Just a few days into the 2022 World Cup, feats of athleticism from the world’s best soccer players have been largely overshadowed by controversies and bold acts of defiance.  

Qatar spent ~US$300 million (roughly 6.8 Twitters) on World Cup 2022, making it the most expensive FIFA contest ever. 

But it all comes with a catch: That spending big will pay off in international clout.

Canada is ill-equipped to detect ships in its Arctic waters, and the country’s Auditor-General is pointing fingers at the federal government for not doing enough to address the problem. 

Americans head to the polls today, which means that by tomorrow there will be a crop of kooky new congresspeople that may or may not keep you awake at night.  

China’s president Xi Jinping has gone from having “concerns” over the war in Ukraine to telling Russia to knock it off with the nuclear threats, saying they are “irresponsible and extremely dangerous.”

From squashing presidential term limits to picking fights with Taiwan, a lot is going on in China these days… so much so that we almost forgot about the zero-COVID crackdowns. 

A supercharged US dollar (USD) is beating up weaker global currencies like a schoolyard bully and leaving central banks scrambling to find a solution. 

The G7 price cap on Russian oil imports set to start December 5 has been touted as the biggest step yet in defunding the Russian war machine. But experts aren’t so sure. 

The chip war is on, and we’re not talking about the always-heated debate about Doritos vs. Miss Vickies—this is the (just slightly) more important battle to control the world’s supply of the most advanced computer chips. 

Driving the news: Chinese President Xi Jinping committed to developing his country’s capacity to build its own cutting-edge semiconductors in a two-hour speech at the Communist Party’s twice-a-decade congress.

Embattled British Prime Minister Liz Truss made (another) U-turn yesterday, firing her top finance official, Kwasi Kwarteng, and reversing her plans to slash the corporate tax rate. 

Catch up: All eyes are on Truss as she scrambles to hang on as Prime Minister after a disastrous first few weeks in office, during which her government’s economic proposals (which she heavily campaigned on) brought the UK to the edge of a financial crisis.