Chinese tech firms raise far less money than their US competitors • Data show how Beijing's diffusion-first AI strategy could be more sustainable than US race to frontier • Beijing sees AI like the internet: a tool to embed in economy in bid to achieve broader goals www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

Forecasts about the impact of AI on employment and wages vary wildly • So far headline employment rates in OECD economies stand at near record-highs • However, data suggest cross-country slowdown in entry-level hiring for tech-related jobs www.ft.com/content/8f78...

i feel like we haven't heard the end of this scandal

Chris Giles@chrisgiles.ft.com · 3d ago

I think we ought to know what the BoE has against the mighty kingfisher… The wildlife winners set to appear on your banknotes revealed www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... #Britishbanknotes

Maersk has for 10 years tried to become and increasing integrated logistics company. But this year the company realised it really needs to compete again on the shipping side even though the number of container ships on order is near all-time highs: www.ft.com/content/bcf1...

Maersk goes on shopping spree for ships in strategy U-turn

Danish liner is hoping that ship shopping spree will help it fend off CMA CGM

ft.com

They must be absolutely knackered.

KAL's cartoon in The Economist this week

America's approach to the AI race rests on a basic idea: if US labs do not double down, their Chinese competitors will pull ahead and reach AGI first - for @foreignpolicy.com I explore how Beijing could be running another, diffusion-first race that has no off switch foreignpolicy.com/2026/10/07/c...

China’s AI Rollout Has No Off Switch

Beijing may talk about safety, but its model of AI diffusion is made to go rogue.

foreignpolicy.com

A Berlin-based search engine used by govt is dropping its French AI partner, Mistral, in favour of open-source models, including Chinese “We are disappointed with the quality of Mistral,” Ecosia CEO Christian Kroll said, stating its models are “a year behind” competition

Beijing measures the success of its AI rollout in terms of adoption and diffusion across its economy and beyond. This has a key safety implication: it has no off switch, writes columnist @agathedemarais.com. foreignpolicy.com/2026/10/07/c...

China’s AI Rollout Has No Off Switch

Beijing may talk about safety, but its model of AI diffusion is made to go rogue.

foreignpolicy.com

Price of Chinese lithium futures dropped by around a quarter over past month • Price slump reflects growing concerns about flagging demand in the medium run • Like many Chinese industries, battery-makers have built more capacity than market can absorb www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Credit to the US for making the point the conference was trying to make about US foreign interference in European democracies for them, and bringing more attention to the conference and its themes than they could have possibly hoped for. www.politico.com/news/2026/10...

EU, Canada and Lithuania pull out of disinformation conference after US pressure

The Trump administration was bothered by panels that referred to the U.S. as a disinformation threat.

politico.com

America's approach to the AI race rests on a basic idea: if US labs do not double down, their Chinese competitors will pull ahead and reach AGI first - for @foreignpolicy.com I explore how Beijing could be running another, diffusion-first race that has no off switch foreignpolicy.com/2026/10/07/c...

China’s AI Rollout Has No Off Switch

Beijing may talk about safety, but its model of AI diffusion is made to go rogue.

foreignpolicy.com

Majority of Britons regret Brexit, but support for rejoining the EU is not a given • In September YouGov poll found that 59% of Britons favour rejoining the EU, vs. 32% against • Yet support for rejoining EU drops to 35% if Britain had to adopt euro and join Schengen area www.ft.com/content/3d43...

Elon Musk's America PAC is quietly donating to the most consequential races of November's midterms, and @wired.com is tracking all of it - in real time. amazing work from @dell.bsky.social, who built this, and big lifts from @hugolowell.bsky.social, @dmehro.bsky.social, and @regret.bsky.social:

Elon Musk’s America PAC Is Spending Big on the Midterms. We’re Tracking It Daily

To follow Elon Musk’s America PAC money, WIRED created a live-updating tracker that highlights the trillionaire’s overall influence on November’s elections.

wired.com

Russia's draft budget for 2027-29 suggests Moscow is preparing for many more years of war • In 2027 defence spending could total US$205bn, up 40% from 2026 and 380% from 2021 • Financing remains open question as Moscow has exhausted politically affordable money pots www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

"Information from Russia has been incomplete, confusing, and contradictory." My colleague @martinenserink.bsky.social on what we know so far about the possible plague death in Russia and the implications. 🧪

Possible plague death at a Siberian lab baffles scientists

Much is unclear about the tragedy, but plague researchers say there is “zero” chance of an epidemic

science.org

China is going all in on Six networks infrastructure plan • Plan focuses on water, electricity, computing (data centres), communications (5G/6G), logistics and urban pipelines • US$3.7trn financing comes from central government, SOEs and local government bonds www.economist.com/briefing/202...

