U.S. deficit hits nearly $2 trillion, Hormuz shipping at 70% below, AI firms face FTC sub…
The federal budget deficit for fiscal 2026 came in at nearly two trillion dollars, the largest annual gap in five years, driven by record debt-servicing costs and tariff refunds. Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz remains about 70 percent below pre-conflict levels, showing the energy chokepoint is still badly disrupted despite diplomatic claims. Plus, the FTC issued civil subpoenas to OpenAI and Anthropic, marking a shift from AI enthusiasm to consumer-protection enforcement, and Belgium ple…
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