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Australia’s Snowy 2.0 Hydro Project Could Now Cost A$25 Billion, 12 Times Its Original Price, With Completion Pushed to 2029: October 22, 2026

SYDNEY — Australia’s biggest renewable energy project, the Snowy 2.0 pumped hydro scheme, could cost up to A$25 billion — about 12 times its original price — and will not be fully running until late 2029, a long-awaited review released Thursday found, ABC News and The Guardian reported.

Government-owned Snowy Hydro set a target cost of about A$22 billion, with A$3 billion more allowed if needed. The project was announced by then-Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in 2017 as a A$2 billion scheme due to run by 2021; a 2023 reset put it at about A$12 billion, with first power in late 2027.

Chief executive Dennis Barnes said he was “incredibly disappointed” by the costs but that the project was in its “strongest position yet.” “This job is 80 per cent people costs, we’ve got 5,000 people on the job now,” he told ABC News. He could not rule out further blowouts.

The review found 65% of machine tunnelling and 90% of cavern excavation are complete. The tunnel boring machine Florence, which was stuck for nearly a year after hitting soft ground in 2023, is still not halfway through its 15-kilometer tunnel, The Guardian reported.

Snowy 2.0 will link two reservoirs through about 27 kilometers of tunnels to an underground power station, storing surplus wind and solar power. With 2,200 megawatts of capacity, it is meant to act as a giant battery as Australia moves away from fossil fuels. The Albanese government is expected to announce new oversight and financing arrangements in the coming weeks.

Sources: ABC News, The Guardian

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New Mexico Judge Orders Meta to Pay $25 Billion for Years of Misleading Facebook Users About Their Data: October 22, 2026

NEW MEXICO — A New Mexico judge has ordered Meta to pay the state $25 billion after a jury found the company spent years misleading the public about how it handled Facebook users’ data, the largest penalty ever imposed on the company, BBC News and Al Jazeera reported.

“Facebook’s wrongdoing — over the course of years and systematically broadcast to the public — goes to the heart of Facebook’s core business practices,” Judge Francis Mathew wrote, according to Al Jazeera. He found the violations were “willful” and spanned 2010 to 2021, and that communications among senior executives, including Mark Zuckerberg, were “designed to mislead the public.”

The judge said a penalty of more than $219 billion was warranted under state law but reduced it to $25 billion — roughly Meta’s quarterly profit, the BBC said. The state had sought up to $40 billion; Meta argued anything above $3.4 billion would be unconstitutional. A jury found Meta violated state law more than 40 million times.

The lawsuit, filed in 2021, grew out of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which a British political consultancy harvested data from as many as 87 million Facebook users. The state also accused Meta of misleading the public about its handling of hate speech.

“No corporation is too powerful to be held accountable,” Attorney General Raúl Torrez said. Meta’s chief legal officer, CJ Mahoney, said the ruling made it “all but impossible to do business in the state of New Mexico” and that the company expects to win on appeal.

Earlier this year New Mexico won $942 million from Meta in two trials over child safety on Instagram and Facebook.

Sources: BBC News, Al Jazeera

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Rubio Says a U.S.-India Trade Deal Is ‘Weeks, Not Months’ Away as He Pushes Energy Sales on a Two-City India Visit: October 21, 2026

MUMBAI, India — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said a long-negotiated trade deal with India is nearly done, as he met Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in Mumbai and pressed India to buy more American energy, according to The Indian Express and the State Department.

“I think we’re incredibly close. The way I would say it is, we are weeks, not months, away from I think finalising it. I think 99% of the work is done,” Rubio told The Indian Express. He said the remaining issues are “language-related. It’s basically down to what certain words mean, what certain phrases mean.”

The State Department said Rubio and Jaishankar discussed regional and global issues, including the Middle East, and that Rubio stressed that more energy trade with the United States could help India diversify its supply chains. He also praised recent progress in defense and civil nuclear cooperation. Rubio posted about the meeting on X:

Rubio told the paper that Washington’s tariffs and tighter visa rules are not aimed at India. “None of these tariffs are meant to punish or harm India,” he said, describing them as part of a broader policy tied to the war between Russia and Ukraine. He said President Donald Trump did not impose sanctions on Russian oil partly because of the harm it would do to relations with India.

