Senate secures breakthrough on US shutdown

0:03Good morning from the Financial Times. Today is Monday, November 10th, and this is your FT News briefing. The longest government shutdown in U.S. history is one step closer to ending. Plus, COP30 kicks off today in Brazil. And in the face of U.S. tariffs, India is encouraging consumers to use homegrown messaging apps and other technology. It was quite remarkable because last month, new signups rocketed from 3 ,000 at a day to 315 ,000. And this was basically boosted by the endorsements from key government figures and others. I'm Victoria Craig, and here's the news you need to start your day.

0:49The U.S. Senate cleared a crucial first hurdle late Sunday night to end America's longest government shutdown, which is stretching into its 41st day. A small group of Democrats joined Republicans to vote in favor of a procedural vote during the rare Sunday session. That paves the way for passage of a stopgap bill that would keep the government funded until the end of January Legislation that passes the chamber will still need to go to the house of representatives for approval And then on to the white house for president trump's signature The hang-up has been on democrats demands to extend health care tax credits due to expire at the end of this year The deal agreed on sunday includes only an assurance a vote on the matter will be held no later than the middle of next month Be sure to stay tuned to FT.com for all the very latest developments on the shutdown.

1:45Politicians from around the world are gathering at the edge of the Amazon rainforest today to kick off the UN's 30th annual climate change conference known as COP. And the Trump administration is notably absent. The question is, could that climate change skepticism from America and hopes for fossil fuel expansion limit progress on any action agreed this year? The FT's climate correspondent, Atrakta Mooney, is in Belém, Brazil. She joins me now. Hi, Atrakta. Hi, how are you? Good, thanks. Thanks for being here. So how are things shaping up for this year's summit? What kind of conversations can we expect to see?

2:20Well, it's a really tricky summit. it. The Brazilians themselves admit that it's probably the trickiest geopolitics that any COP has ever come in for. It's the 10-year anniversary of the Paris Agreement, which was the kind of landmark accord where the world agreed to try and tackle climate change. And we had world leaders the other day talking about how at that time there was consensus around climate change, and that consensus is just not there anymore. We will see conversations around things like adaptation, which is how we can prepare our economies to better cope with climate change. And we'll see conversations around finance.

2:57And we will also potentially see some more conversations about phasing out fossil fuels. It's not particularly clear what the outcome will be at the end of this, but the Brazilians have talked about wanting this to be a cop of implementation. They say, we've got the rule books, we know what the world is meant to do, and now we just need to do it. Climate change is already affecting many parts of the world in very real ways, including here in the U.S. What are some of those adaptation strategies that we're seeing being rolled out? Cities have already seen some pretty big devastation from climate change, the likes of Los Angeles this year with the wildfires, Valencia last year with flooding.

3:38So what we're starting to see is cities respond to that. So you've got cities like Phoenix in the U.S. where they're running out these huge cooling strategies. And Phoenix has had record-breaking temperatures. And so to cope with that, we're starting to see them change building codes to require more shading. They're starting to plant more trees again to provide more shading. They've been adding a sealant to road paving to try and bring down temperatures as well. They're also rolling out cooling centres so that if you don't have access to air conditioning or your air conditioning breaks that you can go somewhere and cool down.

4:17So clearly a human impact, obviously, to climate change. But what about the economics of it all? What are the impacts in economic terms? Yeah, so these extreme events that we're seeing, especially in rich economies, are having huge economic consequences. And that's because these big economies have businesses and homes that are really costly to rebuild or to refurbish. And so there's some data from Bloomberg NEF, which suggests that over the last year or so, we've had 1.4 trillion in losses across just 25 markets. And then other data suggests that when you have a big loss like this, for example, in the US, about 40 percent of small businesses in an affected area do not reopen.

5:01And so that kind of shows how it's so hard to rebuild after you get hit by a big climate event. And this could potentially exacerbate the difference between sort of the haves and the have-nots in societies around the world. Is that right? Right. Well, that's the fear that's increasing at the moment. The worry is that if governments already have quite strapped budgets and they are prioritising different things at the moment, and that will mean that it's not always clear who's going to be protected from climate disasters. But if you're wealthy, you can probably do more to protect yourself from a climate disaster compared to poorer people, even just simple things like air conditioning.

