A Texas border crossing was closed to vehicles Monday, and traffic at an Arizona crossing was limited to shift more resources to illegal entries, U.S. authorities said in the latest sign of how fast-changing migration routes are challenging the government to keep up. Customs and Border Protection said it was closing one of two bridges to vehicles in Eagle Pass, Texas, a town of about 30,000 people that, for a while last year, was the busiest corridor for illegal crossings. The agency is also reducing vehicle entries in Lukeville, Arizona, a remote desert crossing that has become a major migration route in recent months. “The U.S. is continuing to see increased levels of migrant encounters at the Southwest Border, fueled by smugglers peddling disinformation to prey on vulnerable individuals and encourage migration,” Customs and Border Protection said in a statement. “As we respond with additional resources and apply consequences for unlawful entry, the migration trends shift as well."

Henry Kissinger, secretary of state under Presidents Nixon and Ford, dies at 100 (AP)

Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, the diplomat with the thick glasses and gravelly voice who dominated foreign policy as the United States extricated itself from Vietnam and broke down barriers with China, died Wednesday, his consulting firm said. He was 100.

Border Patrol agents can resume cutting wire barrier placed at Texas border by Guard troops (Stars and Stripes)

Federal agents can resume a practice of cutting wire barrier placed near the U.S. border with Mexico by Texas National Guard troops after a judge on Wednesday ruled against a request from the state of Texas to stop them from doing so. A temporary hold on cutting the barriers had been in place since October as part of an ongoing lawsuit that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed against the Department of Homeland Security that alleges cutting the barriers is damaging the state’s property. The temporary hold only protected barriers installed in the west Texas city of Eagle Pass, which has seen a steep increase in border crossings this year.

Violent Crime Is Down. Here’s Why More People Feel Victimized. (WSJ🔒)

Crime has been generating what look like contradictory headlines. In October, the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s annual report showed violent crime in 2022 fell to its relatively low, prepandemic level. Yet in November, Gallup reported that a record-high 63% of U.S. adults said the “crime situation in the U.S. is extremely or very serious.” This seems to suggest that either the crime data is wrong or people are unrealistically negative. There is another possibility: More people are experiencing crime, but it isn’t captured in FBI measures.

Shoplifting Trends: What You Need to Know (Council on Criminal Justice)

Since shortly after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Council on Criminal Justice has tracked changing rates of violent and property crime in large cities across the United States. The pandemic, as well as the social justice protests during the summer of 2020 and other factors, have altered the motives, means, and opportunities to commit crimes. Retail theft, especially organized retail theft, has received extensive media coverage and has caught the attention of policymakers. Dozens of shoplifting and “smash and grab” incidents in a variety of cities have been captured on video and have gone viral on social and mass media. Prepared for the Council on Criminal Justice’s Crime Trends Working Group, this report focuses on trends in shoplifting, a subset of retail theft which, in turn, is a subset of overall larceny-theft. The FBI defines larceny-theft as the unlawful taking of property without force, violence, or fraud.

Below is a snapshot of an interactive chart. I recommend going to the webpage to further slice and dice the data.

Europe

Ukraine’s military says Russia launched its largest drone attack since the start of the invasion (AP)

Russia on Saturday [25 Nov] morning launched its most intense drone attack on Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion in 2022, targeting the Ukrainian capital, military officials said. In total, Russia launched 75 Iranian-made Shahed drones against Ukraine, of which 74 were destroyed by air defenses, Ukraine’s air force said.

Kyiv’s Harsh Winter Deepens Gloom Over Battlefield Failures (Bloomberg🔒)

A sense of gloom is settling over Ukraine as the failure of a months-long counteroffensive gives way to the second winter since the Russian invasion. A fierce snowstorm cut power to thousands across southern Ukraine over the weekend, while temperatures in the east, where fighting is fierce, have plunged well below freezing. In the Ukrainian public, polls show cracks emerging and a softening in President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s approval rating. The longer nights coincide with mounting frustration over the stalled advance and tension among government and military leaders spilling into the open. As NATO ministers meet in Brussels, there are signs that help from the military alliance is wavering. Once-confident predictions of victory over Kremlin troops are being replaced by a grim awareness that the war is most likely to grind on.

Zelenskiy names 'three victories' Ukraine needs on international front (Reuters)

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Friday said that Ukraine needed to secure three key "victories" abroad, including the approval of major aid packages from the U.S. Congress and the European Union, and a formal start of accession talks to join the EU. Zelenskiy also announced the latest dismissals in the military, four deputy commanders in the national guard, but gave no reasons for their removal. The president and other officials have vowed to make the military's operations more efficient and responsive to the needs of servicemen. Twenty months into Russia's full-scale invasion, fatigue has crept into the West's relations with Kyiv, which heavily relies on its allies for military, economic and humanitarian aid to battle on against the Kremlin's troops.

Middle East

Live updates | Israel and Hamas trade blame for cease-fire’s end as combat resumes (AP)

Israel resumed fighting in Gaza minutes after a temporary cease-fire deal ended, and accused Hamas of having violated the truce. Hamas blames Israel, saying it declined offers to free more hostages. Mediator Qatar said Friday that efforts are ongoing to renew an Israel-Hamas cease-fire and expressed “deep regret” over the resumption of Israeli bombardments. Over 100 hostages were freed during the seven-day truce, most of whom appear physically well but shaken. Israel says 115 adult men, 20 women and two children are still held hostage. The 240 Palestinians released under the cease-fire were mostly teenagers accused of throwing stones and firebombs during confrontations with Israeli forces. The deal that began Nov. 24 ended after a week and multiple extensions, despite international pressure for the truce to continue as long as possible. Weeks of Israeli bombardment and a ground campaign have left more than three-quarters of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents uprooted, leading to a humanitarian crisis.

