Weekend Papers Summary
FINANCIAL TIMES
-Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman has endorsed Donald Trump as a "vote for change" and a "vote for change" for the US president. This comes as Republican megadonors who had previously been critical of the former president are uniting behind him. Schwarzman had previously broken with Trump after the January 6 Capitol Hill insurrection and supported Trump critic Chris Christie in the Republican primary. He cited the dramatic rise of antisemitism as a reason for returning to Trump's camp and believed President Joe Biden's policies were misguided. Schwarzman's announcement could signal the start of more Wall Street money flowing to Trump, who has been tapping finance, technology, and energy billionaires for cash infusions as he lags behind Biden in the fundraising race.
-Taiwan experienced domestic political turmoil less than a week after new president Lai Ching-te took office, despite growing military pressure from China. Tens of thousands of people protested against opposition efforts to expand parliament's powers, which would severely constrain the president's administration. China's military conducted a second day of exercises around Taiwan, which it has called "punishment" of Lai, a staunch defender of his country's de facto independence. Beijing regards Taiwan as part of its territory and threatens to annex it with force if Taipei refuses indefinitely to submit. The People's Liberation Army sent fighters, bombers, and naval ships into areas off Taiwan's east coast, while China's coast guard conducted law enforcement patrols east of Taiwan, including simulated ship inspections.
-Meta and Elon Musk's xAI are vying for a partnership with chatbot-maker Character.ai, as tech groups seek to secure partnerships and investments in top AI start-ups in Silicon Valley. Facebook owner Meta recently held early discussions over a tie-up with Character.ai, which uses large language models to generate conversation in the style of various figures and personas. The groups discussed their top researchers working closely on initiatives such as pre-training and developing models. The fledgling group, backed by Silicon Valley venture firm Andreessen Horowitz, has also held exploratory talks with xAI over a similar partnership. However, the talks have not resulted in any deal being struck. Meta has already incorporated AI persona chatbots across Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp, including several that take on celebrity characters.
-A group of US Democrats, including senators Jeff Merkley, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jan Schakowsky, have expressed concern over the appointment of Mukhtar Babayev as the president-designate of the UN COP29 summit. Babayev, the minister of ecology in Azerbaijan, spent over two decades at Socar before joining President Aliyev's cabinet. The letter to US secretary of state Antony Blinken and Biden climate envoy John Podesta urged the UN to update its conflict of interest guidelines to prevent similar situations from happening again. The letter echoes a call by over 100 US lawmakers and European parliament last year for the withdrawal of Sultan al-Jaber, the head of state-owned oil company Adnoc, as president-designate of COP28.
-Israel has been ordered by the International Court of Justice to halt the assault on the Gazan city of Rafah immediately. The UN's top court deemed the humanitarian conditions in Rafah, which has become a refuge for over 1 million civilians since the war began last year, "disastrous" and that Israel's efforts to protect them had been inadequate. This order reflects Israel's mounting diplomatic isolation as the war in Gaza continues, with the prosecutor at the International Criminal Court seeking arrest warrants for Netanyahu and defense minister Yoav Gallant, and three European states pledging to recognize Palestine. The week of setbacks also highlights how international opinion has hardened since Israel sent its forces into Rafah earlier this month, despite warnings from aid groups and pleas from the US not to do so.
-The UN's top court has ordered Israel to halt its military offensive in Rafah, a southern Gazan city that has become a refuge for over 1 million civilians since the war between Israel and Hamas began last year. Despite international pressure, Israeli forces entered Rafah earlier this month, insisting it was necessary to defeat Hamas. The International Court of Justice deemed Rafah's conditions "disastrous" and ordered Israel to stop. The court also ordered Israel to reopen the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt for urgent basic services and humanitarian assistance, and to allow investigators into the enclave.
-With six weeks to go until another general election, Labour is about 21 points ahead of the ruling Conservatives in the opinion polls — leaving some Labour MPs in a mild state of disbelief at the speed of turnaround that Keir Starmer has achieved since he became party leader in early 2020. Critics have dismissed Starmer as a stodgy figure with a nasal voice who is yet to capture the imagination of the British public. Many supporters want the party to put forward a more positive message — and rely less on popular revulsion against the Conservative government.
-Labour is 21 points ahead of the Conservatives in opinion polls, leaving some MPs disbelieved at the speed of turnaround since Tony Starmer became party leader in early 2020. Critics dismiss Starmer as a stodgy figure and argue that the party should present a more positive message and rely less on popular revulsion against the Conservative government. Many supporters want the party to focus on a more positive message.
