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UBS Narrator
Craft matters in small ways, like how a coffee is brewed, and in not so small ways like how your money is cared for. Which is why for 160 years, UBS has elevated banking to a craft, tailoring unique strategies that combine human expertise with the latest technologies, all happening across 24 time zones and 12 key financial hubs. With you at the heart of it all, UBS advice is our craft.
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Vincent McEvin
You're listening to the Globalist, first broadcast on 4th December 2025 on Monocle Radio. The Globalist in association with U.
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Live from London. This is THE globalist. I'm Vincent McEvin. Coming up, how close is the US to striking Venezuela? Anybody that's doing that and selling it into our country is subject to attack.
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Antonio Sampio
Necessarily.
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Yossi Meckelburg
Just Venezuela?
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H.J. Mai
No, not just Venezuela, no.
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Vincent McEvin
Why is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu protecting Orthodox Jews from IDF conscription? A new robotic search will attempt to solve the mystery of Flight MH370's disappearance. And we get the latest from the international luxury travel market in Cannes.
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Sarah Doyle
I think that idea of romance, nostalgia, of the traditional kind of innkeeper who's part of the experience is something that you see in a lot of our hotels that hasn't gone away that I hope won't ever go away.
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Vincent McEvin
Plus, we'll leaf through the day's papers and the latest news from Japan. That's all ahead on the Globalist. Live from London.
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First, a look at what else is happening in the news. U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff will meet the head of Ukraine's National Security Council, Rustem Umarov, for talks in Miami later today following his meeting with Vladimir Putin in Moscow. Hundreds of photos and videos of Jeffrey Epstein's Caribbean island home have been released by Democrats in the US Congress ahead of the full release of the files on the well connected sex trafficker. And Eurovision Organizers and participating countries will meet today to debate whether Israel should be allowed to continue in the competition amid protests over Gaza and accusations of unfair voting practices. Stay tuned to Monocle Radio throughout the day for more on those stories. But first, there's growing speculation surrounding President Trump's potential plans for a military attack on Venezuela. At the weekend, Trump declared the South American country's airspace closed, something he does not have the power to do. Meanwhile, there's been a buildup of U.S. assets in the Caribbean, most notably the deployment of the world's biggest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford. To discuss all this, we're joined now by Antonio Sampio, expert on Latin American politics and Society, and H.J. mai, Washington, D.C. reporter Antonio, if I can, I can start with you. So Trump, do we think, is he trying to oust President Nicolas Maduro by force? What is going on here?
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Antonio Sampio
So there are a few possibilities about what Trump wants to achieve with these military assets in the region. It seems clear to me that there is an element of performance in his sending off warships, in that the war on drugs has chosen that topic as his tough guy Persona, as his cause, and it's a relative, relatively easy and simple war for him to achieve. He's in a difficult situation in terms of the traditional sort of conservative portrayal of the warlike president because his campaign on what the conservatives say is the Democrats involvement of the and previous Republicans involvement of the US in foreign wars that has drained the US Resources and they haven't focused on internal American first policies. He's in a tough situation here, and the war on drugs provides him with a cause for him to send warships and claim the protection of the US Populace. Obviously, the Venezuelan regime is also a long standing sort of rival and.
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Sort of enemy or target for US Foreign policy. So there is an element of that. But I think it's safe to say that they will try to avoid putting boots on the ground.
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Vincent McEvin
H.J. i mean, we've touched on it there. When the president ran, a big part of his MAGA platform was America first ending foreign wars and interventions. But he did have a lot to say about the sort of flood of drugs over the border into the States as well. So why is he doing this and is he managing to take MAGA with him or not?
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H.J. Mai
Well, it depends who you ask, but I think, you know, he tries to sell it as America first by stopping, you know, that flow of drugs, you know, he thinks protecting Americans, saving the lives of Americans, you know, that have been, you know, killed especially, you know, by drugs like fentanyl, cocaine over the years, you know, with drug overdoses, heroin, you know, those type of things. You know, he thinks or his administration thinks, you know, that by, you know, conducting those strikes in the Caribbean and in the East Pacific, you know, that that actually aligns with this America first philosophy. So, so it really depends, you know, so far, yeah, the majority of MAGA is still behind him when it comes to this. You know, I think there are other topics where issues might be a little different. But when it comes to the, you know, strikes on those alleged, you know, drug smuggling boats and now, you know, his promise to maybe even conduct targeted strikes, you know, on, on operations and targets in Venezuela, I think the majority is still behind them.
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Vincent McEvin
And, hey, Sheikh, I mean, are we talking just about an entirely aerial operation, or would we see boats deployed to the shore, boots on the ground, that kind of thing?
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H.J. Mai
Yeah, I think knowing where Trump stands with boots on the ground, that seems highly unlikely. I think we can see no targeted strikes. It might not be as powerful or as involved as, for example, the US Strike on those nuclear facilities in Iran, but that's something you can expect. As both of you mentioned, obviously, the biggest aircraft carriers is in the area down there. So targeted strikes with some of American fighter jets, I think that's the most likely thing that we could see in the coming days.
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Vincent McEvin
Antonio, how would other Latin American nations react if the US did go ahead with airstrikes, and do you think what would be their aim?
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Antonio Sampio
I think it greatly depends on the type of airstrikes. I think there are two possibilities there. One is that they will use airstrikes and missiles from the warships to target only cartel targets, alleged cartel targets. And the other possibility, which is very different, that will affect the response of Latin American countries is whether they would target regime targets, Venezuelan government targets.
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So these two are massively different. But I think that, for instance, the major actor in the region, which is Brazil.
