Control

• PepsiCo shares fell 1.91% this week to close at $133.61. • The price drop follows reports of weak demand in North America and pressure on profit margins. • This downward trend suggests sellers currently control the stock's movement within a contained trading range.

Washington and Florida insiders are exploring lucrative deals for a post-communist Cuba crushed by ever-increasing US sanctionsSpanish hotel chains. A Canadian mining firm. European shipping giants. Visa and Mastercard. Scores of foreign companies have been driven out of Cuba this summer over fear of being hit with potent, new secondary sanctions. Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, told Axios last month there are “no escape valves” from his unprecedented pressure campaign against the island.But not everybody is losing out. A growing cast of Washington and Florida insiders – from billionaire Trump cronies and Rubio-linked lobbyists to Cuban exiles – are jockeying for control of the communist-ruled island-nation’s key assets, charging top dollar to help clients navigate the ever-expanding web of sanctions, and positioning themselves for lucrative business opportunities in the case of regime collapse. Continue reading...

• Iran-backed Houthi rebels swept down the west coast of Yemen this month, gaining control of a strategic strait. • The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported that 125,000 people have already been displaced by this latest round of conflict. • The resurgence of fighting threatens to deepen a long-running humanitarian crisis for the Yemeni population.

• The World Health Organization expressed cautious optimism regarding the trajectory of the current Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. • This event is the second largest Ebola outbreak on record, though overall case counts remain high. • The trend suggests a potential shift in the ability to control the virus within the affected regions of the DRC.

Key allies of PM issue warning as details emerge of his plan to give mayors powers to oversee water companiesKey allies of Andy Burnham have warned the prime minister not to back down over his promises to put water companies under public control, after details emerged about the prime minister’s plan to give mayors more oversight of the industry.Mat Lawrence and Mark McVitie, who helped provide an intellectual underpinning to Burnham’s project over the summer, have both warned that merely giving politicians oversight of key utilities rather than financial control will fall short of what the prime minister promised. Continue reading...

• The Supreme Court rejected the Trump administration's attempt to impose severe restrictions on mail-in voting just weeks before the midterm elections. • In a 7-2 decision, the court upheld a lower court's injunction that prevents the United States Postal Service from implementing new rules regarding who can receive a mail-in ballot. • This ruling prevents the implementation of restrictions that election officials warned would upend the voting process for citizens in November.

Union statement comes after Nigel Farage says a Reform UK government would stop unions funding Labour if they block £72m donations to his partyThe Liberal Democrats have said that they will try to introduce a cap on the amount people donate to political parties by amending the representation of the people bill as it goes through the Lords.Lisa Smart, the Lib Dem Cabinet Office spokesperson, said:We can’t keep playing whack-a-mole with each new attempt by Farage to sell out our democracy.Labour’s residency requirements aren’t good enough and the Conservatives simply sat on their hands whilst in power. For decades governments of both colours have stood by and done nothing.The scale of donations made to Reform in recent days is unprecedented in British politics and should deeply concern anyone who cares about the health and integrity of our democracy.We cannot afford to see the Americanisation of our politics, with out of control political spending, funded by stratospheric sums of crypto and corporate cash. These donations show clearly whose side Reform are on, with crypto billionaires, foreign and powerful corporate interests lining up to pour in eye-watering sums of money to advance their agendas. Continue reading...