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Asia
But after the boom, often comes the bust. China’s experience can be both a roadmap and a warning. The results of its building spree have been astounding: more high-speed rail than the rest of the world combined, soaring GDP growth, hundreds of millions lifted into the middle class. But the People’s Republic is now dealing with a stagnating economy. Local governments that financed all that construction are drowning in debt. China bet on physical infrastructure. The US is gambling on digital. If AI doesn’t deliver on its promise, both could end up in the same place: buried under the weight of their own ambition.
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President Trump misinterpreted Vladimir Putin’s comments about nuclear-powered weapons; he reportedly ordered preparations to test US nuclear weapons, sparking Russia and North Korea to signal they might do the same.
Bildt explains how this confusion could reverse 35 years of progress in limiting nuclear tests and destabilize an already volatile world on GZERO Europe.
What We’re Watching: Milei sticks to his guns, Putin gets ready to test, Central Asia comes to Washington
Argentina's President Javier Milei gestures after the La Libertad Avanza party won the midterm election, which is seen as crucial for Milei's administration after US President Donald Trump warned that future support for Argentina would depend on Milei's party performing well in the vote, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on October 26, 2025.
Argentina’s Milei says no float just yet
Argentine President Javier Milei says he still won’t float the peso freely, signaling he’ll continue to spend his country’s central bank reserves to artificially manage the exchange rate until the 2027 presidential election. Why is that a big deal? Just last month, ahead of the midterm elections, Milei got $2 billion from the United States – as well as a $20 billion credit line – to shore up dwindling reserves. Keeping the currency strong is part of his broader effort to bring down inflation, which includes taking a chainsaw to government spending. But investors expected that after the midterms – which he won handily – he’d move in a more market- friendly direction, letting the peso float. So much for that. If the policy puts reserves in danger again, will the self-styled “anarcho-capitalist” president get another bailout from Tío Sam?
Putin signals he’s ready to match any new US nuclear tests
Just days after US President Donald Trump announced that the Pentagon would resume nuclear testing – without going into some key details – Russian President Vladimir Putin signaled he is ready to do the same, asking members of his security council yesterday for proposals. Neither country has tested a nuclear warhead in decades, although both still test and maintain delivery systems such as rockets and missiles. A return to actual warhead testing could provoke a dangerous new arms race at a time when arms control agreements are already withering fast. For more, see our recent report here.
The ‘stans come to stan Trump
The leaders of the five Central Asian republics – can you name them? – will meet with Trump at the White House today. Russia has long dominated the resource-rich former-Soviet region, but China has made significant commercial inroads in recent years. Trump is seeking greater US access to critical minerals and other resources there, while the Central Asians – wary of both Russian intentions and China’s heft – are keen to diversify their economic and security ties. (Btw, the five are: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Did you get ‘em all?)
Hard Numbers: Bank of Canada slashes staff, US flights grounded by shutdown, Mexico’s president groped in viral incident, Japan targets ursine enemies
Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks during a press conference on the sidelines of the 47th ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on October 27, 2025.
10%: The Bank of Canada plans to lay off 10% of its staff. The move comes amid broader cuts of thousands of government workers as Prime Minister Mark Carney tries to streamline operations and gird the country against the longer-term impacts of Donald Trump’s trade war.
40: The US government shutdown will hit travellers this weekend, as the Trump administration plans to cut 10% of air traffic at 40 of the country’s busiest airports. Thousands of flights will be canceled. The move is meant to ease working conditions for air traffic controllers, who have been on the job without pay since the shutdown began more than a month ago.
501: Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has filed a criminal complaint against a man who groped her breast and tried to kiss her on Tuesday. The incident was captured on video and went viral. “If I don’t file a complaint, then what message does that send to all Mexican women?” Sheinbaum said. The incident shines a fresh light on the country’s huge problem of violence against women – there have been 501 femicides in the country so far this year. Experts say that’s a vast undercount.
100: Japan hasn’t fought a war in 80 years, but the government has just deployed troops to deal with an internal enemy: bears. This year there have been more than 100 attacks by the animals – including at a hot springs, a bus stop, and inside a supermarket – leaving a record 12 people dead. Overpopulation and shortages of natural food is driving the bears more into settled areas to fatten up ahead of the winter hibernation.
20: Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s 20th term in Congress will be her last, as the 85-year-old representative for San Francisco and announced she would retire. A fierce leader who has politics in her blood, Pelosi was the first woman to ever serve as speaker, holding the gavel for eight years cumulatively. She was also the Democratic leader in the House for 20 years. Arguably her biggest legislative achievement was shepherding the Affordable Care Act through Congress – although she hated the final version of the bill.Hard Numbers: Typhoon rips through the Philippines, Europe wants more rail, Israel returns bodies to Gaza, Canada’s Carney unveils first budget
85: A typhoon ripped through the Philippines on Tuesday, killing at least 85 people and forcing roughly 400,000 people to flee their homes – many of which are now flooded. The typhoon is set to continue through other parts of Southeast Asia, including Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand.