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Has traditionally had a very hostile position towards any type of military intervention. So it will try, and especially in its region, which has been free of conflict of war, interstate war for a long time, with exception of a different type of civil war in Colombia. So Brazil is in a tight rope there because it's negotiating with Trump the tariffs, the very high tariffs that Trump has. So it's trying, I think he will try to not confront Trump so much on that unless it really comes to a major sort of escalation of hostilities there.
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Vincent McEvin
And in terms of where this has come from, its origin, trying to track down in the administration, how significant do you think is the Florida connection? I mean, Donald Trump, you know, he's got his base in Mar a Lago, Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, is a former senator from Florida. There is a big Venezuelan community there. Is that a part of this?
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Antonio Sampio
I believe so. I believe that the Latino community, I mean, your reporter in D.C. might know better than me, but the Latino community in the US Is very, and especially in Florida has many, you know, Venezuelans who are deeply resented of what the Maduro regime has done in Venezuela and the restrictions on freedom of expression. These are issues that are very dear to the Latino community in the US and especially in Florida, which, as I understand, have moved strongly towards the Republican Party in recent years.
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Vincent McEvin
H.J. if I can come to you about the strikes that we've seen so far in the Caribbean that the administration claims are drug trafficking boats. There was this double tap incident, so called, where after the first strike, two survivors clinging onto wreckage was struck in a second pass. There's a lot of legal unease even in the Republican Party about this. Could Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth be in trouble, do we think? Or would even Donald Trump maybe sort of throw him under the bus and get rid of him over this?
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H.J. Mai
Well, that doesn't seem to be the case right now. But there's this, as you mentioned, there's definitely a lot of unease right now. I mean, you know, we've seen a bipartisan support in Congress, you know, for a hearing, you know, classified hearing, to get more information on what actually transpired. You know, who gave the official order, you know, the White House and the Pentagon came out and basically said, you know, that it was not the secretary who gave the order for the second strike and to kill those, those survivors. It was an admiral. And so I think, you know, there will be an investigation, you know, whether there will be a public hearing. We don't know. But, but there's definitely a lot of unease. You know, you know, Democrats obviously have come out and basically accused, you know, the, the administration of getting war crimes, and the whole legality of those boat strikes in general is obviously very much in question. So, yeah, there's a lot of unease at the moment. And, you know, and just on that.
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Vincent McEvin
Point, I mean, Hexath as well, is under pressure, though, this investigation into the sort of signal gate, that incident where he added journalists, family members to a signal chat on national security issues.
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H.J. Mai
Yeah, that's exactly right. So besides, you know, conducting or ordering the second strike, you know, today, you know, or in this case yesterday in the US the inspector general for the Department of Defense, or I guess we have to call now, Department of War, if you want to listen to the administration, came out with the report and basically said that, you know, Hexith, you know, acted irresponsibly. You know, he potentially put soldiers in harm's way, you know, for sharing those, those, you know, detailed information about this operation against the Houthis in the signal chat in March. So we'll see if this continues. You know, obviously Hexith came out and said, you know, you know, totally exonerated. You know, nothing happened here, didn't share anything classified. But, but those are definitely ongoing stories. And Hexith has been under pressure, basically since he took over the Pentagon.
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Vincent McEvin
And Antonio, final Question for you. I mean, earlier this week Pope Leo spoke out about this attack. He spent much of, obviously in South America, in Peru. Catholicism is having a bit of a resurgence in America, most notably with Vice President J.D. vance. I think Marco Rubio as well.
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Is a Catholic. Might this impact the decision, do you think? And also might it prompt more of a response from South American countries?
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Antonio Sampio
Well, the Catholic Church is very strong in Latin America and it might provide some sort of diplomatic line of contact. I think that the Pope may play a role in case of, of an escalation of hostilities. I think this is especially likely. Or the role of the Pope and the Catholic Church might be especially important in case there is really one of the two scenarios I mentioned that they're going for the regime and targeting regime targets in some sort of negotiation of the exit of Maduro and his allies from power. But again, I think that they will try as hard as they can to stay in power because if they leave, they face severe prosecution. They are wanted by the US for drug trafficking and accusations of all sorts.
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Vincent McEvin
And just very, very briefly, what do you think could follow Chaos or is there anyone waiting in the wings that could take over in Venezuela?
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Antonio Sampio
I think the opposition in Venezuela has been for a long time discussing this and in some ways preparing. There are several people, even in the Venezuel diaspora who are, you know, have been training in a way to be, you know, ministers of this and ministers of that. So, but it all depends on how this is going to happen and whether, you know, there's going to be some sort of military resistance and possibly even a sort of armed conflict in Venezuela.
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Vincent McEvin
Well, one to watch for certain, Antonio Sampao, expert on Latin American politics and Security, and H.J. mai in Washington D.C. thank you very much. This is the globalist.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing a parliamentary revolt over contentious plans to conscript ultra Orthodox Haredi men into military service. The move has widespread support amongst the rest of Israel's population, of whom men are required to serve for two years, eight months and women for two years in the idf. Opposition leaders are accusing Netanyahu of trying to thwart the bill's passage to placate members of his right wing coalition. To discuss, we're joined by Yossi Meckelburg, senior consulting Fellow at the MENA programme at Chatham House. Yossi, thank you for speaking to us. Can you explain exactly what this plan is and what's happened?
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Yossi Meckelburg
Good morning. I think we need to look at the history of exemption of ultra Orthodox use for military Service. This goes back to the inception of the state of Israel when those who study the scripts our exempt. But at the time it was around 400. Now we are talking about tens of thousands. That's and their representative in the Knesset. This is part of. You can call it the perks they give their voters for many many years not to serve. While other 18 years old men and women for men three year service or women two year service are by law conscripted. And you know, this was a point of contention in Israeli politics for many years. But even more so over the last two years when not only concrete but also reserve service soldiers served up to 300, 400 days and there is shortage of 20,000 soldiers. And the ultra Orthodox still exists that you know, only, only very small number of ultra Orthodox youth will serve. They left the coalition but support it from the outside. But they threatened in case a long path. This, in this sense they will stop supporting the government. To make it more. More complex. The Supreme Court already ruled that if they won't serve, some of the benefits that they get in terms of budgets should be cut.