Israel Knew Hamas’s Attack Plan More Than a Year Ago (NYT🔒)

Israeli officials obtained Hamas’s battle plan for the Oct. 7 terrorist attack more than a year before it happened, documents, emails and interviews show. But Israeli military and intelligence officials dismissed the plan as aspirational, considering it too difficult for Hamas to carry out. The approximately 40-page document, which the Israeli authorities code-named “Jericho Wall,” outlined, point by point, exactly the kind of devastating invasion that led to the deaths of about 1,200 people. The translated document, which was reviewed by The New York Times, did not set a date for the attack, but described a methodical assault designed to overwhelm the fortifications around the Gaza Strip, take over Israeli cities and storm key military bases, including a division headquarters. Hamas followed the blueprint with shocking precision. The document called for a barrage of rockets at the outset of the attack, drones to knock out the security cameras and automated machine guns along the border, and gunmen to pour into Israel en masse in paragliders, on motorcycles and on foot — all of which happened on Oct. 7.

Elon Musk meets with Netanyahu in Israel, tours kibbutz attacked by Hamas (WP🔒)

Elon Musk met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday in Israel, where the pair toured the Kfar Aza kibbutz, one of the Jewish communities attacked by Hamas militants during their Oct. 7 cross-border assault. The trip comes as Musk faces widespread criticism for his decision to loosen content moderation on X after he purchased the platform last year. Separately on Monday, Musk reached a “principle understanding” with Israel to operate SpaceX’s Starlink satellites in Gaza, according to Israeli Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, but only with Israeli approval.

Saudi Arabia Offers Iran Investment to Blunt Gaza War (Bloomberg🔒)

Saudi Arabia has approached Iran with an offer to boost cooperation and invest in its sanctions-stricken economy if the Islamic Republic stops its regional proxies from turning the Israel-Hamas war into a wider conflict. The proposal has been delivered directly and through multiple means since Hamas’s attack on Israel last month and the ensuing war in Gaza, according to Arab and Western officials familiar with the matter. longside its conciliatory outreach, Saudi Arabia is pursuing another track. US Assistant Secretary of State Barbara Leaf said Washington is working with Saudi Arabia and its other Arab allies to stop Tehran “weaponizing” the conflict to strengthen its so-called axis of resistance, which encompasses armed groups from Lebanon and Palestinian territories to Iraq, Syria and Yemen.

US Navy seizes attackers who held Israel-linked tanker. Missiles from rebel-controlled Yemen follow (AP)

Armed assailants seized and later let go of a tanker linked to Israel off the coast of Yemen on Sunday before being apprehended by the United States Navy, officials said. Two ballistic missiles fired from Houthi-controlled Yemen then landed near a U.S. warship aiding the tanker in the Gulf of Aden, raising the stakes amid a series of ship attacks linked to the Israel-Hamas war. Yemen’s internationally recognized government blamed the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels for the attack, though the rebels in control of the capital, Sanaa, did not acknowledge either the seizure or the missile attack. The attackers seized the Liberian-flagged Central Park, managed by Zodiac Maritime, in the Gulf of Aden, the company, the U.S. and British militaries and private intelligence firm Ambrey said.

Africa

Death Toll Rises to 120 in Kenya Floods (Voice of America)

At least 120 people have died, and the members of almost 90,000 households have been displaced by flooding in Kenya, officials there said Tuesday. Kenya, along with its neighbors, Somalia and Ethiopia, have been hit with flash floods made worse by the natural weather phenomenon of El Nino. In Somalia, nearly 100 people have died and more than 700,000 have been forced to flee their homes, the government there said. In Ethiopia, at least 43 have died, the U.N. humanitarian agency said. The recent floods have put large amounts of farmland underwater, drowned tens of thousands of livestock and left hundreds of thousands of people without homes. The floods follow the country’s worst drought in four decades that left many people hungry.

Sierra Leone Announces Arrest of 13 Military Officials in ‘Attempted Coup’ (NYT🔒)

The small West African nation of Sierra Leone announced on Tuesday that it had arrested 13 military officials and one civilian in connection with a thwarted coup attempt on Sunday, when 20 people were killed and more than 2,000 prisoners were let loose.

Asia-Pacific

Russia is preparing a 'loyalty agreement' requirement for foreigners (Reuters)

Russia's interior ministry has prepared draft legislation that would force foreigners to sign a "loyalty agreement" forbidding them from criticising official policy, discrediting Soviet military history, or contravening traditional family values. Since President Vladimir Putin ordered troops into Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has introduced a slew of tough laws that outlaw discrediting the military, and courts have handed down long jail sentences to opposition activists. As the 2024 presidential election approaches, Putin has cast the war as part of an existential battle with the West, saying he will defend Russia's "sacred" civilisation from what he portrays as the West's decadence. The TASS state news agency reported on Wednesday that the draft legislation had been prepared by the interior ministry and would force all foreigners entering Russia to sign an agreement that essentially restricts what they can say in public.

China Urges Cease-Fire in Myanmar, While Conducting Own Drills (VOA)

Beijing called for a cease-fire in Myanmar after a coalition of ethnic fighters seized several crossings along Myanmar’s border with China in the past month. However, China will continue live-fire drills on its side of the frontier aimed at “testing the mobility, border control abilities and firepower capabilities of the military units so that the People’s Liberation Army is ready for any emergency,” the army newspaper PLA Daily said Sunday. Myanmar heavily relies on trade with China, especially for importing manufactured goods and exporting agricultural products. Unrest in Myanmar's border region has been a constant irritant to China, which nevertheless backed the military leaders who seized power in the Southeast Asian nation in 2021 from an elected government.

China: Mosques Shuttered, Razed, Altered in Muslim Areas (Human Rights Watch)

The Chinese government is significantly reducing the number of mosques in Ningxia and Gansu provinces under its “mosque consolidation” policy, in violation of the right to freedom of religion, Human Rights Watch said today. Chinese authorities have decommissioned, closed down, demolished, and converted mosques for secular use as part of the government’s efforts to restrict the practice of Islam. The authorities have removed Islamic architectural features, such as domes and minarets, from many other mosques. Chinese law allows people to practice only in officially approved places of worship of officially approved religions, and authorities retain strict control over houses of worship. Since 2016, when President Xi Jinping called for the “Sinicization” of religions, which aims to ensure that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is the arbiter of people’s spiritual life, state control over religion has strengthened.