5:43So the fear that is emerging now is that it will create a two-tier society where the richer people are able to adapt, as it's called, better and make themselves more resilient to climate change while poorer people find it harder to do that. Plenty for those politicians at COP to think about this week. The FT's climate correspondent, Attractamuni, thanks so much for your time. Thank you. Thank you. companies and deterred other companies from entering the industry. Now, though, focus is moving to banking giants like UBS dubbed systemically important institutions. New rules could increase how much capital those firms are required to have on hand under a beefed-up, too-big-to-fail regime.

6:54Switzerland's moves are in sharp contrast with other nations like the U.S., which is relaxing its rules around the finance industry. The Swiss finance regulator says its decision, quote, reflects lessons from past events.

7:12India's geopolitical relationship with the United States is shapeshifting through the Trump administration's second term. 50 percent U.S. tariffs on India are threatening to put a damper on the world's fastest growing large economy. So Prime Minister Narendra Modi is encouraging Indian consumers to buy and use homegrown goods and services. But will it be enough to stave off that tariff impact? The FT's South Asia correspondent, Andres Schipani, joins me now. Hi, Andres. Hello, how are you? I'm good. Thanks for joining us. So just walk us through some of these efforts. What is the Modi government doing to encourage customers to buy Indian?

7:50This is a nationalist government, and it's been so since Modi taken over 11 years ago. And he's been pushing for this making India drive to encourage India to buy more Indian products. But this sort of got turbocharged in August after Trump imposed a tariff on India while they are negotiating a trade deal. So all of this drive has more recently turned into tech, encouraging Indians to consume more Indian tech products. What are some of these companies that India is really looking to promote in this push? There's a particular one that is called Zoho. It has a messaging service similar to WhatsApp that is called Aratai.

8:32And the Tremister, even while he was shuttling between Washington and New Delhi trying to get his trade deal done, they were promoting it. And it was quite remarkable because last month, new signups rocketed from 3 ,000 at a day to 350 ,000. We spoke to people who've been following this, and they told us that about 80 % of Alatai's downloads since it was first launched in 2021 came in October this year. And this was basically boosted by the endorsements from key government figures and others. So what about the workforce element to all of this? Are India's tech-savvy workers thinking about maybe staying in the country rather than going abroad to find work in the middle of this big push?

9:17Well, in a way, that is part of this tech nationalism drive. When in September the Trump administration tightened restrictions on H1B visas, I think initially they were thinking of an application fee of$100 ,000. You have to think that India corners about 70 % of those visas, mainly for the tech sector. And you know these names. I mean, the HIV program has produced some of America's top corporate leaders like Sundar Pichai, Google, Satya Nalala. These are people of Indian origins. And after Trump's recent moves, many potential entrepreneurs or tech workers in general may now remain or return to India.

9:59I mean, that remains to be seen. But I was talking to a few Indian families and students thinking of moving to the US to study. In creating, they've been looking to Europe and other parts of Asia for higher education. So again, it could provide a reason to stay, but the U.S. administration keeps fiddling with these policies. Okay, so it seems like the goal is really to hit back at the United States in all of this. But how realistic is it? Or is this more about making a political statement to the Modi government's American counterparts? There's a few things here. Modi and Trump have a long-standing relationship.

10:38They call each other friends. And even since the recent tensions, the Indian government insists that things are going on different tracks. So they are negotiating a trade deal on one very diplomatic and technocratic track, while there's another more different type of diplomatic track dealing with what the Trump administration is doing and saying, not India. We heard recently from senior Indian officials that we could have a trade deal in the next couple of days or weeks. And they want to emphasize how powerful India's industry could be. But when it comes to tech, if the local tech companies or services end up being a real challenge to U.S.-based tech companies, well, it's hard to say at this point.

11:24The FT South Asia correspondent Andres Shipane. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you very much.

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12:13This has been your daily FT News Briefing. Check back tomorrow for the latest business news.