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Vincent McEvin
Let's just unpack that a bit. I mean what is the proposal for the Haridi men? Because it's not the woman, it's just the men who might have to do service. Is it the sort of two years and eight months that the rest of 18 year old men in Israel have to do?
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Yossi Meckelburg
Yeah, which will extend to three years due to the needs as a result of the war. But still not all of them will serve. But the benefits will be restored which are benefits that other citizens in Israel are not gaining when it comes to for instance helping with child care, supporting every rabbinical stamina with. With thousands of shekel help them with cheaper accommodation. So this creates a big, you know, great resentment among those who both serve but pay taxes since the ultra Orthodox or one of the least productive.
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In terms of the. Of. Of the economy in the economic outburst.
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Vincent McEvin
Yeah, and I mean times have changed. You've had the sacrifice of Israel's youth over the past two years. But has the public attitude shifted just because of that? Or is there also a sort of realization of the demographics here that as you say this has gone from a few to tens of thousands of people economically not very productive, taking a lot out of the state without giving much back.
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Yossi Meckelburg
And that's exactly the point. You summed it up. And I think this always since I remember this was a point of contentions in the Israeli society. But as demography changed because the percentage of ultra Orthodox is Growing all the time. The average ultra Orthodox family is 6.6 children, compared to less than 2among the secular. It means the burden of military service and on the taxpayer is growing all the time.
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Vincent McEvin
And so I mean, why is Benjamin Netanyahu doing this? I mean, he knows that this is not going to be popular with the Israeli people. Is he just desperate to cling on to his coalition until the elections next year?
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Yossi Meckelburg
Yeah, desperation is the key word. He also the coalition he wants, he wants to call election and the right time for him, whether it has to do with his request to be pardoned, which was basically stopping his trial to prevent an inquest, a state inquest into the October 7, 2023 disaster. So he's looking for the right time. And he also knows that even if the election, if he's doing well, even if by October he will still need ultra orthodox to form the next coalition if he is position to do so.
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Vincent McEvin
And Yossi, you yourself had to do the service when you were young. Some citizens might say on principle, you know, everyone should have to do it now to protect Israel. But other men who would be put up for this, who've lived, you know, incredibly sheltered and traditional lives actually suited to this kind of serving, do you think?
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Yossi Meckelburg
I think, you know, everyone in society live their own bubbles and all shelter life in one way or another. But the military is an equalizer and there must be equality. You know, you have the rights then you have also to fulfill your duties towards the country. So I don't think that's one way or another. I think they can be a complete overall, for instance, who is in the attitude, the approach towards service. It can be civil service, it can be military service, but it has to at the end of the day to serve the needs of the country, not a particular community. They decided they don't want to do that and because of their political power, they can blackmail basically the society.
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Vincent McEvin
Yossi Meckelberg, thank you very much. Still to come in the program Malaysian 370 contact switcher mean 120 decimal 9.
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The final communications from Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 before it disappeared over a decade ago. But now the search is set to resume. Is there hope for an answer to one of aviation's biggest mysteries? This is the globalist.
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UBS Narrator
Craft is a matter of perspective, a unique outlook, an obsessive attention to detail. With UBS chief investment office house view you we're focused on identifying the latest investment opportunities and market risks to help you achieve your financial goals. So you get the big picture broken down into thought provoking insights delivered daily and curated by over 200 globally connected, locally active analysts. UBS banking is our craft.
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Vincent McEvin
Well, let's continue now with today's newspapers and joining me in the studio is Latika Burke, the writer at large for the Australian news publication the Nightly. Let's kick things off then. What's caught your eye in the papers?
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UBS Narrator
Look, a really interesting story just published in the Financial Times by Dimitri Sevastopoulo in Washington D.C. who covers the U.S. china beat. And he's just put up a story saying that the US or the Trump administration has halted its own plans to sanction members of China's Ministry of State Security over a massive cyber espionage campaign that the Chinese waged against U.S. officials and U.S. telecom networks called Salt Typhoon. Now you might remember this, this hack was extraordinary. And some of my own sources who've been caught up in this tell me what we know publicly is really only the tip of the iceberg of how far the Chinese penetrated into their systems. So you would expect a very serious respons from the United States, which of course is locked in great power competition with China. Well, Donald Trump, of course, the president of peace, we use that in quote marks. He has been pursuing aggressively a trade deal and a grand bargain with Xi Jinping and he negotiated some of that on the sidelines of the APEC summit in South Korea. And now the suggestion coming out of the United States, certainly amongst the security community, is that Donald Trump is willing to sacrifice national security in order to salvage some trade deals. But there is one important line which I wanted to read out to you here, which is that they believe that some of this positioning is that the U.S. is trying to ensure, quote, stability until the U.S. reduces China's dominance in rare earths. And I think that's really interesting because maybe there's a calculation made that until we can line up all our ducks and be really ready to take China on and use some actions where if we have to back it up, we can and we will, maybe we're not ready. Now I thought that was a very insightful line in Dimitri's copy.
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Vincent McEvin
And the other part of this as well is that mass building of a tcms, the Taiwanese superconductor company in Arizona, trying to get that online so that if China attacks, of course Taiwan, that we're not suddenly out of those conductors as we saw in the pandemic. That can have a devastating. I mean this story really underlines the problem that all countries are having with China. I mean Macron's in Beijing at the moment, isn't he trying to sort this out? Trade, but also security concerns. The UK Tying itself in knots over whether or not China is a threat or a sort of rival or what it's doing. And the US Putting pressure on the UK not to allow China to build an embassy because of concerns it'll be built right over sort of the cables connecting the financial system in the city of London. I mean, everyone is sort of tying themselves in knots on this, aren't they?
