I

International Business Times

In the current issue · 8

U.S. Pressures Zelensky To Halt Strikes On Russian Oil Infrastructure. He Says Ukraine Will Stop When Russia Does.

Donald Trumppresident
I think it's time for Ukraine to get a new president,
Donald Trumppresident
We said, 'you can do whatever you want to Russia, don't hit the refineries', because that's a world problem that's caused,

Palestinian Authority Postpones Elections, Citing Israeli Restrictions. Israel Denies The Charges.

The last parliamentary elections held in Palestine took place in 2006

U.S.-Russia Diesel Agreement Angers Zelensky. Russia Attacked After The Deal Was Announced.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has expressed his dismay at an agreement between the Kremlin and White House which will see U.S. sanctions on Russian diesel exports until April 2027 in exchange for the staggered release of nearly two million tons of Russian diesel

Pope Declares Opposition To Death Penalty Shortly After U.S. Announced It Would Livestream An Execution

The pope had previously expressed opposition to the death penalty in April, on the same day that the Trump administration authorized death by firing squad as a federally permitted method of execution

JD Vancevice President
I've seen these announcements. I don't know that that's actually going to happen... I try to remind people that... this is a guy who committed, in my view, the worst terrorist attack on American soil outside of 9/11... that said, if it's ultimately livestreamed, I'm not going to be watching it,

Sanders Calls For Criminal Prosecution of AI CEOs After Model Submitted A False Homicide Tip To Police

The company must strengthen its safeguards to prevent similar incidents from impacting city systems without the city’s knowledge. The two-month delay in detecting and reporting the incident to the City is unacceptable,
According to Anthropic, its model was conducting a test involving interactions with randomly selected websites when it accessed PhillyUnsolvedMurders.com and submitted false information concerning an unsolved homicide. The submission... purported to come from someone who might have information about the case,

China Launches National Blockchain As Part Of Wider Plan To Accelerate Expansion Of Digital Economy

The document made no mention of Bitcoin or other independent cryptocurrencies

The U.S. Demanded That Israel Conduct A Unilateral Strike Against Iran: Report

Instead, the U.S. government tried to convince the administration of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that it was in its political interest to conduct such an attack before the upcoming Israeli legislative elections on October 27th

October 2026

Stocks Recovered From an AI-Fueled Drop To End The Week Despite Higher Oil Prices And Bond Yields

Stocks climbed on Friday and ended the week on a high note after an AI-fueled drop on Thursday

Joanne Hsudirector
The current reading substantially exceeds the 3.4% seen in February before the Iran conflict began, along with all 2024 readings. Long-run inflation expectations also stepped up from 3.4% in September to 3.5%, notably higher than their 2024 range of 2.8% to 3.2%,
Overall, sentiment for lower-income consumers and those with smaller stock porfolios dropped steeply this month, groups that have fewer resources to weather increases in prices. Frustration over cost-of-living continues to mount, as consumers across the political spectrum believe that the trajectory of the economy has weakened since the beginning of the year,

AI Will Make Cyberattacks More Dangerous. Anthropic Has a New Plan to Protect Critical Infrastructure.

Under the program, participating cybersecurity companies will receive access Anthropic's frontier AI models, on-site engineering support and threat intelligence research

Ray Dalio Says Stocks Are Losing Their Buffer. Rising Bond Yields Are Becoming Harder To Ignore.

That advantage has narrowed as stock prices have risen and bond yields have moved higher

Ray Daliobridgewater Associates founder
We're in the part of the cycle where interest rates can rise without sending the equity market down because there's enough earnings growth and there's enough expected return,
Ray Daliobridgewater Associates founder
I think you have to pay attention to free cash flows.... Not just earnings,
Because of that change in pricing, that cushion has come down, and so now you're starting to see credit spreads start to widen,
We are in a bond bear market, that's I think pretty clear, and I think that there's more to go would be my guess,

Consumer Sentiment Keeps Dropping in October. It Just Hit a Five-Month Low.

Joanne Hsudirector
The current reading substantially exceeds the 3.4% seen in February before the Iran conflict began, along with all 2024 readings. Long-run inflation expectations also stepped up from 3.4% in September to 3.5%, notably higher than their 2024 range of 2.8% to 3.2%,
Frustration over cost-of-living continues to mount, as consumers across the political spectrum believe that the trajectory of the economy has weakened since the beginning of the year,

Iran Escalates Hostilities Beyond Hormuz Strait. It Will Now Pursue Vessels Outside The Waterway.

