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Israeli obstacle to peace deal

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israeli forces will not leave Gaza’s southern border with Egypt, a stance that is emerging as a major obstacle to a peace deal with Hamas. His comments came as US officials try to help finalize a new ceasefire proposal. However international mediators have expressed pessimism over the prospect of an agreement. Israeli opposition figures say Netanyahu’s insistence on Israel maintaining control of the Philadelphi Corridor is a ploy to derail any deal that could weaken him politically. For the families of the hostages and the more than 2 million people in Gaza, “the stakes have never been higher, and the outlook never bleaker,” The Washington Post wrote.

US jobs data raises slowdown concern

US job openings fell to a three-year low in July, new data showed, raising fears of a slowdown and boosting calls for a rate cut. Advertised roles fell to 7.6 million, a fall of 237,000, the Labor Department said. Worsening job numbers had ignited fears of a recession last month and panicked financial markets, although stocks have rebounded. The relatively slow decline suggests the labor market is “not cratering, but slowing in an orderly manner,” which may mean that rate cuts can be limited, Reuters reported. Nonetheless, the news hit the dollar, which slipped against most major currencies.

Harris reduces CGT increase

US Vice President Kamala Harris proposed a smaller increase to capital gains tax than her boss Joe Biden. Biden’s 2025 budget planned to raise the top tax from 24% to 40%, but Harris said in a speech that she believes this is too high, proposing a raise to 28%. She also posited increasing corporate tax rates from 21% to 28%. The Democratic presidential nominee is continuing to establish herself as a moderate, CNN reported, with tax cuts for small businesses alongside expansions of child tax credit. She has also played up patriotism, law and order, and support for the military, attempting to boost her centrist credentials. It’s worked on at least one Republican: Liz Cheney, daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, endorsed Harris.

Election looms over climate talks

Chinese and US climate envoys meet for talks in Beijing this week, but the looming US presidential election will make progress difficult. John Podesta is hoping to press his Chinese counterpart to contribute to a new global climate finance package and commit to more ambitious 2035 goals. Cooperation between the world’s biggest polluters has led to major climate deals in the past. But the election will make it “impossible for the two sides to reach any substantive agreement,” one analyst told Reuters: Former President Donald Trump is expected to withdraw once more from any climate agreements should he win again. That scenario could let China show its own ambition in contrast to a “backsliding” US, but there’s “no reason why the China side will show its cards” before November, he said.

China pledges Africa investment

Chinese leader Xi Jinping pledged nearly $51 billion in funding for African nations and promised to create at least one million jobs in the continent. The commitments came during a Sino-African summit that China sees as key to further its ties to the region, amid increased competition from the US and other Western powers for influence over Africa’s key industries. However experts fear African countries are already facing an unsustainable debt pile, which rapidly accelerated since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic that devastated regional economies. Africa’s debt situation “is unsustainable and a recipe for social unrest,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said at the summit.

Mexico judicial overhaul progresses

Mexico’s lower chamber of Congress approved a controversial overhaul of the country’s judiciary. If the bill is also passed by the Senate, it will lead to the dismissal of all judges and the election of new ones by popular vote, which experts say could lead to the ruling party exerting control over the country’s courts. Many fear Mexico’s powerful drug cartels could also get their members elected as judges. The proposal has cratered foreign investment into the nation and could gradually erode commerce between the US and Mexico, each the other’s largest trading partner. “This is more like cancer than a heart attack,” an expert at Citi bank told the Financial Times.

Damning report on deadly UK fire

A UK public inquiry found that reckless deregulation and cost-cutting led to the deaths of 72 people in a 2017 London fire. The report on the Grenfell Tower disaster — Britain’s deadliest residential blaze since World War II — came more than seven years after the block partly burned down, with some criticizing the delay in its publication. Many are frustrated that bringing those responsible to justice will be further delayed. “We shouldn’t have to wait another two or three years to see prosecutions,” a relative of a person who died in the fire told The New York Times. “Don’t let this momentum die down.”

September 24, 2024 | New York City | Request Invitation

Aliko Dangote, Founder and CEO, Dangote Group and Samalia Zubairu, CEO, African Finance Corporation will join the stage at The Next 3 Billion summit — the premier US convening dedicated to unlocking one of the biggest social and economic opportunities of our time: connecting the unconnected.

Volvo scales back EV ambitions

Volvo dropped its target of producing only electric vehicles by 2030. The Swedish carmaker now says it will aim for at least 90%, with the rest being hybrids. Other manufacturers, including Renault and Toyota, will also continue to back hybrid models. The “EV evolution” is taking longer than anticipated, The Verge reported, with Tesla sales down and Ford scaling back its EV output, hit by high costs and rapid depreciation of second-hand models, but sales are still growing: A projected 1.2 million EVs will be sold in the US in 2024, up 20% from 2023. Volvo had other better news for EV backers: Its next electric semi truck will have double the range of its last one, able to go 373 miles on a single charge.

Internet Archive loses library appeal

The Internet Archive lost its appeal in a copyright case against its online lending library. The Archive, which keeps records of old internet pages, began digitizing books for readers to borrow in 2020. But publishers, including Hachette, HarperCollins, and Penguin, argued that it amounted to piracy, while the Archive said it was protected by fair use. The library originally allowed only “controlled digital lending” — each digital copy could only be loaned to a single reader at a time, like a physical library book — but in the pandemic that was expanded to allowing unlimited downloads, leading to the publishers banding together. A similar lawsuit from music publishers could lead to $400 million in damages, which could pose “an existential threat” to the archive, WIRED reported.

Why is India so bad at sport?

India — the world’s most populous country and its fifth largest economy — ranked just 71st in the medals table in the Paris Olympics, behind Dominica and South Korea. It has won just 41 medals since 1900. “If it has the people and the money,” asked the Financial Times’ economics writer Tej Parikh, “why is it so bad at sports?” Poverty is important, but social expectations play a role: “Jobs that involve performing for others” are lower status, a sociologist said, and expectations to get educated and wealthy allow less time for sport. The problem is self-reinforcing because of a lack of role models outside cricket. There are “reasons to be optimistic,” though, as India increasingly recognizes sport’s soft power, and is aiming to host the 2036 Olympics.

• Australia’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister host their Japanese counterparts in Canberra.
• The Turkish foreign minister visits North Macedonia.
• Caught in the Web: The Murders Behind Zona Divas, a new documentary, is released on Netflix.

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The monthly pension of a 77-year-old worker in Tokyo. People across Japan are working into their 70s or later as shrinking pensions are far from enough to cover expenses. The data reflects both positively and negatively on the country: While Japan has some of the longest lifespans in the world — allowing people to remain healthy and mobile into old age — the country’s declining population means not enough money is available for the elderly to retire, Bloomberg reported.

Empire magazine recommends Sing Sing, a film based on a true story about inmates in a notorious US jail who put on a play. It’s “brimming with compassion and punctuated by humour,” says Empire, and “emphasises the power of art — even bad art — to change lives.”

• ‘Absolutely shocking’: NY Gov. Hochul on ex-staffer arrested for working for China.
• Bill Gates sees malnutrition as Africa’s biggest challenge.
• A new crime-tracking tool tries to improve on slower FBI data.