Flagship

China condemns US’ oil tanker seizures

China said the US is violating international law through its seizures of oil tankers in the waters off Venezuela, underscoring the global ripple effects of Washington’s campaign against Caracas. Most Venezuelan crude is typically shipped on shadow tankers to China, according to OilPrice.com, but the US’ “blockade” on sanctioned vessels around Venezuela cuts off that lifeline for President Nicolás Maduro. Washington and Beijing are jockeying for influence in Latin America, and a potential US invasion of Venezuela would mark a setback for China and its business interests. But Beijing would likely not offer Caracas any support beyond rhetorical condemnation and might privately view Maduro’s fall “as the shedding of dead weight,” an expert wrote in UnHerd.

Gold, silver hit new highs

Gold and silver prices hit fresh highs on Monday as investors rushed toward safe havens amid end-of-year geopolitical tensions. Washington’s blockade on Venezuelan oil triggered the latest surge, analysts said, along with bets on US interest rate cuts. Gold has become “the ultimate hedge against further uncertainty,” one money manager said, as investors this year fretted over US President Donald Trump’s tariffs and his attacks on the Federal Reserve’s independence. Wall Street strategists are bullish about 2026 — a consensus implying a boring year — but basing your investment strategy off that assumption “is roughly as helpful as consulting a fortune cookie,” a Bloomberg columnist argued: Markets are now shaped by “unknowable global forces… and great innovations.”

More Chinese AI firms plot IPOs

Chinese AI companies are poised for a blockbuster year of debuts on Hong Kong’s stock market as Beijing moves aggressively to reduce technological reliance on the US. Chipmaker Shanghai Biren Technology is planning a $623 million IPO at the beginning of 2026; a successful listing could spur other Chinese tech firms to go public. Two other AI model developers have reportedly submitted documents inching toward IPOs as China makes technological self-sufficiency, especially around advanced AI, a priority for the next several years. Beijing has yet to approve imports of powerful Nvidia chips after Washington greenlit the sales, but the US chipmaker told Chinese clients it hopes to ship the accelerators by mid-February, Reuters reported.

Japan taps deep-sea mud for rare earths

Japan plans to extract rare earths from deep-sea mud in a bid to further reduce dependence on China for the minerals. The government is building a facility on Japan’s easternmost island that can tap resources 6,000 meters below the ocean’s surface. Japan imports 60-70% of its rare earths from China — down from 90% in 2010, when a dispute forced Tokyo to build a supply chain less reliant on Beijing. China’s export restrictions on rare earths this year have also pushed the US to build up its domestic mining sector and diversify supply chains; experienced American defense industry players managed to evade Chinese curbs by tapping into a European stockpile of samarium, a mineral capable of handling high heat.

Trump admin halts 5 wind projects

The US government halted five wind projects off the country’s East Coast, the latest blow to clean power under the second Donald Trump administration. Officials cited classified national security risks, though Trump has also long held personal disdain for wind power, particularly offshore turbines. The suspensions come despite voter concerns about ballooning electricity costs as well as rising demand for energy to power AI data centers. The move follows Trump’s yearlong reshaping of US climate and energy policy: Federal agencies have loosened pollution rules, ended clean power subsidies, and pushed other nations to pull back on climate goals. But clean energy advocates are still optimistic heading into 2026, at least about solar, battery storage, nuclear, and geothermal energy.

New Delhi-Dhaka ties strain over lynching

The lynching of a Hindu worker in Bangladesh raised concerns about the safety of the country’s religious minorities, and heightened tensions with neighboring India. Thursday’s killing, over accusations of blasphemy, is the latest violent flare-up to roil Bangladesh following the murder of Sharif Osman Hadi, a student leader and critic of India who was central to last year’s uprising that toppled former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Hadi’s death this month triggered widespread anti-India demonstrations, which targeted Bangladesh’s two biggest newspapers perceived as sympathetic to India, where Hasina is taking refuge. A Bangladeshi journalist warned that anti-India sentiment will be further fomented in the lead-up to Bangladesh’s national elections in February.

