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| These are our top stories today: - Sam Bankman-Fried was convicted on all seven fraud and conspiracy charges related to the collapse of his FTX cryptocurrency exchange
- The U.S. economy added 150,000 jobs, and the unemployment rate rose to 3.9%, in October
- Marine scientists discovered two deep-sea coral reefs near the Galapagos Islands
Have a great weekend! Your faithful IDB writer, Daniel
p/Dan-Smith | |
| 1 | | A federal jury convicted FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried of all seven charges of fraud and conspiracy on Thursday. The disgraced cryptocurrency kingpin faces up to 110 years in prison for stealing billions of dollars from FTX customer accounts, defrauding lenders to his hedge fund, Alameda Research, and related fraudulent behavior. More: - Prior to its collapse, FTX was a highly respected crypto exchange and Bankman-Fried was considered a crypto pioneer.
- The rapid collapse of FTX in November 2022, saw roughly a million customers lose access to their funds.
- It soon became apparent that the customer funds held by FTX were lent to Alameda Research, a hedge fund that Bankman-Fried founded in 2017.
- Prosecutors showed that Bankman-Fried had ordered FTX employees to create a backdoor that allowed Alameda to access FTX funds.
- Several former FTX executives, including his former girlfriend Caroline Ellison, testified against Bankman-Fried in his trial in exchange for favorable treatment from prosecutors.
- Bankman-Fried testified on his own behalf in the trial, a rare and unconventional move in white-collar criminal trials.
- The jury only took four and a half hours to reach their verdict on Thursday evening.
Zoom Out: - The sentencing hearing is scheduled for March 28, 2024.
- A second trial on five additional charges is scheduled for March, but the presiding judge in the first case will let prosecutors decide by February 1 whether they want to proceed with that trial.
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| 2 | | The U.S. added just 150,000 jobs and the unemployment rate rose to 3.9% in October. 
What the numbers say: The 150,000 new jobs created in October was the lowest monthly total since June. It was also nearly half of the revised 297,000 jobs added in September. 58,000 new jobs were created in the healthcare industry, more than any other sector. - Average hourly earnings rose 4.1% annually, down from 4.3% in September.
- The labor force participation rate - which measures the share of people working or looking for work - fell to 62.7% from 62.8% in September.
- The 3.9% unemployment rate is the highest since January 2022.
Relevance: The data suggests that the super-hot labor market is cooling down, which could dissuade the Federal Reserve from raising rates again. | | | |
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| 3 | | Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah indicated that the Lebanese Islamist group could further escalate its fighting with Israel. Hezbollah has fired rockets at Israeli villages and military bases since the Israel-Hamas war began on Oct. 7, and its fighters have skirmished with Israeli troops along the Israel-Lebanon border. More: - Israeli military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said that Israeli civilians were injured in the most recent attacks by Hezbollah, an Iran-backed Islamist militia that is an ally of Hamas.
- The U.S. and the EU have designated both Hamas and Hezbollah as terrorist groups.
- U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken echoed President Joe Biden in calling for a "humanitarian pause" in the Israel-Hamas conflict to ensure that aid can enter Gaza.
- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel refuses a cease-fire that doesn't include "a return of our hostages."
- Many of the estimated 240 hostages that Hamas holds in Gaza are believed to be in the group's underground tunnels.
- Since the Oct. 7 attack, Hamas has released four hostages and Israeli troops rescued one.
Zoom Out: - Roughly 800 foreign passport holders and injured Palestinians have been allowed to leave Gaza via the Rafah border crossing with Egypt over the past two days.
- Israel said it has allowed over 260 trucks carrying food and medicine into Gaza, but has refused to allow fuel in on the grounds that Hamas will steal it to support its war efforts.
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| 4 | | GOOD NEWS: Research shows that the release of lab-altered mosquitoes can lead to a drastic drop in the spread of dengue and other mosquito-borne diseases. According to a new study, lab-altered mosquitoes contributed to a 97% drop in dengue infections in three cities in Colombia's Aburra Valley. More: - Scientists infected the mosquitoes with the Wolbachia bacteria before releasing them into the wild.
- The bacteria significantly reduces the ability of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes to spread diseases.
- Researchers first released the infected mosquitos into the wild in Colombia in 2015.
- By 2022, they found that 80% of all mosquitos in the regions where the experiment was conducted had been infected by Wolbachia.
- They then measured a 97% reduction in dengue cases in those areas compared to 10 years prior.
- The researchers behind the project said the results "highlight the operational feasibility and real-world effectiveness of" releasing the mosquitos in large urban areas.
Zoom Out: - The World Mosquito Program, which is behind the project, found that the release of the infected mosquitos also reduced dengue infection rates in Indonesia and Brazil.
- There are roughly 100 million cases of dengue per year, leading to roughly 22,000 deaths.
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| 5 | | U.N. peacekeepers abandoned their base in Kidal, Mali, this week as attacks on U.N. bases escalate. The military junta that rules Mali called on the U.N. mission to leave the country in June, prompting violent attacks from junta-aligned militias. More: - Ethnic Tuareg rebels took control of the base shortly after the U.N. left.
- U.N. peacekeepers destroyed equipment worth millions of dollars to prevent it from falling into the hands of rebels.
- Fighting has occurred at at least two U.N. bases in the country, with two more being looted.
- Explosive attacks on U.N. convoys have injured at least a dozen peacekeepers.
Zoom Out: - The U.N. mission, known as MINUSMA, was initially deployed in northern Mali in 2012 to fight Islamist militants and Tuareg rebels.
- More than 170 peacekeepers have been killed since then in what has been the deadliest conflict for the U.N. peacekeeping force.
- Following military coups in 2020 and 2021, the resulting junta-led government aligned with the Russian Wagner Group and ordered the U.N. and French troops to leave the country.
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| 6 | | Marine scientists discovered two pristine deep-sea coral reefs off the coast of the Galapagos Islands. Researchers used a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) to explore the reefs, which are both 1,000 feet below the ocean surface. More: - The ROVs captured pictures of crustaceans, urchins, and other creatures on the reefs in the Galapagos Marine Reserve.
- Stuart Banks of the Charles Darwin Foundation called the reserve "an area of outstanding biological significance."
- He said that the newly discovered reefs will help to inform our understanding of how corals support ocean diversity.
- Researchers developed highly detailed maps of the reefs, which are encrusted on vertical rock faces deep below the ocean surface.
- Scientists found a separate deep-sea cold-water coral reef in the Galapagos archipelago in April.
Zoom Out: | | | |
| 7 | | QUICK HITS - Discounts offered by each of the big three cloud providers are complex, detailed, and full of fine print. Learn how to make the most of AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure discounts in this guide from DoiT.*
- Healthcare reform activist Ady Barkan passed away from complications of ALS at 39. Politico once described Barkan, an attorney who began advocating for radical reforms to the U.S. healthcare system after being diagnosed with ALS in 2016, as "the most powerful activist in America."
- Moroccan archaeologists discovered the ruins of an ancient Phoenician port city near the Moroccan capital of Rabat.
- During an interview with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at a British AI summit, billionaire Elon Musk predicted that A.I. will make paid work redundant in the future.
- The National Philanthropic Trust launched the Matthew Perry Foundation to honor the memory of the late actor by helping people struggling with addiction. Perry, who died on Oct. 28, wrote candidly about his battle with opiate addiction in his 2022 memoir, "Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing."
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*This is sponsored content. | | | |
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 | Writer | | Dr. Daniel Smith is an Inside writer with a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Cambridge. Follow him on Twitter @DJS12321 or email him at Daniel@inside.com. | | This newsletter was edited by Eduardo Garcia | |
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