topics

politics-policy

epstein-files

donald-trump

2026-midterm-elections

immigration

behind-the-curtain

race-and-equity

technology

privacy-tech-regulation

automation-and-ai

tiktok-news

big-tech

social-media

cybersecurity

economy

social-security

inflation

tariffs

federal-reserve

jobs

transportation

business

stock-market-news

retail-news

crypto

media

elon-musk

dealmaking

health

rfk-jr

drug-prices

axios-explains-abortion

public-health

world

israel

axios-explains-ukraine

iran

russia

china

energy-climate

nuclear-energy

climate-energy-policy

climate-change

extreme-weather

alternative-energy

electric-vehicles

science

emerging-tech

biomedicine

newsletters

pittsburgh

atlanta

san-diego

charlotte

boulder

washington-dc

kansas-city

dallas

denver

detroit

des-moines

austin

boston

chicago

cleveland

columbus

houston

indianapolis

miami

nashville

new-orleans

nw-arkansas

philadelphia

phoenix

portland

richmond

salt-lake-city

san-antonio

san-francisco

seattle

tampa-bay

twin-cities

raleigh

huntsville

colorado-springs

axios-local

axios-pro

axios-live

the-axios-show

National

Iran sent a message to Israel on Saturday stressing that it does not want further escalation in the Hamas-Israel war, but that it will have to intervene if the Israeli operation in Gaza continues, two diplomatic sources with knowledge of the situation told Axios. 

Why it matters: The fighting between Hamas and Israel will turn into a regional war if Iran gets involved either directly or indirectly, such as through a militant group in Syria or by backing any Hezbollah decision to fully join the fighting. 

Iran's message, sent to Israel through the UN, comes as the Biden administration has been trying to deter Iran and Lebanon-backed Hezbollah, supported by Iran, from joining the war. This week, the U.S. sent an aircraft carrier group and fighter jets to the region.

Behind the scenes: Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian met with UN envoy to the Middle East Tor Wennesland on Saturday in Beirut, the two diplomatic sources said. 

Wennesland urged Amir-Abdollahian to help prevent a spillover of the conflict in Gaza and Israel to the wider region in the Middle East. 

The Iranian foreign minister replied that Iran doesn't want the conflict to turn into a regional war and wants to try to help with the release of civilians who are being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza. 

But Amir-Abdollahian stressed that Iran has its red lines. He said that if the Israeli military operation continues — and especially if Israel follows through on its promise of a ground offensive in Gaza — Iran will have to respond, according to the sources. 

Wennesland called Israeli national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi and other officials and conveyed Iran's message, the sources said. 

Wennesland's office confirmed he met with Amir-Abdollahian on Saturday, saying they discussed "diplomatic efforts to release hostages, de-escalate and prevent a spillover of the conflict to the wider region."

The Israeli Prime Minister's Office declined to comment. Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

What they're saying: Amir-Abdollahian, who earlier met with Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, said in a briefing with reporters in Beirut on Saturday that Israel must "stop the crimes against civilians in Gaza — because it might be too late in a few hours."

"I know about the scenarios that Hezbollah has put in place," Amir-Abdollahian said. "Any step the resistance will take will cause a huge earthquake" for Israel.

The big picture: The latest fighting between Hamas and Israel began Oct. 7. 

Israel has continued its heavy bombardment of the Gaza Strip after Hamas' attack on Israel last Saturday. Violence also has been escalating along the Israel-Lebanon border and in the occupied West Bank. 

More than 1,300 Israelis and 2,200 Palestinians have been killed. 

Go deeper: UAE warns Syria's Assad not to get involved in Hamas-Israel war

Scoop: Iran warns Israel through UN against ground offensive in Gaza

"Any step the resistance will take will cause a huge earthquake" for Israel.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in Beirut. Photo: Marwan Naamani/picture alliance via Getty Images

Iran

Israel

Conflicts, policies and powers are intersecting and shaping the world. Breaking news and analysis of national security, foreign policy and global crises.

World

Capital

Axios Capital

The world's banks earned $1.3 trillion in 2022, in "the best period for global banking overall since at least 2007," per a new report from McKinsey. The estimate for 2023 profits, at $1.4 trillion, is even higher. 

Why it matters: The past two years' headlines have been filled with bad news for banks. But the industry as a whole looks astonishingly healthy. Which, if nothing else, is  a good reminder to always look past the headlines. 

Driving the news: This year has seen the biggest bank failures since the financial crisis. Silicon Valley Bank was felled by higher interest rates; First Republic and Credit Suisse soon followed. 

Other banks are also hurting. Bank of America is sitting on paper losses of more than $100 billion after buying low-yielding bonds it now can't afford to sell. Citigroup is trying to cut its way to growth, with no visible success to date. Goldman Sachs has given up on its core strategy of leaning into being a bank. Charge-offs across the board are rising. 

The Chinese financial sector is looking particularly fragile. 

The other side: If you're the kind of person who pays attention to quarterly earnings reports, you would know that JPMorgan on Friday reported that third-quarter revenue was up 21% and income was up 35%, thanks in part to its acquisition of First Republic.

