A.M. Edition for Oct. 29. It has been a tough month for the white-collar workforce, as companies including Amazon, United Parcel Service and Target all announced layoffs. WSJ’s Chip Cutter explains how a new normal is emerging for a leaner workforce, driven in part by artificial intelligence. Plus, the Federal Reserve will announce its latest policy decision today. WSJ’s Nick Timiraos explains what central bankers are weighing amid a government shutdown that is leaving a gap in the official data. And, with over three thousand billionaires on the planet, Americans are dominating their collective wealth. Caitlin McCabe hosts.
Hurricane Melissa arrives in Jamaica as a Category 5 storm. Israel fires on Gaza amid escalating hostilities with Hamas. And Amazon lays off more than 10,000 workers, citing artificial intelligence advancements.
Israeli strikes ordered by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu kill at least 33 Palestinians in Gaza. It comes after Israel accused Hamas of violating the ceasefire by shooting at IDF soldiers and not handing back hostage bodies. The US President Donald Trump said Israel “should hit back” at Hamas if Israeli soldiers were killed, but added “nothing’s going to jeopardise” the truce. Also: President Trump arrives in South Korea; Hurricane Melissa pummels Jamaica; scores of people killed and 81 arrested in a massive drugs raid in Brazil; rapper Flavor Flav becomes official hype man and sponsor of the US Bobsleigh and Skeleton team for the 2026 Winter Olympics.
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Hurricane Melissa slams into Jamaica with 185 mile an hour winds. Senate vote fails to reopen the government; SNAP food assistance in jeopardy. Another series of strikes on suspected drug vessels off South America.
CBS News Correspondent Stacy Lyn with tonight's World News Roundup.
Hurricane Melissa has made landfall in Jamaica - its most powerful storm since records began. The US National Hurricane Centre said the eye hit the southwest of the island with estimated maximum wind speeds close to three hundred kilometres an hour.
Also in the programme: Fear of mass killings as thousands trapped in besieged Sudan city taken by militia group; Israel has carried out air strikes on Gaza -- after its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, accused Hamas of breaching the ceasefire deal; and Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales on the precious commodity, trust.
(Photo: A fallen tree on a road caused by Hurricane Melissa in Kingston. Credit: Reuters)
Who’s more of a “king”: Donald Trump, who ran for election three times, won the popular vote, the Electoral College, and all the swing states in 2024, or Joe Biden, who was appointed by Democratic Party elites in 2020 to be the nominee after losing the first three primaries and remained sequestered to his basement for the remainder of the campaign?
Monarchs conduct lawfare. For all his talk in 2016 about “locking her up,” President Donald Trump did not direct his administration to investigate Hillary Clinton, however, Trump “had 91 indictments filed by federal, local, and state prosecutors in cahoots,” points out Victor Davis Hanson on today’s edition of “Victor Davis Hanson: In a Few Words.”
“Joe Biden, in 2020, had lost the first three caucuses or primaries. He was going nowhere. And then a group of insiders, politicos, donors, the media panicked because they knew that to nominate a Elizabeth Warren, a Pete Buttigieg, especially a Bernie Sanders, would destroy the Democratic ticket.
“So, they cooked up this idea that Joe Biden from Scranton—even though they knew he was already cognitively challenged—could be a veneer, a wax effigy. And then they did not allow him to campaign because we know what happens when he campaigns, as we saw in 2024.
“He sat in the basement under the pretext of COVID. He outsourced his campaign like a royal monarch to his underlings in the media. They got him elected. And then he, more or less, abdicated while on the job and let the hard Left, in this quid pro quo arrangement, run the country.”
👉 This episode is sponsored by the Pepperdine School of Public Policy. Learn more: https://go.pepperdine.edu/dailysignal
Ashley and Nick Evancho say raising their 3-year-old, Sophia, is one of the most joyous things they've ever done. But the Evanchos also made a decision that's increasingly common for families in the U.S. and around the world: One is enough. The trend is leading to populations that are dramatically older, and beginning to shrink, in many of the world's biggest economies.
Experts say a rapidly aging and gradually shrinking population in the world's wealthiest countries could force sweeping changes in people's lives, causing many to work longer before retirement, making it harder for business owners to find employees and destabilizing eldercare and health insurance programs.
For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Email us at considerthis@npr.org.
This episode was produced by Paige Waterhouse and Connor Donevan, with audio engineering by Jimmy Keeley. It was edited by Andrea de Leon and Courtney Dorning. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.
P.M. Edition for Oct. 28. In an exclusive, we’re reporting on a trade framework that President Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping are set to discuss later this week that could see the U.S. rolling back some tariffs on China. WSJ trade and economic policy reporter Gavin Bade discusses what we know about the framework, and what that means for the U.S.-China relationship. Plus, UPS says it has cut 48,000 jobs in management and operations, pushing its stock price to close up 8%. And OpenAI has transitioned into a more traditional structure. We hear from WSJ reporter Keach Hagey about what that means for the company and its longtime partner Microsoft. Alex Ossola hosts.
Correction: OpenAI’s nonprofit parent owns a stake in its for-profit subsidiary, which has become a public-benefit corporation. An earlier version of this podcast incorrectly said OpenAI had become a for-profit company. (Corrected Oct. 28)
