The IDF did not violate the Gaza ceasefire when it launched a deadly strike in central Gaza’s Nuseirat because it claimed the attack targeted a member of Palestinian Islamic Jihad who was preparing an alleged attack on Israeli forces.
ECONOMIC UPDATE – MARKET OVERVIEW
Today the U.S. equity markets hit fresh highs. As reported by CNBC, “The S&P 500 rose 0.23% to close at 6,890.89. It had surpassed the 6,900 level for the first time on an intraday basis earlier in the day.
BANK FAILURES: EXPECT RUNS ON BANKS
2023 was just the opening act starting with regional/smaller banks. We called it then, and now they cannot cover it up as losses are piling up.
AMERICA’S TWO ECONOMIES ARE MOVING FURTHER APART
The tech industry is flying high on artificial intelligence (AI). The new technology accounted for 1.1 percentage points of U.S. economic growth in the third quarter.
HUMILITY VS. ‘GREAT RESPONSIBILITY’: ASI AND THE STORIES WE TELL OURSELVES
Artificial Super Intelligence? Don’t go there. That’s the message signed by hundreds of professionals in the AI tech industries and elsewhere.
U.S. TO SEND AIRCRAFT CARRIER TO JOIN TRUMP’S ILLEGAL KILLING CAMPAIGN IN CARIBBEAN
The Pentagon announced Friday that the U.S. will position the USS Gerald R. Ford in the U.S. Southern Command to ostensibly join the fight against the drug trade in the region, but seen as President Donald Trump’s revamped effort to oust Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro—which has been a goal since his previous term.
TOP TREND 2023, OFFICE BUILDING BUST: INSTITUTIONAL INVESTORS BACK AWAY FROM COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE
For the first time since 2012, institutional investors as a group have reduced the amount of money they have allocated to commercial real estate, the Financial Times reported.
Global Economy
SPOTLIGHT: ALARMS FLASH IN THE PRIVATE CREDIT MARKET
After the late-September collapse of U.S. auto-industry companies First Brands and Tricolor Holdings—both deep in bonded debt—Andrew Bailey, governor of the Bank of England, is hearing “alarm bells” in the private credit industry.
ANOTHER GOLDEN YEAR FOR GOLD
As Gerald Celente had forecast in his podcast on 16 October, there would be a sharp correction in gold, possibly going down some $500 per ounce when it was trading in the $4,350 per ounce range.
SPOTLIGHT: BIGS GETTING BIGGER
Private equity heavyweights Blackstone and TPG have partnered to buy Hologic, which develops technologies to diagnose and treat health conditions. It specializes in women’s medical concerns.
The Israel War
GAZA DEATH TOLL
The ceasefire between Hamas and Israel is technically holding, but the IDF continues to attack Palestinians at will, killing at least 94 since the truce went into effect, bringing the death toll inside the enclave to 68,531.
HIDING THE EVIDENCE: ISRAEL REFUSES TO ALLOW INTERNATIONAL JOURNALISTS TO VIEW DESTRUCTION IN GAZA
A European human rights group accused Israel of continuing to stonewall international journalists from entering Gaza to prevent the world from seeing the atrocities and destruction caused by the IDF with the full backing of third states.
WHAT CEASEFIRE? ISRAEL KILLS ANOTHER 6 IN LEBANON
The IDF killed another six people in Lebanon in recent days, after killing three in strikes across the country on Thursday, as it appears to be ramping up its attacks in violation of the ceasefire announced in November.
Trends in AI
CHINA’S AI INDUSTRY TARGETS AFRICA
Two Chinese tech powerhouses have combined to stake their country’s claim to Africa’s AI industry.
WALMART SIGNS WITH CHATGPT
Walmart has become the latest retailer to let shoppers buy products directly through ChatGPT without leaving the app.
AI’S VOICE NOW SOUNDS ALL TOO HUMAN
On July 9, a woman sent $15,000 to someone she thought was her daughter, who was on the phone crying that she’d been in an accident and needed the money to stay out of jail.
Hi-Tech Science
SAME AMOUNT OF LAND, SAME NUMBER OF PLANTS, TRIPLE THE WHEAT
Globally, about one person in every 11 doesn’t have enough to eat and fully one-third of the world’s people are at risk of hunger, according to the United Nations.
HOW LOSING CHANGES YOUR BRAIN – AND YOUR BEHAVIOR
Losing something—a game, a love, a parent, a job, money—is an experience we all have at some time. Now scientists at Japan's Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology have isolated the impact that losing has on the brain and how it can change our behavior.
THE LATEST CANDIDATE TO REPLACE PETRO-PLASTIC: BAMBOO
Science is producing a longer and longer list of candidates to replace plastics made from petroleum and natural gas. Thanks to work by scientists at Northeast Forestry University in Harbin, China, bamboo’s version has just moved up in the rankings.
