'Big Victory'
What You Need To Know
Today’s posts that caught my eye:
Capitol Police cameras caught break-in at Pelosi home, but no one was watching.
Unilever to extend four-day working week trial to Australia, the FT reports: “Move follows successful New Zealand pilot scheme during which company reported happier and more engaged staff.”
Quebec's elected officials must swear oath to King Charles to sit in National Assembly.
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The World
Saudi Arabia has shared intelligence with the U.S. warning of an imminent attack from Iran on targets in the kingdom, putting the American military and others in the Middle East on an elevated alert level, said Saudi and U.S. officials In response to the warning, Saudi Arabia, the U.S. and several other neighboring states have raised the level of alert for their military forces, the officials said. They didn’t provide more details on the Saudi intelligence. (Wall Street Journal)
“Hackers for hire” and the proliferation of sophisticated software that can be bought off the shelf are a growing threat to government and business cyber security, a top British spy has warned. Sir Jeremy Fleming, who heads the signals intelligence agency GCHQ, said the growing grey market was allowing countries and criminals with no capabilities to wield sophisticated cyber tools, increasing the risk and unpredictability of hacking attacks on governments, businesses and individuals. (Financial Times)
North Korea fired three short-range ballistic missiles into the sea east of the peninsula, with one of them apparently flying across a nautical border with South Korea in a move that escalated tensions. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said it detected three missiles fired from North Korea’s Kangwon province on the east coast into the sea from around 8:51 a.m. (Bloomberg)
Hailing likely ‘big victory,’ Netanyahu vows to restore national pride, heal rifts. Likud leader says election proves Israelis want ‘a Jewish state’ with a government that provides security, widens circle of peace; Lapid doesn’t concede, awaits final vote count. (Times of Israel)
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro did not concede defeat in his first public remarks since losing Sunday's election, saying protests by his supporters were the fruit of "indignation and a sense of injustice" over the vote. However, he stopped short of contesting the election result and authorized his chief of staff, Ciro Nogueira, to begin the transition process with representatives of leftist President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. (Reuters)
Quebec National Assembly speaker ruled that all elected members must swear an oath to Britain's King Charles and not just to the people of Quebec in order to perform their duties in the predominantly French-speaking Canadian province. "As the law currently stands, this oath is not optional," Speaker Francois Paradis wrote in his ruling, adding that a member who does not take the oath cannot take his seat in the Assembly. (Reuters)
Capitol Police cameras caught break-in at Pelosi home, but no one was watching: Inside the command center for the U.S. Capitol Police, a handful of officers were going through their routines early Friday morning, cycling through live feeds from the department’s 1,800 cameras used to monitor the nearby Capitol complex as well as some points beyond, when an officer stopped. On a screen showing a darkened street nearly 3,000 miles away, police lights were flashing outside the home of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), officials say. The officer in D.C. quickly pulled up additional camera angles from around Pelosi’s home and began to backtrack, watching recordings from the minutes before San Francisco police arrived. There, on camera, was a man with a hammer, breaking a glass panel and entering the speaker’s home, according to three people familiar with how Capitol Police learned of the break-in and who have been briefed on or viewed the video themselves. (Washington Post)
“I’m so scared”: 911 recordings reveal fear and urgency of those trapped in Uvalde elementary school. Audio obtained by The Texas Tribune and ProPublica shows just how long police and dispatchers likely knew that children and teachers were in danger before taking action at Robb Elementary School. (Texas Tribune)
At least 14 people, including 3-year-old, shot in Halloween night drive-by shooting on Chicago’s West Side. (Chicago Tribune)
Republican Election Prospects Rise as Inflation Overshadows Abortion, WSJ Poll Finds: Voters are giving Republicans a late boost in support just ahead of the midterm elections, as pessimism about the economy and the direction of the country jump to their highest levels of the year, a new Wall Street Journal poll finds. Republicans have regained momentum since then and now hold a slight edge over Democrats, 46% to 44%, when voters are asked which party they would support in their congressional district if the election were held today. The shift in preference for the GOP comes as views of the economy have turned more dour than at any point in the past year. Only 19% say the economy is headed in the right direction, down 11 percentage points from August, while 71% say the economy is on the wrong track. Voters lack confidence in President Biden’s economic leadership, with only 27% saying his policies have had a positive impact on the economy and 54% saying they have had a negative impact. A majority of voters—55%—disapprove of Mr. Biden’s overall job performance, compared with 43% who approve. (Wall Street Journal)
The political environment for the 2022 midterm elections should work to the benefit of the Republican Party, with all national mood indicators similar to, if not worse than, what they have been in other years when the incumbent party fared poorly in midterms. Heading into Election Day, 40% of Americans approve of the job Joe Biden is doing as president, 17% are satisfied with the way things are going in the U.S., 49% describe the health of the economy as poor (compared with 14% saying it is excellent or good), and 21% approve of the job the Democratically led Congress is doing. Current ratings of the U.S. economy and national satisfaction are the lowest Gallup has measured at the time of a midterm election over the life of these polling trends, starting in 1994 and 1982, respectively. Congressional and presidential job approval are near their historical low marks. (Gallup)
