Red Sea Ship Attacks, Bill Gates Climate Warning & Bitcoin Tops $40k

Your morning briefing, the business news you need in just 15 minutes.

On today's podcast:

(1) Iranian-backed Houthi rebels claimed they targeted "two Israeli ships" in the Red Sea, part of a series of attacks against commercial vessels in international waters on Sunday during which the US said one of its destroyers shot down three drones.

(2) Israel's military is expanding its operations across the Gaza Strip, with the expectation of a ground invasion of southern Gaza looming and warnings to many of the territory's 2.2 million residents to evacuate again.  

(3) Bill Gates said the world probably won't meet the Paris Agreement's goal of keeping temperature rise below 2C. But he praised COP28 for making progress on tackling climate change despite geopolitical tensions.

(4) In recent years, many of the world's biggest banks have published reports chronicling the vast sums they say they're channeling into environmental and social activities. Now, senior people inside the industry are raising questions about those statements.

(5) Bitcoin scaled $40,000 for the first time since May 2022 as the largest digital asset extended a rebound on expectations of interest-rate reductions and greater demand from exchange-traded funds.

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