Good Morning

President-elect Donald Trump's transition team is reportedly planning to dismiss senior Pentagon officers, possibly including members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in what would be an unprecedented shake-up at the Pentagon. One reason for this could be loyal ties to former Chairman Mark Milley, whom Trump circles regard as disloyal. Pete Hegseth, Trump's potential Secretary of Defense, supports a “radical” leadership overhaul. However, it remains uncertain whether such far-reaching dismissals would actually be feasible or strategically sensible, especially in light of current global conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.

The Republicans have won both the House of Representatives and the Senate in the USA. With at least 218 of the 435 seats in the House of Representatives, they have gained a majority. This gives President-elect Donald Trump a strong political basis for his term in office. Control of both chambers of Congress enables him to push through key legislation and the confirmation of government officials and judges without much opposition from the Democrats. Trump is now likely to be able to implement his political agenda, including mass deportations and tax cuts, more quickly.

The search for extreme political options in the USA and Germany is characterized by inflation, economic concerns and dwindling trust in established parties. Voters feel burdened by the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, which strengthens populist and authoritarian options. Support for extreme parties such as Trump and the AfD is rising, particularly in rural areas and among voters with a low level of education. Political leaders such as Scholz and Biden must win back the trust of voters through convincing personalities and measures.

Howard Lutnick, a longtime friend of Donald Trump and co-chair of the transition team, is now a prime candidate for Treasury Secretary in Trump's new administration, alongside investor Scott Bessent. While both are considered favorites, other candidates could come into play before Trump makes his final decision. Bessent, an economic advisor and fundraiser for the Trump campaign, is in favor of tax reform and deregulation to promote economic growth. Lutnick, CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, and Trump have been friends for decades.

The UK is planning to create “megafunds” worth up to 80 billion pounds to strengthen the economy and infrastructure, according to Finance Minister Rachel Reeves. By merging pension funds, the aim is to make them more efficient and large enough to invest in infrastructure projects such as roads and airports. The government wants to introduce a change in the law for this, inspired by successful models in Canada and Australia.

Many people like Wachuka Gichohi have been living with Long COVID for years and have had to learn that a full recovery is unlikely. Studies show that the chances of recovery are highest in the first six months; for those who have symptoms for more than two years, full recovery is rare. Long COVID, which can include extreme fatigue, pain and shortness of breath, is similar in many ways to chronic illnesses such as chronic fatigue syndrome. Although the US and countries like Germany continue to fund research, global interest is waning.

Portugal and other southern European countries are battling the “brain drain”, as many young professionals are migrating to wealthier neighboring European countries to find better-paid jobs and better career prospects. To counteract this, the Portuguese government has announced tax breaks for young workers and support for the housing market. Nevertheless, many are skeptical, as salary differences within the EU and attractive working conditions in the north continue to attract talent. The loss of young workers is a major challenge for the EU and is putting a strain on economic growth and the age structure. Other countries such as Italy have introduced similar incentives, but with limited success and high costs.

Russia's security chief Sergei Shoigu visited China's aviation exhibition in Zhuhai, where the Russian Su-57 stealth jet was shown abroad for the first time. In addition to military technologies, Chinese aircraft manufacturer COMAC presented Air China as the first customer for the C929 wide-body jet and received new orders for the C919 and C909 models. Airbus and Embraer also showed interest in cooperating with China.

Israel continued its attacks on Hezbollah areas in the south of Beirut and in southern Lebanon on Thursday. In Beirut and Bint Jbeil, the airstrikes caused heavy damage to residential buildings. At least five people were killed in the attacks in Bazourieh and Jumayjimah, reports the Lebanese news agency NNA. According to the Lebanese Ministry of Health, more than 3,365 people have died since the offensive began in September. Under the mediation of US special envoy Amos Hochstein, Lebanese representatives have drawn up a proposal for a ceasefire framework based on UN Resolution 1701, according to Ali Hassan Khalil.

At COP29 in Baku, it was emphasized that poor countries need at least 1 trillion dollars a year by 2030 to switch to green energy and protect themselves from extreme weather events. The financial issue dominates the talks, as the previous target amount of 100 billion dollars by 2025 is coming to an end. Multilateral development banks are planning to increase their climate finance and there are plans to tax polluting sectors such as aviation and fossil fuels. However, agreement remains difficult due to differing views, especially among Western countries. Azerbaijan announced plans to invest 1.2 billion dollars in CO2 reduction projects.

On November 13, Russia launched missile attacks on Kiev for the first time since August. Two cruise missiles, two ballistic missiles and 37 drones were intercepted, with no major damage or casualties reported in the capital. However, there was damage outside Kiev and a 48-year-old man was injured. Ukraine fears further attacks on the power grid as Russia is said to have amassed a large number of cruise missiles. As a result of the attack, electricity restrictions were imposed on companies in several regions.

Gema: sues OpenAI for unlicensed use of song lyrics: ChatGPT is said to have been trained with German song lyrics. However, the software company OpenAI does not have a license for this, criticizes the German collecting society Gema and is taking legal action. (HB)

Amazon: Free computing power for AI researchers: Amazon's cloud computing division AWS will offer free computing power to researchers who want to use its customized chips for AI. This was reported yesterday by the news agency Reuters. Amazon is thus launching a challenge to market leader Nvidia and other competitors. (RT)

Salesforce: AI agents can make decisions independently: The AI agents on Salesforce's “Agentforce” platform act autonomously within set guard rails, accessing company files and working through defined processes. Salesforce is demonstrating this: Specialized assistants are following “simple” AI with autonomous agents. (FAZ)

• OpenAI: Co-founder Greg Brockman returns (HEI) 
• Strategic alliance? OpenAI calls on US companies to work together to counter China (BBG)
• Supercomputer plans: SoftBank uses Nvidia's new Blackwell chips (FT)
• Development hurdle: OpenAI, Google and Anthropic struggle with challenges in advanced AI (BBG)
• AI chips: Qualcomm CEO sees no supply bottlenecks despite rising demand (BBG)
• Black Forest Labs: FLUX1.1 with new ultra and raw modes (BFL)
• X-Portrait 2: ByteDance with improved portrait animation (BYT)
• ChatGPT Audio Downloader: Save replies as audio files (GOOG)
• OuteTTS-0.1-350M: New approach for text-to-speech (OUT)
• Japan: Announces billion-dollar funding program for chip and AI industry
• DAX: Falls below 19,000-point mark, lowest level in two months (HB)
• RWE: Raises forecast and buys back shares (MM)
• Porsche SE: VW holding falls to four-year low (HB)
• Biontech: Acquires Biotheus, Chinese cancer drug developer (RT)
• DAX board members: 2023 with salary record (TAG)
• World US inflation: Rising again (GUAR)
• Bitcoin: Cracks the $90,000 mark (RT)
• Bitcoin lobby: Keeps up the pressure on Trump (NYT)
• Trump adviser: Musk and Ramaswamy want to save around $2 trillion by cutting red tape (FT)
• OpenAI: Co-founder Greg Brockman returns (HEI)