Flagship

Oil prices climb on Biden’s Iran comment

Oil prices rose Thursday after President Joe Biden said the US was “discussing” support for an Israeli strike on Iranian oil facilities. Prices spiked earlier this week after Iran fired missiles at Israel’s military facilities, and Biden’s remark injected fresh volatility into what has been a “complacent” oil market, an energy consultant told The Wall Street Journal. The market has generally become less sensitive to shocks in the Middle East because of the US’ expanded role in oil production, Reuters reported; one leading asset manager said China’s announcement of a new stimulus package “was almost a more significant factor” to global investors. But a larger escalation between Israel and Iran that disrupts oil supplies could rattle the global economy.

US unis neutral ahead of Oct. 7 anniversary

US college campuses are looking to temper tensions as the one-year mark of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel approaches. After a turbulent last school year — defined by pro-Palestine protests and encampments, and deep divisions over administrators’ responses to the conflict in Gaza — universities are largely taking a posture of neutrality. Several New York City colleges are hosting talks focused on “respectful, open dialogue,” Gothamist reported, while a Washington Post columnist suggested universities can reduce polarization by “taking a stand against taking sides.” Within corporate America, which was vocal shortly after the attacks, most companies are not planning to issue statements on the anniversary, Axios reported. Those that do comment will keep their messages internal, a survey of executives found.

Tesla recalls Cybertrucks again

Tesla is recalling 27,000 Cybertrucks, the vehicles’ fifth callback this year and the latest in a series of unsavory headlines for the electric vehicle giant. The recall, which was triggered by a rearview camera issue that can be fixed with a software update, comes a day after Tesla’s stock fell on the back of its third-quarter sales and deliveries falling short of market expectations. Tesla is also facing heightened competition from Chinese EV makers, including in Europe. Its Germany plant has suffered several setbacks, most recently over union allegations of harsh working conditions; the factory sent managers to the homes of staffers on long-term sick leave, to “appeal to the employees’ work ethic.”

UK to hand over strategic archipelago

The UK is ceding sovereignty of a remote Indian Ocean archipelago to the island nation of Mauritius, in an agreement that has global security implications for the Indo-Pacific. The decision on the Chagos Islands, which ends a protracted legal dispute, will allow Chagossians to return to the islands decades after being forced to leave. It also ensures that a joint US-UK military base will remain active there. The base played a key role in operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and is considered a strategic asset to London and Washington, given the rise of Chinese aggression in the Pacific. But some UK opposition politicians and defense experts questioned the deal, saying it opens the base up to new dangers, in part because of Mauritius’ growing ties to China.

WWII bomb explodes in Japan

A World War II bomb exploded near the runway of a Japanese airport. No one was injured, but 80 flights from Miyazaki in the country’s southwest were canceled. The 500-pound USAAF bomb is one of millions scattered around the world: An estimated two million tons of bombs were dropped on Germany alone in World War II, while a single charity has cleared 815,000 unexploded munitions in Vietnam, Gizmodo reported. So many leftover shells and bombs are found along what was WWI’s Western Front in Belgium and northern France that it is known as the “Iron Harvest,” while in the Solomon Islands, around 20 people are injured or killed each year by US and Japanese ordnance from the Pacific campaign.

End of trams in Kolkata

Kolkata’s move to close its iconic 151-year-old tram network marks the sentimental end of an era, but also raises concerns about India’s approach to urban transportation, an expert argued in The Wire. Officials in Kolkata, the first and last Indian city to have trams, said the streets are too congested for them. Since the announcement, “social media has been awash in the ‘ding-ding’ tram nostalgia,” according to The Indian Express. But Delhi-based scholar Amartyajyoti Basu wrote that the phase-out “represents a desire to push the working class to the margins, prioritizing a glossy facelift for the city over inclusive and sustainable development.” He pointed out that the densely populated cities of Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong have either revived or modernized their tram systems.

‘Chinese Instagram’ fuels travel craze

Social media is changing the nature of Chinese tourism. Xiaohongshu, a lifestyle app referred to as China’s Instagram, allows users to share in-depth travel advice and itineraries, which are driving Chinese visitors to more obscure destinations. Southeast Asia’s tourism sector, which was dented during the pandemic, is especially benefitting from the platform’s recommendations, Rest of World reported: Laos, one of the region’s least-visited countries, is now a trendy destination, as users rave about its relatively low costs. And while China looks to woo more foreign visitors, the app is also fueling the country’s domestic tourism industry, which has become “increasingly consumerist, social media-driven and vanity-obsessed,” a columnist wrote in Nikkei Asia.

October 21, 2024 | Washington D.C. | Request Invitation

What’s in store for the advanced manufacturing workforce in the U.S.? Join Hernan Luis y Prado, Founder and CEO of Workshops for Warriors, Christian Meisner, Chief Human Resources Officer at GE Aerospace, and other industry leaders in Washington, D.C., on October 21st to discuss how the United States looks to maintain a competitive edge.

