- By Diana Novak Jones Oct 14 (Reuters) – A bipartisan group of eight states said on Wednesday they had sued OpenAI in courts across the country over harms they say ChatGPT has caused to their residents, alleging the chatbot has coached its users — including teenagers — to harm themselves or others. Attorneys general from the […]
- By Abigail Summerville NEW YORK, Oct 14 (Reuters) – The Knot Worldwide has agreed to buy its smaller peer Zola, adding to its portfolio of leading wedding-planning brands, according to two people familiar with the deal. The Knot, which is owned by investment firm Permira, helps couples find local wedding vendors and create personalized wedding […]
- A diesel supply deal with the United States will boost Russia’s economy and include direct exports to the U.S. market, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said Wednesday. “Without a doubt, this is a positive signal for our economy,” Novak told reporters on the sidelines of the Russian Energy Week forum in Moscow, according to the […]
- MEXICO CITY, Oct 14 (Reuters) – Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said she will sign a presidential decree on Wednesday requiring digital platforms, including social media and streaming sites, to shield children and teenagers from violent, sexual and other harmful content. The decree, which will step up scrutiny of big technology companies in Latin America’s second-largest economy, […]
- Oct 14 (Reuters) – Some 76 million Americans receiving Social Security and Supplemental Security Income benefits will see their monthly payments rise 3.6% in 2027, accelerating from the prior year’s increase for a second straight year. The Social Security Administration announced the annual cost-of-living adjustment to benefits on Wednesday after the Bureau of Labor Statistics […]
- Warsh’s quest for quiet Fed gets vocal pushback
on October 15, 2026 at 9:17 amBy Ann Saphir and Howard Schneider SAN FRANCISCO/WASHINGTON, Oct 15 (Reuters) – Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh’s call for a “quieter” central bank is facing pushback from colleagues who see public communication as a fundamental part of their job and have taken to TV, podcasts, interviews, social media and speakers’ podiums to make their policy views known. Their voices have made a difference, with more than 40 appearances by nearly all of Warsh’s colleagues at the central bank convincing traders to scale back rate-hike bets that had mounted after September’s rate increase and Warsh’s own silence on how much more the Fed may need to do. Data on Wednesday showed consumer prices rose 3.7% in September from a year earlier, shaking up financial markets’ Fed expectations yet again. An October rate hike is now seen as a coin toss, an extraordinary lack of clarity that sharpens the focus on the stakes of Warsh’s preference for silence. Where the Warsh Fed’s communications strategy will settle, however, remains an open question. Warsh speaks in Bangkok on Friday at 0330 GMT (11:30 p.m. ET Thursday) at the International Monetary Fund’s annual meeting, a final chance to shape market expectations for the Fed’s decision in less than two weeks. At every other opportunity, whether in talks to global central bankers in Sintra, Portugal, and Jackson Hole, Wyoming, or testimony before lawmakers, or answering questions from reporters at the Fed’s headquarters, he has argued that the less Fed policymakers say about where they think rates should go, the more markets will be forced to take cues from economic data and make them a better source of information for the Fed as it makes its own rate decisions. He has pared any hint of that so-called forward guidance from the Fed’s post-meeting statement, and convened a task force widely expected to recommend jettisoning the rate-path projections produced quarterly that have been a staple of the Fed’s communications for years. Other policymakers, however, have been clear they will keep talking, in part because they think it is important for good monetary policy. “If someone wants to present me with an argument that says, not speaking is going to help the public and households and businesses make better decisions and understand the economy, and it’s going to help enhance our credibility as an institution, I’m all ears for it,” Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack told Reuters in an interview on Monday. “I think it’s a pretty hard argument to make.” ‘MARKETS TOOK NOTE’ Such a shift would mean upending decades of movement away from the cryptic style of Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan, which Warsh openly admires. Indeed, US economists Robert Hall and Michael Woodford, whose pioneering research helped steer the Fed and other central banks toward more frank communications about the monetary policy outlook, this week were awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in economics. Warsh’s quiet Fed drive also comes as the Fed is trying to maintain and strengthen its accountability amid White House efforts to influence its monetary policy decisions and challenge its independence. Uncharacteristically pointed remarks from New York Fed President John Williams and Fed Vice Chair Philip Jefferson were particularly effective in resetting rate-hike expectations. “Markets took note of the fact that you had two members of the troika giving a very consistent message,” said Richard Clarida, global economic advisor at investment firm PIMCO. The New York Fed chief and the Fed vice chair along with the Fed chair are typically the three most influential policymakers. A former Fed vice chair himself, Clarida said he saw his role back then as communicating the chair’s thinking, though he said he could not speak for whether that was still true today. “We’re in a regime — in a world — where it’s important to listen to all of the members of the committee,” he said. Speaking in Turkey last week, Fed Governor Christopher Waller gave his own assessment of what will be needed: “additional rate hikes…(that) do not need to come at consecutive meetings, but they should be in place in an acceptable period of time.” Promising an exact rate path would keep the Fed from adjusting as needed to fresh information, Waller said, a risk Warsh has also raised. But giving no signal at all, Waller said, “could surprise markets and create volatility,” with investors pricing in a rate hike path that potentially exerts too little or far more restraint on the economy than what Fed policymakers see as necessary. That appeared to have been the backdrop in recent weeks when Williams and Jefferson made the public case against rushing on rate hikes. Markets were expressing a strong conviction for a series of rate hikes at odds with the Fed’s September dot plot that showed policymakers expected a less aggressive path. VALUE OF COMMUNICATION That may also have been the situation in August, when markets bet heavily against a near-term rate hike after Warsh declined to offer a detailed rationale for July’s decision to hold rates steady despite what he said was a “no tolerance” policy on inflation. That time it was Warsh himself who broke the silence. Even as he repeated his call for a “quieter Fed,” he said he wasn’t convinced a recent cooling in inflation marked a clear trend — a signal to markets a rate hike was, indeed, coming. “Transparency about how the central bank is attempting to achieve their objective is important,” Charles Evans, a former Chicago Fed president who championed a very strong form of forward guidance to help bolster the economy in the wake of the 2007-2009 financial crisis, told economists in Cleveland earlier this week. Juhi Dhawan, macro strategist for Wellington Management, noted that remarks from Jefferson and Williams may have allowed Warsh to “get his message across without making himself be the conduit for it.” “I’m willing to give him some time to find that ideal form of communication,” Dhawan said. “I think the value of communication has become apparent, if anything, in the last few months, as the Fed has tried to shift its trajectory on its rate path.” (Reporting by Ann Saphir and Howard Schneider; Editing by Dan Burns and Andrea Ricci ) Brought to you by www.srnnews.com
- US toy prices surge ahead of holiday shopping season as tariffs, Iran war bite
on October 15, 2026 at 9:16 amBy Danielle Kaye NEW YORK, Oct 15 (Reuters) – Cash-strapped US consumers are facing a squeeze in their shopping budgets this holiday season, hit by the double whammy of tariffs and high energy costs. While overall inflation is creeping up, toy prices are surging, with an increase of 6.6% in the last year, the latest US consumer inflation data showed. Other products that depend on both overseas shipments and petroleum in their manufacturing processes are also posting higher prices. The toy industry, which manufactures a majority of products sold in the US in China, remains exposed to the Trump administration’s shifting tariff policies. At the same time, toys are largely made of fossil-fuel-based plastics, meaning higher oil prices from the Middle East war are likely also contributing to the sticker shock consumers will run into on retail shelves. “Those dual issues appear to be showing up in pricing,” said David Silverman, senior director at Fitch Ratings, who focuses on retail and consumer companies. “The impact from the Iran conflict on commodity costs and shipping costs will certainly persist for the next several quarters.” Prices rose in September for apparel and footwear, too, according to the US Consumer Price Index report. But the gain in toy prices was greater than in other consumer categories, just as Americans start drafting their holiday gift lists. Toy prices