Wells Fargo's revenue and income were up 20% and 57%, respectively. Even Citigroup had a pretty healthy third quarter. 

Behind the news: The spike in global interest rates has broadly been great for banks, which are not passing those higher rates on to their depositors. 

Euro zone depositors overall have seen only 47% of the increase in interest rates, with that number falling as low as 12% in Croatia. The rest has gone to banks' bottom lines, in the form of what's known as net interest margin — the ever-widening gap between how much they pay for funds and how much they lend them out at. 

European banks have been making so much money that Spain, the Netherlands, Italy, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, and now Ireland have all imposed windfall taxes on bank profits. 

The chart above shows that European banks' cost of funds, on average, is still negligible at a mere 0.31%.

Meanwhile, the benchmark Euro zone interest rate — the minimum risk-free return that banks can receive on their funds — has risen from 0% in mid-2022 to 4.5% now.

Where it stands: Banks in countries bordering the Indian Ocean are doing particularly well, with McKinsey noting that places like Singapore, India, Dubai, and parts of eastern Africa are "home to half of the best­-performing banks in the world."

India, Vietnam, Tanzania and Mozambique all have banking industries that are expected to grow at double-digit rates over the full course of this decade.

Between the lines: Banks have spent the past 15 years or so struggling not only with would-be disruptors and emboldened regulators but also with the more existential question of how it's possible to make a profit lending money in a world of zero interest rates.

Now that rates are rising back to pre-crisis levels, the banks are like runners who have spent years training at altitude and who now find themselves competing at sea level.

The bottom line: That which didn't kill them made them stronger. 

What banking crisis? There's a quiet global banking boom underway

There's a quiet global banking boom underway

Banking

Top stories & latest news on the Federal Reserve, real-time data, plus the biggest shifts happening in the U.S. and global economy.

Economy

After a record economic expansion, the coronavirus pandemic sent the U.S. economy into a recession as unemployment soared to staggering heights. The country now faces urgent questions about how much stimulus is needed for reeling consumers and businesses, and what a recovery might look like.

Economy & Business

The State Department told American citizens in Gaza on Saturday to move south towards the Rafah Crossing with Egypt ahead of a possible reopening of the crossing to allow foreign nationals to leave the enclave, a State Department spokesperson told Axios. 

Why it matters: There are more than 500 Americans and hundreds of other foreign nationals in Gaza, including UN workers, members of non-governmental organizations and journalists, according to U.S. and Israeli officials. 

The Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing has been non-operational due to Israeli airstrikes, making it impossible for Palestinians to leave Gaza. 

U.S. officials say that if the crossing reopens, it will be on short notice and for a short period of time. Therefore, American citizens, especially those in Gaza City, should try and go to more southern parts of the enclave as quickly as possible. 

What they're saying: "The U.S. government is working to secure the safe exit of U.S. citizens from Gaza," the State Department spokesperson said. 

"We have informed U.S. citizens in Gaza with whom we are in contact that if they assess it to be safe, they may wish to move closer to the Rafah border crossing — there may be very little notice if the crossing opens and it may only open for a  limited time," the spokesperson added.

Driving the news: On Saturday morning, the Israeli military called on Palestinian civilians in Gaza City to use two main roads as safe passages south between 10am and 4pm local time.

After this announcement, the State Department told American citizens to use these routes to move south closer to the crossing, U.S. officials said.

Other foreign governments also notified their nationals in Gaza to move to the border crossing with Egypt, one U.S. official said. 

But not long after, the Israeli military notified the U.S. and other foreign embassies that "due to concerning the information we received, we instruct everyone to stay away from the area and wait for further updates," Israeli officials. 

The big picture: Even if foreign nationals will eventually be able to enter Egypt via the Rafah Crossing, most Palestinians will not be able to leave Gaza, a densely-populated enclave home to more than 2 million people. 

President Biden in some of his first remarks about the dire situation unfolding in Gaza said on Friday that the Biden administration is working "urgently to address the humanitarian crisis" there.

Gaza is currently in darkness and facing severe shortages of food, basic goods and medical supplies due to Israel's "complete siege" of the enclave. 

The UN Palestinian refugee agency on Saturday called on Israel to allow aid to enter the enclave, saying Gaza was quickly running out of safe drinking water. 

Israel late Thursday ordered more than 1.1 million Palestinians living in northern Gaza to evacuate to the southern part of the Strip within 24 hours — a sign that Israel may be preparing for an imminent and major ground operation. 

The UN has called on Israel to rescind the order, saying it's a "death sentence" for many. 

The Israeli military on Thursday conducted limited raids into Gaza to look for hostages and "clear the area" of Hamas militants. 

