Flagship

Trump picks new antitrust chief

US President-elect Donald Trump’s pick as the next chair of the country’s antitrust watchdog is an advocate of clamping down on online censorship of conservative viewpoints. Andrew Ferguson was already a Federal Trade Commissioner but will now head the organization, replacing Lina Khan, under whose guidance the FTC opened a huge number of cases against Big Tech giants: It is unclear whether Ferguson will continue those efforts, with inquiries against Amazon and Meta in the spotlight. Though Khan has drawn the ire of businesses, she has been publicly praised by several prominent Republicans, including Trump’s running mate, JD Vance.

US economy buoyant

US President-elect Donald Trump promised to expedite approvals for investments over $1 billion in the United States, part of efforts to curb regulations and bolster already impressive economic growth. Trump’s pledge lacked details, but comes with the US economy outperforming its peers and many analysts’ expectations: The Business Roundtable’s economic outlook index jumped 12 percentage points to its highest level in more than two years, indicating buoyant CEO expectations, while small-business confidence hit its highest level in nearly three and a half years. US households’ view of their finances also improved to their best level since before the COVID-19 pandemic. The outlook has spurred economists to revise expectations of interest-rate cuts, projecting a slower pace, helping strengthen the dollar.

China’s economic challenge

Chinese leader Xi Jinping voiced “full confidence” that the country would hit its economic growth targets, though analysts were skeptical. Policymakers are this week discussing stimulus and reforms, having already promised bold measures, and Xi and his premier met with major international financial institutions recently in a bid to bolster confidence in Beijing’s plans and purported openness. Yet markets have so far been unimpressed, with little sign of a bounce in stocks or commodities tied to China’s economy. Goldman Sachs economists warned in a note to clients that China’s rapid debt accumulation “stands out,” a pileup that in other countries “typically led to slower growth, lower inflation, and falling interest rates in subsequent years.”

Kenya growth downgraded

The World Bank downgraded its projections for economic growth in Kenya, a week after South Africa unexpectedly said its economy shrank in the third quarter. The announcements point to the challenges facing some of Africa’s biggest economies, which are variously grappling with persistent inflation, insufficient infrastructure, and debt. The World Bank cited the fallout from anti-government protests as well as the impact of flooding in reducing its Kenya forecast, while South Africa — the continent’s biggest economy — blamed its contraction on an under-performing agriculture sector. Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, outperformed growth expectations recently but is also struggling to rein in price increases.

Syrian rebels consolidate power

Fighting persisted in parts of Syria despite the ousting of dictator Bashar al-Assad as rebels who overthrew him moved to consolidate power. The faction behind the assault that led to Assad’s fall advanced on territory held by Kurdish forces, capturing key towns in battles that underscore ”the future challenges of dividing control” between Syria’s various opposition groups, The National noted. Meanwhile, Israel launched hundreds of airstrikes, saying it sought to disarm whoever takes power in the country. In sum, one expert said, a Tehran-backed Assad fleeing in the face of Ankara-backed fighters amounted to a relatively simple geopolitical calculation: “Iran’s loss is Turkey’s gain.”

US gives Kyiv Russian funds

The US gave Ukraine a $20 billion loan, funded by seized Russian assets. The cash is a significant chunk of a planned $50 billion package agreed by G7 nations, and Washington said the idea was to make Russia “bear the costs of its illegal war, instead of taxpayers.” Outgoing US President Joe Biden is keen to back Kyiv before the accession of President-elect Donald Trump, who has described funding Ukraine’s defense as a drain on resources. Washington is also mulling further sanctions on Russian oil, but other countries are apparently skeptical that the new administration will stay the course: Polish President Donald Tusk, usually ultra-hawkish on Moscow, acknowledged that peace talks could start as soon as this winter.

Europe’s shifting power players

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was named Europe’s most powerful figure in Politico’s annual list. Meloni, the head of a formerly fascist party, was once “dismissed as an ultranationalist kook” but is now a key player in Brussels and Washington. The list is also notable for who is not on it: French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz are nowhere to be seen. “Their influence has waned,” Politico’s editors wrote, “leaving others… to step in and fill the void.” The eastward shift of Europe’s power center is represented by four Poles making the list of 28, and, as befits Europe’s bureaucratic reputation, several names are “civil servants and political appointees who rarely attract recognition beyond Brussels.”

Microsoft’s health AI ambitions

Microsoft’s artificial intelligence chief Mustafa Suleyman hired several Google DeepMind staff for a new AI-powered consumer health unit. Suleyman cofounded DeepMind before its 2014 sale to Google, and his poaching from his former colleagues is part of a growing rivalry between the firms: Google has asked the US antitrust regulator to kill an exclusive Microsoft deal with OpenAI, according to The Information. AI-fueled health advancements are likely to be a major driver of profits: Surveys find millions of people use chatbots to answer health queries, and as the developed world’s population ages and chronic diseases become more common, there will be huge income streams from drugs, health advice, and insurance.

Warming climate boosts Latam dengue

Central and South America saw a near-tripling of dengue infections this year to an all-time record. The Pan American Health Organization registered more than 12.6 million infections and 7,700 deaths in 2024, with Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico worst hit. The species of mosquito that carries the virus has seen its range spread in recent years, driven by a hotter, wetter climate as the world warms, although PAHO said that poor waste management and areas of stagnant water, which create breeding grounds for the insects, also contributed. The organization called for stronger mitigation measures to stem the disease. A vaccine is being rolled out in some countries.

Murakami, myself, and I

Haruki Murakami’s latest novel posed a significant translation challenge: How to represent the several words that mean “I” in Japanese with just the one in English. The City and its Uncertain Walls switches between two narrators, a teen and an adult. In the original, the first-person pronoun alternates between boku, representing the teen, and the more formal watashi for the man. Japanese has many first-person pronouns, each “loaded with meaning, suggesting gender, age, rank or relationships,” a scholar of Japanese wrote in The Conversation. Earlier translations of Murakami have switched between past and present tenses to give a sense of different worlds, but “translation is always a process that turns one story into something new.”

• FIFA is expected to confirm Saudi Arabia as the winner of the competition — in which it was the only bidder — to host the 2034 men’s soccer World Cup.
• The International Criminal Court hears closing statements in a war crimes trial over fighting in Sudan’s Darfur region 20 years ago.
• Dexter: Original Sin premieres in New York City.

The budget of the European Union-wide Horizon Europe science funding scheme, which comes to an end in 2027. The EU this month appointed a new head of research, whose main job will be shaping Horizon’s successor organization. Ekaterina Zaharieva, a Bulgarian lawyer, has a tough task ahead of her: The EU has been falling behind its rivals both economically and technologically, and the European Research Council, which provides much of the bloc’s research funding, is under-resourced, with its grants seeing no increase in size since 2007. The new-look funding body is expected to seek closer ties with industry and bring in more private-sector expertise than Horizon did.

One Hundred Years of Solitude, the Netflix adaptation of Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez’s 1967 masterpiece. “It does not disappoint in its scope or ambition,” reports The Conversation on one of the streamer’s biggest-ever productions. “It is clear how faithful the directors wanted this series to remain to the book.” Watch the eight-episode series on Netflix.

Somaliland, a self-governing region within Somalia, could move closer to gaining recognition as an independent nation when Donald Trump returns to the White House in January, Semafor’s Yinka Adegoke scooped. The potential recognition is not only about building relationships, but also “about strategic military and shipping interests in the region, as well as countering China,” Adegoke wrote.