rose 4.2% from August, seasonally adjusted. Soon after returning to the White House and imposing sweeping levies on imports from China, President Donald Trump in April 2025 acknowledged that his tariff policies might boost prices for consumers. At the time, he elicited backlash when he suggested that children might have “two dolls instead of 30 dolls.” Since then, his approval rating has dropped sharply, particularly on economic issues. A Reuters/Ipsos poll through October 5 showed just 21% of voters approve of Trump’s handling of cost-of-living issues, with 67% disapproving. US tariffs on Chinese goods have eased since the Trump administration’s initial 145% rate, which then fell to 30% in May 2025. The US and China also reached an agreement in late September to reduce tariffs on $30 billion each of imported and exported goods. But current prices still reflect the fallout from higher tariff rates, said Jay Foreman, the CEO of Basic Fun, a Florida-based toy company that makes Tonka trucks and Care Bears. The toy industry used those rates last year to price the goods that hit shelves this fall, he said. “Tariffs add a noticeable cost to toys and other goods,” Foreman added. “Reducing them now will over time lower the price of toys as long as other global issues subside, like the various wars that are pushing up fuel and raw material costs.” Barbie maker Mattel is “seeing some moderate inflationary pressures associated with events in the Middle East,” Chief Financial Officer Paul Ruh said on an earnings call in August after reporting that tariff-related costs squeezed the toy maker’s margins. Hasbro has absorbed “higher input costs,” Chief Financial Officer Gina Goetter said in July. The two companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the factors affecting their prices. (Reporting by Danielle Kaye in New York; Editing by Christian Plumb) Brought to you by www.srnnews.com
- Trump donor leading Caucasus fund has major Armenia holdings, Russia business history
on October 15, 2026 at 9:09 amBy Alexandra Ulmer and Jonathan Landay WASHINGTON, Oct 15 (Reuters) – US President Donald Trump’s pick to lead a $201 million investment fund in the Caucasus holds major telecom and mining interests there and formerly ran a Russia-focused investment firm that touted close ties to the Kremlin, documents reviewed by Reuters show. Konstantin Sokolov, a 51-year-old Russian-born businessman, was put in charge of the investment vehicle, now called the Trans-Caspian Enterprise Fund, in January, according to its incorporation documents. He holds major stakes in Armenia’s top mobile phone company Viva Armenia, and purchased Armenia’s second largest copper and molybdenum mine earlier this year after receiving a special permit from the US government to buy it, according to the Reuters reporting. A Reuters review of public documents related to the only three other US enterprise funds now operating showed no indications that any of their heads have major investments in the countries where those funds invest. Bo Cutter, chairman of a US enterprise fund focused on Tunisia told Reuters he had “no business interests of any kind in Tunisia,” without elaborating on whether and why that might pose a problem. Cutter declined to comment on Sokolov or the Trans-Caspian fund. Still, according to six ethics experts who reviewed the Reuters reporting, Sokolov’s business interests create a conflict of interest because his role gives him control of government money that could potentially benefit his companies. Ann Skeet, an ethics expert at Santa Clara University, said, “I think Congress should be asking questions.” Reuters found no indication of any wrongdoing by Sokolov. US legislation governing such investment funds does not forbid directors from holding investments in regions of operation. A representative for Sokolov’s private equity firm, IJS Investments, said the fund was prohibited from investing in any of his businesses and that Sokolov had complied with “all due diligence and security requirements.” A State Department spokesperson said the enterprise fund would comply with annual reporting requirements and independent audits “as well as with applicable grant provisions including conflict of interest requirements.” Sokolov had been among a list of 37 corporate and individual donors to Trump’s White House ballroom project distributed by the White House last year. He has also donated some $13 million to Republican political groups, according to Federal Election Commission data. ASCENDANT IN ARMENIA The Trans-Caspian fund is part of a broader US push to develop trade routes and investment across the South Caucasus and Central Asia, an effort that could reduce the region’s reliance on Russian and Chinese infrastructure. The Trans-Caspian fund’s board, led by Sokolov, has the power to make grants, loans and investments across Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Its website lists critical minerals, energy and rail infrastructure among its top investment priorities. Sokolov has built up his business presence in Armenia rapidly in recent years. He and a Chinese business partner, Zhe Zhang, acquired control of Viva Armenia in January 2024 from Russia’s largest mobile provider, MTS, according to company statements and Armenian corporate records. Zhang, a former Chinese Commerce Ministry diplomat, did not respond to requests for comment. Viva Armenia did not comment. More recently, Sokolov’s Texas-based Dynamic Frontier Holdings company said it was granted legal authorization from the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control on June 1 to buy Armenia’s Teghout mine from a sanctioned state-owned Russian bank, VTB. OFAC licenses authorize transactions that would otherwise be prohibited by US sanctions and typically take several months or years to process. Sokolov and a representative for the Teghout mine did not respond to questions about when they first applied for a license. A representative for Teghout said licenses and approvals for the transaction were obtained through OFAC’s “standard independent regulatory process.” The US Treasury Department and VTB did not respond to requests for comment. None of the heads of the only other active US enterprise funds – which focus on Egypt, Tunisia, and Ukraine-Moldova – appear to have significant business interests in those countries, according to a Reuters review of public documents and their official biographies. James Harmon is chairman of the Egyptian fund, and Dennis Johnson is chairman of the Ukraine-Moldova fund. They did not respond to requests for comment. BACKGROUND IN RUSSIA Sokolov’s biography on his personal website highlights his modest upbringing in St. Petersburg and his dislike of the Soviet government, which he said sent his grandmother to a gulag. It says he immigrated to the United States at 21, several years after the collapse of the Soviet Union. But his ties to Russia went on long after he left, according to a Reuters review of corporate and government records. The businessman’s purported ties to the Russian government warrant scrutiny to ensure US interests come first in the fund’s management, said two of the ethics experts Reuters interviewed. “I’d want a very thorough security clearance review if I were in the US government,” said Richard Painter, a University of Minnesota professor who served as ethics counsel to former Republican President George W. Bush. A 2015 promotional brochure reviewed by Reuters for the now-defunct Liechtenstein-registered Gotthard Investment Fund, a Russia-focused real estate investment operation, listed Sokolov as a fund manager and emphasized the fund’s “strong and long-lasting personal and professional trust relationships forged over the last 20 years with Moscow, St. Petersburg and Federal governments.” A former project manager with the fund, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said they recognized the brochure as authentic. Lawyers representing Sokolov said that Sokolov “does not believe” the brochure is authentic, and that the logo on the brochure did not appear to be one used by the fund. “Mr. Sokolov has no relationships with Russian government officials or the Russian government,” his representative told Reuters, adding “he does not hold a Russian citizenship.” Reuters could not independently confirm Sokolov no longer has Russian citizenship. Sokolov used a Russian passport for international travel as late as 2016, according to travel records reviewed by Reuters. The White House referred requests for comment about Sokolov to the State Department. The State Department did not provide details on Sokolov’s background check or whether he had a security clearance. When asked for comment about Sokolov, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “We don’t know who you are talking about.” (Additional reporting by Lucy Papachristou in Tbilisi; Michele Kambas in Nicosia, Cyprus; Simon Lewis in Washington DC; Editing by Richard Valdmanis) Brought to you by www.srnnews.com
- Tesla set to unveil next generation Roadster sports EV after years of delay
