Latest news for 14 November 2025

UNITED KINGDOM

Sorry.

Public broadcaster BBC has apologised to President Trump over a misleading edit to the president’s January 6th remarks, saying it “gave the mistaken impression that President Trump had made a direct call for violent action”. (ABC)

UNITED STATES

No news is bad news?

The White House has cited the recent government shutdown as the reason why October’s jobs report won’t include the US unemployment rate. (The Hill)

Comment: We might see this delayed report as soon as next week, with most Wall St surveys expecting a sharp drop in payrolls. Data gaps could complicate the Fed’s next rates meeting on December 9, though realistically the Fed has no shortage of data to triangulate what’s happening in the US economy.

CHINA

An unusual request.

Banks in China are quietly asking clients to take out loans then immediately repay them, in a “quick-lend-and-recover” practice aimed at appearing to hit the government’s ambitious pro-growth lending targets. (Bloomberg $)

Comment: It’s more evidence China is in a classic balance-sheet recession: make loans as easy as you want, but it doesn’t address the fact that a deflationary spiral means folks would rather pay off existing loans than take out new ones.

ITALY

We’ll have what they’re having.

Italy plans to introduce a tax on low-value parcels from ✌️non-EU countries✌️ (aka China), mirroring recent US moves aimed at shielding local businesses from ultra-cheap goods on platforms like Shein and Temu. The broader EU says it’s working on something similar. (SCMP)

Comment: These sorts of quiet shifts will continue to happen around the world — not so much because of sustained US pressure for capitals to close ranks on China, but because domestic industries are now feeling the brunt of China’s vast over-capacity.

NIUE

Howdy neighbour.

Dalton Tagelagi, the prime minister of the Pacific Island nation of Niue (pop: less than 2,000!), has been in New Zealand this week to sign the first NZ-Niue “foundational political declaration”. (The Straits Times)

Comment: Intriguers will recall Kiwis got a fright earlier this year when the Cook Islands suddenly signed a murky pact with China. So NZ is now (like Australia) hustling to sign pacts with its neighbours to avoid more repeats across the Pacific.

UNITED STATES

Back to bite you.

The folks at Reuters are reporting that a secret 50-page memo out of the US Justice Department has endorsed President Trump’s strikes on alleged narco-boats as lawful — according to the memo, everyone in the relevant chain of command therefore enjoys battlefield immunity for complying with lawful orders. (Reuters)

Comment: The memo reportedly relies on the White House’s own assertions to conclude that the US is technically in a state of war with the cartels, dismissing criticism that, as bad as these groups are, they’re not typically engaging in the kinds of armed attacks necessary to create a state of war.

NIGERIA

Scratch that.

Nigeria is pulling an Uno reverse on early schooling in indigenous languages, after the education minister argued the program has failed to deliver results. Relevant kids will now revert immediately to English-language classes. (BBC)