Hamas allowed two Americans who were among the 203 hostages held by the group to leave Gaza yesterday. The deal to free the mother and daughter captured during Hamas’s violent Oct. 7 incursion into southern Israel was brokered by Qatar.

The tiny, oil-rich country is uniquely positioned to liaise between the Israeli-allied US and Hamas, which the US and the EU have labeled a terrorist group.

Why? Qatar hosts a strategic American air base within its borders, earning it the Major Non-NATO Ally (MNNA) designation the US typically reserves for countries with a close relationship like Australia and Japan. At the same time, the country that hosted last year’s World Cup has been hosting (and bankrolling) Hamas…

• Qatar’s capital, Doha, is the location of Hamas’s international headquarters and is the longtime home of the org’s top brass, including its de facto leader, Ismail Haniyeh.
• The Qatari government doles out $30 million monthly to needy residents of the Gaza Strip, which Hamas governs, and for Hamas-run civil services. However, the notorious shadiness of Hamas’s finances makes it impossible to know where all the suitcase cash goes.

It’s a fine line to walk

Being the mediator boosts Qatar’s international profile, but its continued chumminess with Hamas has pushed some critics to call on Western governments to sanction the constitutional monarchy and its flashy global investment portfolio, which includes stakes in British Airways, Paris Saint-Germain FC, and the Empire State Building.

• Speculation about which swanky hotel(s) Haniyeh and Co. reside in even prompted one US lawmaker to demand that Bill Gates bar them from the hotel chain he partially owns—the Four Seasons, which has a Doha location.

Some experts predict that the Israel-Hamas war might force Qatar to choose between maintaining its longtime commitment to funding extremist groups in the region and keeping its relationships with Western allies. But for now, the US is reportedly trying to negotiate the release of more hostages via Qatari mediators.

Qatar’s strength as a mediator goes beyond the Middle East: Its diplomats also recently helped convince Russia to return four Ukrainian children to their families.—SK

Jim Jordan is no longer the House speaker nominee. After losing a third vote on the House floor and another one behind closed doors, the Ohio rep became the second lawmaker nominated by his party (after Steve Scalise) to give up trying to become the replacement for Kevin McCarthy, who was ousted by a hard-right group of colleagues. Where does this leave the leaderless House, which can’t conduct any business? Still stuck. Republicans say they’ll start fresh on Monday to try to find someone they can get behind. It’s not clear who that could be, but any potential speaker needs broad GOP support because Democrats will continue to unite behind their own party leader.

Biden asked Congress for $106 billion in foreign aid. Whoever ends up with the speaker’s gavel is going to have their work cut out for them, especially since the president just asked for a massive aid package, in part to avoid future fights over new funds for Ukraine and Israel—both of which have their critics in Congress. The package includes $61 billion to carry Ukraine through a full year, $14 billion for Israel as it fights Hamas, $10 billion for humanitarian aid, plus cash to counter China in Asia. Whether it can get through Congress or not, you’ll probably hear more about this request as the election heats up.

SCOTUS to weigh White House communications with social media companies. The Supreme Court has agreed to review an appeals court’s ruling that the White House coerced social media companies to take down controversial content. While it does, it’s putting on hold the appeals court’s order barring some members of the Biden administration from further communication with the companies. It adds to a high court term already packed with social media cases, including one about when government officials can block social media followers and another over state governments’ efforts to regulate content moderation.

When incredibly valuable assets come up for sale, it’s typically the wealthiest people who end up taking home an amazing investment. But not always…

One platform is taking on the billionaires at their own game, buying up some of history’s most prized blue-chip artworks. Its investors have already realized annualized net returns of 17.8%, 21.5%, 35% and more.

It’s called Masterworks. Their nearly $1 billion collection includes artists like Banksy, Picasso, and Basquiat. When Masterworks sells a painting—like the 16 it’s already sold—investors reap their portion of the net proceeds.

Offerings can sell out in minutes, but Morning Brew readers can skip the waitlist to join with this exclusive link.

What do the IRS and the person who Venmo charges their ex-boyfriend for his birthday gift have in common? They’re both getting what they’re owed. Yesterday, the agency reported that it had recovered $160 million from more than 175 high net worth individuals.

The crackdown is part of a larger effort by the IRS, bolstered by $60 billion in funding from the Inflation Reduction Act, to close the estimated $688 billion gap between taxes owed and what the agency collected in tax year 2021.

Some of the money recouped so far came as restitution in criminal cases.

• One miscreant paid back $15 million to the IRS after being caught deducting personal expenses—including a 51,000 square-foot mansion with tennis, basketball, and bocce ball courts—as business expenses.
• Another person pleaded guilty to falsifying tax returns and stealing $670,000 from their business, $502,000 of which went to gambling.

Looking ahead…in 2024, the IRS plans to bring on new accountants (if it can find any) to work on audits of some of the largest tax-paying corporations and to incorporate AI to help detect tax cheating.—CC

Actors will have to get creative or fight over the giant banana costume at Spirit Halloween. SAG-AFTRA urged its members not to dress up as characters from works by studios they’re striking against this Halloween as the actors union continues its longest walkout in history.

Sorry to celebs who were going to dress as M3GAN or rollerblading Ken and Barbie, but if they want to post their costumes on social media, they’ll have to find a generic costume like a wizard or ghost to avoid giving studios publicity. Union members can also dress up as characters from reality TV, music videos, commercials, or independent productions—so the slate of A24 horror films is fair game.

Today marks 100 days on strike for SAG-AFTRA. A note about costumes probably wasn’t the message workers in the entertainment industry were hoping to get from the union after negotiations abruptly stalled last week and studios said said the union’s demands would create “an untenable economic burden.”

There was a brief moment of optimism when a group of Hollywood A-listers led by George Clooney pitched the actors union a plan that would involve highly paid actors chipping in more to cover benefits the studios aren’t willing to pay for. But the union rejected the idea.—MM

P.S. For the TL;DR of the actors strike (and some solid musical numbers), watch our video.

Stat: The already booming market for weight loss treatments like Ozempic might get even bigger as drug companies seek to make them available for small fries. The CDC estimates that ~20% of kids 6+ in the US have obesity, and manufacturers are working to make their weight loss drugs available for that age group. According to Bloomberg, Novo Nordisk is testing its Saxenda in kids as young as six, and Eli Lilly is getting ready for similar trials of Mounjaro. That could give the companies lifelong customers since the drugs only keep weight off as long as people take them—and Goldman Sachs’s recent estimate that the drug category would make $100 billion by 2030 didn’t even take sales to children into account.

Quote: “There is no hope for unification in our community until you step aside.”

Dun-dun: Law & Order creator Dick Wolf is the latest big-name donor to pull back from his Ivy League alma mater (UPenn) over perceived antisemitism on campus concerning a Palestinian literature event and the school’s response to the Israel-Hamas war. But Wolf is going further than just saying he won’t write any more checks: The Emmy winner—whose name adorns UPenn’s Wolf Humanities Center—wrote a letter demanding that the university’s president and the chair of its board of trustees step down, according to CNN.

Read: How the bond market is screaming “danger” for the economy. (New York Magazine)

Play: Imagine working for Elon: This game puts you in charge of running a trust and safety team.

Watch: How “the Picasso of counterfeiting” made such realistic bills.

Eat: Even Martha Stewart gets too busy to spend time in the kitchen—here are her top 15-minute dinner suggestions.

Explore: Travel without getting off the couch with this digital 3D map of Tokyo’s public transportation system.

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