CNBC

Aleksandar Vucic conceded defeat after a parliamentary election in which a student-led movement won, ending 14 years of near-absolute political dominance. Serbia’s result could weaken the region’s entrenched model of executive dominance and reshape its path between the European Union and Russia.

Al Jazeera

Officials from states belonging to the Mecca pact will meet in Iran, marking their first high-level contact with Tehran since Houthi rebels escalated attacks on Saudi Arabia. Direct contact could create a limited mechanism for managing a wider regional crisis.

Al Jazeera

North Korea told the United Nations that South Korea fabricated an account blaming Pyongyang for a September landmine blast. It called the allegation a deliberate attempt to obstruct inter-Korean relations. Conflicting accounts over a military incident can harden public positions and make future clashes more difficult to contain.

Economic Times

Six major hyperscalers are projected to spend $7.7 trillion on AI from 2026 through 2030. UBS estimates they will need $1 trillion in additional earnings before interest and taxes by 2031 to justify that investment, making productivity gains and monetisation the central tests. The scale of planned AI spending creates a large gap between infrastructure enthusiasm and the profits needed to support it.

Economic Times

Alphabet, Microsoft and Amazon report quarterly results in a key test for AI-focused stocks. Investors will examine cloud growth, profit margins, free cash flow and infrastructure spending to determine whether AI demand is covering the cost of expanding capacity. The results could reset expectations for the profitability and pace of Big Tech's AI investment cycle.

CNBC

Neocloud stocks fell after Elon Musk warned that more than 200 companies in the sector could face severe financial trouble. Investors are already questioning the debt-fueled expansion of AI infrastructure and whether it will generate durable returns. A shakeout could expose how much of the AI infrastructure boom depends on debt and optimistic utilization forecasts.

Fierce Healthcare

Baba raised $40 million in a Series A led by FirstMark Capital and backed by CVS Health Ventures to expand its AI-powered Medicare patient navigation platform. The company plans to invest in research, reach more health plans, and accelerate value-based arrangements. The round signals investor appetite for healthcare AI that can connect patient engagement to financial outcomes.

WWD

L Catterton is backing Glance, an AI personal-shopping startup, as it builds an agent designed to influence how consumers discover and buy products. CEO Naveen Tewari said the funding will accelerate AI training and support the company's expansion. Capital is moving toward AI agents that could sit between consumers and retailers, reshaping who controls product discovery and purchase decisions.

CNBC

Wonder is expanding its focus on automation and customer-designed restaurants as founder Marc Lore prepares the company for a potential public offering. The strategy ties growth to a more standardized operating model and expansion in Texas. Wonder is testing whether automation and customization can turn a capital-intensive restaurant business into an IPO-ready platform.

Financial Times

Kone is seeking European Commission approval for its €29bn acquisition of TK Elevator while proposing to retain the target’s businesses in Spain and Portugal. The approach tests whether Brussels will accept a stronger regional competitor with narrower divestments. The ruling will determine whether European merger policy permits large industrial deals with limited regional remedies.

Financial Times

Bon Secours is nearing a deal worth almost $6bn to acquire Surgery Partners, a Bain-backed operator of outpatient surgical facilities. The transaction would make the US hospital chain the latest not-for-profit healthcare provider to pursue a major expansion through acquisition. A large nonprofit acquisition signals that healthcare consolidation is spreading into outpatient surgery, where ownership changes can reshape costs and access.

PYMNTS

Instacart has approached Uber and DoorDash about a potential sale of its grocery delivery platform. Discussions with Uber are no longer ongoing, and the company is still evaluating strategic options. A sale could reshape grocery delivery competition by placing Instacart's merchant network and logistics under a larger rival.

ScienceDaily

Astronomers found three actively feeding black holes in one galaxy more than 12.5 billion light-years away. Two sit just 620 light-years apart and are expected to merge, while a third lies farther out; one has a mass roughly 80 million times that of the Sun, and another is growing faster than standard models predict. The system gives astronomers a direct test of how galaxies and their central black holes formed during the universe's first billion years.

ScienceDaily

Researchers used machine learning and thousands of fossil measurements to reassess how prehistoric animals moved between land and water. The analysis supports the view that Spinosaurus spent most of its life underwater, while some marine reptiles traditionally considered fully aquatic may have regularly returned to land. Reclassifying how these animals lived changes the evolutionary timeline for repeated transitions between land and water.

