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The World
President Biden, speaking in Tel Aviv, backed Israel’s war against Hamas but “urged Israelis to learn the lessons from US campaigns after the September 11 terrorist attacks.” Biden said, “Justice must be done. But I caution this: While you feel that rage, don’t be consumed by it. After 9/11, we were enraged in the United States. While we sought justice and got justice, we also made mistakes.” Biden’s visit was the first by a U.S. president while Israel was formally at war. (Times of Israel)
Biden announced $100 million in aid for humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza and the West Bank during his speech. (Politico)
Following a meeting with Biden, Israel's war cabinet “approved the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza from Egypt following pressure from the U.S. and other countries.” Biden said he “welcomed the decision and stressed aid would be suspended if Hamas tried to take control of it.” (Axios)
Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin “hailed each other as ‘old’ and ‘dear” friends’ and “depicted themselves as building a ‘fairer, multipolar world’” during the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing. Xi used the meeting “of leaders from mostly developing countries on Wednesday to showcase his ambitions to reshape the global order, as the world grapples with a war in Ukraine and a crisis in Gaza.” He also gave Putin “a prominent role…underscoring how central their relationship is” to Xi’s vision. (New York Times)
But “there are cracks in the Sino-Russian relationship: Putin’s Ukraine invasion has weakened China’s geopolitical goal of weakening the Western alliance, while Russia is likely miffed by Xi’s decision not to offer them lethal aid.” (Semafor)
In a joint warning, intelligence chiefs from the Five Eyes — a network representing Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK, and the U.S. — accused China of intellectual property theft and using AI for hacking and spying. FBI Director Christopher Wray “said the ‘unprecedented’ warning was intended to convey the ‘unprecedented threat’ posed by China.” (Semafor)
Vladimir Putin has called the U.S. delivery of long-range tactical ballistic missiles to Ukraine “‘another mistake by the United States’ in his first public comments since an unprecedented Ukrainian strike destroyed helicopters at two airfields in Russian-occupied territory this week.” Putin also said the missiles “would ‘not do Ukraine any good either. It will simply prolong [their] agony.’” (The Guardian)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived in North Korea “as the two countries forge closer defense ties.” The Kremlin said his two-day visit could lay the groundwork for a future trip to Pyongyang by Vladimir Putin. (DW)
Javier Milei, “a 52-year-old libertarian economist with an outsize television personality and a minimal political career, has taken swaths of Argentina by storm.” With inflation at 138% “and around two-fifths of Argentines mired in poverty, opinion polls make Milei the narrow favourite to win the presidency either on Sunday or in a run-off vote next month.” (Financial Times)
Milei “has outlined a series of extreme libertarian policy proposals which include scrapping the existing central bank, privatising almost everything, loosening gun ownership laws and slashing all tariffs and taxes. He has said his government would not do business with China — currently Argentina’s main trading partner — although he stressed private companies could do so if they wished. He has described neighbouring Brazil’s left-wing leader, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, as ‘an angry communist.’” (Times of London)
Jim Jordan lost support on the second ballot for House speaker, with 22 Republicans voting against him, two more than on Tuesday. “Multiple Republicans are predicting that [Jordan] would lose even more votes if or when he moves to a third ballot,” which he insists he will. One Republican predicted as many as 15 more defections on the third ballot, adding, “I won’t vote for him again.” (Politico)
Economy
Retail sales were up a surprisingly brisk 3.8% in September, and online sales were up 8.4%. (Axios)
U.S. household wealth “ballooned at a record pace during the pandemic as the government doled out unprecedented aid, Americans hunkered down amid widespread lockdowns, and stock and home values soared.” A Federal Reserve survey shows that “from 2019 to 2022, the median net worth of U.S. families surged 37% to $192,900, adjusted for inflation -- the largest rise in the history of the Fed's Survey of Consumer Finances.” (USA Today)
“The median income in the U.S. is $75,000 a year, but you'll need to earn $40,000 more to comfortably afford the median-priced home,” according to a Redfin analysis. The median U.S. home price was $420,000 in August. (Axios)
The value of distressed U.S. commercial real estate is closing in on $80 billion. The value of buildings “in bankruptcy, repossessed by lenders or in the process of liquidation increased by a net $5.6 billion in the quarter.” (Bloomberg)
The Senate voted to overturn a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule requiring lenders to report demographic data on small-business loan recipients despite a White House veto threat. Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) “called the regulation ‘intrusive’ in a floor speech before the Senate voted 53-44 to scrap it. The House must still act on the resolution.” (Politico)
“The bar for taking a sick day is getting lower, and some bosses say that’s a problem.” While previous generation of U.S. workers “viewed an unwillingness to take sick days as a badge of honor,” younger workers “feel more entitled to take full advantage of the benefits they’ve been given.” Additionally, “more workers are using up sick time often for reasons such as mental health.” So far in 2023, 30% of white-collar workers with access to paid leave have taken sick time, up from 21% four years ago. (Wall Street Journal)
Technology
OpenAI Is in Talks to Sell Shares at $86 Billion Valuation: The artificial intelligence startup behind ChatGPT is negotiating the transaction, known as a tender offer, with potential investors, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential information. The firm hasn’t finalized allocations and terms could still change, some of the people said. (Bloomberg)
Amazon will begin delivering prescription medications by drone within an hour of the order being placed. Amazon is testing the plan in College Station, Texas. The drone “will travel to the customer’s address, descend to a height of about four meters — or 13 feet — and drop a padded package.” (Associated Press)
Amazon has doubled the number of Rivian electric vans in its fleet since this summer. Amazon now has 10,000 of the delivery vans in service, up from 5,000 in July. Amazon plans “to deploy 100,000 electric vans to its delivery fleet by 2030. At the rate it's going, that might happen a little sooner.” (Ars Technica)
Suzuki plans to export electric vehicles from India to Japan as soon as 2025. Suzuki “chose India as its first EV production hub because of the huge potential of the domestic market and lower manufacturing costs. Its India subsidiary Maruti Suzuki is the largest automaker in India with about 40% share of the passenger car market.” (Nikkei Asia)
Foxconn and Nvidia are enhancing their collaboration in AI. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, speaking at Foxconn's annual technology day event in Taipei, said, “A new type of manufacturing has emerged: the production of intelligence. And the data centers that produce them are AI factories. Foxconn, the world's largest manufacturer, has the expertise and scale to build AI factories globally. We are delighted to expand our decade-long partnership with Foxconn to accelerate the AI industrial revolution.” (Nikkei Asia)
India has announced the goal of “setting up an Indian Space Station by 2035” and landing an Indian on the moon by 2040. “The world's most populous country is ramping up its space program, and is preparing for a test flight for its first crewed space mission on Saturday.” (DW)
Smart Links
The average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage hit eight percent Wednesday morning. (CNBC)
U.S. forces intercepted three aerial drones targeting American troops in Iraq on Wednesday. (Politico)
Morgan Stanley’s profits were down nine percent in the third quarter. (Financial Times)
ChatGPT can now browse the Internet in real time, which should bring its fact base up to date. (CNBC)