EGood morning, it's Tuesday.
SFirst up, the Ebola outbreak in Congo has passed ten thousand confirmed cases.
EThe ministry's numbers show it's the fastest-growing outbreak in the country's history, and nearly half of those infected have died.
SThe health ministry released Tuesday's numbers as teams try to slow the spread across multiple African countries.
EAnd this is the rare Bundibugyo strain. No approved vaccine, no approved treatment.
SThat's the difference here. Previous outbreaks had a vaccine tool. This one doesn't.
ESo containment is everything. Ten thousand cases, almost five thousand dead, and no medical safety net.
SDoctors in the field are doing contact tracing by hand. That's a race against a very fast virus.
EWe'll follow this one through the hour.
EDifferent world entirely. In Texas, James Talarico is accusing Elon Musk of trying to buy the Senate seat for Ken Paxton.
STalarico told a rally in El Paso "Texas is not for sale." Eight days before the November 3 election.
ETalarico is the Democratic state rep running for Senate. Paxton is the Republican attorney general.
SMusk has put at least 158 million dollars into a pro-Paxton super PAC. Millions more into another PAC.
EThat's not a donation. That's a campaign budget.
SI get the outrage, but big donors don't always buy elections. Voters notice when it's this obvious.
EAt 158 million, it could mean more than ads. Turnout operations, door knockers, lawyers. That's the concern.
SMusk's money is legal, but the optics are terrible. Talarico is right that Texas should not be for sale.
EPaxton hasn't responded. This is now the main fight in the race.
ETo China now. Alibaba won an injunction against Pentagon contract restrictions tied to a military blacklist.
SReuters is reporting the ruling, but the full details are still coming in.
EIf it stands, it's a large exception for one of China's biggest cloud and e-commerce companies.
SThe blacklist was meant to keep Chinese military-linked firms out of U.S. defense work. This ruling cuts into that.
ECourts do like to remind the Pentagon that blacklists need due process.
SIt's an injunction, not a final win. The Pentagon hasn't commented yet.
EThe Pentagon's response will matter.
SOn the market side, HSBC shares tumbled six percent.
EThird-quarter revenue disappointed, and wealth growth slowed.
SA London bank with a slowing wealth division — not what shareholders wanted on a Tuesday morning.
EInvestors had been worried about Asia wealth. This confirms it.
SThe drop is real. HSBC had been steady, so this is a repricing of the growth story.
EWe'll see if the full earnings call changes the tone.
EAnd in the UK, two men have been charged over last month's incident at RAF Fairford.
SThe U.S.-run base in England. AP says the charges are national security offenses.
EReuters is also reporting the men are accused of helping Iran. Prosecutors haven't laid out details.
SThe base hosts U.S. Air Force operations, and the incident was serious enough to trigger charges.
EThis one is moving quickly. We'll bring updates as they come.
EOne quick correction before we go — a viral post claims 35,000 Vietnamese Democrats and 20,000 undecided voters already voted for Steve Hilton in California.
SThat's fabricated. No official vote counts by ethnicity or party are released before an election.
EIt's the kind of thing that spreads fast this week. If you see it, don't share it.
SThat's the morning brief for now. We'll keep tracking all of it.