By Douglas Gillison and Chris Prentice

(Reuters) -The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday agreed to roll out new rules aimed at boosting transparency of short selling, the controversial practice of betting against stocks that drew new scrutiny amid the GameStop saga.

First proposed in late 2021 and early 2022, the rules will require investors to report their short positions to the agency, and companies that lend out shares to report that activity to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), a self-regulatory body that polices brokers.

Short selling involves borrowing a stock to sell it in the expectation the price will fall, then repurchasing the shares and pocketing the difference. Should the price rise, the seller can be exposed to potentially unlimited losses.

Short interest in the U.S. market totaled $927 billion as of Thursday, according to analytics firm S3 Partners. The practice has long been divisive, with critics accusing short sellers of trying to hurt companies, and short sellers arguing they help root out fraud and corporate misconduct.

Short selling drew renewed scrutiny from Congress in 2021 when retail investors drove up the price of shares in retailer GameStop, causing heavy losses for hedge funds that had shorted the company. In the wake of the saga, SEC chair Gary Gensler told lawmakers he would increase the transparency of the market.

“Given past market events, it’s important for the (SEC) and the public to know more about short sale activity in the equity markets, especially in times of stress or volatility,” Gensler said in a statement on Friday.

The new rules require institutional investors to report their gross short positions to the SEC monthly and certain “net” short activity for individual dates on which trades settle. The SEC plans to then publish aggregate stock-specific data on a delayed basis.

Such data makes regulators and the public “better positioned to prevent or respond to … destabilizing events,” said Stephen Hall of Better Markets, which advocates for tougher financial rules.

FINRA already publishes short interest reports collected from broker-dealers, but the new rule will apply to institutional investment managers too, offering a fuller picture of market-wide short bets. The new data will also include a daily net activity on each settlement, data not currently available with FINRA or the exchanges.

But hedged funds represented by the Managed Funds Association said on Friday the rules could expose investors’ strategies. “Investment advisers will face more risk when selling short, which will harm investors, market participants, and market efficiency,” said its CEO Bryan Corbett.

ACTIVIST SHORTS

In addition to GameStop, the rise of activist short-sellers who publish negative research on companies in the hopes of depressing the share price has also drawn regulatory scrutiny.

Since at least 2021, the Justice Department and the SEC have also been investigating potential manipulation by short sellers and hedge funds around the publication of negative research reports.

SEC officials said the new rules, which the commission agreed upon in a 3-2 vote, support the agency’s efforts to police the practice.

In separate 3-2 vote, the SEC also adopted a rule requiring institutional investors and other companies involved in lending stock as well as certain broker-dealers who borrow stocks to report information about the loans, such as the name and volume of the stock, collateral, loan dates and termination dates to FINRA.

FINRA will then publish most of this data on an aggregate anonymized basis the following day. In a concession to industry, the final rule would see FINRA delay release of loan amounts by 20 business days.

The rules will be effective 60 days after being publishing in the federal government’s register.

(Reporting by Douglas Gillison and Chris Prentice; editing by Michelle Price, Chizu Nomiyama and Chris Reese)

By Mark Trevelyan

(Reuters) – Russian investigators on Friday detained three lawyers who have worked for Alexei Navalny, allies of the jailed opposition leader said, in what they called a move to deepen his isolation and deprive him of legal support.

Navalny aides said lawyers Vadim Kobzev, Igor Sergunin and Alexei Liptser were being investigated on suspicion of belonging to an “extremist group”.

Later on Friday, a Moscow court remanded all three in investigative custody until Dec. 13, according to a statement posted by the court on Telegram. The video published by the court showed Kobzev and Sergunin in courtroom cages listening to the ruling.

The detentions came as Navalny, 47, awaits transfer from the penal colony where he has been held to a harsher “special regime” establishment, after being convicted of a range of new charges relating to “extremist” activity.

Navalny, the best-known domestic critic of President Vladimir Putin, was sentenced in August to an additional 19 years, on top of 11-1/2 years he was already serving.

One of the lawyers, Kobzev, had been due to appear with Navalny on Friday in the latest of a series of lawsuits Navalny has filed against the IK-6 penal colony, about 235 km (145 miles) east of Moscow, where he is currently held.

