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The World
Sullivan, Chinese Foreign Minister Meet: National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met in Malta over the weekend, with both sides calling the talks substantive. According to a Biden administration official, Sullivan raised concerns about Chinese military activity around Taiwan and also warned Beijing against assisting Russia in the war in Ukraine. Though neither Wang nor President Xi Jinping are expected at the UN General Assembly this week, this weekend’s talks may help lay the groundwork for a meeting between President Biden and Xi at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco in November. (Axios)
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was headed home after making a final stop in Russia's far eastern city of Vladivostok, where he visited a university, an aquarium and an animal food plant, state media KCNA reported. It wrapped up Kim's unusually lengthy, week-long trip to Russia, during which he pledged to step up military and economic cooperation with President Vladimir Putin. The visit will serve as "an opportunity to further solidify the traditional bond of good-neighbourhood cooperation between the two countries, which are rooted in comradely friendship and military unity, and to open a new chapter in the development of relations," KCNA said. (Reuters)
UNGA to Focus On Sustainable Development Goals: The UN General Assembly opens Monday with a high-level forum on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) before general debate begins on Tuesday. Secretary-General António Guterres is making progress on the SDGs — which has lagged behind the implementation timeline adopted in 2015 — a key issue during the UNGA. (UN Dispatch)
Climate Protesters March on New York, Calling for End to Fossil Fuels: Ahead of U.N. meetings this week, thousands gathered in Midtown to demand that President Biden and other world leaders stop new oil and gas drilling. (New York Times)
Six issues to watch at the UNGA. (Stimson Center)
Civilian Grain Ships Return to Ukraine: Two Palau-flagged cargo ships docked at the Ukrainian seaport of Chornomorsk over the weekend, making them the first civilian cargo ships to reach the Odesa region port city since Russia withdrew from a wartime grain deal. The ships will be delivering some 20,000 tons of wheat to countries in Africa and Asia. (Associated Press)
Halliburton Equipment Still Making It to Russia: More than $7.1 million worth of equipment manufactured by Halliburton has been imported into Russia since the company announced the end of its Russian operations one year ago. Most of the shipments came in the first six weeks after Halliburton’s sale of its operations there. The equipment originated from a range of countries but was primarily shipped from the U.S. and Singapore. (The Guardian)
Americans are starting and running their own businesses at record rates, part of a post-pandemic shift toward entrepreneurship led by women and people of color, according to a new report. Nearly 1 in 5 adults — 19 percent — are in the process of founding a business or have done so in the past 3½ years, according to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, an annual report by Babson College released Thursday. That is the highest level since the survey began in 1999. Globally, the United States had the third-highest entrepreneurship rate among 21 high-income economies, lagging behind the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, but ahead of Canada and the United Kingdom, researchers found. (Washington Post)
U.S. surpasses 500 mass shootings in 2023: Just five years ago, the country had never experienced 500 mass shootings in one year: 2018: 335 mass shootings; 2019: 414 mass shootings; 2020: 610 mass shootings; 2021: 689 mass shootings; 2022: 645 mass shootings. The 500 mass shootings threshold was crossed in September in the past two years, according to the archive. In 2020, it occurred in October. (Axios)
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said he wants to avoid a US government shutdown because it would undermine his party’s leverage in negotiations over spending cuts sought by Republicans. “I want to make sure we don’t shut down,” McCarthy said on Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures. “I don’t think that is a win for the American public and I definitely believe it’ll make our hand weaker if we shut down.” (Bloomberg)
House Republicans strike deal on short-term funding, but Senate likely to reject: Half a dozen House Republicans announced a deal on Sunday to temporarily fund the government with the goal of averting a shutdown at the end of the month. But it’s far from certain that the proposal would unite their fractious conference to send a bill to the Senate, where it is expected to get rejected. The short-term funding bill, known as a continuing resolution, would keep the government running until Oct. 31 and trigger a one percent cut to current fiscal levels, according to the plan released just before lawmakers are to be briefed Sunday evening. (Washington Post)
Economy
Economists Expect Further Fed Rate Increases: More than 40% of economists surveyed by the Financial Times expect the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates at least two more times to peak at 5.75% or more. (Financial Times)
