Tuesday, October 27th

What happened

Flávio Bolsonaro is seeking to annul Brazil’s presidential election after refusing to concede. Brazil’s Supreme Court ordered Bolsonaro to surrender his passports in a money laundering inquiry. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won the runoff with about 51.8% of the vote, defeating Bolsonaro by roughly 4.4 million votes. The result reversed Bolsonaro’s first-round lead and gave Lula a historic fourth, nonconsecutive term. Justice Cristiano Zanin extended voting by two hours after both campaigns sought extra time, citing transport problems and bad weather. Bolsonaro said the extension unfairly changed the rules; electoral authorities said it did not affect the outcome.

What happened

Anthropic publicly filed for an initial public offering on October 26, saying it plans to list Class A shares on Nasdaq under ANT. The company has not yet set the number of shares or a price range. Founded in 2021 by former OpenAI researchers led by chief executive Dario Amodei, Anthropic became a major AI company through its Claude models. Its filing says leaders see major economic and scientific benefits from advanced AI, while warning poorly protected systems could pose catastrophic risks. It reported $16.3 billion in first-half revenue, alongside an operating loss of about $693 million. A November debut is anticipated, but the timing, size, price and valuation remain unsettled.

What happened

Israelis are voting in their first national election since October 7, 2023, a ballot that will determine Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s political future. Avigdor Lieberman asked Israel’s attorney general to investigate Netanyahu, alleging efforts to risk confrontation with Iran amounted to treason. The Hamas-led attack killed about 1,200 people and triggered years of regional conflict. Critics blame Netanyahu for the security failure, while he says his experience makes him best placed to protect Israel. Opposition figures accused him of seeking Iran action for politics; his office called that false, and Defense Minister Israel Katz denied any planned attack. Polls point to coalition talks and no clear 61-seat majority.