ScienceDaily

Scientists developed a technique that lets five silicon qubits operate simultaneously while maintaining approximately 99.9% accuracy. The result addresses a key challenge in scaling quantum processors beyond small demonstrations. Accurate multi-qubit operation is a prerequisite for building useful quantum computers rather than isolated laboratory prototypes.

Economic Times

The Bank of Japan is expected to declare victory in its nearly 14 year effort to achieve 2% inflation while leaving its policy rate at 1.25%. Stronger wage growth and inflation expectations could prompt officials to signal another rate increase, potentially in December. Japan could become a source of global monetary tightening just as other major central banks reassess their rate paths.

Economic Times

The European Central Bank is widely expected to hold its policy rate at 2.5% while assessing elevated energy prices, rising eurozone inflation and financial stress in France. With inflation reported at 3.8%, investors are watching for signals on future hikes, bond market risks and leadership changes. The meeting will determine whether markets price a renewed European tightening cycle or treat the inflation surge as temporary.

Economic Times

French government bonds stabilized after Moody’s maintained the country’s Aa3 rating and weekend protests remained largely peaceful. The 10-year OAT yield fell after reaching its highest level since June 2002, with investors now focused on the European Central Bank’s policy decision. France’s bond stress is becoming an ECB concern as fiscal risk feeds into regional borrowing costs.

Fortune

Audi CEO Gernot Döllner appeared with Donald Trump at a Republican campaign rally, where Trump announced Audi's planned $4.2 billion investment near Macon, Georgia. The factory is expected to produce 200,000 vehicles annually. The announcement links Audi's US expansion, Georgia's industrial base, and Trump's campaign claims about attracting manufacturing investment.

CNBC

Audi's CEO defended the planned $4 billion Georgia factory as a business decision aimed at expanding U.S. sales and reducing the company's exposure to tariffs. The project shows how tariffs are pushing automakers to shift production closer to customers, even during broader corporate cutbacks.

Fierce Healthcare

Elevance Health reported $1.4 billion in third-quarter profit and exceeded Wall Street expectations for both earnings and revenue. The insurer also raised its full-year outlook. Elevance’s higher outlook suggests its earnings recovery is broad enough to support a stronger full-year forecast.

Variety

The sequel to 2017’s “The VelociPastor” won over FilmQuest audiences with deliberately homemade effects, visible strings and unmistakable stunt doubles. Its appeal comes from treating those limitations as evidence of human craft rather than flaws to conceal. A cult film built on handmade effects offers a clear case for authenticity as a competitive advantage in an AI-saturated media market.

IGN

‘Clayface’ opened as the top film at the box office, taking in an estimated $43 million globally during its opening weekend. The result gives the DC Universe an early commercial success. A strong opening for ‘Clayface’ offers the DCU a needed proof point for expanding beyond its best-known heroes.

New York Times Arts

Voice actor Eric Bauza, who performed Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and other “Looney Tunes” characters, has died at 46. His work helped carry the franchise’s classic voices into newer productions. His passing marks the loss of a key link between classic cartoon characters and their current screen life.

Al Jazeera

A US appeals court questioned the Trump administration’s effort to gain greater control over California’s voter rolls and electoral procedures ahead of the midterm elections. The case could define how much power the federal government has over state election systems before the midterms.

CNBC

Trump urged Michigan voters to reject Muslim Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, invoking the September 11 attacks in his appeal. The race is among the country's most competitive Senate contests ahead of the November 3 midterm elections. The contest may test how effectively national security rhetoric mobilizes voters in a closely divided state.

Al Jazeera

At a Michigan campaign rally, Trump used anti-Muslim rhetoric against Abdul El-Sayed as he sought to shape the political fight ahead of the midterm elections. The rally shows how national identity politics is entering a closely watched Senate contest.

ARTnews

The Tate has received 50 artworks by artists who lived and worked in India. The gift comes from Charles Greig, a British academic and specialist in Indian art. The gift brings more Indian artistic voices into one of the world’s most prominent museum collections.

The Guardian Books

Yiyun Li’s novel examines what it costs to build a life around the hope of artistic immortality. Through the marriage of two real-life musicians, it probes the uneasy gap between talent and genius, and asks whether art can ever outlast the people who make it. The novel turns the familiar dream of artistic immortality into a searching question about how much a life should sacrifice for art.

The Guardian Books

Stephen Fry explores why Sherlock Holmes has remained such a powerful cultural figure nearly a century after Arthur Conan Doyle’s final story. He traces the detective’s long history of reinvention, while reflecting on how Holmes shaped his own life and creative work. Sherlock Holmes endures because each generation can remake him without losing the core appeal of the brilliant, difficult detective.