Weekend Papers Summary
FINANCIAL TIMES
-Wall Street traders and brokers are preparing to mitigate the impact of a ransomware attack on China's largest bank, which disrupted US Treasuries trading in the $25T market. The compromised systems forced ICBC Financial Services to send trading data to BNY Mellon.
-Israel's invasion of Gaza has resulted in over 11,000 deaths and a humanitarian catastrophe, raising alarm among the US and Palestinians. The US has backed Israel, but the situation is uncharted territory. Israel has launched the most devastating assault on Gaza since withdrawing in 2005, causing further strife for the civilian population and potential resurgence of Hamas.
-Moody’s has lowered its outlook on the US’s credit rating to “negative” from “stable”, pointing to a sharp rise in debt servicing costs and “entrenched political polarization”.
In a Friday update, the rating agency said that the change to its outlook reflected increasing downside risks to the US’s fiscal strength, which “may no longer be fully offset by the sovereign’s unique credit strengths”.
-The White House said Biden and Xi Jinping would meet in the San Francisco Bay area on Wednesday before they attend APEC. Washington and Beijing are trying to renew efforts to stabilize relations amid rising tensions over issues including Chinese military activity near Taiwan and US efforts to stop China from securing cutting-edge US technology.
-US secretary of state Antony Blinken worries that the Israeli armed forces are killing too many Palestinians. Blinken was speaking, during a visit to India, on Friday after Palestinian officials said the Israeli military had struck hospitals in the north of Gaza, where thousands of people have been sheltering from Israel’s bombardment of the besieged strip.
-After six months of strikes, the actors’ union declared an end to its record 118-day strike, directors, producers, publicists and actors started racing to make up for lost time. On Friday, directors began trying to reassemble far-flung casts to resume shooting on films that were halted in the spring. With actors now able to promote movies again, plans were activated for stars to appear at glitzy premieres and marketing campaigns leading into the awards season.
-Belgian hydrogen start-up Tree Energy Solutions said on Friday it would build a $4B plant in Quebec to produce synthetic natural gas with green hydrogen, as Canada tries to compete with the US in a race to secure cleantech investment. TES Canada will develop the project in Quebec, producing 70,000 tonnes of green hydrogen a year by 2028, among the largest committed in Canada to date.
-Three secretive, family-owned Texas oil companies have been thrust into the spotlight. Mewbourne Oil, Endeavor Energy Resources and CrownRock are the biggest privately owned producers in the Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico, the engine room of America’s oil industry. These three companies have become prime acquisition targets.
-Chancellor Olaf Scholz has admitted Germany is struggling to sign defense contracts because of uncertainty over the government’s commitment to future funding plans even as he pledged to “guarantee” hitting NATO spending targets for the next decade and a half. Addressing military officials, industry executives and think-tanks at a conference organized by the defense ministry on Friday, the chancellor said he recognized the urgent need for his government to clarify its security spending plans in the medium and long terms.
NEW YORK TIMES
-Gaza City hospitals are caught in deadly crossfire. As they fight Hamas, Israeli forces are “close in” on hospitals. The chief U.S. diplomat said “far too many Palestinians have been killed.”
-Israel has lowered the Oct. 7 death toll estimate to 1,200.
-Harvard, Columbia and Penn have pledged to fight antisemitism on campus. Columbia suspended two pro-Palestinian student groups.
-The Tunnels of Gaza: a maze of tunnels extends below the Gaza Strip, allowing Hamas fighters to stay out of sight and smuggle weapons and goods.
-Violence in the West Bank escalated to nearly four times its level before Oct. 7, leading to more than 175 deaths.
-Israel is considering a deal for Hamas to release all civilian hostages in Gaza, officials say.
-President Emmanuel Macron of France mourned civilian deaths and urged an Israeli cease-fire.
-Chris Christie, the former governor of New Jersey who is running for president, will travel to Israel.
-Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters calling for a cease-fire shut down traffic in Midtown Manhattan.
-Germany’s stifling of pro-Palestinian protests is pitting its historical guilt against freedom of speech.
-The FBI has seized NYC Mayor Eric Adams’s phones as campaign investigation intensifies. Agents took the New York mayor’s devices amid an investigation into whether Turkey’s government funneled money to his campaign, people close to the matter said.
-Brianna Suggs, whose home was raided by the FBI, was an unusual choice to run Eric Adams’s campaign fund-raising.
-With Sen. Joe Manchin Out, Democrats’ Path to Holding the Senate Is Narrow
While Democrats will be on defense in many races, Republicans face some messy primaries and a recent history of extreme candidates who have lost key contests.
-Before world leaders arrive, San Francisco races to clean up. The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference comes at a pivotal moment for the city as it struggles to rebound from the pandemic.
-Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the US wanted a “healthy economic relationship” with China.
-Representative Elise Stefanik filed an ethics complaint attacking the judge presiding over Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial.
-Hollywood actors to start voting Tuesday on contract deal. The SAG-AFTRA board voted on Friday to send the agreement with studios to its members for a ratification process that will end in early December.
NY POST
The FBI seized Mayor Eric Adams’ electronic devices early this week as part of a federal probe into his campaign fundraising, The Post has learned. The feds seized the electronics — which included at least two cellphones and an iPad — in connection to an investigation into whether Hizzoner’s 2021 campaign colluded with the Turkish government and others to direct money into his mayoral effort, sources told The Post after the news was first reported by the New York Times. Adams’ campaign attorney Boyd Johnson said the mayor was cooperating with federal authorities and had already reported that a review found “an individual had recently acted improperly.”
-Internal data from Boeing, was published online on Friday by Lockbit, a cybercrime gang which extorts its victims by stealing and releasing data unless a ransom is paid. The hackers in October said they had obtained “a tremendous amount” of sensitive data from the aerospace giant and would dump it online if Boeing didn’t pay a ransom by Nov. 2.
According to a post on Lockbit’s website, the data from Boeing was published in the early hours of Friday morning. The files, which Reuters has not independently verified, mostly date to late October. In a statement, Boeing confirmed that “elements” of the company’s parts and distribution business had experienced a cybersecurity incident. “We are aware that, in connection with this incident, a criminal ransomware actor has released information it alleges to have taken from our systems,” Boeing said. “We continue to investigate the incident and will remain in contact with law enforcement, regulatory authorities, and potentially impacted parties, as appropriate.”