Car bomb kills Russian general

A car bomb killed a top Russian general in Moscow on Monday, the third such explosion in the past year. It was unclear whether the death of Fanil Sarvarov, who led the army’s operational training division, would affect US-led talks aimed at ending the war in Ukraine. The explosion came just hours after Washington’s negotiators held separate talks with Ukrainian and Russian envoys in Florida. Russian authorities suggested Ukrainian intelligence services were behind the attack, while some pro-war commentators suggested it was a precursor to a prolonged conflict, The Washington Post reported: “It’s hard to talk about peace when your opponent is preparing for an even bigger war,” one Russian military blogger wrote.

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It’s Waymo vs. Baidu in the UK

The UK is emerging as the premier battleground for the US-China robotaxi war. Chinese tech giant Baidu on Monday said it will deploy autonomous cars across London starting next year through partnerships with Lyft and Uber. The announcement came just days after Waymo, owned by Google’s parent company, began testing its self-driving taxis in the British capital ahead of a full launch. Chinese carmakers including BYD and Geely have already made inroads in the UK, thanks to the country’s low tariffs and the absence of a domestic, mass-market champion. Europe is a fitting front for the robotaxi race; economists say the aging population is more open to automation, while high-income markets make for a stronger business case.

AI pushes Uber to hire more engineers

Uber is hiring more, not fewer, engineers as AI improves their productivity, its CEO said. The ride-hailing app company’s developers use AI tools heavily, Dara Khosrowshahi said, making them “superhumans” who are 20 to 30% more efficient, “so we are actually hiring more engineers because every engineer got more valuable.” His approach is unusual — several Silicon Valley firms are making widespread layoffs, usually attributed to automation — but not unheard of: Salesforce’s CEO also said AI agents are making its staff more effective, freeing them up for higher-value work, and thus they are “hiring aggressively” in areas that can make the most use of the technology.

Switzerland weighs population cap

Switzerland is considering a 10 million population limit, in a referendum proposed by a hardline anti-immigration party. The country currently has around 9 million inhabitants; the proposal would impose a blanket ban on new arrivals whether they are refugees or “top managers on six-figure salaries,” Bloomberg reported. Switzerland’s population has grown 10% in a decade, much faster than other European countries, mainly due to immigration. The backlash to Europe’s growing foreign-born population has seen countries adopt restrictive measures, such as Poland suspending asylum applications and Italy creating asylum-processing centers in Albania. Meanwhile “remigration” — the idea of forcibly expelling immigrants that was once only espoused by the far-right fringes — is entering the political mainstream, a Financial Times columnist wrote, including in the US.

Dec. 23:

• Singapore publishes inflation data for November.
• The UN Security Council meets at Venezuela’s request.
• The Night of the Radishes Christmas festival — in which artists fashion scenes from radishes — is held in Mexico’s Oaxaca City.

The Machine Stops by E.M. Forster. I first read this century-old science-fiction short story in early 2020, just weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic prompted lockdowns the world over. I’ve gone back to it multiple times since, including just a few weeks ago — with the transformations wrought by developments in artificial intelligence front of mind this time — and it feels newly relevant. It’s among the works of literature that I re-read every so often and think about as I consider the changes reshaping the world in real time. Buy The Machine Stops from your local bookstore. (Or read it for free online: It’s in the public domain, at least in the US.)

Two New York galleries joined forces to explore the enduring artistic relevance of drapery. On display at Hollis Taggart and the Susan Inglett Gallery, Drop, Cloth features 30 contemporary works by 25 artists dating as far back as 1969, exploring how drapery, textile, and fabric has — at least since the Renaissance — provided a means for artists to demonstrate skill and introduce more kinetic elements into their work. One notable work on display, Elaine Reichek’s Drapery Study, a hand embroidery based on a drawing by Michelangelo, “collapses historical reference, feminist critique, and material experimentation into a single gesture,” the co-curator told Artnet News. “In many ways, it distills the exhibition’s concerns into one thesis statement.”