“Information has just arrived that, of course, perfectly characterizes not only my proceedings but also the state of the rule of law in Russia.” Navalny told the judge on learning of the investigations against his lawyers.

“As in Soviet times, not only political activists and political prisoners but also their lawyers are being persecuted.”

Navalny has been in prison for two years and nine months since being arrested on his return from Germany, where he had been treated after being poisoned with a nerve agent in Siberia.

The Kremlin denied trying to kill him, and refuses to comment on his case or his treatment by prison authorities. It has sought in the past, without providing evidence, to portray him as a puppet of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.

Despite his imprisonment, Navalny has been able through his lawyers to post on social media and file frequent lawsuits over his treatment in prison, where he has endured long spells in solitary confinement for trivial misdemeanours like failing to fasten the top button of his uniform.

He rejects all the charges against him as politically motivated and designed to silence his criticism of Putin.

Navalny aide Leonid Volkov posted on the X social media platform that the three lawyers faced up to six years in prison if found guilty of belonging to an extremist group, “just for being Navalny’s lawyers”.

“This is an act of intimidation with a clear intention to strengthen Navalny’s isolation from the outer world,” Volkov said.

He said it would mean that after Navalny’s expected transfer to the new penal colony, “his lawyers will not be able to visit him there or even to find out his whereabouts if they’re locked up themselves”, a prospect that Volkov described as “terrifying”.

(Additional reporting by Alexander Marrow and Maxim Rodionov; Editing by Peter Graff and Diane Craft)

By Moira Warburton, David Morgan and Katharine Jackson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday prepared to pick another candidate to lead the chamber, in a vote that will test whether hardliner Jim Jordan can surmount the party divisions that led Steve Scalise to abandon his bid.

Republican infighting has left the House paralyzed for 10 days, as lawmakers have deadlocked over a successor to Kevin McCarthy, who was forced out by a small group of Republican insurgents on Oct. 3.

As party lawmakers prepared for a closed-door nominating vote, some said their problems ran deeper than a simple lack of leadership.

“There’s a lack of trust. There’s a lack of transparency,” said Representative Kat Cammack. “That’s what we need to address before we can even really get to the speaker.”

Candidates included Jordan, who narrowly lost the nomination to Scalise on Wednesday, and Austin Scott, a Georgia lawmaker who has kept a relatively low profile in his 12 years in Congress.

“I think I can unite the conference, I think I can tell the country what we’re doing and why it matters,” said Jordan, who tormented Republican leaders for years as a vocal advocate for the party’s right wing.

But Jordan faced skepticism from those who were angry that his supporters had failed to unite behind Scalise.

“I just think that Steve got a raw deal,” said Representative Vern Buchanan.

Scott said he was running to put an end to the chaos.

“If we, as Republicans, are going to be the majority, we have to do the right things the right way. And we’re not doing that right now,” he said.

McCarthy said he supported Jordan and thought he had enough support to win.

A successful candidate would need to secure 217 votes from the splintered 221-212 Republican majority to win the job, which Scalise was unable to do even though he has held the No. 2 leadership job for years.

Some members said they were pushing for a vote by the full house this weekend, once Republicans picked a nominee.

HOUSE PARALYZED

Without a speaker, the House is at a deadlock as war expands in the Middle East, Russia continues to pound Ukraine and the government faces a Nov. 17 partial shutdown deadline without additional funding from Congress.

Some Republicans have suggested expanding McHenry’s powers as temporary speaker, which would enable the House to take up aid to Israel and other pressing matters.

Others have said they may need to strike a deal with Democrats, who have joined with Republican leaders several times this year to avert a government shutdown in September and a debt default in June. But Democrats said they had not heard from Republicans about that possibility.

Republicans have been hoping to avoid a repeat of the embarrassing spectacle that occurred in January, when hardline conservatives forced McCarthy to endure 15 floor votes over four days before winning the gavel.

Jordan backers said he would eventually be able to consolidate support even if he does not win in the first few rounds of voting. They said his confrontational style could help in negotiating with Democratic President Joe Biden and the Democratic-controlled Senate.

“We need someone who is tough, who’s smart and can negotiate in that room. I think Jim Jordan can do it,” said Representative Nicole Malliotakis.

While McCarthy was the first speaker in U.S. history ousted by a vote of the chamber, the last two Republicans to hold the job – John Boehner and Paul Ryan – also left under pressure from their right flanks.

