U.S. Pushes for Mideast Cease-Fire After Sinwar’s Death
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Diplomatic pressure mounts to end the war in Gaza after Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar's death. Sinwar has been the guy calling the shots since the October 7 attacks. And so even just figuring out who's really calling the shots now about a ceasefire is important for negotiators. Plus, China's economy cools amid lingering questions around Beijing's fiscal support. And Donald Trump adopts Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s health policy agenda.

It's Friday, October 18th. I'm Luke Vargas for The Wall Street Journal, and here is the AM edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories moving your world today. ♪

We begin with the diplomatic situation in the Middle East. President Biden is in Germany today for meetings with European allies that were intended to be about the war in Ukraine. But American diplomatic efforts are now shifting to push for an end to fighting between Israel and Hamas, a day after Israeli forces killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in a potential inflection point in the more than year-long conflict.

And joining us now with the latest is Wall Street Journal Middle East correspondent Rory Jones.

Rory, you spoke to our colleagues on the PM show last night, but things have been moving quite a bit since then. We've now heard from a number of world leaders following Sinwar's death on the tarmac last night in Germany. President Biden congratulated Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but then quickly pivoted on to say that it was time to move on toward a ceasefire in Gaza. And we've also heard comments pretty much to that effect from French President Emmanuel Macron. And we have a clip of that to play.

This occasion must be seized so that all the hostages can be freed and the war finally stopped. Indeed, military operations must be brought to an end. From now on, after this outcome, a ceasefire in Gaza must be accepted and finally a credible political perspective should be opened for both Israelis and Palestinians.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz echoed much of that sentiment as well. So, Rory, a number of Western leaders here seemingly in lockstep. And yet I've got to ask what tangibly we are expecting to see now. Yeah, well, I think there's definitely going to be increasing international pressure on Israel and its prime minister, Netanyahu, to try to get a ceasefire done.

in Gaza. Clearly, Sinwar's death sort of complicates that because the person who was calling the shots and making the decisions on a ceasefire is now dead. So it depends on whether the Egyptians and the Qataris, the mediators who have tried to get a ceasefire together, were

whether they can talk with members of Hamas that are outside the region and try to get notes to Hamas inside Gaza. Sinwar's brother, Mohammed, is still alive or is believed to be alive. And so he could be an important person in figuring out whether ceasefire negotiations do restart. And have we heard either from Hamas or its allies since yesterday's attack? The

The way that Hamas's allies are characterizing this is like, Sinwar dying is an example of Palestinian resistance against Israel and he will now become a symbol of that resistance. Hezbollah, Hamas's Lebanese ally, has said that it will escalate attacks on Israel after Sinwar's death. But Hezbollah in its statement didn't explicitly mention Sinwar's death when it said that it was going to escalate attacks.

It's seemingly still tying its firing on Israel to a ceasefire in Gaza. And so if that comes together, it might mean that Hezbollah also stops fighting, essentially. Something we'll have to watch very closely. And I just have to ask, we've heard these comments from Western leaders who are trying to push for an end to fighting in this moment now, though for his part, Netanyahu doesn't seem fully on board. Let's play a clip of him speaking last night. Well, this is not the end of the war in Gaza.

It's the beginning of the end. To the people of Gaza, I have a simple message: This war can end tomorrow. It can end if Hamas lays down its arms and returns our hostages.

Expand on that, Rory, if you can. What, if anything, are we hearing from the Israeli side about their appetite now for any diplomacy? Yeah, so Israeli media is reporting this morning that Netanyahu is convening a meeting with security chiefs and other ministers to discuss how to get the hostages back. The number one priority now for the Israeli public, if you look at polls, most Israelis want the hostages back and to end the war.

And so Netanyahu is definitely going to face growing domestic pressure on top of that international pressure that we've already talked about. At the same time, he is also facing pressure from many of his right-wing allies to finish Hamas off, in essence. There's still plenty of Hamas fighters out there that will want to continue the fight against Israel. At the same time, Israel has killed now most of Hamas's military leadership in Gaza. It's taken out

the former head of its political wing, Ismail Hania, and his deputy earlier this year. So it's really destroyed a lot of Hamas's leadership capabilities. And so Netanyahu could potentially use those successes as a way to wrap up this war and try to push for the release of the hostages. I've been speaking to Wall Street Journal Middle East correspondent Rory Jones. Rory, thank you so much for the update. Thanks, Luke.

