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On today's podcast:

(1) Israel said it had begun “targeted ground raids” in southern Lebanon, escalating a campaign to root out Hezbollah despite international appeals for restraint.

(2) Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank will lower interest rates “over time,” while again emphasizing that the overall US economy remains on solid footing.

(3) Christine Lagarde said the European Central Bank is becoming more optimistic that it will be able to get inflation under control, and will reflect on that at its October interest-rate decision.

(4) Business chiefs are the most pessimistic they have been about Britain’s economy since late 2022, when the country was still reeling from the effects of Liz Truss’s short spell as prime minister.

(5) Dockworkers have walked out of every major port on the US East and Gulf coasts, marking the beginning of a strike that could ripple through the world’s largest economy and cause political turmoil just weeks before the presidential election. 

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