The visit, Rubio’s second to India this year, also took him to Reliance Industries’ facilities in Jamnagar. Rubio said India is one of the few places that can refine Venezuelan heavy crude and called the visit a chance “to identify opportunities to achieve our goal of diversifying energy resources.”

Sources: The Indian Express, U.S. State Department, AP

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Colombia’s Newly Passed $200 Billion Budget for 2027 May Collapse Over a Single Article the Two Chambers Approved Differently: October 21, 2026

BOGOTÁ, Colombia — Colombia’s 2027 budget, approved by Congress only on Tuesday, could collapse because of a procedural flaw, which would force the government to set spending by decree, lawmakers said, according to Reuters.

The spending bill totals 634.9 trillion pesos (about $200.7 billion), up from 555.8 trillion pesos this year, and projects a fiscal deficit of 9.4% of GDP. The Senate passed it Monday night 57–1, and the House of Representatives passed it early Tuesday 112–1.

The problem is Article 65. The House approved it with different wording than the Senate, and the two chambers never held the reconciliation that is required in that case. Senate Secretary General Diego Alejandro González said in a statement that the Senate approved the article without changes, but “we have received information” that the House approved it with an added proposal, Reuters reported in Spanish.

Business daily Portafolio reported that the budget had sunk over the error. Senator Juan Caicedo of the right-wing Democratic Center party said the government’s original bill, with the changes made in the first debate, would now apply. Other lawmakers argued that only Article 65 would be affected, Infobae reported.

The approved budget set aside 141 trillion pesos for debt payments, 93 trillion for education, 84.6 trillion for health and 74.9 trillion for defense. Reuters said President Abelardo De La Espriella’s government shifted money between sectors, cutting funding for the Special Jurisdiction for Peace and the missing-persons search unit created under the 2016 peace deal with the FARC. The Finance Ministry did not immediately comment.

Sources: Reuters (via El Nuevo Herald), Portafolio, Infobae

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FAA Certifies Boeing’s Long-Delayed 737 MAX 10, Clearing the Way for Deliveries of the Biggest MAX: October 21, 2026

EVERETT, Washington — The Federal Aviation Administration has certified Boeing’s 737 MAX 10, the largest version of its best-selling jet, clearing the way for deliveries to airlines, the FAA and Boeing announced on Tuesday.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy handed over the certification documents at a small ceremony in Everett, Boeing said. “After extensive safety reviews — including thousands of hours of test flights — the team at the FAA is ready to approve this critical aircraft for sale,” Duffy said. “This is a major win for American manufacturing.”

“We will continue to hold Boeing to the highest safety standards as the company begins production of the 737 MAX-10,” said FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford.

Before approving the plane, the FAA required changes tied to the 2020 Aircraft Certification, Safety, and Accountability Act and to National Transportation Safety Board recommendations, including an enhanced angle-of-attack sensor system. Boeing said that system will become standard across the 737 MAX family.

Boeing said the test program logged nearly 1,000 flights and more than 2,000 flight hours. The MAX 10 can seat up to 230 passengers, and more than 30 customers have ordered 1,555 of them — over 30% of the 737 MAX order book.

Approval from Transport Canada and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency should follow in “probably a couple months,” Boeing executive Mike Sinnett told Reuters. Canada’s WestJet is set to receive the first MAX 10 early next year.

Sources: FAA, Boeing, Reuters

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Elon Musk Says Merging Tesla and SpaceX Would Be ‘a Good Idea’ as Both Companies Set Up Committees to Study a Deal: October 21, 2026

STARBASE, Texas — Elon Musk says he is actively considering merging Tesla and SpaceX, his two biggest companies, and that both have set up special committees to look at a deal, BBC News and DW reported.

