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World Economy
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Oil Prices Surge Amid Renewed Iran Tensions, Impacting Global Shipping and Inflation Fears
Large-tanker freight for crude moving from the Middle East Gulf to Asia exceeded $37 per barrel by mid-October, more than five times its prewar level.
Renewed tensions involving Iran have significantly impacted oil prices and global shipping routes, particularly through the Strait of Hormuz. Delays and longer trips have inflated tanker freight costs, adding to the expense for oil importers and putting pressure on exporters. Asian refiners processing Middle Eastern crude faced negative margins in September due to these increased delivered costs. This situation is reviving inflation concerns and raising fears of a broader regional conflict that could further disrupt energy supplies and financial markets.
AI Stock Volatility Continues as Market Debates Funding and Demand
Asian stock benchmarks were mostly lower, with AI stock jitters rippling through markets.
The market is experiencing significant volatility in AI-related stocks, with concerns mounting over the substantial investments required to fund the AI boom and the uncertainty of future user demand. Investors are becoming increasingly skeptical about the sustainability of the AI trade, which has previously driven market growth. This sentiment has led to sharp drops in AI stocks, contributing to broader market declines and investor anxiety, even as some analysts suggest that dire market prognoses may be premature.
US Treasury Yields Experience Sharp Drop Amid Market Realignment
Treasury yields logged their biggest drop since the 2023 banking crisis.
US Treasury yields have seen a significant plunge, marking the largest daily decline since the banking crisis in early 2023. This sharp movement is attributed to a market 'take-back trade,' rather than an outright fear of recession. The phenomenon indicates a shift in investor sentiment and positioning, potentially reflecting a reassessment of economic outlooks and risk appetite.
SpaceX Seeks Extensive US Cell Site Access for Nationwide Wireless Network
SpaceX is in discussions with cellular infrastructure companies to secure access to at least 80,000 sites across the United States.
SpaceX is reportedly in talks to lease a significant number of cell sites, aiming to build a fourth nationwide wireless carrier. This move could represent a major disruption in the telecommunications industry. The potential cost of such a nationwide terrestrial network is estimated to exceed $80 billion. Shares of existing wireless carriers like AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile saw declines in extended trading following the news.
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Japan's Core Inflation Surges to 2.1% in September
Japan's core inflation, excluding fresh food prices, rose to 2.1% in September, meeting economists' forecasts.
Japan's core inflation rate reached 2.1% in September, its highest point this year. This figure aligns with economists' expectations and indicates a continued trend of rising prices in the world's third-largest economy. The persistence of inflation may influence the Bank of Japan's monetary policy decisions.
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Quest Diagnostics Reports Cyber Breach Affecting Patient Records
Medical laboratory operator Quest Diagnostics reported a cyber breach of one of its systems, likely compromising some patient records.
Quest Diagnostics has disclosed a cyber breach involving its Quanum Lab Services Manager platform, which clients use for test orders and results. The company discovered the unauthorized access and has notified federal law enforcement. The exact number of affected patients and the specific types of records compromised are still under investigation, though Quest believes 'certain patient records' were accessed. This incident follows previous data breaches experienced by the company.
L'Oréal Reports Impact of Weight Loss Drugs on Beauty Sales
L'Oréal's CEO stated that the use of GLP-1 weight loss drugs is 'a very important phenomenon' impacting the beauty and skin care market.
Global beauty giant L'Oréal has observed that the increasing popularity of weight loss drugs, particularly GLP-1s, is affecting sales in the beauty and skin care sectors. The CEO of L'Oréal characterized this phenomenon as significant for the company. This trend suggests a potential shift in consumer priorities and spending habits as weight management becomes a more accessible and widespread focus.
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China Backs Reopening of Bab al-Mandeb Strait Amid Oil Disruptions
China has expressed support for reopening the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, a critical shipping route disrupted by Houthi attacks.
China is calling for the Bab al-Mandeb Strait to be reopened, citing ongoing disruptions caused by Houthi attacks and the broader impact on global oil supplies. This situation is compounded by restrictions on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz due to Iran-US tensions. China's stance, issued in a joint communique with Djibouti, emphasizes its backing for 'constructive efforts' to ensure the safety and openness of international shipping lanes. The Bab al-Mandeb Strait connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and is a vital chokepoint for trade.
