“Argentina’s beef exports during the first nine months of this year rose to their highest level in 57 years, as shipments of one of the South American country’s best-known food staples grew among buyers in the United States and neighbouring Chile. Official data released on Thursday showed that January-to-September beef exports totalled nearly 700,000 metric tons, with most of that volume, or nearly 70 per cent, bought by Chinese buyers.” (11/07/24)
“President Joe Biden addressed the nation after President-elect Donald Trump’s historic win for a second term in office. Trump is already at work on his transition, here’s a look at who could be staffing his administration this go round. With Trump about to take a second term in office, celebrities are melting down and Elon Musk’s trans daughter announced she is leaving the US. The judge in Trump’s ‘hush money’ trial is weighing tossing his felony conviction, and here’s what could happen with his other court cases once he takes office. California Gov. Gavin Newsom has called for a special session of the state legislature to bolster the progressive state’s policies against Donald Trump’s impending presidency — telling reporters the plan is to ‘Trump-proof’ state laws.” (11/07/24)
“When a volcanic eruption buried the ancient city of Pompeii, the last desperate moments of its citizens were preserved in stone for centuries. Observers see stories in the plaster casts later made of their bodies, like a mother holding a child and two women embracing as they die. But new DNA evidence suggests things were not as they seem — and these prevailing interpretations come from looking at the ancient world through modern eyes. ‘We were able to disprove or challenge some of the previous narratives built upon how these individuals were kind of found in relation to each other,’ said Alissa Mittnik of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany.” (11/07/24)
“President-elect Donald Trump has tapped his campaign senior adviser Susie Wiles as White House chief of staff. Wiles, who amassed outsized influence as Trump’s de facto campaign manager, will be the first woman to ever hold the title of White House chief of staff. Many have credited the professionalization of the most recent Trump campaign to Wiles’[s] leadership.” (11/07/24)
“The party that will control the US House of Representatives for the next two years is still in the balance. Republicans were seven seats short of the 218 seats needed to take control on Thursday morning. Democrats need 15 more. The Senate, or upper chamber, and the White House have already flipped to Republicans so President-elect Donald Trump could have total control when he is sworn in on 20 January 2025. Control of the House, the lower chamber, gives a party the power to initiate spending legislation and launch impeachment proceedings against officials. Under Trump, a unified Republican Party could more easily push through tax cuts and introduce border control measures. But Democrats hope the last votes trickling in from a handful of tight races will be enough to give them a majority in the House.” (11/07/24)
“Canada has ordered TikTok to shut down its operations in the country, citing unspecified ‘national security risks’ posed by the company and its parent ByteDance. With the move, TikTok will be forced to ‘wind up’ all business in the country, though the Canadian government stopped short of banning the app.” (11/06/24)
“Vacation home rental company Airbnb narrowly beat estimates for third-quarter revenue on Thursday, although profit fell short as it spent heavily on marketing to boost its presence in international markets. Shares of the San Francisco-based company fell 4% in volatile after-hours trading as its revenue was also weighed down by lower bookings at the beginning of the quarter.” (11/07/24)
“Sweden’s central bank on Thursday cut its key interest rate by half a percentage point to 2.75% in what was described as the largest reduction over a decade. Riksbanken said the cut, the fourth this year, was ‘to provide further support to the economy and help inflation stabilize at the target.’ … Inflation in Sweden in October was of 1.6%, according to Statistics Sweden. It was below the central bank’s 2% target. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 8.5% of the work force during the third quarter of 2024.” (11/07/24)
“Haitian activists on Thursday demanded that other countries temporarily stop deportations to their country due to a surge in gang violence and deepening poverty. Tens of thousands of people have been deported to Haiti in the past month, mostly from the Dominican Republic, whose president recently pledged to deport some 10,000 migrants a week. The Caribbean country, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, has deported nearly 61,000 migrants to Haiti from Oct. 2 to Nov. 5, according to the latest government figures. In October, the U.S. deported 258 Haitians, while Turks & Caicos, Jamaica and the Bahamas deported a combined total of 231, according to Sam Guillaume, a spokesperson for Haiti’s Support Group for Returnees and Refugees. He noted that many of those deported to Haiti remain homeless. ‘A lot of them can’t make it back home because their neighborhood is controlled by gangs,’ he said. As a result, some deportees are temporarily living along Haiti’s border with the Dominican Republic in hopes of crossing again.” (11/07/24)
“Swiss bank UBS said on Thursday it had successfully piloted a blockchain-based payment system it has developed to improve efficiency of cross-border transactions known as UBS Digital Cash. In the pilot, transactions were carried out with multinational clients and banks, including domestic transactions in Switzerland and cross-border payments in U.S. dollars, Swiss francs, euros and Chinese yuan, UBS said in a statement.” (11/07/24)
