Flagship

Russia strikes Ukraine energy

Russia launched a new air attack on Ukraine’s energy facilities, the 11th such assault this year. Moscow’s intensification of the war comes weeks before Donald Trump takes over the US presidency, and Ukraine’s allies are concerned that he will reduce support for Kyiv. Poland and France will discuss a possible postwar peacekeeping force in Ukraine, and outgoing US President Joe Biden rushed through another $500 million aid package. A former US ambassador to Russia wrote in Foreign Affairs that if Trump wants to end the war, he should not appease Moscow — a tactic which would make it “more aggressive, not less” — but offer a deal: Ukraine gives up some territory in exchange for NATO membership.

Global spotlight on Syria

International talks over supporting Syria accelerated following the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad, with increasing calls to lift sanctions and grant economic aid. The G7 bloc is due to hold a meeting today, while Jordan prepares to host foreign ministers from Western and Arab nations over the weekend. The challenges are plentiful, even before confronting the legacy that decades of dictatorship and war have left on the country: Few governments have had direct contact with Syria’s new rulers, with Qatar a notable exception; the group that drove Assad’s ouster is listed as a terrorist organization by many countries; and Western capitals have voiced caution over ending sanctions until more details emerge about Syria’s new government.

Investors down on China plans

Asian markets fell as investors and economists expressed disappointment after a keenly watched meeting of China’s economic leadership. Beijing vowed to borrow and spend more, saying ramping up domestic consumption was a top priority. The promise was part of its efforts to shore up a flagging economy grappling with huge debt levels, worrying levels of unemployment, and the looming threat of deflation. Traders, however, were unimpressed: Chinese stocks led Asian markets lower, while the country’s bond yields also fell — in this case, a sign of worries over future economic growth. And while China’s leader Xi Jinping has said he is confident the country will hit its 5% growth target, one prominent Chinese economist said expansion would top out at 4%.

China unveils pensions shift

China outlined an expansion of its private pension system, part of global efforts by major countries to prepare for aging populations and grow retirement funds’ investing power. Beijing said that the new system would sit alongside existing state pensions and employer-provided funds, creating a potential behemoth in the world’s second-largest economy: The announcement is “the most important investment story that no one is talking about,” an Obama administration official wrote. Elsewhere, countries are consolidating disparate pension funds in a bid to increase their heft, with the UK aiming to merge 86 local-government programs into a handful of “megafunds” and Sweden clamping down on the number of its retirement funds even as its total pension pool expands.

Trump considers closing watchdogs

US President-elect Donald Trump is reportedly considering restructuring or eliminating financial watchdogs as he moves to slash government spending. Aides have asked potential regulatory appointees whether the agency that polices bank-deposit insurance could be folded, or if several oversight activities could be handled directly by the Treasury Department, The Wall Street Journal reported. Banking is among several sectors hopeful that Trump could reduce regulations in order to bolster the US economy. The incoming president has, however, also threatened wide-ranging trade restrictions, and any undermining of deposit insurance “could quickly ripple through banks and in a crisis might compound customer fears,” the Journal warned. Such efforts would, in any case, require congressional approval.

Google’s long-term AI vision

Google has played the long game on artificial intelligence and its bets are starting to pay off, its CEO said. There was a perception that the search giant had been blindsided by the success of ChatGPT in 2022, and missed the moment. But Sundar Pichai told Semafor’s Reed Albergotti that the company has been in an “AI-first direction” for years, having acquired DeepMind and Waymo over a decade ago, culminating in the release of its Gemini AI tool and the rapid spread of Waymo’s robotaxis. He warned that the next steps may be harder: You can “throw compute at [problems] and make that initial progress,” but after that, “it’s not just a question of scaling alone, it’s achieving breakthroughs.”

