President Trump said that philanthropist George Soros and his son should be charged with racketeering for allegedly supporting violent protests “and much more,” without citing any evidence. Trump made the remark Wednesday in a social media post that did not elaborate on whether Soros is being investigated or specify which protests he was referring to. But he did include a warning for the billionaire who supports left-leaning causes: “Be careful, we’re watching you!” The Open Society Foundations, one of the world’s biggest and most influential philanthropies, which was founded by Soros, issued a statement calling the accusations “outrageous and false” and denying any support or funding of violent protests. “Our mission is to advance human rights, justice, and democratic principles at home and around the world,” the group said. “We stand for fundamental freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution, including the rights to free speech and peaceful protest that are hallmarks of any vibrant democracy.” Alex Soros, the billionaire’s son, chairs the foundation’s board of directors. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
RETAIL
Organizers of a Target boycott that began in January are pointing to their tactics as a hopeful sign that actions against corporate retailers can still make a deep impact. When Target announced its current chief executive was stepping down in February 2026 and an insider was taking the helm, those organizers saw it as a move in the right direction and stressed more than ever that boycotts will continue as long as previous promises made to the public go unfulfilled. “It’s been now nearly 200 days and what all the statistics and economics are showing that since that boycott was announced on that Monday — every single week since then — Target foot traffic in nearly 2,000 stores has declined sharply and continues to decline,” said organizer Jaylani Hussein, at a news conference of the National Target Boycott movement outside Target’s Minneapolis headquarters late last week. Boycott organizers in Minnesota were among some of the first to galvanize when Target opted in January to follow other companies like Amazon and Walmart and forego diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
CONSUMER
Ford is recalling more than 355,000 of its pickup trucks across the United States because of an instrument panel display failure that’s resulted in critical information, like warning lights and vehicle speed, not showing up on the dashboard. According to documents published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the recall covers certain Ford F-150s from the 2025 model year — as well as other Ford “Super Duty” trucks, including 2025-2026 F-550 SD, F-450 SD, F-350 SD, and F-250 SDs. A recall report dated Aug. 22 notes that the instrument panel cluster can fail at startup, resulting in drivers seeing a blank screen. As a result, the NHTSA notes, drivers may not be able to read critical “safety-related telltales and gauges,” increasing the risk of crash. The recall report notes that Ford isn’t aware of any accidents or injuries related to this issue, but had received 95 warranty claims as of June 26. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
CYBERSECURITY
A hacker leveraged technology from Anthropic PBC as part of a vast cybercrime scheme that’s impacted at least 17 organizations, the company said, marking an “unprecedented” instance of attackers weaponizing a commercial artificial intelligence tool on a widespread basis. The hacker used Anthropic’s agentic coding tool in a data theft and extortion operation that affected victims in the last month across government, health care, emergency services, and religious institutions, according to the company’s August threat intelligence report published this week. The attacks using the Claude Code tool resulted in the compromise of health care data, financial information, and other sensitive records with ransom demands ranging from $75,000 to $500,000 in cryptocurrency. The campaign demonstrated a “concerning evolution in AI-assisted cybercrime” in which a single user can operate like an entire cybercriminal team, according to the report. The company said the hacker used AI as a consultant and active operator to execute attacks that would otherwise have been more difficult and time-consuming.
TRADE