NEWS - SUNDAY, AUGUST 16, 2026 - NEWS
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum let long-mounting frustrations with the Trump administration rise to the surface. LA Times
VOA VIEW: Mexico has lost and will continue to lose.
Lawmakers are pressing for answers amid reports that sailors aboard the San Diego-based carrier have endured food shortages, plumbing failures and severe fatigue. LA Times
Advocacy groups push back on Democratic U.S. Senate candidate's claims that bible-related education is 'propaganda' New York Post
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Gavin Newsom is finishing the last two weeks of his last legislative session as governor by demanding a bailout utility companies, at the expense of wildfire victims. New York Post
VOA VIEW: Newsom is a fool.
The U.S. attorney in Chicago subpoenaed a fund-raising firm that had been co-owned by the daughter of Judge Juan Merchan, who conducted the trial that led to Donald Trump’s felony conviction. New York Times
VOA VIEW: The judge had a major conflict.
Mr. Hoekstra has been President Trump’s faithful messenger in Canada amid a historic low in relations. More than 170,000 Canadians want him gone. New York Times
Asian allies are beginning to wonder whether the United States would or could defend them in a war. New York Times
VOA VIEW: Better than China.
Iran said the airmen have been held since March 2 when their fighter jets were shot down. The Qatari government denies detaining any Iranian pilots. New York Times
Federal prosecutors are making another attempt to prosecute Jonathan Rinderknecht, the man accused of causing a blaze that became the Palisades Fire, after a judge declared a mistrial. OANN
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President Donald Trump announced on Friday that he intends to formally declare the Strait of Hormuz a territory of the United States. OANN
Democrats are doubling down on their fight to convince Americans that their transgender policies should return. Washington Times
VOA VIEW: Dems will lose more.
A federal judge refused on Friday to block the Trump administration from taking steps to build 62 miles of international border wall along part of a Native American tribe's reservation without its consent. Washington Times
Violent crime in the U.S. plummeted last year to roughly 1.1 million violent crimes, a 9.3% drop from 2024 and the largest one-year decline on record, President Trump announced ahead of the FBI's release of its latest crime statistics. Washington Times
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Tropical Storm Lala could bring heavy rain, high winds and dangerous surf and rip currents to the Hawaiian Islands as a hurricane this weekend, forecasters say. CBS
Luigi Mangione entered a guilty plea in his federal case at a court appearance in Manhattan Friday morning. CBS
The USS George Washington aircraft carrier departed Vietnam last week and is headed to the Middle East to replace the USS Abraham Lincoln, according to a U.S. official. CBS
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The Justice Department issued a legal opinion giving the U.S. military broader powers to detain migrants near certain areas along the southern border. CBS
The White House is touting a historic drop in violent crime as the FBI releases the latest data from its annual Uniform Crime Reporting Program. CBS
The U.S. Army said Friday it is temporarily halting Apache helicopter training flights after two soldiers were killed earlier this week in a crash near Fort Hood, Texas. CBS
The war in Iran has underscored how disruptions to a key shipping route thousands of miles away can have a material impact on American consumers. CBS
VOA VIEW: It should not be allowed.
The U.S. has refunded more than $100 billion in illegal tariffs to businesses, and some of that money is going to consumers — here's what to know. CBS
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Arkansas-based Onterris reported "good" air quality after a giant warehouse fire in Los Angeles. Some experts and activists say the testing is inadequate. CBS
The rapid drawdown of the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve could damage the caverns that store the oil, experts warn. CNBC
VOA VIEW: Tis a problem caused by Trump and Biden.
Iran's deputy foreign minister says Hormuz "will remain Iranian" after Trump's claim that the waterway would soon become U.S. territory. CNBC
VOA VIEW: No one cares what Iran says.
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With November's midterms fast approaching, cannabis reform is an issue. It's popular with voters, but its power to tilt elections remains uncertain. CNBC
VOA VIEW: Marijuana is a joke.
Google parent Alphabet is now the third largest holding in Berkshire Hathaway's equity portfolio. CNBC
Cars that run on software offer benefits automakers and many customers say older cars cannot compete with. But some analysts worry the vehicles might not last. CNBC
AOC is highlighting the cost of freezing her eggs. Here's what to know about health insurance coverage, state laws and taxes associated with the process. CNBC
Beijing is said to be moving to clarify ambiguities in new tax rules on offshore trusts after the policy sowed confusion among wealthy Chinese and advisors. CNBC
Russia's wartime economy is under growing strain as its budget deficit widens and analysts warn pressure could intensify next year. CNBC
VOA VIEW: The war is hurting Russia's economy.
The tax championed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani has drawn the ire of President Donald Trump, who said it must be stopped and vowed to explore federal options. CNBC
VOA VIEW: Mamdani is an idiot.
President Donald Trump tore down the White House East Wing to make way for the ballroom project. CNBC
VOA VIEW: As they should.
The widening price of copper between two metals exchanges is offering investors a gauge of U.S. tariff risk. CNBC
Japan protested Vladimir Putin’s first visit to the disputed Kuril Islands, escalating tensions over territory claimed by both Tokyo and Moscow. CNBC
VOA VIEW: Putin is pushing a false claim.
Gregory Henderson Jr. was captured three days after being added to the FBI Ten Most Wanted list for alleged drug trafficking tied to the Sinaloa Cartel. FOX News
The Food and Drug Administration said it is inspecting a Mexican production facility as part of its probe into the widespread cyclosporiasis oubreak. UPI
VOA VIEW: As they carefully should.
Hezbollah leader Sheikh Naim Qassem lashed out at the Lebanese officials Friday for accepting a U.S.-brokered framework agreement with Israel. UPI
VOA VIEW: It was no mistake.
Cuba accused the Dominican Republic of bowing to U.S. pressure after it ordered members of the Cuban diplomatic mission to leave the country UPI
VOA VIEW: Cuba has no valid claim.
Brazil has formally launched an economic reciprocity process in response to two unilateral tariffs imposed by the Trump administration. UPI
VOA VIEW -- Is the opinion of "Voice of Americans", which is a private entity not affiliated in any way with the United States government or any of its agencies. The opinions expressed here, in whatever medium or format, are not necessarily the opinions of the ownership or advertisers of this web site - 0415.
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When it comes to personal finance, artificial intelligence gives advice that can be inaccurate or demographically biased, and can range widely depending on the particular program that consumers use, according to a new academic research study. Don't count on AI financial advice.
The research — which studied seven “widely available” generative AI platforms — found “significant variation” in how GenAI answered prompts about emergency savings, asset allocation and withdrawals from a retirement portfolio. Researchers examined free-access versions of ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, DeepSeek, Gemini, Meta AI and Perplexity.
“GenAI-driven responses may sound confident but can still be incomplete, misleading, or incorrect,” according to the paper, published last month in the Journal of Financial Planning and authored by finance professors at the University of Georgia and University of Rome Tor Vergata in Italy. Its “suboptimal” or biased outputs raise questions “about the consistency and fairness of GenAI-driven recommendations,” according to authors Swarn Chatterjee, Brenda Cude and Gianni Nicolini.
The findings come as a large share of Americans are turning to AI to help manage their money. Two out of three Americans — 66% — who have used GenAI said they’ve leveraged it for financial advice, according to an Intuit Credit Karma survey published in September. The share is higher for Gen Z and millennials, at 82% for each cohort.
Experts said that AI is generally good at providing high-level overviews of financial topics: For example, why it’s important to diversify investments, or why exchange-traded funds may be better than mutual funds in some cases but not others. However, it has limitations that mean users shouldn’t trust its output blindly, they said.