on October 15, 2026 at 9:04 amSAN FRANCISCO, Oct 15 (Reuters) – Tesla is set to unveil its redesigned Roadster on Thursday, nearly nine years after it first showed a next-generation version of its electric sports car. Tesla revealed a prototype of the $200,000 car in 2017 and said deliveries would begin in 2020. The price has not been updated but reservations are still $50,000 each. Chief Executive Elon Musk has played down the car’s importance to Tesla’s finances, describing it in 2023 as a “small potato situation” that would not “move the needle in a major way financially.” But the car still carries symbolic weight. “Tesla does not currently have a halo car, or high-performance luxury vehicle designed to showcase an automaker’s best engineering and technology. The Roadster will be Tesla’s new halo car,” Morningstar analyst Seth Goldstein said in a note last month. Musk set expectations in 2017, saying a four-seat Roadster would travel 620 miles (1,000 km) on a single charge. In 2024, he posted on X that it had been redesigned. The new Roadster would accelerate from 0 to 60 miles per hour (100 km per hour) in less than a second. “And that is least interesting part,” he wrote, adding it was a collaboration between Tesla and SpaceX, the rocket company Musk also leads. Goldstein expects Tesla to sell around 2,000 Roadsters a year — a fraction of the 1.6 million vehicles Tesla sold last year. The original Roadster, released in 2008 and on sale until 2012, was Tesla’s first-ever EV and used a Lotus Elise chassis. It helped change the world’s view of what an electric vehicle could be. The company has since been known for its Model Y and Model X SUVs and Model S and Model 3 sedans. The reveal of the second-generation Roadster also comes amid a sharp shift in Tesla’s focus to artificial intelligence-led self-driving tech and robotics, from manufacturing cars for human drivers. This year, Tesla stopped selling Model S and X vehicles to make space for production of its Optimus humanoid robots. It also launched Cybercab – a two-seater robotaxi that comes without manual controls such as a steering wheel, pedals and mirrors. The Roadster event is set to start at 8:55 p.m. EDT (0055 GMT) on Thursday at a SpaceX test site in McGregor, Texas. (Reporting by Abhirup Roy in San Francisco; Editing by Peter Henderson and Chris Reese) Brought to you by www.srnnews.com
- Venezuela’s Maduro due in court over new US torture charge
on October 15, 2026 at 9:03 amBy Luc Cohen NEW YORK, Oct 15 (Reuters) – Ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores are due in US court on Thursday to respond to a new indictment accusing them of conspiring to torture political opponents. The additional charges, brought last Thursday, significantly expanded the US criminal case against Maduro, 63, and Flores, 70. They previously pleaded not guilty to charges that they abused their power to help drug traffickers ship cocaine. Their lawyers have said they deny the torture charges as well. Maduro and Flores, captured by the US military in a January raid ordered by President Donald Trump and flown to New York, are expected to be asked for their pleas on the torture charges at an arraignment starting at 11 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT) before US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein in Manhattan federal court. Prosecutors with the Manhattan US Attorney’s office say Maduro directed officials to torture opposition politicians and military personnel accused of plotting against him to maintain power in the South American country. In one alleged incident described in the indictment, Maduro in 2014 directed officials to kidnap military personnel to draw information out of them about possible dissidents, and told officials to “squeeze them harder” when some remained defiant. Flores agreed with the plan in the meeting, and dismissed a suggested alternative plan to glean information by infiltrating the ranks, according to the indictment. Maduro and Flores are not accused of personally carrying out any acts of torture. Scheduled to go on trial starting on June 1, 2027, they would each face a mandatory minimum sentence of 50 years in prison if convicted on all charges. Relations between Maduro, a socialist, and the United States were tense during his 13 years in power leading the oil-rich country. Successive US administrations imposed sanctions on top Venezuelan officials and key state companies, citing alleged human rights violations, corruption and election-rigging. Maduro accused the United States of seeking his ouster to gain greater control of the South American country’s natural resources. The pressure campaign culminated with the January 3 raid, when the US military captured Maduro and Flores at their Caracas home and brought them to the United States to face drug trafficking charges announced that same day. Since then, they have been held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. Maduro’s former vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, has led Venezuela since his capture and has ramped up cooperation with the United States. Trump has touted Maduro’s capture and the reset of relations with Venezuela as a key foreign policy success heading into the November 3 midterm elections in which his fellow Republicans are fighting to retain control of Congress. (Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Will Dunham) Brought to you by www.srnnews.com
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