Weekend Buzz: 22-23 November 2025

Ukraine Given a Week to Accept Trump Peace Plan

Ukraine has been given until next Thursday to accept a 28-point peace plan from US President Donald Trump or face a withdrawal of US military support. Russian President Vladimir Putin was quick to agree to the plan, which is heavily tilted in Moscow's favor. It would require Ukraine to cede large swathes of territory along its eastern border, including areas occupied by Russian troops or still under Kiev's control; limit the size of Ukraine's military; ban Ukraine joining NATO; provide unspecified "robust security guarantees" for Ukraine; and earmark some frozen Russian assets to fund reconstruction of Ukraine. The proposal also calls for an end to Russia's economic and political isolation. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a speech to his nation, "Now is one of the most difficult moments of our history. Ukraine can face a very difficult choice: losing dignity or risk losing a major partner."

Cop30 Climate Summit Boils Down to Familiar Divisions

A row over fossil fuels sent the Cop30 climate summit in Brazil, due to end on Friday, into overtime. A bloc of countries warned they won't approve any final agreement accord that fails to lay out a roadmap for the phaseout of fossil fuels. One draft of a final agreement failed to mention the words "fossil fuels" at all. Like so many of its predecessors, this summit boils down to deep divisions – between what nations are willing to do and what science says they should be doing to avert a climate change crisis; between oil producers and climate activists; and between rich countries that pollute the most and poor countries that don't pollute much but suffer heavily from its effects. Talks on the final agreement were suspended for about six hours on Thursday after fire broke out in one of the summit center halls, forcing the evacuation of participants.

Gaza Ceasefire Isn't a Ceasefire to the Dying

Gaza officials said at least 300 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks since a ceasefire began on October 10. In attacks this week, Israel targeted tents sheltering displaced people in Khan Younis, killing at least 17, and airstrikes in Gaza City left at least 16 dead, local medical officials said. Israel said it was retaliating for Hamas attacks or threats, an allegation Hamas denied. The ceasefire was part of a 25-point US-brokered peace plan, along with exchange of hostages and prisoners. Meanwhile, Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians and their property continue in the occupied West Bank.

Top Business

New York Markets Rebound From Selloff, Bitcoin Drops

Volatility continued in global markets roiled by concerns over high valuations for technology shares. New York stock markets rebounded on Friday after a sharp selloff a day earlier but ended with losses for the week. The tech-heavy Nasdaq pared back intraday losses to close up 0.9 percent. Investors were largely focused on renewed bets that the US Federal Reserve will cut interest rates when it meets in December, reviving a sluggish economy and justifying historically high tech valuations. However, concerns are rising about big tech companies flooding the corporate bond market to raise money for AI investment. Bitcoin, now considered something of a barometer of risk sentiment, was down 2.4 percent in late New York trading, dropping below US$85,000 and continuing its decline to April levels.

Huawei Unveils Flex:ai Breakthrough

Huawei on Friday unveiled Flex:ai, a new AI container software that allows a single graphics or neural processing computing card to run multiple workloads simultaneously, sharply improving hardware utilization. The system uses compute-slicing technology that divides a chip into virtual units as small as 10 percent of total capacity, enabling far more efficient allocation of processing power. Huawei said Flex:ai can lift typical processing unit utilization rates from 30-40 percent to about 70 percent, addressing one of the biggest cost bottlenecks in training large AI models.

Xiaomi Releases Open-Source AI Model

Xiaomi announced the official release and full open-sourcing of its embodied large model, MiMo-Embodied. The tech company said the model simultaneously supports the three core tasks essential for embodied intelligence – affordance reasoning, task planning and spatial understanding – and the three key tasks crucial for autonomous driving: environmental perception, state prediction and driving planning. This integration provides comprehensive intelligent support across all scenarios.

Foxconn Ramps Up AI Investment

Taiwan-based Foxconn, the world's biggest contract manufacturer of electronics, is seeking to expand beyond its reputation as Apple's supplier by investing up to US$3 billion a year in artificial intelligence and allying with ChatGPT creator OpenAI to design and build data center racks, components and other AI hardware, Reuters reported. The company also said the US$1.4 billion supercomputing center it is building with Nvidia will be ready by the first half of 2026. Chairman Young Liu said his company is talking with the Japanese government about potential investments in AI and electric cars. The planned investment in AI infrastructure and technology development over the three to five years would consume more than half of Foxconn's annual capital expenditure.

Economy & Markets

Foreign Investment in China: Mixed Results

China welcomed 53,782 new foreign-invested companies in the first 10 months of this year, up 15 percent from a year earlier, the Ministry of Commerce said. However, utilization of pledged foreign investment declined 10 percent to 621.9 billion yuan (US$87.1 billion). The manufacturing, technology and services sectors were the biggest beneficiaries of foreign investment.