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Etsy Bans AI-Generated Recipes and Patterns from Marketplace
Etsy has prohibited the sale of AI-generated recipes and patterns on its platform, with stricter rules against bot-generated listings.
Etsy is implementing new policies to regulate the use of artificial intelligence on its marketplace, specifically banning AI-generated recipes and patterns. The company is also establishing clearer guidelines around AI usage, including prohibiting sellers from creating listings entirely generated by bots without human involvement. This move reflects growing concerns about authenticity and human craftsmanship in online marketplaces.
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Wealthy Chinese Move Funds Offshore to US Banks Amid Tax Tightening
Bankers and lawyers report an increase in demand from Chinese clients for U.S. bank accounts.
Wealthy individuals in China are increasingly moving their assets offshore to U.S. banks as Beijing intensifies its scrutiny of domestic wealth. This trend indicates a growing concern among Chinese clients about the widening tax net and capital controls imposed by the Chinese government. The demand for U.S. bank accounts has reportedly gathered pace, reflecting a desire for greater financial privacy and security.
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Incidents & Disasters
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Josephine Brings Coastal Flooding and Gale-Force Winds to the U.S. East Coast
Josephine, a powerful extratropical low with tropical storm-force winds, stayed offshore in the Atlantic on Thursday but brought coastal flooding and gale-force winds to the Eastern Seaboard.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center said large swells could create life-threatening surf and rip currents along the coast up to Atlantic Canada. Josephine had maximum sustained winds of 65 mph and was centered about 235 miles east-southeast of Nantucket, Massachusetts, moving northeast at 17 mph, and was forecast to move away from the United States and stay south of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. It was expected to strengthen into an extratropical cyclone with hurricane-force winds by Thursday night or Friday. The National Weather Service issued a gale warning for parts of the Northeast and mid-Atlantic, with winds above 39 mph possible through midmorning Friday, and advised small watercraft of hazardous conditions south to North Carolina's Outer Banks.
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El Niño Rains Batter Latin America From Mexico to Chile
An intensifying El Niño-linked storm season brought flooding to Paraguay, killed two farm workers in Argentina's cattle belt and damaged coastal communities in Peru and Mexico, according to Reuters.
Part of a luxury condominium complex in San Pancho, in Mexico's Nayarit state, collapsed on Wednesday after pounding surf ate away the sand beneath it, leaving the structure tilted toward the sea. In Paraguay, two dozen families took refuge in a church near the Brazilian border after their homes flooded, and the rising Parana River, a key commercial waterway, has affected about 4,200 families. UN officials warned this week that El Niño could drive a record increase in Pacific Ocean temperatures as it moves around the globe like a wrecking ball, triggering floods in some regions and droughts in others.
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Damaging Hail Pelts Phoenix in a Rare Storm
A rare hailstorm hit Phoenix, Arizona, with intense downpours covering neighborhoods in ice.
Videos from the Arizona capital show people sheltering inside a car as hail smashes the windscreen, according to the BBC. The fetched report gives no figures on injuries or damage.
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Washington Man Faces Federal Charges for Shooting a National Guard Member
Jerrell Lamont Jackson, 41, of Washington, D.C., faces federal charges after allegedly shooting a Georgia National Guard member at a D.C. restaurant over the weekend.
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro announced the charges on Wednesday. Authorities say Jackson opened fire on National Guard members who were trying to break up a fight at the restaurant. One Guard member was shot in the leg and Jackson was injured when other members returned fire; both suffered non-life-threatening injuries. The charges, filed Tuesday, are assault with a dangerous weapon, possessing a firearm as a felon and possessing a firearm during a crime of violence. Jackson has a history of weapons and drug charges.
Jury Deliberates in Trial of New Yorker Accused of Training With the Islamic State
A jury is deliberating in the trial of Halima Salman, a Brooklyn-born U.S. citizen accused of willingly receiving weapons training from the Islamic State group in 2018.
Her lawyer told jurors Thursday that Salman was tricked by her father into traveling to Syria and became an unwilling teen bride to a militant fighter. Salman was 17 when her father took the family to Turkey in 2017 and then drove her into Syria; she spent three months locked in a room, and her father, an Islamic State sympathizer, died after a bombing in 2018, having arranged for her to marry a member of the group when she turned 18. She was detained in Baghouz in 2019 and, after returning to the U.S. in 2024, was arrested and charged. Prosecutors insist she had more agency in Syria than she claims.
