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PARIS/BRUSSELS, Nov 4 (Reuters) – More than a dozen members of the European Parliament (MEPs) urged the European Commission on Wednesday to assess whether BYD cars pose a security threat and should be subject to restrictions, such as excluding them from public procurement purchases. The US military, without detailing specific concerns, last month banned vehicles of the Chinese carmaker from Kadena Air Base on Japan’s Okinawa island, saying they posed an “unacceptable” and “unmitigable risk”. In written questions to the European Union’s executive, 14 MEPs asked for the bloc’s cybersecurity agency to assess the level of threat and potentially include BYD on a list of high-risk suppliers. Francois Kalfon, the French MEP leading the push, wrote in a preamble to the questions that China’s 2017 national intelligence law required companies to cooperate with the state. “Allowing connected vehicles from third countries to access sensitive European infrastructure therefore poses an unacceptable security risk,” he wrote. BYD said no data processed or stored, whether in the cloud or within a vehicle, can be remotely accessed from China, and that customers remained in control of their data. “BYD Europe does not make such data available to BYD entities or third parties in China,” it said in a statement to Reuters. Kalfon referred to unspecified measures taken by Poland, Britain and Israel and said, without naming any auto brand, that Norwegian soldiers had found that Chinese vehicles rented during a military exercise had filmed them and their access codes to military bases.  The MEPs want to know if the Commission intends to restrict Chinese vehicles’ access to strategic dual-use infrastructure and to exclude BYD from public procurement. While the Commission proposed new rules in September for public tenders that could boost the European content of winning bids, BYD could still take part as it has a production facility in Hungary and is planning more plants on the continent. The European Commission typically has six weeks to respond to lawmakers’ questions. Kalfon also sent a letter to French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu on Wednesday, urging the government to take a series of measures to contain the risk of spying by Chinese connected vehicles, and BYD cars in particular. (Reporting Gilles Guillaume and Philip Blenkinsop; additional reporting Nick Carey; editing by Kirsten Donovan) Brought to you by www.srnnews.com

By Aatreyee Dasgupta Nov 4 (Reuters) – US defense shares fell on Wednesday as the Democrats’ resounding midterm election victory stoked concerns about increased pressure on the Pentagon’s spending plans. Shares of Lockheed Martin were down 6.5%, RTX declined over 4% and L3Harris Technologies fell nearly 8% in morning trading. General Dynamics and Northrop Grumman also fell 3% to 5%. The sector has benefited from President Donald Trump’s call for a $1.5 trillion US military budget for 2027, well above the currently approved $901 billion level, and the Iran war, which has fueled demand for missiles, air-defense systems and other weapons. Analysts said a Democratic-led House could subject defense budgets and new programs to greater scrutiny even if support for military modernization remains broadly intact. Jefferies analysts said in a note that they expect the 2027 defense budget to be closer to the House’s roughly $1.15 trillion proposal than the administration’s $1.5 trillion request. Companies, including RTX and Lockheed, reported upbeat quarterly results in October and record backlogs as governments moved to replenish stockpiles and bolster military readiness. But the sector’s stocks have since given up much of those gains as investors grew skeptical of such spending increases becoming reality. Including Wednesday’s declines, the S&P 500 Aerospace & Defense sub-index is down nearly 1% this year, while the Dow Jones US Aerospace & Defense sub-index is down 3.4%. (Reporting by Aatreyee Dasgupta in Bengaluru; Editing by Leroy Leo) Brought to you by www.srnnews.com

By Aditya Soni and Darshan Kumar R Nov 4 (Reuters) – Democrats’ midterm election sweep sent shares in US tech giants soaring on Wednesday as investors bet that potential curbs on new data-center construction could cement their grip on scarce computing power while easing pressure on strained cash flows. Shares of Amazon surged 7.4% to a three-month high while Meta Platforms, Alphabet and Microsoft gained between 2% and 6.3%, powering a rally on Wall Street after days of selling fueled by fears over the AI boom’s soaring costs. Apple, which has avoided Big Tech’s massive AI spending but is feeling the sting of an AI-fueled surge in memory chip prices, jumped nearly 7% to a record high. If the gains hold, the five companies are on course to add more than $750 billion in combined market value. The rally marks a sharp reversal for the battered cloud giants after their quarterly earnings showed how the AI infrastructure race was turning once cash-rich, debt-light companies into heavy spenders reliant on borrowing. Microsoft was the notable exception, with $18.6 billion in cash flow. The gains followed landslide midterm victories for Democrats who oppose data centers, including in Texas, likely accelerating a backlash against the power-hungry, water-intensive and noisy facilities that are at the heart of the AI boom but increasingly unpopular with local communities. “Conceptually, post-election, there may be a bit of a slowdown or some bumps in the road for future data-center build-out,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B. Riley Wealth. “The hyperscalers (large tech companies) already have data centers, so those assets are more valuable now because there’s not going to be an overbuild of data centers. Also, if there’s a slower pace of data-center build-out, then there’s going to be a slower pace of CapEx spending. That certainly would impact the hyperscalers.” The tech giants have been building capacity at a blistering pace, with plans to spend more than $740 billion this year, up from roughly $400 billion last year. That far outstrips smaller AI cloud rivals such as CoreWeave and Nebius. Shares of smaller players including Applied Digital and Iren plunged between 6% and 13% on fears that curbs on data-center construction could derail their debt-fueled expansion plans. The companies have been spending several times their revenue to meet a swelling backlog of orders. “The biggest worry of the night for tech investors and the AI trade was around the state of Texas, where ~25%-30% of data-center gigawatts and capacity will come from,” said Dan Ives, senior managing director and tech analyst at Yorkville Ives. “Now it will happen at a more measured pace, which is likely a good thing in the eyes of many investors.” (Reporting by Aditya Soni in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila) Brought to you by www.srnnews.com

