Economy

Budget crisis in the US
The US shutdown cost 105 billion

The record-long 43-day shutdown has cost the US $11 billion, equivalent to 105 billion kronor, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent tells NBC News. Even though interest-rate-sensitive parts of the economy such as the housing market have been in recession, he is optimistic about growth in the entire economy.

– I am very optimistic about 2026, says the Treasury Secretary in the interview.

He refers, among other things, to President Trump's budget package that will give Americans more in their wallets after the New Year and the trade agreements that will cause "factories to open every week" in the US.

Tesla's future
Tesla is speeding up chip development

Tesla is approaching the final phase of the design work for its AI5 chip and has at the same time begun development of the next generation, AI6, Bloomberg reports.

The chip is used for self-driving vehicles and the Optimus robot, among other things, and the goal is for Tesla to launch a new AI chip design every year, CEO Elon Musk writes in a post on X.

Samsung, which signed a deal worth $16.5 billion to produce Tesla's AI circuits this summer, plans to manufacture AI6 in a new facility in Texas.

E-fraud
Mass arrests in crackdown on "fraud factories"

Nearly 1,600 foreign nationals have been arrested in Myanmar after the military government cracked down on so-called fraud factories on the border with Thailand, AFP reports. The facilities are suspected of being behind extensive online fraud such as romance scams and fake business offers.

Among those arrested are about 100 Chinese. Authorities also say they have seized thousands of computers, tens of thousands of mobile phones and over a hundred Starlink receivers.

Authorities say they have seized nearly 2,900 computers, about 22,000 mobile phones and over 100 Starlink receivers. Local media have shown videos of a steamroller crushing hundreds of computers at a facility in Shwe Kokko.