Ukraine War Low Priority for Voters Ahead of Midterms: Just 33% of U.S. voters say the war in Ukraine is "very important" in deciding whom they will vote for, the lowest share among issues tracked in Morning Consult's 2022 Midterm Elections Tracker, and down 4 percentage points since Oct. 15. National security is also the issue voters are most likely to trust Republicans to handle over Democrats. (Morning Consult)
Pennsylvania Senate Race Is Deadlocked: A new Morning Call/Muhlenberg College poll in Pennsylvania finds John Fetterman (D) and Mehmet Oz (R) both at 47% support, with 3% preferring neither candidate and 2% not sure. (Political Wire)
Will Orange County return to its conservative roots? As the midterm elections sprint to a close, Democrat Katie Porter is locked in a fierce race against Republican Scott Baugh. At stake is not only her political trajectory or the balance of power in the House of Representatives, but the contest in California’s 47th Congressional District has also become a symbolic battle for Orange County’s ideological identity. Baugh, a veteran of the county’s GOP establishment, harkens back to the traditional conservatism of the “Orange curtain,” while Porter is the best-known face of the blue wave that swept the region’s four congressional seats in 2018. Democratic registration in the county surpassed Republican a year later, fueling a sense of political transformation. Since then, the narrative of Democratic takeover has been complicated. (Los Angeles Times)
Economy
The Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates by 75 basis points Wednesday but also signal it could begin to slow down the size of its rate hikes in December. Markets are also braced for the Fed to end rate hikes in March at a level of 5%, and market pros say a more hawkish Fed could trigger a violent reaction. Fed Chair Jerome Powell is expected to sound somewhat hawkish in his briefing Wednesday and emphasize that the Fed’s goal is to crush inflation. (CNBC)
Some lucky Americans are earning a higher interest rate on their high-yield savings accounts than they’re paying on their mortgage. (Bloomberg)
BP made about $3 billion in profits from gas trading in only three months as it cashed in on the global scramble for liquefied natural gas after Russia cut pipeline supplies to Europe, analysts believe. The oil major yesterday hailed an “exceptional” but undisclosed result by its secretive gas marketing and trading division as it reported third-quarter underlying net profits of $8.2 billion, up from $3.3 billion a year earlier and smashing City forecasts of $6.1 billion. (The Times)
Unilever is to extend its trial of a four-day working week to 500 employees in Australia after a successful 18-month pilot in New Zealand, becoming the largest company yet to offer a vote of confidence in the shorter schedule. Placid Jover, chief talent officer at the UK-based maker of Dove soap and Hellmann’s mayonnaise, said positive results from paying about 80 staff full salaries for four rather than five-day weeks in New Zealand had prompted the extension. “We’ve had strong business performance, high engagement, people feeling happier, and time spent in meetings also coming down,” Jover said. (Financial Times)
Democratic and Republican voters are less likely than they were just four years ago to favor stronger regulation of large financial and pharmaceutical companies, data show. At the same time, both parties are more likely to favor stricter regulation of big technology firms. (Axios)
Technology
Expect a Wave of Private Tech M&A in 2023, Goldman Bankers Say: Consolidation among private tech firms is set to pick up—especially among startups that had to abandon hope of going public this year, according to top Goldman Sachs bankers. “We’ve had a very busy year on the public side of [M&A]. The private side of that is really to come, and that’s where we’re set up for 2023,” said Ryan Nolan, Goldman Sachs’ global co-head of software banking. (The Information)
The U.S. is urging allies including Japan to follow its lead on restricting exports of advanced semiconductors and related technology to China, likely intensifying the impact of Chinese-American tensions on chipmakers worldwide. Tokyo has begun internal discussions on the issue at Washington's request. Officials are weighing which restrictions can be adopted in Japan, and will watch how other U.S. allies such as the European Union and South Korea respond. (Nikkei Asia Review)
YouTube rolls out Primetime Channels in the US, offering shows and movies from 35 partners, including Paramount+ and Epix, and plans to add NBA League Pass soon. (The Verge)
Amazon sell-off pushes market cap below $1 trillion for first time since April 2020. (CNBC)
Elon Musk lays out his ideas for Twitter’s new verification system: In a thread of tweets, Musk said he will give “power to the people” by offering verification through Twitter Blue for $8 a month. It is unclear if these changes will actually happen.
Ad Giants Advise Brands to Pause Spending on Elon Musk’s Twitter: Interpublic Group, Havas Media make recommendation citing concerns about content moderation on social-media site. (Wall Street Journal)
Smart Links
A major flood would hit Los Angeles Black communities disproportionately hard: UC Irvine study. (Los Angeles Times)
Genetically modified mosquitoes cut the insect's number by 96 per cent. (New Scientist)
Whales ingest millions of microplastic particles a day, study finds. (The Guardian)
Is Your Colleague Earning More Than $200,000 a Year? Now You Can Find Out. (Wall Street Journal)
France had hottest month of October since 1945. (Reuters)
Even More Dry Shampoos Found to Have Cancer-Causing Agent. (Bloomberg)
Uber passenger numbers surpass pre-pandemic levels. (Financial Times)
The World's Biggest Employers. (Statista)
Good News
The friendliest cities in Europe: 2022 Readers' Choice Awards. (Conde Nast Traveller)
Bears running back David Montgomery participates in Simeon Career Academy cooking demonstration. (Chicago Tribune)
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