Trump defends Crown Prince MBS over killing of ’extremely controversial’ Khashoggi

Good morning. Here's what happened overnight and what you need to know today.

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1.

Saudi defence: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman visited the White House for the first time since the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, meeting President Donald Trump amid military fanfare and investment announcements. In the Oval Office, Trump strongly defended the crown prince, berating an ABC reporter after she asked about the US intelligence finding that he ordered the killing. “He knew nothing about it,” Trump said. “You don’t have to embarrass our guest by asking something like that.” The crown prince called Khashoggi’s death “painful” saying Saudi Arabia “did all the right steps” to investigate Khashoggi’s death. “It’s painful and it’s a huge mistake,” he said. Trump also lashed out at the reporter after she asked why he didn’t simply release the Epstein files, calling her “a terrible person” and suggesting ABC’s licence should be revoked. Trump said Saudi Arabia would invest USD600 billion in the US, while the crown prince said the pledge would rise to nearly USD1 trillion. Trump confirmed plans to sell F-35s to the kingdom despite Pentagon and Israeli concerns. The pair also discussed nuclear cooperation, AI chips and a possible defence pact. Prince Mohammed said normalisation with Israel depends on securing “a clear path of a two-state solution.” (Bloomberg)(Reuters)(NYT)

2.

Claude loop: Microsoft and Nvidia will invest up to USD15 billion ($23.1 billion) in Anthropic, bringing the Claude maker closer to two major backers of its rival, OpenAI. Nvidia will contribute up to USD10 billion and Microsoft up to USD5 billion. In return, Anthropic has committed to spend at least USD30 billion on Microsoft’s Azure cloud, including one gigawatt of server capacity using Nvidia’s Grace Blackwell and Vera Rubin chips. Claude models, including Claude Sonnet, will also be added to Microsoft’s Foundry platform. The deal comes amid growing scrutiny of circular AI deals, where firms fund startups that then spend heavily on their infrastructure. It follows OpenAI’s USD38 billion cloud deal with Amazon. Microsoft, which holds a 27% stake in OpenAI’s for-profit arm, began using Anthropic’s models earlier this year. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said the new capacity would support training and joint sales. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said he “can’t wait to go accelerate Claude”. Meanwhile, Google launched Gemini 3 to boost its AI app and search capabilities, aiming to close the gap with OpenAI. (Capital Brief)(Microsoft)(Bloomberg)(The Information)

3.

Meta wins: Meta defeated the US Federal Trade Commission’s effort to unwind its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp, after a Washington judge ruled the company does not hold a monopoly in social networking. US District Judge James Boasberg found the FTC failed to show Meta currently has monopoly power, writing that TikTok and YouTube “compete fiercely over a meaningful share of Meta’s business” and offer features that have evolved to be “nearly identical”. He said the FTC’s theory about the app’s use was “consistently disproven by the data” and including TikTok alone was enough to undermine the case. The FTC had argued Meta bought Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014 to neutralise potential rivals, but Boasberg said the agency must prove a present or imminent violation of the law. The seven-week trial began in April and included testimony from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom and other current and former executives. Meta said in a statement the decision “recognises that Meta faces fierce competition.” (Reuters)(Bloomberg)(CNBC)

4.

Growth injections: Biopharma giant CSL announced plans to invest USD1.5 billion ($2.31 billion) to expand its US operations over the next five years. The Australian firm said that it will funnel the spending towards manufacturing plasma-derived therapies in efforts to expand its footprint and secure the local supply chain. Plasma-derived therapies represent the core of CSL Behring’s portfolio and the division contributed to over 70% of the group’s total revenue in fiscal year 2025. “The US is the world’s leading source for plasma, the main component of plasma derived therapies,” said Paul McKenzie, CEO and managing director of CSL. “These important medicines are often the most effective or only therapies available for many rare or serious diseases.” The planned investment is subject to approval by CSL’s Board of Directors. Since 2018, CSL said it has invested over USD3 billion into its US operations. (Capital Brief)(CSL)(Reuters)

5.