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UBS Narrator
I think more broadly what's happening is that the coalition that assembled under Trump 1.0, that took a stronger and I would say a more coordinated line on how to collectively deal with Chinese dominance that has now completely disintegrated. And the North Star, that was the United States in leading that charge, is perhaps giving up some of that field on its own part. And that's a brave new world that the west finds itself in. Because if the United States is behaving in ways that are similar to China, imposing unfair trade tariffs, for example, in breach of world trade agreements and doing that indiscriminately against friends and foes, well, then you're in a really different environment for other partners and smaller partners trying to work out how they respond.
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Vincent McEvin
Well, shifting to Miami now where there'll be talks later today between US Special envoy Steve Witkoff and officials from Kyiv after his trip to Moscow. What can we expect then?
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UBS Narrator
Well, I think maybe another bout of Groundhog Day, because it seems like the talks are again disintegrating into endless back and forth with the Kremlin insisting on its maximalist gains and Ukraine saying we can't possibly accept this Europe as well for whatever voice Europe has in these talks. And then we go to the man himself, Donald Trump, again the president of peace, in quote Marx, saying that he wants to end this war. Now, his latest line is that having sent his son in law, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff to Moscow this week for long talks with the Kremlin, he's now saying that he's not sure whether this deal will happen and he can't say what will happen out of these meetings, although he was sounding quite positive about what took place in the Kremlin, adding again, it takes two to tango, underlining that the United States, this United States does not see Ukraine as a victim, as a sovereign nation that has been been illegally invaded under Trump's terms. He just sees conflict that he wants resolved. And he's very agnostic about how those terms are brokered. In fact, possibly even leaning towards Russia.
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Vincent McEvin
And another Trump rebrand of a U.S. institution.
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UBS Narrator
Yeah, this is a very Trumpian story. So we have, during the Doge era, Doge goes and seizes control of a building called the US Institute of Peace HQ in dc. Now, I've never heard of this building. I don't think you have data listeners will. But it's become the latest of a, I guess maybe a quasi culture war or a Donald Trump ego display. Because just before that he's due to have a ceremony with the presidents of Rwanda and the DRC workers have been busy installing Donald J. Trump's name on the exterior of the building. So it now reads, Donald J. Trump, United States Institute of Peace as opposed to US Institute of Peace.
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Vincent McEvin
Anything to get that Nobel.
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UBS Narrator
I mean, maybe we're in a world where he can just start putting Nobel Peace Prize winner up himself. Self declare it.
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Vincent McEvin
And finally, we've seen lots of images of this grand new museum in Egypt. It took over a decade to build. I'm particularly enjoying the fact that there's all these sort of water reflection pools under statues and people keep falling into them. Have you seen this?
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UBS Narrator
No. It sounds like you're spending a lot of time on, on your, on your social media. Yes.
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Vincent McEvin
Yeah. Well, they want one particular item back though, that is right here in London.
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UBS Narrator
Yeah. This is really interesting because you don't hear so much about the Egyptians wanting the treasures back. You hear a lot about the Greeks and the marbles, of course. But now we have a suggestion that perhaps the Rosetta Stone should be returned to Egypt because it was taken during a time when it was not quite legal. Well, according to Muhammad Khalid, who's spoken to the Times of London and, and he goes on to say he accepts that tens of thousands of artifacts held by the British Museum were legally taken from Egypt. And they're part of, interesting quote, London's identity, even though they belong to both countries. But he says that the Rosetta Stone is not one of them. I must say, when I was a 17 year old girl and I came to the UK, the first thing I did was go and check out the Rosetta Stone. My mind was absolutely blown by seeing this thing in real life that I learned about in books. So, you know, he's right. This is a huge calling card for London and for Britain and maybe it should be for Egypt. Now Mr. Khaled says, of course we would love it to be returned because Egyptians have never seen it. And there are lots of voices in Egypt thinking about arguing for its return. And the clause that he uses so you have to be a real history buff to get this, I think. But he says that it's different because this was taken when Napoleon was defeated by the British and Ottoman forces. And, and under that treaty, the British Museum became the Rosetta Stone, became the property of the British under the terms of the Treaty of Alexandria in 1801. So there's a lot of historical caveats. I think this might be a little bit hard to prosecute, but. But we'll see.
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Vincent McEvin
We'll see. And just before you go, do you know what the oldest structure is in Egypt? In London, I think. Egypt.
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UBS Narrator
Wait, wait. Is it the obelisk that's down on Embankment?
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Vincent McEvin
Yeah. Cleopatra's Needle. It's nothing indigenous. It is Cleopatra's Needle.
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UBS Narrator
I knew you were going to try and trick me. Thought laterally.
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Vincent McEvin
Very clever. Very clever. Well, Latika Burke, thank you very much. You're listening to the Globalist on Monocle Radio.
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Now here's what else we're keeping an eye on today. US Special envoy Steve Witkoff will meet the head of Ukraine's National Security Council, Rustem Umarov, for talks in Miami today on a peace plan. The meeting comes after Wyckoff spent almost five hours with President Putin in Moscow on Tuesday day negotiations which the Kremlin said produced no compromise on ending the war. Hundreds of images and videos of Jeffrey Epstein's Caribbean island home have been released by Democrats in the US Congress ahead of the full release of the files on the well connected sex trafficker. The images include a spa and a medical facility as Americans wait for the Epstein files to be released as promised by President Trump. South Korean authorities are developing a mobile app for stalking victims to track in real time the location of their stalkers who will be tagged. Stalking is a growing concern in the country after a string of high profile crimes. It's hoped the new app will allow victims to evacuate to safety. And Eurovision organizers and participating countries will debate whether Israel should be allowed to continue in the competition amid protests over the way its government conducted its war in Gaza and accusations of unfair voting practices. Countries including Ireland, Spain and the Netherlands have said they will boycott Eurovision if Israel participates states. But Germany has indicated it will pull out if Israel is excluded. This is the Globalist. Stay tuned.
