World in Brief - The Economist Roundup

 World in Brief

The Economist Roundup

China’s spying spooks America

On Monday a judge in California will sentence a navy sailor who pleaded guilty to passing secrets to Chinese intelligence in exchange for bribes worth nearly $15,000. Wenheng “Thomas” Zhao, a petty officer at a base in Ventura County, could spend 20 years in prison. The Chinese-born American citizen admitted in October to handing over information about a military exercise in the Pacific and blueprints for a radar system in Japan, among other things.

The case, one of two involving naval servicemen, is further evidence of the scale and breadth of Chinese espionage in America, with China seeking not only military secrets but wholesale information about Western technology. In October the FBI hosted the counter-intelligence chiefs of the Five Eyes—America, Australia, Britain, Canada and New Zealand—in Silicon Valley to highlight the theft of intellectual property, describing China as the “defining threat of this generation”.

Germany’s glooming manufacturing and trade

It is a bad time to be a German manufacturer. International demand is sluggish. Germany’s biggest export—cars—is under threat from cheaper Chinese EVs and American protectionism. Higher interest rates are hitting investment spending, which lowers demand for machinery (Germany’s second-biggest export). And domestic energy prices are too high to competitively produce certain chemicals: the third-largest export.

The latest data on German trade and manufacturing for November, published on Monday, are set to be suitably cheerless. They will probably show that imports have kept falling faster than exports, though both are declining. That, ironically, improves the trade balance—but it is a sign of weakness in the German economy. Manufacturing orders are below their level of 2015, after a post-pandemic boom. One bright spot is that surveys indicate that the decline in new orders for industrial goods is slowing. But it will be some time before Germany’s industry and trade are a source of strength again.

 

Antony Blinken, America’s secretary of state, said conflict in the Middle East “could easily metastasise” as he began a five-day trip to the region. He will visit Israel, where he is expected to tell officials to increase efforts to avoid civilian casualties in Gaza. King Abdullah of Jordan urged Mr Blinken to advocate for an immediate ceasefire. Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, vowed to keep fighting until Hamas is eliminated. This week Israel’s cabinet is expected to approve a wartime budget for the year ahead.

 

China said it had detained a foreign consultant spying for Britain’s intelligence service, MI6. It said the alleged spy is from a “third country”. China has subjected the consultancy sector to a counter-espionage crackdown over the past year and introduced a new anti-spying law that increased the number of activities that could be deemed spying.

 

A day before America’s House and Senate return from their break, congressional leaders said they had reached a $1.7trn deal to finance the federal government in 2024. Two deadlines loom: around one-fifth of funding will run out on January 19th, with the rest expiring on February 2nd. Before then recalcitrant House Republicans will need to be won over—no small feat.

 

The lost section of a Boeing 737 Max 9 plane was recovered by American aviation officials after falling off during an Alaska Airlines flight on Friday. The discovery will aid America’s National Transportation Safety Board, which has grounded planes of the same model while it investigates the accident. Several defects have been found in Boeing planes in recent years.

 

Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh’s prime minister for the past 15 years, won a fifth term. The country’s electoral commission claimed 40% of around 120m eligible voters cast ballots; analysts suggested turnout was much lower. Thousands of members of the main opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, were arrested in the run up to the election, which drew international condemnation. The BNP boycotted the poll.

 

“Oppenheimer”, Christopher Nolan’s epic about the first atomic bomb, won the most awards at the Golden Globes, sweeping five prizes including those for best drama, best director and best actor. “Barbie”, its rival for summer cinema-goers’ attention, won for best cinematic and box-office achievement and best song. “Succession” collected the most television awards, with four wins including best drama.

 

The first Vulcan Centaur rocket took off from Cape Canaveral in Florida on Monday. The rocket carries the Peregrine lunar lander, which is expected to land on the Moon in February. The Peregrine is the first of several missions planned by NASA, America’s space agency, which eventually hopes to send astronauts to the Moon for the first time since 1972.