A potential escalation between the countries has gone back to dominating headlines this week, particularly after different reports claimed that President Donald Trump and his national security team discussed resuming the campaign against Tehran in the coming weeks

Trump Said The U.S. Won’t Attack Before The Midterms. But Forces Had Reportedly Briefed Israel on The Possibility.

Iran has been decimated, and things will go one of two ways: the easy way or the hard way,
Donald Trumppresident
I think the deal isn't really something that I want to do, but they're willing to offer us anything to stop,

France is Facing a Fiscal Crisis. A Nobel Economy Prize Winner Said it May Have Become ‘Too Big To Save.’

France's deficit is expected to clock in at 5.1% of its GDP, same as 2025, while 2027's is set to increase to 5.7%

Paul Krugmaneconomist
I'm going to try to be objective here and acknowledge that France's current situation is really worrisome,
Paul Krugmaneconomist
The fiscal pressure caused largely by France's very generous government pension plan has led to cutbacks in other spending, notably on education. France is effectively handing over large subsidies to older French at the expense of everyone else,
Debt is already very high as a percentage of GDP, and the French government is adding to that debt by running large budget deficits even though there is no emergency like a war, a severe recession, or a pandemic to justify such deficits. Furthermore, France has an aging population, which means that pension costs will, other things equal, grow much faster than revenue,
We have the strength of the European Central Bank. We have other instruments that Europe has developed to protect against financial stability risks,

Stage 3 Knee Arthritis: What to Know About CARTISTEM®, a Cartilage Treatment Approved in Korea and Now in U.S. Trials

Tens Died in Ukraine in a New Russian Attacks. Zelenskyy is Accusing The U.S. of ‘Unwillingness’ to Help.

At least 70 people died in Ukraine over the past two days as a result of Russian attacks

Sergii Koretskyiprime Minister
Since summer, there's barely been a day without an attack on our energy infrastructure,
Volodymyr Zelenskyypresident
So where's the truth here, where's the honesty? Where's the stalemate?"... that's called unwillingness."

OpenAI’s Revenue in September Was Lower Than Previously Reported. It Now Expects it to Climb 40% by The End of 2026.

The company shared the figure with investors as part of its latest fundraising effort

Sam AltmanopenAI CEO
We need to be able to make decisions that are not obviously in the interest of our business and our shareholders for the responsibility of fulfilling our mission and what that's going to require,
I would say not 2026. Yeah, we got a lot of stuff to do."

Venezuela’s Maduro Has Been Accused of Torturing Americans. Former Detainees Describe Electric Shocks and Abuse.

The charges mark the first time Maduro has been criminally accused in the United States of orchestrating torture during his 13-year presidency, expanding a prosecution that previously centered on narcoterrorism, cocaine trafficking and weapons offenses

Matthew Heathformer U.S. Marine corporal
It’s incredible to see a dictator in court,
Jamie McDonaldu.S. Attorney
As this indictment alleges, Maduro, Flores and other high-ranking members of their inner circle used a violent system of torture and repression to maintain their power in Venezuela,

Apple Set to Launch Its First Touchscreen MacBook Pro and Redesigned iPad Mini Later This Month: Report

The touchscreen MacBook represents a major departure from Apple's traditional approach to personal computers

Iran’s Economy is Teetering on The Brink. The U.S. Is Applying Further Pressure.

The Trump administration has made several announcements of the kind over the past weeks as part of "Operation Economic Outcast," which seeks to isolate Iran economically

Masoud Pezeshkianpresident
If we can control consumption somewhat, we will not need anything... With just a 10% reduction in consumption, a significant amount will be saved and we will no longer need to import energy,
The Strait of Hormuz is open. There's almost as much oil flowing out now as there was before this conflict began,
Scott Bessenttreasury Secretary
Treasury is starving the tyrannical regime in Tehran of the money it uses to wage war in the region, and we will continue exposing those who enable the regime's oil sales,
The vessels involved, registered across more than a dozen jurisdictions and operated by an intricate web of international front companies, underscore the global scale of Iran's illicit shipping architecture and the sophistication with which the regime attempts to mask its sanctions evasion,