• The FTC wants information about how companies personalize prices.
• The Commission said that it sent orders to companies from Uber to Walmart.
• The orders ask about web use habits and other personal information.

The Federal Trade Commission is asking companies from food delivery services to airlines about how they use personalized prices.

The Commission said on Wednesday that it sent orders to the companies asking for details about what kind of personal information they use to determine prices. The orders target a wide range of companies, from retailers Walmart and Target to food delivery services Uber and DoorDash to airlines like Delta and United.

"Consumers deserve to know whether companies use their web surfing habits or other personal data to estimate the highest price they can charge each consumer," said FTC Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson.

"Workers also deserve to know if their compensation is affected by how companies use their personal data," Ferguson added.

Several companies pushed back against the FTC's claims.

"There is no fare product Delta has ever used, is testing or plans to use that targets customers with individualized offers based on personal data," a Delta spokesperson said.

"We do not use personal information to set prices, and we never will," Instacart said in a statement.

Walmart and Target previously said they would be transparent about their pricing strategies as more stores start using digital price tags.

A growing number of companies are using dynamic pricing to determine what customers pay for everything from concert tickets to jeans.

Some companies use similar methods to determine how much workers get paid. Uber presents its drivers with potential payouts that aren't based on a per-mile or per-minute rate, for instance, but instead consider factors such as demand.

The FTC's orders ask the companies to submit information about their pricing methodologies, including how they use AI, going back to January 1, 2023. It also asks for research that the companies have done on their pricing strategies, such as A/B tests.

The Commission is also seeking information about how the companies used similar technology to offer workers jobs, according to the orders.

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Critics warn of climate danger as president in Texas claims change will save companies and consumers billions

Donald Trump said his administration is “terminating” Biden-era regulations holding oil and gas companies accountable for large leaks of planet-warming methane during a rally in Lubbock, Texas, on Tuesday evening.

“Tonight, I’m officially terminating Biden’s expensive and unnecessary methane regulations to save consumers and energy producers,” Trump said, lifting what he called “crippling regulations on methane that caused prices to skyrocket” for small oil and gas operators. The change would save consumers and energy producers $45bn and unlock 210m barrels of oil, he said, which is equivalent to about 10 days of US petroleum consumption.

Tankers part of US-Russia deal that could see 500,000 metric tonnes of fuel supplied to world market this month. What we know on day 1,704

Three tankers carrying Russian diesel are on their ⁠way to North America, Russian deputy prime minister Alexander Novak said ⁠on Friday. In ​a statement quoted by Russian news agencies, Novak said the cargoes were ⁠part of a deal that could see Russian companies supply 500,000 metric tonnes to US and world markets in October. “The first ⁠three fuel tankers are already on their ​way to the eastern ‌coast of ‌the Atlantic Ocean, with significant support from the ‌RDIF (Russian Direct Investment Fund),” Novak said. Under a deal announced this month by US president Donald Trump, Russia agreed ‌to supply diesel to global markets in an effort to lower fuel ​prices in return for Trump temporarily lifting US sanctions on Russian fuel. Reuters reported that the Malta-flagged ⁠medium-sized tanker Agioi Fanendes, loaded with ultra-low sulphur diesel, is expected to arrive in ‌the US on 7 November.

The White House has said that Russia and Ukraine have agreed to a ceasefire in the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky, where a deepening humanitarian crisis has left thousands of civilians struggling to survive. In a statement on Friday, the White House said both sides had agreed to halt all military operations in the city from 27 October to allow humanitarian aid deliveries and preparations for the evacuation of civilians. Residents of the southern Ukrainian city, which has been under Russian occupation since February 2022, have described increasingly desperate conditions amid severe shortages of food, water and electricity. An estimated 2,000 people remain in the city, with some reportedly forced to survive on weeds, boiled grass, bread and meagre rations. Both Russian and Ukrainian officials said all sides were close to agreeing to a ceasefire.

The Oleshky ceasefire comes as the US is trying to organise new talks aimed at ending the war. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Friday negotiators from Ukraine, Russia and the US have agreed to technical-level meetings in the first half of November in Abu Dhabi. A US official later said the three ⁠countries may hold their next talks in a couple weeks in Abu Dhabi or Switzerland. Zelenskyy said he hoped a meeting of the countries’ leaders would follow.

The peace efforts follow a rift between Washington and Kyiv in recent weeks and a series of moves by Trump seen as favouring Russia, including limitations being placed on the Starlink communication system that Ukraine uses to protect against incoming attacks. Trump said on Friday that if Ukraine still faced a problem accessing the system, he would straighten it out ​and, if necessary, speak about the matter to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.

As the UK government prepares next week for the first budget under Andy Burnham’s leadership, EU leaders have pressed the new prime minister at a summit in Brussels to contribute more to Ukraine’s defence effort. EU officials say Canada and Japan also should do more to support Ukraine.

The UN nuclear watchdog IAEA said ⁠Fiday ​that repairs to key ⁠power infrastructure near Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia ⁠nuclear power ​plant ‌had been completed ‌under a ‌temporary ceasefire it brokered. The repairs strengthened the plant’s connection ‌to its sole remaining external power ​line, known as Ferosplavna-1, reducing the ⁠risk of another ​loss of ​off-site ​electricity at ​Europe’s largest ‌nuclear ​power ​station.

Defence City, Ukraine’s special support regime for arms makers, now has 63 member companies, the Defense Ministry said in a 19 October release. That is more than double the late-May count, and Euromaidan Press calculations show the newcomers are, on average, much smaller firms.

Ukraine already buys most of its weapons at home. More than 75% of its 2025 weapons procurement budget went to domestic manufacturers. Most new weapons models cleared for military use are Ukrainian too: 892 of the 1,000 authorized from the start of 2026 to mid-June. Defence City is meant to turn that demand into more production capacity, and our calculations suggest it is now reaching smaller producers too.

Who is joining

Each resident’s figure in the ministry’s count is its qualified income, meaning revenue from selling weapons and military equipment. Applicants file details of their defense contracts for the previous calendar year with their application, the ministry’s guide shows. So the combined total changes as members join. It does not track month-to-month sales.

The 63 current residents have a combined qualified income of nearly $2.47 billion. At the end of May, 31 residents had $2 billion, the ministry reported. By July, 45 residents had over $2.07 billion, it added.

By Euromaidan Press calculations, the 32 companies added since May bring about $15 million each on average. The first 31 averaged about $64 million each. The math assumes all 31 early members remain, with unchanged figures. If they do, the newcomers are smaller producers on average, because each figure reflects a firm’s own prior-year weapons sales.

What residents get

The profit-tax break comes with a condition. Residents choose where their untaxed profit goes, but it must go to purposes the tax code allows, the ministry explained. If the money goes elsewhere, the break does not apply.

Residents also get customs incentives and state support to relocate plants and better protect production sites. They can rent state property without an auction. They can also ask to restrict access to sensitive information about them in public registries. Some defense export procedures are simplified too.

Resident status also makes a company eligible to be designated critically important to the defense industry. That lets it defer up to 100% of its staff liable for military service from the draft, the ministry noted.

To join, a company must confirm it meets the legal requirements and file an application with supporting documents. By law, the ministry has 10 working days to decide. If approved, a ministerial order grants the status, and the company enters the Defence City register.

Parliament in Greece has approved a government bill concerning the country’s two major water utilities, EYDAP and EYATH in Athens and Thessaloniki respectively. The bill passed amid strong opposition criticism that the legislation could lead to the privatization of water services. The bill, introduced by the Ministry of Environment and Energy, passed with support from […]

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