Crypto News: Optus under pressure

Morning, it's Sunil here in Sydney and I'm grateful for a strong signal.

Today's must-reads:
• Optus says sorry
• Albanese in the Pacific
• Ending fossil fuels

Optus apologized after a network outage left millions of people across Australia without phone and internet connectivity on Wednesday. The incident disrupted a range of services, underlining our reliance on phone companies. It's also another blow for the country's second-largest telecoms firm after a major cyberattack last year that exposed the details of almost 10 million former and current customers.

Anthony Albanese is likely to face some pointed questions on Thursday over climate action and a nuclear submarine deal, as a growing number of Pacific nations push to strengthen a signature anti-nuclear treaty. The Australian leader is beginning 24 hours of intensive meetings between the leaders of the Pacific Islands Forum at Aitutaki in the Cook Islands. Papua New Guinea's deputy prime minister earlier said a long-delayed bilateral defense pact will be ready for review by both countries' cabinets soon.

Anthony Albanese, Australia's prime minister. Photographer: Rohan Thomson/Bloomberg.

Andrew Forrest, Australia's richest person, called for government and business leaders to commit to stop burning fossil fuels by 2035. "We have all the technology, it is all there," Forrest, founder of Fortescue Metals and a clean energy advocate, said at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in Singapore. "The resource we are short of is character of leaders."

Australia experienced the driest October in more than 20 years and the fifth-driest in records going back to 1900 amid an El Nino weather pattern that's also led to hot weather, according to the Bureau of Meteorology. Expectations for crop harvests may be cut back further on reduced rains.

Canva has grown into one of the world's most valuable private software companies. So how does the Australian design firm plan to stay on top? In the latest episode of Future Ready, CEO Melanie Perkins tells Bloomberg's Emily Chang how consumer and employee experience and artificial intelligence will play key roles.

The stock rally paused in the US following a more than 4% advance in a gauge of world shares this month. Futures are pointing higher for the start of trading in Australia. Bond yields extended a recent retreat as a drop in oil promised a little relief from inflation pressures.

Singapore's leader downplayed the likelihood of an imminent conflict over Taiwan, saying China isn't "trigger happy" about taking over the self-governing island it has long viewed as its territory. "They would like Taiwan to be part of 'one China,'" but aren't sure how to make it happen, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in Singapore. Unless Beijing is provoked, the world isn't "going to wake up one day and find that they've decided to launch D-Day," he said.

Lee Hsien Loong, Singapore's prime minister. Photographer: Lionel Ng/Bloomberg.

Israel said its troops have entered the middle of Gaza's main city as they continue their offensive against Hamas, while the top US diplomat signaled there will probably be a post-conflict "transition period" before it's clear who takes control of the territory.

Pop star Katy Perry can go ahead with the purchase of a $15 million estate in California from the founder of 1-800-Flowers after a judge ruled that painkillers didn't prevent the businessman from being able to make the deal. Carl Westcott—an entrepreneur who originated the dial-a-florist phone number but is no longer affiliated with the flower company—says he didn't want to sell and wasn't of sound mind when he made the deal.

• The Bloomberg New Economy Forum continues in Singapore

The historic transition from the century-long era of the internal combustion engine to the electric-vehicle age is creating flashpoints in surprising corners of the world economy. And it's only just beginning. Read our Big Take about how the EV market's surge to an estimated $57 trillion of sales by 2050 is reshaping economies and political ties.