Gold Bars and Tokyo Apartments: How Money Is Flowing Out of China. (NYT🔒)

Affluent Chinese have moved hundreds of billions of dollars out of the country this year, seizing on the end of Covid precautions that had almost completely sealed China’s borders for nearly three years. They are using their savings to buy overseas apartments, stocks and insurance policies. Able to fly again to Tokyo, London and New York, Chinese travelers have bought apartments in Japan and poured money into accounts in the United States or Europe that pay higher interest than in China, where rates are low and falling. The outbound shift of money in part indicates unease inside China about the sputtering recovery after the pandemic as well as deeper problems, like an alarming slowdown in real estate, the main storehouse of wealth for families.

West's de-risking starts to bite China's prospects (Reuters)

Foreign investors have been sour on China for most of this year, but data released over the past month has provided clear evidence of the negative impact de-risking strategies are having on the world's second-largest economy. Activity surveys showed manufacturing unexpectedly contracted in October, while exports accelerated their decline. China recorded its first-ever quarterly deficit in foreign direct investment in July-September, suggesting capital outflow pressure.

Putin Seizes Rights to St. Petersburg Airport From Foreign Investors (Bloomberg🔒)

President Vladimir Putin ordered the transfer of rights to managing Russia’s second-busiest airport from foreign shareholders that include Germany’s Fraport AG and the Qatari wealth fund by shifting their stakes into a new domestic entity. Shareholdings in the Cyprus-registered concession that runs St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo airport will be consolidated in a new Russian company under a decree published late Thursday. Existing investors, which also include a consortium with Abu Dhabi sovereign fund Mubadala Investment Co., will retain their stakes but won’t be able to vote because those rights will be held only by Russian shareholders in the new company.

Rescuers Free Workers Trapped in Mountain Tunnel in India for More Than Two Weeks (WSJ🔒)

Rescuers freed the 41 construction workers sealed inside a mountain tunnel in northern India by a landslide for over two weeks on Tuesday, after an arduous effort to break through a wall of about 200 feet of debris.

Space

SpaceX plans to sell shares next month at $150B valuation — same as summer 2023: sources (NY Post)

The rocket-fueled rise of Elon Musk’s company SpaceX appears to be stalling out, with the firm planning to sell shares next month in a deal that prices them around the same level as this summer, The Post has learned. The closely held company — whose satellite-launching Starlink unit has reportedly struggled to meet profit goals despite rampant growth — is planning to launch a tender offer in December valuing SpaceX at around $150 billion, the same price tag it was assigned in a July tender offer, according to reports. SpaceX’s July tender, which raised $750 million in cash, according to Bloomberg, followed a similar deal in January that also had raised $750 million, but at a $137 billion valuation. Terms of that tender had represented a steady climb from May 2022, when SpaceX was valued at $125 billion.

Government

Texas State University to host first presidential debate in state ahead of 2024 election (Austin American Statesman)

Texas State University will host the first 2024 U.S. presidential debate in September, the Commission on Presidential Debates announced Monday morning. This is the first time a presidential debate will be hosted in the Lone Star State. The Sept. 16 debate will be the first of four ahead of the November 2024 presidential election.

Rep. George Santos expelled from Congress on bipartisan vote (WP🔒)

The House on Friday voted to expel Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) from Congress — an action the chamber had taken only five times in U.S. history and not for more than 20 years — in response to an array of alleged crimes and ethical lapses that came to light after the freshman lawmaker was found to have fabricated key parts of his biography.

Sandra Day O’Connor, pathbreaking woman on Supreme Court, dies at 93 (WP🔒)

Sandra Day O’Connor, the first female U.S. Supreme Court justice, whose independence on a court that was often ideologically divided made her the pivotal vote in numerous closely contested cases and one of the most powerful women of her era, died Dec. 1 in Phoenix. She was 93.

Defense

Seven still missing after US Osprey crash off Japan (Yahoo)

Japan's coastguard said a major search operation failed again Friday to locate the main wreckage of an Osprey US military aircraft or the seven airmen still missing. The tilt-rotor CV-22B Osprey crashed on Wednesday off the island of Yakushima with eight crew on board, in the latest mishap involving the versatile aircraft. One man was found and later declared dead the same day, but the coastguard said as darkness fell Friday that the other seven remained unaccounted for despite a massive search.

Air Force to issue protective eyewear as laser pointer incidents surge (AF Times)

The U.S. Air Force will roll out tens of thousands of specialized spectacles to airmen around the globe to protect their eyes from lasers and shrapnel. The gear aims to limit the potential risk to pilots and other aircrew amid a recent spike in lasing incidents. It’s also the first time that Air Force-issued eyewear is designed to block lasers as well as ballistic threats, the service said Sunday.

New military simulations for shooting, trench war, drones unveiled (Military Times)

A new shooting simulation system to replace decades-old tech now in use and tactical training simulation that brings drone, counter-drone and Ukrainian-based trench warfare into its digital world are two such items that will be on display at the annual Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference, held in Orlando, Florida, Nov. 27 to Dec.1. The Lockheed Martin SIMRES system uses a new approach to force-on-force shooting simulation as the existing technology: the multiple integrated laser engagement system, or MILES. Through a combination of GPS, sensing, software and light detection and ranging ― or Lidar ― technologies, their system creates a kind of virtual space in live training, SIMRES Chief Engineer Dan Hyatt told Military Times. By using decades of weapon ballistics data, Hyatt’s team has created what they call an “e-bullet,” which allows them to model the real-world physics of a projectile and how it would perform when fired at certain distances, angles and even through barriers, such as concrete walls.

Economy

Consumers Pulled Back on Spending, Inflation Eased in October (WSJ🔒)

Americans slowed their spending in October and inflation continued cooling as the economy downshifted into fall after a fast-paced summer. Consumer spending rose 0.2% in October, down sharply from a 0.7% rise in September, the Commerce Department said Thursday. The October reading marked the slowest increase since May. The combination of ebbing income growth, high interest rates and prices, dwindling pandemic savings and the resumption of student-loan payments is eroding Americans’ ability to keep boosting their spending as briskly as they did through the summer, economists say. Inflation has cooled markedly this year, likely bringing the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate increases to an end. Price growth as measured by the personal-consumption expenditures price index, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, remained mild in October.

