Flagship

Syrian rebels rush to establish order

Syrian rebel forces that toppled dictator Bashar al-Assad’s regime began asserting authority over some government institutions as world capitals scrambled to forge links with the country’s new rulers. Syria’s former prime minister agreed to hand power to a transitional, rebel-led government, while fighters took up posts outside federal buildings, directed traffic, and rushed to find and free people in underground prisons. Ensuring stability and security — while easier said than done — “is a major, major issue, because as people start fighting, weapons start spreading, everything goes down from there,” one expert said. Foreign governments, meanwhile, readied for talks with the lead rebel faction, even as they debated whether to formally recognize the group, which some countries consider a terrorist organization.

China mulls limited Syria options

China has limited options when it comes to bolstering ties with Syria following the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad, analysts said. Beijing backed Syria at the UN Security Council with vetoes on eight occasions — half of all the vetoes the People’s Republic of China has ever cast — in a relationship “driven more by shared threats than opportunities,” an expert at Abu Dhabi’s Zayed University wrote. Those ties culminated in Assad’s state visit to China last year. Beijing now “risks being sidelined” by Syria’s ascendent rebel groups, a China-focused scholar argued. Still, the costs for Beijing are limited compared to Moscow and Tehran, which had much closer ties to Assad’s regime, an expert in China-Middle East relations noted.

China shifts economic approach

China loosened its monetary policy stance for the first time in 14 years, signaling more aggressive stimulus in 2025, analysts said. The country is facing deep economic challenges, and could be further hit by tariffs promised by US President-elect Donald Trump. Shares of Chinese companies and US firms with heavy China exposure rallied after Beijing pledged to take “more proactive” steps to boost consumption. The statement — ahead of a key meeting of the country’s economic leadership this week — suggested policymakers “are willing to do extraordinary things to offset the external shocks,” a China economist at the investment bank Macquarie said, cautioning that another stimulus package likely won’t arrive “anytime soon.”

China targets Nvidia in antitrust probe

Chinese authorities launched an antitrust probe into US chip giant Nvidia, further escalating tech tensions between Washington and Beijing. The investigation into whether Nvidia violated anti-monopoly laws represented retaliation for US restrictions targeting China’s chip sector, analysts said, demonstrating that Beijing is increasingly willing to target companies across the supply chain in the deepening trade war. China and Nvidia are reliant on one another, the former for modified Nvidia chips to train artificial intelligence models, while the latter receives 15% of its annual revenue from China. The probe is not the only scrutiny Nvidia faces: US officials also looked into potential antitrust issues this year, and the head of France’s competition watchdog hinted Nvidia could face charges “one day.”

Merger shakes up ad industry

A US advertising giant bought one of its biggest rivals, forming the world’s biggest ad agency and shaking up the industry. Omnicom’s acquisition of Interpublic Group, currently the third- and fourth-largest industry players respectively, brings further conglomeration to an industry already dominated by a dwindling number of increasingly powerful firms. Global advertising revenue is expected to surpass $1 trillion in 2024 for the first time, according to a new report. The figure underscores the reality that “advertising is a business of haves and have-nots,” The Hollywood Reporter wrote: Just five companies — Google, Meta, ByteDance, Amazon, and Alibaba — are expected to receive more than half of all global ad revenue this year.

Police arrest person of interest in CEO killing

Authorities arrested a 26-year-old man in connection to the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York City. Luigi Mangione was detained 270 miles from New York in Pennsylvania after a McDonald’s employee recognized him. Police said he was carrying a gun that resembled the murder weapon, as well as a “manifesto” that criticized health care companies for prioritizing profit margins over patients. Thompson’s killing has gripped the US, with corporations reexamining their security practices: About 24% of CEOs and 16% of other executives at S&P 500 companies have personal security paid for by their companies, according to insurer Willis Towers Watson.

A NY political operative’s China ties

A former Hong Kong gang member who rose to become “The King of Brooklyn” has close ties to the Chinese government, The New York Times reported. John Chan, who was charged in the 1970s for smuggling Chinese migrants to the US in shipping containers, now controls a network of political nonprofits in New York that direct “money, staffing, and votes to his favored candidates” and organize against those who hold anti-Chinese government stances, the paper reported in a lengthy investigation. Chan’s trips to China include a March visit in which he attended a session of the country’s top political advisory body.

A bill put forward to the US Senate seeks to defund the country’s public media companies, many of which are already struggling amid dwindling engagement and budget constraints, Semafor’s Max Tani reported. Congressman Scott Perry told Tani that federally funded media like NPR has shown “itself to be an unnecessary” and a “very inflammatory expenditure.”

English dominates computer coding

The hottest programming language of 2024 is English. Until recently, the ability to code was limited to those who understood Java, C++, or one of the other major programming languages, Analytics India said, but AI-powered natural language tools are enabling would-be coders to operate in plain English. Tech leaders are explicit in the desire to democratize coding: This year, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said AI will eventually mean “nobody has to program and that the programming language is human,” while the CEO of Stability AI has said 41% of code on the programming repository GitHub is AI-generated. The new tools don’t entirely eliminate the need for skill, however: “There is an artistry to prompt engineering,” Huang said.

Israeli cave yields clues to ancient rituals

A cave in Israel holds what researchers believe to be some of the oldest evidence of humans engaging in communal ritual practices. Archeologists investigating the deepest part of the cave found an etched stone that they believe was engraved some 35,000 years ago and may have been an object of worship. They also found residue from wood ash on the cave’s walls — evidence that the people living there likely carried torches to light the chamber. The site is renowned for past discoveries indicating ancient human and Neanderthal activity in the area, including a 55,000-year-old skull. The new findings help flesh out how, when, and where the first collective rituals developed in humans.

Haitian art rises in global recognition

Haitian art is gaining curators’ attention — and increased dollar value, too. While the troubled island nation has garnered headlines for darker reasons lately, Haitian artists have been featured in a spate of global showcases, Artnet reported. The renewed focus, perhaps best represented by a major exhibition of art from the island at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, comes on the back of the 2020 “racial reckoning,” one curator said, as the art world became keen to pay attention to previously underrepresented groups. Haitian art prices are also ticking up: Nine paintings by 20th-century Haitian artist Hector Hyppolite have sold for more than $100,000 each since 2020.

Dec. 10:

• The US Senate Judiciary Committee holds a hearing on President-elect Donald Trump’s planned mass deportations.
• A Seattle court rules on whether to block grocery giant Kroger’s $25 billion acquisition of rival chain Albertsons.
• Nobel Prize award ceremonies take place in Stockholm and Oslo.

A book about the history of the caviar industry was awarded oddest title of the year by a UK magazine. The Philosopher Fish: Sturgeon, Caviar, and the Geography of Desire won the public vote by the narrowest margin in the history of the contest, administered by The Bookseller. In a close second and third were How to Dungeon Master Parenting: A Guidebook for Gamifying the Child-Rearing Quest, Leveling Up Your Skills, and Raising Future Adventurers and Looking through the Speculum: Examining the Women’s Health Movement. “I’ve never seen such deep divisions in the… electorate,” a prize administrator said. “But The Philosopher Fish has a chance to heal those wounds with its classic odd title blend of peculiarity and pomposity.”