With less than a week to go before the US election, at least 100 billionaires have backed either Kamala Harris or Donald Trump, according to Forbes. While most of the country's estimated 813 billionaires have opted to "watch from the sidelines", 83 have endorsed the vice president and 52 the former president.

But among the wealthiest men, there is a more even "split", said Fortune. According to a major Bloomberg analysis, "among the ultra-rich, Trump comes out on top".

Elon Musk (Trump)
The Tesla and SpaceX boss is one of the most vocal Trump supporters – and prolific donors. He has donated more than $76 million to Trump or other Republicans, according to Open Secrets. He joined the former president on the campaign trail and posts about Trump relentlessly on his platform X (formerly Twitter).

Bill Gates (Harris, almost certainly)
The Microsoft co-founder is known for steering clear of public endorsements. But according to The New York Times, he has privately donated $50 million to a non-profit organisation supporting Harris' campaign. In a statement that did not confirm or deny the donation, Gates said the election had "unprecedented significance for Americans and the most vulnerable people around the world".

Jeff Bezos (Trump, allegedly)
The Amazon founder has not explicitly endorsed Trump. But Bezos did block his newspaper, The Washington Post, from endorsing a candidate for the first time in decades. One Trump fundraiser told the Post: "I think that's a $50 million endorsement for Trump. Not picking a horse is picking a horse."

Mark Zuckerberg (unclear)
The Meta CEO is not endorsing either candidate – nor did he in 2016 or 2020. But he did call Trump after the assassination attempt against him, and the Republican candidate claims that Zuckerberg told him: "I will never vote for people running against you after watching what you did." However, the relationship between the two is complicated at best: Trump has in the past threatened to send Zuckerberg to prison for life.

Conservationists are celebrating the success of a large-scale stoat removal project in Orkney, where the non-native mammals have wreaked havoc on indigenous birds and voles since their arrival 15 years ago.

The Orkney Native Wildlife Project (ONWP), led by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), has eliminated nearly 6,500 stoats from the Scottish archipelago since it launched in 2019. As a result, 2023 was a "great year" for the native vole, according to a new RSPB report, which also noted tangible impacts on several other species.

In August, the project was awarded an additional £4 million to help finish the stoat-removal job, but leaders are still on the hunt for more funding to ensure Orkney is "stoat-free by 2030".

Stoat invasion
Stoats were first sighted on Orkney in 2010, according to the ONWP, and soon began to threaten the island's ecosystem. Fast breeders, with large, omnivorous appetites and advanced predatory skills, they represent a threat to mice, rabbits, hedgehogs and birds – including Orkney's population of curlews and hen harriers.

The Orkney vole is particularly at risk. Stoats "tend to kill more than they need and hide – or 'cache' – the rest to eat later", said the Daily Record. "Caches containing as many as 100 Orkney voles have been found."

Eradication efforts
The ONWP’s eradication team has developed a system of "intense 'response trapping'", relying on a combination of "public sightings, dog searches, and monitoring equipment", to track down stoats. Once identified, the stoats are caught in "humane lethal traps", said The Times.

"There will continue to be native predators, disease, bad weather and many other factors that influence the survival of our wildlife," said RSPB Scotland director Anne McCall in the project's most recent progress report. But "removing the invasive stoats from the island is our best chance at maintaining this balance and giving our special wildlife the best chance to build the resilience it needs to meet these threats.

"This is a success story for conservation against the backdrop of a nature crisis that is pushing more of Scotland's wildlife to the brink."

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Joe Biden seems determined to undermine Kamala Harris
Sarah Baxter on the i news site
"Remember Joe Biden?" The "old geezer has emerged like a ghost from the White House basement" to "deep-six" Kamala Harris's campaign by calling Trump supporters "garbage", writes Sarah Baxter. He has "hung around on the sidelines just long enough to undermine" his "loyal vice president", and this latest gaffe "could be the clincher" for the election. Biden is "still smarting" from being "ousted" in favour of Harris and "may feel vindicated if she loses".

Is it now acceptable to accessorise with a Remembrance poppy?
Flic Everett in The Independent
Several MPs wore two poppies in the House of Commons this week, writes Flic Everett. "Poppyflation" is just the latest unnecessary twist on "what was once a simple – powerful – symbol of remembrance". Broadcasters already sport "ostentatious poppies", and they are "in danger of becoming something with which to accessorise an outfit". The "endless tub-thumping" and "pompous debates" around the politics of poppy-wearing have "done their bit" to further "devalue" its true meaning.

How to avoid anarchy in Antarctica
The Economist editorial board
"Antarctica is the only continent unbloodied by war", says The Economist, but "much like its ice sheet", the treaty governing Antarctica is in trouble, as global warming "opens up the possibility of mining virgin resources". The "status quo" is "threatened" by competing claims from the US, China and Russia, which could unleash a "scramble for the Antarctic". The "best solution" would be to "modernise the treaty" and "draft and sign an improved set of rules".