Does your hand start to cramp up when you use a hand mixer? A viral Instagram Reel may offer a solution. Rachel Lo, the user who posted the video, has dedicated her page to a variety of fun lifestyle tricks and recipes. Based on a video that her friend sent her, Lo made a Reel showing a hand mixer hack which garnered over 27.1 million views and 1.4 million likes. VIRAL KITCHEN HACK SHOWS HARD BUTTER CAN BE MADE SPREADABLE WITH THIS UNEXPECTED TOOL The method apparently allows you to step away from the bowl by transforming the hand mixer into a hands-free tool. In the video, Lo shows a wire cooling rack that's placed on top of a mixing bowl. The whisk attachments go through the wire rack before clicking into the hand mixer. VIRAL HACK SHOWS PEOPLE USING A KITCHEN FORK TO HANG THEIR PICTURES ON WALLS: HERE'S HOW IT'S DONE The hand mixer is then placed on top of the rack with the weight of the mixer holding everything in place. "Honestly, a stroke of genius," Lo captioned the viral video. The hand mixer hack has caused a stir among viewers with many debating in the comments. "i was stressing over needing to buy a stand mixer cus i’m moving soon. not anymore. thank u," one Instagram user wrote. VIRAL JAR LID TRICK MAY HAVE YOU DITCHING JAR OPENER GADGETS: HOW TO DO IT "i hate hate holding the hand mixer this is pure genius!," another social media user commented. "Why didn’t I see this before I bought my kitchen aid," another user stated. hile some people appear to find it to be a game changer, others say the hand mixer hack isn't that useful in the end. "Until it suddenly slips and you've got cake mix on the ceiling and a mixer with a thirst for blood," one user noted. "[That's] the wisk I'm willing to take," someone jokingly replied. 'LIFE CHANGING' LEMON-SQUEEZING TRICK REVEALS LITTLE-KNOWN USE FOR COMMON KITCHEN TOOL "Until you realize it won’t get the sides like that lol," another social media user wrote. The cost of a hand mixer can range from anywhere between $12.99 and $225, but the kitchen tool is a cheaper option in comparison to a stand mixer. A stand mixer is larger, but can start at $44 and can even go up to $999, depending on the wholesaler and the brand. Link

Israeli forces have encircled the Hamas stronghold of Gaza City, Israel's military says, as it continues its assault on the Gaza Strip. The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) said soldiers were engaged in close quarters combat with Hamas fighters staging hit-and-run attacks from tunnels. The UN said four of its schools being used as shelters had been damaged and warned water shortages were worsening. The Hamas-run health ministry says over 9,000 Palestinians have been killed. On Thursday the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) said four of its schools being used as shelters hade been damaged in less than 24 hours. At least 20 people were reportedly killed at a school in the Jabalia refugee camp, UNRWA said, while a child was reportedly killed at a school-turned-shelter in the Beach refugee camp. The BBC has verified two videos from the schools. One extremely graphic video, filmed at an elementary school in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, shows the aftermath, first outside the main gate of the school and then in the main courtyard. At least 20 people, either dead or injured, can be seen on the ground, including men, women and children. The second video, filmed at the main courtyard of a primary school in Beach refugee camp, also in northern Gaza but near the Mediterranean coast, shows a plume of smoke rising from behind the main building of the school. Several people, including children, run for safety in the courtyard, while some residents of the camp watch from the windows above. A series of explosions can be heard in the background of the video. The last one, the loudest, causes the crowd in the courtyard to flee in panic. Hamas authorities in Gaza blamed Israeli air strikes. The IDF has not yet commented. UN-appointed experts have called for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, saying time was running out for Palestinian people there who find themselves at "grave risk of genocide". "The situation in Gaza has reached a catastrophic tipping point," they said, warning that a ban on fuel entering Gaza and disruption to water supplies meant people had little access to safe drinking water. "Water is essential to human life and today, two million Gazans are struggling to find drinking water," they said. The Israeli mission to the UN in Geneva called the comments "deplorable and deeply concerning" and blamed Hamas for civilian deaths. Earlier on Thursday the IDF said it had killed about 130 Hamas fighters. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said troops were at "the height of battle". "We've had impressive successes and have passed the outskirts of Gaza City. We are advancing," he said in a statement. A number of foreign nationals were able to leave Gaza after the Rafah crossing with Egypt opened for a second day. President Biden says more than 70 Americans were among them. But medical aid organisation Doctors Without Borders says more than 20,000 wounded people remained trapped in the territory. Meanwhile, the Lebanese movement Hezbollah said it had attacked 19 targets in Israel simultaneously, in what would be its most intense assault on Israel so far. The Israeli military said it was striking a series of Hezbollah targets in Lebanon in response. It comes a day before a much-anticipated speech by the leader of Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah, his first public address since the conflict broke out last month. Link

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At a glance Electronic warning signs have appeared on a stretch of the A9 warning drivers of the risk of collisions with deer NatureScot said red deer crossed the road at Navidale as they moved from moorland to pastures on lower ground It said the animals included stags recovering the rutting season Navidale is among Scotland's top 10 places for high numbers of recorded deer collisions Published 1 November 2023 Stags seeking out rich pastures to help them recover from the rutting season have heightened the potential risk of crashes on a stretch of the A9. NatureScot said a 500m (1,640ft) section of the trunk road at Navidale, Sutherland, was one of Scotland's top 10 sites, external for the highest numbers of recorded collisions between traffic and deer. The rutting season lasts from September to early November and sees adult male deer fight for the attention of female mates. NatureScot said red deer, including stags, crossed the A9 at Navidale as they moved from high moorland to lower ground to seek food and shelter from autumn and winter weather. Scotland's nature body is working with Transport Scotland and road maintenance company Bear Scotland to raise awareness of the crash risk. Electronic warning signs will be in place in the area until 22 November advising drivers to slow down and to look out for deer. NatureScot said there had been 10 collisions in recent years. The agency said: "Red deer stags in particular may be tempted to richer feeding grounds to recover following their autumn rutting activity." Navidale is the only Highland location on the organisation's list of 10 worst locations in Scotland for deer collisions. It said the rest were in central Scotland with accidents involving young roe deer as they moved to new territories in spring. Roe deer are smaller than red deer. Link

Hyundai Motor India followed its best-ever monthly performance in terms of volume in September with another great show in October. Although the wholesale despatches are lower than in the previous month, they are certainly quite handsome. The total volume (domestic + exports) of Hyundai increased 18.48% at 68,728 units in October 2023 from 58,006 units in the same month last year. In September 2023, the carmaker recorded wholesales of 71,641 units. Hyundai's domestic volume grew 14.84% at 55,128 units in October 2023 from 48,001 units in October 2022. The exports rose 35.93% at 13,600 units in October 2023 from 10,005 units in the year-ago month. "As we enter the peak of the festive season in India, Hyundai Motor India registered robust sales numbers of 55,128 units in the domestic market in the month of October. The recent announcement of standardising of six airbags across all Hyundai models and variants has been extremely well received by our valued customers," said Tarun Garg, COO, Hyundai Motor India. "Also, the supply situation is back to full normalcy and our network is geared up to delight customers with the delivery of their favourite Hyundai cars," he added. In India, Hyundai offers 13 models -- Grand i10 Nios, i20, i20 N-Line, Aura, Exter, Venue, Venue N-Line, Verna, Creta, Alcazar, Tucson, Kona Electric and Ioniq 5. The carmaker has a network of 1,357 sales points and 1,535 service points across India. Its manufacturing facility near Chennai now has an annual installed production capacity of 820,000 units. Hyundai exports cars to as many as 88 countries across Africa, the Middle-East, Latin America, Australia and Asia-Pacific, from India. Link