€345 billion: Europe may be tightening its internal borders, but it’s still pushing its trains: The European Union on Wednesday laid out a €345-billion ($396-billion) plan to slash train times between major European cities over the next 10-15 years. Under the plan, there will be trains that run at 200 kilometers per hour (roughly 125 mph) between each major EU city.
15: Israel returned the bodies of 15 Palestinians to Gaza on Wednesday, as part of ongoing exchanges required by last month’s ceasefire deal. Israeli authorities have now returned 285 bodies since the deal was signed, though it is not clear how many more they are holding. Hamas still holds the remains of seven Israeli hostages.
CA$78 billion: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney unveiled his first budget on Tuesday, which includes new infrastructure spending, funds for the military, and major immigration cuts. However, the budget shows a deficit of $78 billion, the second-largest in the country’s history.
What We’re Watching: Some Americans head to the polls, German U-turn on Syrian asylum policy, Russia may have to find new oil buyers
Democratic candidate for New York City mayor, Zohran Mamdani, votes in the New York City mayoral election at a polling site at the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts High School in Astoria, Queens borough of New York City, USA, on November 4, 2025.
It’s Election Day in the United States
It’s the first Tuesday after Nov. 1, which means it’s US election day. Key ballots to watch include the mayoral race in New York City – where democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani is poised to pull off an upset that will echo into national level politics – as well as state Supreme Court races in Pennsylvania, and ballot initiatives on gerrymandering in California. Don’t forget about the New Jersey governor election either, where GOP nominee Jack Ciattarelli is looking to eke out a victory against Democratic nominee Mikie Sherrill. New Jersey was once reliably blue but has been getting more purple in recent years: in 2020 Joe Biden won it by 17 points, but Donald Trump lost by just four last year.
Germany to end asylum for Syrians
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz says Syrians no longer have grounds for political asylum in his country now that the Syrian civil war is over. Merz called for a repatriation program to ease burdens on Germany and accelerate the rebuilding of Syria, though the United Nations warns Syria still isn’t ready to absorb a large population of returnees. It was exactly ten years ago that Chancellor Angela Merkel declared “Wir schaffen das” (we can do it), establishing a generous asylum policy that welcomed in more than a million Syrians fleeing their country’s horrific civil war. A decade later, with the war over and the far right surging on anti-immigrant backlash, Merz is now saying, “Wir schaffen das nicht.”
Is India buying less Russian oil?
Last month, Trump announced sanctions on Russia’s top two oil companies, in a bid to squeeze the Kremlin’s war effort by scaring off major crude buyers like India and China. Is it working? Preliminary data show India’s imports of Russian oil actually increased slightly in October compared to September. But wait, there’s more: India’s purchases in the second half of October plummeted compared to the first half. That may have something to do with the fact that Trump announced the sanctions on Oct. 23. They don’t take effect until later this month, so we’ll be watching to see what the November data tell us. With Chinese firms now also reportedly exploring alternative sources of oil, Russia may in fact start feeling the effects of US sanctions (for more on this, and whether it would change his approach to Ukraine, read here).
Hard Numbers: Dick Cheney dies, China sentences Myanmar scammers to death, Jamaica town left in ruins, OpenAI splashes cash on computing power
Then-Republican vice presidential candidate Dick Cheney points out something to then-Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush during a campaign stop in Casper, Wyoming, on July 26, 2000.
84: Former US Vice President Dick Cheney, a powerful and controversial leader who had outsized influence as President George W. Bush’s second-in-command, died on Monday at 84. Cheney was best known for pushing the 2003 invasion of Iraq, using flawed intelligence to justify the decision. His critics would later call him a war criminal. A stalwart of Wyoming and Republican politics, Cheney came to reject his own party after the rise of Donald Trump.
90%: As Jamaica continues to assess the damage from Hurricane Melissa, one town has found itself hit especially hard. In Black River, a town on the south of the Caribbean island, 90% of the homes have been destroyed. The power is still out in the town, phones are down, and food supplies are running out.
5: A Chinese court handed down death sentences to five members of a major Myanmar mafia as part of a larger crackdown on scamming in Southeast Asia. The convicts had run schemes worth billions of dollars involving human trafficking, fraud, sexual slavery and murder of Chinese citizens. Myanmar had extradited the scam leaders to Beijing early last year.
$38 billion: As part of its tireless, and expensive, race to to secure computing power, OpenAI signed a $38-billion deal with Amazon Web Services (AWS) that will allow the loss-making AI firm to use AWS infrastructure to run its products. OpenAI has now committed to spending an eye-watering $1.5 trillion on computing resources.