China Adds Bonds to Pension Menu

China's Ministry of Finance said on Friday it will include electronic savings bonds to pension plans, allowing future retirees to buy low-risk government debt directly through their pension accounts, starting next June. The change aims to expand investment options and strengthen China's multi-tiered pension system. Under the new framework, banks and other approved institutions will earmark a dedicated quota of savings bonds exclusively for pension investors.

Japan Exports Rise, Inflation Remains Stubborn

Japan's exports in October beat expectations by a wide margin, expanding 3.6 percent from a year earlier but still below September's 4.2 percent increase. Exports to Asia, which rose 4.2 percent, and to Europe, which surged 8 percent, offset a 3.1 percent decline to the US led by fewer automobiles. Imports were stronger than forecast with a 0.7 percent gain.

Japanese inflation in October came in at 3 percent, marking the 43rd consecutive month above the Bank of Japan's 2 percent target. However, rice prices, which have been at record levels this year, continued to abate, easing to a 40.2 percent increase from 49.2 percent in the prior month. Core inflation, which strips out fresh food and energy prices, stood at 3 percent.

To ease the pain of inflation on consumers, the Japanese cabinet approved an extra spending package of 21.3 trillion yen (US$134 billion), with the bulk of the money earmarked for price relief, including subsidies for gas and electricity bills.

Singapore Growth Tops Estimates

Singapore's economy in the third quarter beat expectations with growth of 4.2 percent from a year earlier. The nation's trade ministry increased its growth forecast for this year to 4 percent from an earlier range of 1.5-2.5 percent.

Corporate

Miniso Hits Record Revenue on Toy Sales, Profit Slumps

Miniso Group, a Chinese variety store chain specializing in household and consumer goods, reported third-quarter revenue grew 28 percent from a year earlier to 5.8 billion yuan (US$811.7 million), setting a new quarterly record. However, profit fell 31 percent to 443 million yuan. Revenue from its designer brand, TOP TOY doubled. The unit is being spun off for an initial public offering in Hong Kong. The company reported 7,831 Miniso stores and 307 TOP TOY stores at the end of September. It said 3,424 of the shops were overseas.

FAW Invests in Zhuoyu Technology

Chinese state-owned automaker FAW Group will invest 3.6 billion yuan (US$507 million) in autonomous-driving company Zhuoyu Technology, formerly DJI's automotive division. The deal values Zhuoyu at over 10 billion yuan and strengthens ties between a major carmaker and one of China's most advanced vehicle-automation developers. Zhuoyu will continue to operate independently, with support from FAW on product collaboration and supply-chain resources. Other investors include BYD, SAIC-affiliated funds, BAIC Capital and several global backers.

Ubisoft-Tencent Studio Venture

French video game publisher Ubisoft said it has completed Tencent's investment in Vantage Studios, a new unit built around its "Assassin's Creed," "Far Cry" and Tom Clancy's "Rainbow Six" franchises. China tech giant Tencent has invested 1.2 billion euros (US$1.4 billion) in the venture for a 26 percent stake and agreed to hold it for five years.

Guangzhou Auto to Make EU Model in Austria

Guangzhou Automobile Group said it will manufacture its electric Aion V model for the European market at an Austrian factory operated by contract carmaker Magna Steyr. The deal between the two companies is aimed at circumventing EU tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles. Magna announced in September that it would manufacture electric vehicles for Chinese automaker Xpeng at the same facility in the city of Graz.

UBTech to Expand Robot Production

Shenzhen-based UBTech Robotics said this week it plans to expand production of humanoid robots 10-fold next year to 5,000 units and then to 10,000 in 2027, as economy of scales shave manufacturing costs by up to 30 percent, the South China Morning Post reported. Company executive Michael Tam told the newspaper that production costs will fall below US$20,000 per unit by 2030, making robots more affordable. Tam said the company has received more than 800 million yuan (US$112 million) in orders for its Walker S2 humanoid, the first robot capable of changing its own batteries.

Laekna, Qilu Pharma Sign Licensing Pact

Chinese drug researcher Laekna agreed to license the China rights for its cancer drug candidate to pharmaceutical giant Qilu Pharmaceutical in a deal worth up to 2 billion yuan (US$280 million). The deal caught industry attention because it involves two domestic drugmakers instead of the more usual licensing agreements with foreign pharma companies, underscoring the growing maturity of the Chinese mainland market.

WeRide Secures Swiss Robotaxi Permit

China robotaxi company WeRide said it has received the first driverless operating permit ever issued by Switzerland. It will allow the company to operate its autonomous vehicles on public roads in the Swiss valley region of Furttal.

Sam's Club Opens 61st Store in China

Sam's Club, the members-only retail chain operated by Walmart, opened its 61st store in China with a grand opening on Friday for its fifth outlet in Beijing. The company, which entered China in 2003, has been aggressive in expansion as it seeks to cash in on the rising affluence of urban residents. Earlier this month, Sam's opened a new store in the Jiangsu Province city of Yangzhou.