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Now for a look behind the headlines. The Hong Kong fire that engulfed eight tower blocks and killed at least 150 people continues to reverberate in the community. Even more so with local elections in Hong Kong set for this weekend. Monocle's Carlotta Rebelo is in Hong Kong for the Mipim Real Estate Fair in the city, she spoke with Donald Choi, Managing Director and Deputy Chairman of Hong Kong's Urban Renewal Authority on the Taipo fire and lessons for the city.
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H.J. Mai
I think it's a tragedy that affected not only the Taipo residents, but the whole community. I think we are shocked and the tragedy and fatalities of the fire is something that we definitely would not want to see repeat in our city. So the city, apart from supporting all their affected stakeholders, we are actually already looking into the future to see how this type of tragedy can be prevented. And again, there are talks about, you know, is it unique to high density city? I think the answer is no. Because if you look at, you know, earlier this year, the fire in la, it happened in a low density community as well. So it's all about the awareness of the risk, the proper precautionary measures that have been implemented and importantly for professional is really to use their professional knowledge to ensure that the construction, they are safe. And it's not only at the very beginning of the construction, but throughout the lifetime of the building. So from operation to maintenance of the procedures and precautionary measure, we should actually be very careful with all the works going on in living environment.
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Sarah Doyle
Does it actually make you hopeful that.
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Vincent McEvin
There could be good change to come.
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UBS Narrator
From this tragedy then when it comes to the way we build in the city, the way safety is taken when.
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Laura Kramer
It comes to construction practices?
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H.J. Mai
Well, I think it's a lesson that we need to take to our hearts. I think, you know, if we fail to notice the shortcoming and repeat it in future, there is no excuse.
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Vincent McEvin
That was Donald Choi of Hong Kong's Urban Renewal Authority speaking with Monocle's Carlotta Rebelo. This is the Glob list.
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Now it is 1534 in Kuala Lumpur and 834 in Zurich. It's one of aviation's greatest mysteries. What happened to Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, which veered off course and vanished from radar during a routine flight from Kuala Lumpur, Beijing on 8 March 2014? Previous multinational investigations have failed to find the wreckage, but now an Anglo American marine robotics company, Ocean Infinity, will resume the search for an initial period of 55 days. To discuss, we're joined now by Adam Hancock, a journalist based in Singapore who covers Southeast Asia and has covered the search of MH370 extensively. Adam, I know you're in Bali right now, but apparently you're working hard there. That sounds pretty lovely. Right now, this new search, what will it involve and how will it Differ from previous efforts?
- [35:27]
Adam Hancock
Yeah, well, it's kind of been called a new search, but it technically isn't really because it's the same company that actually started a search last year, but it was called off after a short amount of time because of poor weather conditions. So they're kind of coming back to a search that they started last year. We don't know know the exact area where this search will take place. We know it will be in the southern Indian Ocean, but exact details haven't been released. But there has been some media reporting and there was back in March when Ocean Infinity resumed this search, that it was going to be in a roughly 15,000 square kilometer area of the southern Indian Ocean that is yet to be searched. In terms of what they can do differently? Well, obviously technology is advancing all the time, so the, the ability to search large areas of water, particularly, you know, areas of the ocean that are quite difficult to search because of the weather conditions, because of the currents, but also because of just how deep the water is. They have new equipment, obviously new technology, AI etc, which they can use. Also as well there's new analysis which can be done on the data that already exists. So some of the debris that has been found from the plane that they can do something called drift modeling, which is where they look at the debris, they try and work out, like how far it's drifted, where it's come from, the temperature of water that it's come from. And also they can reanalyze the satellite data which they do have from when the plane disappeared. So I think they're going to be looking in a new area using new technology. And Ocean Infinity, the robotics company who are doing this search, obviously they're going to hope to find something in terms.
- [37:10]
Vincent McEvin
Of theories of what happened to the aircraft. I mean, there have been over the years some outlandish claims, but is there now, with the distance of 11 years, a more settled hypothesis?
- [37:20]
Adam Hancock
Yeah, I think the general consensus is that the plane diverted from its intended direction and it sort of turned back on itself and it ended up somewhere in the southern Indian Ocean. That seems to be from all the experts who have looked into this, that seems to be the kind of the working theory right now, is that it's landed somewhere in the. In this Indian Ocean. Exactly why that happens, nobody knows. There was an investigation that was ran by the Malaysian government. They came to no conclusion or no official conclusion about what actually happened. But they did say that it's likely that the controls of the planes were deliberately manipulated to take it off course. Rather than any kind of external factors.
- [38:03]
H.J. Mai
Factors.
- [38:04]
Adam Hancock
But in terms of what actually happened, obviously there's wild speculation. Many, many theories. Many people have pointed fingers at the pilot. Many people have discussed the fact that he had, you know, flight radar, flight simulator equipment at home and was practicing the route. But really it's this lack of evidence which has opened the void. But yeah, I think that general consensus is that it is somewhere in the Indian Ocean, but it is very much like needle and haystack territory in terms of finding.
- [38:29]
Vincent McEvin
Yeah, it's just a huge area to find. If they were able to locate the wreckage though on the Seab and they found the flight recorder after all those years underwater, would the data still be recoverable to sort of finally ascertain what happened?
