News of the day: René Benko and Signa, Fridays for Hubraum, Climate Change, Gaza War

1. The game is house

"Wunderwuzzi" is what they supposedly called René Benko in his native Austria, and he portrayed himself as a child prodigy of the real estate industry. Now he is relinquishing his power in his own company, under pressure from investors, as my colleague Kristina Gnirke reports. A renovator takes over the chairmanship of the advisory board.

The rise of the "Wunderwuzzi" sounded too good: "Like few others, he managed to make deals, sometimes courageously, almost always risky," says Kristina. " In this way, he quickly created an empire that is second to none: with a real estate portfolio worth around 20 billion euros.« The prerequisite: cheap money. But now interest rates are rising rapidly, and his strategy is collapsing.

Benko not only overestimated himself, says Kristina, but also out of the trust of his extremely wealthy backers. "Millionaires and billionaires, who now fear for their deposits, did not want to give new financial injections until Benko handed over his power to a restructuring company." This man's name is Arndt Geiwitz, and he has already "accompanied Schlecker and Galeria in the renovation", as the saying goes.

"Benko's shareholders will do everything in their power to save the company and possibly with it many construction projects that are currently stopped," Kristina estimates. "However, it remains to be seen whether René Benko will survive the turnaround in his own company, or whether he will ultimately be dismissed altogether." The "Wunderwuzzi" might still be surprised.

• Read more here: René Benko hands over his power at Signa to renovators

2. Fridays for Disraum?

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Young female driver: Fastened instead of glued on

Photo: Mario Guti/Getty Images

Dramatic climate figures: October broke three heat records. It was at least the warmest since 1940, as EU climate researchers report today, i.e. since the beginning of the measurement series. The average surface temperature was also higher than the estimated values for the years between 1850 and 1900, i.e. the period before industrialization (more on this here). It may even have been the warmest in 125,000 years, as determined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (the values from the early years are based on evaluations of, for example, ice cores, tree rings and coral deposits).

The calendrical pedant will remark that the name of the month "October" is perhaps a little younger than 125,000 years. And the thigh-slapping regular carpenter jokes: "What did Fred Feuerstein have to sweat while hunting dinosaurs?" However, both will have to live in a world that may break the 1.5-degree target as early as this year. And in which storm surges, droughts, heat waves are increasing.

Unfortunately, it will not be enough to hope for the youth to come to power. The Greta generation, for example, also likes to drive a car often, as my colleague Lukas Kissel reports. "In any case, experts no longer believe that the problems associated with the many cars – parked cities, traffic jams, high emissions – will simply be solved by a generational change," he writes.

• Read more about it here: The myth of the anti-car youth

3. Opponents of the war in Israel

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Protest in Tel Aviv: "Ceasefire now"

Photo: Jonas Opperskalski

Israel's military reports that units are "currently penetrating the depths" of Gaza City, but Israel "does not intend to re-occupy the Gaza Strip," according to a minister. (All the latest developments in the news blog here.) A month ago yesterday, Hamas attacked Israel, the country is still counting its dead and fighting for the return of over 240 hostages taken by the terrorists in their massacre.

"There's a war going on, and almost everyone is in favor of it," says my colleague Muriel Kalisch from Tel Aviv. In one poll, more than 70 percent of the population said that the war against Gaza should not end until Hamas is destroyed. More than 50 percent called for a renewed occupation of the Gaza Strip. But not everyone wants to accept the campaign. "Israel's political left has lost a lot of influence in recent years, and it hardly plays a role in parliament anymore," says Muriel. "But the anti-occupation movement, which advocates coexistence with the Palestinians, still exists." It calls for a ceasefire and a political solution instead of bombs on Gaza.

But how can you fight for a peace that almost no one wants anymore? "Anyone who advocates a two-state solution and peaceful coexistence with the Arabs is often considered radical," says Muriel. She met an activist who says he scratched his real name off the door because he was afraid. "Being on the left, being for the Palestinians – that's not easy in Israel," Muriel said. "Since the Hamas attack, it has become dangerous."

• Read the full story here: How Israel's Left Struggles Alone for Peace

More news and background information on the war in the Middle East can be found here:

• "I saw them arguing about whether they were going to kill me." The traces of terror are still there. One month after the Hamas invasion, May Hayat returns to the festival site in southern Israel. Several times she was very lucky and narrowly escaped the terrorists. Watch the video here.

• Evacuated nurse reports 'massive burns' on children in Gaza: Emily Callahan had been working for Doctors Without Borders in the Gaza Strip for two months before war broke out. Now she has been evacuated – and speaks of harrowing impressions in the CNN interview.

• Here you can find all the latest developments: The news update

What else is important today

• Number of first-time asylum applications rises to highest level since 2016: More and more people are applying for asylum in Germany. 2023 will be the year with the most applications since the record year 2016. More than two-thirds of those seeking protection come from three countries of origin.

• Söder throws Minister Huml out, Beißwenger becomes successor: First she was Minister of Health, then Minister of Europe, now she is to go: Bavaria's Prime Minister Söder wants to form his new cabinet without Melanie Huml. There are also other changes.

• EU Commission recommends accession negotiations with Ukraine: Ukraine still has many measures to implement before it can join the EU. The EU Commission is satisfied with Kiev's efforts so far – and advises formal consultations on admission to the confederation of states.

• Economists predict mild recession for 2023: The German Council of Economic Experts continues to expect a weakening economy in Germany. Weak growth could not return until 2024. Among other things, the top economic advisers recommend a different immigration policy.

What we recommend today at SPIEGEL+

• "We still have to leave something for the next generation": For Monika Schnitzer, old versus young is a smoldering conflict. The head of the Economic Wise Men talks about the reform recommendations of her annual report – and why she considers the treatment of foreign employees to be "absurd".

• The 49-euro ticket is popular – but completely ineffective: The federal and state governments have postponed an agreement on the 49-euro ticket. That's a good thing, the concept needs to be fundamentally rethought.

• How Leroy Sané became irreplaceable at FC Bayern: He plays so much, dribbles and scores like never before in his career: Germany international Leroy Sané is in the form of his life. But will the high last this time?

What is less important today

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Photo: Philipp von Ditfurth / picture alliance / dpa

Sofa away: Thomas Gottschalk, 73, really, quite honestly, wants to stop "Wetten, dass..?"; On November 25, the ZDF from Offenburg will broadcast what is supposed to be the last broadcast, as the presenter asserts in the »Zeit«. A complete withdrawal from the screen does not have to follow from this: "I will certainly do things of which you say: Why does he do this? But I'm not going to go to the jungle or move into the summer house of the stars."

Mini Concave Mirror

Here you can find the whole concave mirror.

Cartoon of the Day

And tonight?

Could you go to the cinema and watch the superheroine movie »The Marvels«. My colleague Andreas Borcholte thinks: "Like all too many Marvel films, this episode also carries a heavy burden of too many complicated backgrounds, character biographies and storylines."

Right from the start, any momentum of the film is slowed down by quick outlines of the recent fates of the three main characters »Captain Marvel«, »Ms Marvel« and »Wanda Vision« – »if the audience is not up to speed and has taken all the branches of the Marvel labyrinth, which has become confusing«. (Read the full review here.)

But I feel differently: Finally an occasion to binge all the previous films and series again. Will be just a close until tonight.

I wish you a nick-fury-osen evening, cordially

Yours sincerely, Oliver Trenkamp, Editor-in-Chief