Cyber Monday Hits All-Time Record — Fueled By Buy-Now-Pay-Later (Forbes🔒)

Consumers in the U.S. spent a record $12.4 billion online on Cyber Monday this year, Bloomberg reported, citing Adobe Analytics—beating projections that shoppers would set a record at $12 billion on post-Thanksgiving holiday deals despite inflation and slower growth.

Share of value added to the gross domestic product of the United States in 2022, by industry (Statista)

Data here: https://www.bea.gov/itable/gdp-by-industry

Business

Corporate America Has Dodged the Damage of High Rates. For Now. (NYT🔒)

The prediction was straightforward: A rapid rise in interest rates orchestrated by the Federal Reserve would confine consumer spending and corporate profits, sharply reducing hiring and cooling a red-hot economy. But it hasn’t worked out quite the way forecasters expected. Inflation has eased, but the biggest companies in the country have avoided the damage of higher interest rates. With earnings picking up again, companies continue to hire, giving the economy and the stock market a boost that few predicted when the Fed began raising interest rates nearly two years ago. There are two key reasons that big business has avoided the hammer of higher rates. In the same way that the average rate on existing household mortgages is still only 3.6 percent — reflecting the millions of owners who bought or refinanced homes at the low-cost terms that prevailed until early last year — leaders in corporate America locked in cheap funding in the bond market before rates began to rise. Also, as the Fed pushed rates above 5 percent, from near zero at the start of 2022, chief financial officers at those businesses began to shuffle surplus cash into investments that generated a higher level of interest income.

Crypto

Cristiano Ronaldo faces a $1 billion class-action lawsuit after promoting Binance NFTs (AP)

Portuguese soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo has been hit with class-action lawsuit seeking at least $1 billion in damages for his role in promoting cryptocurrency-related “non-fungible tokens,” or NFTs, issued by the beleaguered cryptocurrency exchange Binance. The lawsuit filed in federal court in the Southern District of Florida Monday alleges that Ronaldo’s promotion of Binance was “deceptive and unlawful.” Binance’s partnership with high-profile figures like Ronaldo, the plaintiffs claim, led them into costly and unsafe investments.

Energy

Weekly U.S. Field Production of Crude Oil (U.S. Energy Information Administration)

Highest production ever recorded.

How Shell, Chevron Are Delaying US Efforts to Refill Its Emergency Oil Reserve (Bloomberg🔒)

Efforts to refill the US emergency oil reserve are being slowed, in part, by companies delaying their return of borrowed barrels. Shell Plc, TotalEnergies SE and Chevron Corp were among nine companies that borrowed government oil as part of an exchange program the past two years. Though they were due to repay the crude this year and next, the three companies received US approval to delay about 5 million barrels in returns until 2024 and 2025, according to government documents seen by Bloomberg.

US Gasoline Prices Fall for 60 Straight Days in Win for US Holiday Spending (Bloomberg🔒)

Gasoline prices have fallen for 60 consecutive days — the longest streak of declines in more than a year — letting American drivers pass on savings at the pump to consumer retailers during the US economy’s all-important holiday season. A gallon of gasoline now costs $3.25 on average in the US, more than 60 cents below the year’s peak in mid-September and about 30 cents cheaper than this time last year, according to data from the American Automobile Association. In 14 states, average prices are now less than $3 a gallon.

OPEC+ agrees oil output cuts approaching 2 million bpd, sources say (Reuters)

OPEC+ oil producers on Thursday agreed to voluntary output cuts approaching 2 million barrels per day (bpd) for early next year led by Saudi Arabia rolling over its current voluntary cut, delegates told Reuters. Saudi Arabia, Russia and other members of OPEC+, who pump more than 40% of the world's oil, held a virtual meeting on Thursday to discuss 2024 output amid concerns the market faces a potential surplus.

A plane fueled by fat and sugar has crossed the Atlantic Ocean (WP🔒)

For the first time ever, a commercial plane flew across the Atlantic Ocean without using fossil fuels.Virgin Atlantic said the test flight Tuesday from London to New York was powered only by sustainable aviation fuel, or SAF, a broad category of jet fuel that creates fewer carbon emissions than standard kerosene blends. The fuel on this flight was made from waste fats and plant sugars and emits 70% less carbon than petroleum-based jet fuel, according to a press release. It landed at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Tuesday afternoon.

Auto

Electric vehicles and hybrids grow to a record-high 18% of U.S. light-duty vehicle sales (U.S. Energy Information Administration)

Sales of hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and battery-electric vehicles (BEV) in the United States rose to 17.7% of new light-duty vehicle sales in third-quarter 2023, according to data from Wards Intelligence. Sales of hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and BEVs have accounted for 15.8% of all new light-duty vehicle sales in the United States so far this year, compared with 12.3% in 2022 and 8.5% in 2021.

GM Commits Billions to Shareholder Returns as EV Push Stalls (Bloomberg🔒)

General Motors Co. offered a response to critics of its unsteady push into electric vehicles and self-driving: Showering shareholders with cash. The automaker on Wednesday announced its biggest-ever stock buyback plan — $10 billion in total — as Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra promised better days are ahead. GM also boosted its dividend 33% and reinstated earnings guidance after accounting for costs of its new labor contract. The announcements Wednesday sent GM’s shares soaring 12% to $32.29 shortly after the market opened in New York, the biggest intraday gain since April 2020.

Tesla’s Cheapest Cybertruck Will Cost $60,990 and Be Available in 2025 (Bloomberg🔒)

The Cybertruck comes in three configurations: rear-wheel drive, all-wheel drive and the so-called Cyberbeast. The cheapest version of the Cybertruck will cost $60,990, which is more than 50% over the price Musk floated when he announced the vehicle in 2019. That version, a rear-wheel drive model with a battery range of 250 miles, won’t be available until 2025. Tesla is offering delivery next year for the two more expensive models, including the Cyberbeast, which has a price tag of nearly $100,000.