- [38:44]
Adam Hancock
I think that's a question as well. There's no clear evidence that it, that it will be, you know, intact or they'll be able to actually draw any information from it because it will have been on to sea for so long. I mean, obviously these black boxes are intended to survive all sorts of things. But even if they do find the recognition records, if it will actually answer any questions, is, is hard to tell. I mean, obviously for the families it will be a huge, huge step. They just want some form of closure. They've been pushing for an investigation for so long. I was out in Kuala Lumpur last March on the 10 year anniversary of the plane going missing. And as all the family members I spoke to, it was just the same message. They were just determined that they were going to get an answer. You know, obviously at this stage all hope has been given up of finding anyone alive, but it's more just finding out what happened. And they also frame it of an angle of aviation safety going forward as well. I mean, at the end of the end of the day a plane's gone missing and can't really have that, you know.
- [39:38]
Vincent McEvin
Well, you've prompted my final question. A lot of people at the time were in disbelief that a modern aircraft with all that technology could be lost in this way. That they, you know, wouldn't have a sort of transmissions from the black box. Have there been any changes in the decades since to prevent this from reoccurring?
- [39:56]
Adam Hancock
I don't think there's been too many, many changes to be honest. I don't think too much has come out of it really in a way, like the aviation industry hasn't dramatically changed because of this incident, as far as I'm aware anyway. I mean, it may just have to be one of those almost unexplained mysteries that it's hard to really get to like get anything from it in terms of making too many changes because they don't know what happens. So almost how can you react to that? How can you respond to that? I mean, there were questions about the air traffic controllers in Vietnam and handing over to Malaysia and maybe something was missed there or more could have been done. And certainly that process of air traffic controls handing over planes, as they call it, between, you know, different, different locations that, that has certainly been looked at. But yeah, in terms of, because there's just no actual explanation as to what happened. There's, you know, you could point to the pilots as I mentioned, but there was no clear, an obvious mental stress or financial issues or anything. So it's, it's, it's hard to come from this, any kind of realistic resolution until the plane is found and they can actually work out what happened and maybe find a way to stop it happening again.
- [41:03]
Vincent McEvin
Adam Hancock, thank you very much. This is the Globalist on Monacor Radio.
- [41:18]
Now the Monocle Christmas market will return to Tokyo this weekend at our store in the Tomigaya district. So it's a good time to check in on the latest Japanese news. To bring us up to date, we're joined by Elizabeth Beattie, business and economics correspondent at the Japan Times. Elizabeth, good to have you on the program. What's caught your eye?
- [41:40]
Elizabeth Beattie
Hey there. Well, there's several interesting big stories coming out of Japan at the moment. One is the aftermath of these high profile cyber attacks which have happened this year. So there's two really big attacks which have garnered a lot of attention and that's, Asahi, the bear company which was hacked and it had to suspend orders. It was even stuck with their team having to provide orders via fax or via phone. So they were really quite crippled by this. And the other big company that was hacked is called a school, which is a household goods company, but it also handles order logistics for Muji. So they were also very badly hacked. And in the aftermath there's been a bit of discussion and interest in whether Japanese companies need to enhance their cyber security essentially. So that's quite of a bit big topic of conversation.
- [42:38]
Vincent McEvin
Yeah. And that's, I mean here in the UK we've had these huge hacks this year on Jaguar, Land Rover and Marks and Spencer as well. There has been some government assistance programs from intelligence services. Is that something that the Japanese government do as well to try and help?
- [42:53]
Elizabeth Beattie
This is something which has been discussed here yet actually, Japan is bringing in new cybersecurity legislation next year and that is bringing Japan up to certain other international standards required companies to report when they've suffered a hack in terms of the economic impact or economic support. At the moment, the companies are being quite tight lipped about what that is. They've both pushed their earnings report and they've acknowledged that it's going to have an impact. In the case of Asahi, the beer company, all its competitors were doing very brisk business. So it's a little bit hard to know what they. Their economic standing will be in the aftermath.
- [43:37]
Vincent McEvin
And turning to a new Japanese film which has been a big box office success.
- [43:43]
Elizabeth Beattie
Yeah, so this is the film Kokuho. Have you seen it before?
- [43:48]
Vincent McEvin
No, I haven't heard of it.
- [43:50]
Elizabeth Beattie
Oh, okay. Well, in Japan, it's kind of the talk of the town. Yeah, it's about kabuki, essentially and Kokuho means national treasure. It's the film Japan has put forward as their official Oscar entry for 2026. And it essentially follows the son of a yakuza boss and it's his ups and downs and ambition as he becomes a big kabuki star. It's three hours long and it's about a very ancient art form. So perhaps not a stereotypical box office success, but it's really been such a hit here and I think some of it is because it's so sumptuously shot. There's these incredible scenes of. Of the kabuki performance and it really makes you want to go see kabuki. It really brings alive that art form.
- [44:40]
Vincent McEvin
One to watch. We're about to hit this sort of Oscar movies season, aren't we? And there's been some bear news.
- [44:48]
Elizabeth Beattie
Yes. And you'll have to forgive me, being a New Zealander, bear is a bit of a. Bear is a word we get mocked for our pronunciation. So I hope you can understand me. The. But yes, bears have been also in the headline here. They've come up in conversation quite frequently because this year has been the worst year for attacks on record for Japan. The death toll has been 13 from April until now, but more than 200 people have been injured. There's been thousands of sightings. So I recently went hiking with some friends and everyone had bells on their backpacks to ward off beers. There's a real concern about it because obviously they're very dangerous creatures and yeah, they're a lot more visible than they usually would be.
- [45:36]
Vincent McEvin
Well, Elizabeth Beatty of the Japan Times, thank you very much and stay safe on your hikes. You're listening to Monocle Radio.
