Our daily journey around the world

🇺🇦🇺🇸 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with US lawmakers in Washington to appeal for more aid. Debate in Congress over more aid to Ukraine has reached a standstill heading into the winter recess, with many Republicans refusing to approve any aid bill without Democratic concessions on immigration. The US has sent more than $75 billion in economic and military aid to Ukraine since Russia invaded in February 2022. Separately, US intelligence officials revealed Russia has lost ~315,000 soldiers to death or injury in the fight against Ukraine, which represents ~90% of Moscow’s prewar army.

🇨🇳☕ China has overtaken the US as the world’s largest coffee shop market. The number of branded coffee shops in China increased by 58% over the past year, per a new annual analysis from World Coffee Portal. The US market, which held the top spot for the entire 20-year history of the research, increased by 4% over the same period. China’s recent coffee shop boom has come mostly in the form of small stores and delivery-focused formats.

🇲🇲 Myanmar is now the world’s top opium producer. The Southeast Asian country saw a spike in opium production following a military coup in 2021 that brought widespread economic instability, per a new UN report. Myanmar surpassed Afghanistan as the world’s leading producer following the Taliban's poppy farming ban in April 2022, which caused a 95% drop in local opium production. Opium production for the 2022-23 period was at its highest in over two decades.