South Africa have continued their march towards the semifinals of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 with a 190-run win over fellow contenders New Zealand at Pune’s MCA Stadium. Helped by centuries from Quinton de Kock and Rassie van der Dussen, the Proteas posted 357-4 after being asked to bat first by New Zealand stand-in captain Tom Latham on Wednesday. Keshav Maharaj took four wickets, Marco Jansen took three and Gerald Coetzee took two as South Africa recorded their sixth win of the tournament to dislodge India from the top of the points table on their net run rate. In a highly anticipated contest days after the two nations clashed in the Rugby World Cup final, de Kock struck 114 and van der Dussen exploded late to score 133. “Clinical display I would say,” South Africa captain Temba Bavuma said. “With the bat, we handled the challenge up front and with the ball nipping around. The big partnership really set it up for the boys. “With the ball, we sustained the pressure throughout their innings. … Quite clinical with the execution of our skills.” The Proteas built on the de Kock and van der Dussen 200-run stand with 119 in the last 10 overs as David Miller put the New Zealand bowlers to the sword with a 30-ball 53. “We were speaking about 300 to 320 at one stage in the middle, but we’ve seen so often in the last 12 to 18 months what the guys coming in can do,” player of the match van der Dussen said. “We knew if we could set a platform again for them, I mean the sky’s the limit. We [almost] got to 360, so we were pretty chuffed about that.” Kiwi Tim Southee dismissed van der Dussen on a day of little joy for New Zealand, who had lost the bowling services of seamer Matt Henry due to a right hamstring problem midway through South Africa’s innings. Neesham was struck on the hand while stopping a ball off his own bowling and was able to bat only at number nine although he did not suffer broken bones. “Not our best performance,” Latham said. “We were put under pressure with that massive partnership Rassie and Quinton had up top. “At the halfway mark it was a big score but a decent surface. From a batting point of view, you need partnerships. To be three, four, five down early and with our backs against the wall, we weren’t able to build those partnerships.” Link

Taichung, Taiwan – Around a tiled square on the outskirts of the Chinese city of Nanjing, a cluster of apartment buildings rise like concrete columns towards a grey sky. At first glance, the structures look like a testament to China’s awe-inspiring construction boom, which saw the country use more cement between 2011 and 2013 than the United States did throughout the entire 20th century. But upon closer examination, the development is more like a scene out of a post-apocalyptic story than a symbol of grandeur. There is no light in any of the buildings and most of them lack doors or windows. An eerie silence lies over the compound, which is strewn with disassembled equipment and construction materials, broken occasionally only by the sound of a tarp flapping lazily about on top of a stack of iron rods. There are no residents in sight. “The workers stopped building in 2019,” Ji Zhang, a 61-year-old resident who asked to be referred to by a pseudonym, told Al Jazeera. “They say it was because the developer ran out of money.” Over a grainy video call, Ji gestures towards one of the unfinished high-rises, where she and her husband purchased a sixth-floor apartment in 2017. Ji felt like they were buying into a dream when they poured most of their life savings into a 60 percent down payment for the property. “It was all just an old village back then, but when the sales agents showed us the plans for the area, I saw how it could give my husband and me the retirement we were looking for,” Ji said. The compound promised a range of modern amenities, proximity to an array of shopping options and access to far better medical facilities than the urban village outside Nanjing where Ji and her husband had been living. Most importantly, the apartment offered the chance for Ji and her husband to live much closer to their daughter and two grandchildren in Nanjing. “But we haven’t had a chance to enjoy any of that,” Ji said with tears in her eyes. But with their apartment still unfinished five years after their purchase, Ji’s retirement dream lies in tatters. “And this is not just happening to us,” Ji said, wiping away her tears. “It is unfortunately happening all over China.” ‘Rotten-tail buildings’ Across China, from Guilin in southern China to Dalian in the north, countless home buyers have emptied their life savings into homes that never materialised. So-called “rotten-tail buildings”, as they are known in Chinese, dot the outskirts of cities and central locations alike. In Nanjing, a hotel, an office building, an art museum and even a castle have remained unfinished for years. In a suburb of the northeastern city of Shenyang, a planned neighbourhood of about 260 European-styled villas, was abandoned by the developer only two years after construction began. Today, the land is occupied by local farmers who grow crops on the paths through the neighbourhood and rear cattle in enclosures between the villas. Thousands of completed homes also lie empty across the country within so-called ghost cities. In 2017, an estimated 65 million units – a fifth of all homes in China – lay vacant. In September, He Keng, a former deputy head of the country’s statistics bureau, said that there were probably more vacant homes than could be filled by the country’s 1.4 billion people. Local officials have made various efforts to deal with the glut, from removing restrictions on home purchases to offering buyers incentives such as new cars, smartphones and gold bars. But such measures only scratch the surface of a much larger problem, according to analysts. “This is a massive property crisis centring around a housing bubble that has been building up for many years,” Thomas Rao, a risk analyst at a major Chinese bank in Shanghai, told Al Jazeera. During the late 2000s, entire “ghost” cities and neighbourhoods began to emerge across China as a credit-fuelled building boom bumped up against lacklustre demand. “This has been a problem, particularly in medium-sized cities and smaller cities where supply and demand has been especially skewed,” Yang Jiang, a senior researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies, told Al Jazeera. The mismatch between supply and demand has been attributed to local governments becoming dependent on land sales to balance their budgets and developers becoming dependent on buying the land, developing properties on it and selling those properties to turn a profit. “It all ran on the expectation that demand and property prices would continue to increase,” Jiang said. For years, the bet paid off. Between 2004 and 2014, housing prices doubled across the country. Returns from some properties were so high that even companies with no experience in real estate invested in the sector. With so much capital thrown at the market, both local governments and major developers were able to borrow heavily from banks in order to further fuel land sales and property construction. On the back of the boom, the real estate sector and related industries surged to an estimated 30 percent of China’s gross domestic product (GDP). As Beijing moved to rein in excessive borrowing with its “three red lines” regulations, developers struggled to meet their debt obligations. In late 2020, China’s second-largest developer Evergrande Group defaulted, and in August this year, the company filed for bankruptcy protection in the US. That same month, China’s largest developer, Country Garden, came to the brink of default. “The government began to realise that there were problems in the sector and started to work towards deflating the housing bubble and rebalance the economy away from the strong dependency on the property sector,” Jiang said. Evergrande sits on more than $300bn of debt – about the size of Finland’s GDP – while Country Garden sits on slightly less than $200bn, leading to fears that their collapse could threaten the Chinese economy as a whole. “That is why we are seeing the officials working hard to prevent a spillover,” Jiang said. The question of what is to become of developers’ many unfinished construction projects is unclear. Many smaller developers that do not pose a systemic risk to the Chinese economy are teetering on the brink of collapse, leaving the fate of many projects in limbo. Rao, the risk analyst, said he is not optimistic on behalf of the many people across China’s cities waiting for their homes to be finished. “Some will have to wait years, others maybe indefinitely,” he said. On the outskirts of Nanjing, Ji Zhang and other home buyers at her compound decided earlier this year that they were not willing to wait around indefinitely for their homes to be finished. After several visits and calls to the local authorities got them nowhere, Ji and a group of fellow residents rented a truck and began moving furniture and living essentials into their unfinished apartments. None of the homes had yet been installed with air conditioning, heating, running water or electricity. Some did not even have doors or windows. “We moved into empty shells, but we figured that if we help each other as a community, we can do it,” Ji said. The residents set up toilet facilities and rubbish collection outside the compound, gathered in one of the buildings to cook together every evening, and took turns running errands and buying necessities for each other. Across China, aggrieved buyers of unfinished homes have taken similar action. In an unfinished compound outside the city of Xi’an in central China last year, homebuyers clashed with local police as they tried to break down barricades to get into their homes. Ji and her neighbours’ decision to move into their unfinished apartments likewise caught the attention of the local authorities. “Someone came from the local housing authority and told us to leave, and then someone working for the developer came and told us they would finish our homes if we agreed to pay the remaining apartment costs,” Ji said. At that point, Ji and her husband had paid around 80 percent of the price of their apartment. A developer presented homebuyers on the outskirts of Xi’an with a similar offer. They agreed, but the promised resumption of construction only lasted a week. “We told the local official and the developer that we weren’t leaving or paying any more money until they restart building again,” Ji said. Ji and the other homebuyers in Nanjing have not heard from the developer or the local authorities since May. Like most of the other buyers, Ji and her husband are no longer living at their unfinished property and today divide their time between their family home in the countryside and their daughter’s place in Nanjing. “The bare building and the open spaces left our home very dusty, and my husband started to develop a bad cough,” Ji said. Although dark clouds loom over China’s housing market and its debt-laden developers, Ji has not abandoned her dream. “We are not giving up,” she said. “We want the apartments we were promised. We want the homes we paid for.” LINK