- [45:47]
UBS Narrator
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- [46:22]
Vincent McEvin
Well, we head to Cannes now, home to the international luxury travel market. This year week, Monocle Radio has a delegation on site meeting some of the leading movers and shakers in the industry. And we're joined first of all from Cannes by Monocle Radio senior producer Laura Kramer. Laura, how's it on the south coast?
- [46:43]
Antonio Sampio
Hello.
- [46:43]
Laura Kramer
Bonjour. Vinnie. It's been such an incredible few days. It's about to wrap up today, but still a lot of meetings ahead. I'll tell you what I mean, I'm not a betting woman, but if I were to to say, I think it'd be a record year that they've done because so far they've packed in more than 100,000 meetings over the days here at the palais, more than 2500 exhibitors, and yet it all feels very breezy to navigate, I have to say, because it's all been very elegant. From the minute that you land in Nice, ILTM is posted everywhere past security, you're nicely whisked off on a shuttle straight to Cannes. They've got shuttles then coming back to the airport later today. So it's been good. And I have to say also I have never been to Cannes in the winter because I've always seen it in the sun because I was there for the Cannes Film Festival three, three years running. That is a very hectic affair, unlike IL dm. However, Vinnie, I have to say, I did spot a celebrity. Yes.
- [47:43]
Vincent McEvin
Who was it?
- [47:44]
Laura Kramer
Star from Midori house, no less. Happy to announce I'm joined in our pop up studio by Monocle's own commercial director, Rebecca Alderson, making her radio debut from the Croisette.
- [47:56]
Rebecca Alderson
What an introduction. Thanks, Laura. Wow. So happy to be here. Thanks for having me. I'm usually on the other side of the. Of the fishbowl.
- [48:04]
Laura Kramer
Yeah, Vinnie, Rebecca and I have been working, we've been having a lot of interviews and some champagne along the way, of course. Lots of meetings.
- [48:11]
Vincent McEvin
Lovely.
- [48:12]
Rebecca Alderson
It's been great. It's. It's our second year here as Monocle in this iteration. We've got the big booth, we've got a mini monocle retail corner. It's my third year here and it's been so Great to have a home in the Palais, I think, you know, we've had people come by for amazing interviews and conversations. We're right next to the Can X bar, which is, as you say, excellent proximity to a glass of champagne. And yes, we're a publisher, but we're also in the business of hospitality and travel ourselves, themselves. To. To be able to host and sort of welcome people into our little spot has been really fun. Yeah. And then for me, it's been great just to meet everyone, to catch up with people that we met last year, reflect on projects that we cooked up in this very spot. We've just wrapped a lovely campaign with Conrad relaunching the 135 and it's also great to get a good read of the industry. There seems be to. To be a lot of optimism and growth and so many hotel openings and moves into branded residences going from land to sea, which is one of the main themes for this year. So, yeah, I mean, I've had a great time. I'm flying home in a few hours, but very sad to be leaving our little moment in Cannes.
- [49:24]
Vincent McEvin
Yeah. And I mean, Monocle's doing so much all the time. There's more magazines, more books, more emails and things. Rebecca, sort of more sort of hotels becoming aware of us and wanting to engage with us.
- [49:37]
Rebecca Alderson
Yeah. I think what's been really, really lovely is people passing by and just saying, oh, gosh, I'm such a fan of Monocle. I didn't, didn't realize you guys were here or I didn't realize you guys had retail or I wasn't aware that you were doing coffee table books. I think people find Monocle through so many different avenues. You know, you might just be an avid radio listener and then discover that we have a whole host of publications, locations and beautiful coffee table books. So I think it's really interesting to sort of identify the different entry points to our brand in the travel industry, but also have the chance to show people the amazing array of beautiful photography that we have that really lends itself to this industry, to the, you know, really beautiful emotional travel content in Confect, which has been a joy to talk about. To the Escapist annual, which we are closing this week, to any listening advertiser. Advertisers, if you want to get a page and it's not too late, Good plug. So that will be on newsstands from 28 December all of next year as well. So, yeah, from a publications and branding standpoint, it's been fab.
- [50:37]
Vincent McEvin
Well, Laura, it's your last day today. You've done lots of interviews and listeners are in that period of the year where they're starting to think about booking their adventures for 2026. So what are the trends that you're hearing about?
- [50:50]
Laura Kramer
Well, as Rebecca just said, ocean travel is really huge. Huge. That's not stopping. A lot of people are leaning into that. Alpine escapes, of course, with the planet getting warmer, we've, we've been seeing this as a trend that's happening more. A few brands opening properties in the mountains. And one thing that we keep hearing about is so many openings in Italy, Rome especially, we have like at least three or four properties that we've been hearing about. It's a very exciting renaissance for Rome. If you hear here, if, if you'd like. One of the challenges though, that we've been hearing about is although the industry has really rebounded in terms of trips post Covid, they still haven't really in terms of attracting and holding on to talent. So recruitment still a bit of an issue for the industry. However, I do have to say the mood is very jolly here on the ground and everybody's very excited for what 2026 has in store and sounds good.
- [51:40]
Vincent McEvin
Well, I was in Rome myself in September and I can thoroughly recommend. Well, Laura Kramer and Rebecca Alderson, thank you very much. Let's hear now one of Laura's interviews with Sarah Doyle, VP of global brand leader at Design Hotels, which has a global portfolio of more than 300 independently owned boutique properties. Laura kicked things off by asking what defines the brand?
- [52:06]
Sarah Doyle
What's special about our hotels is that the design concept, the experience concept concept all comes from an owner who had a passion and a vision for what they brought to life for their property. So every hotel is different. No hotel is alike. Some are one room. We actually have a hotel with one room. It's in Tokyo, all the way up to, you know, just over 100, but typically in the 50 key range, maybe a little bit less.