Starbucks focuses on climate resilience

Starbucks wants to boost coffee’s resilience to climate change. The global chain is buying two research farms in Guatemala and Costa Rica that will test technology to help growers and study climate-resistant coffee varietals, Bloomberg reported. Starbucks is dependent on about 400,000 farms across 30 countries for its supply, but coffee farmers are struggling with the effects of global warming, CNN wrote. Bad weather, including an extreme drought in Brazil, has pushed up global prices for coffee beans this year, raising the urgency to adapt to climate change. The company also plans to open test farms in Asia and Africa: “If we don’t build resilience today, the reality is the availability of coffee will continue going down,” a Starbucks executive said.

Neuroscientists want more money

Yearslong neuroscience research projects in China, the US, and Europe have led to significant breakthroughs in our understanding of the brain. The US government-backed BRAIN Initiative, the China Brain Project, and the EU-funded Human Brain Project invested hundreds of millions in basic neuroscience, such as the creation of an atlas of brain cell types. The efforts have led to new insights including the use of deep brain stimulation for treatment-resistant depression. But progress is still limited by a lack of investment, scientists said: “People talk about €1 billion, $4 billion,” but compared to multibillion-dollar space telescopes and particle colliders for physics, “this is peanuts,” one researcher told Nature.

Original Picasso discovered in cellar

A painting found in a cellar in Italy appears to be a Picasso. The 1930s surrealist image of two distorted faces hung in a cheap frame on a wall in Pompeii for decades, with its owner having no idea who Picasso was. His wife had wanted to throw the “horrible” image out, but their son “started to ask questions after studying an encyclopedia of art history,” The Guardian reported, and experts were asked to examine it. “There is no doubt that the signature is his,” one analyst said, adding there was nothing to suggest that it was false. The owner had been a junk dealer, his son said, and had found the painting in 1962: It is believed to be worth around $6.5 million.

Oct. 4:

• French President Emmanuel Macron meets President Felix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
• The US releases its September jobs report.
• Coldplay releases its 10th studio album, Moon Music, featuring Elyanna and Little Simz.

WeChat is the center of the Chinese internet — powering everything from messaging to payments — and the main portal where China’s news outlets and bloggers publish their work.

From suburbia, with love

Younger Chinese in Beijing are increasingly moving out to the suburbs. It’s a longer commute to work for many, but residents of one suburb told Houlang Research — a socioeconomics blog — that they prefer the comfortable and cost-effective rentals after being “squeezed out” by sky high prices in the inner city. Their quality of life is better too: Parks, farmers markets, and biking trails are now minutes away.

With the influx of new residents, the capital’s outer reaches are also becoming tight-knit communities of like-minded people seeking a slower pace. “People don’t talk much about money, they just sit there for a long time without rushing, with relaxation written on their faces,” Houlang wrote.

Fruits of their labor

Fruit is big on China’s e-commerce platforms: Customers on Douyin, China’s version of TikTok, place an average of 17.4 million agricultural orders per day, according to the Truman Story, a cultural blog. Recognizing the huge potential, some younger people — particularly women — have returned to their hometowns and set up shop hoping to entice the internet with fresh, organic products.

To meet the higher demand for workers for their small businesses, young entrepreneurs are recruiting older, married women in their villages who are eager to find employment while their husbands are away at work. The countryside is now full of “women armies,” with younger women teaching their older counterparts how to livestream and sell fruit on social media. These businesswomen who return home are working for “the well-being of everyone in the team and every [village] family working alongside them,” the blog wrote.

Drunk on knowledge

Pop into a packed bar in cities like Shanghai or Guangzhou and you may be surprised to find a college professor giving a lecture on Freudian psychology or the Journey to the West epic novel. For many disgruntled college graduates now working in low-paying jobs far removed from their majors, these “academic bars” offer spaces to mingle with fellow intellectuals, and a drink can “offset some of the seriousness” normally found in a classroom, the Daily People culture blog wrote.

But these lectures are also saving bars that struggled after the pandemic when young people became increasingly frugal. Enticing them with places to “nerd out” is proving a successful business model: One Shanghai bar that holds daily academic nights told the blog that it now has a monthly turnover of more than 200,000 yuan ($28,000), equivalent to what some of the city’s best bars make while operating until 5 a.m. daily.

As dusk falls throughout October, hordes of tarantulas will walk the grasslands of Colorado looking for a mate — along with the arachnophiles hoping to catch them in action. The town of La Junta’s annual Tarantula Fest sees spider lovers take part in mating season safaris, a hairy (human) leg contest, and screenings of the 1990s cult classic Arachnophobia. After female tarantulas emerge from their burrows, “the males go up to them and pretty much try to mate with them and then go from there,” a tourist official told KXRM Colorado Springs. The amorous arachnids are not a danger to humans, but can be to themselves: The females often eat their lovers after mating.

• China’s domestic struggles won’t change its trajectory in Washington.
• Gulf sovereign wealth fund in talks to invest in big US lender.
• Vance wants to be a ‘pro-family’ Republican. His party isn’t there yet.