(Reporting by David Morgan, Katharine Jackson, Moria Warburton and Richard Cowan; Writing by Andy Sullivan; Editing by Scott Malone, Gerry Doyle and Jonathan Oatis)

By Lewis Krauskopf

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Investors in the coming week will get a look at the state of U.S. consumers – whose spending drives around two-thirds of the economy – with a U.S. retail sales report and earnings due from Procter & Gamble, Netflix and a slew of banks.

Durable consumer spending has been a key reason for the economy’s resilience in the face of higher interest rates, with a better-than-expected economy supporting stocks this year. The S&P 500 is up about 13% year-to-date, though it has retreated roughly 6% from highs reached in late July.

Retail sales data, due out on Tuesday, may have to walk a tightrope to satisfy investors. A number that is far stronger than expected could stir fears of a rebound in inflation and bolster worries that the Federal Reserve will need to keep rates elevated for longer.

Conversely, a weak number could reignite concerns of an economic downturn that the U.S. has so far managed to avoid, despite the Fed raising borrowing costs to their highest levels in decades.

“It’s hyper-important to us because that’s really what has been resilient in this economy,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B Riley Wealth. “We really want to see what consumers are doing versus what they’re saying.”

Retail sales are expected to have risen 0.3% on a monthly basis in September, according to economists polled by Reuters.

As third quarter earnings season heats up, investors are also on guard for signs that the conflict between Israel and Hamas is widening. Investors headed to safe-haven assets such as Treasuries and gold on Friday amid worries the conflict could intensify over the weekend.

There have been some signs that consumer strength may be wavering. A survey on Friday showed U.S. consumer sentiment deteriorated in October, with households expecting higher inflation over the next year. The third straight monthly decline in sentiment reported by the University of Michigan was nearly across all demographic groups.

Major U.S. banks on Friday warned the economy was slowing as customers depleted their savings.

“There are a lot of questions around how the consumer is holding up,” said Walter Todd, chief investment officer at Greenwood Capital.

As earnings reports arrive, investors will also focus on comments from bank executives about whether Americans are defaulting on loans and paying back credit card debt. Bank of America reports results on Tuesday, with a number of regional banks expected in the coming week as well.

Earnings reports from other industries will also offer views on consumer behavior. They include consumer products giant Procter & Gamble, electric vehicle maker Tesla, streaming company Netflix, casino operator Las Vegas Sands and America Airlines Group.

Todd, of Greenwood Capital, is focused on insight from companies about the cumulative effect of “higher inflation and higher rates on the consumer.”

“Throw on top of that the student loan payments kicking back up, that should all put incremental pressure on their ability to potentially spend,” he said.

To be sure, a strong retail sales number could also spark concerns, potentially renewing worries that a too-hot economy will push the Fed to take a more hawkish interest rate stance.

Such an outcome could extend a rise in Treasury yields that has pressured stocks in recent weeks. The U.S. 10-year benchmark yield currently stands at 4.65%, after hitting a 16-year high earlier this month. Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Cresset Capital, said he is looking for the benchmark Treasury yield to come “off the boil” and fall to around 4.5%, boosting investors’ appetite for risk. “If indeed we see waning strength in consumer spending, that will likely take some of the pressure off interest rates and the Fed,” Ablin said. “The conclusions from the consumer next week, I think, is going to be bad news is good news.”

(Reporting by Lewis Krauskopf; Editing by Ira Iosebashvili and Jonathan Oatis)

By Julia Harte and Steve Gorman

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. law enforcement agencies escalated security measures on Friday to safeguard Jewish and Muslim communities as protests over the conflict between Israel and Hamas unfolded in a number of cities across the United States and around the world.

Police in the two most populous U.S. cities – New York and Los Angeles – said they were stepping up patrols, especially around synagogues and Jewish community centers, though authorities insisted they were unaware of any specific, or credible threats.

The heightened security follows a call by former Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal for protests on Friday in support of Palestinians. Israel has been retaliating against a Hamas rampage in southern Israel last weekend that killed at least 1,300. At least 1,800 Palestinians have died in an aerial bombardment of the coastal enclave of Gaza by the Israeli military.

