Good morning. In this edition:

• 🇺🇸 H-1B visa overhaul
• 🍿 Biggest anime movie ever
• 🤯 Mind-boggling paradoxes

…and much more.

Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be a ~3.63-minute read (965 words).

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"Someone who has never failed somewhere, that person cannot be great. Failure is the true test of greatness."

–Herman Melville (1819-1891)

On Friday, President Trump issued a proclamation imposing a new $100,000 fee for all H-1B visas moving forward, in a decision aimed at reshaping how foreign workers get hired within the US.

Alongside the H-1B visa proclamation, which officially took effect on Sunday, Trump also signed a separate executive order rolling out a “gold card” that grants US citizenship in exchange for $1 million.

What are H-1B visas? It’s the term for a temporary visa that allows US employers to hire foreign workers with at least a bachelor’s degree—or equivalent—for a “specialty occupation” that can’t be filled by US workers. H-1B visas are valid for up to three years, and extendable for up to six years—or even longer if the holder is applying for a green card.

• Applicants must enter a lottery system for one of the 85,000 H-1B visas issued by the US annually, with a ~10% chance of success in any given year.
• Currently, H-1B visas carry a $215 registry fee on top of the $2,000-$5,000 in fees paid by the hiring company in the US.
• Over 70% of H-1B recipients in recent years have come from India, with China ranking second at just over 10%, per federal data.

Trump’s new H-1B system changes things. The one-time $100,000 fee will only start kicking in for H-1B visa applicants who win the next lottery cycle, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt clarified in an X post Saturday afternoon.

• Leavitt’s comments came in response to a furious scramble by several major companies following Trump’s initial H-1B announcement one day earlier.
• Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Goldman Sachs were reportedly among the companies that urged their H-1B workers not to leave the US and to return from overseas on Saturday, citing fear of potentially being on the hook for $100,000 payments.

H-1B visas are a political flash point

Policymakers across the political spectrum have argued that H-1Bs are often used to hire cheaper foreign labor over American workers, and that companies often abuse the program by directly replacing US employees instead of filling genuine labor shortages.

• “President Trump promised to put American workers first, and this commonsense action does just that by discouraging companies from spamming the system and driving down wages," White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers told FOX Business.
• Similar critiques have long been raised by other politicians, including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO), and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA).

On the flip side: Some pro-tech and immigration-focused groups oppose Trump's new changes to the H-1B program. They argue limiting such visas will shrink America’s talent pipeline, undermine job creation, and make it harder for the US to compete with China in developing technologies like AI.

Big picture: There are currently an estimated 730,000 H-1B holders within the US, as well as an additional 550,000 dependents (like spouses and children), representing nearly 1.3 million US residents. H-1B visas are one of several different work visas available to foreigners seeking employment in the US.

📊 Flash poll: How do you feel about the Trump admin’s move to implement a one-time $100,000 fee for all new H-1B visas moving forward?

• Support
• Oppose
• Unsure/other

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BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 📲 A deal bringing TikTok's US platform under American ownership is close to being signed, per White House officials; TikTok’s new US app will feature a seven-member board with six Americans and one seat controlled by China’s ByteDance; President Trump said members of the Fox News-owning Murdoch family will likely join the US TikTok team.
• 🛒 Amazon’s FTC trial examining allegations that the e-commerce giant uses misleading tactics to entice and keep Prime customers kicks off today.
• 🏬 Saks Fifth Avenue parent reportedly in talks to sell 49% of ultraluxury department store Bergdorf Goodman for ~$1 billion.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

in partnership with MorningSave

• 🍿 Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle remained atop the North American box office in its second weekend, earning $17.3 million; the Japanese film is now the highest-grossing anime movie of all time—both domestically ($104 million) and globally ($555 million).
• 🤖 AI music startup Moises to take Whitney Houston on tour 13 years after her passing.
• 🏟️ CFB: See a full Week 4 recap (link). | NFL: See a full Week 3 recap (link). | Las Vegas Aces C A'ja Wilson becomes first player to be named WNBA MVP four times.

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SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 🤖 Scientists found ChatGPT "tended to sacrifice accuracy for simplicity" when asked to summarize complex scientific findings for a non-expert audience, per a new informal study.
• 🐦 First-known “grue jay” hybrid, or mix between a green jay and blue jay, discovered in a suburb of San Antonio, Texas.
• 💉 RFK Jr.'s vaccine advisers unanimously endorsed scrapping a recommendation that Americans age 65+ get a Covid vaccine, but stopped short of requiring a prescription to get a shot.

US, WORLD & POLITICS

• 🙏 Charlie Kirk memorial held yesterday at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.
• 🌍 The UK, Australia, Canada, and Portugal formally announce the recognition of Palestinian statehood, marking a shift in longstanding foreign policy among Western nations; the countries say the move is aimed at rekindling discussions of a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict.
• 🏛️ The Trump admin scraps annual USDA effort to gather data on food insecurity among Americans, saying the data has become “overly politicized” and unnecessary.

☝️ The Notre Dame Cathedral opened its towers to the public on Friday for the first time since fires ravaged through the historic site six years ago. The opening of the towers marks the final major stage in its $1 billion reconstruction process.

🤔 Did you know? Our current year is the sum of the first 10 cubes; 0³+1³+2³+3³+4³+5³+6³+7³+8³+9³=2025 🥳

📰 Worth a read: How the classic McIntosh (not MacIntosh) lost the battle for apple supremacy

🖱️ Clickbait: 20 paradoxes that will boggle your mind

Monday: Autumnal equinox, bringing fall to the Northern Hemisphere (and vice versa)

Tuesday: Start of Milan Fashion Week; first day of high-level General Debate at UN General Assembly in NYC

Wednesday: Slow Horses Season 5 hits Apple TV+

Thursday: Weekly unemployment claims

Friday: Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another starring Leo DiCaprio hits theaters; Doja Cat drops new album Vie

On Friday, we covered how Disney, ABC's parent company, pulled late-night host Jimmy Kimmel’s TV show from ABC indefinitely following recent on-air comments from Kimmel about the Charlie Kirk assassination.

❓ Our question to you: How do you feel about Disney’s decision to pull Jimmy Kimmel’s TV show indefinitely following recent on-air comments about the Kirk assassination?

• Support: 27%
• Oppose: 66%
• Unsure/other: 7%

Click here to read some of the most thoughtful longform responses.

+Note on sample size: We received 1,581 votes and 270 longform responses.

Can you guess the definitions of the following Greek/Latin root words?

1. Capit
2. Dia
3. Kine
4. Nas
5. Pept

🥹 People can't get enough of this unlikely pair of roommates, besties, and pro-snugglers at the Denver Zoo: capybara and a howler monkey, two animals we'd likely never see together in the wild.

1. Capit = Head (e.g., capital)
2. Dia = Through (diameter)
3. Kine = Movement (kinetic)
4. Nas = Nose (nasal)
5. Pept = To digest (peptide)