deepening

Dutch chipmaker Nexperia has suspended wafer shipments to its Chinese assembly plant in Dongguan, a move that could intensify the semiconductor supply crunch already rattling automakers worldwide.

The suspension, revealed in a company letter dated October 29 and signed by interim CEO Stefan Tilger, followed the Chinese unit’s failure to meet contractual payment terms. It comes amid escalating tensions after the Dutch government seized control of Nexperia from its Chinese owner, Wingtech Technology, in late September, citing national security and governance concerns.

Why It Matters

The halt threatens to disrupt automotive and electronics supply chains at a critical time. Around 70% of Nexperia’s chips produced in the Netherlands are packaged in China, meaning the freeze could ripple through global manufacturing networks.

The dispute also underscores the deepening fractures in global tech supply chains, where national security concerns and trade controls increasingly shape corporate decisions. With the U.S., China, and Europe tightening technology restrictions, Nexperia’s situation reflects the mounting geopolitical tug-of-war over semiconductor control.

Nexperia (Netherlands): Seeking to maintain operations while asserting independence from Chinese influence.

Wingtech Technology (China): The former owner now sidelined after Dutch government intervention.

Dutch Government: Exercising sovereignty over critical tech assets amid Western security coordination.

Chinese Ministry of Commerce: Blocking Nexperia’s chip exports from China in retaliation.

Global Automakers: Companies like Stellantis and Nissan are monitoring potential production halts as chip prices soar.

What’s Next

Nexperia says it is developing alternative supply routes to support its global customers but has not disclosed details. The Dongguan facility remains operational, though limited by the wafer cutoff.

Analysts expect further trade retaliation from Beijing, potentially deepening the rift between European and Chinese semiconductor ecosystems. Automakers warn of possible shortages by mid-November if shipments do not resume.

Implications

This episode highlights how state intervention in technology firms is reshaping global supply chains. The Dutch government’s takeover framed as a national security move signals Europe’s growing alignment with U.S. export controls targeting Chinese tech entities.

In the short term, the halt could spike chip prices and strain automotive production, particularly in Asia and Europe. Long term, it may accelerate a strategic decoupling between Western and Chinese semiconductor manufacturing bases.

Politically, this marks a test of Europe’s resolve to protect critical tech sectors even at the cost of trade friction with Beijing.

With information from an exclusive Reuters report.

France is facing political turmoil after President Emmanuel Macron’s fifth prime minister in less than two years quit after just 27 days.

There are growing calls for new elections and Macron is facing increasing pressure to resign.

So, what’s next for France?

Presenter: Nick Clark

Guests:

Thierry Mariani – Member of the European Parliament for the far-right National Rally Party

Eleonore Caroit – Member of Macron’s centrist Renaissance party and French National Assembly deputy

Eric Bocquet – Mayor of Marquillies and a member of the French Communist Party

US President Donald Trump blames Democrats for looming federal layoffs as shutdown enters fifth day.

The White House has warned that mass layoffs of federal workers could begin if US President Donald Trump concludes that negotiations with congressional Democrats to end a partial government shutdown have reached a dead end.

As the shutdown entered its fifth day on Sunday, White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett told CNN’s programme State of the Union that he believed there was still a chance Democrats would yield and avoid what could become a costly political and economic crisis.

“President Trump and Russ Vought are lining things up and getting ready to act if they have to, but hoping that they don’t,” Hassett said, referring to the White House budget director. “If the president decides that the negotiations are absolutely going nowhere, then there will start to be layoffs.”

Trump, speaking to reporters on Sunday, described the potential job cuts as “Democrat layoffs”, saying, “Anybody laid off, that’s because of the Democrats.”

Talks remain frozen

There have been no meaningful negotiations since Trump last met congressional leaders, with the impasse beginning on October 1 — the start of the federal fiscal year — after Senate Democrats rejected a short-term funding bill to keep government agencies open through November 21.

“They’ve refused to talk with us,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer told the CBS programme Face the Nation, insisting that only renewed talks between Trump and congressional leaders could end the standoff.

Democrats are demanding a permanent extension of enhanced premium tax credits under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and assurances that the White House will not unilaterally cut spending agreed to in any deal.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he was open to addressing the Democrats’ concerns, but urged them to first back reopening the government. “It’s open up the government or else,” Thune told Fox News. “That’s really the choice that’s in front of them right now.”

Trump said Republicans were also willing to discuss healthcare reform. “We want to fix it so it works. Obamacare has been a disaster for the people, so we want to have it fixed so it works,” Trump said.

No deal in sight

Rank-and-file senators from both parties have held informal talks on healthcare and spending to break the deadlock, but progress has been minimal. “At this point, no,” Democratic Senator Ruben Gallego told CNN when asked if lawmakers were closer to a deal.

The Senate is set to vote again on Monday on competing funding bills — one backed by the Republican-controlled House and one proposed by Democrats — though neither is expected to win the 60 votes required to advance.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, nearly 750,000 federal employees face being furloughed as long as the shutdown continues, with total lost compensation estimated at $400m per day. While federal workers are guaranteed back pay under the 2019 Government Employee Fair Treatment Act, payments will only resume once the shutdown ends.

CHANCELLOR Rachel Reeves was warned she will hit tenants if the Treasury pursues plans to hike taxes on landlords.

She is considering putting National Insurance on rental income to fill a £50billion black hole at the autumn Budget.

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But housing experts blasted the move.

TV property show presenter Kirstie Allsopp, said: “This is tenant bashing under the guise of landlord bashing. It’s like having the economy run by Baldrick.”