Paola Cruz and her nephew, Nicolas Sanches Gallardo, made a deal when they were kids playing in the hills of Oaxaca, Mexico. They agreed that, when one of them died, the other would seek out a mariachi band to play their favourite Mexican songs at the funeral. But Nicolas warned Paola that if he died first and she didn’t honour the pact, he would travel back to the world of the living on Dia de los Muertos — Mexico’s Day of the Dead holiday — just to give her the scare of her life. Paola is now 70, her short silver hair trimmed tightly above her dark, soulful eyes. She remembers the last Day of the Dead she spent with Nicolas, her junior by only six years. Nicolas, his wife and his children had gathered at Paola’s house in the Santa Rosa district of Oaxaca for a holiday feast: handmade tortillas, slow-cooked beans, Oaxacan stews and pan de muerto, a sugar-encrusted bread that Nicolas made specially for the occasion. But when Nicolas declined his usual glass of mezcal, an agave-based alcohol, Paola was surprised. “He told me his chest started to hurt that morning but said I shouldn’t worry,” she recalled. “His heart, according to him, was simply heavy with the love he felt for his wife.” Two weeks later, Nicolas died of a heart attack at age 52. Paola made sure an eight-member mariachi band performed at his funeral in the Santa Rosa cemetery. It was 2011, 45 years after they struck their pact. “Nico could make us cry with laughter even during the sad moments of Dia de los Muertos,” Paola remembered. “We think of him a lot during this time.” For many in Mexico and its diaspora communities, the Day of the Dead — generally held on November 1 and 2 — is an occasion to remember and celebrate loved ones like Nicolas who have passed away. During the holiday, families welcome the dead back from the underworld with offerings at their graves: a favourite snack, perhaps, or a much-loved drink. And cemeteries are festooned with candles and flowers in vivid shades of orange and violet. “Occasionally, strange things happen around me during these times,” Paola said. “I feel things brush past me or hear strange noises in the house. It’s a little unnerving at first but also a comfort.” Paola’s grandson Jonathan Velasco remarked that even the chillier autumn weather seems to evoke the underworld. “It’s ‘frio de muerto’ or the cold of the dead,” he said from Paola’s garden, where a cool breeze shook acai berries from a drooping palm leaf. “Here in Oaxaca, the change in climate signifies it’s time to prepare for the dead to arrive.” In anticipation of this year’s Day of the Dead, Paola and her family assembled their ofrenda, a candlelit altar she keeps in her home, right beside her dining table. It contains mementos from the past and photographs of her deceased family members, including Nicolas, who smiles up from a snapshot where he has one arm wrapped around Paola. “It’s a mixture of emotions every year,” Paola explained as she weaves through her garden, clipping flowers for the ofrenda with her seven-year-old great-granddaughter, Sophia. “But I think this year, people close to me who have died would be happy for me to talk about them.” Paola’s hometown of Oaxaca is considered an epicentre for Day of the Dead festivities, with parades and live music taking place across the city. The southern state in which it is situated — also named Oaxaca — has the largest Indigenous po[CENSORED]tion in all of Mexico, and the holiday is often seen as a fusion of European and pre-Hispanic traditions. But while residents like Paola keep local customs alive, the Day of the Dead has become an increasingly international phenomenon. In 2022, Secretary of Tourism Miguel Torruco Marques estimated that 2.16 million tourists would arrive in Mexico for the holiday, up 95 percent over the same time in 2019. That influx was set to generate profits of 37.7 billion pesos, roughly the equivalent of $2bn. The holiday’s po[CENSORED]rity has surged in part due to appearances in films like the Disney-Pixar animated feature Coco and the James Bond movie Spectre. But that spotlight has translated into fears the holiday could become too commercialised. Since 2019, the toy company Mattel has released an annual Day of the Dead-themed Barbie doll. And in 2013, Disney was forced to drop a bid to trademark the phrase “Dia de los Muertos” amid public outcry. Still, in Oaxaca, 71-year-old farmer Genaro Lopez is optimistic about the increase in attention. Flashing an open smile beneath his well-groomed, grey handlebar moustache, Lopez said he feels pride in sharing his traditions with visitors. Born and raised in Zimatlan de Alvarez, a town 30km (18 miles) south of Oaxaca’s city centre, Lopez has been growing “floras de muerte” or “flowers of the dead” for almost 40 years. His farm is home to rows of fragrant cempasuchil — orange marigolds — and maroon cockscombs. One is said to attract souls from the dead with its scent, while the other represents the blood of Christ. “These flowers are my life’s work. I sow the seeds in July so they’re ready for the end of October,” Lopez explained. But his business took a hit during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, Lopez lost almost 30 percent of his usual sales. But since then, he said he has planted more and more seeds each year to keep up with the rapidly increasing demand for flowers. “Now I can relax and enjoy watching the happiness they give families as they take bunches back to decorate their altars, local cemeteries and their homes,” Lopez said. Another local business owner, Anthony Garcia, has likewise seen demand grow far beyond expectations. He creates “monos de calenda”, giant puppets dressed in traditional clothing that are paraded during street parties and other cultural events. It was a craft Garcia took up as a child, learning from his grandmother, and he launched the hobby into a business six years ago. “I’ve had to turn down more clients than ever this year due to demand,” Garcia said. He explained he recently created 28 “monos” for a Mexican restaurant chain in London. “It’s my favourite time, both professionally and personally.” As for Paola, this year will be calmer than usual. She will visit cemeteries during the day to avoid the huge crowds at night and spend more time at home rather than participate in street parades in her area. She wants to “enjoy the peaceful moments more”, she said, unless she senses the presence of her late husband, who passed away in 2017. “Then I’ll be ready to tell him off for leaving without me!” Link

