Investors have for weeks been adjusting their expectations around the Federal Reserve's policy meeting next week and the inflation data could feed into those. Wall Street remained on edge as the debate offered investors little clarity on key policy issues, even as betting markets swung in Harris' favor after the event. "Relative to Trump, we see Harris' policies as less fiscally expansionary, less focus on tax cuts," noted Jefferies' chief Europe economist Mohit Kumar.
Jordan's moderate Islamist opposition made significant gains in Tuesday's parliamentary election, initial official results showed on Wednesday, boosted by anger over Israel's war in Gaza. The Islamist Action Front (IAF) also benefited from a new electoral law that encourages a bigger role for political parties in the 138-seat parliament, though tribal and pro-government factions will continue to dominate the assembly. The IAF, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, won up to a fifth of the seats under the revamped electoral law, which for the first time allocated 41 seats for parties, according to preliminary figures seen by Reuters and confirmed by independent and official sources.
Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday that the Kremlin really did not like the way Vladimir Putin's name was bandied around in the debate between U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. Peskov told reporters that Putin's name was being used as part of the domestic political fight in the U.S. and "we really, really don't like it". He said the U.S. was hostile and negative towards Russia, and the Kremlin hoped that the candidates would drop such references to Putin.
Sweden will increase spending on its justice system by 3.46 billion crowns ($335 million) in its budget bill for 2025 to curb high crime rates, the justice minister said on Wednesday. Including earlier decided measures and other cost increases, the justice system budget will grow by 8 billion crowns or 10% year-on-year to 86.7 billion crowns in 2025. Sweden has been rocked by gang violence, often involving minors, in the last decade and has the highest per-capita rate of gun violence in the European Union.
U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday will observe the 23th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S. with visits to each of the three sites where hijacked planes crashed in 2001, killing nearly 3,000 people. Biden and Harris will start their day with a visit to the New York City site where planes brought down the World Trade Center's twin towers. Harris, now the Democratic nominee for president, was due to traveled to New York after debating her Republican rival, former President Donald Trump, in Philadelphia on Tuesday evening, with just eight weeks left before the Nov. 5 presidential election.
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will commemorate the 23rd anniversary of the September 11 attacks with visits to each of three sites of the terror attacks.
Dozens of people have been arrested after clashes between police and protesters outside a major defense expo in Australia on Wednesday, during which police fired rubber bullets at demonstrators and both sides accused the other of violence.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and British Foreign Secretary David Lammy arrived in Kyiv on a joint visit Wednesday, as Ukraine presses the West to allow it to use long-range missiles against Russia. The top diplomats reached the Ukrainian capital by train hours after the U.S. presidential debate during which Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Trump sparred over the 2 1/2-year war in Ukraine.
South Africa's Democratic Alliance said on Wednesday an education bill that President Cyril Ramaphosa plans to sign into law this week threatens the future of the unity government, the first sign of real friction between the coalition partners. The Democratic Alliance entered into a coalition with Ramaphosa's African National Congress and other smaller parties this year after the ANC lost its parliamentary majority, despite strong ideological differences between them.