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The World
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Benny Gantz, member of the opposition, will form an emergency unity government in a move that “underscores how big the crisis in Israel is as a result of the deadly Hamas attack.” (Axios)
Gantz and Netanyahu “agreed on the formation of a small war cabinet” that convened almost immediately after the agreement was struck. Opposition leader Yair Lapid, a former foreign minister who briefly served as prime minister last year, has been invited to join the war cabinet but has not yet responded. (Wall Street Journal)
NATO is vowing a “determined” response if damage to the undersea Balticconnector pipeline between Finland and Estonia is proven to have been deliberate. Finnish Defense Minister Antti Häkkänen, speaking at a NATO meeting in Brussels, “said Helsinki ‘values the support offered by its allies’ in the transatlantic military partnership, but refused to speculate on the outcome of the investigation.” Investigators say traces of an “external, mechanical force” have been found at the site of the damage. (The Guardian)
Adama Barrow brought an end to two decades of dictatorship in Gambia when he was elected president in 2016, but critics “now argue that Barrow is slowly eroding the democratic gains made during the early days of his presidency. Civil rights groups and media organizations want Barrow to uphold democracy in Gambia and allow freedom of speech for all Gambians.” Recent arrests of journalists and Barrow critics have “diminished press freedom in Gambia and drawn criticism from both the public and civil society organizations.” (DW)
Federal Reserve officials were split last month over whether they would need to raise interest rates again this year. Minutes from the September 19-20 Fed policy meeting said, “A majority of participants judged that one more increase in the target federal-funds rate at a future meeting would likely be appropriate, while some judged it likely that no further increases would be warranted.” (Wall Street Journal)
“The minutes said consumers have continued to spend, though officials worried about the impact from tighter credit conditions, less fiscal stimulus and the resumption of student loan payments.” (CNBC)
“Investors are betting that the Federal Reserve, which has raised interest rates to their highest levels in 22 years, may finally be finished.” (New York Times)
U.S. debt service costs could reach $1 trillion per year by 2028, eclipsing even defense spending. (The Economist)
“As trends this year shift toward retailers launching holiday sales, promotions and deals earlier, more than one in four holiday shoppers (28%) would consider starting their shopping earlier than usual,” with young adults especially interested in doing so. (Gallup)
Economy
President Biden announced a proposed FTC rule to ban “any hidden and bogus junk fees, which can mask the total cost of concert tickets, hotel rooms and utility bills.” Biden said, “These junk fees may not matter to the wealthy, but they sure matter to working folks in homes like the one I grew up in.” (Associated Press)
The Administration “is also warning large banks and credit unions that they can’t charge fees for basic services. Examples include routine checking of bank account balances or asking the amount needed to pay off a loan.” (USA Today)
ExxonMobil will buy shale driller Pioneer Natural Resources for $59.5 billion in stock in its “largest deal since its two namesakes got married.” The move could “produce an antitrust face-off with a White House that's already at odds with Big Oil.” (Axios)
“By concentrating its production close to home, Exxon is effectively betting that U.S. energy policy will not move against fossil fuels in a major way.” (New York Times)
Detroit’s Big Three have laid off approximately 4,800 workers at factories that have not been part of ongoing United Auto Workers strikes. The automakers blame the strikes for the cuts, saying they “have occurred mainly at factories that make parts for assembly plants that were closed by strikes.” The UAW says the layoffs are intended to pressure UAW members into accepting less favorable terms in negotiations. (Associated Press)
China’s flailing residential property sector is another indicator of economic woes that could “ripple out to other nations — as China has been the largest single source of growth for the world economy in recent decades.” (Axios)
China’s investment in the China Pakistan Economic Corridor, one of the linchpins of the Belt and Road Initiative, appears to have stalled. Though China has pledged billions for rail, road, and energy infrastructure in Pakistan, it has “recently demonstrated its reluctance to fund several Pakistan-requested CPEC projects.” (DW)
The U.S. and EU “will offer assistance on the construction of an international railway in Africa to bring resources from mining areas to a port in a test of whether they can gain a foothold in Africa, where China has gained influence through its Belt and Road Initiative.” (Nikkei Asia)
Some municipal-bond funds are suffering their worst stretch since the Great Recession, “an acute example of how two years of rising interest rates have slammed investors’ portfolios.” Closed-end municipal-bond “funds have been particularly hard-hit because they often use borrowed money to invest in fixed-rate, long-term bonds sold by state and local governments.” (Wall Street Journal)
Technology
Booz Allen Hamilton will seek as much as $700 million in government AI contracts in FY 2024, rolling out “a new set of AI capabilities aimed at federal military and civilian clients.” Generative AI “offers government and military organizations the chance to deliver faster and better services — pushing officials to better organize and apply the huge amounts of data they already collect.” (Axios)
U.S. firm Amkor “debuted a $1.6 billion chip factory in Vietnam for packaging and testing on Wednesday, the latest in a string of foreign semiconductor investments in the Southeast Asian country.” Amkor said the plant “will use its most advanced technology and focus on memory, design and electrical testing services for automotive, communications and advanced computing clients.” (Nikkei Asia)
Germany's Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency says it is leaving X “because of ‘an enormous rise’ in hate speech. FADA said hateful comments and disinformation had ‘increased particularly’” since Elon Musk purchased the platform. (DW)
Google will no longer advertise YouTube TV as costing “$600 less than cable” after losing a National Advertising Review Board appeal. Cable giant Charter argued that its Spectrum TV Select service cost only about $219 per year more YouTube TV in the Los Angeles area. YouTube TV’s monthly price has risen from $35 at its 2017 launch to $72.99 today. (Ars Technica)
New A.I. Tool Diagnoses Brain Tumors on the Operating Table: A new study describes a method for faster and more precise diagnoses, which can help surgeons decide how aggressively to operate. (New York Times)
Smart Links
Analysts expect the Social Security cost-of-living increase for 2024 will be about 3.2%, down sharply from the 8.7% that came amidst this year’s high inflation rates. (Associated Press)
Goldman Sachs will sell specialty lender GreenSky for a fraction of the $1.7 billion it paid for it just last year. (Wall Street Journal)
Birkenstock’s opening share price at its IPO on the New York Stock Exchange “came in about 11% lower than its initial price of $46 set Tuesday.” (CNBC)
The EU could impose a tariff of 25% on Chinese steel imports. (South China Morning Post)