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Indiana Man Gets 120 Years for Murder-for-Hire Plot That Killed His Sister
Samuel Steven Huggler was sentenced to 120 years in prison on October 21 for a murder-for-hire plot that killed his 18-year-old sister and seriously wounded two of his brothers in Evansville.
Prosecutors say Huggler directed Daniel Alvey to kill his brother Jonathan and any witnesses; on December 14, 2021, Alvey opened fire at the family home after the family returned from Christmas shopping, killing Olivia Huggler and wounding Jonathan and Joseph. Alvey pleaded guilty in 2023, received 45 years and testified against Huggler. Huggler, who moved to Andorra, was arrested through an international effort and extradited from Spain in April 2025, then convicted after a seven-day trial in August 2026. He received 60 years for Olivia's murder, 25 years for the attempted murder of Joseph and 35 for the attempted murder of Jonathan, to run consecutively.
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IT & AI
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OpenAI Reportedly Seeks Up to $30 Billion at a $1.25 Trillion Valuation
OpenAI is working on raising up to $30 billion at a $1.25 trillion pre-money valuation in a round led by Coatue and investors in the UAE, according to sources cited by CNBC.
TechCrunch notes this follows a Bloomberg report a month ago of a $30 billion raise at a $1.4 trillion valuation, and that terms are still being negotiated and could change. CNBC reports the UAE funding could be coupled with a deal to secure more computing capacity for OpenAI. OpenAI declined comment. A valuation above $1 trillion would make it the most valued private company ever and raise the bar for its forthcoming IPO: OpenAI filed confidential IPO paperwork in June, after a March raise that valued it at $852 billion post-money. The report adds that Anthropic, which raised $65 billion at a $965 billion valuation in May and also filed confidentially in June, is reportedly seeking a $1.5 to $2 trillion valuation for its public debut.
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eMudhra Quits the TLS Business After Issuing Certificates With Trivially Weak Keys
India-based certificate authority eMudhra said it is withdrawing from global SSL/TLS after researchers showed it had issued eight intermediate certificates whose private keys were so weak that anyone could mint trusted certificates.
Ars Technica reports that the eight compromised certificates had key sizes ranging from 3 to 8 bits, when keys of this type should hold roughly 384 bits of entropy, so they could be cracked in milliseconds. Anyone who did so could generate TLS certificates trusted by all major browsers, as well as by email servers, IoT devices, Docker containers, forgotten Linux machines and unmaintained command-line tools that ship their own copy of the roots. eMudhra's chairman V. Srinivasan cited rising compliance costs and complexity, the business generating about 1 percent of revenue, and free certificate providers reducing returns. The company also said the social media scrutiny was out of proportion to the place of TLS in its business. The announcement came two days after the researchers revealed the problem.
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Canadian Civil Liberties Groups Urge Opposition to Surveillance Bill C-22 in the Senate
Bill C-22, the Lawful Access Act, has passed Canada's House of Commons and is now before the Senate, where the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association are urging Canadians to oppose it.
According to the EFF, the bill would force digital services, including telecom companies and messaging apps, to help with government surveillance, and would let the Minister of Public Safety order companies to create a backdoor for law enforcement as long as it does not lead to a systemic insecurity. It would also require services to retain metadata for up to a year. Researchers at the CCLA and Citizen Lab published an analysis calling for the withdrawal of Part 2 of the bill, the section establishing the surveillance and data retention regime. The EFF adds that the bill could expand the sharing of Canadians' data with foreign law enforcement, including the United States, and notes that Canada has been negotiating a cross-border data-sharing agreement with the U.S. Some Canadian senators have already expressed concerns.
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Oura Sues Ultrahuman Again, Targeting Its Redesigned Smart Ring
Oura has filed a new patent lawsuit against Indian rival Ultrahuman, seeking to block U.S. sales of its redesigned Ring Pro just months after the startup returned to the American market.
In a complaint filed Thursday in a federal court in Texas, Oura alleges that the Ring Pro infringes two patents covering the ring's design and internal components, including its battery and sensors, and seeks damages and a permanent injunction. The Ring Pro launched in February and received a favorable ruling from U.S. Customs and Border Protection in March, after an import ban on Ultrahuman's earlier Ring Air that followed an International Trade Commission ruling for Oura in August last year. Oura argues the Customs ruling covered only the patent from the earlier dispute, not the two in the new case. TechCrunch notes this is the latest in a series of patent disputes Oura has brought against smart ring makers, including Samsung and RingConn.