U.S. national security officials met at the White House on Friday morning to discuss preparations to safeguard Jewish and Muslim communities across the country, as well as helping to protect diplomatic facilities in Washington and cities where Israeli consulates are located, including New York and Los Angeles.

“At this time, none of our intelligence agencies have any specific intelligence indicating a threat to the United States stemming from the Hamas terrorist attack in Israel,” said White House spokesman John Kirby. “That said, we continue to remain vigilant to any and all possible threats.”

New York City officials said they were bracing for at least one major demonstration planned for Times Square on Friday.

“Every member of the New York Police Department will be ready and be in uniform tomorrow,” NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell told reporters. “We will not tolerate any hate, any acts of disorder; it will be quelled quickly and we will be ready.”

New York City Mayor Eric Adams said his office had directed police to “surge additional resources to schools and houses of worship to ensure they are safe and that our city remains a place of peace.”

Extra police patrols were being deployed in Jewish and Muslim communities alike, he said.

Governor Kathy Hochul ordered New York state’s National Guard to patrol vital transportation hubs.

Across the country, the Los Angeles Police Department issued a statement saying its officers would assume a higher profile around Jewish and Muslim communities.

PRO-ISRAELI RALLY

In Washington, a rally supporting Israel and the American Jewish community drew about 200 people at the city’s Freedom Plaza, in view of the Capitol complex, where police had erected protective fencing the night before.

Ron Halber, director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, blasted calls for a ceasefire and addressed criticism that Israel was using disproportionate force.

Halber said Saturday’s attacks had shown that using “equal force” against an enemy like Hamas was ineffective. “Those used to be the days but don’t expect the Jewish people (to) ever accept that type of situation ever again,” he said.

The Council and another organizer of the event, the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, said they had been in contact with U.S. Park Police, which patrols the plaza, and decided to proceed with the rally after confirming there were no credible threats.

Protests erupted at several U.S. college campuses on Thursday after a national pro-Palestinian group declared a “day of resistance” and called for its 200 college chapters to hold demonstrations. The protests occurred amid reports of assaults against students on both sides, and some chapters canceled them for safety reasons.

FBI REASSURES SOME, ALARMS OTHERS

The FBI said it was aware of the calls for global action that may lead to demonstrations in U.S. communities on Friday and encouraged members of the public to remain vigilant.

At least one Arab-American advocacy group pointed to a more hostile posture taken by federal law enforcement toward Muslim groups than Jews.

The Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee said on Thursday that FBI agents had paid visits to a number of mosques in different states and individual U.S. residents with Palestinian roots, calling it a “troubling trend.”

“We have received multiple calls today regarding Palestinian nationals detained by ICE, and/or visited by the FBI,” the organization’s national executive director, Abed Ayoub, said.

Rabbi Yoni Fein, who heads a large Jewish day school in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the Brauser Maimonides Academy, said “higher alerts of operations are definitely in place” in anticipation of global protests on Friday.

He said the FBI, Department of Homeland Security and other federal authorities had held online security sessions with Jewish institutions around the country.

But Fein said the school was seeking to reassure students they are safe and to go about their lives.

(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb and Steve Gorman in Los Angeles. Additional reporting by Kanishka Singh, Patricia Zengerle and Brendan O’Brien; Writing by Steve Gorman; Editing by Lincoln Feast, Jonathan Oatis and Alistair Bell)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The White House said on Friday it has not seen any indications that other actors were considering joining and widening the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas.

“We haven’t seen any other external actor that has indicated a willingness or readiness to widen and deepen this conflict,” White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters. The comments came hours after Hezbollah deputy chief Naim Qassem said on Friday that the group would not be swayed by calls for it to stay on the sidelines of the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, saying the party was “fully ready” to contribute to the fighting.

(Reporting by Phil Stewart, Doina Chiacu, Jarrett Renshaw, Trevor Hunnicutt and Jeff Mason)

By Jonathan Landay

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States must prepare for possible simultaneous wars with Russia and China by expanding its conventional forces, strengthening alliances and enhancing its nuclear weapons modernization program, a congressionally appointed bipartisan panel said on Thursday.

The report from the Strategic Posture Commission comes amid tensions with China over Taiwan and other issues and worsening frictions with Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

A senior official involved in the report declined to say if the panel’s intelligence briefings showed any Chinese and Russian nuclear weapons cooperation.