It is still dark when an early train pulls into the station in central Ukraine and aid workers crowd expectantly around one of the carriages. The doors then open and a small child steps into the platform light. Hands stretch out to help her down as her mother follows, carefully passing her baby in a tiny pink carrycot to the helpers below. These are Ukraine's newest war refugees. Last week, the authorities ordered the forced evacuation of children from 31 towns and villages close to the frontline. This train has brought several families from the Donetsk region to relative safety further west. We cannot name the exact location for security reasons. The orders - which are made whenever conditions are considered too dangerous - came after Russia renewed offensives in parts of the Donetsk region and fighting intensified in Kherson region. As volunteers unload bags, boxes and suitcases, others usher the new arrivals, bewildered and exhausted, into the warmth of the station. Here, three teenage girls sit on the benches, faces blank with shock. A loud meow comes from a basket at their feet. "The last time a shell hit our house it was the tenth time," their mother tells us. Liliya Mykhailik says the family then moved to an apartment in the same village but, as strikes knocked out communication and energy links, her daughter's online schooling became impossible. Her husband has stayed behind with his father and her mother, who refused to leave. Liliya says she is uncertain about her family's future: "We travelled here blindly." As the family wait for a bus which will take them to their accommodation, aid workers hand out coffee and state officials hand out cash. In addition to free transport to safety, Ukraine initially gives all forced evacuees money - around £45 per adult, £70 per child or vulnerable adult - and a place to live. The adults will be expected - eventually - to work. No-one says so, but everyone here knows there is a chance they will not see their homes again. And that is why, despite enduring daily danger and discomfort, some did not want to leave. It is up to people like Pavlo Dyachenko to persuade them. He is one of the so-called 'White Angels' special police unit responsible for getting humanitarian aid in - and people out - of Ukraine's most dangerous places. "Everything has to be done really fast," he says. "The danger is always there because Russians do not stop shelling." crew carries toys in the car. "Someone has to talk with the children all the time, distract them from the dangers on the road or any other stressful moments," he says. While millions of Ukrainians have fled the war abroad, the Ukrainian government estimates there are nearly five million internally displaced people in the country. Forced evacuees are taken in by communities all over Ukraine. We meet several families who have been placed in an old school. The sound of someone playing the recorder floats down the corridor as Varvara, who is 10 years old, sits in front of a laptop in what was once a classroom. Appropriately enough, she is doing an online lesson with the school she can no longer physically attend. Varvara came here with her mother Iryna and grandmother Svitlana from Kostyantynivka in the Donetsk region where shelling had forced them to live in a basement. They share a bathroom and kitchen with the other residents. "I really like it here," says Iryna and Svitlana agrees. But tears begin to stream down both women's faces. "We want to go home. We want all this to end." Varvara watches as they weep, unsurprised by their pain. Ukraine's refugee children may now be far away from the front line. But their lives continue to be shaped by the conflict. Link

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Sequels are never as good as the original. And when the original was terrible, there is even more reason to dread the next episode. So it is with “Tariff Man Part Two”. In the White House, Donald Trump put more new tariffs on American imports than any president in nearly a century. His philosophy was simple: “I am a Tariff Man. When people or countries come in to raid the great wealth of our Nation, I want them to pay for the privilege of doing so.” Mr Trump’s protectionism made America poorer, did little to help exporters and fed the inflation still raging. If he wins the Republican presidential nomination (a likely outcome) and goes on to win the election (too close to call), he has vowed to ramp up things. He is mulling an across-the-board levy of perhaps 10% on all products entering America. In one fell swoop, his plans would more than triple the average American tariff. The direct costs would be bad enough, with the tariffs functioning as a tax on consumers and hurting most producers. Yet they would also tear at America’s ties with its allies and threaten to wreck the global trade system. To get a sense of the impact, look back. On January 23rd 2018, a year after Mr Trump was sworn in, he got started with tariffs, hitting washing machines and solar panels. A couple of months later he went after aluminium and steel. A few months after that, it was Chinese goods. By 2021 American duties were worth 3% of the country’s total import value, double the level when Mr Trump took office. Tariffs on Chinese imports rose from 3% to 19%, calculates Chad Bown of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, a think-tank. Mr Trump’s first aim was to slim the trade deficit. He thought tariffs would bludgeon other countries into submission, leading them to rejig policies to America’s advantage. Memorably, he declared that “trade wars are good, and easy to win.” But instead of shrinking, the deficit widened. Instead of buckling, China tripled its tariffs on America. Many allies retaliated, too. The consequences were dismal. Industries that were protected by tariffs reaped benefits, enjoying greater market share and fatter profits. Most others suffered. America’s International Trade Commission (usitc), a bipartisan agency, found that industries downstream from tariff-coddled producers faced higher input prices and lower profitability. The Peterson Institute estimated that steel users in effect paid an extra $650,000 per job created in the steel industry. Studies have calculated that almost all the costs have been borne by Americans, rather than foreign producers. The usitc found a near one-to-one increase in the price of American imports in the wake of tariffs on China. Mr Trump did unquestionably succeed in one respect. He helped remake politics. According to a recent survey from the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, a think-tank, 66% of Americans think the government should place restrictions on imported foreign goods to protect jobs at home, up from 60% in 2018. On the campaign trail in 2019 Joe Biden criticised tariffs as a costly policy. In power he has rolled them back only a little. The array of levies on China remains intact. Whatever the merits of lifting tariffs, the White House appears fearful of blowback from looking soft on China. At the same time, Mr Biden has concocted an enormous industrial policy, fuelled by more than $1trn in subsidies for electric vehicles, offshore wind, semiconductors and the like. It is a more thoughtful and deliberate approach than Mr Trump’s, but it still looks likely to fail to bring about a manufacturing renaissance, is very expensive and, in lavishing subsidies on American factories, discriminates against other countries. It is, in short, rather Trumpist. How much worse could things get? If Mr Trump wins the presidential election in 2024, the world may discover that the answer is: “Rather a lot.” In August Mr Trump was interviewed on Fox Business, a television channel, by Larry Kudlow, his former economic adviser and a long-time media personality. Mr Trump put forward two ideas. First, all foreign firms selling to America would face a 10% levy. Second, if any country placed a high tariff on anything American, he would hit back with exactly the same tariff. “Call it retribution,” said Mr Trump. “Reciprocity,” interjected Mr Kudlow, using the politer label. The lineage of these ideas can be traced back to thinkers who crafted policy during Mr Trump’s presidency, and who are working on new, more detailed plans. Robert Lighthizer, United States Trade Representative under Mr Trump, recently laid out his vision in a book, “No Trade is Free”. One of his ideas is the universal tariff on all imports, to be used as a lever to bring America’s trade flows into balance, so that the country no longer runs a big deficit. Mr Lighthizer would not limit the tariff to 10%. Rather, he writes, America should impose the levy “at a progressively higher rate year after year until we achieve balance”. Project 2025, a coalition of conservative groups, published a book earlier this year with blueprints for almost every facet of government during a second Trump administration. In the trade chapter, Peter Navarro, another economic adviser to Mr Trump, bemoaned the fact that countries like China and India have higher levies on America’s goods than America does on theirs, arguing that this has led to “systematic exploitation of American farmers, ranchers, manufacturers, and workers”. In principle, reciprocity could be achieved in two ways—either by persuading other countries to lower tariffs or by America raising its own. Mr Navarro leaves no doubt as to his preference. Action, reaction If Mr Trump has his way, other countries will probably respond by slapping their own tariffs on America. The spread of universal tariffs would be akin to a giant tax on cross-border transactions, making international commerce less attractive. Meanwhile, Mr Trump’s hopes of shrinking the trade deficit would run headlong into the economic forces that actually determine the balance of exchanges between countries. In America’s case the crucial factor is the country’s low saving rate, which is almost certain to continue as a result of persistently high consumer spending and widening government deficits. Mr Trump has pointed to one ostensible virtue of his tariffs: they generate income. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, an advocacy group, estimates that a 10% tariff may bring in up to $2.5trn in extra revenue during its first decade of implementation, which could be used to reduce America’s budget deficit. But this money could also be brought in by other methods. Raising tariffs simply means picking them as a tax over others such as, say, a higher income or inheritance tax. Every tax has pros (eg, generating public revenue or discouraging bad behaviour) and cons (eg, hurting growth or imposing costs on individuals). The cons of tariffs are big. Ahmad Lashkaripour of Indiana University estimates that a global tariff war would shrink American gdp by about 1%. Most countries would suffer falls closer to 3%. The drag on smaller, trade-reliant economies would be greater still. Tariffs are also regressive since they hurt those on lower incomes twice. They tax more of their spending, by raising the price of consumer goods, and more of their earnings, since many work in industries, such as construction, that face higher material costs. If the bulk of the tariff bill is passed on to American consumers, as occurred with the first round of Mr Trump’s tariffs, a 10% duty would cost each American household about $2,000 per year. The toll from universal tariffs would go beyond their economic impact. International commerce, and the system that enables it, built after the second world war, allows countries to challenge each other’s policies at the World Trade Organisation (wto). But the wto’s role in dispute settlement has been disabled since 2019, when the Trump administration blocked appointments to its appellate body, preventing the institution from making binding rulings. The result is that countries which object to Mr Trump’s tariffs would lack a suitable way to confront them. “The system would fall apart in a much greater way than it did even during his first term,” says Douglas Irwin of Dartmouth College. Mr Biden has not been a model free-trader. His industrial policy is built on lavish subsidies that, by incentivising investment in America, are unfair to other countries. Yet even if somewhat hamfisted, he has worked to cobble together supply chains and trade networks that bring America and its allies closer together. This is part of an attempt, still in its infancy, to lessen dependence on China. Mr Trump’s tariffs would reverse Mr Biden’s progress. It would no longer be America and (occasionally reluctant) friends versus China—it would be America versus the world. “Trump would view it as a badge of honour if other countries were upset. He’d say, ‘See, I’m fighting for you and we’re sticking it to them’,” predicts Mr Irwin. Mr Trump would lack outright authority to implement a universal tariff. The constitution gives Congress the power to regulate commerce; the president can intervene only by using special justifications. Mr Trump previously drew on two statutes: section 232 of trade law allows the president to restrict imports in order to protect national security (the dubious basis for tariffs on steel and aluminium); section 301 allows a president to impose tariffs against a country with discriminatory trade behaviour (the more reasonable basis for actions against China). But both require time-consuming investigations, which would cut against the desire of Mr Trump and his advisers for rapid executive actions. Another option would be to invoke the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which Mr Trump used in 2020 to order the removal of TikTok and WeChat, Chinese social-media goliaths, from American app stores. In this scenario Mr Trump would declare a national emergency and then announce a universal tariff as the response. “It is less clear exactly what national emergency would be declared,” says Jennifer Hillman, a former general counsel with the us Trade Representative. “Perhaps that the trade deficit is threatening American competitiveness? Or that the size of the trade deficit is unsustainable?” Few economists would endorse such thinking. Far from being a weakness, appetite for imports comes from America’s strength. The country has run deficits for the past half-century, a period of economic dominance. More crucially, legal experts would also take a dim view of a declaration. “Trump would be bending the law in a direction that it was never intended to apply,” says Alan Wolff, a veteran of trade law. “There would be court challenges, and they might well be successful.” Reciprocal tariffs might seem tidier, but even an attempt to impose tit-for-tat duties would get messy. Mr Navarro loves to point out that American tariffs on cars are just 2.5%, whereas the European Union charges 10%. What he omits is that America has long placed a 25% tariff on imports of pick-up trucks, not to mention hefty duties on some imports of lumber and some foods. Any line-by-line examination of tariffs would turn up scores of examples where American levies are higher than those of other countries. Indeed, a guiding principle of the wto is that countries can negotiate across different product categories to set tariffs that protect politically sensitive sectors, so long as they keep tariffs down overall. Letting countries hammer out unique tariff regimes is a core part of diplomacy. Pure reciprocity would descend into absurdity. Politically, Mr Trump would also face opposition. Despite his embrace of protectionism, many in the Republican Party are less committed. Consider Project 2025, the coalition drawing up policy plans for Mr Trump’s second term. It is quite clear in all of its positions—except for that on trade. Its chapter on trade is split in two: Mr Navarro’s plea for tariffs is set against a free-trade argument by Kent Lassman of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a think-tank. Mr Lassman lays out what he dubs a “conservative vision for trade”, calling for tariff cuts to reduce consumer prices, as well as more ambitious trade deals. Mr Trump’s domestic opponents would receive support from abroad. A trade official with an American ally says that his government is braced for tariffs at the start of a new Trump administration, and that he and his colleagues have a damage-limitation playbook, honed during Mr Trump’s four years in office. They would work with firms and politicians in Republican districts that enjoy the benefits of trade—from Iowa’s corn-growers to Tennessee’s car industry—and try to persuade Mr Trump to carve out exceptions. Yet both legal challenges and lobbying would take months, if not longer, to play out. In the meantime, the global trade system would be plunged into uncertainty. Other governments would slap retaliatory tariffs on America. Mr Biden’s work to repair ties with America’s allies would be torn apart. As firms try to assess the risks, they could well turn more cautious in their investment, which would weigh on economic growth. Companies with border-straddling operations would face pressure to retrench. Smaller countries that are dependent on trade would be vulnerable. One of the lessons of Mr Trump’s first stint in the White House is that he can cause great damage with the stroke of a pen, and that the damage is not easily reversed. Most of his tariffs are still on the books. The wto remains neutered. The America-first ethos that he preached, once a fringe preference, is now a force in the political mainstream. The consequences of a second Trump presidency for global trade would be grave and enduring. Link