Behind Tesla’s Challenges in Making the Cybertruck: Ultrahard Stainless Steel (WSJ🔒)

With the Cybertruck, Tesla sought to break from convention by cladding its electric pickup in ultrahard stainless steel, a material that doesn’t need to be painted, resists dents and adds to the vehicle’s distinctive look. Turns out, the choice of metal has further complicated an already difficult new-model launch for the world’s most valuable automaker. The stainless steel, which is being used for the truck’s outer shell, has proven challenging to bend and manipulate, testing Tesla’s ability to shape the material into body panels that line up correctly and don’t result in large gaps when installed, according to people who have worked on the pickup. On top of that, it is so hard and strong that it can be difficult to flatten, these people said. The metal is produced in coils that resemble giant rolls of toilet paper, and even when unrolled, it has a tendency to spring back into its earlier, curved form. These difficulties are among the manufacturing hurdles Tesla has wrestled with leading up to the rollout of its first new passenger model in more than three years.

Chinese Car Companies Cracked North America by Going to Mexico (Bloomberg🔒)

Chinese car sales in Mexico rose 51% in the first 10 months of the year, with 212,169 sold, according to data from the Mexican Association of Automotive Distributors (AMDA). Every other foreign country is selling less than half that to Mexican consumers. While almost all of these vehicles are gas-powered, the trend gives China a coveted foothold in North America as it battles the US for supremacy in automotive sales.

Personal Finance

American Borrowers Are Getting Closer to Maxing Out (WSJ🔒)

A happy holiday shopping season might not end up being an especially cheery time for lenders. Card loans are still growing, on average rising 1.6% in October over September across five big U.S. card lenders, versus a seasonally typical 0.7% increase, according to tracking of the latest monthly data by analysts at Goldman Sachs. The trend suggests that consumers still are willing and able to use their cards, portending well for retailers. U.S. retail sales slowed in October, but by less than feared, and were still at an overall solid level. Some retail stocks have jumped recently on hopes for holiday shopping. But as far as people paying back those loans, the data so far is less compelling. The average rate of 30-day-plus delinquency across the five big lenders jumped 0.16 percentage point from September to October, above the typical seasonal jump of 0.06 point, according to Goldman’s tracking. Net charge-offs jumped 0.77 point on average, compared with a 0.18-point typical rise.

Leadership advice from investing legend Charlie Munger: ‘Knowing what you don’t know is more useful than being brilliant’ (Fortune)

Charlie Munger, a legendary investor and Warren Buffett’s right-hand man, died on Tuesday at the age of 99. Munger had a decades-long career at the Omaha-based holding company Berkshire Hathaway, and his business relationship with Buffett helped turn it into a powerhouse worth hundreds of billions. Buffett even credited Munger with creating the company’s investment blueprint.

Apple Pulls Plug on Goldman Credit-Card Partnership (WSJ🔒)

Apple is pulling the plug on its credit-card partnership with Goldman Sachs, the final nail in the coffin of the Wall Street bank’s bid to expand into consumer lending. The tech giant recently sent a proposal to Goldman to exit from the contract in the next roughly 12 to 15 months, according to people briefed on the matter. The exit would cover their entire consumer partnership, including the credit card the companies launched in 2019 and the savings account rolled out this year. It couldn’t be learned whether Apple has already lined up a new issuer for the card. The move would mark a swift about-face for a program that just over a year ago was extended through 2029 and was intended to serve as a pillar of Goldman’s main-street ambitions.

Vanguard’s Biggest Bond ETF Becomes First to Break $100 Billion (Bloomberg🔒)

A bond exchange-traded fund crossed $100 billion for the first time since such products launched over two decades ago. A $14 million inflow Wednesday pushed assets in the Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF (ticker BND) above $100 billion for the first time ever, data compiled by Bloomberg show. BND has absorbed $15.6 billion so far this year. The milestone marries two of 2023’s biggest trends: The highest yields in years have made fixed-income more appealing, while relatively low-cost, tax-efficient ETFs have consistently stolen market share from their more expensive mutual fund brethren.

Cyber

Instagram’s Algorithm Delivers Toxic Video Mix to Adults Who Follow Children (WSJ🔒)

Instagram’s Reels video service is designed to show users streams of short videos on topics the system decides will interest them, such as sports, fashion or humor. The Meta Platforms-owned social app does the same thing for users its algorithm decides might have a prurient interest in children, testing by The Wall Street Journal showed. The Journal sought to determine what Instagram’s Reels algorithm would recommend to test accounts set up to follow only young gymnasts, cheerleaders and other teen and preteen influencers active on the platform. Instagram’s system served jarring doses of salacious content to those test accounts, including risqué footage of children as well as overtly sexual adult videos—and ads for some of the biggest U.S. brands. Experts on algorithmic recommendation systems said the Journal’s tests showed that while gymnastics might appear to be an innocuous topic, Meta’s behavioral tracking has discerned that some Instagram users following preteen girls will want to engage with videos sexualizing children, and then directs such content toward them.

Solving the Social Dilemma: Many Paths to Social Media Reform (After Babel)

Those of us concerned about the effects of social media on society often feel that we’re battling a hydra—the many-headed monster of Greek mythology who grew two new heads each time Hercules cut one off. The variety, reach, and damage of these platforms keep expanding, even though we have not yet been able to cut off any heads.

I’m generally not a fan of more laws; however, laws do serve a place—to curb negative human behavior. As much as we’d like to think humans are good at heart, the reality is that people will generally (but not always) act in their own self-interest. And when people see other people acting in their own self-interest, it becomes a downward cycle of selfishness. So, laws must be put in place AND enforced. Two specific examples stand out to me:
1) With the lifting of enforcement for minor theft in certain US cities, we’re seeing people blatantly walk into, and out of, stores stealing items with no repercussions.
2) Driving in foreign countries that do not enforce traffic laws. It’s a free-for-all.

Google is deleting unused accounts this week. Here's how to save your old data (NPR)

Now is the time to act if you want to keep a Google account you haven't used in a while. Starting Dec. 1, Google will start deleting "inactive" accounts — that is, accounts that haven't been used in at least two years. Google accounts give access to the company's other products, including Gmail, Drive, Docs, Meet, Calendar, Photos and YouTube. That means emails, videos, photos, documents and any other content sitting in an inactive account are at risk. To prevent it from being deleted, sign in to your Google account before Friday. "If you have signed into your Google Account or any of our services recently, your account is considered active and will not be deleted," the company said in a May blog post outlining the policy. Before the deletion process happens, Google says users will have received multiple notifications in the preceding months to both the account email address and the recovery email (if you have provided one).

