'Special Relationship'
What You Need To Know
Today’s posts that caught my eye:
US Navy chief warns China could invade Taiwan before 2024.
U.S. in talks with Taiwan to co-produce American weapons. New cooperation would expedite delivery to island as China steps up military pressure.
Chinese capital Beijing steps up COVID measures as cases quadruple.
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The World
Special Relationship goes silent: Ben Wallace, the U.K. defense secretary, made a secretive trip to Washington on Tuesday, to discuss with the Biden administration Ukrainian matters that his deputy described as " beyond belief ." It’s the lack of communication around Wallace’s visit that is most noticeable — a sign of disinterest and dismay from senior Biden administration officials at the other half of their “special relationship” with Britain. The unspoken mood music amounts to: how can you have a special relationship with a person who doesn’t listen and who has a single digit approval rating. It’s easier just to wait. Wallace stepped into that vacuum on Tuesday: Welcome proof that some parts of the British government remain stable, yet not worthy of public praise and announcements. (Politico Global Insider)
Liz Truss was last night clinging to power after she sacked her home secretary and was forced to deny her chief whip had quit amid a total breakdown of party unity and discipline. The prime minister replaced Suella Braverman, the home secretary, after she opposed the government’s immigration policy and leaked sensitive papers to her supporters. (The Times)
The head of the US Navy has warned that the American military must be prepared for the possibility of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan before 2024, as Washington grows increasingly alarmed about the threat to the island. Admiral Mike Gilday, the chief of naval operations, said the US had to consider that China could take action against Taiwan much sooner than even the more pessimistic warnings. (Financial Times)
U.S. in talks with Taiwan to coproduce American weapons. New cooperation would expedite delivery to island as China steps up military pressure. (Nikkei Asia Review)
China relations slide down crisis-hit agenda for EU leaders summit: A call for urgent action to toughen stance towards Beijing is likely to take a back seat to Europe’s numerous other problems in 2-day meetings Challenge to find space for discussion also signals distance between official advice and how far member states are prepared to go in policy shift. (South China Morning Post)
China's capital, Beijing, has dialed up measures to stop COVID, strengthening public checks and locking down some residential compounds after a quadrupling of its case load in recent weeks, just as a key Communist Party congress entered full swing. The city of 21 million people on Thursday reported 18 new locally transmitted cases for the previous day, bringing the tally for the past 10 days to 197. That is four times more than the 49 infections detected in the previous 10-day period. (Reuters)
Ukrainian officials have expressed “shock” over Republican suggestions that future assistance for Kyiv could be limited if the party wins the House of Representatives in November’s US midterm elections, calling on Washington to continue providing bipartisan support. In comments that raised eyebrows, House minority leader Kevin McCarthy said earlier this week he anticipates difficulty in passing additional aid for Ukraine, should his party win the lower chamber of Congress — a result predicted by current polling. “I think people are going to be sitting in a recession and they’re not going to write a blank cheque to Ukraine,” McCarthy told Punchbowl News. (Financial Times)
Kherson braces for battle as martial law is declared. (The Times)
Malaysia to hold general election on November 19: National polls were not due until the third quarter of 2023, but PM Ismail Sabri had been under pressure to call for early elections from his Umno party. Timing of the election has been criticised because it coincides with the annual monsoon season. (South China Morning Post)
Whites are now more likely to die from covid than Blacks. Here’s why the pandemic shifted. As the pandemic progressed, the damage done by the coronavirus broadened, and the toxicity of modern-day politics came to the fore. (Washington Post)
US health officials have launched an inquiry into a controversial study by scientists at Boston University who created an artificial form of Covid-19 in a laboratory. The National Institutes of Health told the Financial Times its officials were investigating whether the study, which was partly funded by the US government, should have gone through extra checks before going ahead. (Financial Times)
Wes Moore has never been elected to anything. Some backers are already eyeing the White House. Maryland’s Wes Moore could be the only Black governor in the country next year. A lot of hopes — and scrutiny — will come along with it. (Politico)
Pence won't say if he'd vote for Trump in 2024. (Axios)