Coming up, China's economic growth slows and Donald Trump embraces Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s war on junk food to win over his supporters. We've got those stories and more after the break.

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China's economic growth cooled to 4.6% in the third quarter. GDP figures released today that highlight the challenges that policymakers there are facing in trying to kickstart economic activity. Though they have announced stimulus measures, key details, including how much more Beijing intends to borrow to finance its support plan and what exactly it intends to spend it on, remain unclear, making for a volatile few weeks for Chinese stocks.

However, unemployment and retail sales data also released today showed some signs of the economy stabilizing, and Chinese stocks have ended the trading session higher. Meanwhile, the country's main commercial banks have cut their deposit rates for a second time this year, a move that could help to ease pressure on lenders' profits after officials lowered mortgage and lending rates as part of their stimulus efforts.

Looking ahead, investor expectations are high that a key committee of China's legislature will sign off on a big new fiscal package when it convenes toward the end of this month.

And in other things we're watching in markets today, Netflix shares are up after the streaming giant delivered its most profitable quarter ever. American Express and Procter & Gamble are set to report earnings ahead of the market open, with Amex's cardholder spending figures seen as a key metric for investors and analysts. And an update on U.S. monthly housing starts for September is due at 8.30 a.m. Eastern.

Early in his bid to retake the White House, Donald Trump spent little time talking about health policy. But more recently, he's adopted the "Make America Healthy Again" mantra, a key part of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s presidential campaign. With the race for the White House practically tied, Trump has been trying to appeal to Kennedy supporters in swing states such as Nevada, where some polls had Kennedy at or near double-digit support before he dropped out and endorsed Trump in August.

The Journal's Natalie Andrews reports that while a few of RFK Jr.'s ideas have unnerved some in Republican policy circles, Trump has committed to considering Kennedy for any job in his administration, including Secretary of Health and Human Services. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is associated a lot with some things he said in the past about vaccines possibly being tied to autism, which health officials have pushed back on and debunked.

He also talks a lot about how he doesn't want chemicals in food and he doesn't want people who have ties to the food industry being in control or being allowed to influence how food is marketed in the United States.

and talks a lot about chronic disease, especially chronic disease among children. And these are things that parents are very concerned about. And the Trump team feels highlighting these issues helps them with women who they need to bring on board in their campaign. And finally, as Floridians contend with the aftermath of twin hurricanes, a development binge that has seen new homes continue to be built in flood-prone places is setting the stage for more potential losses in the future.

According to an analysis for the journal by climate modeling firm First Street Foundation, more than 75,000 new properties have been built in high-risk flood areas in the state since 2019,

A trend that Journal reporter Jean Eaglesham told us puts Florida's real estate sector and the banks that finance it on a collision course with insurers who have raised rates and pulled back on coverage because of big payouts from natural disasters. The developers say that Florida has a strict building code so their properties are elevated, for example, if they're in official flood zones. But

But what we found is a lot of these properties are going up just outside the flood zones. So they still sell them on the ocean view, on the beautiful landscape and so forth. But they don't have to conform to the regulations for the official flood zone, even though you're still on a high flood risk. Certainly in Florida, there are already signs this year that the boom may be at least slowing, maybe reversing.

It's a factor of higher insurance rates, higher other property costs. And it's tough now. And in some areas of Florida, it's very, very expensive to own a home. And it's not just Florida developers who've continued to build in flood-prone places. Almost one in five new properties built nationwide between 2019 and 2023 are in areas at high risk of flooding, according to First Street's analysis, which found that Texas, California and North Carolina have also seen heavy building in such zones.

And that's it for What's News for Friday morning. Today's show was produced by Daniel Bach and Kate Boulivant with supervising producer Christina Rocca. And I'm Luke Vargas for The Wall Street Journal. We will be back tonight with a new show. Otherwise, have a great weekend. Thanks for listening.

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