Dinner diplomacy

Joe Biden had a message for negotiators seeking to avert a crippling rail strike: Failure is not an option. If the industrial action went ah [View in browser]( [Bloomberg]( Follow Us [Get the newsletter]( Joe Biden had a message for negotiators seeking to avert a crippling rail strike: Failure is not an option. If the industrial action went ahead, it could have halted a critical cog of the US economy at a cost of $2 billion a day and added a shock to already strained global supply chains, fueled red-hot inflation and severely disrupted passenger trains. Key reading: - [Biden’s Prodding, Baked Ziti: All-Nighter Is Path to a Rail Deal]( - [Rail Strike Averted With Hours to Go as Biden Team Pushes Deal]( - [Union Members Hold Final Say on US Rail Deal, or Possible Strike]( - [US Rail Must Now Clear Jams After Labor Win, LA Port Chief Says]( - [Graham’s Abortion Bill Creates Turmoil for GOP Midterm Strategy]( Politically, it threatened to undermine his administration and most likely torpedo the Democrats’ brightening chances of keeping control of Congress in the November midterm elections. Unlike the bungled US withdrawal from Afghanistan, this time the president and his team were ready. Biden played the role of closer, coaxing and cajoling railroad and union representatives during the 20-hour bargaining session. With hopes for an agreement slipping away, dinner was ordered: a spread of baked ziti, salad and cannoli. Then, Biden appeared on a Zoom call with the negotiators in which he punctuated his plea with some salty language. Five hours later, a tentative deal was reached. Unions must ratify the deal, and rail workers’ deep-seated anger at their employers could still shatter yesterday’s bonhomie. But with Republicans in turmoil over how to handle abortion in the aftermath of the US Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, the deal is another positive for Democrats. “A big win for America” was how Biden described it in a speech from the White House Rose Garden. Time will tell if it is an equally significant win for his presidency. — [Jordan Fabian]( Conductors prepare an Amtrak train for departure at Union Station in Chicago on Thursday. Photographer: Jim Vondruska/Bloomberg Click [here]( for this week’s most compelling political images and share this newsletter with others. They can sign up [here](. Global Headlines Competing interests | Allegiances are [shifting]( in Russia’s backyard of central Asia and the Caucasus, as nations that were once Soviet republics look to lessen their dependence on Moscow by reaching out to China, the European Union and Turkey. That process of economic and political diversification has been accelerated by Russia’s war on Ukraine and the international sanctions imposed in response. - As Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets Russian President Vladimir Putin and [attends]( a summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping today, he’ll need to avoid looking too chummy with the US’s two top adversaries. Seeking protection | Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy made an urgent appeal to allies to supply additional air- and missile-defense systems he said are crucial to [repelling]( Russia’s invasion and preventing further disruption to food and energy supplies. Over the past day, infrastructure in more than 30 towns and cities has been damaged by air and missile strikes, Ukraine’s General Staff said. - Biden said the US would give Ukraine as much as $600 million in additional [weaponry]( as his administration seeks to add momentum to Kyiv’s counteroffensive. - Germany is [taking over]( Russian oil major Rosneft’s German unit, including stakes in three oil refineries, as it reacts to the unprecedented energy crisis sparked by the war. China’s economy showed signs of [recovery]( in August as Beijing rolled out stimulus measures to counter a slowdown, with industrial production and retail sales growing faster than predicted and youth unemployment dropping. But home prices recorded a 12th month of [declines](, underscoring how the real estate market may take much longer to recover despite government support. Fizzling campaign | Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s late election push looks to have run out of steam, leaving him [behind]( challenger Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva just two weeks before the first-round vote, according to a DataFolha poll. Lula would take 45% to 33% for Bolsonaro, the survey showed. If neither candidate wins more than 50%, the race goes to an Oct. 30 run-off. Best of Bloomberg Opinion - [Don’t Play Russian Roulette With Oil in the Baltic: Javier Blas]( - [Is There Anything More British Than ‘The Queue’: Therese Raphael]( - [Punishing Ordinary Russians Won’t End Ukraine War: Ian Buruma]( Mask off | Xi Jinping, on his first foreign trip since the start of the pandemic in January 2020, [dispensed]( with a face mask when meeting with Putin yesterday but otherwise took a cautious approach to relaxing virus prevention measures. Xi, who is pursuing a rigid Covid Zero policy at home, skipped a dinner with mask-free leaders and wore a face covering with other counterparts. Explainers you can use - [How Azerbaijan-Armenia Dispute Drew In Russia, Turkey]( - [How Power Trading Tries to Keep Lights On in Europe]( - [Why East Africa Is Facing Its Worst Famine in Decades]( La Nina effect | As climate change pushes weather disasters to new extremes — from deadly floods in Pakistan to a mega-drought in Brazil and Argentina — an atmospheric phenomenon known as La Nina has been the driver behind [the chaos]( since mid-2020. And the world is hurtling toward $1 trillion in damages by the end of next year. A firefighter volunteer inspects a house surrounded by floodwater in Lismore, Australia, on March 31. Photographer: Dan Peled/Getty Images AsiaPac Tune in at 11am ET for a Twitter Space conversation with reporters on the latest in the Brazil election race. You can listen [via this link](, which will also be available afterward. News to Note - The White House [slammed]( Republican governors’ efforts to bus migrants to Washington and other Democratic enclaves without any advance notice, calling their actions “shameful” political stunts. - Biden will [meet the families]( of detained WNBA Star Brittney Griner and former US Marine Paul Whelan, Americans being held in Russia, after the US publicly floated a swap to win their release. - Authorities in Islamabad offered the Taliban “intelligence and operational assistance” to [hunt down]( the leader of a Pakistani militant group believed to be in Afghanistan. - South Africa’s government is [bracing]( for more frequent and longer electricity outages as the state-owned power utility’s aged and poorly maintained plants deteriorate. - Azerbaijan and Armenia reported that a [truce]( appeared to be holding after border clashes that killed more than 200 troops on both sides in the worst fighting between the Caucasus neighbors since a 2020 war. Pop quiz (no cheating!) In which European country has a far right party with roots in the Neo-Nazi movement become the second political force? Send your answers to balancepower@bloomberg.net. And finally ... They gather in small groups, stop-starting and sometimes even power-walking as gaps appear in the line. They are part of what may be Britain's biggest ever [queue](, snaking through central London as people wait patiently for a glimpse of the late Queen lying in state. As [Irina Anghel]( reports, there are hundreds of thousands of people from all walks of life, prepared to stand in line for hours — even overnight — in what the Archbishop of Canterbury called one of the most moving parts of the week. The queue to see Queen Elizabeth II lying in state in Westminster Hall, on Friday. Photographer: Hollie Adams/Bloomberg Like getting this newsletter? [Subscribe to Bloomberg.com]( for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and subscriber-only insights. 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