US inflation rose by more than expected in the year to September, according to official figures, in the final data release before the midterm elections next month. The pace of price rises increased to 3.7%, up from 3.4% in the 12 months to August. Inflation was above forecasts, driven by higher gasoline prices which have spiked following disruption to Middle East energy supplies due to the US-Israel conflict with Iran. The elections are being fought over cost of living pressures across the US. Inflation is the rate at which the price of products or services increase over time.

A mysterious super PAC that doubles as a pro-solar energy outfit is funding some of the most knives-out attack ads of the midterms season. A mysteriously named political action committee has started running ads reminding voters in Colorado about that time GOP representative Lauren Boebert of Colorado and her date were caught on camera in 2023 getting handsy during a performance of the musical Beetlejuice . That same PAC is producing a spot hitting Anthony Constantino, a Trumpist congressional candidate in upstate New York, because someone used his sticker-printing company to briefly make stickers that read, " Kill the Police ." Attack ads are everywhere in the last month ahead of November's election. But these spots are a little different.

The deeply uncomfortable film forces audiences to confront what types of stories we tell ourselves about who has economic and political power. Should you see a Looney Tunes-esque satire that stars Tom Cruise in prosthetics portraying a loud caricature of an American oilman, that's currently on track to be one of the biggest box-office failures of all time? Absolutely yes--and it's a movie that rewired my expectations of what a movie about climate change should be. The deeply uncomfortable film forces audiences to confront what kind of characters we're the most comfortable making into climate villains . The film stars Tom Cruise as Digger Rockwell, an oil billionaire who only wears cowboy boots and lives in a mansion covered in antlers and polar bear skin rugs. At the start of the film, one of Digger's oil-drilling platforms accidentally causes a massive iceberg to break loose, resulting in a huge methane leak.

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Plus: A cyberattack overheated fridges at hundreds of French supermarkets. Open models have real benefits. Do they outweigh the risks? Anthropic recently released a report arguing that a powerful new model released by the Chinese company Z.ai, poses a major cyberattack risk. Its core concern was that it is freely available for anyone to download and modify. The warning was the latest flashpoint in a debate over whether frontier AI models should be open or kept behind the doors of frontier labs.

Middle East and Central Asia's economy to shrink in 2026 amid war, IMF says Share Middle East and Central Asia's economy to shrink in 2026 amid war, IMF says on social media The economy of the Middle East and Central Asia is set to shrink in 2026 amid the fallout of the US-Israel war on Iran, with countries such as Kuwait and Qatar facing double-digit contractions, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The region's gross domestic product (GDP) is forecast to contract by 0.3 percent this year, a sharp downgrade from the 1.9 percent expansion projected in April, the IMF said in its latest economic outlook on Tuesday. Kuwait, Iraq and Qatar are forecast to have the most severe economic contractions, with their GDPs expected to shrink by 16.7 percent, 16 percent and 15.6 percent, respectively. Bahrain's GDP is forecast to contract by 11.3 percent, while Iran's economy is projected to shrink by 7.6 percent. Saudi Arabia, which has partially offset the hit to its energy sector by boosting oil exports through the East-West pipeline, is projected to record negative growth of 3.3 percent.

Say More Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Look Up Mashable @Home Trending Now Mashable Selects Top creators, ranked Gift Ideas For Everyone On Your List Creator Playbook In My Bag AI at School Safety Net All Series Before you toss a charger into your travel bag, check the rules for bringing it aboard. Olivia Tauber is the deputy editor of digital culture, covering creators, media, movies, beauty, and more. Based in New York, her work has appeared in The New York Times, Vanity Fair, The Cut, Teen Vogue, Complex, and Interview Magazine. She holds a Master's degree in Journalism from NYU and a Bachelor's from the University of Michigan. She also runs Fan Mail, a weekly pop-culture newsletter.

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Look Up Say More Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Mashable @Home Trending Now Mashable Selects Top creators, ranked Gift Ideas For Everyone On Your List Creator Playbook In My Bag AI at School Safety Net All Series The Anker Solix S2000 power station is $649.98 at Amazon -- save over $500 at Amazon Hannah Hoolihan is a freelance writer with Mashable. She's written for various entertainment websites since 2017, covering everything from tech to games to film. You'll currently find her work on IGN and Fangoria alongside Mashable, but she also has bylines at Rock Paper Shotgun, Collider, Screen Rant, and more. When she's not writing, she enjoys catching up with the latest films and shows -- horror, in particular -- and has a deep love of FromSoft games, which she continues to happily replay. All products featured here are independently selected by our editors and writers.

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