Idaho National Laboratory experiences massive data breach; employee information leaked online (East Idaho News)

Idaho National Laboratory experienced a massive data breach on Sunday [18 Nov 23] night, leading to the leak of employee addresses, Social Security numbers, bank account information and much more. INL media spokesperson Lori McNamara tells EastIdahoNews.com the breach is being investigated and federal law enforcement are involved. “Earlier this morning, Idaho National Laboratory determined that it was the target of a cybersecurity data breach, affecting the servers supporting its Oracle HCM system, which supports its Human Resources applications. INL has taken immediate action to protect employee data,” says McNamara. “INL has been in touch with federal law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security’s Cyber Security and Infrastructure Security Agency to investigate the extent of data impacted in this incident.”

Iranian cyber criminals targeting Israeli technology hack into Pennsylvania water system (USA Today)

Federal authorities are investigating a computer hack of a Pennsylvania utility provider that is believed to have been targeted by an Iranian-linked cyber group looking to disrupt Israeli-made technology in the U.S. On Saturday, the Iranian group Cyber Av3ngers hacked into water authority infrastructure in Aliquippa, a city about 18 miles northwest of Pittsburgh, local authorities confirmed. The group took partial control of a system that regulates water pressure — and one that includes technology manufactured in Israel, according to water authority board chairman Matthew Mottes.

Artificial Intelligence

The electronic noses designed to prevent food poisoning (BBC)

The human nose and its ability to smell is an amazing thing. Each nose has around 400 scent receptors that are said to be able to detect around one trillion different odours. To replicate such a level of sensory expertise in scientific equipment is a daunting challenge. Yet thanks to recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI), the latest electronic noses - high-tech sensors that can detect and report specific smells - are quickly improving their levels of speed and accuracy. Their proponents say that they can transform food safety.

J&J Hired Thousands of Data Scientists. Will The Strategy Pay Off? (WSJ🔒)

Johnson & Johnson is making one of the biggest bets in the healthcare industry on using data science and artificial intelligence to bolster its work. The 137-year-old pharmaceutical and medical-device company has hired 6,000 data scientists and digital specialists in recent years, and spent hundreds of millions of dollars on their work, such as using machines to scour massive health-record datasets. Last year the company opened a state-of-the-art research site near San Francisco that houses advanced data science. Some early efforts focus on diagnostics, like an algorithm that analyzes heart tests to spot a deadly type of high blood pressure much sooner than humans can, and voice-recognition technology to analyze speech for early signs of Alzheimer’s disease. There’s a virtual-reality goggle set to help train surgeons on procedures like knee replacements. The long game, though, is a goal that has seen a lot of hype but less concrete proof that it will become a reality: using AI for drug discovery.

Sports Illustrated deletes articles published under fake author names and AI-generated profile photos (CNN)

Sports Illustrated on Monday said it had deleted several articles from its website after a report found the once-celebrated legacy magazine had published the pieces under fake author names and profile images generated by artificial intelligence. The report, which was published by Futurism, found that the magazine had repeatedly published articles whose authors could not be found online outside the Sports Illustrated website. The articles were all accompanied by AI-generated profile photos that Futurism also found for sale on digital marketplaces that sell AI-produced headshots. Following the publication of the report, a spokesperson for The Arena Group — which has operated and licensed Sports Illustrated since 2019 — told CNN that the deleted product review articles had been created by a third-party company, AdVon Commerce. “We have learned that AdVon had writers use a pen or pseudo name in certain articles to protect author privacy — actions we don’t condone — and we are removing the content while our internal investigation continues and have since ended the partnership,” the spokesperson said.

Life

Let the Real Stretch Marks Rip (NYT🔒)

For more than a century, advertisements for lingerie have emphasized an idealized version of the female form. In the 1910s and ’20s, ads for shapewear featured hourglass shapes. In the 1940s the underwire bra was embraced widely. In the 1970s, Rudi Gernreich invented the thong and scandalized the masses. In the ’80s and ’90s, Calvin Klein learned to sell sexiness as much as cotton panties. During the early aughts, attention on Victoria’s Secret reached a fever pitch. The brand traded on near-celestial expectations for perfection. In ads, its “angels” seemed to have not so much as an errant mole, and cellulite was for earthbound civilians. But in the past decade, and as Victoria’s Secret has stumbled after a series of scandals, newer underwear brands have focused on so-called imperfections — stretch marks, in particular. In the lingerie business, the once-verboten “flaw” is approaching industry standard, as ubiquitous as cleavage.

US Life Expectancy Improved in 2022, Rebounding from Covid Lows (Bloomberg🔒)

A female born last year can once again expect to live more than 80 years while a male should live nearly 75 years. The gap between the two narrowed to 5.4 years after reaching the widest margin since 1996 during the pandemic.

The report: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/vsrr/vsrr031.pdf

U.S. Suicides Reached a Record High Last Year (WSJ🔒)

America’s mental-health crisis drove suicides to a record-high number last year. Nearly 50,000 people in the U.S. lost their lives to suicide in 2022, according to a provisional tally from the National Center for Health Statistics. The agency said the final count would likely be higher. The suicide rate of 14.3 deaths per 100,000 people reached its highest level since 1941. The record reflects broad struggles to help people in mental distress following a pandemic that killed more than one million in the U.S., upended the economy and left many isolated and afraid. A shortage of healthcare workers, an increasingly toxic illicit drug supply and the ubiquity of firearms have facilitated the rise in suicides, mental-health experts said.

Health

Egypt Wiped Out Hepatitis C. Now It Is Trying to Help the Rest of Africa. (NYT🔒)

Egypt is on track to be the first country to achieve the World Health Organization goal of eliminating hepatitis C, and it is leveraging that victory into a campaign of “health diplomacy,” pledging to donate drugs and share expertise, with the goal of treating a million African patients. It is an unusual gesture in the world of global health, where largess is typically delivered to developing countries from high-income nations.

