University of California San Diego

The COP31 opening in Antalya is delayed by an hour and a half, while negotiators continue to argue over placing climate‑finance items on the agenda. UN Secretary‑General Antonio Guterres urges faster emissions cuts and a just transition, and UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell says progress is far from sufficient. The summit begins amid record heat, extreme weather events and AI‑driven energy demand, with Turkey’s presidency pledging to electrify over a third of the global economy by 2035. African nations push to triple adaptation finance.

Stock markets fell sharply after the 3 November US midterm elections, which Democrats won, giving them control of both chambers of Congress. On 5 November the S&P 500 dropped 4.36 percent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1,833.06 points, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 5.52 percent. The Nasdaq 100 slid 6.4 percent, wiping out $2.3 trillion in value. In Asia on 6 November, South Korea's Kospi index fell 8.8 percent and triggered a circuit breaker, and Japan's Nikkei 225 lost 6.2 percent. Trump blamed the decline on the Democrats' victories. Markets later recovered somewhat in Europe, with the Stoxx 600 rising 1.8 percent on Wednesday.

Data centre electricity demand is projected to more than double by 2030 compared with 2024 levels. At the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition, OpenAI chief Sam Altman warned that power supply is the biggest bottleneck for further AI progress. He also said AI now performs many white‑collar tasks and must remain under human control. Xbox strategy manager Brandon Stirrup confirmed that AI is integral to game development and announced the creation of Xbox Labs after deactivating his social media account. Meanwhile, Tagesschau notes AI has become a routine tool for businesses and individuals.