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IN TODAY’S EDITION
1️⃣ 5 highlights from APEC |
2️⃣ AI grandmas take on scammers |
3️⃣ Flag of the day |
Hi Intriguer. You know how a specific song can sometimes trigger vivid memories from back when you last heard it on high rotation? Eg: the Justin Bieber / J Balvin Latino Remix of ‘Sorry’ takes me way back to 2016-era Peru, when you couldn’t grab an Uber without it. And Radiohead’s ‘Idioteque’ takes me back to a road-trip I did with friends in 2002-era Canada, around the time the Canucks won the Olympic hockey. Well, it turns out this is a thing – researchers call it ‘music-evoked autobiographical memory’.
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And the song that takes me to yet another era two decades later, when I left the foreign service to go all in on Intrigue? That’d be ‘Sol’ by a hip Swedish quartet known as Dina Ögon. A lot’s changed since then, not only in this world we explore each day, but also for Intrigue itself — we’ve grown from a small community (hi dad) to more than 120,000 daily readers.
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We’re still growing fast and want to make sure we keep hitting the spot for you, so if you can spare a moment (and score some sweet prizes!), I’d love it if you could complete this quick survey and make sure your voice is heard. Thank you!
THE HEADLINES
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Biden allows Ukraine to use US weapons to strike inside Russia.
US President Joe Biden has reportedly greenlit the use of longer-range US weapons by Ukraine to strike targets deeper inside Russia. The decision was reportedly taken after North Korean troops joined the fighting on Russia’s side. This will be welcome news in Ukraine, which has lobbied Washington for permission for months. The Kremlin accused Washington of adding “oil to the fire”. The news broke only hours after the largest Russian attack on the Ukrainian power grid in months.
Hezbollah media chief killed in Israeli strike.
Hezbollah confirmed Mohammad Afif was killed by an Israeli strike on central Beirut on Sunday. Meanwhile, dozens of Palestinians, including women and children, were killed or injured by an Israeli strike on a residential building in northern Gaza, according to Palestinian authorities. The Israeli military says the strikes had hit “terrorist targets”.
Trump widens list for Treasury Secretary.
While President-elect Donald Trump has moved quickly to fill some cabinet roles, the Treasury Secretary spot remains empty. On Sunday, reports emerged that former Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Warsh and Apollo Global co-founder Marc Rowan were added to the shortlist. Meanwhile, Elon Musk and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. backed Howard Lutnick, the ex-CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald and co-chair of Trump’s transition team. Trump has tapped Brendan Carr, a Big Tech critic, to run the Federal Communications Commission.
US and Philippines sign intelligence-sharing deal.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his Philippine counterpart signed a deal allowing the two countries to share more classified military information and deepen their bilateral security ties. The Philippines has become increasingly vocal about its discontent with China’s assertive stance in the South China Sea.
G20 kicks off in Brazil.
World leaders including US President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping have descended on Rio de Janeiro for the two-day summit, straight off the heels of APEC in Peru. This year’s meeting takes place in the shadow of two major conflicts and an impending change in US administration.
TOP STORY
In Peru, Trump looms large as Xi and Biden meet alongside APEC leaders
Credit: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images
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With approval ratings hovering at 4%, Peruvian President Dina Boluarte had been keeping a low profile, with no press appearances for 100+ days and a quiet official calendar to boot. But this week, she flung open Lima’s doors to host some of the world’s most powerful players at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.
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From 9 to 16 November, world leaders, diplomats, and business execs flocked to Peru (just as it ushered in summer ☀️). As always, Intrigue’s here to give you the top takeaways from the summit —
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Leaders’ Machu Picchu Declaration
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Usually, the most anticipated outcome from these conferences is the iconic leaders ‘family photo’, which inevitably leads to analysis of which leader stands where, next to whom, and what it all means. The other less spicy outcome is a joint communique, aptly named the Machu Picchu Declaration this year. It contains 19 bullet points that diplomats no doubt spent hours word-smithing, and had some intriguing fine print.
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Take for example this quote — “We acknowledge the importance of… predictable trade and investment environment”. In the era of Biden’s White House and Xi Jinping’s Beijing, maintaining stability in global trade was key. China’s set to host the 2026 APEC, and knows that the world economy will likely look radically different to today’s if Donald Trump lives up to his campaign promise of hitting China with 60% tariffs.