A New Zealand company has been found guilty of not "minimising risk" to 22 people who died in the 2019 White Island volcano disaster. Judge Evangelos Thomas criticised what he said were "astonishing failures" by Whakaari Management Limited (WML) - which licenses tours to the island. The case is the largest action of its kind brought by New Zealand's regulator, Worksafe NZ. The company faces up to NZ$1.5m ($928,000; £724,000) in fines. The December 2019 eruption killed 22 - almost half of the people who were on the island at the time. Most were tourists, including 17 from Australia and three from the US. Another 25 people were injured, with many suffering extensive burns. The volcano, known by its Māori name of Whakaari, had been showing signs of heightened unrest for weeks before the fatal eruption. It is New Zealand's most active volcano and had been erupting in some form since 2011. Thirteen parties were charged over the disaster. WML was the last to receive a verdict after six had pleaded guilty, while six more had their charges dismissed. Sentences will be passed in February. Trial for tour operators in NZ volcano tragedy begins The privately owned volcano that is always active James, Andrew and Peter Buttle, three brothers who own the company, inherited the volcano and licensed other businesses to run tours. They had also been on trial over alleged breaches of New Zealand's workplace health and safety legislation as individuals, but had those charges dismissed last month. A lawyer for WML argued that it was merely a landowner without active control of tours to the island and how they were conducted. But the judge said it "managed and controlled" the active volcano and failed in its duty to minimise the risk there. This included a failure to conduct proper risk assessments and to adequately engage with the necessary experts. "It should have been no surprise that Whakaari could erupt at any time, and without warning, at the risk of death and serious injury," said Judge Thomas. He dismissed a second charge against the company relating to the safety of its workers. The disaster prompted the most extensive and complex investigation ever undertaken by WorkSafe NZ, which was also criticised for failing to monitor activities on the island between 2014 and 2019. Tourism activities on White Island have not resumed since the eruption. Some of the tourists who bought their tour ticket to Whakaari through Royal Caribbean Cruises have already reached settlements after suing the Florida-based company in the US. Avey Woods, whose son Hayden Marshall-Inman died on the island, said the verdict was "very emotional". "We feel like we're not sitting around waiting for something - we've had an answer today which means we can move forward," she told New Zealand's 1News. Meredith Dallow, whose brother Simon was also killed alongside his teenage stepdaughter Zoe Hosking, said she was "relieved and thankful" there had been a verdict. "Justice at long last," Ms Dallow added. Link