CAIRO, Nov 4 (Reuters) – Prominent Egyptians hailed the election of Abdul El-Sayed as the first Muslim member of the US Senate on Wednesday, though state media paid little notice to the rise of a liberal American who has called his parents’ native country a military dictatorship. El-Sayed, born in Michigan to Egyptian immigrant parents, has often spoken fondly about his heritage, praised Egyptian food and humour, and warmly recalled summers in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, where his father grew up. But he has also irked some Egyptians with remarks about the country, including once saying that but for the accident of history that brought his parents to Detroit he would have ended up as a taxi driver in Egypt like his cousins. In a campaign interview this year he described Egypt as living under “a military dictatorship funded by our tax dollars here”. His victory was nevertheless hailed by prominent Egyptian public figures, many noting that he was able to succeed despite being a fierce opponent of President Donald Trump. “Say what you like about America, but you have to tip your hat to a political system that allows Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed to become a US senator,” Amr Adib, a popular television host, wrote on X, using El-Sayed’s full name for emphasis. “There was even an Egyptian ululation during his victory speech.” Another well-known TV presenter, Yasmine El-Khateib, wrote that El-Sayed’s win “confirms that America, for all its faults, is a great country, where the will of the people can prevail despite religious and ethnic differences, and even against the wishes of the president himself.” One widely shared clip posted by a popular Egyptian humour account showed El-Sayed’s face superimposed on comedy character Mr Bean, dancing in front of a downcast Trump. Alaa Mubarak, son of former President Hosni Mubarak, shared a clip of El-Sayed’s victory speech in which he jokingly addressed Vice President JD Vance as “habibi”, an Arabic term of endearment. But state media, known in the past for lavishly covering the achievements of Americans of Egyptian heritage such as Oscar-winning actor Rami Malek, gave little attention to a politician who has been critical of the Cairo government. Pro-government commentator Loay El-Khateeb dismissed El-Sayed’s Egyptian origins as “history that he moved beyond a long time ago.” “It would be completely unwise to build any kind of expectations on that basis,” El-Khateeb wrote on Facebook. “Nor would it be wise to regard his election victory as an Egyptian or Arab achievement in any way.” (Reporting by Cairo bureauWriting by Alexander DziadoszEditing by Peter Graff) Brought to you by www.srnnews.com

By Hannah Lang and Michelle Price WASHINGTON, Nov 4 (Reuters) – The crypto industry’s roughly $200 million spending spree this election stumbled Tuesday, as some of its most expensive and high-profile targets, including the Senate race in Ohio, did not go its way. While the industry won most of the races it targeted, those losses raised questions among lobbyists about whether it had backed the right candidates.  The greatest blow for the industry came in Ohio, where Democrat and crypto skeptic Sherrod Brown decisively won his race to return to the Senate, despite crypto political action committees spending more than $60 million to defeat him.  The race was one of the most expensive in the Senate’s history. Strategists viewed it as a major test of crypto’s political clout after the Senate in September voted against advancing major crypto legislation known as the Clarity Act due to opposition from Democrats, in a blow for an industry that has grown close to President Donald Trump.  Some progressive Democratic primary candidates also successfully attacked opponents over their crypto ties. “We see this as souring the political environment for crypto,” said Jaret Seiberg, an analyst with TD Cowen, in a note on Tuesday. The leading industry super PAC, Fairshake, notched one high-profile victory, as it and its affiliates spent at least $13.5 million to defeat Nebraska independent Senate candidate Dan Osborn, a former labor union leader. Osborn lost to Republican Senator Pete Ricketts, who voted for the Clarity Act.  “As the biggest spender in the Nebraska Senate race, we’re proud to have helped Sen. Ricketts weather the waves of a hard-fought cycle,” said Geoff Vetter, a spokesperson for Fairshake.  Fairshake, whose chief backers include Coinbase, Ripple and venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, threw its financial heft behind 32 House candidates — 19 Republicans and 13 Democrats — whom it considered supporters of the industry’s priorities.  So far, it has won 29 of the 34 races it spent on, with several races not yet called. Of the six House candidates on whom Fairshake spent $1 million or more, so far it has won three.  “Newly elected and current members will have a choice: protect consumers and American jobs or fight progress,” Fairshake’s Vetter said.   The crypto industry has spent roughly half a billion dollars over the past two election cycles to build a bipartisan coalition of congressional allies to advance its interests.  In 2024, it helped elect dozens of crypto-friendly lawmakers who later came together to pass a law to help promote adoption of dollar-backed tokens known as stablecoins. The Clarity Act’s defeat was a major setback, and with Democrats taking Congress, the industry now faces oversight and potential investigations, particularly its ties to Trump.  Cryptocurrencies posted overnight losses on the results, but recovered on Wednesday. Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, was last up 3.1% above $80,000.  Crypto executives frequently say the long-term trend is still favorable. “Where crypto is today compared to we were two years ago is night and day,” said Stu Alderoty, chief legal officer at Ripple, speaking before the results. However, on the possibility of Democratic probes into Trump’s crypto business dealings, he said: “I think the writing is on the wall.” (Additional reporting by Dawn Kopecki; editing by David Gaffen) Brought to you by www.srnnews.com