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US, Germany boost support for Kyiv

Western nations bracing for major political shifts are boosting their support for Ukraine. In a surprise visit to Kyiv, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who is soon set to face a no-confidence vote, pledged that $680 million in military aid would arrive by the year’s end. And the Biden administration is preparing to send an additional $725 million in anti-drone systems and munitions, The Associated Press reported. Speculation is mounting over what Donald Trump’s return to the White House will mean for the war: The president-elect has said he wants Ukraine to strike a deal with Russia, though the head of NATO warned Monday that Washington would face a “dire threat” from adversaries China, Iran, and North Korea if it negotiates an agreement favorable to Moscow.

French government faces collapse

France’s government is on the verge of collapse. The country’s far-right and leftist parties said they would support a no-confidence vote against Prime Minister Michel Barnier that could happen this week. Following snap elections in June, the government effectively relied on far-right leader Marine Le Pen’s support to function; the crisis escalated after Barnier pushed a budget bill through parliament without a vote Monday. French stocks fell on the news, and the uncertainty could cause “longer-term damage to market credibility,” according to a Financial Times columnist. Months of political turmoil have led to a sense of domestic decline, a Le Monde journalist wrote: “The French are brooding, and their perception of the country’s situation is not likely to lift their spirits.”

Intel CEO pushed out

Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger’s resignation Monday marks a setback for the Biden administration’s chip ambitions. The company was awarded billions in US grant funding to build new factories, though Intel struggled to compete with rival Nvidia. Gelsinger was pushed out by the firm’s board, months after a poor earnings report and bleak sales forecast, Bloomberg reported. Policymakers in Washington had grown quietly worried about Intel, spurring talks over whether it would need more assistance, Semafor reported last month. “It makes sense for the US government to try to salvage the situation and to prop up a ‘national champion’ in the chip space,” Semafor’s Reed Albergotti wrote, given its race for technological superiority over China.

Beijing’s Trump playbook clearer

China’s playbook for responding to Donald Trump’s comeback is becoming clearer. In a “striking shift,” Beijing ended or lowered tax rebates for several battery and solar materials, likely a preemptive move to dodge accusations that it unfairly subsidizes cheap exports, The Economist wrote. China has also reportedly studied how Russia circumvented Western sanctions, in case the US and its allies make similar moves in response to a potential conflict over Taiwan, according to The Wall Street Journal. And diplomatically, Beijing is considering ways to hold future meetings with Trump’s nominee for secretary of state, Marco Rubio — who is sanctioned by China — including looking for unofficial backchannels for talks, the South China Morning Post reported.

Trump win impacts Indian immigrants

Donald Trump’s win is likely to have major repercussions for Indian immigrants to the US. The president-elect has targeted Canada over a rise in illegal crossings at the US’ northern border that has been largely fueled by Indian nationals: They made up about 22% of the roughly 200,000 people stopped while trying to cross without authorization in the last fiscal year. Experts told The New York Times that many fly into Canada from India on temporary visas and immediately head to the US border. Meanwhile, skilled Indian workers in the US could also face additional challenges under Trump, an India-born Democratic lawmaker told The Times of India, given the anti-immigration stance of many of the incoming president’s advisers.

Former Iran FM: Tehran open to talks

Iran is increasingly open to talks with the West, including the US, the country’s former foreign minister said. Mohammad Javad Zarif, who was Tehran’s top diplomat from 2013 to 2021, wrote in a Foreign Affairs essay that the country’s new president recognizes “the world is transitioning into a post-polar era where global actors can simultaneously cooperate and compete across different areas.” Zarif’s advocacy for a “new beginning” comes as Iran pursues a diplomatic blitz with a more conciliatory tone, prompted by Donald Trump’s election and the weakening of Tehran’s allies in the region: Hezbollah is diminished by more than a year of conflict and Trump stepped up threats against Hamas Monday, while Syria’s government is facing a fresh offensive from rebel forces.

Antimony prices soar after China curbs

The price of antimony, a crucial element in defense manufacturing, has tripled this year after China curbed exports. Antimony is a semi-metal used in small arms ammunition and artillery shells, as well as electronics. China produces about half the world’s supply and its August decision to limit exports sent prices to $38,000 a ton by mid-November. Wars in Ukraine, the Middle East, and North Africa have driven demand for ammunition sky-high. The US plans to increase artillery shell production by 150%, and that will push demand for antimony up too. Mining companies around the world are scrambling to fill the gap left by China: Slovakia and Canada are ramping up antimony production.

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Shift in Chinese drinking culture

Alcohol sales in China are increasingly being driven by the young, urban, educated, and female, a report found. Cultural taboos against women drinking are falling away, with more than half of “leading alcohol consumers” now female, and almost two thirds under 34, a survey by marketing agency China Trading Desk found. In a “major cultural shift,” Chinese consumers are now spending more on eating out and entertainment instead of savings and travel, the agency’s CEO wrote in Nikkei Asia. While the traditional liquor baijiu still dominates, wine and beer are becoming more popular, and demand for imported brands is growing: “Booze is now completely integrated into the lives of Chinese people,” he wrote.

Spain allows paid climate leave

Spain will allow workers up to four days of paid leave to help them avoid traveling during climate emergencies. Employers were criticized for making staff work despite an alert sent out ahead of October floods that killed at least 224 people. The new measure dictates that if the government announces an emergency, workers “must refrain from going to work.” Extreme weather is expected to become more common as the climate changes, and the World Resources Institute warned that Europe, which is warming faster than any other continent, should expect more heat waves and demand for air conditioning in the coming years, and up to a ninefold increase in heat-related deaths by 2050.

Scientists dissect world’s rarest whale

Researchers will dissect the world’s rarest whale for the first time. Only seven spade-toothed whales have ever been found, all of them dead: Scientists don’t know where in the ocean they live, what their behavior is like, or even their anatomy. They are a form of beaked whale, the deepest-diving cetacean species, and only surface occasionally, hence their mystery. Previous specimens were either partial, or mistaken for other species and buried before being identified with DNA evidence. The most recent, a 16-foot male that washed up in New Zealand, is “relatively unblemished,” The Associated Press reported, and researchers hope to discover “not only how these animals died, but how they lived.”

Dec. 3:

• The British Chamber of Commerce in China releases its annual business sentiment survey.
• Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang meets Thailand’s Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra.
• Chinese chess world champion Ding Liren and Indian challenger Gukesh Dommaraju compete at the 2024 World Chess Championship in Singapore.

Seoul’s luxury hotels are competing to offer ever fancier — and pricier — Christmas cakes, with a 400,000-won ($287) “black truffle holiday cake” setting a new record this year, Korea JoongAng Daily reported. Festive treats dreamed up by gourmet bakeries include a chocolate Ferris wheel and a snowman cheesecake, and holiday cake orders are being accepted earlier “to coordinate with the city’s move to begin Christmas as early as October,” a local hotel group said. The cakes’ prices reflect their labor-intensive designs, with each taking multiple pastry chefs at least 24 hours to finish, a spokesperson for the Grand InterContinental Seoul Parnas told the newspaper: “It is a craft that leans closer to art than food.”

An Apple employee is suing the company for allegedly spying on its workers through their personal devices and iCloud accounts, Semafor’s Reed Albergotti scooped. The lawsuit is interesting, Albergotti wrote, because it “puts Apple’s vast universe of personal data under the spotlight at a time when it is pitching itself as the privacy-focused alternative in the age of artificial intelligence.”