Democratic States Band Together to Counter RFK Jr.

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So far, deals worth just over $2 billion have been agreed, and Washington and Kiev want countries such as Britain, France, Spain, and Italy to open their wallets too. Turning now to the situation in Gaza, where a pause in the war between Hamas and Israel under the U.S. brokered ceasefire has resulted in a violent crackdown between Hamas and other armed Palestinian groups in the enclave. Journal security correspondent Benoit Foucahn says the group is trying to assert authority as the remaining governing power in Gaza. The Israeli forces have pulled back from only part of the enclave, and that's where Hamas is reasserting power, and they have been ready. They've been preparing for months to retake control. One thing they did is they set out a police force that was more focused on pras gouging and looting, and initially was actually sort of unarmed because they didn't want to be targeted by the Israelis. So Hamas officials told me that they really were working on this strategy and sort of setting new people on the ground. We also have a report from the Gaza. an entire ministry that I obtained that basically shows that they identify a dozen subgroups in Rafa under Israeli control, and they are so far out of reach unless Hamas launched an operation on effectively Israeli control territory. And so far, the Israelis and Hamas have avoided to have a direct confrontation over these groups. And Benoit says the crackdown could complicate Israel's hope for Hamas to disarm, something the militant group did not agree to under the ceasefire deal. It's privately something Hamas has said that they think that the presence of armed groups that are rivaled to their power or in their case that they see as a source of disorder and criminality. they see it as an additional reason why they would need to keep weapons, officially in their case, for law and older, but also obviously to protect themselves against attacks from these groups. So it's clearly an additional reason why Hamas is struggling to come to that particular point, which is the most fundamental one for Israel, which is disarming.

As the Trump administration tries to publicly calm renewed trade tensions with China, Beijing may have found America's Achilles' heel. President Trump's fixation on the stock market. According to people close to Beijing's decision-making, President Xi Jinping is betting that the U.S. economy can't absorb a prolonged trade standoff with the world's second-largest economy. The market's sharp negative reaction on Friday to China's new rare earth restrictions was a reminder of the economic vulnerability Beijing could be trying to exploit in a bid to force Trump to negotiate. Many economists say the U.S. isn't positioned to absorb another trade fight with China, with hiring, slowing, manufacturing, contracting, and prices continuing to rise. Just yesterday, China sanctioned the U.S. units of a South Korean shipping company, resulting in another rollercoaster day for markets. Coming up, U.S. states are joining forces to help one another prepare for pandemics and buy vaccines in bulk amid concerns around the federal health department's preparedness. That story and more after the break. Most finance teams are spending on the wrong things. Expense reports that take longer than the trips they cover, spend policies living in PDFs no one reads, month and close that stretches into weeks. You become what you spend on, and right now that's maintenance instead of momentum. It's time to get Brex AF. Agentic finance that does your expenses automatically, enforces policies before spend happens, and closes your books in minutes. So your finance team stops managing tools and starts driving the business. Learn more at brex.com slash a.f.

It's been roughly five weeks since conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot dead while speaking on a college campus in Utah, and tensions over his killing are still running high. Yesterday, the State Department said it revoked the visas of at least six people over their comments on his death, including nationals of countries, including Argentina, South Africa, and Mexico. The department said on social media that the U.S. has, quote, no obligation to host foreigners who wish death on Americans, end quote. It didn't say if the people were currently in America and didn't specify what kind of visas they held or when they were revoked. And we're exclusively reporting that governors from 15 mainly blue states, including New York, California, and North Carolina are forming a shadow public health alliance in a sign of growing resistance to Robert F. Kennedy Jr..'s agenda. The journal's Betsy McKay says the initiative aims to help detect and respond to disease threats of all kinds. So they're joining forces to help one another prepare for pandemics. track infectious diseases, write public health guidelines that the federal government normally writes, and share expertise on everything from preventive care to outbreaks. So these governors said they would share public health intelligence and data with each other, disease fighting strategies, and states that are well-resourced, like New York, said they will share information on health threats that they identify. in their own laboratories with each other, with less-resourced states. Betsy says the states, which represent about a third of the U.S. population, have joined forces out of concern that the Trump administration's federal funding cuts and policy changes are putting their citizens at risk. So New York Governor Kathy Hilkel said that with the assaults on science and medicine from Washington, governors have no choice but to step up and lead to protect their citizens. Just this past weekend, 600 jobs were eliminated at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as part of the federal shutdown. So most federal funding to the CDC goes to state and local health departments, and there have been cuts. And the shutdown is just exacerbating that. So officials in the state of Maine asked the CDC in September for help with a response to an outbreak of HIV and hepatitis C. And the CDC approved the request, but the state of Maine learned on Friday that the CDC can't send teams right now because of the shutdown. A health and human services spokesman accused Democrat-run states of eroding Americans' trust in public health agencies and said the HHS would ensure policy on vaccines is set based on rigorous evidence and not the, quote, failed politics of the pandemic, end quote. And in other health care news, enrollment for 2026 Medicare coverage starts today. And for the second year in a row, big changes are coming to the program, which means seniors could end up with surprises like higher drug costs or the loss of a favorite doctor. Thankfully, our colleagues on the health team have put together an explainer walking you through all the potential pitfalls of this year's Medicare enrollment. You can check it out now on WSJ.com and we'll leave a link in our show notes.

I think And finally, London, England is very much known as the land of the black cabs. Soon, however, they'll be getting some new competition, Robotaxies. Waymo says it will launch a fully autonomous ride-hailing service in the UK next year, marking the alphabet-owned company's European debut. And Uber is also planning to roll out a London Robotaxie service after striking a partnership with local autonomous driving startup Wave. Journal Auto's reporter Stephen Wilmot says these sorts of ventures are finding fertile ground in the UK. The UK government rolled out a red carpet for robotaxies. In June, it announced a plan to allow pilot programs starting in the spring of 2026. And it has a full legal framework for robo taxis coming out in the second half of 2027. But I think that that plan announced in June was clearly a way to say, don't wait until 2027 we want. You need to start testing earlier. The UK government led by Keir Starmer is very keen to reinvigorate growth. They've made a big deal of this and they're looking to welcome anything that looks like artificial intelligence, high-tech, led investment. So, yeah, it's part of the UK government's growth agenda. Uber's partner wave is already testing its self-driving technology in London with safety drivers behind the wheel of adapted cars. I asked Stephen how worried black cabs were about competition from robotaxies. I spoke to the head of their union and his response was, well, I don't think they'll work, which is not unreasonable. Until they take the safety drivers out, we don't actually know what they'll do. And until then, they're just expensive taxis. And that's it for What's News for this Wednesday morning. Today's show is produced by Daniel Bach and Kate Bolivant. Our supervising producers were Christina Rocha and Sandra Kilhoff. And I'm Caitlin McCabe for The Wall Street Journal. We'll be back tonight with the new show. Until then, thanks for listening.

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