Good morning. On today’s docket:

• 📝 A deep dive into the Israel-Hamas conflict
• 🔒 Organized retail theft is having consequences for consumers
• ✌️ Drake says: just hold on, I’m going home

… and more.

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be about a 4.73-minute read.

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“Love your enemies, for they tell you your faults.”

–Benjamin Franklin (1705-1790)

Early Saturday morning, Palestinian militant group Hamas launched a series of attacks on Israel by land, sea, and air from the Gaza Strip, prompting Israel to declare war on Hamas and launch retaliatory strikes targeting Gaza.

⏪ Some quick background: Hamas, an Iranian-backed organization classified by the US and many Western nations as a terrorist group, has governed the ~2 million Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip since 2007. Hamas is also committed to establishing an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital – a goal which is opposed by Israel’s government.

In recent months, Israeli leaders had started to publicly downplay the threat posed by militants within the Gaza Strip. But it appears Israeli intelligence agencies were deceived by Hamas, which launched a surprise attack early Saturday and stormed roughly a dozen Israeli towns near the Gaza Strip border.

• Hamas troops killed at least 900 Israeli residents – including 250+ mostly young civilians attending a music festival – and took dozens more as hostages, marking the deadliest attack on Israeli soil since 1973.
• In response, Israel launched an ongoing bombing campaign targeting over 1,000 sites around and within the Gaza Strip, killing at least 560 Palestinian residents. Israel also cut off all food, energy, and water supplies to Gaza.
• Hamas yesterday evening threatened to start executing Israeli civilian hostages if Israel continues to bombard civilian homes in Gaza without firing warning shots.

🌎 The world reacts: Many major Western powers declared their support for Israel over the weekend, including the US, UK, Germany, and France. President Biden deployed an aircraft carrier strike group to the eastern Mediterranean Sea on Sunday, and also committed to supplying Israel’s military with munitions and other equipment.

In the Middle East, the leaders of Iran and Palestine voiced their support for Hamas, while Saudi Arabia – which was reportedly close to a historic deal to normalize relations with Israel prior to this past weekend – said it rejected the targeting of civilians, but didn't condemn Hamas’ attack.

👀 Looking ahead… Israel’s military yesterday drafted 300,000 reserve soldiers – its largest number in decades – in preparation for a possible ground offensive in the Gaza Strip over the next few days or weeks.

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🇨🇳🇺🇸 A bipartisan group of US senators visited China for high-level diplomatic talks. The delegation of six senators – led by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) – marks the first congressional visit to China since 2019. US officials say the ongoing trip will focus on US-China trade relations, human rights, Chinese fentanyl production, and areas for potential cooperation between Washington and Beijing. Experts say the senators’ meeting yesterday with Chinese President Xi Jinping is a positive sign that Xi could agree to meet President Biden next month in San Francisco for the first time since Biden took office.

🇧🇷 The Amazon rainforest in Brazil is facing a severe drought. Historically low water levels have left roughly half-a-million Brazilian residents struggling to access necessities in the Amazon region, where rivers are the main mode of transportation. The ongoing drought has affected most of the main waterways in the Amazon, the world’s largest river basin, which contains ~20% of all freshwater on Earth. Drought-like conditions in Brazil’s Amazon region are projected to last through early 2024.

🇦🇪 UAE residents discovered 150 cats dumped in the Abu Dhabi desert. Local officials opened an investigation into the incident, but say it’s currently unclear why the animals were dumped or who was behind it. PETA is also offering a reward for any relevant information about the abandoned cats, some of whom were microchipped. Rescuers have saved nearly 100 pets thus far, with volunteers currently working to find them homes.

Organized retail theft can spring from anywhere – even a church.

For years, a man named Robert Dell ran a drug recovery program at what was known as The Rock Community Church and Transformation Center in St. Petersburg, Florida. But prosecutors recently accused him of being more John Dillinger II than John Paul II, and running an organized retail-crime ring on the side.

🤔 How it (allegedly) worked: Dell would operate as a fence, acting as a middleman to buy stolen goods from thieves and resell them for a profit, prosecutors say.

He’d encourage attendees of his drug recovery program to steal tools from Home Depot stores all over Florida and then drop them off at his home, after which he’d sell the stolen merch online. Using the eBay account Anointed Liquidator (lol), Dell has allegedly offloaded $3 million worth of items since 2016, per prosecutors. (Dell has pleaded not guilty to the charges.)

📈 Zoom out: Though details vary from case to case, these types of organized crime stories aren’t all that unique. Trade group RILA says organized retail crime cost US retailers ~$70 billion in 2020 – and it’s only gotten worse since the pandemic.

• Executives at retailers such as Walmart, Target, and Macy’s in August blamed criminal networks for causing problems with their inventories. Enter: more plexiglass cases and steel cables to lock down merchandise, as well as stores increasingly putting products behind the checkout counter.
• Other retailers – including Nordstrom and Nike – are permanently closing locations they say have been hard-hit by theft and crime.

💬 Quoted… "See ya when I see ya."

• On Friday, hours after the release of his latest album For All The Dogs, Drake said he plans to take a break from making music due to ongoing stomach issues, which have plagued him for years. The five-time Grammy-winner, who is 36, will perform two concerts in Toronto this coming weekend before stepping away to focus on his health.