“We worry … there may be ultimate coordination between them in some way, which gets us to this two-war construct,” the official said on condition of anonymity.

The findings would upend current U.S. national security strategy calling for winning one conflict while deterring another and require huge defense spending increases with uncertain congressional support.

“We do recognize budget realities, but we also believe the nation must make these investments,” the Democratic chair, Madelyn Creedon, a former deputy head of the agency that oversees U.S. nuclear weapons, and the vice chair, Jon Kyl, a retired Republican senator, said in the report’s preface.

Addressing a briefing held to release the report, Kyl said the president and Congress must “take the case to the American people” that higher defense spending is a small price to pay “to hopefully preclude” a possible nuclear war involving the United States, China and Russia.

The report contrasts with U.S. President Joe Biden’s position that the current U.S. nuclear arsenal is sufficient to deter the combined forces of Russia and China.

The arsenal’s makeup “still exceeds what is necessary to hold a sufficient number of adversary targets at risk so as to deter enemy nuclear attack,” the Arms Control Association advocacy group said in response to the report.

“The United States and its allies must be ready to deter and defeat both adversaries simultaneously,” the Strategic Posture Commission said. “The U.S.-led international order and the values it upholds are at risk from the Chinese and Russian authoritarian regimes.”

Congress in 2022 created the panel of six Democrats and six Republicans to assess long-term threats to the United States and recommend changes in U.S. conventional and nuclear forces.

The panel accepted a Pentagon forecast that China’s rapid nuclear arsenal expansion likely will give it 1,500 nuclear warheads by 2035, confronting the United States with a second major nuclear-armed rival for the first time.

The Chinese and Russian threats will become acute in the 2027-2035 timeframe so “decisions need to be made now in order for the nation to be prepared,” said the 145-page report.

The report said the 30-year U.S. nuclear arms modernization program, which began in 2010 and was estimated in 2017 to cost around $400 billion by 2046, must be fully funded to upgrade all warheads, delivery systems and infrastructure on schedule.

Other recommendations included deploying more tactical nuclear weapons in Asia and Europe, developing plans to deploy some or all reserve U.S. nuclear warheads, and production of more B-21 stealth bombers and new Columbia-class nuclear submarines beyond the numbers now planned.

The panel also called for boosting the “size, type, and posture” of U.S. and allied conventional forces. If such measures are not taken, the United States “will likely” have to increase its reliance on nuclear weapons, the report said.

(Reporting by Jonathan Landay; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

(Reuters) – “Now is the time for war,” Israel’s military chief said as his country amassed tanks near the Gaza Strip ahead of a planned ground invasion to annihilate the Palestinian militant Hamas group that rules the enclave.

Washington urged Israel to protect civilians and the Red Cross warned of a humanitarian catastrophe in the enclave.

The United Nations World Food Programme said crucial supplies were running dangerously low in Gaza after Israel imposed a total blockade.

CONFLICT

* U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the Israeli government showed him photographs and videos of Hamas atrocities, including of a baby riddled with bullets, soldiers beheaded and young people burned.

* Israel’s public broadcaster Kan said the Israeli death toll had risen to more than 1,300.

* Gaza authorities said more than 1,400 Palestinians have been killed and more than 6,000 wounded.

* Gaza’s ruling Hamas militants called on Palestinians to rise up on Friday in protest at Israel’s bombardment of the enclave, urging Palestinians to march to East Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque and clash with Israeli troops in the occupied West Bank.

* Human Rights Watch accused Israel of using white phosphorus munitions in its military operations in Gaza and Lebanon.

* Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned violence against civilians.

* Egypt said it was directing international aid flights for Gaza to an airport in Sinai near the Gaza border.

HUMAN IMPACT

* Israeli air strikes have made major cemeteries in Gaza dangerous to reach so mourning families are burying their dead in informal graveyards dug in empty lots.

* An Israeli family fears for an ailing grandmother driven off by Hamas gunmen.

* When Israel called up its reservists and declared war this week, the response was swift and overwhelming.

INTERNATIONAL

* Britain is deploying two Royal Navy ships and surveillance aircraft to the eastern Mediterranean to support Israel and reinforce regional stability.

* What have U.S. presidential candidates said about Hamas’ attack on Israel?

