What We're Watching

What We’re Watching: US apparently drafts covert plan to end Ukraine war, World’s most valuable firm set for earnings call, Sectarian violence trials begin in Syria

At least 25 people, including three children, were killed in a Russian drone and missile assault on Ternopil, in western Ukraine, overnight on Wednesday (19November2025), according to Ukrainian rescue services.
At least 25 people, including three children, were killed in a Russian drone and missile assault on Ternopil, in western Ukraine, overnight on Wednesday, according to Ukrainian rescue services.

Is the US drafting secret peace plans with the Russians?

The US has apparently been secretly drafting plans with Russia to end the war in Ukraine, per Axios, raising questions of whether Ukraine would accept a deal made without its input. It comes as Russia’s two biggest oil companies – Lukoil and Rusneft – are about to have US sanctions enforced against them on November 21, upping the Kremlin’s incentives to make a deal Meanwhile, Russia is inching forward on the battlefield and just carried out a deadly attack in Western Ukraine, while Zelensky is in Turkey trying to revive peace talks on his own terms.

Markets on edge as world’s most valuable firm set to announce earnings

The AI chip design firm Nvidia, valued at roughly $4.6 trillion, will reveal its third-quarter earnings when markets close at 4 pm ET time, amid growing concerns that there is an AI bubble. Fears over potential overvaluation of AI firms are contributing to a selloff this month, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq index dropping 5%. The share price of Nvidia itself has dropped 4% this week. Analysts have set the bar high for Nvidia’s earnings, with some market participants anticipating profit growth above 50% – less could spur a drop in stock value.

Syria prosecutes suspects in sectarian clashes

Fourteen men were put on trial at an Aleppo court yesterday on charges they stoked sectarian clashes that left more than 1,000 people dead earlier this year. Half the defendants are members of the government security services and half are Alawites, the sect to which ousted dictator Bashar al-Assad belonged. Hundreds more from both sides await trial. Since ousting Assad last year, President Ahmed al-Sharaa, a former jihadist who has reinvented himself as a globetrotting statesman, has struggled to contain sectarian violence, including bloodshed driven by his own men. Critics have questioned the independence of the courts, but the trials are seen as a big test of accountability, something unimaginable under the Assads.

More For You

- YouTube

Artificial intelligence is already helping humanitarian organizations identify people in need, improve supply chains, and deliver assistance more efficiently. But it also introduces new risks.

AI is spreading faster, and the gap is growing wider. What that means in practice isn’t straightforward. In the first edition of AIEI Perspectives, a new editorial series from the Microsoft AI Economy Institute, six experts answer the same questions about who benefits from AI, who’s still waiting, and what shapes that outcome. Their answers don’t all land in the same place. Instead, they offer different ways of interpreting the same challenge — highlighting where views align and diverge and what it may take to close the gap over time. Read the perspectives here.

Competitive pay. 401(k) contributions upon employment and 6% company match once eligible. Up to 16 weeks of combined paid maternity and parental leave. These benefits and more inspire generations – Daidrian’s 18-year Walmart journey motivated her son Jonothan to launch his own career as a Walmart associate. Learn more.