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Fraudsters attempted to steal at least $10m through Polymarket’s U.S. platform earlier this year by placing bets with stolen debit cards. The prediction markets platform's payment processor at one point rejected more than 80% of the deposits it handled as fraudulent, according to The Wall Street Journal. The company's CEO, Shayne Coplan, reportedly downplayed the incident to employees, instructing them to focus on growth now and deal with regulatory fines later. Polymarket says it has since strengthened its infrastructure and leadership. An investigation by the law firm Sullivan & Cromwell concluded the company had complied with regulations, according to people familiar with the findings. Separately, the FT reports that Polymarket is convening with European regulators to make the case that it should be regulated under financial services laws instead of local gambling statutes.

 

Financial Times

Wall Street Journal

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has launched a $875m project to enhance airspace efficiency through a new AI-powered system called Strategic Management of Airspace, Routes and Trajectories (SMART). Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said: "SMART will slash those frustrating delays, reduce stress on air traffic controllers, and lower travel prices." While the FAA said it aims to optimize air traffic management using artificial intelligence, critics expressed their skepticism about its likely effectiveness in addressing deeper issues, such as staffing shortages among air traffic controllers. "It won't replace humans. It'll be another tool in the toolbox," observed Dave Riley, a former air traffic controller who retired in 2020 after more than 20 years at the FAA. "But of course, when you call it AI, it gets a lot of attention," he said. The National Air Traffic Controllers Association has distanced itself from the project, saying it was not involved in its design or implementation.

 

NPR / National Public Radio

Paramount Skydance has settled a lawsuit with a dozen states and a Hollywood writers union to pave the way for its $110bn merger with Warner Bros Discovery. Under the agreement, Paramount must produce at least 30 films a year and ensure a certain percentage are produced in the US, or face penalties including selling off parts of its business. Paramount chief executive David Ellison said "we have complete clearance for this merger and look forward to putting these commitments into action . . . Our shared aim was an outcome that best serves consumers, workers and - most importantly -the creative community so vital to the art of visual storytelling." The WGA said it still believes the deal will damage the industry. The union said the states' parallel ​settlement forced it to "contend with the reality of forging ahead alone, with no backing from government enforcers" in a complex case that would have cost millions ​of dollars.

 

New York Times

Reuters

BBC News

The NAACP and other civil rights organizations have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration to prevent armed agents from being deployed at U.S. polling places during the upcoming midterm elections. The lawsuit targets the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Department of Justice, among others, claiming that their presence could intimidate voters. The plaintiffs argue that such actions could lead to “physical violence, surveillance, and harassment” of voters. Democratic senators last week pressed FBI Director Kash Patel on whether his agency would comply if President Trump asked him to send agents to the polls. Patel said he was aware of laws that prohibited armed officers or troops from polling sites, but he also observed that he may in the case that there was “a violation of the law,” adding: “The FBI will follow the law. If there's a reason to go there because there's been a violation of law, we will.”

 

The Hill

Fender is facing resistance from guitar makers, retailers and musicians after launching a European legal campaign to establish copyright protection over the iconic Stratocaster body shape. Following a German default judgment in December 2025 that recognised the design as a protected work, Fender sent cease-and-desist letters to around 60 companies, including Yamaha, PRS Guitars, Schecter, LsL Instruments, and retailer Thomann, prompting criticism that it was targeting an industry that has produced Strat-style guitars for decades. Chief executive Edward “Bud” Cole has acknowledged that the legal process “got ahead” of the company and said Fender is now focused on large manufacturers rather than boutique builders, while maintaining its underlying intellectual-property claim. Fender says it is working with 32 builders and has reached agreements with 18 to change their designs, but its claim remains contested, with Thomann challenging Fender in Germany and questions remaining over the Stratocaster’s authorship, ownership and Fender’s decades-long tolerance of similar designs.

 

Bloomberg

A federal appeals court has ruled that Kalshi's prediction market operates more like a gambling enterprise that may violate the rights of Indian tribes in California to regulate gaming on their lands, and the company has been blocked ​from offering sports event contracts on the lands of two of the state's tribes. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, by a 3-0 vote, said the two federally recognized California tribes - Blue Lake Rancheria and Chicken Ranch Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians - deserved a preliminary injunction because they would likely show that Kalshi's ​contracts violated the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act and the tribes' own gaming ordinances.