* Israel, the White House and some rival Republican presidential candidates criticized former U.S. President Donald Trump after he described Hezbollah as “smart” and said Netanyahu “was not prepared” for the attack.

* Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told the German chancellor that a sovereign Palestinian state should be established for a lasting solution to the conflict, the Turkish presidency said.

* French police used teargas and water cannon to break up a banned rally in support of the Palestinian people in Paris.

* China’s top diplomat and foreign minister Wang Yi said the Palestinian issue is the core of the Middle East conflict, and that crux of the matter was that “justice” had been denied to the Palestinian people.

* Iran’s foreign minister said the continuation of crimes against Palestinians will receive a response from “the rest of the axis” and Israel will be responsible for the consequences.

INSIGHTS

* An Israeli invasion of Gaza will face an enemy that has built a formidable armoury and dug a vast tunnel network to evade attackers.

* A factbox on the Gaza Strip, devastated by conflict and economic blockade.

* The war falls under a complex international system of justice that has emerged since World War Two.

* The conflict hinges on statehood, land, Jerusalem and refugees, pitting Israeli demands for security against Palestinian aspirations for a state of their own.

* “He is elusive. He is the man in the shadows.” The secretive Hamas mastermind behind the assault: Mohammed Deif.

* The Israel-Hamas war upends Biden’s two-pronged Mideast strategy: brokering Israeli-Saudi detente and containing Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

MARKETS AND BUSINESS

* Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda said the conflict added to already high uncertainty over the global economic outlook, which has made it difficult for the central bank to navigate monetary policy.

* Israel’s parliamentary finance committee approved a plan to provide a state guarantee of $6 billion to cover insurance against war risks to Israeli airlines.

* Airlines wrestled with the safety risk of evacuation operations.

* What are global firms with a presence in Israel doing after the Hamas attack?

* Israel has raised $200 million in diaspora bonds since the war with Hamas began, Israel Bonds said.

* International Monetary Fund managing director Kristalina Georgieva said the “heartbreaking” Israel-Hamas conflict threatened to darken an already murky global economic outlook.

(Compiled by Stephen Farrell, Lisa Shumaker and Lincoln Feast)

By John Davison, Humeyra Pamuk and Sabine Siebold

JERUSALEM/TEL AVIV/BRUSSELS (Reuters) -Israel’s government showed U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and NATO defence ministers graphic images of dead children and civilians on Thursday, saying they were killed by Palestinian group Hamas as it builds support for its response.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office also released on social media a picture of a dead infant in a pool of blood and the charred body of a child, part of an apparent effort to stoke global anger against the Gaza militants over Saturday’s attack.

Blinken, who flew into Tel Aviv earlier on Thursday, told reporters he was shown photographs and videos of a baby riddled with bullets, soldiers beheaded and young people burned alive in their cars or hideaways.

“It’s simply depravity in the worst imaginable way,” Blinken told a news briefing. “Images are worth a thousand words. These images may be worth a million.”

Netanyahu has vowed to annihilate Hamas following its deadly assault on unsuspecting Israeli communities on Saturday, which killed more than 1,300 people, the deadliest attack by Palestinian militants since Israel was founded in 1948.

The Israeli airforce has launched intense bombing raids on Gaza over the past five days and is massing tens of thousands of troops along the border ahead of a possible ground invasion.

In Israel, Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, the country’s military chief said on Thursday, “Now is the time for war.”

Gaza authorities said more than 1,400 Palestinians, mainly civilians, including children, have already been killed and more than 6,000 wounded. A land invasion in the densely populated territory could send the toll much higher.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant played a video to his counterparts at NATO’s Brussels headquarters that he said showed horrific scenes from the surprise Hamas attack.

“Children were tied up and shot. Yes, I repeat, children, tied up and shot,” he told fellow ministers by video link according to a text of his address sent to Reuters.

‘HORRIFIC PICTURES’

In a message on the social media site ‘X’, Netanyahu’s office released what it said were “horrifying photos of babies murdered and burned by the Hamas monsters”.

It added: “Hamas is inhuman. Hamas is ISIS,” comparing the Palestinian group to the Islamic State, which was notorious for its brutality and gory execution videos.

The images of the dead infants were included in the video played to NATO. It was not released to the public, but was later seen by Reuters in Jerusalem. Reuters could not independently verify the material.

