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The World
More than 60 million Americans have cast ballots in the U.S. presidential election with eight days to go, a record-breaking pace that could lead to the highest voter turnout in over a century. Meanwhile, 43% of Biden supporters and 41% of Trump supporters said they would not accept the election result if their preferred candidate loses. States and cities across the U.S. are wrestling with a delicate task as they gear up for the possibility of violence on Election Day: how to keep voters safe without deploying a police presence that could intimidate some voters. In Washington State, the military and police are preparing for possible civil unrest after election. (Reuters, Reuters-2, Wall Street Journal, Seattle Times)
Average daily new coronavirus cases in U.S. hit all-time high, as a former FDA head warned of “exponential spread.” People are traveling across China in the hopes of getting an experimental vaccine shot, as Angela Merkel warned that Germany is on the verge of losing control of its fight against the virus. Melbourne will exit lockdown from Wednesday after recording no new Covid-19 cases for the first time since June. In El Paso, TX, intensive care units are at 100% capacity and officials are asking residents to stay home for two weeks as its hospitals — while simultaneously urging them to vote. White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows: “We are not going to control the pandemic.” (CNBC, CNN, The Guardian, BBC News, Texas Tribune, KFOX-14, CNN-2)
China will sanction three U.S. firms over their $1.8bn Taiwan arms deal that included missiles that can strike mainland. Boeing was singled out, while Lockheed Martin and Raytheon Technologies and anyone who “played a bad role” in the deal will also face punishment. (South China Morning Post)
The French foreign ministry is recalling its ambassador to Turkey, after Turkish President Recep Erdogan sharply criticized French President Macron’s response to the beheading of a teacher. Erdogan has called on Turks to boycott French goods amid a row over France's tougher stance on radical Islam, as Turkey’s lira sinks to 8 against U.S. dollar for first time. (Washington Post, BBC News, Financial Times)
Yesterday Russian President Putin said he saw nothing criminal in Hunter Biden’s past business ties with Ukraine or Russia, marking out his disagreement with one of Donald Trump’s attack lines in the U.S. presidential election. Today the Kremlin said Joe Biden’s assessment of Russia as the biggest threat to U.S. national security was wrong and encouraged hatred of Russia. (Reuters, Reuters-2)
An overwhelming majority voted in support of rewriting Chile's constitution, which dates to the military rule of Gen Augusto Pinochet. With almost all the ballots counted, 78% had voted "yes" in a referendum that was called after mass protests against inequality. The U.S. and India are “set to sign intelligence deal” amid ongoing border stand-off with China. In Belarus, a nationwide strike to topple President Lukashenko began after mass arrests. In Nagorno-Karabakh, the U.S.-brokered ceasefire has unraveled, as fighting flared between Armenian and Azeri forces. (BBC News, South China Morning Post, The Times, Financial Times)
Economy
Global leveraged buyouts come roaring back after coronavirus-related lull: Firms struck $146bn of new deals globally in Q320, up from a feeble $53.3bn in 2Q20 and $103.8bn in 3Q19. In the opening weeks of the fourth quarter, $17.4bn of buyouts have already been announced. Meanwhile, private equity has spent more on the 2020 political races than on any previous election. Employees of private equity and other investment firms, excluding hedge funds, gave $132 million to candidates, parties, political-action committees and outside groups through Sept. 30, exceeding the $117.4 million spent on 2016 races. (Private Equity News, Wall Street Journal)
China’s Ant Group is aiming to raise at least $34.4 billion in what is due to be the world’s biggest-ever initial public offering, a deal that will cement its status as one of the most valuable companies in either technology or finance. (Wall Street Journal, Financial Times)
Dallas-Fort Worth leads the country in the share of employees who are back at work, but less than half have returned. Meanwhile, working from home is fueling the rise of the 'secondary city.' (Dallas Morning News, The Guardian)
Oil prices fell by more than 3% as soaring coronavirus cases raised the prospect of weaker demand for energy. Rising production in Libya — which is aiming to double output — and the fading prospect of a pre-election fiscal stimulus deal in Washington also sent prices down. (The Times)
The number of Small Business Administration-backed loans to Black-owned businesses fell by 84% since peaking before the 2008 financial crisis. That dramatic decrease came despite a decade-long economic boom, a massive increase in bank deposits and an 82% increase in commercial loans overall. Last year, just 3% of the loan dollars in the SBA’s flagship 7(a) loan program went to Black-owned businesses, although about 9.5% of U.S. small businesses are Black-owned. On the venture side, just 2.6% of U.S. VC dollars in 2020 have gone to Black- or Latino-owned businesses. (Silicon Valley Business Journal, Crunchbase)
Technology
Facebook has planned for the possibility of trying to calm election-related conflict in the U.S. by deploying internal tools designed for what it calls “at-risk” countries, while Wikipedia also has developed a plan to resist Election Day misinformation. Facebook’s emergency measures include slowing the spread of viral content and lowering the bar for suppressing potentially inflammatory posts. Previously used in countries including Sri Lanka and Myanmar, they are part of a larger tool kit developed by Facebook to prepare for the U.S. election. Meanwhile, state, federal antitrust charges against Facebook could come as soon as November. Separately, Facebook has taken its first small steps into the world of cloud gaming. (Wall Street Journal, Wired, Washington Post, The Verge)
Apple is planning updates to its AirPods earbuds next year, seeking to capitalize on the success of a product that has become an important source of growth with two new models: third-generation entry-level AirPods and the second version of the AirPods Pro earbuds. The third-generation earbuds, which follow the second-gen model from March 2019, could be announced as early as the first half of next year. (Bloomberg)
The NYU Ad Observatory released new data about the inputs the Trump and Biden campaigns are using to target audiences for ads on Facebook. It’s a jumble of broad and specific characteristics ranging from the extremely wide (“any users between the ages of 18-65”) to particular traits (people with an “interest in Lin-Manuel Miranda”). The data shows that both campaigns have invested heavily in personality profiling using Facebook. It also shows how personalized targeting can be: campaigns regularly upload lists of specific individual people they wish to target. (MIT Technology Review)
Big Tech is coming for podcasts, as podcast ad revenue for podcasts increased by more than 40% last year and is projected to top $800 million this year. (Washington Monthly)
Tech earnings this week: Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Twitter, AMD, Spotify, Shopify, Samsung, Pinterest, eBay, Qualcomm. (Source Code)
Smart Links
Michael Bloomberg gives $2.6 million to Texas Democrat running for railroad commissioner. (Texas Tribune)
Sales calls have gone virtual, and AI is listening. (Wired)
The office is dead, but kid cubicles are booming. Remote learning has created a thriving new target market for office supply companies. (Marker)
Should employers cover working from home costs? (Wired UK)
With widespread work-at-home, Americans are looking to the UK anew. (Barron’s)
Pandemic makes world’s billionaires — and their advisers — richer. (Financial Times)
Why Congress must clarify limits of gene-editing technologies. (Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics)
The world-first rollable TV is finally going on sale. And it’s only $87,000. (The Verge)