Go deeper: Jordan warns U.S. Israel could forcibly displace Palestinians to neighboring nations

Palestinians will not be able to leave Gaza

U.S. tells Americans in Gaza to move south ahead of possible evacuation

There are more than 500 Americans and hundreds of other foreign nationals in Gaza.

moke billows from the Gaza's Rafah border crossing with Egypt during an Israeli airstrike.

moke billows from the Gaza's Rafah border crossing with Egypt during an Israeli airstrike on Oct. 10. Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib/picture alliance via Getty Images

Gaza

Finish Line

Axios Finish Line

ChatGPT's latest job is to be mom and dad's brilliant sidekick. Parents of kids of all ages are using the chatbot to help raise their children.

Why it matters: The tool has the potential to ease the burden on burned-out, over-scheduled parents. But it's no replacement for a human's judgment — especially regarding what's best for their kids.

What's happening: ChatGPT excels at brainstorming and researching — both functions that can be uniquely useful to parents, says Celia Quillian, a product marketer in Atlanta who runs a TikTok account advising followers on creative ways to use the robot.

The chatbot could plan an 8-year-old's mermaid-themed birthday party in seconds, offering drink ideas like mermaid fruit punch — blue Gatorade with floating gummy fish — and snack ideas like seashell cookies.

It can conjure up a chore chart for a group of young siblings, tailoring the tasks so they're appropriate for each age. For example, a 7-year-old might start with picking up toys, while their 13-year-old sibling vacuums the living room.

It can even answer age-old questions that kids ask exasperated parents. Think, "Why is the sky blue?" The chatbot will feed you an answer fit for a 4-year-old.

Zoom in: Some parents are using the chatbot to navigate even bigger milestones in their children's lives.

Parents have used it to script "the talk" with young teens or draft a toast for their child's wedding.

What they're saying: Keith Foxx, principal at Foxxstem engineering services, regularly uses ChatGPT to connect to his third and youngest daughter, who's currently in 10th grade.

Foxx says his daughter struggled through COVID and now he connects with her by sending her inspirational texts or poems.

"I'll say 'Give me a 16-line poem for a 15-year old, from her dad. She needs motivation to go to school,'" Foxx told Axios.

Because he's able to get very specific in his prompts, the texts are personal. And if the result doesn't sound like him, Foxx gets even more specific.

"I may have a follow-up that says, '"This is good, but, you know, can you do it for an African-American dad?'"

Reality check: "The idea of using it for something meaningful like communicating with your kids" raises flags, says Yuko Munakata, a psychologist at the University of Colorado Boulder. "Parents know their kids way better than any AI system is going to be able to capture."

Kids, especially teens, will be able to tell when their parents are using their own words versus those of a bot. "It's this stilted, artificial thing," says Munakata. "All of the things that would make it special are not going to be there."

To this, Foxx argues that he keeps on prompting ChatGPT to get better results. He'll ask for responses from "a professional dad or a dad who really loves his daughter and spends a lot of time with her."

Foxx says he isn't trying to fool his daughter, just to connect. The last time he sent her a poem, he adds, she responded with "Thank you, Daddy" and a heart — "and then she was like, 'Did you use ChatGPT?'"

The bottom line: "It's like with every new technology. Take it with a grain of salt," Quillian says. "It's not an end-all, be-all."

Burned-out parents seek help from a new ally: ChatGPT

The tool has the potential to ease the burden on over-scheduled parents.

ChatGPT

Artificial Intelligence

From the Valley to D.C., Big Tech players like Facebook, Google and Amazon are under more scrutiny than ever as new technology develops and privacy and antitrust concerns grow in lockstep with companies’ ambitions.

Technology

Science

Axios Science

Scientists now have a census of the cells in the human brain  — a key step in creating a detailed map of the organ where our thoughts, movements and emotions originate. 

Why it matters: Scientists say this parts list — combined with information still to be gleaned about the circuits they form — will help provide much-needed insights into diseases and disorders that affect the brain.

How it works: Researchers studied 100 tissue samples from different regions across the human brain and analyzed the RNA in millions of individual cells to see which genes in the brain were being expressed to make different proteins in the cell.

Other teams looked at how different chemical modifications regulate that expression.

Using the information and knowing roughly where in the brain the samples were taken, researchers created the first reference map of the human brain.

Teams of scientists around the world conducted similar analyses of cells from the brains of mice, chimpanzees, gorillas and other species, and compared different aspects of the cell types.

What they found: Researchers reported their findings in 21 papers published today in several Science journals.

Diversity: They found more than 3,300 cell types in the human brain that could be grouped into 461 clusters.

New brain map reveals thousands of cell types

It's a key step in mapping the organ where our thoughts, movements and emotions originate.

Axios

Saturday's top stories

Scoop: Iran warns Israel through UN against ground offensive in Gaza

What banking crisis? There's a quiet global banking boom underway

U.S. tells Americans in Gaza to move south ahead of possible evacuation

Burned-out parents seek help from a new ally: ChatGPT

New brain map reveals thousands of cell types

Scoop: Biden's team to announce new export limits on AI chips to China

Solar eclipse reminder: Don't stare straight at the Sun

House leaves town as GOP again fails to find a speaker

End of an era: Best Buy to stop selling DVDs and Blu-rays in 2024

Gaza "fast becoming hell hole" on "brink of collapse" amid Israel strikes: UN