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MIT Researchers Find AI Agents Left Alone on a Virtual Island Start to Play
MIT researchers placed 13 AI agents alone on a simulated desert island for 30 hours and found they invented their own challenges, behavior the researchers say bears the hallmarks of play.
The agents, called Eko and running on Claude Opus 4.7, were then given specific challenges such as getting as many objects as possible onto the island's tallest rock spire, and those that had spent the 30 hours playing generally beat identical agents that had never been on the island. The study is posted on arXiv, before peer review. The researchers contrast this with the usual approach of deciding in advance what an AI should practice and what counts as success, and suggest that exploring without a goal could be another way for agents to learn skills, especially skills that could one day be used to control robots.
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Rivian Buys World-Model Startup Third Dimension to Speed Up Self-Driving
Rivian has acquired Third Dimension, a U.K. startup that uses AI to turn images and videos into lifelike 3D worlds, to accelerate its driver-assistance and self-driving systems.
Terms were not disclosed. Rivian does not plan to enter gaming; it wants to turn real-world data into 3D worlds for developing its advanced driver-assistance features and the self-driving system for the robotaxis it plans to supply to Uber. Third Dimension's 15-person team, mostly based in the U.K., joins Rivian's autonomy and AI team led by James Philbin and gives Rivian a chance to expand its London AI hub. The startup was founded in 2024 by Tolga Kart and Piotr Sokólski and raised $7 million in seed funding. Rivian currently offers hands-free highway driving and plans to release, by the end of the year, a version that can handle the whole drive on surface streets and highways with the driver supervising.
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inDrive, Pony.ai and Nvidia Plan Robotaxi Tests in Kazakhstan in 2027
Ride-hailing company inDrive has signed a memorandum of understanding with Pony.ai and Nvidia to begin testing robotaxis in Astana, Kazakhstan, in the first half of 2027.
inDrive's CTO Yuri Misnik told TechCrunch the tests will initially involve a safety operator, with fully driverless rides as the eventual goal. Under the proposed plan, Pony.ai would provide its Gen-7 robotaxis, which inDrive would offer through its app and operate in Kazakhstan, while Nvidia would supply the AI technology, including its Hyperion platform and Halos safety system. The move comes as ride-hailing companies push into robotaxis: earlier this month Uber announced plans to test Pony.ai's robotaxis in London. Misnik described inDrive's approach as capital-light, working with a range of partners in different markets.
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Arc Browser to Shut Down on December 22 as The Browser Company Focuses on Dia
The Browser Company will sunset its Arc browser on December 22, 2026 and direct users to Dia, its AI-first browser.
The company cited the rising cost of keeping a browser secure in the age of AI. The wind-down has three stages: from Thursday new Arc accounts can no longer be created; on November 23 Arc Search on iOS and Android loses its AI features, including Browse for Me, and sign-in and tab syncing end; on December 22 Arc stops working entirely on Mac and Windows, accounts are deactivated and personal data is deleted within 30 days. Many users reacted with disappointment and renewed calls to open-source Arc, but CEO Josh Miller has said Arc is built on the proprietary Arc Development Kit, which also powers Dia, so open-sourcing Arc would mean open-sourcing that core engine.
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Warhound Emerges From Stealth With $200 Million to Engineer Military Working Dogs
Warhound, founded by Colossal Biosciences' Ben Lamm and Anduril's Palmer Luckey, has raised $200 million at a $1.2 billion valuation to genetically engineer dogs for the military and law enforcement.
Investors include Sequoia, 8VC, Corner Ventures and In-Q-Tel, the venture firm backed by the CIA and other U.S. intelligence agencies. Warhound's dogs do not exist yet; they are meant to take on tasks that are dangerous for humans or difficult for machines, such as bomb detection and searches. The company says more than 80% of the U.S. military's working dogs come from Europe and fewer than half of them are fit for service, so the supply is dwindling. Lamm told TechCrunch that many dogs fail training because of inherited problems such as poor eyesight, cancer, hip dysplasia or muscle atrophy, and he believes dogs could be enhanced for health and longevity.
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