Weekend Papers Summary
FINANCIAL TIMES
-Hamas has released two US hostages captured during its devastating assault on Israel almost two weeks ago, amid intense diplomatic efforts to ease tensions in the Middle Eastern conflict and deliver humanitarian aid to civilians. The women — named by the Israeli prime minister’s office as mother and daughter Judith Tai Raanan and Natalie Shoshana Raanan — were snatched by Hamas militants from the Nahal Oz kibbutz in southern Israel on October 7, in what was the deadliest attack on the country in its 75-year history.
-This week, Biden made his second presidential visit to a transformed Middle East. Israel, where he landed, is a traumatized nation at war, while its Arab neighbors are gripped by rage, angst and fear. The US president has been sucked into one of the world’s most intractable problems — the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a diplomatic quagmire he sought to avoid, but which has become inescapable in the wake of Hamas’s deadly October 7 attack on southern Israel, and the Jewish state’s ferocious retaliatory offensive on Gaza.
-US House Republicans voted in a secret meeting on Friday to end populist firebrand Jim Jordan’s attempt to become Speaker, extending weeks of Capitol Hill uncertainty that will delay Congress’s ability to approve more aid for Israel and Ukraine. Republicans, who hold a narrow majority in the House, will hold another contest on Monday to select a new candidate for the speakership, their third since the ouster of Kevin McCarthy two weeks ago. Another floor vote on the nominee could happen on Tuesday.
-In its latest twice yearly Financial Stability Report, the US central bank flagged the potential for “broad adverse spillovers to global markets” in the event that the Middle East conflict and the war in Ukraine intensify or stresses emerge elsewhere.
-This weekend Apple will roll out acclaimed director Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon in more than 3,600 US cinemas and thousands more in 63 other markets around the world. Cook has taken a deep personal interest in the film, appearing at its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival and throwing his support behind an auteur-friendly Hollywood rollout that is more rooted in the celluloid era than the iPhone age.
-A company backed by BlackRock has abandoned plans to build a 1,300-mile pipeline across the US Midwest to collect and store carbon emissions from the corn ethanol industry following opposition from landowners and some environmental campaigners.
-A Chinese container ship is at the center of a Finnish investigation into the potential sabotage of a gas pipeline and data cable between the Nordic country and Estonia. Finnish police said on Friday evening it was focusing on Newnew Polar Bear, a Hong Kong-registered container ship, as its movements coincided with the time and place of the damage.
-Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni has publicly ended her relationship with her partner and father of her child Andrea Giambruno after embarrassing footage of his inappropriate comments to a female colleague was broadcast on national television. “Our paths have diverged for some time and the time has come to acknowledge it,” said Meloni.
-Washington’s tightened export controls on chips may leave Chinese tech groups relying on outdated and stockpiled chips to pursue their artificial intelligence ambitions, with industry giants Alibaba and Baidu facing new hurdles for the manufacturing of their latest self-designed AI processors.
NEW YORK TIMES
-Republicans vote out Rep. Jim Jordan as speaker nominee, continuing chaos in the House. Jim Jordan’s candidacy was rejected by Republicans during a secret ballot vote, leaving the chamber paralyzed with no consensus on a way forward. The House will meet again on Monday in an effort to find a new speaker. About a dozen party members have begun making calls to explore their own bids.
-Chaos and frustration rule as republicans’ bitter speaker fight deepens. With the House GOP back to square one on electing a new speaker, tempers flared and uncertainty over how the impasse might be resolved only grew.
-Hamas has released two Americans; but 200 people are still held captive. A woman and her teenage daughter, dual citizens from Illinois, were being reunited with family on an Israeli military base, officials said.
-President Biden and aides advise Israel to avoid widening war with Hezbollah strike. US officials learned that the Israeli defense minister and other military officials supported a pre-emptive strike on Hezbollah. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been cautious.
-US Deficit, pegged at $1.7T, effectively doubled in 2023.
The widening gap between what the government spends and what it earns comes as Congress continues to spar over the proper levels of federal spending.
-Kenneth Chesebro, a Trump-aligned Lawyer, pleads guilty in Georgia
It comes a day after another Trump lawyer made a similar deal, and both agreed to cooperate with prosecutors investigating the 2020 election case.
-Trump seeks freeze of gag order in election case during appeal. Judge Tanya S. Chutkan, who imposed the order, agreed to put it on hold for eight days as the parties filed additional papers.
-Little Punishment or change after South Korea’s Halloween calamity. Families of the 159 people crushed to death last year say the government has never acknowledged its mistakes or accepted responsibility.
-The Supreme Court temporarily sides with the White House in disinformation fight. The justices have set the stage for a major test of the role of the First Amendment in the internet era.
-The Supreme Court rejected Missouri’s effort to override federal gun laws, for now.
-The DeSantis-Haley rivalry heats up, with attacks focused on Israel. As they vie to be the race’s alternative to Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley have been trading barbs on the Israel-Hamas conflict.
-DeSantis says he would cancel student visas of Hamas sympathizers. At a GOP candidate showcase in Iowa, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida and his rivals repeatedly sought to one-up one another on support for Israel.
-10 Charged in $20M scheme to sell black-market HIV drugs. Prosecutors said the defendants encouraged low-income patients to sell their medication to them and then they resold the drugs to buy luxury goods.
-OpenAI is in talks for deal that would value company at $80B. The San Francisco start-up’s valuation could triple in less than six months.
-The multimillion dollar machines at the center of the U.S.-China Rivalry. The U.S. is taking unusual action to clamp down on sales of chip-making machinery to China, even as Chinese firms are racing to stockpile the equipment.
NY POST
-Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) gave up his run to become Speaker of the House of Representatives. Jordan failed to win the gavel in a third round of voting Friday, with 25 members — more than in either of the earlier ballots — voting against him. Potential replacements filled the void soon after, with Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) and Reps. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.) and Jack Bergman (R-Mich.) throwing their hats in the ring, in hopes of being the one to replace Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who was stripped of the speakership in an Oct. 3 vote.
-The pharmaceutical companies behind Ozempic, Mounjaro and Wegovy — which have exploded in popularity with adults looking to lose weight — are testing whether the drugs are safe for children. Eli Lilly, the maker of Mounjaro, said it is planning to give the anti-diabetes meds to kids as young as six years old, according to Bloomberg News. The drug giant began recruiting children 12 and up this week for a clinical trial, according to the report.