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CEOs on the margins
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Aside from world leaders, APEC also hosted the CEO Summit, which is usually the more lit lively gathering. Over 1,000 C-suite execs flew into Lima to rub shoulders with government counterparts, including TikTok CEO Shou Chew and JP Morgan’s Jamie Dimon, who:
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⛏️ Expects more regulation to be rolled back
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🤝 Anticipates an impending M&A boom
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💸 Thinks that “economic power is military power… and some of the recent US leadership has forgotten that.”
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📚 Recommended the audience read ‘The Art of the Deal’
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📝 Cited Tony Blair and JFK quotes on the risk of populism and what one can do for their country.
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Meanwhile, Chew was upbeat and told the crowd TikTok is working to be a “champion of free speech” and “one of the most trusted companies in the world.”
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Xi-Biden Meeting
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Chinese President Xi Jinping met with outgoing US President Joe Biden on Saturday, promising to work with the incoming US administration on a laundry list of thorny issues: cybercrime, counter-narcotics, trade, Taiwan, the South China Sea, and Russia. The two leaders met for about two hours — their first face-to-face in seven months.
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Xi, never one to mince words, opened with a pointed message: “Make the wise choice.” He emphasized the need for “major countries” to find a way to coexist.
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Biden’s pitch? “Competition, not conflict”, and to keep talking so as to avoid missteps that could push the US-China relationship from competition into conflict. Biden acknowledged that even though he and Xi haven’t always agreed, their discussions have always been “frank” and “candid.”
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But there was one topic Washington and Beijing saw eye-to-eye on (at least for now) ….
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AI on the agenda
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“Constructive dialogue” on artificial intelligence risks has become a fixture on the diplomatic circuit of late, including at APEC. Biden and Xi agreed to work on addressing risks of AI systems and improve international cooperation on AI safety, including on the need to keep humans in the decision-making loop on whether to use nuclear weapons.
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This is big because it’s the first time China has formally and publicly committed to this stance, highlighting its worries about the potential dangers of AI in military applications. Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, described the agreement as “foundational” and a key moment of alignment on global security (for the time being anyway, as Trump’s administration will likely have a different stance on AI safety issues).
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Status quo on other conflicts?
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And finally, Xi defended China’s position on the war in Ukraine as being “neutral” when Biden pushed Beijing to discourage North Korea’s involvement in the war. President Biden had been a mere 24 hours away from authorising Ukraine to use long-range American weapons inside Russia.
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Xi also took the moment to warn the US and its allies in Asia that he would not allow “war and chaos” on the Korean peninsula, saying China would not “sit idly by and watch” if Beijing’s security and core interests were threatened.
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And just like that, Biden wrapped one of his last public meetings with his most consequential global counterpart as the world braces itself for the changes ahead.
INTRIGUE’S TAKE
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Do gatherings like this matter if it’s an outgoing US administration that attends? In short, yes. Both for the optics of diplomatic engagement and the substance of the technical sideline discussions (even if these don’t make the cut for newsworthy content).
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But with all that’s already going on globally, many governments and business leaders are feeling anxious about how more impending policy changes from a new US administration might impact global trade.
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That’s probably felt more at APEC than anywhere else right now, in part because APEC is a regional economic forum focused on growing interdependence through global (and free) trade. We’ve no doubt that APEC participants would have been glad they had this chance to huddle and find ways to navigate the impending changes.
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Also worth noting:
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Xi recently inaugurated a China-built deep-water port in Chancay, Peru, calling the $1.3bn investment a new maritime-land corridor between Latin America and China.
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At APEC, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto offered more incentives to investors as he looks to up investments into his country. This comes just weeks after he banned Apple iPhone 16s from the market for not having 40% of its materials produced in-country.
A MESSAGE FROM HEAR.COM
Not Your Grandpa’s Hearing Device
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What happens when you combine German engineering with the world’s most trusted name in hearing care? The biggest breakthrough in hearing technology in more than a decade. Introducing the Horizon IX hearing aid.
