The Headlines - Optimism on Wall Street, and Harris Agrees to a Fox News Interview

Starting point is 00:00:00 From The New York Times, it's The Headlines. I'm Tracey Mumford. Today's Tuesday, October 15th. Here's what we're covering. It's a big week on Wall Street, and the feeling so far is optimism. Stocks have climbed since the Federal Reserve lowered interest rates a month ago, and the market's been setting record highs, including another one yesterday. There had been a lot of hand-wringing over how the labor market is doing and high prices, but the most recent data coming out has showed strong hiring numbers and milder inflation. This week, big companies like Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble, and Netflix will open their books for their quarterly earning reports, data that could provide another checkup on where the economy is heading.

Starting point is 00:00:51 Earnings for big banks JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo came out last week. Their profits were down, but their results were still stronger than anticipated, suggesting the economy's in solid shape. Not every sector of the market has been growing equally. A lot of the gains have been driven by giant tech companies who've gone big into AI. But investors hope if the economy stays resilient, other areas outside tech will see growth as well. Kamala Harris, who's come under scrutiny for either not doing interviews or doing them with less traditional outlets, has agreed to sit down with Fox News. The network announced that the vice president will be interviewed tomorrow by Brett Baier, its chief political anchor. It will be Harris's first formal interview with Fox, whose conservative programming often explicitly supports her opponent, former President Donald Trump.

Starting point is 00:01:50 Harris is expected to field 25 to 30 minutes of questions, and it could be an opportunity for her to reach viewers who may be skeptical of her candidacy. Harris's interview, which will air at 6 p.m. Eastern tomorrow, will be shown on Fox the same day the network airs an unusual town hall with Trump. He's taping the event tonight in front of an all-female audience in Georgia, where he's expected to field questions on abortion, child care, daycare, and other, quote, issues impacting women, according to Fox. We will never tolerate the involvement of a foreign government threatening and killing Canadian citizens on Canadian soil, a deeply unacceptable violation of Canada's sovereignty and of international law. Canada expelled India's top diplomat from the country, along with five others on Monday, accusing them of being part of a vast criminal network targeting Canadian citizens who've criticized the Indian government.

Starting point is 00:02:55 The move immediately escalated tensions between the two countries and now runs the risk of broadening into a wider international dispute. India and Canada have been at odds since last year when the outspoken Sikh cleric, Hardeep Singh Najjar, was assassinated in Canada. At the time, Canada blamed the Indian government for the killing, accusing them of running covert operations against the religious minority in the country. Canada fully respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India. We expect the Indian government to do the same for Canada. During a press conference on Monday,

Starting point is 00:03:33 Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said police had uncovered new evidence of those operations. India has rejected the accusations, calling them politically motivated, and immediately retaliated by ordering six Canadian diplomats to leave. Times international correspondent Matina Stevis-Gridneff says the diplomatic expulsions could now put more countries in an uncomfortable position. Both Canada and India, while super different countries, are both what we would call middling powers on the world stage. You know, Canada's a traditional Western player.

Starting point is 00:04:06 They're part of NATO, part of the G7. And India is a huge country, an ascendant power on the global stage. And a power that many of Canada's allies, such as the United States and European Union countries, want to have as a friend. They want India to be their ally, both geopolitically, economically, and in trade terms. And so I think because of the gravity of the allegations, this breakdown between

Starting point is 00:04:31 Canada and India and their relationship makes things quite awkward. It puts quite a lot of pressure on the allies of both countries to pick sides. And that's going to be something the United States and others don't want to do. And so that makes this problem in a way bigger than what it appears at first glance. In Gaza, dozens of people were injured or killed by Israeli airstrikes yesterday, including one that hit the grounds of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, according to health officials and the UN. Many families had set up camp in the hospital's parking lot, hoping that international laws prohibiting attacks on hospitals

Starting point is 00:05:12 would mean it was safe. Instead, the families tell The Times they've survived repeated attacks. Monday's strike led to a fire that engulfed the camp. People scrambled to try and put out the flames, which were fueled by canisters of cooking gas in the family's plastic tents. A 20-year-old man living at the camp told the Times, It's like living inside a recurring nightmare. Every time we sleep, we wake up to the same scenario of tents struck, people screaming.

Starting point is 00:05:46 The Israeli military said it was targeting a Hamas command center near the hospital. Israel's come under repeated criticism for hitting hospitals and other civilian infrastructure over the last year. And in Lebanon, Israeli airstrikes are now overwhelming the health system there. The United Nations says some Lebanese hospitals have had to close due to damage. Others have been abandoned after staff fled fearing for their safety. Israel's been mounting a major offensive in Lebanon after trading cross-border blows with Hezbollah for nearly a year. The Israeli military's accused Hezbollah of embedding itself in civilian infrastructure, including hospitals. Lebanese officials and officials from the militant group have denied those claims.

Starting point is 00:06:39 And finally. I think pandas are awesome. I think it's a staple here in D.C. A lot of excitement's been building for the return of pandas to the National Zoo. We are so, so excited to have them back. It's been a little bit of a bummer without them. They're part of a long-running collaboration between the U.S. and China,

Starting point is 00:06:58 so-called panda diplomacy, which some had worried would end because of frosty relations between the two countries. But as the pandas arrive in D.C., a new investigation from The Times has uncovered some troubling realities about the panda program. It started in the 90s, with China sending pandas abroad in the hopes that foreign zoos would breed them and they'd be released into the wild. But over the last three decades, more pandas have been moved into captivity than have been released. Aggressive attempts to have the pandas breed has injured

Starting point is 00:07:31 some animals. And while the whole thing is explicitly supposed to be a conservation effort, not a financial arrangement, the Times investigation found that money has been at the center of the conversation from the beginning. You can find the full investigation into the panda program at nytimes.com. Those are the headlines. Today on The Daily, how control of the House of Representatives could hinge on what happens in two deeply blue states. That's next in the New York Times audio app, or you can listen wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Traci Mumford. We'll be back tomorrow.

The Headlines - Optimism on Wall Street, and Harris Agrees to a Fox News Interview

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