Ben Beadle, of the National Residential Landlords Association, said: “This will hit the very households the Government wants to protect.”

Earlier in the week, The Sun reported that firms were bracing themselves for a £2.5billion Labour tax double whammy.

They would be clobbered twice — first by an inflation rate increase in business rates in April, then by a Rachel Reeves surcharge, experts said.

Business rates are the property tax that companies must pay just to occupy their shops, pubs, factories and offices.

The Tories warned thousands of struggling firms would be crippled.

Shadow Housing Secretary James Cleverly said: “Once again, Labour is hammering the high street. Raising business rates for thousands of hard-working small businesses across England was one of Labour’s first acts in office.

“And despite our opposition to it, and clear evidence of the damaging impact it will have, they have pressed ahead — consequences be damned.”

The first squeeze would come in April when bills rise automatically with inflation.

The Bank of England expects the rate will hit four per cent next month.

Global tax firm Ryan said that would add £1.11billion to business rates across England.

The second blow would come when Chancellor Ms Reeves introduces a supplementary multiplier on larger premises next year.

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July 4 (UPI) — The United States and Colombia have recalled their top diplomats from their respective countries amid a deepening rift between Washington and Bogota seemingly centered on an alleged plot to oust Colombian President Gustavo Petro.

The alleged plot was first reported late last month by El Pais, and, according to recordings it reviewed and Republican sources, it involved former Colombian Foreign Minister Alvaro Leyva trying to contact U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio to have him and the Trump administration exert pressure to force Petro to resign.

In the recordings, Leyva states he met with Republican lawmakers, including Florida Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart and Carlos Gimenez, as he sought support for his plot.

On Wednesday, Petro commented on X that the previous Biden administration had helped him during “other times that they have wanted to kill.”

“From now on, Bolivar’s sword continues its path of liberation, and the energy of light and the vibrant people — And the U.S. government?” he asked.

In the State Department’s Thursday statement recalling John McNamara, the interim Charge d’Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Colombia, spokesperson Tammy Bruce said the move was “for urgent consultations following baseless and reprehensible statements from the highest levels of the government of Colombia.”

“In addition to the recall of the charge, the United States is pursuing other measures to make clear our deep concern over the current state of our bilateral relationship,” she said.

Hours later, Petro released a statement recalling his ambassador, Daniel Garcia-Pena, from the United States.

“Daniel must come to brief us on the progress of the bilateral agenda to which I committed myself from the beginning of my government,” he said.

Gimenez has hit back at the Petro government, accusing the Colombian president of creating a “media circus” to “distract the Colombian people from his terrible management, corruption and mishandling of public funds.”

“Let these complicit puppets not complain later when they and their families are denied visas to enter the United States,” he said on X.

The alleged plot has shaken the Colombian politics.

Earlier this month, Colombia Attorney General’s Office opened an investigation into Leyva and his alleged plot.

It is also the second public spat between the two allies.

In late January, shortly after President Donald Trump took office, Washington and Bogota threatened one another with tit-for-tat tariffs as the White House was barred from sending military planes loaded with migrants to the South American country.

The issue was resolved with Colombia receiving the migrants.

Tblisi court sentences opposition figure Nika Gvaramia to eight months and bans him from holding office for two years.

A court in Georgia has sentenced prominent opposition figure Nika Gvaramia to eight months in prison, amid a deepening crackdown on critics of the ruling Georgian Dream party.

Gvaramia, the co-leader of the opposition Akhali party, was also barred from holding office for two years.

The court imposed the sentence on Tuesday over his refusal to cooperate with a parliamentary commission tasked with investigating alleged wrongdoing under ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili, a pro-Western reformer currently serving a 12-and-a-half-year prison term.

Several other leading opponents of Georgian Dream have been jailed on similar charges to Gvaramia, including Giorgi Vashadze, a former deputy justice minister, who received a seven-month prison sentence last week.

The crackdown has led to growing accusations against the governing party that it is trampling on democracy amid continuing protests in the wake of last year’s disputed elections.

Speaking to the AFP news agency on Tuesday, Gvaramia’s lawyer Dito Sadzaglishvili said the verdict against his client was “unlawful” and “part of the government’s attempt to crush all dissent in Georgia”.

Growing criticism

The British government on Monday denounced the crackdown on opposition figures and summoned the country’s charge d’affaires.

“The imprisonment of prominent opposition leaders is the latest attempt by the Georgian government to crack down on freedoms and stifle dissent,” the United Kingdom’s Foreign Office said.

“The UK Government will not hesitate to consider further action should Georgia not return to respecting and upholding democracy, freedoms and human rights,” it added.

The NGO Amnesty International also criticised the government, saying last week in reaction to Vashadze’s sentencing that it had “serious concerns over the misuse of legislative, policing and other powers to silence government critics in Georgia”.

The human rights organisation specifically took aim at the parliamentary commission linked to the arrests of opposition figures.

“With its status disputed, the commission has been instrumentalised to target former public officials for their principled opposition,” said Denis Krivosheev, Amnesty’s deputy director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

After Georgian Dream claimed victory in a contested election in October, the European Union candidate nation experienced mass protests.

Critics accuse the government of undermining democracy and of bringing the country close to Moscow, allegations the governing party denies.

The EU has said some 80 percent of the population supports Georgia’s bid to join the bloc, a commitment enshrined in its constitution.

Amid allegations of democratic backsliding, the United States and several European countries have sanctioned some Georgian government officials.