Oldest star map found hidden in sacred text: A medieval parchment from a monastery in Egypt has yielded a surprising treasure. Hidden beneath a religious text, scholars have discovered what seems to be part of the long-lost star catalogue of the astronomer Hipparchus — thought to be the earliest known attempt to map the entire sky. Scholars have been searching for Hipparchus’s catalogue for centuries. The extract illuminates a crucial moment in the birth of science, when astronomers shifted from simply describing the patterns they saw in the sky to measuring and predicting them. (Nature)
Economy
The Federal Reserve sounded a note of caution on the US economy, which expanded “modestly” through early October with slowing activity raising recession concerns amid some indications of easing inflationary pressure. “Outlooks grew more pessimistic amidst growing concerns about weakening demand,” the Fed said Wednesday in its Beige Book report, published two weeks before each meeting of the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee. “Several Districts reported a cooling in labor demand, with some noting that businesses were hesitant to add to payrolls amid increased concerns of an economic downturn.” (Bloomberg)
Biden implores US oil companies to pass on record profits to consumers: President announces release of 15m barrels of oil from strategic reserve as he fights to keep gas prices in check before midterms. (The Guardian)
Tesla recorded its highest-ever quarterly revenue and nearly matched its best-ever quarterly profit in its third-quarter earnings, but will likely fall short of its full-year sales goal of 50% growth. The earnings report comes amid concerns over demand for its vehicles after Tesla said this month it produced 22,000 more vehicles than it delivered last quarter. (Nikkei Asia Review)
Recession Fears Hit Risky Mortgage Debt Amid Default Concerns: Faltering home prices are hurting investors' demand for junk-rated mortgage securities sold by housing giants Fannie and Freddie. (Wall Street Journal)
IBM surpasses quarterly projections and lifts its full-year revenue forecast. (CNBC)
GPS Are Making Larger Fund Commitments — Just Not for the Reason You Think: These firms want employees to have more skin in the game. The average GP commitment reached 4.8 percent in 2021. The typical expected commitment is between 1 and 2 percent. Why the increase? According to attorneys at Ropes & Gray, it’s not due to larger fundraises or even the impending market downturn. “I don’t know that investors are actively pushing for higher commitments at this point in time,” said Justin Kliger, a partner in the law firm’s asset management practice. (Institutional Investor)
Technology
Biden administration awards $2.8 billion in grants for electric vehicle battery manufacturing. The grants are being allocated through the Department of Energy with funds from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to companies in 12 states. The funding will go toward the creation of battery-grade materials including lithium, graphite and nickel. In all, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS and Science Act and the Inflation Reduction Act put over $135 billion toward electric vehicle manufacturing. (CNBC)
Analysis in 38 US cities: AT&T, Verizon, and others offer lower-income and least-white areas slow internet for the same price as faster service in other regions. (The Markup)
Nokia reiterated its full-year growth outlook for 2023 as it said demand for 5G in key regions like India will help it outperform the market. Third-quarter sales rose 6% in constant currency to €6.24 billion, the Finnish maker of mobile networks said in a statement Thursday. That compared to the €6.03 billion analyst outlook, according to the average of estimates in a Bloomberg survey. (Bloomberg)
Valuation of public cloud companies in the US, Europe, and Israel fell from $2.8T to $1.2T in the past year; private market funding fell 42% YoY in Q3 2022. (Accel)
Waymo says it plans to launch its self-driving service in Los Angeles. (CNBC)
Live Event: 10 am ET
Pop-Up Seminar on Ukraine and the Changing Nature of Drone Warfare: Join the Intelligence Project for a timely discussion on drone use and drone defense with Bernard Hudson, fomer CIA Counterterrorism Center Chief, former Belfer Center Fellow, and current CEO of LookingGlass, a drone defense and software firm. The event will be moderated by Intelligence Project Director Paul Kolbe. (Register: Harvard Kennedy School)
Smart Links
Weed Is Coming to Circle K Gas Stations in US Next Year. (Bloomberg)
TikTok Gains Ad Momentum as Meta Struggles. (The Information)
New York Times Drops Plans for Kids App. (Wall Street Journal)
The tech moguls who want to remake American politics. (Politico)
Chemical attraction: some people really are ‘mosquito magnets’, study finds. (The Guardian)
College Enrollment Declines Again Though Online Schools, HBCUs See Increases. (Wall Street Journal)
Uh oh: Study finds that sleeping under 5 hours when over 50 could harm long-term health. (Washington Post)
Good News
This is what you’ve waited for. Journey with us through Webb’s breathtaking view of the Pillars of Creation, where scores of newly formed stars glisten like dewdrops among floating, translucent columns of gas and dust. (NASA)
Avocado surplus results in giveaway of 380,000 fruits in Philadelphia. (Washington Post)
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