🧑‍💻 Stat of the Day: $2.7 billion = the amount of money Americans have lost due to social media scams dating back to 2021, per an FTC report published Friday. The FTC also found that 1 in 4 Americans who lost money to fraud since 2021 were scammed on social media – higher than any other form of communication (including websites, phone calls, e-mails, online ads, and snail mail).

🤔 Did You Know?... Scientists estimate more than 99.9% of all species that ever lived on Earth are extinct, with the average species lifespan ranging from 1 to 10 million years.

📰 Worth a Read: Division of labor in ants, wasps, bees – and us → (Knowable Magazine)

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• ☝️ The Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta officially kicked off on Saturday; the nine-day fiesta drew 830,000 attendees from around the world last year; the 2023 event includes a hot-air balloon race in which contestants attempt to travel the furthest without landing.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

in partnership with Finance Buzz

• 💼 The US economy added 336,000 new jobs in September, per new Labor Department data; economists were expecting 170,000; the unemployment rate stayed at 3.8%.
• 🐭 A potential proxy battle is brewing at Disney; investor Nelson Peltz’s activist firm, Trian Fund Management, increased its stake in the entertainment giant to become one of Disney’s largest shareholders.
• 🍎👓 Apple is reportedly working on a new Vision headset that’s smaller and lighter, and could ship from the factory with prescription lenses.

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SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• SCOREBOARD: 🏈 CFB: No. 12 Oklahoma beat No. 3 Texas by a score of 34-30, while No. 25 Louisville upset No. 10 Notre Dame 33-13; see other highlights from the weekend (link). | 🏈 NFL: The 49ers dominated the Cowboys 42-10, while the Chiefs beat the Vikings 27-20 (full Week 4 recap). | ⚾ MLB (all series best of five): In the AL, the Rangers have a 2-0 series lead over the Orioles while the Astros and Twins are tied at 1-1; in the NL, the Braves and Phillies are tied at 1-1, while the (Dodgers and Diamondbacks are tied at 1-1/Diamondbacks have a 2-0 lead over the Dodgers); see the upcoming schedule (link).
• 🤸 Simone Biles is the GOAT: The 26-year-old became the world's most decorated gymnast on Friday, clinching her 21st world title and 34th medal across the world championships and Olympics.
• 🏃 Kenyan long-distance runner Kelvin Kiptum set a new, formally recognized marathon world record on Sunday, finishing the Chicago Marathon in 2 hours, 0 minutes, and 35 seconds.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

in partnership with moomoo

• 👣 An independent analysis of ancient human footprints recently discovered in New Mexico suggests humans reached North America as early as 23,000 years ago – or roughly 10,000 years earlier than previously thought.
• 🛰️🌐 Amazon launched the first two prototype satellites for its Project Kuiper internet constellation, which aims to build a network of 3,200+ satellites to compete with SpaceX’s Starlink.
• 🚀🇪🇸 Spanish company PLD Space successfully completed Europe’s first entirely private rocket launch.

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MISCELLANEOUS

• 🕊️ The 2023 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi, a woman described as Iran’s “Nelson Mandela,” for her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all. | 💰 The 2023 Nobel Prize for Economic Sciences was awarded to Claudia Goldin for her work illuminating the structural differences that create pay and employment gaps between men and women.
• 🚫💵 California approved new legislation that will ban junk fees – aka food service charges, bank overdraft fees, and other line items that "far exceed the marginal cost of the service they purport to cover" – starting next July.
• 🗳️ Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. officially switched his party affiliation from Democrat to Independent yesterday. (From the Left | From the Center | From the Right)

CLICKBAIT

• 🎓🤑 This year’s top 10 highest-paying college majors include some you may have never heard of.

**Disclosure: Terms & Conditions apply. See bit.ly/46qkwiU.

On Friday, we covered the upcoming 2024 presidential election cycle, which officially kicks off with Iowa’s first-in-the-nation GOP caucus on January 15.

❓ Our question to you: If next year’s presidential election were held today, who would you vote for?

• 🐘 The Republican candidate: 26%
• 🐴 The Democratic candidate: 38%
• 3️⃣ A third-party candidate: 16%
• 🔞 I’m too young/I don’t vote: 8%
• 🤷 Unsure/other: 12%

Click here to read some of the best responses.

+Note on sample size: We received 9,857 votes and 1,026 longform responses.

Middle school Social Studies teacher Paul Durietz started his career in Gurness, Illinois, in 1970. 

The educator was recently awarded the Guinness World Record for the longest career as a social studies teacher, clocking in an impressive 53 years. 

🌳 Bloom where you're planted... Paul's love for history came from his father, who fought in WWII. The passionate teacher first stepped up as social studies curriculum coordinator in 1986, and he's since coached over 20 other educators in his school.

• "Keep working on what you love to do in life," he said. "It may turn into a world record."

Guess the definitions of the following Greek/Latin root words:

1. Acerb
2. Chore
3. Dendr
4. Grav
5. Noct

(keep scrolling for the answers)

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1. Acerb = Sharp, sour (e.g., acerbic, exacerbate)
2. Chore = Relating to dance (choreography)
3. Dendr = Resembling a tree (dendrite, dendrochronology)
4. Grav = Heavy (gravity, aggravation)
5. Noct = Night (nocturnal, noctambulist)