Flagship

US inflation rises slightly

Inflation in the US ticked up slightly last month, according to the first major economic report since the presidential election. The 2.6% annual increase in the Consumer Price Index was in line with experts’ forecasts, and signals to the US Federal Reserve that pricing pressures remain on the economy as the central bank considers this year’s third interest rate cut. Economists have warned that President-elect Donald Trump’s pledges to increase tariffs on imports and deport undocumented workers may cause prices to rise further, but analysts question how long it would take for his policies to make their mark. And compared to other major currencies, the dollar this week rose to its highest level since early May, spurred by inflationary expectations.

Asia relieved by Trump picks

US President Joe Biden is set for what is likely his final meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping before leaving office. Saturday’s talks, on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Peru, come as Chinese officials grapple with the prospect of an escalating trade dispute with the US under President-elect Donald Trump. Some of Washington’s partners in Asia, meanwhile, are more optimistic about Trump’s foreign policy posture: His incoming national security adviser supports strong ties with India, and Tokyo is likely pleased that Trump’s secretary of state nominee has championed the US-Japan relationship. Even in China, some are relieved that Trump didn’t pick people seen as direct threats to the Chinese Communist Party, The Wall Street Journal reported.

China eyes Musk-Trump relationship

Beijing is keeping an eye on Elon Musk’s closeness to US President-elect Donald Trump. Musk has considerable business interests in China through his electric vehicle company Tesla, making him one of the few people in the world with a line to both Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping. That gives Xi a “friend with influence” in Washington, Bloomberg wrote, which analysts say could open the door for smoother US-Sino relations: Tesla supplier stocks are up in China, and Musk has previously opposed tariff hikes on China-made EVs. Beijing’s space ambitions, though, could face a test, given that Musk’s SpaceX may benefit from his newfound political influence. But some in Trump’s orbit are reportedly already tiring of Musk’s constant presence.

Amazon launches Temu rival

Amazon on Wednesday took on Chinese e-commerce platform Temu with the launch of its discount storefront called Haul. Amazon’s service advertises “crazy low” rates, including $2 phone cases, and a pillow set for $5. The US tech giant has worked for months on developing an answer to TikTok Shop, Temu, and Shein: The Chinese-owned apps have boomed in popularity in the US and are able to keep prices low by shipping directly from China and taking advantage of a US import loophole that doesn’t impose tariffs on shipments under $800. But some analysts say Donald Trump’s return to the White House could drive up costs for the cross-border retail platforms, including Haul, through his proposed tariff hikes on all Chinese imports.

Investors bet on Indian delivery apps

Investors are backing the burgeoning food and grocery delivery industry in India. Bengaluru-based service Swiggy had the country’s second largest IPO this year, and shares surged in their trading debut Wednesday, bucking a broader selloff trend in the Indian market. Domestic competitors are literally racing to post faster delivery times: Swiggy said its average transport time is 12.6 minutes, and a new startup boasts 10-minute deliveries. It marks a contrast from the food delivery business in the US, which is an “increasingly unprofitable endeavor” post-pandemic, TechCrunch wrote. The Netherlands-based parent company of Grubhub said Wednesday it is selling the US delivery platform for 91% less than what it paid for it in 2021.

AI firms struggle to build new models

Three leading artificial intelligence companies are reportedly struggling to build more advanced models. OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic are facing differing challenges, but are all seeing diminishing returns on costly AI efforts, Bloomberg reported. Conventional Silicon Valley wisdom dictates that AI models will continue evolving rapidly, potentially reaching human-level reasoning and eliciting warnings of their ability to eventually “kill us off,” as a new book co-written by the late Henry Kissinger argued. But “it’s become increasingly difficult to find new, untapped sources of high-quality, human-made training data that can be used to build more advanced AI systems,” Bloomberg wrote.

Lebanon hails ‘badass’ airline

Israel’s weekslong bombardment against Hezbollah has mythologized Lebanon’s aging national carrier, with some calling it “the most badass airline on the planet.” The 79-year-old Middle East Airlines is now the sole carrier flying in and out of Lebanon — bringing in aid and helping thousands flee the country — the Financial Times reported, and it’s operating out of the only commercial airport, which is situated precariously close to areas targeted by Israel. Lebanese people have hailed the airline’s pilots as heroes, with one Beirut bakery selling MEA-themed cupcakes. Once emblematic of Lebanon’s economic crisis — MEA is owned by the central bank — the carrier is now a “beacon of national pride,” the FT wrote, with one passenger calling it “the lifeboat that helped us escape yet another horrible war.”

China is once again ramping up its energy-related lending to developing nations, but this time the loans are smaller and greener, Semafor’s Prashant Rao scooped. Beijing has learned from its mistakes of funding “huge, mega-level fossil fuel projects,” and is now trying to “explore new pathways in the energy financing field,” a new report’s author told Rao.

Army prep course boosts recruitment

The US Army is providing a prep course to help applicants pass the physical and academic entrance tests. Army recruitment had been “dismal,” the Associated Press reported, partly because of competition from private companies, but also because too many recruits flunked the tests. The course was introduced two years ago as a trial, and boosted the pass percentage — 31,000 trainees have gone through it, although there is concern that the graduates’ discipline and fitness is lower than those who passed the test without the course. Military recruitment has been a window into a nation’s fitness before: During the Boer War (1899-1902), half of would-be British recruits were rejected on medical grounds, largely because of malnutrition, leading to the introduction of free school meals.

Fusion startup achieves milestone

A New Zealand startup claimed that its experimental reactor created plasma, a first, critical step for nuclear fusion. The same process that fuels stars, nuclear fusion promises a source of abundant energy, but commercializing it has proven elusive. OpenStar’s prototype, which it calls “Junior,” is a long way from true nuclear fusion, but it suggests that its unconventional design, which essentially inverts the traditional donut-shaped reactor design by placing the magnet inside at the reactor’s center, could, one day, actually work: “It’s the only fusion configuration that nature doesn’t want to destroy immediately at all times,” its CEO told IEEE Spectrum.

Russian whale wasn’t spying

A suspected “spy” whale that died off Norway this year escaped from a Russian naval base, a scientist said. The beluga, nicknamed “Hvaldimir” — a portmanteau of “Vladimir,” as in Putin, and the Norwegian for “whale” — was widely assumed to be a Russian spy after it was first spotted in 2019 wearing a harness saying “Equipment St Petersburg.” But a whale researcher, citing her former contacts in Russia, told the BBC that the beluga wasn’t a spy, but a trained whale called Andruha who went missing from a military program after it began working in the open waters: He was “smart [but]... kind of like a hooligan,” she said, “and went where he wanted to.” Its death appears to have been natural.

Nov. 14:

• Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán meets with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic in Budapest.
• US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell discusses the country’s economic outlook at an event in Texas.
• The Lost Children, a documentary about four indigenous children who survived 40 days in the Colombian jungle after a plane crash, premieres on Netflix.

British diver Tom Daley is returning to the Japanese city where he struck Olympic gold, this time with a knitting exhibition. Daley took up knitting during the pandemic, and added a million Instagram followers overnight during the Tokyo Olympics after being photographed knitting in the near-empty stands in a bid to calm his nerves. The exhibition at Parco Museum Tokyo features knitted works, photos, and interactive installations with on-screen tutorials by Daley inviting visitors to knit their own pieces. “I want people to feel really immersed in my knitting brain, so that’s the journey I hope to take people on when they come to the exhibition,” he told The Guardian.