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The World
President Biden and Xi Jinping “are expected to hold frank talks about Taiwan when the U.S. and Chinese presidents meet in San Francisco on Wednesday.” Biden and Xi “will resurrect attempts to halt the steep deterioration in ties, which are in their worst state in four decades. Their effort a year ago was derailed when a suspected Chinese spy balloon flew over the US in February.” (Financial Times)
Chinese Ambassador to the U.S. Xie Feng said the U.S. “must match words with ‘concrete actions’ and stop ‘playing with fire’ over Taiwan if it wants to clear hurdles” during the summit. (South China Morning Post)
The White House “has pulled back on plans to announce the conclusion of substantial portions of a new Asian-Pacific trade pact” during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit after top Democrats including Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) threatened to oppose it. The White House had been aiming to announce that the U.S. and its trading partners “had largely settled the terms of its Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity. (New York Times)
U.S.-China: One summit, two different goals for Biden and Xi (Nikkei Asia)
Secretary of State Antony Blinken acknowledged disagreements within the State Department over Biden Administration policy on the Gaza conflict in an email to staff. Blinken wrote, “I know that for many of you, the suffering caused by this crisis is taking a profound personal toll. The anguish that comes with seeing the daily images of babies, children, elderly people, women, and other civilians suffering in this crisis is wrenching. I feel it myself.” (CNN)
The Supreme Court has adopted its first-ever code of ethics, but the policy, “agreed to by all nine justices, does not appear to impose any significant new requirements and leaves compliance entirely to each justice.” (Associated Press)
Britain has approved anastrozole as a preventive drug for post-menopausal women at risk of developing breast cancer. A pill taken daily for five years, it “cuts down how much estrogen the body makes by blocking the enzyme aromatase.” Anastrozole has long been used to treat breast cancer and a clinical trial a decade ago showed convincingly that it could prevent it as well. (STAT)
“All homebuyers now use the internet to find a house, according to a new report from the National Association of Realtors.” (Axios)
“Older buyers are prevailing in America’s hot housing market.” The median age for a “repeat buyer — someone who has bought a home before — was 58,” according to the NAR, down “just a smidgen from last year’s record of 59, but it’s up significantly from 36 years old in 1981, when NAR began conducting its survey.” (Washington Post)
Electricity use in Texas “is increasing at historic rates in a sign of what is to come for much of the U.S.” The state, which is the nation’s “largest electricity producer and user, saw sales grow at five times the national rate for the past decade.” (Wall Street Journal)
“In one of the most extraordinary twists in recent British political history,” Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has fired Home Secretary Suella Braverman and naming David Cameron, “who was forced to resign as PM in 2016 after losing the EU referendum,” as foreign secretary. (The Independent)
Economy
“Chief Executive’s November CEO Confidence Index has good news and bad news.” It “finds improvement in CEOs’ outlook for 2024,” with 41% saying they expect business conditions to improve, compared to just 32% last month. “So that’s good. But when asked to forecast the business environment by this time next year, CEOs gave a rating of 5.9 out of 10,” barely changed since “hitting a year-low in October. Not exactly good, but at least it isn’t bad? Or is it bad but at least it isn’t worse.” (Chief Executive)
Look Past Gas Prices for the Latest State of Inflation: Economists think lower gasoline prices took a bite out of overall inflation but that underlying price pressures held steady. (Wall Street Journal)
Major U.S. retailers “could be saddled with too much stock for a second straight year,” jeopardizing profit margins “and generating steep discounts for shoppers.” Stuffed stockrooms “are especially challenging for retailers this year because American shoppers are expected to spend just 3% to 4% more this season, roughly on par with inflation. That would represent the slowest pace of growth in five years.” (Reuters)
Stellantis is offering buyouts to 6,400 of its 12,700 U.S. white-collar employees “to reduce headcount and cut costs for the automaker’s North American operations.” The voluntary separation packages will be offered employees with five or more years of employment. (CNBC)
UAW production workers at Ford's Louisville assembly and Kentucky truck plants voted against a proposed contract, “while the skilled trades workers voted in favor of the deal.” The UAW Local 862 union “said that 55% of the production workers voted against ratifying the contract. However, 69% of the skilled trades workers cast votes in favor of the contract.” (Reuters)
Exxon Mobil is launching a drilling operation in Arkansas as part of a plan “to become a leading producer of lithium for electric vehicle batteries.” Exxon “will start producing battery-grade lithium at the site as soon as 2027, and aims to supply enough of the mineral to support the manufacture of 1 million electric vehicles annually by 2030.” (CNBC)
Technology
Google pays Apple Inc. 36% of the revenue it earns from search advertising made through the Safari browser, the main economics expert for the Alphabet Inc. unit said. Kevin Murphy, a University of Chicago professor, disclosed the number during his testimony in Google’s defense at the Justice Department’s antitrust trial in Washington. (Bloomberg)
OpenAI “is trying to attract some of Google's best researchers through a pay packet worth millions, as well as top tech resources including AI accelerator chips to run tests.” The ChatGPT maker “is exploring options for an employee share sale that values the company at $86 billion.” (Insider)
OpenAI chief seeks new Microsoft funds to build ‘superintelligence’. (Financial Times)
Nepal has banned TikTok, “citing its negative effects on social harmony.” While “freedom of expression is a basic right, a large section of society has criticised TikTok for encouraging a tendency of hate speech, the government said.” (The Hindu)
Amazon will cut more than 180 jobs in the Amazon Games division, “shutting down parts of the business that focus on streaming and supporting third-party games and putting more of an emphasis on developing its own titles.” The Game Growth and Crown Channel initiatives will be shut down as part of the restructuring. (CNBC)
“With Tesla's first Cybertruck deliveries expected later this month, a now-deleted update to the electric carmaker's terms of service said the firm could sue customers for $50,000 or more” if they resell without Tesla’s written permission during the first year of ownership. The provision “seemed designed to deter scalping for a car expected to be available only in limited quantities.” (Ars Technica)
Smart Links
China’s Spending on Green Energy Is Causing a Global Glut. (Wall Street Journal)
Council on Foreign Relations Chief: China sending ‘schizophrenic’ messages to American business. (Semafor)
Singapore's SC Capital to build Osaka data centers for $660m. (Nikkei Asia)
In a first, cryptographic keys protecting SSH connections stolen in new attack. (Ars Technica)
Nvidia upgrades flagship chip to handle bigger AI systems. (Reuters)