Israel government talks, Poland shooting and AI shopping

Hi, I'm Tara Oaks in Liverpool. It's Sunday, November 8th. Today, Israel's president picks Netanyahu rival Gadi Eisenkot to try and form a government. Poland is in shock after a deadly mass shooting. And how AI shopping agents could threaten Amazon and Walmart's ad business. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes, seven days a week. First, to Israel, where President Isaac Herzog has chosen Gadi Eisenkot, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's strongest rival, to try to form a new government. It follows a deadlocked election that left neither man with a clear path to power. In Tel Aviv, on Saturday, Eisenkot backers rallied, with political activist Lied Suozkani saying the public wants a change from Netanyahu, Israel's longest-serving leader. We want to end the war. We want to rebuild Israel and to make something new and great back in Israel. We're fed up of the last four years. Eisenkot, a former military chief, has declined to join forces with Arab parties, whose support would give him a majority of seats in parliament. But Arab leaders, incensed by what they view as the racist policies of Netanyahu and his far-right allies, still nominated Eisenkot to try and form a government first, giving him the most endorsements. Weeks of protracted negotiations are expected to follow the nomination as Eisenkot tries to form a government. Now to Poland, where two days of national mourning have begun after a mass shooting, in Krakow, that authorities say was likely inspired by far-right ideology. Eyewitness video recorded on Saturday shows tourists fleeing the attack in the city's historic main square, where six people were killed and more than a dozen wounded. The 24-year-old suspect's parents and sister were later found dead at their home. Officials say the gunman remains in hospital in a critical condition. The attack has deepened public concern following a string of schools' stabbings in October that officials linked to extremist content online. In the suspect's hometown, local resident Karol said he was a former schoolmate of the shooter, and that he is at a loss for words at the attack. U.S. President Donald Trump has posted on Truth Social that he wants mixed-martial-arts promoter Dana White to serve as White House press secretary, calling on him to bring some fighters along as assistants, and writing, "We need these people to defend us against the lunatic left." Speaking at a press conference on Saturday while in London after a boxing event, White said he would meet with Trump at the White House on Monday. The White House press secretary role has been vacant since Katie Zachariah's tenure ended on Monday. Staying in the US, Democrats have flipped Attorney General officers in five Republican-leaning states: Texas, Ohio, Georgia, Iowa, and Kansas. The sweep in this week's midterms deals a major blow to the conservative legal apparatus that has used these officers to challenge Democratic policies on everything from abortion to immigration. Incoming Democratic Attorneys General are already pledging some changes of their own. Reporter Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff is in Washington. Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff: These seats flipping could be a legal earthquake for the conservative movement. Many of these states, especially Texas, function as kind of a legal powerhouse for the conservative movement. Now those Attorney General offices are being run by Democrats. A few examples of the changes they could make include reversing lawsuits that restrict access to abortion, changing directives on gun policies and gun enforcement, stopping their collaboration with ICE and federal immigration enforcement. It's hard to overstate how important specific, especially Texas, conservative attorneys general are to the conservative legal movement. And now without some of those powerhouses, members of the conservative legal movement are kind of eyeing Florida as the next and best bastion. Reporter Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff: Tesla CEO Elon Musk says the company will add an "extra production shift" to try to complete outstanding Cybertruck orders. Reporter Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff: Before dismantling the line next year for a planned expansion of cybercab robo-taxi production. It comes after Tesla announced it's winding down Cybertruck production by mid-2027 after years of dismal sales. Just over 20,000 units were sold in the US last year. That's a bit off from the 250,000 mark Musk once predicted. Reuters auto editor Nick Carey explains: What went wrong? Nick Carey: It was never really going to succeed because of the way in which Tesla designed it. When Elon Musk first unveiled the vehicle in 2019, it was widely criticized because, you know, well, pickup truck fans hated it because it didn't look like a pickup truck. But safety experts said that if you built a truck like this, it's unlikely that it would ever be able to get on the roads. In markets like Europe, because it was too angular, it'd be too heavy. It didn't look like it would be safe enough to meet regulations. But Tesla went ahead and did it anyway. So that cut Tesla off from a major EV market. In today's world, if you're going to build a vehicle, you want it to be a global vehicle. And especially if it's an EV, because if you're just trying to build an EV for the US market, that's not going to give you very much. Nick says to pivot to the cybercab might in the end be a better business decision with a few caveats. So assuming that robotaxis are a significant business, then yes, a cybercab without a steering wheel or pedals that's big enough to move people around. Theoretically, that is a good business to have. How quickly that'll come on and how large a part of that market is, Tesla has is still open to question. AI shopping assistants like Meta's recently released Muse are growing in popularity. Consumers delegating their online shopping to AI to find the best deals, make the purchases, and handle the logistics. But this growing revolution in online shopping is also creating a major headache for online retailers. Amazon and Walmart control the vast majority of the US retail media market. And as our retail reporter Nicholas Brown explains, the two retail giants are approaching AI shopping in different ways. Brands everywhere pay good money to have their products advertised on Walmart and Amazon's websites, sponsored search results, things like that. As agents increasingly do the shopping, you're going to have fewer eyeballs on these traditional ads and brands are going to have to figure out how do I advertise for a robot? So far, Walmart and Amazon have taken vastly different approaches to agentic shopping. So far, Amazon has blocked it. They blocked Muse. Amazon says Muse appeared to have accessed its online store without authorization, capturing and storing customer credentials. Meta declined to comment. But Walmart has rolled out infrastructure to enable third-party agentic commerce. If you're a shopper and you want to use Muse to buy something on Walmart.com, you use Muse. It accesses Walmart's website and Walmart creates a profile for you with that Muse agent. Basically, the Muse agent tells the Walmart what the consumer is looking for. The Walmart agent goes and gets it. The Muse agent, I'm using Muse as an example, but it's any agent, they never see your purchase history. They never see the consumer data that Walmart has on you. Nicholas says that while online retailers have troves of customer data detailing what you've searched and bought, AI shopping agents will have something even more valuable. These AI agents are going to know more than just what you're buying. They're going to know why. They're going to know what you're after. You know, I'm hosting a Thanksgiving dinner for 10 people. You know, what do I need to buy? How much? And it's going to take data to a whole new three-dimensional level that brands are going to want to pay good money for. Now, before we go, a correction and an apology. In yesterday's video for the podcast, some from New Zealand was erroneously labeled as being in Paraguay. Sorry about that. We'll know at the moment in yesterday's pod description. For more on any of the stories from today, as well as more analysis and news shaping our world, check out Reuters.com or the Reuters app. There's a link in the description to download it and start getting pure news straight from the source. Don't forget to follow us on your favorite podcast player. If you're listening on a smart speaker, just ask for the latest news from Reuters seven days a week. We'll be back tomorrow with our daily headline show.