The World at a Glance
Updated 1:07pm EST
1
Google unveiled Gemini 2.0, a new version of its flagship AI that the company says can act as an “agent” for the user.
2US consumer prices ticked up in November, potentially complicating the Federal Reserve’s plan to cut interest rates next week.
3German Chancellor Olaf Scholz fielded a confidence vote he’s widely expected to lose, setting the stage for a general election in early 2025.
4Saudi Arabia will host the 2034 FIFA World Cup, a boon to the Gulf nation’s soft power, while 2030’s tournament will be played across six countries.
5OPEC cut oil demand forecasts for 2024, an acknowledgment by the typically optimistic fossil-fuel producer group that global demand is down.
6Kenya and South Africa’s economies unexpectedly faltered, as debt and inflation wreak more havoc than previously thought.
Germany’s Scholz fields confidence vote following coalition collapse
Chancellor Olaf Scholz requested the vote be held early next week, setting the stage for a general election in early 2025.
Lisi Niesner/ReutersBlinken to face hostile lawmakers as he testifies on Afghanistan withdrawal
He will discuss the withdrawal “in the context of a two-decades-long war that took the lives of 2,500 Americans and cost more than $2 trillion,” a source said.
Leah Millis/File Photo/ReutersChina eyes major economic shifts for 2025
In the face of global and domestic pressures, Chinese policymakers are considering how far they are willing to go to reach growth targets.
Tingshu Wang/ReutersHouse Republicans mulling two big bills in 2025, with tax going first, Texas Rep. says
Congressional Republicans are figuring out the best path to enact their agenda next year, given their thin majority in the House.
SemaforAD
Iran-Israel friction points to ‘dangerous new normal’
Tit-for-tat strikes between the two countries are becoming normalized, a key Middle East analyst noted.
Ruined houses in Lebanon in the aftermath of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. Adnan Abidi/ReutersUS funds Ukraine using seized Russian assets
Washington gave Kyiv a $20 billion loan using the assets as part of a Ukraine aid push ahead of Donald Trump taking office.
Kevin Lamarque/File Photo/ReutersMicrosoft’s growing AI health ambitions
Firms are racing to meet the demand of millions of people who are turning to chatbots for health advice.
Carlo Allegri/File Photo/Reuters
politics
Brendan McDermid/Reuters
Nathan Howard/Reuters
Benoit Tessier/Reuters
The Republican war over Trump’s Syria policy
Rand Paul wants US troops out of the country on ‘Day One.’ Others aren’t so sure.
Brendan McDermid/ReutersStephen Miller takes a starring role in Hill Republicans’ agenda drama
The onetime fringe player is increasingly influential in the party as it tries to reach agreement on how to pass border and tax bills next year.
Nathan Howard/ReutersUS Capitol Police chief expected to discuss post-Jan. 6 security boost
Tom Manger will appear as part of Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s last Rules Committee hearing.
Benoit Tessier/ReutersHouse Republicans mulling two big bills in 2025, with tax going first, Texas Rep. says
Congressional Republicans are figuring out the best path to enact their agenda next year, given their thin majority in the House.
Trump’s FTC chair pick has something in common with Lina Khan
Donald Trump picked Andrew Ferguson to lead the antitrust agency.
Restrictions on US investment in China may find spot in upcoming funding bill
Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries had objected to including the controls in the defense bill over opposition to that bill’s restrictions on transgender health care.
Blinken to face hostile lawmakers as he testifies on Afghanistan withdrawal
He will discuss the withdrawal “in the context of a two-decades-long war that took the lives of 2,500 Americans and cost more than $2 trillion,” a source said.
Texas Latinos shifted right over prices and immigration, new survey finds
Data showed Latino voters split 47-47 between supporting Donald Trump and Kamala Harris.
Senate Democrats’ next foreign policy leader charts new course for party
Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire doesn’t always play the centrist pragmatist.
Republican senators giving ‘undefined’ Gabbard a chance on Syria
Donald Trump’s nominee for national intelligence director may not pay a steep confirmation price for her past remarks about Bashar al-Assad.
Kari Lake a top contender to become Trump’s ambassador to Mexico
The two-time unsuccessful candidate for statewide office in Arizona has stayed close with the president-elect.
business
Mike Blake/Reuters
US inflation ticks up as Fed eyes next interest rate cut
“Price pressures are hardly settling at a level that the Fed can be completely at ease with,” one financial strategist said.
Mike Blake/ReutersChina eyes major economic shifts for 2025
In the face of global and domestic pressures, Chinese policymakers are considering how far they are willing to go to reach growth targets.
OPEC slashes oil demand forecasts again for 2024
The cut is the deepest of the year, as the OPEC alliance is forced to acknowledge slowing global demand.
The cost of Syria’s reconstruction is slowly coming into focus
As Syria’s political transition gets underway, neighboring countries like Turkey stand to play a major role.
Majority of investors consider sports, gaming, and music rights too risky, new survey finds
The findings contrast with a recent Goldman Sachs report that called sports investing the next trillion-dollar market.
technology
From left: Zavain Dar, Adam Goulburn and Nan Li. Courtesy of Dimension.
Andrew Kelly/File Photo/Reuters
Venture firm Dimension raises $500M second fund to bridge software-biotech gap
The fund, the company’s second in less than two years, will be used to invest in the hot space where AI is being used to develop new, lifesaving drugs.