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Kristy Hawk, a po[CENSORED]r low-carb foodie and influencer took to her Facebook page recently to share exactly how she orders McDonald’s. But her ‘irritating’ order has left the internet scratching its collective head, mainly due to one glaringly obvious omission… there’s no bun. The low-carb McDonald’s Quarter Pounder order As someone who practices the keto diet, Kristy’s burger looks drastically different to your regular carb-laden Quarter Pounder. Thanks to a few cheeky changes and substitutions, she creates a filling meal that satisfies her fast-food cravings, without compromising her strict diet. She explains, “I don’t get McDonald’s often but when I do, I order this to keep it low carb.” Kristy adds that she likes to order it on the kiosk inside as “it’s just easier that way and they seem to get it right every time when I do.” The order in question is as follows: Double quarter pounder with cheese No bun No mustard No onions No ketchup Regular mayo Light lettuce Pickles She then shared a photo of her ‘naked’ burger, where all the fillings are seen piled high on a bed of shredded lettuce. “I love your choice of a fast food low-carb meal!” While some of the 5.4k comments applauded Kristy’s creation, saying it’s a great low-carb option in a pinch, others couldn’t wrap their minds around the concept of a bunless Quarter Pounder, or even the fact someone so health conscious would go to Maccas in the first place. “This is exactly what my McDonald’s orders look like when I go! I’m glad I’m not the ONLY one!!” one person wrote. “Great when you’re craving a burger but you don’t want the carbs,” they added. Another said: “I love your choice of a fast food low-carb meal. When you’re on the go it can be hard to get something on the ‘healthier’ side but this is a win in my book!” Link

Saudi Arabia is set to host the men's 2034 World Cup after Fifa confirmed it was the only bidder for the tournament. Australia decided against bidding to stage the tournament hours before Fifa's deadline for declarations of interest on Tuesday. Morocco, Portugal and Spain are the only bidders for the 2030 edition, with games also played in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. A Fifa congress will confirm the hosts in late 2024. The 2026 World Cup will take place in the US, Mexico and Canada. Australia's governing body Football Australia says it intends to focus its efforts on hosting the Women's Asian Cup in 2026 and the Club World Cup in 2029. Football's world governing body Fifa had said the 2034 World Cup would be held in Asia or Oceania, and an Australian bid was regarded as the only potential challenger to Saudi Arabia, which announced its intention to bid shortly after Fifa's decision. After Tuesday's deadline passed, football's world governing body confirmed the bids for the 2030 and 2034 World Cups and said there will now be "thorough bidding and evaluation processes" for the tournaments. Fifa said it will "conduct a targeted dialogue with bidders, to ensure complete, comprehensive bids are received and evaluated against the minimum hosting requirements as also previously approved by the Fifa Council. "This dialogue will focus on the defined priority areas of the event vision and key metrics, infrastructure, services, commercial, and sustainability and human rights." Despite receiving support from the Asian Football Confederation, Saudi Arabia would likely be viewed as a controversial host. It has been criticised for its human rights violations - 81 men were executed on one day last year - women's rights abuses, the criminalisation of homosexuality, the restriction of free speech and the war in Yemen. Saudi Arabia's international standing was severely damaged by the 2018 killing of Jamal Khashoggi, a US-based Saudi journalist who was a prominent critic of the government. Human rights campaigners say sport is being used by the Saudi government to detract from long-standing reputation issues, a process known as 'sportswashing'. Last week Human Rights Watch said: "The possibility that Fifa could award Saudi Arabia the 2034 World Cup despite its appalling human rights record and closed door to any monitoring exposes Fifa's commitments to human rights as a sham." On Tuesday Amnesty International called on Fifa to secure "clear and binding commitments" from Saudi Arabia. It said: "Human rights commitments must be agreed with potential hosts before final decisions on holding the tournaments are made. "The best chance for Fifa to obtain binding guarantees to protect workers' rights, ensure freedom of expression and prevent discrimination linked to the World Cup is during the host selection process - not after the hosts have been confirmed and tournament preparation has begun." Qatar's hosting of the 2022 World Cup drew criticism because of its stance on same-sex relationships, its human rights record and its treatment of migrant workers. Fifa dropped plans for Saudi Arabia to sponsor the 2023 Women's World Cup following a backlash from co-hosts Australia and New Zealand, players and sponsors, but Saudi Arabia is keen to host the 2035 tournament after forming a women's team last year. Like the 2022 men's tournament, the 2034 edition would almost certainly be held in winter because of extreme heat in the summer, although modernising existing infrastructure rather than building new stadiums would likely make it more environmentally friendly than Qatar. Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) completed a takeover of Newcastle United in 2021, and manager Eddie Howe said: "Our trips out there to Riyadh and Jeddah were two very different experiences. "Everywhere we went was well organised; we were well looked after. If that's a sign of what a World Cup might look like, structurally it will be really good." Football Australia chief executive James Johnson said bidding for the World Cup was "not going to be favourable to Australia". He said: "Saudi is a strong bid. They have a lot of resources, and not just [for] the 2034 World Cup. "They are disrupting European football paying higher dollars. This is a disruption in the market and that is what positions Saudi in a strong way. From the government, top down they are prioritising investment in football. That is difficult to compete with." Another sporting milestone for Saudi Arabia? Saudi Arabia has hosted several major sporting events since 2018, including football, Formula 1, golf and boxing, and will stage the Club World Cup in December. Hosting the World Cup would represent another significant sporting milestone. Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki bin Faisal, Saudi Arabia's sports minister, said the bid "constitutes an important and natural step in our journey as a country passionate about football". PIF has taken control of four of the nation's top clubs - Al-Ahli, Al-Hilal, Al-Ittihad and Al-Nassr - in the Saudi Pro League, and Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Neymar are among the high-profile players to have joined the league, which was formed in 1976. The launch of the lucrative LIV Golf series in 2022 led to the PGA Tour and DP World Tour agreeing to merge with PIF in June after a year of disruption, with PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan appointed chair of the unified men's game. Formula 1 held its inaugural race in Saudi Arabia in 2021 as part of a long-term deal. Britain's seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton said he did not feel comfortable racing there and called on Saudi Arabia to improve its human rights record before the 2022 grand prix. Boxing world title fights have also been held in Saudi Arabia. Britain's Anthony Joshua, who beat Andy Ruiz in Riyadh in 2019, said he was "here for boxing" before losing to Oleksandr Usyk in Jeddah last year. WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury attracted criticism for praising Saudi officials and Bin Salman before his victory over former UFC fighter Francis Ngannou in Riyadh last weekend. Tennis will hold a professional event in Saudi Arabia for the first time in November after a five-year deal was agreed for Jeddah to host the Next Gen ATP Finals. Saudi Arabia has also held talks with the women's tour about hosting its end-of-season WTA Finals. Last month Bin Salman said: "If sportswashing is going to increase my GDP by 1%, then we'll continue doing sportswashing." Link

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The House has released text of its planned Israel funding bill, appropriating $14.3 billion dollars to aid the country, setting up one of the first leadership tests for newly elected House Speaker Mike Johnson. As the Louisiana Republican noted last week, the GOP-led bill includes the same amount in spending cuts, rescinding $14.3 billion that had been allocated to the IRS as part of the Inflation Reduction Act. Democrats are warning that the bill’s offsets could cost it passage in the House. And so far, two House Republicans – Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia – have said they will oppose the bill. In the Senate, both leaders have pressed to have any funding for Israel combined with Ukraine and border security funding. Johnson has pushed to detach the aid to Israel from the Ukraine aid. Johnson told Fox News on Monday that he will call Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to discuss his push to include spending cuts to offset the costs of the Israel package expected to hot the House floor later this week as Senate Democrats signal they would reject that plan. Johnson, in a taped interview on Fox News, noted his strategy “may” cost Senate and House Democratic support but said his intention is to call Schumer and “have a very direct and thoughtful conversation about this. I understand their priority is to bulk up the IRS.” Ad Feedback Schumer insisted that funding for Ukraine, as well as humanitarian aid for Gaza, should be included in any supplemental package. “We need to work with our colleagues in the House to ensure all these forms of aid make it to the President’s desk,” Schumer said. “We must not succumb to the false allures of isolationism that the hard right now professes, because the only thing that will achieve is to make America less safe.” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell continued advocating for including aid for Ukraine in the national security supplemental at an event Monday with the Ukrainian Ambassador to the US Oksana Markarova in Louisville, Kentucky. “This is a moment for swift and decisive action to prevent further loss of life, and to impose real consequences on the tyrants who have terrorized the people of Ukraine and of Israel. And right now, the Senate has a chance to produce supplemental assistance that will help us do exactly that,” McConnell said. “Enemies abroad will be watching closely and waiting for America to falter. Only our concrete and credible support can deter our adversaries in the future and restore security.” Senate Republicans are divided over McConnell’s push to link Ukraine aid to an Israel package – with a number of his conservative colleagues saying they should follow the House’s lead and move the Israel package first. “Israel first – I think that’s the right thing to do,” said Sen. Rick Scott, the Florida Republican. “We have a majority in the House, we should follow what they’re doing.” Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, a vocal skeptic of aid for Ukraine, called McConnell’s strategy a “mistake” and argued that it would slow down aid to Israel. Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a strong proponent of aid to Ukraine, signaled that he was open to passing Israel funding in a standalone package, but said that he wants to ensure that other priorities also clear through Congress – including aid for Ukraine. “At the end of the day, all of those things have to be done for me. Not some of them, but all of them … you can send Israel over by itself, that’d be fine,” he said. Link