UAW President Rejects Stellantis Offer: United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain rejected a public offer by Stellantis to increase pay by 21% over four years, stating that the union will hold to its demand for a 40% boost over four years because CEO pay went up by that amount over that same time frame. While the current UAW walkout is impacting just a small number of plants, Fain warned that the strike could expand if the Big Three fail to meet demands. (Washington Post)
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries traveled to Detroit in support of the strike. Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su and White House adviser Gene Sperling are expected to go to Detroit this week. (Politico, CNBC)
Retailers Worried About Resumption of Student Loan Payments: Starting on October 1, payments averaging $200 to $300 per month will resume for millions of student loan borrowers — the first time since March 2020 that payments will be due. Retailers fear that the resumption of payments will hurt discretionary spending as they continue to recover from high inflation, but economists say the amount being diverted from spending will just be a drop in the bucket out of more than $18 trillion in annual U.S. consumer spending. (Wall Street Journal)
New York’s statewide pay transparency law took effect on Sunday. Employers with at least four workers must now disclose salary ranges for any job advertised either internally or externally. A similar law took effect in California on January 1. While advocates say the new law could help workers who do not realize they are being underpaid, a representative of the New York Business Council says the law adds to the regulatory burden on small business owners. (Associated Press)
Remote Work Stable at Higher Rate Post-Pandemic: U.S. workers’ remote workdays have stabilized after spiking during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The average U.S. worker spends 3.8 days per month working from home, down from 5.8 in 2020 but higher than the 2.4 average from 2019. Among the smaller sample of workers who have ever worked remotely, the figures are an average of 7.7 remote days per month currently compared with 11.9 in 2020 and 5.8 in 2019. (Gallup)
Technology
A shot across the bow’: how geopolitics threatens Apple’s dependence on China. Beijing’s restrictions on government use of Apple products and Huawei’s resurgence pose problems for Tim Cook. Apple is facing new competitive pressures in a country that is not only its largest manufacturing hub but also its biggest international market, responsible for nearly 20 per cent of sales in its last quarter. A share sell-off cut almost $200bn from Apple’s market capitalisation this month after news that various government agencies had imposed bans on the use of Apple products in government departments and state-owned enterprises. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday denied any formal prohibition but alluded to iPhone-related “security incidents” and told smartphone makers to comply with the law. (Financial Times)
The European Union could become as dependent on China for lithium-ion batteries and fuel cells by 2030 as it was on Russia for energy before the war in Ukraine unless it takes strong measures, a paper prepared for EU leaders said. The document, obtained by Reuters, will be the basis of discussions on Europe's economic security during a meeting of EU leaders in Granada in Spain on Oct. 5. Worried by China's growing global assertiveness and economic weight, the leaders will discuss the European Commission's proposals to reduce the risk of Europe being too dependent on China and the need diversify towards Africa and Latin America. (Reuters)
SoftBank is on the hunt for deals in artificial intelligence, including a potential investment in OpenAI, after the blockbuster listing of UK chip designer Arm bolstered Masayoshi Son’s multibillion-dollar war chest. Two people familiar with Son’s thinking said that the Japanese conglomerate’s founder and chief executive is looking to invest tens of billions in AI after completing Arm’s initial public offering. Microsoft-backed OpenAI is one of several options SoftBank is considering for a handful of such deals. SoftBank could also look to strike a broad strategic partnership with the ChatGPT maker, these people said. (Financial Times)
Arm IPO delivers $84mn fees bonanza for its advisers: The $84mn total is seven times more than the average large listing, making it the third most costly in the past decade. The bulk of Arm’s total — around $51mn — went on accounting fees, particularly to auditor Deloitte. It also spent almost $17mn on legal fees, primarily benefiting its main legal adviser Morrison & Foerster. (Financial Times)
Smart Links
Turkish President Erdogan asks Musk to build Tesla factory in Turkey. (Reuters)
Gov. Gavin Newsom of California will sign a landmark bill requiring major companies to disclose greenhouse gas emissions. (New York Times)
Southern California gas prices climb at their fastest rate this year. (Los Angeles Times)
Race for Soybean Dollars on U.S. Farms Heats Up. (Wall Street Journal)