From left: Zavain Dar, Adam Goulburn and Nan Li. Courtesy of Dimension.Google reveals new AI capabilities built on top of its Gemini 2.0 foundational model
Google shared the latest Astra capabilities and a new Chrome plugin called ‘Project Mariner,’ which takes control of your web browser and autonomously completes tasks.
Andrew Kelly/File Photo/ReutersTSMC founder Morris Chang reveals chip industry intel in new memoir
Chang revealed that he asked Nvidia’s Jensen Huang twice if he’d consider taking the helm at the Taiwanese chip giant, and Huang twice refused.
Google unveils upgraded version of its Gemini AI model
Google is positioning the model as an “agent” that can “think multiple steps ahead, and take action on your behalf.”
China launches Nvidia antitrust probe, escalating ‘supply chain warfare’ with US
The US chipmaker Nvidia has dominated the AI hardware market in recent years, with China ramping up efforts to build a homegrown alternative.
TikTok files emergency injunction in latest bid to stall US ban
The ban, which US President-elect Donald Trump has signalled an intention to overturn, is due to come into effect in early 2025.
net zero
Brendan McDermid/Reuters
slworking2/Flickr
Adam Scotti/Canadian Prime Minister’s Office/Handout via REUTERS
Exxon to boost oil production despite global slowdown
The company’s bullish new strategy is at odds with what most of its peers are doing.
Brendan McDermid/ReutersGeothermal energy is heating up, but not yet boiling
The latest federal lease auction for geothermal drilling was a bust.
slworking2/FlickrArctic emitted more carbon than it stored for first time in 2024, US report finds
Rising temperatures are causing the permafrost to melt, releasing greenhouse gases and further accelerating global warming.
Adam Scotti/Canadian Prime Minister’s Office/Handout via REUTERSgulf
Abdel Hadi Ramahi/Reuters
Eric Trump sees Bitcoin at $1 million and US as ‘crypto capital’ in bullish remarks
Speaking at the Bitcoin MENA event in Abu Dhabi, the President-elect’s son said the world was at the ‘beginning of a financial revolution.’
Abdel Hadi Ramahi/ReutersAbu Dhabi emerges as global finance hub as firms set up shop in the city
Billionaire hedge fund investor Ray Dalio praised the emirate as a “renaissance state” and a haven amid escalating geopolitical tensions.
Syria regime topple affects global migration and drug trafficking
Several European nations have suspended processing asylum applications for Syrian nationals, while the manufacturing of narcotic Captagon has virtually ceased.
Turmoil in Damascus, tensions in Doha
A revolution in Syria was buffeted by fast-moving discussions in Qatar, where the broader fallout of the country’s civil war was all too plain to see.
UAE leads Gulf IPO boom in 2024
Food delivery service Talabat’s $2 billion offering cements Dubai’s position as the top listing hub in the region.
africa
Zohra Bensemra/Reuters
Koutchika Lihouenou Gaspard/Wikimedia Commons
Ghana’s president-elect readies for economic challenges
Ghana, the world’s second biggest cocoa grower and major gold producer, is mired in its worst economic crisis in decades.
Zohra Bensemra/ReutersNigeria’s Moove to manage Waymo’s self-driving fleet
US self-driving car company Waymo is outsourcing its fleet management to Moove, a Nigerian-born vehicle financing business.
Koutchika Lihouenou Gaspard/Wikimedia CommonsAfrican angel interest jumps four-fold
Most angel investors say they are sector agnostic but they also prefer to back high growth ventures that already make money.
Chinese retailer Temu storms Nigeria
Nigeria is Temu’s second bet in Africa after the company launched in South Africa earlier this year.
A Trump White House looks set to recognize the world’s newest country
Recognizing Somaliland could enable US intelligence to monitor the movement of weapons in the region and keep an eye on Chinese activity.
How to brand Africa
As a result of negative coverage of the continent Africa pays an additional £3.2 billion ($4.1 billion) for interest on their sovereign debt.
media
Ted Eytan/Wikimedia Commons
Weakened US public broadcasters will fight for their lives in 2025
As Republicans take power in Washington, there’s greater concern among public radio figures about the future of NPR and public radio broadly.
Ted Eytan/Wikimedia CommonsMSNBC producers are going to love New Jersey
The looming move en masse to New Jersey or worse, Connecticut, that has staff of almost all levels spooked.
Murdoch shops for podcasts
Fox is talking to potential acquisition targets in political media, particularly on the right.
Taylor Lorenz and Vox are parting ways
Vox had a short-term partnership with the high-profile tech reporter that is set to expire at the beginning of the year.
Sale of The Observer to Tortoise Media approved by board
The controversial deal was agreed despite strikes at sister publication The Guardian earlier this week.
securityKevin Lamarque/File Photo/Reuters 
TT News Agency/Adam Ihse via REUTERS
TT News Agency/Jonas Ekstromer via Reuters
US funds Ukraine using seized Russian assets
Washington gave Kyiv a $20 billion loan using the assets as part of a Ukraine aid push ahead of Donald Trump taking office.
Kevin Lamarque/File Photo/ReutersUS charges former Assad regime officials with war crimes in Syria
The charges come as the rebel forces that toppled Bashar al-Assad’s regime vowed to hold former officials involved in torture and other crimes to account.
TT News Agency/Adam Ihse via REUTERSSyria regime collapse thrusts Middle East into geopolitical limbo
The downfall of the Assad regime presents the US and its allies in the region with an opportunity to reconsolidate power in the Middle East, analysts said.
TT News Agency/Jonas Ekstromer via Reuters AD