Daily Briefing

A release of Israeli hostages is imminent, Amazon is hit by protests across Europe, and Oscar Pistorius is granted parole.

Before Sam Altman’s ouster and return, OpenAI researchers were worried a project called Q* could threaten humanity. Should you be worried? Listen to the Reuters World News daily podcast to find out more.

By Linda Noakes

Today's Top News

A Palestinian woman carries a child as she walks next to houses destroyed in an Israeli strike in the southern Gaza Strip. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

ISRAEL AND HAMAS AT WAR

A temporary ceasefire between Israeli and Hamas forces took hold in the Gaza Strip, the first respite in 48 days of conflict that has devastated the Palestinian enclave, but both sides warned that the war was far from over.
The ceasefire involves the release later today of 13 Israeli women and children held hostage by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. Additional aid is to flow into Gaza.
Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas leader based in Qatar, has been the tough-talking face of the Palestinian group's international diplomacy as war has raged in Gaza where his family home was destroyed in an Israeli air strike.
European security officials are seeing a growing risk of attacks by Islamists radicalized by the war, with the biggest threat likely to come from 'lone wolf' assailants who are hard to track.

IN OTHER NEWS

Irish police said they had made 34 arrests for rioting in Dublin overnight and that more protests could follow after the stabbing of five people including three young children triggered violence rarely seen before in the capital. Police blamed far-right agitators for starting the clashes.
Dutch party leaders met for the first time since anti-Islam populist Geert Wilders won Wednesday's elections to begin the difficult and lengthy process of building a coalition. Dutch Muslims expressed shock at Wilders' win.
Taiwan's opposition parties - which seek closer China ties - registered separate presidential candidates after a dramatic split, potentially easing the way for the ruling party to stay in power. Terry Gou, the founder of tech giant Foxconn, withdrew from the presidential race.
Chinese health authorities have not detected any unusual or novel pathogens and provided the requested data on an increase in respiratory illnesses and reported clusters of pneumonia in children, the World Health Organization said.
South Africa's former Paralympic star Oscar Pistorius, jailed in 2014 for killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, has been granted parole.

Business & Markets

Shoppers wait for a Best Buy electronics store to open for Black Friday deals in Westbury, New York. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

Retailers are hoping forecasts for a cool, dry Black Friday across much of the US will drive millions of shoppers to their stores in the kickoff to the key holiday shopping season. Workers and activists in Europe plan demonstrations against Amazon, as Black Friday increasingly moves online.
Nvidia has told customers in China it is delaying the launch of a new artificial intelligence chip it designed to comply with US export rules until the first quarter of next year, sources familiar with the matter said.
Barclays is working on plans to save up to $1.25 billion, which could involve cutting as many as 2,000 jobs, mainly in the British bank's back office, a person with direct knowledge of the proposals told Reuters.
Nissan said it would pump $1.4 billion into its British plant to build electric versions of two models, offering a boost to the country's auto industry and a prime minister desperate to attract foreign investment.
Volkswagen said it will develop a new platform for entry-level electric vehicles in China and use more local components to lower costs, as the German company seeks to regain lost ground in the world's biggest auto market.

The Week Ahead

Investors are torn over when global interest rates are likely to start falling, which is weighing on the dollar at a seasonally tricky time of year.
Markets are hoping that another relatively tame US inflation report can support the end of the Federal Reserve's interest rate hiking campaign. Euro zone inflation data may well confirm a trend of price rises moderating.
China releases official manufacturing PMI data, which last month showed an unexpected contraction, killing momentum for an economic recovery.
World leaders gather in Dubai for the COP28 summit on climate change, but any agreement on how to deal with it or pay to tackle it seems a distant prospect.
Here's a look at the week ahead in world markets.

The World in Pictures

Here's a slideshow of some of the top images from Reuters photographers this week.

And Finally...

People set up a carpet on a rooftop overlooking the old town of Dali in China. REUTERS/Florence Lo

In a mountain town in China's southwest, drifters and tarot card readers rub shoulders with tech entrepreneurs and artists. Many are former city-dwellers in search of an elusive prize in authoritarian China: Space for open discussion and exchange of ideas.

As President Xi Jinping tightens his grip on the restricted personal freedoms of Chinese citizens, Dali in Yunnan province has become a haven for those seeking to escape the pressure.