported. China has prioritized aerospace manufacturing as it seeks regional military dominance over the US amid tensions around Taiwan and the South China Sea, NBC News wrote, and the issue has gained urgency given US President-elect Donald Trump’s plans to decouple supply chains from Beijing. The show is likely to demonstrate other Chinese ambitions and shifts: The China-made C919 commercial airliner will be a major source of interest, while Moscow has dispatched its most advanced fighter jet to Zhuhai, an indication of its deepening military ties with Beijing.

AI smart glasses take off

Chinese tech giant Baidu is expected to unveil new smart glasses with built-in artificial intelligence Tuesday. The glasses, which are being positioned as a more affordable alternative to Meta’s Ray-Bans, will apparently include cameras to capture images and video, as well as the ability to talk to Baidu’s chatbot, Bloomberg reported. Apple is also reportedly mulling making its own version, and Snap has previewed its own augmented reality glasses, too. The moves indicate a broader bet in tech that Meta’s successful “stripped-down formula” for smart glasses can be replicated — a seachange for the industry 10 years after Google Glass, the first big commercial smart glass, went on sale to much fanfare only to flop almost immediately.

Massive fake art network uncovered

Italian police uncovered a vast European forgery network, seizing more than 2,000 fake artworks worth around $215 million that were attributed to artists like Banksy, Picasso, and Andy Warhol. Prosecutors said Monday that a 2023 probe led them to a group that specialized in Banksy forgeries, and experts who assisted with the operation said it was “the biggest act of protection of Banksy’s work.” Art forgery is not a new phenomenon, but the rise of AI-generated digital forgeries, which can be made quickly, presents new challenges, Smithsonian Magazine wrote this year. One company is using artificial intelligence to detect forgery: Its tools detected at least 40 inauthentic artworks for sale on eBay.

Donald Trump’s victory reflects how legacy media is more limited in its reach and influence than ever, Semafor’s Max Tani wrote, after Democratic Sen. John Fetterman told him why he chose to appear on Joe Rogan’s popular podcast. “Critical political media coverage simply did not resonate with a large swath of the electorate,” Tani wrote.

UK supermarkets sell cheaper Wagyu

Wagyu, the high-end Japanese beef, is moving from gourmet stores to supermarket shelves, at least in the UK. Japan restricted export of wagyu cattle in the 1990s to maintain its exclusivity, but around 100 had already left the country. Herds were bred in the US and Australia, and the UK now has more than 35,000. As a result, the meat has become an affordable luxury: While an imported Japanese steak sells for $355 in upmarket Harrods, home chefs can buy a British-grown equivalent in supermarkets for around $7.50. Wagyu sales are up even as overall meat sales decline, part of a post-pandemic trend toward home cooking — consumers make their own dinners but treat themselves to high-quality ingredients, Bloomberg reported.

Audiobooks spark reading debate

The rise of audiobooks has changed what it means to be a reader, a literary critic argued. More than half of adults in the US listened to audiobooks in 2023, and the industry is booming. The pleasures of listening to literature are different from those of reading it, wrote Nilanjana Roy in the Financial Times — “the seductions of voice” rather than the tactile, visual pleasures of turning pages and beautiful fonts. But readers are increasingly comfortable switching between the two, and audiobooks’ growth does not seem to be cutting into print book sales. She cited an academic saying that “people are expanding how they make use of literature, what reading is and can be.”

UK’s oldest satellite mystery

The UK’s oldest satellite has moved, and no one knows why. Skynet-1A — no relation to The Terminator — launched in 1969 to relay military communication, and was in a geostationary orbit over Africa. But it is now over the Americas. It was almost certainly ordered to fire its thrusters, but records are lost and it has long been out of fuel. A scientist told the BBC that it is dangerously close to other satellite traffic, and “we’re still responsible for it” should it cause a crash. The UK briefly had an independent space program, but it was canceled shortly after its only orbital launch, 1971’s Black Arrow, making it the only country to develop and then abandon satellite launch capability.

Nov. 12:

• OPEC releases its October report.
• Nvidia hosts a two-day AI summit in Tokyo.
• Brazil’s first rap music reality show, Rhythm + Flow: Brazil, debuts on Netflix.

An AI-powered robot’s painting of British mathematician Alan Turing sold for $1.1 million at auction, almost 10 times the expected amount. Former gallerist Aidan Meller worked with a team of almost 30 people to build the robot, which is named Ai-Da, after Ada Lovelace, regarded as the world’s first computer programmer, The New York Times reported. The robot used a complex process involving multiple paintings to create the work, A.I. God (2024) that depicts Turing as the god of artificial intelligence. Proceeds from the Sotheby’s sale will be used to enhance Ai-Da’s talents, her creator said: “She is constantly being updated. She is on her third painting arm already.”