OpenSight News: Policy & Regulation

US stock futures fall as Democrats are projected to win the House in the midterms

Ari — Wed, 04 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Democrats were projected to win control of the US House of Representatives in the midterm elections. Late on election night they led in enough Senate races to flip that chamber too, but Senate control was not yet decided. US stock futures fell. Futures on the Nasdaq 100 index dropped about two percent and those on the S&P 500 about one percent.

Traders pointed to fears that new state and federal majorities could slow the build out of data centres. One leading candidate for governor in Texas has called for a pause on new data centres. Treasury yields fell as investors looked for safety, and solar stocks rose. These are projections from election night. Final results in several close races may take days.

Sources

Midterm elections 2026 live updates — CNBC, 3 Nov 2026 (primary source)
Stock market today: Live updates — CNBC, 3 Nov 2026

Apple Intelligence comes to China in December, powered by Alibaba's Qwen

Ari — Sun, 01 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Apple has confirmed that its AI features will launch in mainland China in December with iOS 27.3. A developer beta starts on 4 November. Users in China will reach Alibaba's Qwen model through Siri, Writing Tools and Visual Intelligence. It ends a wait of about two years since the US launch.

The first wave covers the basic features, among them live translation, writing tools, photo clean up, Genmoji and notification summaries. The new Siri assistant shown this summer is not part of it. China requires approval for any public generative AI service, and the partnership with Alibaba is how Apple meets that rule. It works on the iPhone 15 Pro and newer, with the system language set to English or simplified Chinese.

Sources

Apple confirms its AI features reach China in December, with Qwen — The Next Web, 30 Oct 2026 (primary source)

The ECB holds its deposit rate at two and a half percent as energy prices keep rising

Ari — Fri, 30 Oct 2026 04:00:00 GMT

The European Central Bank, the ECB, left its three key interest rates unchanged on 29 October. The deposit rate stays at two and a half percent. The bank says energy prices have kept rising. That adds upside risk to inflation and downside risk to growth. Underlying inflation has been broadly stable so far and wages have not reacted much.

The main refinancing rate stays at 2.65 percent and the marginal lending rate at 2.90 percent. The Governing Council repeats that it decides meeting by meeting and does not commit to a path in advance. Its bond portfolios from the asset purchase programmes keep shrinking as securities mature. The Transmission Protection Instrument remains available if spreads move in a disorderly way.

Sources

Monetary policy decisions (29 October 2026) — European Central Bank, 29 Oct 2026 (primary source)

EU cites EN 18286 as the first harmonised standard under the AI Act

Ari — Thu, 29 Oct 2026 12:15:00 GMT

The European Commission has referenced EN 18286:2026, Artificial intelligence - Quality management system, in the Official Journal through Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/2274. It is the first harmonised standard under the EU AI Act. The standard was prepared by the European standards bodies CEN and CENELEC.

A cited harmonised standard gives a presumption of conformity under Article 40 of the Act. Providers of high-risk AI systems that build their quality management system on EN 18286 can rely on it for the quality management requirements of Article 17(1) and, according to legal commentary, for parts of the technical documentation duty in Article 11(1). Using the standard is voluntary, and it covers only one slice of the Act. Since the Digital Omnibus on AI, the obligations for stand-alone high-risk systems apply from December 2027.

Sources

Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/2274 — Publications Office of the European Union (EUR-Lex) (primary source)
First Harmonised Technical Standard Published Under the EU AI Act — Orrick