The US has dismissed as "absurd" claims by Russia that an anti-Israel riot at a Dagestan airport on Sunday was organised by Ukraine and the West. In a televised meeting on Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the incident had been part of an attempt to spread "chaos" in Russia. Hundreds stormed the Makhachkala airport ahead of the arrival of a flight from Israeli capital Tel Aviv. Many waved Palestinian flags and chanted antisemitic slogans. Dagestan, a constituent republic of Russia, has a majority Muslim po[CENSORED]tion, and the incident is thought to have been sparked by anger over the conflict in Gaza. Security forces eventually brought the situation under control, and more than 60 people have since been arrested, according to local authorities. "The events in Makhachkala last night were instigated through social networks, not least from Ukraine, by the hands of agents of Western special services," Mr Putin told a meeting of Russia's Security Council. "Who is organising the deadly chaos and who benefits from it today, in my opinion, has already become obvious. "It is the current ruling elites of the US and their satellites who are the main beneficiaries of world instability." Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters that "against the backdrop of TV footage showing the horrors of what is happening in the Gaza Strip - the deaths of people, children, old people - it is very easy for enemies to take advantage of and provoke the situation". The governor of Dagestan, Sergei Melikov, also said the riots had been incited "from the territory of Ukraine by traitors" using a Telegram channel called Morning Dagestan. Morning Dagestan is an Islamist channel that opposes Russian control of the region and has been associated with Ilya Ponomarev, a former Russian MP who defected to Ukraine in 2016 and was granted Ukrainian citizenship. On Sunday, the channel posted the details of a flight arriving in Makhachkala from Tel Aviv and told its followers to "meet the unexpected visitors". Following Mr Melikov's comments, the channel posted a statement saying it had no connection to Mr Ponomarev or Ukraine. Mr Ponomarev has said he stopped supporting the channel last year, although his own statements in recent months contradict this claim. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has condemned the airport riot. Mob storms Russian airport searching for Jews How social media fuelled antisemitic violence in Dagestan, Russia Asked about Russia's claims at a White House briefing, John Kirby, spokesperson for the US National Security Council, described them as "classic Russian rhetoric". "When something goes bad in your country, you blame somebody else," he said. "The West had nothing to do with this. This is just hate, bigotry and intimidation, pure and simple." He also said comparisons between footage from the airport and the pogroms of the late 19th and early 20th century were "apt". Video circulated widely on social media showed a large crowd of people storming through the airport, forcing open doors and spilling out onto the runway. Some were also seen stopping cars outside and demanding to see the passengers' documents in an apparent search for Israeli passports. Russia's health ministry said 20 people, including some police officers, had sustained injuries and that two were in a critical condition. After the incident, Mr Melikov said that "all Dagestanis empathise with the suffering of victims by the actions of unrighteous people" but described the events at the airport as "outrageous". A statement from the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Israeli government viewed "with utmost gravity attempts to harm Israeli citizens and Jews anywhere". "Israel expects the Russian legal authorities to safeguard the well-being of all Israeli citizens and Jews wherever they are and to take strong action against the rioters," it said. Link

UPDATE 10/30/2023: General Motors has reportedly come to a tentative agreement to end the six-week-old strike by the United Auto Workers. Stellantis previously reached an agreement with the UAW on October 28, and Ford came to terms on October 25. Bloomberg News and other outlets are reporting that GM has agreed to a 25 percent raise for hourly workers, better job security, and other terms demanded by the union. This is a developing story that we will continue to update. UPDATE 10/25/2023: The UAW and Ford have reportedly reached a tentative deal to bring the strike to an end against that company. Bloomberg News is reporting this evening that the new contract with Ford would include a pay raise of 25 percent for hourly workers. It will still need to be voted on and approved by the union members, and the other automakers are not involved in this tentative agreement. Although there has been no official announcement, the Detroit News reported that workers on the picket line at Ford's Wayne, Michigan, assembly plant were sent home by union representatives at 8 p.m. tonight. We will continue to update this breaking story. The UAW has expanded its ongoing strike to two large assembly plants that build some of General Motors' and Stellantis's most profitable vehicles. Workers walked out of the Arlington, Texas, plant that builds GM's full-size SUVs including the Chevy Tahoe and Suburban, GMC Yukon, and Cadillac Escalade; this follows an expansion of the strike to Stellantis' Sterling Heights, Michigan, facility that builds the Ram 1500 full-size pickup truck. The UAW said that 5000 workers from the GM Arlington plant are now on strike, along with 6800 workers from the Stellantis Sterling Heights plant. The union says that GM's current offer does not adequately reward workers for their contributions to the company's profits, while claiming that Stellantis' offer lags behind GM and Ford and is the "worst proposal on the table" in terms of wage progression and other financial concerns. In a statement, General Motors responded by saying that, "The current offer is the most significant that GM has ever proposed to the UAW." Stellantis, meanwhile, has reacted by pulling out of several major auto shows and events, including the upcoming Los Angeles auto show, SEMA aftermarket show, and CES technology show. The automaker cited growing costs due to the strike as the reason for these cancellations. Link