High tax burden complicates France's difficult budget equation • Further raising taxes would be tricky; at 44% of GDP, tax burden is 10 percentage points higher than OECD average • Almost a quarter of public spending goes to pensions, but hints of reform trigger protests www.ft.com/content/9b25...

WELL NOW, would you look at that? A massive, 4-YEAR-LONG study of NEARLY 30 MILLION people in France found that individuals who received a COVID-19 mRNA vaccine had a 74% LOWER risk of death from severe COVID-19 compared to unvaccinated individuals and ZERO increased risk of all-cause mortality.

US leads race for frontier AI, but not by much • All frontier models since 2023 have been American, but Chinese models lag just four months behind • China has diffusion-first AI strategy that comes with no off-switch for open-weight models, making it hard to stop www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

Every woman now nodding in unison.... And yet it is dismissed, under researched, etc etc. www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

Women suffer more pain than men across the whole body, major global study finds

Researchers looked at pain around the world and across the human lifespan, finding steepest rise happens before age 55

theguardian.com

Global LNG crunch looks likely • Before Iran war, wave of new projects in Qatar and US looked set to increase supply by 20% in 2026-27 • IEA now reckons global LNG supplies over 2026-2030 will be ~15% below pre-war forecasts, with shortfall concentrated in 2026-27 www.economist.com/finance-and-...

Most Europeans would support a UK return to the EU • French and Italian voters are least enthusiastic, but they still broadly approve of potential UK return • Potential UK referendum could complicate talks; EU officials would be wary of investing time in talks for nothing www.ft.com/content/3d43...

🚨🚨A #climate nightmare lurks in the Atlantic. A slowdown of ocean currents that would disrupt life on the continent on an unthinkable scale. www.politico.eu/article/clim...

A climate nightmare lurks in the Atlantic. Europe is starting to pay attention.

A slowdown of ocean currents that would disrupt life on the continent on an unthinkable scale.

politico.eu

Most Europeans would support a UK return to the EU • French and Italian voters are least enthusiastic, but they still broadly approve of potential UK return • Potential UK referendum could complicate talks; EU officials would be wary of investing time in talks for nothing www.ft.com/content/3d43...

Le Monde starting to take an interest again ...

Centre for European Reform@centreeuropeanref.bsky.social · 6d ago

» Selon une étude du @centreeuropeanref.bsky.social, publiée en juin, « le Brexit a entraîné une baisse de 12 % des exportations britanniques vers l’UE et réduit de 16 % les importations de l’UE ». buff.ly/wPIOWha

The main problem with Ukraine's accession to the EU has always been agriculture, but suggesting restrictions obviously goes against the entire basis of integration. That though is the inevitable follow-on to greater nationalism and fear across the bloc. www.ft.com/content/8463...

EU to limit Ukraine’s access to farming subsidies if it joins bloc

Fear by member states of massive food exports by Kyiv leads to curbs on access to agricultural markets

ft.com

France has no issue placing debt, but it does so at an increasingly soaring cost • Yields on ten-year bonds stand at 4.9%, their highest level since 2002 and far above Germany's • France pays more to borrow than Greece and Italy; ongoing budget drama could make things worse

Global grain prices are surging • Intensifying fighting in Black Sea, disruptions to fertiliser shipments through Hormuz and extreme weather fuel prices • India just registered weakest monsoon season in a decade, threatening harvests and raising food-price risks www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Chinese firms dominate market for battery energy storage • Ten largest firms in the field are Chinese; combined, they account for 83% of global shipments • China’s battery storage capacity expanded from 2.4GW in 2020 to more than 140GW at end-2025 www.ft.com/content/b847...