1. The 10-year Treasury yield hits 5.12%

The yield on the 10-year US Treasury jumped 17 basis points to 5.12 percent on Wednesday, its highest since 2007, after S&P Global data showed US business activity accelerating at its fastest pace since July 2021, CNN reported. It follows the Fed's first rate hike since July 2023 on 16 September, to 3.75 to 4 percent. The Treasury's expanded bond buybacks, 5.2 billion dollars on 10 September, have not held the line; analysts told CNN they are too small for a market of more than 30 trillion dollars. The cost lands on the budget: the CBO projects net interest of 1 trillion dollars this year.

2. Trump and Xi meet at the White House today

The two leaders hold talks at the White House on Thursday. After a second meeting in four days with Vice Premier He Lifeng, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Washington is open to extending the trade truce agreed in Busan, which expires on 10 November, or to examining a bigger deal that he said China proposed on Sunday. Bessent says both sides agreed an AI safety hotline; China's Xinhua said only that AI was discussed. US officials said last week that Chinese rare earth deliveries "has not been up to par".

3. Tigray seizes three airports, fighting spreads to Afar

By Wednesday, Tigrayan forces had taken control of the airports in Mekelle, Shire and Axum, TPLF vice-president Amanuel Assefa told AFP. "It is the beginning of the war," he said. Tigray's regional government said it had entered a "defensive" war after what it called intensive bombardments by federal aircraft, drones and artillery on Tuesday, which AFP could not verify. The federal side tells it the other way round: Getachew Reda, an adviser to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, said on X that the TPLF had launched an "all-out offensive" against government positions in Afar and Amhara, Reuters reported. Humanitarian staff and a foreign security source told AFP of fighting in the Afar towns of Abala and Erebti. Ethiopian Airlines suspended flights to all three cities. It comes days after the TPLF joined a seven-group alliance seeking to topple Abiy. The 2020 to 2022 war killed some 600,000 people, according to African Union estimates.

4. Al-Sharaa tells the UN the Golan will stay Syrian

In his second address to the General Assembly, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa vowed that the Golan Heights will remain Syrian and accused Israel of 500 air strikes, more than 1,200 incursions and 300 detentions since he came to power in December 2024. He also said peace was available to those who want "a just peace". The United States had been the only country to recognise Israel's annexation of the Golan until Colombia did so in August. Al-Sharaa told the Assembly Syria is "rising", citing sanctions lifted and reconstruction under way.

5. Sudan will change its currency, again

Sudan's army-aligned government announced it will replace the national currency, after a meeting on Monday chaired by Sovereignty Council member Ibrahim Jaber Ibrahim. On the black market the pound traded around 7,500 to the dollar on Tuesday after touching 8,000, against 4,100 in May and about 600 before the war, Reuters reported. In RSF-held areas the rate has held near 4,200. The last currency swap, in 2024 and 2025, left the country with two monetary zones after the RSF banned the new notes. None of the reports so far give a date or denominations.

6. ShinyHunters claims it hacked the FBI

The extortion group ShinyHunters says it used a new, unpatched Oracle PeopleSoft flaw to breach the FBI and steal 2 to 3 terabytes of data on current and former employees and job applicants, and says it defaced the bureau's jobs portal, sharing a screenshot. The FBI said it is "aware of claims regarding unauthorized activity affecting FBIjobs.gov and is currently investigating". 404 Media verified that part of a sample of about 5,000 records was accurate; BleepingComputer has not verified the flaw or the volume. The group gave the FBI one week to correct or remove a May alert that profiled it.