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Here’s what you need to know
Joe Biden and Xi Jinping will meet on Wednesday. The US and Chinese presidents are holding talks at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco, but details of the meeting haven’t been released.
The world’s biggest bank got hit by a cyberattack. When the US financial services division of China’s Industrial and Commercial Bank was struck, it reportedly affected Treasury trading.
Boeing is nearing a big deal with Emirates. The US plane maker is set to supply the United Arab Emirates airline with a high-double-digit number of its 777X aircraft.
Algeria dismissed its prime minister. As inflation persists, Aimene Benabderrahmane has been replaced by Mohamed Labaoui ahead of the country’s next election.
Eli Lilly’s weight-loss drug is the biggest loser
The booming market for weight-loss drugs is expected to reach $100 billion in 2030, and so far, the field has some competitive players. But which drug helps people lose the most weight?
Tirzepatide, the main ingredient in both Eli Lilly’s Zepbound and Mounjaro, was found in clinical trials to achieve an average weight loss of 26% in one year. How does that stack up against Eli Lilly’s experimental drug retatrutide, which is still in trials, and semaglutide, the main ingredient in Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and Ozempic? Here’s a quick look at how the three drugs compare on percentage of mean weight loss in trials:
But weight loss isn’t the full story. Quartz’s Grete Suarez compares how Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjaro fare on pricing as well as clinical trials.
The owner of Miss Universe is bankrupt, but the show must go on
Miss Universe’s Thai owner may be seeking a debt rescue, but even as media distribution company JKN Global Group filed for bankruptcy, it’ll be business as usual. Held in El Salvador this year, the competition starts Nov. 18.
So where do things stand? Here’s the latest, by the digits:
$20 million: How much JKN CEO Jakkaphong Jakrajutatip paid to buy the Miss Universe pageant in October 2022
30%: How much the company’s shares fell on the bankruptcy notification
80%: How much JKN’s share price has fallen in the last 12 months, down to $0.77
$12 million: Value of bonds JKN failed to repay by a deadline two months ago
One big number: 10 million
The number of living neurons, derived from human skin, that Swiss startup FinalSpark has tested in its pursuit to build artificial intelligence models from biological processes rather than digital chips
The goal? To beat out current AI models, which mimic human thinking after months of training on advanced data, and create actual human reasoning capable of analyzing emotions while developing new ideas and concepts outside its own experience. Quartz’s Faustine Ngila explains how the technology works—and the obstacles it still needs to overcome.
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Surprising discoveries
Just 20 farming families use one in every seven drops of water that flows through the Lower Basin of the Colorado River. That’s a whopping 387 billion gallons (1,465 billion liters).
The rail line featured in the Harry Potter movies is seeking new train drivers. ScotRail doesn’t require any previous experience.
A rogue tool bag is now in Earth’s orbit, and it’s visible with binoculars. Astronauts at the International Space Station dropped it on a space walk.
A volcano is forming a small island off the coast of Japan. The tiny mass is a real-time view of how places like Hawaii came to be.
A couple in the US can’t get rid of their collection of phones. They have tens of thousands of telephones, and no one wants them.
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Our best wishes for a productive day. Send any news, comments, space tools, and volcanic islands to talk@qz.com. Today’s Daily Brief was brought to you by Morgan Haefner.