- [52:36]
Laura Kramer
I would imagine that for boutique hotels, especially the art, the design, the storytelling aspect must be so crucial for the brand, its soul. Do you think that maybe we've seen some hotels lost their romance?
- [52:50]
Sarah Doyle
Yeah, I think a lot of hotels, you know, forget that you're going to stay in a hotel not just to sleep, but to experience. And every moment in that hotel is meaning. And that's where I think a lot of our owners really take that next step and get involved in that meaning. I have some owners who are also with us who have a property in Italy and at the end of the night, they're a couple, a husband and wife who they're sitting around the bonfire sharing stories with the guests.
- [53:25]
So I think that idea of romance, nostalgia, of the traditional kind of, of innkeeper who's part of the experience is something that you see in a lot of our hotels that hasn't gone away, that I hope won't ever go away.
- [53:38]
Laura Kramer
And I think it's a different touch point on sustainability. We keep hearing about the green tech and the green fuels and everything, but this is surely a very important part of that conversation.
- [53:48]
Sarah Doyle
Of course, that's actually part of the criteria. When we bring in a new property, they have to meet 7 out of 10 of our sustainability principles. And quite frankly, we wouldn't probably talk to a potential owner who didn't care about what their impact is. So from a values perspective, we need to be aligned. And the brand was always born as this brand that believed in experimental hospitality, so new ways of doing things. So of course that now means, you know, new ways of delivering an excellent experience, but ensuring that we're not doing things to harm the planet.
- [54:25]
Laura Kramer
And how many openings have you had in 2025? Tell us about your 2025.
- [54:30]
Sarah Doyle
Yeah, 2025 has been a busy year. We've had about 20 openings all over the world. We are in hundreds of destinations now. We are opening many hotels again in 2026. We have a hotel opening that I'm very excited about called Esch Hotel. This is in Costa Rica and it's in this lush, beautiful, kind of tropical area where you very green and Zen, which is going to be, I think, something people will love again, small. 29 keys rooms, which is, you know, it's quite average for design hotels. We also have a hotel opening in Bali, so this is by the same owners who have a hotel with us in Italy in Palazzo Danieli, which is a gorgeous property. And they're opening a hotel called Maggia de Uma in Bali. And this is tiny, it's 14 rooms, kind of an estate feel. And it's amongst rice fields, tropical gardens, and it used to be a family home, so a little bit of a hideaway for the family, which is now turning into a property. And then we have Dominican Republic coming up as well. And our first hotel in Venice, which I'm so excited about, called Elizabeth Unique in Venice and that's opening in May, June 26th.
- [55:50]
Laura Kramer
We've been hearing quite a few people talking about their move into Italy this coming year. What's driving that, do you think?
- [55:57]
Sarah Doyle
I think Italy is just a region that is pretty easy to fall in love with for many reasons. And, you know, the cuisine, the culture, the vibe, the language. And so when people are traveling or want a second home, Italy comes to mind as one of the first places. Why not? And there's so many undiscovered regions that are kind of becoming more popular now, where we're seeing more hotels pop up. And I think you'll be seeing a lot more outside of the major cities and, you know, the next Puglia. What will that be? So balancing over tourism, but still trying to make sure that things are relevant.
- [56:36]
Laura Kramer
Now. Aside from all the beautiful openings you've had this year, you also have a new book.
- [56:41]
Sarah Doyle
Yes, yes. You're holding our book right here, as I can see, this beautiful cover. We launched our book this year called Designed To Stay. And the book is. No one actually knows what edition this is. We have. I've lost count. I think we're on number 17. That's the rumor right now. But proudly showcasing all of our properties.
- [57:02]
Laura Kramer
I love how varied the destinations are for Design hotels. Are there some that you personally would love to meet the right person there, meet the right owners that you would really like to get?
- [57:13]
Sarah Doyle
I would say. I think we have a real opportunity to do more in India. We're also doing some exploration in Greater China. So, of course, you know, Shanghai, Beijing, the key cities, but also the cities outside of those key cities. There's also so much happening in the US in places like, you know, Charleston, Cities that have really kind of become a new model for, you know, young, lively, cosmopolitan lifestyle outside of the regular cities in the us, I think. I think we need something in the countryside in the uk. So we're looking there.
- [57:51]
Laura Kramer
Like Cotswolds.
- [57:52]
Sarah Doyle
Yes, Cotswolds, but Cotswolds done, right, Exactly. Not stale and, yeah, just something. Design hotels, again, it's about finding the right owner. People say, how do you choose a hotel? How do you know you go. You know, when you know, you feel it. And that's really what the beauty is of the brand, is that you can't explain it.
- [58:08]
Vincent McEvin
I love that.
- [58:09]
Laura Kramer
Bringing that spark back.
- [58:10]
UBS Narrator
Exactly.
- [58:12]
Vincent McEvin
Sarah Doyle of Design Hotels there, speaking with Monocle's Laura Kramer at the international luxury travel market in Cannes. Thanks also to Monocle's Rebecca Alderson. Well, that's all for today's programme. Thank you to our producers Chris Chermack and Angelica Jopson, our researcher Joanna Mosser and our studio manager, Christy o', Grady, with editing assistance from Steph Chungu. In Cannes, after the headlines. There's more music on the way. The Brief briefing is live at midday, London time. I'll be back with the Globalist at the same time tomorrow. I'm Vincent McEvinney. Goodbye and thank you for listening.
- [59:22]
UBS Narrator
With ubs, you have a truly global partner incorporating new technologies, innovative approaches and unexpected opportunities, leading you to insights that help answer the questions that matter. Delivered with passion, care and unmatched expertise. Because it's about rising with the dawn each day, knowing that we can do even better. That's what banking is to us. Not just work, but a craft. UBS advice is our craft.