Independent newsroom

Friday, September 25, 2026

The File

Every claim traces to a primary source. Uncertainty is labeled. Corrections are public.

Edition

Friday, September 25, 2026

Friday edition

Trade accounts

U.S. current-account deficit widened to $246.0 billion in the second quarter, BEA says

Confirmed
On Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026, the Bureau of Economic Analysis said the U.S. current-account deficit — the gap between what America pays the world and what it earns from the world — widened by $33.4 billion, or 15.7 percent, to $246.0 billion in the second quarter of 2026. The revised first-quarter deficit was $212.6 billion. The second-quarter deficit was 3.0 percent of current-dollar gross domestic product, up from 2.7 percent in the first quarter. The country’s net international investment position was –$22.42 trillion at the end of the quarter.

Full story and sources · 3 primary sources

Stablecoins

Fed seeks comment on payment-stablecoin reserve and application rules under the GENIUS Act

Confirmed
On Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026, the Federal Reserve Board asked for public comment on two proposals for Board-supervised payment stablecoin issuers under the . One would require those issuers to fully back coins with permitted reserve assets such as short-term Treasury bills and other high-quality liquid assets. The other would set a tailored application process for Board-supervised banks that want to issue payment stablecoins. Comments close 60 days after Federal Register publication.

Sources · 2 listed

Google

Google ships Gemini 3.8 Live with Live Avatar for Enterprise

Confirmed
On Sept. 24, 2026, Google said Gemini 3.8 Live with Live Avatar is available in Gemini Enterprise. The product adds near real-time visual presence — generated video with lip-sync — to Gemini’s live conversational AI, with SynthID watermarking on audio and video. Google linked a Gemini 3.8 Audio model card. This is a live/avatar product update, not a new general frontier twin.

Sources · 2 listed

China

White House hosts State Dinner for Xi Jinping and Peng Liyuan

Confirmed
On Sept. 24, 2026, the White House said President Donald J. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump would welcome China’s President Xi Jinping and Madame Peng Liyuan for a State Dinner in the East Room that evening. The First Lady’s office posted menu, entertainment, and décor details. A separate White House statement said Melania Trump and Peng Liyuan visited the Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art the same day. No joint bilateral readout was located on the White House news hub in the desk pass.

Sources · 2 listed

Elections

Four noncitizens charged with election-related crimes in Pennsylvania, Justice Department says

Confirmed
On Sept. 24, 2026, the Justice Department said four noncitizens — including two people it described as unlawfully present — were charged in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania with election-related crimes. The U.S. Attorney’s office named Cliff Sanon (fraudulent voter registration application), Dilea Ochoa-Perez (two counts of voting as a noncitizen), and Sade Guppy and Eduardo Gallardo Maldonado (each one count of voting as a noncitizen). Charges are accusations; the defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty. Homeland Security Investigations investigated.

Sources · 1 listed

Auctions

Treasury sells 4-week bills at 3.850%, 8-week at 3.990%, and 7-year notes at 5.085%

Confirmed
On Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026, the Treasury sold 28-day bills that stopped at a 3.850% high discount rate (3.915% investment rate, CUSIP 912797VN4); 56-day bills that stopped at a 3.990% high discount rate (4.071% investment rate, CUSIP 912797VY0); and 7-year notes that stopped at a 5.085% high yield with a 5% coupon (CUSIP 91282CRM5, Series Q-2033).

Sources · 3 listed

AI legislation

Warner, Schatz, and Kim introduce AI Risk Management and Security Act

Confirmed
On Sept. 24, 2026, Sens. Mark R. Warner, Brian Schatz, and Andy Kim introduced the . The bill would create an Artificial Intelligence Safety Board in the Commerce Department, require frontier developers to give the Board model access at least 45 days before public release, and set Model Safety Plans, incident reporting, and civil penalties. The Senate bill number was not filled in on the PDF (“S. ll”).

Sources · 2 listed

Google

Google says Project Suncatcher will test Tensor Processing Units in orbit

Confirmed
On Sept. 24, 2026, Google said Project Suncatcher is set for its first test in orbit: a prototype satellite to see how the company’s Tensor Processing Units perform in space. Google said the satellite is on an upcoming Transporter-18 rideshare with SpaceX and was developed with Planet. The post describes vibration, radiation, and cooling in a vacuum, and points to later satellite-link tests aimed at 2027. This is a hardware flight test, not a new frontier model.

Sources · 1 listed

NIH

NIH launches Linked Discoveries, a PubMed tool covering more than 29 million papers

Confirmed
On Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026, the National Institutes of Health launched Linked Discoveries, an experimental tool from the National Library of Medicine. From a PubMed citation, a reader can open a neighborhood of closely related papers, including replication studies. More than 29 million PubMed publications are in the tool at launch. It does not grade a study or declare that a finding was successfully replicated.

Sources · 1 listed

Grants

Justice Department opens a $25 million ANGEL grant for local police

Confirmed
On Sept. 24, 2026, the Justice Department announced $25 million in competitive grants under a program it calls Assisting Neighborhoods and Governments with Enforcement of Laws, or ANGEL. Attorney General Todd Blanche announced it at a summit on victims of violent crime. The department said state, local, and tribal agencies can use the money for listed purposes that include finding noncitizens who have committed crimes, trafficking cases, and related court, detention, and transport work. The department tied the money to the , at .

Sources · 1 listed

Sanctions

OFAC gathers sanctions penalties into one rule and amends the Syria terrorism-list license

Confirmed
On Sept. 24, 2026, the Office of Foreign Assets Control said it is pulling scattered penalty and enforcement procedures into a new rule, the . The same notice amends the , to drop a Syria-specific general license after Syria’s designation as a state sponsor of terrorism was rescinded. The office also released its quarterly report, under of the , on licenses to sell agricultural goods, medicine, and medical devices to Iran from April through June 2026.

Sources · 2 listed

UFC BJJ

Musumeci wins a decision over Mitchell; Fowler and Rodriguez draw at UFC BJJ 11

Confirmed
UFC.com posted results from UFC BJJ 11, held Sept. 24, 2026, at Meta APEX in Las Vegas. In the main event, bantamweight champion Mikey Musumeci defeated Bryce Mitchell by unanimous decision. In the co-main, light heavyweight champion Mason Fowler and Nick Rodriguez fought to a split draw, and Fowler kept the title. The results post is dated Sept. 25.

Sources · 1 listed

Cyber

Kosovar national pleads guilty to running the Rydox cybercrime market

Confirmed
On Sept. 24, 2026, the Justice Department said Ardit Kutleshi, 28, a Kosovar national, pleaded guilty in the Western District of Pennsylvania to aggravated identity theft and conspiracy to launder money. Prosecutors said he created and ran Rydox, a site that sold stolen personal information and cybercrime tools. The department said the site handled more than 7,600 transactions since at least 2016 and took in at least $232,000. Sentencing is set for Feb. 9, 2027.

Sources · 1 listed