As he tiptoed round the thorny issue of why Manchester City are so much better than Manchester United, Pep Guardiola was careful to be both respectful and protective of fellow manager Erik ten Hag. But in speaking about his own club, Guardiola still managed to indirectly shine a light on the current state of his city rivals. "I said many times we are in the same direction - chairman, CEO, sport director, manager and players," he said. "We make mistakes, of course, but when we lose or things are not going well we are not here to blame someone, we just see what we have to do to be better and find a solution. "In my first season, we didn't win. I didn't find my chairman complaining, he supported me unconditionally. When we lost the Champions League final against Chelsea I was devastated. My chairman said, 'Come on, we are going to win it, what can we do next? Let's go.' "When that happens we are not overexcited when we win and when we lose we are not dramatic. That's why I think the club is so stable." In black and white, it seems so simple. Yet at United, with uncertainty over the ownership, a public falling-out between manager and players, supporter unrest and questions over recruitment, being stable is a status that seems totally beyond them. So, just as happened during the tenures of Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, significant progress made in one season under Erik ten Hag is in danger of being swept away by regression and mediocrity in the next. Rangnick told United what to do Ralf Rangnick's appointment as interim manager when Solskjaer was sacked in November 2021 is largely now widely regarded as a mistake. Yet, when the German arrived at Old Trafford, one of the major attractions was the depth and breadth of his knowledge gained through his extensive work as a sporting director with the Red Bull group. The message was that this expertise would potentially be available to United for two additional years. Rangnick came to some pretty clear conclusions, his first public assessment coming in March 2022, just before a 4-1 defeat at Manchester City. "What is obvious, not only with Manchester City but also with Liverpool, is they have had continuity and consistency with their head coach, have a very clear identity and a clear idea of how they want to play," he said. "This idea is the headline for everything that happens in the club. This is the secret behind their success. It is what all the top clubs in Europe have in common. It is something that Manchester United needs to develop and improve in the next couple of years." The following month, after a 4-0 loss at Liverpool, Rangnick delivered an update. "You don't even need glasses to see and analyse where the problems are," he explained. "It's not enough to do some minor amendments - cosmetic things. In medicine you would say that this is an operation of the open heart." The problem for Rangnick was that not everyone at United agreed such surgery had to happen. United focus on 'easy deals' Instead, they felt Ten Hag could deliver the improvement required through their own recruitment plan. They have given him in excess of £350m to execute it. But, as some have observed, recruitment seems to have centred around doing 'easy' deals. The arrival of Casemiro from Real Madrid last summer for an initial £60m fee was lauded, but it is worth recalling the 31-year-old started last season on the Real bench. Christian Eriksen also came in on a free transfer, choosing to join United rather than sign an extended deal with Brentford. They also paid £13m to sign Tyrell Malacia on a four-year contract before, finally, Brazilian winger Antony came in on deadline day for £82m, the second biggest signing in the club's history. Could any of these deals be regarded as difficult? It was the same with Rasmus Hojlund this summer - the £72m represented a virtual five-fold increase on the sum paid to Sturm Graz by Atalanta just 12 months earlier. United also paid Chelsea £55m for Mason Mount, who had refused to sign a contract extension at Stamford Bridge, where he had one year left on his contract. Andre Onana cost £47.2m after Ten Hag took the bold decision to ditch David de Gea, believing the Cameroon international's superior ability with the ball at his feet would be a major positive. And, while many feel England midfielder Declan Rice would have been a perfect fit at United, instead they ended up signing Sofyan Amrabat, initially on loan, from Fiorentina. The Sancho saga and player problems Aside from injuries to Luke Shaw, Lisandro Martinez, Casemiro and Aaron Wan-Bissaka, there was one other player whose services were not under consideration by Ten Hag against City. While Jadon Sancho has not yet done much to justify the £73m Solskjaer paid for him two years ago, the continuing stand-off between the England winger and Ten Hag does not reflect well on either side. Sancho has been encouraged by team-mates to deliver the apology Ten Hag demands for his inflammatory social media post, which came in response to his manager's declaration he had been left out of the defeat at Arsenal on 3 September because of sub-standard training performances. While BBC Sport has been told the Sancho situation is complicated, it was also pointed out such matters are better dealt with on the training field at the time. But Sancho's words, which have now been deleted, were damning and complained of the 23-year-old being made a "scapegoat". Is it plausible he is the only player who feels this? And what does that say of Ten Hag and the way he has managed his squad? Ten Hag arrived from Ajax almost 18 months ago, having forged the reputation of a modern-day coach committed to the pressing game. He stated to Viaplay after Sunday's 3-0 derby defeat to Guardiola's City that he cannot replicate that at Old Trafford because he doesn't have the players and instead he needs to be more direct. Yet Match of the Day pundit Danny Murphy is not alone in thinking some of United's more established players simply do not work hard enough. Can Sir Jim Ratcliffe make his mark? On top of this is United's ongoing search for "strategic alternatives", launched on 22 November last year with the aim of "enhancing the club's future growth, with the ultimate goal of positioning the club to capitalise on opportunities both on the pitch and commercially". Following the withdrawal of Sheikh Jassim, who was adamant his bid to buy 100% of United was the best for the club, it now seems certain the other major bidder, Sir Jim Ratcliffe's Ineos Group, will get involved with an initial 25% stake. He will enter a club whose overall debt, including outstanding transfer fees, now stands at over £1bn. It has been suggested Ratcliffe will have control of all sporting matters but, in a commercial enterprise the size of United, that in itself feels complicated. Even those close to Ratcliffe wonder how someone as controlling as the 71-year-old will work alongside the Glazer family, who have driven the commercial side of the club and not been scared to make decisions that benefit them no matter what outside criticism it draws. Had Sir Bobby Charlton's death not taken precedence, it would be easy to imagine the prospect of the Glazer family remaining 'in charge' at Old Trafford drawing more supporter protests. Given the outcome of yesterday's game, it is inevitable the fan disquiet will resurface pretty soon. Evidently, this whole situation is way off the serene picture painted by Guardiola of life on the blue half of the city. Positive results can mask inherent issues. But they also make it easier to deal with them, away from the glare created by defeats and below-par performances, which is where United and Ten Hag are right now. Eighteen months ago, Rangnick gave them the answers. But no-one listened. Link

“The need to fit in runs helped make taking 15-minute phone calls more of a norm for me versus scrambling to get ready for a Zoom meeting,” he said. More broadly, it showed the entrepreneur how understanding people are toward those prioritizing an active lifestyle while still working to meet professional goals. It also taught him the importance of respect for challenges. “I started my training with super early morning runs. I ended up discovering that I just didn’t have the willpower to both get up at dawn, and go log more miles than I had ever done in my life,” he said. “I ended up shifting my workday to start at noon, so I could both fit in weightlifting and the mileage necessary to prepare for race day,” he said. Chris Lauber The 36-year-old senior director of operations at Laurent Tourondel Hospitality in New York City is gearing up this year to run his second New York marathon. “I’m planning to run about a dozen or so, until my body stops me,” he said. Lauber conceded that striking a balance between extremely long workdays and long training runs can be very challenging, especially when you’re running a $20 million company with almost 300 team members. Lauber stressed the necessity of having a training plan but being willing to bend it (or scrap it) at times. “Each training run can take two to three hours to complete. That means I need to run during shoulder (off-peak) times, before or after a long workday or surrounding other social plans,” he said. Lauber also sees parallels between running and the office grind. “I find running to be very similar to a career path. There are curves, ups, downs, times when we’re tired, times we need to push ourselves and times we need to listen to our body and rest,” he said. Plus, like work, “I may push myself to perform individually, even breaking my own records, but I will stop if another teammate cramps up, or slow down to run alongside someone, if they feel dizzy or off,” he said. Above all Lauber finds running to be meditative. “The runner’s high that can be achieved after running for an hour or two is really rewarding, and makes many of us more fun to be around after a stressful day at work,” he said, elaborating that he finds himself solving some of his most complicated work challenges during a run. “While my body is in motion, my mind can really focus and process information entirely differently,” he said. Sergii Pershyn Pershyn, 36, who is the associate director at Snow Hill, an international strategic communications agency, will be running his second New York marathon next week. It may not sound pleasant, but Pershyn noted that to boost your mileage you can sometimes run in the morning and evening for so-called “double days.” Since running keeps him focused on performing tasks and gives him endurance, the long training days are worth it. Pershyn has discovered that running helps in networking. “Many runners are sort of obsessed with running and like to talk about it with others,” he said. “Once at a party, I noticed a guy wearing a sports watch and we started chatting about running while also sharing what we do for work.” The next day, they went for a run together and soon after the man’s company became a client of Pershyn’s firm. Eleanor Ling The Brooklyn-based associate communications director at UpSpring, a marketing and p.r. firm, is preparing for her first New York marathon. By week two of training, she was so exhausted that she considered using her lunch break for nap time. But, “You don’t have to be a superhuman,” she said. “Unless you’re aiming to win the marathon, it’s OK to take a day off if your body needs it,” she said. “Just don’t skimp on your weekend long runs!” Running has helped Ling, 31, put her career into perspective. “It can be so easy to get caught up in day-to-day work stress,” she said. “Sticking to a running schedule has forced me to step away from my computer and physically burn out my excess stress. Whatever might have happened during the day, I always feel better by the time I get back home.” Link