Flagship

India, Canada expel diplomats

India-Canada relations hit a new low Monday, as each expelled the other’s diplomats in an escalating dispute over the 2023 assassination of a Canadian Sikh separatist. Ottawa accused six Indian diplomats, including New Delhi’s most senior envoy, of being involved in a violent campaign against Indian dissidents in Canada that included the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar last year. Denying the allegations, India expelled six Canadian diplomats in a tit-for-tat move that “conveys the full force of New Delhi’s anger with Canada” an analyst said. India has accused Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of trying to woo Sikh separatist voters ahead of next year’s election. If he loses, Ottawa will be saddled with “unwanted diplomatic baggage” with India, affecting business and trade, The Economic Times wrote.

Hyundai IPO could be India’s largest

Hyundai’s $3.3 billion initial public offering in India that began Monday is on track to be the country’s biggest ever, and the second-largest IPO globally this year. The move means the South Korean automaker’s India unit will likely expand local production — potentially including hybrid and electric vehicles — in a bid to close the gap with rival Maruti Suzuki in the world’s third-largest car market. With China’s IPO slump this year, investors are turning to promising offerings in Japan and India, like Hyundai’s. India’s capital markets are booming, with IPO proceeds already surpassing 2023’s total. “The stars are aligned in many respects,” an Indian investment banker said, though analysts have warned about a bubble and predict the IPO craze will eventually die down.

Asia hopes China stimulus boosts region

Asian nations are closely eyeing China’s moves to inject a massive stimulus into its economy. So far, details on Beijing’s plans have been “underwhelming,” research firm Trivium said. But Asia’s economies are hoping the stimulus provides a tailwind for the entire region by targeting structural challenges in China rather than just a “splashy” handout to achieve Beijing’s 5% annual growth target, analysts told The Wall Street Journal. China has been a source of regional growth for the last several decades, but its prolonged slowdown threatens trade, tourism, and manufacturing for Asia. Nearby economies, though, have so far weathered the storm and grown: Indonesia has seen strong domestic consumption, while Singapore, Vietnam, and Malaysia have become key tech hubs.

Inequality researchers win economics Nobel

The Nobel Prize for economics went to three researchers who helped explain why some nations get rich and others don’t. Daron Acemoglu, James Robinson, and Simon Johnson noted that some countries that were colonized during European states’ expansion are now wealthy and stable, while others aren’t. They said that the institutions imposed by the colonizers were the difference: In some cases, the colonial overlords backed the rule of law and democratic stability, which spurred economic growth. In others, they imposed extractive institutions that kept power with a small elite. The irony, the Nobel announcement noted, was that it meant those countries that were richest in natural resources now tend to be the poorest.

US race gets tighter with weeks to go

US presidential election polls are projecting with 100% certainty that they don’t know who’s going to win. Somehow, the race “just keeps getting tighter,” The New York Times’ Nate Cohn wrote, adding that no past election has seen swing state polls this close with about three weeks left. As pollster after pollster finds Kamala Harris and Donald Trump essentially tied, the candidates are racing to shore up support among Black, Latino, and undecided voters: Harris pledged to legalize recreational marijuana and agreed to an interview on conservative network Fox News. Democratic political commentator Dan Pfeiffer called on allies to “stop panicking” about every poll: “The whiplash between the elation of a few weeks ago and the panic of the last few days is detached from reality.”

Berlin ministers block Israel arms sales

Two of Berlin’s top leaders have blocked arms sales to Israel until the country agrees that it won’t use German weapons in a genocide, Bild reported. Even though Germany insists that Israel is not under an arms embargo, the government has not approved any arms exports to Israel since March. While Chancellor Olaf Scholz said last week that deliveries would resume soon, Germany is one of several European countries that have slowed down or halted arms shipments to Israel. French President Emmanuel Macron recently reiterated his call for other nations to end weapons exports used in Gaza, where an Israeli airstrike on a hospital compound Monday killed at least four people and set a tent camp for displaced Palestinians ablaze.

