Crypto News: Closing the door to migrants

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Europeans like to shake their head at America's dysfunctional politics.

Now, politicians on both sides of the Atlantic are united in a shared preoccupation: immigration.

It was the subject of the first question put to Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris in a Fox News interview yesterday.

It's the focus of a European Union summit today.

Back in 2016, Donald Trump won the presidency after campaigning for a wall at the southern US border while calling Mexican migrants rapists. That kind of language now pales against his remarks accusing them of attacking cities and eating domestic pets as he seeks a return to the White House on Nov. 5.

Vice President Harris is being dragged onto the same ground, conceding that the US immigration system is "broken" and has been for years.

It's not just her.

EU leaders are meeting in Brussels to try to identify solutions to the bloc's creaking asylum and migration system. In truth, it's never been applied EU-wide, with most eastern members opting out of accepting migrants. Some, like Hungary, erected their own border fences.

Now, formerly open countries including Germany and Sweden are raising the drawbridge, their hospitals and schools stretched to breaking point and far-right parties making electoral gains with a blunt anti-immigration message.

Regular migration is needed to fill the growing skills gap. But the distinction with undocumented arrivals risks getting lost in the increasingly frenetic debate.

Suddenly, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's solution of sending asylum seekers to Albania to be processed, criticized by rights groups, is seen as a potential model.

There was a time when an open-doors policy was regarded as a sign of humanity. Now it's seen as naive and aiding the far right.

In Europe and the US, the doors are closing and it's hard to know if they will ever open again.— Alan Crawford

A migrant center at the port of Shengjin, Albania. Photographer: Adnan Beci/AFP/Getty Images

The US said its B-2 stealth bombers struck five underground weapons storage sites linked to Houthi rebels in Yemen in the latest effort to blunt attacks by the Iran-backed group that have disrupted commercial shipping in the Red Sea. The Houthis began targeting vessels after Israel launched its campaign against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip following the October 2023 attack.

US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines made an unusual offer last November to the presidents of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda: Washington would share secret intelligence with them in return for their participation in a cease-fire in a conflict that involves the M23 rebel group in mineral-rich eastern Congo. While US officials tout the engagement as successful "intelligence diplomacy," it's yet to produce tangible results beyond a temporary — and unstable — halt to the fighting.

Haines during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing in Washington in May. Photographer: Ting Shen/Bloomberg

Uruguay's presidential and legislative elections on Oct. 27 are being overshadowed by a controversial $23 billion proposal to overhaul the social security system. If approved, the measure would increase minimum payouts, lower the retirement age and transfer privately managed savings to a government-run trust in what advocates see as a way to share the nation's resources more equally.

US President Joe Biden is making a brief visit to Germany tomorrow to strengthen the transatlantic relationship and champion aid to Ukraine as winter approaches and the conflict sparked by Russia's invasion remains deadlocked. In his first overseas trip since announcing he wouldn't seek reelection, Biden will also discuss how to align private investment with emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, according to a senior US official.

Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party may lose its majority in the lower house of parliament for the first time since 2009 in this month's election while retaining control of the chamber with the help of its coalition partner, major Japanese media predicted. New Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is trying to claw back support for the LDP after it took a beating following revelations that some members were secretly lining their pockets with funds from supporters.

China tested missiles on inland targets during its latest military drills around Taiwan, a Taiwanese national security official said, underscoring the intensity of the exercises.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's purchase of an expensive coastal property in the middle of a national housing crisis has sparked allegations that he's out of touch with the average voter.

Senior ministers have written to UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer expressing alarm at the scale of spending cuts that their departments face in the budget due in less than two weeks, sources say.

A mechanism that aims to enable South Africa's 10-party coalition government to resolve disputes met for the first time and agreed to further discuss a new education bill that has divided the partners.

Fox News viewers like combative talking heads, and they had plenty to feast on yesterday when Harris delivered fierce arguments for her presidential candidacy and stinging rebukes of Trump.

Both Harris and Fox's chief political anchor, Bret Baier, frequently interrupted and spoke over one another in a heated session that lasted nearly 30 minutes on topics ranging from immigration to transgender rights and how she differentiates herself from Biden.

Kamala Harris. Photographer: Hannah Beier/Bloomberg

"Let me be very clear, my presidency will not be a continuation of Joe Biden's presidency, and like every new president that comes into office, I will bring my life experiences, my professional experiences and fresh and new ideas," Harris said.

It's questionable whether any of the network's audience might be swayed by her appearance, but Fox commentators acknowledged immediately afterward that she had made a strong showing.

One thing to watch today: Data are expected to show that jobless claims remained elevated in the week ended Oct. 12, driven higher by Hurricane Milton and a Boeing strike that's rippling through supply chains.

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A Bitcoin rally is grabbing the spotlight in part because some investors view the climb as a sign that markets anticipate a Trump election victory. The digital asset is up about 13% in the past week, well ahead of a global stock gauge and gold. The former president has vowed to make the US the global crypto capital and his embrace of the sector led to Bitcoin's classification as a so-called Trump trade — one of a series of wagers predicated on his return to the White House.

Indonesia's next president, Prabowo Subianto, who takes office on Sunday, promised free school lunches as part of his successful election campaign. The goal: tackle factors holding back growth and development in children and improve education in a nation where almost a quarter of the population is under the age of 15. While economists and investors applaud the ambition, it's the price tag and challenges in delivering the program without waste and corruption that has them concerned.

A teacher arranges lunch boxes in Jakarta last month. Photographer: Rosa Panggabean/Bloomberg

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