TODAY’S MIDDLE EAST story

Gaza ceasefire teeters as Netanyahu orders strikes

What happened
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday ordered “powerful strikes” on Gaza, accusing Hamas of violating the Oct. 10 ceasefire by firing on Israeli troops, killing one, and delaying the return of hostage bodies. Gaza hospital officials said at least 81 Palestinians were killed in the overnight strikes. Hamas said it had “no connection to the shooting incident in Rafah and affirms its commitment to the ceasefire agreement.”

Who said what
The new rounds of violence were “likely the most serious challenge to the tenuous ceasefire deal in Gaza since it came into force,” The Associated Press said. The Israeli Defense Forces said the ceasefire was back in effect after its heavy airstrikes, but it would “respond firmly” to any violations.

Israeli “should hit back” when its troops are fired upon but “nothing’s going to jeopardize” the ceasefire, President Donald Trump said on Air Force One en route to South Korea. “Hamas is a very small part of peace in the Middle East,” and “if they’re not good, they’re going to be terminated.” Israel considers the return of hostage bodies a “key plank” of the deal and accused Hamas yesterday of staging the discovery of a hostage’s partial remains, said The New York Times. Hamas has blamed “conditions on the ground” in war-ravaged Gaza for the slow returns.

What next?
Yesterday’s “skirmishes” weren’t “the first time the ceasefire has been tested,” The Wall Street Journal said, and they “underscore how fragile the deal is” and “demonstrate the challenges for the next steps,” which “call for Hamas to disarm and for an international force to help stabilize Gaza.”

TODAY’S GLOBAL TRADE Story

Senate votes to kill Trump’s Brazil tariff

What happened
The Senate voted 52-48 yesterday to quash President Donald Trump’s punitive 50% tariff on Brazilian imports, terminating the national emergency he declared to trigger the import tax. Five Republicans joined every Democrat in supporting the measure.

Who said what
Trump slapped the steep tax on Brazilian coffee, orange juice and other imports because the country’s high court chose to “prosecute Donald Trump’s friend,” Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), the measure’s sponsor, told reporters. “How is that an emergency?” Emergencies “are like war, famine, tornadoes,” said Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.). The Brazil tariff is ”an abuse of the emergency power and it’s Congress abdicating their traditional role in taxes.”

The rare bipartisan rebuke of Trump’s signature trade tool came as “the president is in Asia touting tariffs and notching progress on trade agreements,” Politico said. But the vote “remains largely symbolic: Republican leaders in the House have blocked the chamber from voting to overrule the tariffs until March,” and there were not enough Senate votes to overturn a likely Trump veto. Paul told reporters that many of his GOP colleagues privately opposed the tariffs but wouldn’t publicly cross Trump due to “fear.”

What next?
Kaine (pictured above) plans to force two more votes this week: one to end Trump’s Canada import taxes and another to block his widespread global tariffs. The Supreme Court is set to weigh the legality of those broader tariffs next week, and “free-trading Republicans hope the Supreme Court will bail them out,” quashing the tariffs and “defusing what could soon become a brutal internecine fight for Republicans,” Semafor said.

It’s not all bad

The critically endangered North Atlantic right whale population now stands at 384 — an increase of 2.1% over last year and more than 7% higher than in 2020, according to the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium. This slow, steady growth can be attributed to stronger conservation measures, especially in Canadian waters. While researchers applaud the progress, they say the whales remain at risk and need continued protection.

Under the radar

Saudi Arabia looks to become an AI oasis

China and the U.S. are widely seen as the top two countries making artificial intelligence advancements, but there’s another nation looking to get in the game: Saudi Arabia. The wealth of Saudi businessmen is attracting outside investors to the Gulf kingdom as it tries to entice American tech companies to expand AI operations.

Few nations can match Saudi Arabia’s “cheap energy, deep pockets and open land” — the key “ingredients that tech firms need to operate the vast power-hungry data centers that run modern AI,” said The New York Times. And the kingdom’s de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, is “seizing a chance to turn Saudi Arabia’s oil wealth into tech influence.”

Executives from OpenAI, Google, Qualcomm, Intel and Oracle are set to meet at an annual Saudi investment summit this week. And Riyadh is also strengthening its own AI development through its state-owned company Humain. Blackstone and BlackRock, two of Wall Street’s largest investors, are “already vying to invest billions of dollars” with the firm, said Bloomberg.

But some experts don’t believe the hype around Saudi tech. The kingdom has a notably “shallow pool of AI expertise,” said the Times, and many analysts “warn of a global glut in computing capacity as governments and companies race to build data centers faster than they can profit from them.”

On this day

October 29, 2015

China announced it was ending its one-child policy, which had been in place for decades to control the population. Beginning in 2016, Chinese couples were allowed to have two children, and in 2021, the rule was amended again to allow three children.

TODAY’S newspaperS

‘Monstrous Melissa’

“Monstrous Melissa slams Jamaica,” the Miami Herald says on Wednesday’s front page. “Catastrophic Melissa strikes Jamaica with 185 mph wind,” says The Kansas City Star. “U.S. kills 14 in 4 strikes on boats in the Pacific,” The Washington Post says. “Mexico’s president condemns U.S. boat strikes,” the Los Angeles Times says, while “for millions, food aid runs out this week” in the U.S. “25 states sue to safeguard food stamps,” The New York Times says. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton “sues the makers of Tylenol” over “disputed studies” on autism, the Houston Chronicle says. “Trump crackdown drawing backlash,” USA Today says. “Judge orders Border Patrol boss Bovino to court daily to report use of force,” the Chicago Tribune says. “Border in the court,” says the Chicago Sun-Times.

► See the newspaper front pages

Tall tale

Casket case

Mohan Lal of Konchi, India, faked his own death to bring attention to a new crematorium he had built and to “see how much respect and affection” people would give him, he said. Earlier this month, the 74-year-old was wrapped in a white shroud and carried through the streets on a board. Once mourners arrived at the crematorium, he sat up, “revealing the funeral had been staged,” said The Indian Express. An effigy was then burned instead.

Morning Report was written and edited by Nadia Croes, Catherine Garcia, Scott Hocker, Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, Justin Klawans, Rafi Schwartz, Peter Weber and Kari Wilkin, with illustrations by Stephen Kelly and Julia Wytrazek.