Spies are a headache for the West

Chinese and Russian spies are wreaking havoc on Western governments, new reports showed. In the last six months, France, Germany, Poland, and the UK have all identified Russian sabotage schemes, while American intelligence officials say Moscow is meddling in the US election through disinformation campaigns, The Economist wrote: “These efforts are generally crude and ineffectual. But they are prolific, intense and sometimes innovative.” Western officials are also warning the public and businesses about the unprecedented scale of Chinese espionage, including photographing US military exercises and hacking British voting records, The Wall Street Journal reported. But given China “is deeply entwined in the global economy, it is proving a Sisyphean task.”

What’s in store for the advanced manufacturing workforce in the US? Join Colorado Governor Jared Polis, President Biden’s Domestic Policy Advisor Neera Tanden, and other industry leaders in Washington, DC on Oct. 21 to discuss how the United States looks to maintain a competitive edge.

Oct. 21, 2024 | Washington, DC | Request Invitation

Sponsorship impacts drug trials

Psychiatric drug trials funded by the drugs’ manufacturer find more favorable results than trials sponsored by other groups, research found. For instance, 12 out of 14 manufacturer-funded trials of the antidepressant Effexor found that it was more effective than Prozac, but only one in three trials with other funding found the same. This “sponsorship effect” has been observed many times: Another study in August reported that sponsored trials were 43% more likely than others to find statistically significant improvements. There are various mechanisms, but one is publication bias. The recent study found 77 trials that were conducted but never published, often because they found null or unimpressive results. Adding those studies into the analysis reduced the sponsorship effect significantly.

Artist goes after his investors

A Norwegian artist who drunkenly signed over the ownership of his work to two investors is fighting in court to get it back. Bjarne Melgaard, who had a history of personal financial mismanagement, claimed he was pressured into the deal without realizing what he had OK’d. “My biggest mistake is the same one that most artists make,” Melgaard told The New York Times. “You would do just about anything for your art.” The case, which begins in a Norwegian court Tuesday, raises questions about the investor-artist relationship: Melgaard’s deal recalls the Renaissance-era practice of patronage, when rich families financed artists, The Times noted. He accused the investors of selling copies of his art in almost 40 galleries, causing prices to drop from the oversupply.

Limp Bizkit sues over unpaid royalties

A lawsuit brought by the late 90s nu-metal group Limp Bizkit could reshape the music industry. The shouty Fred Durst-led outfit alleged that Universal Music Group, one of the world’s biggest labels, fraudulently withheld $200 million in royalties. The group also claimed that many other musicians have been systematically defrauded — UMG’s roster includes huge names such as Taylor Swift and Dr Dre. Royalty disputes are common, an analyst told The Guardian, but are rarely raised openly: Doing so is the “nuclear option.” The trial may go to a jury, and UMG’s records could be made public, if a settlement isn’t reached. However, industry figures said “cooler heads” could prevail and the likeliest explanation for any possible failure to pay is “bureaucracy, or incompetence.”

Oct. 15:

• Japan’s political parties begin campaigning for the Oct. 27 general election.
• ​​Citigroup releases third-quarter earnings.
• The Apprentice, a movie about Donald Trump, premieres at the London Film Festival.

Two Mexican film superstars and childhood friends reunite for Hulu’s first ever Spanish-language series. Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna shot to international fame in 2001 with the sexy road trip movie Y Tu Mamá También. Their new six-part comedy drama La Máquina (The Machine) follows aging boxer Estéban, who is coaxed back into the ring by his eccentric manager for a final, high-stakes match. The show is being celebrated for its authentic depiction of Latin American culture. “There are so many Mexicos,” Luna told NBC News. “The beauty of the show is that it talks about… those different layers of society that suddenly boxing kind of gets together.”

• Inside Condé Nast’s Gaza war.
• Climate disasters bring new dimension to US presidential race.
• Matthew Segal on how ATTN will be the ‘HBO of short-form’