41: Indian rescue teams on Tuesday successfully extracted all 41 of the workers who had been trapped for more than two weeks in a collapsed tunnel in the mountainous northern state of Uttarakhand. The three-mile-long tunnel is part of PM Narendra Modi’s signature Char Dham infrastructure project, which aims to improve access to Hindu pilgrimage sites and other destinations near the Chinese and Nepali borders.
3: Our American readers planning holiday getaways abroad won’t love this news: The US dollar fell to its lowest level in three months on Tuesday, as officials signaled that the Fed may start cutting interest rates next year. Higher interest rates tend to cause currencies to appreciate, as investors pile on to take advantage of higher yields. Cutting interest rates can, all else equal, have the opposite effect.
900: Finland will close its borders to travelers from Russia for two weeks in order to stop a massive increase in the number of asylum-seekers arriving from the East. As many as 900 asylum-seekers from Kenya, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, and Pakistan have entered Finland from Russia this month alone. The Finns say that at a moment when immigration has become a particularly touchy subject in Europe, Moscow is deliberately helping more migrants reach Finland to punish the Nordic nation for joining NATO earlier this year.
2.7: How about a side of guilt with that avocado toast? Americans’ voracious appetite for avocados drives an annual $2.7 billion in trade between Mexico and the US. But south of the border, the industry has caused massive deforestation and water shortages as farmers – both legit and otherwise – burn down vast swathes of existing forest in order to plant famously thirsty avocado trees.For over two weeks now, Iranians have been pouring into the streets in the largest demonstrations the country has seen since the 2022 “Women, Life, Freedom” uprising, and possibly since the 2009 Green Movement.
In this “ask ian,” Ian Bremmer responds to the US investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and why it matters far beyond interest rates.
Walmart is investing $350 billion in US manufacturing. Over two-thirds of the products Walmart buys are made, grown, or assembled in America, like healthy dried fruit from The Ugly Co. The sustainable fruit is sourced directly from fourth-generation farmers in Farmersville, California, and delivered to your neighborhood Walmart shelves. Discover how Walmart's investment is supporting communities and fueling jobs across the nation.
In this special edition of Tools and Weapons, Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith sits down with Juan Lavista Ferres, Chief Data Scientist and Director of the AI for Good Lab, to unpack the most striking insights from Microsoft’s newly released AI Diffusion Report. Their conversation explores the growing reach of generative AI, the accelerating pace of technological progress, and what this moment means for societies and economies around the world. The discussion examines how generative AI is spreading globally, and why the speed of diffusion will determine who benefits most. Together, they highlight countries leading the charge, including the UAE, Singapore, and South Korea, and explore the rise of models such as China’s DeepSeek across parts of Africa, offering a clear-eyed look at how AI adoption is reshaping global power, opportunity, and impact. Subscribe and find new episodes of Tools and Weapons wherever you listen to podcasts.