Bank starts anti-gang front

The Inter-American Development Bank launched a security coalition to fight the region’s increasingly powerful drug gangs. Across Latin America, cartels have been conglomerating as they seek to consolidate technology, capital, and political contacts. Their unchecked power has turned the region into the world’s most dangerous, and the burden of violence is holding back progress: According to a recent study, crime costs the region roughly 3.4% of its GDP, not including indirect costs, which may be much higher. “If crime is organized, the region should get organized too,” the IDB president told Bloomberg.

YouTube and podcasts have fully come of age as dominant media forms, and legacy media companies are scrambling to buy their way in. On this week’s episode of Mixed Signals, Ben and Nayeema dive into this with Colin and Samir, veteran YouTubers and media thinkers. They discuss the platform’s rise, revenue-backed creativity, and what legacy media gets wrong about digital creators. Plus, Semafor Media Editor Max Tani joins to debrief and fact-check the lacrosse scene in LA.

Child-safe mpox vaccine due in DRC

The first doses of a Japanese-made mpox vaccine should arrive in the Democratic Republic of Congo next week, allowing the protection of young children. The mpox outbreak in Africa has affected 20 countries, with a notable jump last week: 3,545 new cases were reported, up from 2,708 the week before, with 37 deaths. The new vaccine, LC16, fills an important gap: The existing vaccine is only indicated for people over 12 years old, but LC16 is safe for children as young as one. Nearly half of all mpox cases in the DRC are in under-15s. Japan announced a donation of about 3 million doses of LC16, designed to prevent smallpox but effective against mpox.

‘Mirror bacteria’ extinction warning

Efforts to create “mirror bacteria” pose a threat to human life and should be stopped, scientists warned. Organic molecules have unchanging “handedness” — all DNA is “right-handed,” all proteins “left-handed” — but in theory, they could have been the other way round. Scientists have created mirror molecules, and some are working toward making whole mirror microbes, which they hope could create new therapies and industrial processes. But a major new report argued that mirror bacteria might be invisible to immune systems, causing “lethal infections that would spread without check,” possibly leading to what one writer called “the greatest extinction event of the last two billion years.”

Move to change Kyrgyz anthem

Kyrgyzstan announced that it would change its national anthem, saying the one it has is too Soviet. After Kyrgyzstan became independent following the fall of the USSR in 1991, it changed the lyrics of its existing anthem, but the country’s president now says the words are too limited, only celebrating independence, not the “5,000-year-old history” of the Kyrgyz people. National anthems are relatively new: Early modern European states often had anthems for royal families, but only in the 19th century, as nations became the norm, did they become paeans to the nations themselves. The Olympic Games entrenched them further from 1920, when they started playing anthems at medal ceremonies, pushing countries that lacked an official anthem to get one.

• French President Emmanuel Macron is expected to name his prime minister today.
• The COP16 sustainable land conference in Riyadh holds its closing session.
• Disaster Holiday, a new family comedy set in Durban, is released on Netflix.

The return on El Salvador’s cryptocurrency reserves, according to President Nayib Bukele. What was once seen as a risky bet given the country’s threadbare coffers has led to a sizable return as bitcoin’s price has spiked since the election victory of Donald Trump, who many see as friendly to the cryptocurrency industry. However the Central American nation may soon have to trim its holdings in order to secure a loan from the International Monetary Fund, which Bukele — who has shifted his focus to the economy after pacifying the country — sees as vital for boosting growth.

Cage2 by Bertrand Chamayou. The French pianist’s performance of the modernist composer John Cage’s standalone piano works is “a brightly coloured gem,” according to The Guardian, “rhythm razor sharp, every phrase perfectly articulated.” The newspaper named it one of its classical albums of the year. Listen to Cage2 on Spotify.

Republicans are nudging Donald Trump to take a more active role in Syria, even as Trump has indicated he has no intention of doing so, Semafor’s Morgan Chalfant and Burgess Everett reported. ​​More hawkish voices, like Secretary of State nominee Marco Rubio, could “run the risk of clashing with the foreign policy of the new right.”