“Do I think it would be a good idea? Yes,” Musk said on Tuesday’s call with analysts about SpaceX’s latest results. “The special committees have not reached agreement on terms of any transaction and there’s no guarantee that they will. But I do think there is a lot of merit to merging and a lot to be gained.”

With Tesla worth roughly $1.5 trillion and SpaceX about $2 trillion, a combination would be one of the largest mergers in history, BBC News reported. Musk, who runs both companies, said he is a “conflicted party” and is not on either committee. He compared even talking about the idea to “tap dancing through a minefield.”

At least 50% of Tesla’s shareholders would need to approve a deal, a bar Musk called “quite a high hurdle to achieve.” He said a merger would make sense for the companies’ work on chips, artificial intelligence and software, including Terafab, their joint chip-making effort.

SpaceX reported a $4.4 billion profit for the July–September quarter, though it lost $1.1 billion over the first nine months of the year as revenue jumped to $27 billion from $13.7 billion, the BBC said. Revenue from its cloud computing business reached $7.5 billion in the quarter, up from $813 million a year earlier, while Starlink brought in $5.2 billion.

SpaceX shares rose 8% in after-hours trading after Musk’s comments, and Tesla shares rose about 2%, DW reported. Tesla reports its own quarterly results on Wednesday.

Sources: BBC News, DW, AP

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Britain Approves the Long-Stalled Jackdaw Gas Field in the North Sea, Saying It Is About Energy Security, Not Cheaper Bills: October 21, 2026

LONDON — The British government on Wednesday approved the Jackdaw gas field in the North Sea, a project that had been stuck for years in legal and political limbo, Al Jazeera and DW reported.

Energy Minister Miatta Fahnbulleh said the field, about 150 miles east of Aberdeen, Scotland, could start supplying gas to homes and businesses by the end of the month. The government said it would raise British gas production by about 6% at its peak, and DW reported it is expected to run for 11 years.

Fahnbulleh was blunt about what it won’t do. “That was not a consideration in the decision because it won’t mean cheaper bills. This was about energy security,” she told the radio station LBC, according to Al Jazeera.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham said the field would “protect hundreds of jobs and help keep millions of homes warm this winter.” He added: “We’re committed to moving towards renewable energy and reaching net zero by 2050. But even on our ambitious climate path, we’ll still require oil and gas as part of our energy needs for decades to come.”

Jackdaw was approved under the previous Conservative government, but a Scottish court held it up, ruling that the approval had not considered the emissions from burning the gas. Shell, which runs the field through the Adura joint venture with Norway’s Equinor, welcomed the decision, DW reported.

Alongside the approval, the government set up a new Energy Wealth Fund with an initial £2 billion ($2.7 billion) to put oil and gas revenue into renewable and low-carbon projects.

Green Party leader Zack Polanski called the approval “climate vandalism.” Greenpeace UK said it showed “the toxic grip fossil fuel lobbyists still hold over our energy policy.” Energy prices have been driven up by the Russia-Ukraine war and the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.

Sources: Al Jazeera, DW, Reuters

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China Vows to Protect Its Companies After the U.S. Orders DeepSeek AI Removed From Federal Civilian Agencies: October 20, 2026

BEIJING — China said Tuesday it will “resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies” after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security ordered federal civilian agencies to stop using artificial intelligence tools from the Chinese startup DeepSeek, the AP, BBC News and The Guardian reported.

“China consistently opposes the overstretching of the concept of national security and the politicizing of science, technology, economic and trade issues,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told reporters at a regular briefing, the AP reported.

The DHS notice, made public on Monday, orders agencies to remove DeepSeek and its affiliated products, as well as third-party products and services developed using DeepSeek, from their IT systems, and bars them from buying DeepSeek products. The ban took effect at the end of July and applies to civilian agencies including the Treasury, State and Justice departments, but not to agencies within the Department of Defense, the BBC reported.

