Thursday, 1 October 2026
271 stories · 12 beats · 4 signals
Signals
Lindt, the Swiss chocolate maker, says shops in parts of Europe ordered less chocolate after its price rises. It now plans to lower its prices, and expects its sales to grow only 0-2% this year.
A research firm warns that rising console prices could slow spending on games. A former PlayStation executive suggests selling consoles that cost over $1,000 on a monthly plan, like phones.
One in five US home sellers lowered what they were asking for their home. The yearly interest on 10-year US government debt reached its highest level since 2007 this week.
The UK put a new tax on vapes so that they cost more and fewer young people take them up. It raised the tax on cigarettes by the same amount, so smokers still save money by switching to vapes.
Google says its newest AI, Gemini 4 Argon, can find and fix software flaws by itself. It gave the AI to security teams that defend computer systems first, and everyone else has to wait.
Google's researchers counted 10,740 newly reported software flaws in August, twice January's number. They say attackers are turning published fixes into attacks faster, possibly with help from AI.
Crude oil leaving the Gulf is back to its pre-war flow, by one industry count. But petrol, diesel and jet fuel leaving through the Strait of Hormuz, the sea lane out of the Gulf, are about a fifth of what they were.
Iran says it will reopen the Strait of Hormuz only if the US lifts its blockade of Iranian ports. Eni, Italy's state-controlled oil company, capped its diesel at 2.19 euros a litre.
Heating oil in the UK cost 92% more at its peak after the war with Iran began. About 1,700 households whose orders were cancelled are due up to 350 pounds each for the extra they paid.
US senators from both parties agreed a bill to make energy projects faster to approve, but it gets no vote before the 3 November elections. A US ban on Chinese cars also waits until November.
Israel votes on 27 October, and the stabbing on a flydubai flight to Tel Aviv became a campaign fight within hours. French parties attacked President Macron's plan to send troops to Saudi Arabia, a year before France elects a new president.
12 editions
World
The truth: A co-pilot stabbed his captain and dived a plane carrying 169 Israelis, and within hours Israel's defence minister called it jihadist terror while Netanyahu's allies said it proved his election warnings right.
Finance
The truth: AI companies are paying more and more for memory chips, and paying in advance, so Micron made $37.7bn in three months, and that one company lifts the expected profit growth of 500 big US companies from 24% to 29.1%.
Tech
The truth: US officials and courts are now asking whether AI labs can keep their models under control, and Google built its launch around that question.
Mind & body
The truth: Stanford built mice whose brains are about half human by volume because drugs for brain illnesses that work in ordinary animals keep failing in patients.
Climate
The truth: Senators from both parties agreed a bill to make US energy projects faster to approve, but it cannot pass before the 3 November elections.
Space
The truth: Two of the day's biggest stories are a funding round and a rule change.
Biotech
The truth: The day's biggest numbers came from drug companies presenting their own trials at a diabetes meeting in Milan.
Money
The truth: The UK government raised two taxes on Thursday: a new one on vapes and a bigger one on cigarettes, so that smokers still save money by switching to vapes.
Sports
The truth: Portugal's new coach, Jorge Jesus, left Cristiano Ronaldo out of a match and said he would do it again.
Gaming
The truth: Microsoft has spent this year shrinking Xbox: nearly 2,000 jobs gone, five studios shut or sold, and Halo handed to Activision.
Food
The truth: Lindt raised its chocolate prices to cover years of expensive cocoa, and shops in parts of Europe ordered less, so it now plans to lower prices while still aiming to keep more profit on each sale.
Cyber
The truth: Google's researchers counted twice as many newly reported software flaws this year, and attackers used 141 of them in eight months, more than in all of 2025.