Food & Drink

Scientists and Farmers Race to Save the World’s Banana Supply (Bloomberg🔒)

Cavendish bananas make up 99% of global banana exports. In 2022 the Central and South American countries where the market is concentrated shipped more than 16 million tons overseas. Almost every supermarket banana, regardless of the stickered imprimatur of its brand, is a Latin American Cavendish. Americans buy more of them than any other fruit. Without them, the $25 billion global banana industry crumbles. Really, there’s only one problem with the Cavendish: It’s highly susceptible to Tropical Race 4. And that made García-Bastidas’ identification of TR4 in the world’s Cavendish corridor a potentially dire matter. Almost 8,000 acres across 17 banana farms are now under quarantine in Colombia, officially the world’s fourth-most-prolific banana exporter. That’s only about 6% of the total area where bananas are grown for export in the country, but the fungus is expected to continue to spread. It’s already in other South American countries, found in Peru in 2021 and in Venezuela this May. Ecuador, Costa Rica and Guatemala—Nos. 1, 2 and 3, respectively, in terms of banana exports—are on high alert.

U.S. Whiskey Is ‘Collateral Damage’ in Trans-Atlantic Trade Fight (WSJ🔒)

The threatened tariff is the European Union’s retaliation for U.S. tariffs on European steel and aluminum, which themselves were part of tougher trade measures designed to boost U.S. manufacturers. In this case, tariffs erected to protect some U.S. industries swung back to hurt other homegrown small businesses. The bar fight over whiskey is just one example. EU tariffs retaliating against the U.S. also struck Harley-Davidson motorcycles, orange juice and Levi’s jeans. Like whiskey, those products remain on the EU’s list of suspended tariffs. U.S. and EU officials say they hope to reach a deal to avoid the 50% tariff by year’s end, likely by delaying its effective date. But there is no end in sight to the broader trade dispute, leaving the threat of tariffs hanging over the whiskey industry. American whiskey makers were drawn into the trade fight in 2018 after former President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum. He cited national security reasons, arguing that metals imports had eroded the country’s ability to make its own weapons, tanks, and aircraft. The EU responded with levies on a range of U.S. products, selected for their iconic status as U.S. exports and to apply pressure on politicians in Republican and swing states. Until the U.S. has permanently removed the steel and aluminum tariffs, “the EU cannot permanently end its countermeasures,” Olof Gill, a European Commission spokesman, said last week. “The EU and U.S. remain engaged in ongoing discussions to reach an agreement on permanently removing these tariffs.”

No More Dry Burgers: McDonald’s Overhauls Its Biggest Item (WSJ🔒)

McDonald’s decided it’s had enough with dry patties and squishy buns. For the past seven years, the chain that made its name on burgers has been on a quest to improve its signature offering. The changes are now rolling out in the U.S., including on its Big Mac. The two all-beef patties are cooked in smaller batches for a more uniform sear. There’s more special sauce. The lettuce, cheese and pickles have been rethought to be fresher and meltier, and the bun is now a buttery brioche, with the sesame seeds more randomly scattered for a homemade look. The more than 50 tweaks on its burgers add up to the Chicago-based company’s biggest upgrades in decades to its core menu. With increased competition in the burger market—especially from higher-end, fast-casual burger chains such as Five Guys—executives decided to revamp some of the industrial-scale techniques that have produced cheap, uniform burgers. In some cases, McDonald’s is reviving practices it scrapped long ago in a push for efficiency.

For Fun

Everybody Knows Flo From Progressive. Who Is Stephanie Courtney? (NYT🔒)

In 2022, nearly half the active property- and casualty-insurance premiums in the United States and Canada were sold by just 11 companies. Increasingly, insurance corporations attract business not by building trust between their customers and local agents, but by successfully ascribing positive characteristics to the fictional characters who anthropomorphize the companies and products in ads. The first to arrive at the vigorous insurance-brand-character orgy was a gecko, created in 1999 to teach people how to pronounce the acronymic name of the Government Employees Insurance Company. (Conceived as a single spot, Geico’s Gecko campaign was extended the year a commercial-actors’ strike prohibited live humans from filming ads.) It has since been joined by the Aflac duck, Liberty Mutual’s LiMu Emu, Professor Burke (J.K. Simmons) from Farmer’s (bumbadumbumbumbumbum), Jake from State Farm (from State Farm) and Mayhem from Allstate. But all of these are subordinate to a moderately whimsical employee-character, who has been persuading Americans to purchase insurance (or in some commercials, reminding them that they already have), since the twilight of the George W. Bush administration: Flo from Progressive.

Here’s Why You Don’t See Blimps Anymore (Reader's Digest)

The main reason you never see airships in the sky anymore is because of the huge costs it takes to build and run them. They’re very expensive to build and very expensive to fly. Airships require a large amount of helium, which can cost up to $100,000 for one trip, according to Wilnechenko. And the prices of helium keeps going up due to a world-wide helium shortage. It’s also no small feat to fly one. According to the Federal Aviation Administration, only 128 people in the United States are qualified to fly airships. And only 17 of them are paid to do it full time. On average, it takes pilots ten to 15 hours to learn how to fly a single-engine plane. But in order for a pilot to go on their first solo trip in an airship, it takes 250 to 400 hours of training.

The article above is from 2022. While watching an NFL game last weekend, I heard one of the announces say that there are now only 111 certified blimp pilots in the world.
Also, interesting thing I learned this week—despite the fiery carnage of the Hindenburg disaster, only about a third of the crew and passengers died (35 out of 97).

Travel

How to become an air marshal, the most secretive job in the sky (WP🔒)

If you don’t know much about air marshals, mission accomplished. The service has been an anonymous layer of public security since the concept was created in response to a spate of plane hijackings in the 1960s and expanded in the 1970s. After the terrorist attacks of 9/11, air marshals moved under the newly created Department of Homeland Security and TSA. The number of air marshals grew from 33 to thousands. Today, the exact number is secret. They travel among us, armed and undercover, on planes, subways and ferries and monitor airports, train and bus stations. It’s a lot of pressure, they say, particularly on a plane. What they can disclose is that FAMs always travel in “squads,” never alone. They’re not on every flight as there are simply too many to cover (the Federal Aviation Administration handles more than 45,000 each day). They’re allowed to watch in-flight movies, read books, take breaks to nap and eat. They are not allowed to drink alcohol on board. Sometimes they tell flight attendants they’re on board; sometimes they don’t. They fight jet lag with regular exercise. To become an air marshal, applicants must be U.S. citizens between the ages of 21 and 36, although they can make exceptions for military veterans over 36. They need to have a bachelor’s degree or three years of relevant work experience. They have to undergo a drug test as well as a criminal and credit background check. They have interviews, mental and physical evaluations, a polygraph test and a physical training assessment. Starting salaries begin around $60,000. The job attracts a variety of backgrounds, but it’s common to get people who’ve worked in military, law enforcement or government, LaFrance said.