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Horizon IX by hear.com is one of the world’s first dual processing hearing aids, which separates speech and background noise to deliver never-before-heard clarity. The best part? The Horizon IX hearing aids are nearly invisible, tucked away inside or behind the ear, so you can enjoy perfect hearing without the burden of uncomfortable (or awkward) hearing devices.
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Bluetooth/smartphone connectivity and fully rechargeable
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Award-winning customer service
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Insurance and flexible finance options available
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Ready to join 400,000 people hearing better than ever? See if you qualify for a 45-day no-risk trial of the award-winning Horizon IX hearing devices!
MEANWHILE, ELSEWHERE…
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🇯🇵 Japan: Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya arrived in Ukraine on Saturday to discuss North Korea’s involvement in the Russo-Ukrainian War. Ukraine’s intelligence services believe Pyongyang had sent troops to Russia in return for access to Russia’s missile and nuclear programs.
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🇩🇪 Germany: Chancellor Olaf Scholz held a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the first direct contact between the two leaders in nearly two years. Scholz told Putin to “be prepared to negotiate with Ukraine with the aim of achieving a just and lasting peace.”
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🇵🇼 Palau: Incumbent president Surangel Whipps Jr will return for a second term after beating his own brother-in-law in last week’s election. Whipps Jr has deepened Palau’s defence ties with Washington, renewing a deal that allows the US military to enter its waters, airspace, and land earlier this year.
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🇻🇪 Venezuela: At least 70 people who had been arrested during the protests in the wake of Maduro’s fraudulent reelection earlier this year have been released by the government, though thousands still remain in prison.
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🇿🇦 South Africa: Hundreds of allegedly illegal miners remain holed up in an unused mine in South Africa in a weeks-long standoff with the police. Authorities have refused to deliver supplies to the miners, who they say are criminals.
EXTRA INTRIGUE
🤣 Your weekly roundup of lighter news from around the web:
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A UK telecomms company has created an AI grandma to make scammers waste as much time as possible.
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Four people have been charged after the California Department of Insurance said the “bear” who had damaged three luxury cars was actually just a human in a bear suit.
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Latvian police charged two nationals with counterfeiting Ariel laundry detergent products.
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Chinese authorities have cracked down on a social media trend where hundreds of thousands of students biked for hours at night to get soup dumplings after the mass ride blocked a highway.
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Spanish police arrested its former anti-money laundering chief after over $20M were found stashed in the walls of his house.
FLAG OF THE DAY
Credits: Encyclopedia Britannica.
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The Eritrean flag has colours as vibrant as the history behind the banner itself.
It features three triangles stacked on top of each other: a green (representing agricultural wealth), a blue (representing maritime resources) and a red (representing the struggle for national liberation). These geometric characteristics were borrowed from the flag of the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front, which fought for Eritrea’s independence from Ethiopia (1961-91).
Meanwhile, the yellow wreath of two olive branches (representing peace and prosperity) is a nod to an earlier Eritrean flag, which paid homage to the UN’s role in advancing Eritrea’s self-government post-WWII.
DAILY POLL
What role does Biden have until January? |
Last Thursday’s poll: Where do you think Bitcoin is headed?
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🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🚀 To the moon (11%)
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🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ 😢 It’ll end in tears (35%)
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🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🤷 It’ll drop from its peak and stabilise lower (53%)
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⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ ✍️ Other (write in!) (1%)
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Your two cents:
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🤷 J.L.G: “Bitcoin is still a volatile asset, as it has yet to be adopted as a common currency. It currently acts as a pseudo-stock, fluctuating in value based upon people buying and selling, making it unlikely that it will keep any high value as as people sell out at the perceived peak, although we may see a rise in the future stabilized price.”
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😢 J: “All currencies are built on faith to some degree. The real ones have economies running on them. Bitcoin is a bit like AI, it lets you do illegal things faster.”
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🚀 M.A: “It’s all about time. Bitcoin’s history is one of peaks, enthusiasm, a crash and then a steady rise again when no one is looking, with the following peak being higher than the previous one.”
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✍️ C.D: “I really don’t know. Politically, the new American administration is expected to be supportive, so in the near term one might expect it to flourish. But is it sustainable?”
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