Good afternoon. The world’s most powerful leaders, Joe Biden and Xi Jinping, have held talks in San Francisco in a bid to stabilise US-China relations.
In a step towards reducing friction, the US president announced the resumption of military-to-military communications after they were severed in August 2022. The leaders also discussed joint action on climate and divisions over Taiwan – the most sensitive topic in the relationship. Xi reportedly told Biden to stop arming Taiwan, while Biden chided Xi for China’s massive military build-up around the island.
One observer very keen to see a calming of US-China relations is Anthony Albanese, who welcomed the Biden-Xi meeting as a “very important step forward”.
- UN security council passes resolution calling for humanitarian pause | Six weeks since the start of the war in Gaza, the security council has passed a resolution drafted by Malta calling for “urgent extended humanitarian pauses for [a] sufficient number of days to allow aid access”. The US, UK and Russia – all veto-wielding members – abstained from the vote, allowing its passage. Meanwhile, pressure is mounting in Israel for the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to resign – the latest call coming from the opposition leader, Yair Lapid.
- Australian MPs call for ceasefire | Two Labor MPs – Maria Vamvakinou and Fatima Payman – and Nationals MP Mark Coulton joined the Greens at a press conference today calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. The federal government has resisted domestic pressure to publicly call for a ceasefire, but speaking from the US, the prime minister said world leaders needed to discuss the future of Gaza and find “a way forward”.
- Federal government slashes infrastructure projects | Fifty projects – including 17 in New South Wales, 12 in Victoria and nine in Queensland – have been axed with $7bn in savings put toward other projects. See the list of the slashed projects here. The much-awaited review drew anger from Queensland, with the state government vowing to fight the spending cuts. The NSW government said it was disappointed, while Victoria welcomed Canberra’s decision to press ahead with the Melbourne airport rail.
- Economy adds twice as many jobs as expected | The unemployment rate rose in October to 3.7%, with a net 54,900 jobs added for the month. Market economists had predicted the jobless rate would rise to 3.7% from September’s reported 3.6% level but with just 24,000 jobs to be added. The tight labour market keeps open the possibility of another Reserve Bank interest rate rise.
- McDonald’s loses ‘Big Jack’ fight | The US hamburger giant sued Hungry Jack’s in 2020, claiming its sale of the Big Jack and Mega Jack burgers infringed the Big Mac trademark. The federal court today dismissed the allegations.
- Hilton Australia asks for TikToks of job applicants | The Hilton hotel chain is encouraging jobseekers to ditch conventional résumés when applying for a role – and to post a TikTok instead. Guardian Australia’s Michael Kalenderian writes that the move could be a PR stunt in the hope that videos using the #hiremehilton hashtag goes viral.
- Young Australians cancel streaming services | Young Australians are saving more than $900 a year during the cost-of-living crisis, with National Australia Bank data showing more than 40% of those aged under 30 had cut back on streaming services since mid-year.
- Severe storms to hit eastern and central Australia | Heavy rainfall, strong winds and large hail were predicted for the east coast starting today, stretching from the Sunshine Coast, northern rivers of NSW down to Sydney and parts of the northern tablelands.*This is an excerpt from today's Afternoon Update newsletter. Sign up here to get the full version delivered to your inbox every weekday.
