Flagship

Millions vote in US election

Millions of US voters cast ballots for their next president, as the closest race for the White House in modern history hurtled toward the finish. The 2024 election has been by all accounts unprecedented: A former president campaigned through dozens of criminal charges and two attempted assassinations, the incumbent dropped out, and the sitting vice president assumed the nomination with just over 100 days to campaign. It’s also been defined by razor-thin polling margins: The outcome — which could become clear within hours, but may take much longer — will ultimately depend on “how wrong the polls are,” Semafor’s David Weigel wrote. One small polling error could result in a landslide win for either candidate.

Fears of election violence

US election officials heightened security precautions as the fear of political violence hung over the country’s presidential race. Though some Americans are arming themselves in anticipation of a “second civil war,” The New Yorker wrote, claims of an impending cataclysm are “clearly overblown,” The Economist argued. Other countries — Brazil, Ethiopia, Sri Lanka — have made it through political polarization and tumult, Foreign Policy noted, though some took protracted periods to do so. Preventing electoral violence depends on perceived fairness of “the broad political framework,” an expert on African constitutional law wrote. “If the sense of satisfaction with the political system is high, the possibilities for violence are likely to be low.”

CEOs uncertain about election

CEOs’ go-to word ahead of the US election was “uncertainty.” The term cropped up near mentions of the election in S&P 500 companies’ quarterly earnings calls significantly more frequently than before the 2020 race, Bloomberg reported. C-suites are on edge over Donald Trump’s proposed tariff hikes and Kamala Harris’ support for higher corporate tax rates, while consumers are also holding back, putting off purchases from holiday shopping to home buying until after the vote. Executives’ other favorite word may be “inflationary,” Semafor’s Business & Finance Editor Liz Hoffman wrote: The Federal Reserve has made progress in its fight against rising prices, but “already leaders are sounding the alarm about policies — many of them bipartisan — that could spark a resurgence.”

Israel defense minister fired

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired his defense minister, seen as a voice of moderation within the country’s hardline government. Netanyahu said he had lost trust in Yoav Gallant, who will be replaced by the foreign minister. The move was “driven mostly by domestic political consideration,” Axios’ Barak Ravid said, specifically Gallant’s opposition to laws backed by ultra-orthodox parties in Netanyahu’s coalition. Gallant — who was previously fired in early 2023, then reinstated following mass protests — also questioned Netanyahu’s goal of “total victory” over Hamas in Gaza. He was “the last person in [Netanyahu’s] cabinet who actually dared to somewhat challenge him,” a Haaretz editor said.

Beijing makes SE Asia inroads

A series of visits by Southeast Asian leaders to Beijing points to China’s deepening inroads in the region. The Malaysian prime minister’s four-day trip will be followed by that of Indonesia’s president, whose tour of China marks his first overseas visit as leader. Their stances toward Beijing differ markedly from that of the Philippines, which is locked in a maritime standoff with China: “Dichotomies and divergence” within the region are hampering broader cooperation, Manila’s defense secretary acknowledged this week. “While the shift is subtle, there are increasing signs that China is gaining the upper hand [against the US] in various ways in most Southeast Asian states,” an expert on the region noted.

China’s growing grip on wind

A Chinese wind turbine manufacturer won two major deals in India, the latest sign of Beijing’s growing global dominance in green energy. China-based firms are already leading the charge in manufacturing solar panels and electric vehicles, thanks to a combination of state largesse and brutal domestic competition. A similar story is playing out in the wind sector: The country installed 51 gigawatts of wind power capacity in 2023 — exceeding that of any country apart from the US. But with the domestic wind turbine market growing saturated, Chinese companies are increasingly competing with Western firms such as Siemens and Vestas, offering far cheaper devices as well as, one major customer said, superior customer service.

UK cracks down on smoking

The UK will expand its tobacco regulation, giving it some of the toughest anti-smoking laws in the world. The last British government’s proposal of increasing the legal age for buying cigarettes by one year annually — a de facto ban for anyone born after 2009 — was dropped, but the new administration has revived and strengthened it: The Tobacco and Vapes Bill will also make smoking in school playgrounds, and outside schools and hospitals, illegal. The country’s health minister said the plan is to create “a smoke-free generation.” The idea of an ever-increasing minimum age for tobacco was first proposed in New Zealand, but has since been dropped there.

Genome sequencing progress

An ambitious, multi-country plan to sequence the DNA of millions of species is gathering momentum. The Earth BioGenome Project was set up six years ago to record the genomes of 1.67 million plants, animals, fungi, and microbes: It was expected to take 10 years and cost $4.7 billion. It is behind schedule and well short of funding targets, but is making progress, Science reported. Researchers in 28 countries have sequenced 3,000 genomes so far, and aim to meet their initial goal of 10,000 by 2026. The EBP’s organizers hope the project will improve understanding of the evolutionary tree of life, boost agriculture and conservation, and aid human health.

Space mining startup readies launch

A California startup is getting ready to launch its second space mission, with the eventual goal of mining asteroids for platinum. AstroForge’s first launch, last year, was not successful: It lost contact with its space probe. But the second attempt plans to observe a metallic asteroid from a distance with a plan to land on it in 2026. The company is one of several betting that space-rock mining is sufficiently close to reality as to be profitable, and venture capitalists are backing them: AstroForge recently raised $40 million. The company’s CEO told Gizmodo that platinum metals are “a massive market here on Earth,” and that he expects to “make a shitload of money.”

Alexa celebrates 10th birthday

Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant turns 10 years old on Wednesday. The device didn’t get a splashy launch, but inaugurated an era of smart speakers and “became the emblem of a voice-first way of using technology,” The Verge wrote. Despite its mainstream success, with over half a billion devices in homes globally, Alexa is still mostly just used for “music and timers,” rather than being the superpowered assistant Amazon imagined. The company has reportedly struggled to upgrade Alexa’s artificial intelligence capabilities, posing challenges for Amazon’s broader AI ambitions; a major update to the voice assistant initially planned for this year was delayed to 2025, according to Bloomberg.

Nov. 6:

• Novo Nordisk, the Danish drug company behind weight-loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, publishes third-quarter earnings.
• Britain’s Prince William presents the Earthshot Prize in Cape Town.
• Luxury shoe retailer Manolo Blahnik opens its first store in China, in Shanghai, following a 22-year legal battle over the use of its name in the country.

A new kind of bookstore gaining popularity in Japan rents out shelf space for readers to sell their books. At least 600 Japanese bookstores have closed in the past two years, unable to compete with online retailers such as Amazon. The new stores allow for a more eclectic mix than web sellers’ algorithmic suggestions, AFP reported, with shelf rentals starting at $32 a month. “Regular bookstores sell books that are popular based on sales statistics while excluding books that don’t sell well,” said Shogo Imamura, the owner of a Tokyo store where secondhand manga comics and martial arts tomes sit side-by-side. “We ignore such principles. Or capitalism in other words.”

Elon Musk’s internet service provider Starlink is halting new sign-ups in Africa, citing a demand surge in the continent’s biggest cities, Semafor’s Alexander Onukwue reported. Starlink’s Africa rollout has also been met with some resistance from local telecoms companies and concerned regulators, Onukwue wrote.