“DeepSeek’s models present multiple threat vectors,” said a document attached to the notice, warning that use of the tools “may result in the transfer of sensitive data to (China) if used by US government employees or vendors,” The Guardian reported. It said DeepSeek’s servers are located in China, where the legal system gives the government “extensive authority” to access private company infrastructure.

DeepSeek did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The U.S. has accused DeepSeek and other Chinese AI startups of large-scale “distillation,” or extraction of capabilities from frontier American AI models, claims Beijing has dismissed, the AP reported. DeepSeek shook up the industry in January 2025 with a low-cost, high-performance chatbot and released its V4 model in April.

Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are set to meet in mid-November on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen, China, where AI is expected to be on the agenda.

Sources: AP, BBC News, The Guardian

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Google Cloud ‘Power Event’ in London Knocks Out Bank Payments and Court Video Links Across Britain: October 20, 2026

LONDON — A “power event” at Google’s London-based cloud computing operations disrupted services across Britain and parts of Europe on Tuesday, leaving customers of banks including Lloyds, HSBC and Revolut unable to make card payments, withdraw cash or move money, and knocking out the video system used for remote court hearings, The Guardian and ABC News reported.

“Due to a power event we had suffered an outage within europe-west2-b zone,” Google said on its Cloud website, warning that services in parts of Europe could see “elevated errors and intermittent network issues.” Google said the incident began shortly after 6 a.m. U.K. time (10 p.m. Monday Pacific). Services were starting to come back online as of 1 p.m. London time, The Guardian reported.

Revolut’s outage hit sign-up, sign-in, card payments, transfers, ATM withdrawals and cryptocurrency services. “We are currently experiencing a service disruption affecting multiple services. We can confirm that all our customers’ money and data are safe,” the bank said. Halifax, owned by Lloyds, said some customers were unable to log in through its app and online, and HSBC apologised to customers who were having difficulty accessing its services.

The U.K.’s Courts and Tribunals Service said on X it was “aware of an issue affecting Cloud Video Platform (CVP), used for some remote hearings.” The system, often used by defendants in custody, failed throughout the morning and was believed to have delayed several hearings, The Guardian reported. Court live streams, including the trial of comedian Russell Brand, were also reportedly affected, according to ABC News.

The Financial Conduct Authority said it was in touch with Google and seeking more information. The Guardian said the outage was the first major test for the FCA and the Bank of England since the regulators were given powers this summer to oversee Google and other providers of “critical” cloud services to U.K. financial firms.

The property portal Rightmove was also reportedly affected, and reports said Royal Mail and the delivery company DPD had suffered disruption.

Sources: The Guardian, ABC News

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China’s Economy Beats Forecasts With 4.5% Third-Quarter Growth as AI-Driven Exports Offset a Deepening Property Slump: October 19, 2026

BEIJING — China’s economy grew 4.5% in the third quarter from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said Monday, beating forecasts as strong exports of electronics and AI-related goods offset a deepening property slump and weak consumer spending.

Growth quickened from 4.3% in the second quarter and beat the 4.4% expansion economists polled by Reuters had expected, CNBC reported. GDP rose 1.2% from the previous quarter. Over the first nine months the economy grew 4.6%, to about 107.1 trillion yuan, putting Beijing on track for its 2026 target of 4.5% to 5% growth.

Industrial output rose 5.5% in September from a year earlier, while retail sales grew just 1.1%, and the urban unemployment rate stood at 5.2%. Fixed-asset investment fell 7.2% in the first nine months, and property investment tumbled 20.6%, according to CNBC.

Manufacturing output growth “remained robust at 6.0% year on year in September, buoyed up by stronger export demand for electronics, AI-related equipment and autos,” Duncan Wrigley, chief China economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, told The Guardian. China’s exports surged by more than a third in September, and its monthly trade surplus reached a record $133.5 billion.

Producer prices rose 5% in September, their fastest pace in more than four years, while consumer inflation remains below 1%. “It is clear that domestic imbalances between supply and demand continue rising,” said Eswar Prasad, an economics professor at Cornell University.

Sources: National Bureau of Statistics, The Guardian, CNBC

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