Yes. On September 16, 2026, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a sweeping sanctions and tariff bill intended to increase economic pressure on Russia over its 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The Republican-majority House voted 262 to 159 in favor of the measure, nearly 1½ years after the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and dozens of … Read more
Yes. On September 16, 2026, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to find Apollo Global Management co-founder Leon Black in contempt of Congress and refer the case to the Justice Department after he declined to comply with subpoenas tied to a House Oversight Committee probe into late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Contempt of Congress is … Read more
Yes. On September 16, 2026, OpenAI said it has introduced AI-powered tools for advertisers and begun testing business-sponsored agents that ChatGPT users can chat with, according to Reuters. OpenAI said the Sponsored Agents feature will be clearly labeled and kept separate from ChatGPT’s independent responses and the user’s original chat. The company is testing it … Read more
Yes. On September 16, 2026, the Federal Open Market Committee unanimously raised the federal funds target range by a quarter percentage point to 3.75%–4.00%, the first U.S. rate hike in more than three years. Fed Chair Kevin Warsh said inflation remained too high and that the move would support a more timely return toward the … Read more
Yes. On September 16, 2026, Anthropic said it is combining the chat and Cowork features of its Claude AI assistant into a single interface, and it will also fold Claude Design into that main experience. Anthropic said Claude will automatically determine which capabilities a task needs, and it is launching beta tools called Claude Docs … Read more
Yes. On September 16, 2026, Reuters reported that a Stanford University–led team transplanted laboratory-grown human cortical organoids into bioengineered mice that lacked most of their own cerebral cortex, creating what the researchers call “xenocortical” mice. The human tissue formed diverse cortical cell types and functional neural connections inside the mouse nervous system, according to the … Read more
Yes. Canada’s Cohere and Germany’s Aleph Alpha signed a definitive merger agreement on September 16, 2026, according to Reuters. The combined company will keep the Cohere name, with dual headquarters in Toronto and Berlin, and Aleph Alpha co-chief Ilhan Scheer will become Cohere’s chief operating officer. The companies said the combination had been valued at … Read more
Yes. On September 16, 2026, AI company Anthropic signed an agreement to use part of a proposed A$32 billion data centre hub on Queensland’s Western Downs near Dalby—its first such deal in Australia. The Western Downs Digital Park, planned by Singaporean developer Zerra DC, is expected to be Australia’s largest facility of its kind, with … Read more
Yes. On September 16, 2026, Reuters reported that the U.S. Department of Justice charged five people in connection with alleged Russian plots involving surveillance, recruitment, and targeted killings, according to an indictment unsealed on Tuesday. The defendants — Russian nationals Yuri Khrameev, 63, and Kirill Khrameev, 27; Cuban nationals Oemis Romagoza Durruthy, 35, and Yaidel … Read more
Yes. On September 15, 2026, Einride and Lidl in Germany announced that a cab-less SAE Level 4 autonomous electric truck began daily operations on a public road in Edermünde, Hesse, moving goods between a Lidl warehouse/distribution center and a nearby store with no driver or onboard safety operator. The companies said the run is operating … Read more