Around the world in 41 seconds

🇬🇧 UK PM Liz Truss fired her Treasury chief and reversed a pledge to limit corporate taxes on Friday. Truss said the moves were an effort to “reassure the markets of our fiscal discipline.” The PM has now dropped ~$20 billion of the $45 billion in planned tax cuts that were announced days after she took office, which sent the British pound to a record-low against the dollar and forced the Bank of England to step in to prevent losses to pension funds.

🇨🇳 President XI Jinping delivered the opening address of China’s 20th National Congress yesterday. In his nearly two-hour speech, Xi celebrated China’s strict zero-Covid strategy, restated his opposition to Taiwan’s independence, and pledged to build the country’s army into a “world-class military.” Xi is widely expected to claim an unprecedented third five-year term as China’s leader later this week.

🇩🇰 A new Danish political party emerged – and it’s being led by an AI. The Synthetic Party in Denmark is dedicated to following “Leader Lars,” an AI chatbot that’s been programmed to represent the values of the ~20% of Danes who don’t vote in elections. While Leader Lars won’t officially be anywhere on the ballot, his human minions are hoping to elect one of their own to a seat in Denmark’s Parliament. Prospective voters (or the general public) can chat with Leader Lars on the party’s Discord server.