- Eli Lilly is investing $5.3B in a new Indiana manufacturing site to increase production of its diabetes and weight loss drugs. The investment brings the US drugmaker's total investment to $9bn, following the construction of Mounjaro and Zepbound. The company's diabetes and weight loss injector pens are currently facing shortages due to high demand. The sales of GLP-1s, the new class of drugs, have propelled Eli Lilly to the world's largest pharmaceutical group by market value. Analyst projections suggest that the new class could create a market worth over $100B by the end of the decade. Eli Lilly was valued at $768B at market close on Thursday. CEO David Ricks said the announcement was the largest manufacturing investment in the company's history and the single largest investment in synthetic medicine API manufacturing in US history.
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THE NEW YORK TIMES
- Israel continues its assault on Rafah despite an international court order to stop it, aiming to balance not angering American allies while achieving strategic aims. Both Israelis and Americans characterize this as a "limited operation," allowing the Israelis to proceed more cautiously than in other parts of Gaza. However, as the fighting pushes civilians towards areas with inadequate housing or medical aid, and the closing of the Rafah border crossing diminishes humanitarian aid delivery, critics abroad condemn the toll on civilians and are unconvinced by Israel's restraint. The International Court of Justice ordered Israel to halt its offensive in Rafah, but Israel insists it will not halt its military operation.
- Egypt has agreed to allow fuel and humanitarian aid to enter Gaza via Israel, reopening a vital channel for relief in the devastated Palestinian enclave. The agreement was reached during a telephone call between President Biden and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Fuel and aid will enter Gaza through an Israeli-operated crossing, Kerem Shalom, which has been one of two main land crossings into Gaza for months. The other crossing, between Egypt and Rafah, has also been the main way for sick and wounded Gazans to flee the war.
-Donald J. Trump returns to his Manhattan penthouse apartment after his criminal trial, which he built in the early 1980s. This is the silver lining for Trump, as he spends his first sustained period in Manhattan since moving to Washington in 2017. Despite facing 34 felonies and facing criticism from his old life, Trump enjoys being back in his penthouse apartment, which he considers home and a permanent reminder of the easiest period of his life. This period was the greed-is-good era, where Trump sold himself nationally as a titan of industry, despite a small real estate portfolio. He alludes to 1980s cultural touchstones, such as "60 Minutes," Time magazine, and boxer Mike Tyson, as he recalls the era.
-The Chinese Communist Party has been using extensive surveillance to prevent discontent and activists. During the coronavirus pandemic, this surveillance reached unprecedented scale, tracking nearly every urban resident to prevent infections. President Xi Jinping aims to make this control permanent and push it even further, aiming to embed the party deeply in daily life so that no trouble, even minor or apolitical, can arise.
-Hillary Clinton criticized her fellow Democrats for their decades-long failure to protect abortion rights, stating that they underestimated the growing strength of anti-abortion forces until the landmark Dobbs decision in 2022. She argued that Democrats had spent decades in a state of denial that a right enshrined in American life could fall, and that faith in the courts and legal precedent had made politicians, voters, and officials unable to see clearly how the anti-abortion movement was chipping away at abortion rights, restricting access to the procedure, and transforming the Supreme Court. Clinton said that most Democrats and Americans did not realize they were in an existential struggle for the future of the country.
-The migrant crisis has significantly impacted the hotel landscape in New York City, with the conversion of hotels to shelters causing a sharp decrease in room supply. This has led to a record high in tourist demand, which is projected to match pre-pandemic levels. Factors such as inflation, Airbnb short-term rentals loss, and expected decline in new hotel construction have also contributed to the nightly cost of an average room. The average daily rate for a hotel stay in New York City increased to $301.61 in 2023, up 8.5% from $277.92 in 2022. About 135 of the city's 680 hotels entered the shelter program, with many congregating in Midtown Manhattan, Long Island City in Queens, and near Kennedy International Airport. Participating hotels are paid up to $185 a night per room, but not a single one has converted back into a traditional hotel.
THE NEW YORK POST
- President Biden plans to address former President Donald Trump's Manhattan criminal trial in a "White House setting" when the jury delivers its verdict. His message will be tailored to the outcome of the trial, but he intends to stress that the US legal system worked and Americans should respect the process. Biden will deliver remarks whether the 77-year-old former president is convicted, acquitted, or the jury cannot agree on a verdict. Closing arguments in Trump's trial over alleged hush money payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels are set to commence on Tuesday, and it is believed that the jury could reach a verdict as early as next week.
-Silicon Valley venture capitalists, including David Sacks, Chamath Palihapitiya, Marc Andreessen, and Shaun Maguire, are turning against President Joe Biden and supporting former President Donald Trump. This change is a significant shift in the industry, which has traditionally supported Democrats. The moguls are disillusioned with Biden's policy proposals, such as a 25% "billionaire tax" and antitrust crackdowns by the Federal Trade Commission. Keith Rabois, an early PayPal executive, stated that it is impossible to support Biden.