Uber tries to win over London black cabs (Reuters)

Uber (UBER.N) will open up its platform to London's black cabs next year, the ride-hailing firm said on Wednesday, trying to win over the British capital's taxis after a decade of tensions. London's black cab drivers - who have to pass a test called "The Knowledge" requiring them to memorise thousands of routes within the city - have long been at loggerheads with Uber, arguing it threatens their livelihoods. The new service offered by Uber, which will be rolled out in early 2024, will enable black cab drivers to sign up to the app to take booked journeys. The U.S.-based giant is offering them a no commission deal for the first six months.

The Startling Economics of the World’s Largest Cruise Ship (WSJ🔒)

Using tax havens and employing thousands of workers from developing countries has helped keep the cost of cruises down. Their real secret formula, though, has been the economies of scale of modern vessels and cruise ports. A happy side effect is that being lean also increasingly means being green. Next month will see the launch of the world’s largest passenger ship, Royal Caribbean’s Icon of the Seas, with a maximum capacity of 7,600 people, not including 2,350 crew members. Its incredible size is a selling point in and of itself, but it also highlights the pursuit of savings.

Entertainment

Disney to Keep TV Stations, Iger Says, in Reversal From July (Bloomberg🔒)

Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger said he’s no longer considering selling the company’s traditional TV channels, like ABC and FX, reversing comments from earlier this year.

Sports

Mark Cuban to sell majority stake in Mavericks to Miriam Adelson, but keep hand in operations: Sources (The Athletic)

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is selling a majority stake of the franchise to Miriam Adelson and her family for a valuation in the range of $3.5 billion, league sources said. Cuban, however, will retain shares in the team and full control of basketball operations.

What I Learned This Week

Binary Search Algorithm (Wikipedia)

In computer science, binary search, also known as half-interval search, logarithmic search, or binary chop, is a search algorithm that finds the position of a target value within a sorted array. Binary search compares the target value to the middle element of the array. If they are not equal, the half in which the target cannot lie is eliminated and the search continues on the remaining half, again taking the middle element to compare to the target value, and repeating this until the target value is found. If the search ends with the remaining half being empty, the target is not in the array.

In an article I came across this week, which I can no longer find, I read about a guy who brought up this concept as it related to reviewing camera surveillance footage. His bike had been stolen, and while there was video surveillance footage of the area where it happened, the police office did not have the time to review the hours of footage to figure out when it happened. The gentleman with the stolen bike then suggested Binary Search Algorithm concept to the cops: go to the halfway point (let’s say four hours in to an eight hour tape)—if the bike was not there, then it can be deduced that the theft happened before that, so you go halfway back (to the two hour mark). If the bike is there, then you go half the distance forward (three hour mark), and so on, each iteration being half the distance as the previous one.
It is a brilliant concept applied to a practical situation to drastically reduce workload.

How long can you live in a sealed room?

In a movie I was watching this week, a group of about 10 people were in a fairly large command center in a bunker; the doors closed and they were locked inside. The head person looked over to the “geeky” IT character and asked “How much time do we have?” The geeky character then responded with “an hour and a half”…tou know, because IT guys also know calculations on oxygen use and such.
But, that got me wonder how long the people could actually survive. In all honesty, the room was pretty large, and it seemed like an hour and a half was a gross underestimation. So, I searched the topic, and here’s what I found:

How long can we survive in a sealed enclosure? (University of Wyoming)

Q: How long can 10 healthy adult people survive in a sealed room of dimensions 3m x 4m x 2.5m before they run out of oxygen (i.e. the oxygen concentration drops to 12%)?

A: The equation for rate of change of oxygen concentration in an enclosure without oxygen replacement (neglecting the buildup of carbon dioxide) is: (total oxygen consumption rate) = (volume of oxygen consumed) / (total time lapsed). So the people are likely to have suffocated after 7.8 104 s or 21 hours and 47 min.

However, the article below points out that it isn’t the oxygen depravation that would kill you, but the carbon dioxide buildup.

Can you run out of oxygen in a small room with the door closed? (Quora)

The Atmposphere contains about 78% N2 ( Nitrogen) 21% O2, 0.04% CO2 and very small amounts of some other gases. When we breath we obviously breath a gas mixture with 21%O2. However the air we exhale contains about 5% CO2 ( signifcant increase) and 16% O2. So taking an average human breath rate as 8 breaths per minute, and assuming a room size of 3*3*3 m we can calculate the time lapse for the CO2 concentration becomes critical. It turns out that this "critical time" is about 2 -3 days (depnding on what we set as a critical concentration of CO2 in the room beyond which suffocation occurs).

Vocabulary

Preternatural (Dictionary)

Out of the ordinary course of nature; exceptional or abnormal; supernatural.

I heard this word in a movie this week as a character described the protagonist’s abilities. Indeed, the protagonist survived to the end, killing all the bad guys.

Crossing the Rubicon (ThoughtCo)

To cross the Rubicon is a metaphor which means to take an irrevocable step that commits one to a specific course. When Julius Caesar was about to cross the tiny Rubicon River in 49 B.C.E., he quoted from a play by Menander to say "anerriphtho kybos!" or "let the die be cast" in Greek.

Next time you’re in Italy, be sure to cross the Rubicon River…it’s just north of San Marino (one of two countries wholly contained inside of Italy). Wait, you didn’t know that Italy had two countries inside of it? Well, on that note, be sure to study up on the topic of “enclave”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enclave_and_exclave

Have a great weekend!

The Curator

Share Curated Compositions

Two resources to help you be a more discerning reader:

AllSides - https://www.allsides.com/unbiased-balanced-news

Media Bias Chart - https://www.adfontesmedia.com/

Caveat: Even these resources/charts are biased. Who says that the system they use to describe news sources is accurate? Still, hopefully you find them useful as a basic guide or for comparison.