“They were horrific pictures of the attacks and the victims of the attacks,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters, saying it “confirmed the brutality of the attacks”.

In quotes published by Hamas, deputy Hamas chief, Saleh Al-Arouri, said: “The plan was to target the army’s Gaza team and fight occupation soldiers only.”

But the White House said it had no reason to doubt the authenticity of the images. Authenticated video footage and witness accounts paint a picture of a Hamas ground assault and rocket barrages that ripped communities apart.

The video shown to NATO, apparently taken from a mix of social media published by Hamas and unidentified phone videos, showed the bodies of scores of dead civilians, as well as the body of an Israeli soldier in uniform with his head missing.

There were no images to suggest militants had beheaded babies — a particularly explosive accusation that first emerged in Israel’s media and initially confirmed by Israeli officials.

U.S. President Joseph Biden had suggested on Wednesday that he had seen images of children beheaded by militants. The White House later clarified that U.S. officials had not seen any evidence of this.

Netanyahu has not repeated a claim by his office earlier this week that Hamas had indeed cut off the heads of children, nor did Gallant repeat that accusation to NATO ministers.

But medics, international human rights organisations and journalists have documented that militants killed women, children and the elderly as well as young men and soldiers in their rampage.

Foreign reporters shown sites targeted by Hamas, witnessed ruins of burnt-out houses and streets scattered with dead residents and militants.

NATO officials said they did not expect the alliance to be directly involved in the conflict. But multiple NATO states, above all the United States, have offered Israel military aid.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said after the NATO meeting on Thursday that Washington was not placing any conditions on its security assistance to Israel and expected Israel’s professional military to “do the right things”.

(Additional reporting by Andy Gray in Brussels; Writing by Crispian Balmer; Editing by Edmund Blair)

Amazon Staring at $100 Billion Opportunity with Logistics Network

Amazon is on the cusp of unlocking a $100 billion opportunity, having made a name for itself as an e-commerce juggernaut. While the focus has been on the company’s growing cloud unit, the tech giant’s robust supply chain network has the potential to take the company to new heights.

Unlocking Logistics Opportunity

According to Truist Securities analyst Youssef Squali, Amazon becoming a logistics shipping and distribution juggernaut could unlock more than $100 billion in revenue. Everything hinges on the Seattle-based company turning its logistics network into a service offering for third parties or Amazon merchants.

Amazon has enhanced its supply chain network as part of an effort to improve same-day delivery. Consequently, it has become a leading logistics company overseeing orders’ flow to people’s doorsteps. By opening up the network to third parties, the company will have the potential to unlock value as ocean freight. It will also be in a position to enable ground transport and inventory storage through which it can unlock significant value.

The tech giant has already started integrating artificial intelligence technology into its supply chain network. The integration ensures the network runs efficiently and that goods are shipped efficiently without any mishaps and delays. For instance, the company is using the technology to safeguard some goods stored in facilities where demand is high, limiting the shipping time.

It would not be the first time the tech giant has opened a service initially designed for in-house operations. The company unveiled the cloud business to serve its own needs. However, with the growing demand for cloud solutions, the company built Amazon Web Services and opened it to other clients. The cloud unit has become a multi-billion empire and a key earnings driver.

Amazon opening up its logistics network is a brilliant idea that would create yet another empire and diversify its revenue base beyond e-commerce and cloud.   The company is under immense pressure to unlock new opportunities and offset a slowdown in revenue growth.

Amazon’s revenue growth slowed to 9% last year, marking the slowest-ever expansion. Nevertheless, it is expected to bounce back and rise by 11% to $570 billion in 2023. Therefore, unlocking new revenue opportunities on the supply network could strengthen the company’s sentiments in the market.

Amazon Valuation

Amazon stock is up by more than 50% year to date, outperforming the overall market. The impressive run has come against the backdrop of the tech giant embarking on a cost-cutting drive to boost profits. Faced with rising inflations and declining consumer spending power the company was forced to lay off staff as part of cost saving measure. It has also had to shelve some ambitious plans to save on costs.

While the company’s valuation has dropped since last year, it still trades at 34 times projected profit, one of the most expensive of other big technology companies. The premium valuation is yet to deter analysts from bullish on the sock, with 63 analysts tracking the stock insisting it is a Buy. The average price target implies Amazon stock has the potential to gain over 30% from current levels.