AI burnout: US stocks were falling for a fourth straight session as risk appetite continued to deteriorate ahead of Nvidia’s earnings, which could reportedly result in a USD320 billion ($320 billion) move in market value. That would be the largest post-results swing ever for the chipmaker. Nvidia options imply a 7% move in either direction as investors watch for signals on whether the AI rally is continuing or fading. The Nasdaq was trading 1.6% lower in the afternoon as chip stocks including Nvidia, AMD and Marvell slumped, with the PHLX Semiconductor Index falling into correction territory. The Dow has fallen about 4% over the past three sessions and the S&P 500 has lost 3.5% since 12 November. A fund manager survey found 45% view an AI bubble as the biggest tail risk, while tech bond spreads also widened as companies like Oracle and Meta borrowed heavily to fund AI-related infrastructure. Bitcoin briefly fell below USD90,000 before bouncing back, with about USD1.2 trillion wiped from crypto markets since early October. Klarna beat revenue expectations in its first report as a public company but posted a USD95 million net loss. Trump said he “already” knows his Fed chair pick but did not name the candidate.(Bloomberg)(WSJ)(Reuters)

6.

Cold Turkey: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the government is prepared to cede hosting of next year’s COP31 climate summit to Turkey, insisting that the interests of Pacific Island countries should be prioritised amid the deadlock. Albanese told reporters in Perth on Tuesday evening that while Australia wanted to win hosting rights for the event, the possibility that hosting the event could default to Germany would be a bad outcome for global action on climate change. As hosting rights are decided by consensus rules, with both Turkey and Australia remaining in the race, the UN rules require that the event must take place in the organisation’s host agency, Bonn, Germany. “There is considerable concern, not just from the Pacific, but internationally as well, that that will not send a good signal about the unity that's needed for the world to act on climate”, Albanese said. Albanese added that Australia would not seek to veto the decision if Turkey is ultimately chosen. (Capital Brief)

7.

Skydance play: David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance is working with sovereign wealth funds from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi on a proposed USD71 billion bid to acquire Warner Bros Discovery, Variety reported citing sources familiar with the matter. The Ellison family, which holds full voting control of Paramount Skydance, would reportedly contribute USD50 billion. The Saudi Public Investment Fund, Qatar Investment Authority and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority would each contribute USD7 billion, while Gerry Cardinale’s RedBird Capital is also backing the offer, according to the report. The proposed offer would value Warner at about USD28.65 per share, Bloomberg calculated. That compared with the USD23.50 per share tabled by Ellison that the board has previously rejected. A deadline of 20 November has been set for initial non-binding bids, with Comcast and Netflix also expected to make offers, Variety and Bloomberg reported. Paramount is reportedly the only party interested in acquiring the whole company. A source told Variety the sovereign funds would each get “an IP, a movie premiere, a movie shoot… All they care about is reputation and soft power.” Paramount Skydance said the report was "categorically inaccurate." (Variety)(Bloomberg)

8.

Free trade streaming: The Coalition is not ruling out an inquiry into Labor's landmark streaming legislation, amid ongoing industry concerns the plan could contravene Australia’s free trade deal with the US. Opposition arts spokesman Julian Leeser told Capital Brief that ongoing streaming industry concerns over whether the legislation introduced to parliament this month would breach Australia’s US free trade deal and any other “unintended consequences” warrant “scrutiny”. Under the legislation, global streaming platforms including Netflix and Amazon Prime Video will be required to invest at least 10% of their total Australian expenditure, or 7.5% of their revenue, in new local drama, children’s, documentary, arts and educational programs. Last week Labor brushed off ongoing concerns that the legislation would contravene Australia’s free trade deal with the US. “The requirement meets Australia’s international trade obligations,” a spokesperson for the Australian government's Department of the Arts told Capital Brief in a statement. (Capital Brief)