 

Reuters

San Francisco Chronicle

Bloomberg Law profiles Lisa Solbakken, the ex-Wilkie Farr associate who now runs her six-lawyer firm, Arkin Solbakken, and helps white-collar professionals navigate their exits from Big Law firms. Solbakken has “endeared herself to heavy hitters with a style that's part empathetic divorce lawyer and part hardened litigator,” the report observes. “When you meet her, she's personable, engaging, and laughs easily, so you're inclined to let your guard down,” said Jack Devine, a former acting CIA deputy director who now runs a private risk consulting and intelligence firm that's retained Solbakken. “But you make a mistake if you think that's what you're dealing with, because once you get into the law, now you have a lioness.”

 

Bloomberg Law

Prosecutors in Paris have launched at least one criminal investigation into suspected sexual harassment following complaints that people used smart glasses to film women on the street without their consent. The Paris prosecutor’s office tasked its cybercrime unit with testing smart glasses two weeks ago to better understand how the technology could be used to facilitate crime. France's data protection authority, CNIL, said ​it had received under 10 complaints concerning smart glasses being used in the workplace. CNIL's head of economic affairs Nacera Bekhat said smart glasses pose "real challenges" in terms of informing people that they are being filmed and getting consent when needed. AI-enabled wearable devices are regulated by the European Union's AI Act and the General Data Protection Regulation.

 

Reuters

Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Neel Kashkari has warned that U.S. inflation remains too high across the economy, with price pressures extending well beyond the recent rise in oil prices and into areas such as services. Kashkari said the Fed cannot directly address energy supply disruptions, but monetary policy can tackle broader, underlying inflation. He supported the Fed’s latest 25-basis-point rate increase, which lifted the federal funds target range to 3.75%–4.00%, the first increase since July 2023. The Fed has also raised its inflation forecasts, projecting headline PCE inflation of 3.7% and core PCE inflation of 3.4% for the year, while pushing its expected return to the 2% target to 2029. Sixteen of 18 FOMC participants projected at least one additional rate increase, and 17 viewed inflation risks as tilted to the upside.

 

Quartz

Harley-Davidson has again become a target of retaliatory tariffs, with Canada imposing a 50% import duty on large U.S. motorcycles as part of its response to heightened American trade restrictions. The motorcycle maker has absorbed more than $170m in retaliatory tariff costs over the past eight years to limit price increases, including $8m from Canadian tariffs last year, although Canada accounted for just 4% of Harley-Davidson’s $4.5bn in revenue. The company’s prominent American identity and manufacturing presence have repeatedly exposed it to trade retaliation, including EU tariffs in 2018 that prompted Harley-Davidson to shift some Europe-bound production to Thailand. With Canadian dealers concerned that higher prices could weaken demand, producing Canada-bound motorcycles in Thailand could provide an alternative if the dispute continues, as Canadian authorities have said goods that do not originate in the U.S. are exempt from the new tariff.

 

Wall Street Journal

The U.S. State Department has restricted travel for government employees to the Saudi cities of Taif and Yanbu, citing the local security situation amid attacks from the Iran-backed Houthi group in Yemen. "Due to the ongoing security situation in Saudi Arabia, U.S. government employees who work in Saudi Arabia now require special authorization for all official and personal travel to the cities of Taif and Yanbu," the department wrote on X.

 

Gulf Times

Americans' confidence in vaccines for childhood diseases, particularly measles, has significantly decreased, according to a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll. The survey revealed that only 76% of respondents believe in the safety of the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine, down from 84% in 2020. The decline is most notable among Republicans. The U.S. is currently facing its worst measles outbreaks in 35 years, with over 3,000 confirmed cases this year. The poll showed 19% of Americans approve of President Trump's handling of the measles outbreak, compared ⁠with 52% who disapprove; the remainder said they didn't have a view, or didn't answer the question.

 

U.S. News