An Amtrak construction crew accidentally cut a fiber-optic line in New Jersey, triggering a telecommunications outage that forced the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to pause flights across parts of the Northeast, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Monday afternoon.

“An Amtrak construction crew accidentally cut into a fiber line in New Jersey which caused a telecom outage and forced FAA to pause flights in the Northeast,” Duffy wrote on X.

Duffy said flights were resuming at LaGuardia Airport (LGA) and Philadelphia International Airport (PHL), while flights into Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR), John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) and Teterboro Airport (TEB) remained paused.

“This incident underscores the need for additional funding to modernize aging infrastructure and prevent disruptions like this in the future,” he said.

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An air traffic control tower at Philadelphia International Airport in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (John Greim/Loop Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

As of 3:07 p.m. ET, the FAA’s website showed active ground stops at EWR and TEB, while JFK, LGA and PHL were operating under ground delays related to the equipment outage.

Earlier Monday, the FAA told Fox News it was pausing flights into Philadelphia International, Teterboro and Newark Liberty International airports due to “issues with some frequencies at Philadelphia TRACON.”

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A JetBlue Airways Airbus A320 sits at Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) with the Lower Manhattan skyline and One World Trade Center in the background on Jan. 15, 2026, in Newark, New Jersey. (Al Drago/Getty Images)

FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said Philadelphia TRACON lost its primary circuit, and when controllers switched to a backup system, they discovered a broken fiber-optic cable. 

Speaking to reporters earlier Monday, Duffy said “these are issues that aren’t new to us.”

“We know these problems can happen. We know these cuts can happen,” Duffy said, adding that the department has been working to upgrade FAA equipment and its telecom architecture. 

“As we work through all the new equipment, all the new architecture of our telecom, which is fans, it all takes money. That’s why we have a holistic view of everything, including how we rework our telecom,” Duffy said.

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A United Airlines Airbus A320 passenger jet taxis on the tarmac at LaGuardia Airport in the New York City borough of Queens on Sept. 7, 2016.  (Robert Alexander/Getty Images)

Duffy said the work is being done before the department has secured all the necessary money, adding that “when we get the cash” the department will be able to hasten progress. 

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“But this is not shocking,” Duffy said of the equipment outage.

The FAA could not immediately be reached by FOX Business Monday afternoon for additional comment.

A Verizon cable that was cut in New Jersey during construction disrupted hundreds of flights to and from the New York area and Philadelphia on Monday.

The Federal Aviation Administration halted flights bound for Newark, New Jersey, and Philadelphia and forced close to 70 planes to divert to other airports because of the issue. Hundreds of flights at those two airports ended up getting canceled.

As of 1 p.m. ET, the disruptions had spread to New York City, where flights into LaGuardia Airport and John F. Kennedy International Airport were also halted by the FAA.

“We have a fiber cable running adjacent to an Amtrak rail line in New Jersey. Construction contractors working in the area dug up and cut our cable,” Verizon said in a statement. “Verizon’s facilities were fully functional up to that point. Verizon bears no responsibility for this incident.”

The company said it “immediately deployed our technicians to the scene” and added that it was “actively working to repair the damaged cable and restore connectivity as quickly as possible.“

The FAA earlier said it had halted flights into Newark Liberty International Airport, United Airlines‘ busiest international hub, as well as Philadelphia International Airport and New Jersey’s Teterboro Airport “due to issues with some frequencies at Philadelphia TRACON.”

That Terminal Radar Approach Control, or TRACON, facility, guides planes in and out of Newark and Philadelphia.

United waived flight change fees for travelers affected by the disruption. American Airlines, which operates a hub out of Philadelphia, also waived change fees and allowed customers to fly out of other airports.

More than 400 flights in and out of Newark were canceled Monday, more than a quarter of the day’s schedule, according to FlightAware, while another 200 were delayed. Nearly 400 Philadelphia flights were delayed.

As of about 1 p.m. ET, 67 flights bound for Newark were forced to divert, according to Flightradar24, including international flights from Iceland, Egypt, Greece, Spain and France.

A United flight from Berlin diverted to Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, while an SAS flight from Stockholm bound for Newark was sent to Washington Dulles International Airport.

Aging air traffic control equipment and technology issues have vexed airline executives for years. The Trump administration last year announced a multibillion-dollar overhaul of U.S. air traffic control equipment and resources.

On Monday, the Transportation Department and FAA unveiled a new artificial intelligence-powered tool meant to analyze data to minimize flight delays, rolling it out first in Washington, D.C.

The incident happened hours before President Donald Trump and a host of international leaders are scheduled to arrive in New York for the United Nations General Assembly.

Tesla has reopened reservations for its long-delayed next-generation Roadster, asking customers to put down $50,000 weeks before the company unveils a redesigned version of the vehicle.

According to Tesla’s reservation portal, securing a spot requires an initial, fully refundable $5,000 credit card payment. Customers must then make a $45,000 wire transfer within 10 days to complete the reservation.

The renewed push for reservations comes nearly nine years after CEO Elon Musk first unveiled a prototype of the next-generation Roadster in 2017. Following years of delays, Tesla is preparing to unveil the redesigned vehicle on Oct. 1 at an event in Texas.

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The Tesla Roadster, the world’s first highway-capable all-electric car available in the United States, is displayed at its production debut in the Tesla Flagship Store on May 1, 2008, in Los Angeles, California. (Vince Bucci/Getty Images)

“New Tesla Roadster Unveil 10.01,” Musk recently wrote on social media platform X after Tesla posted a “Go for launch” teaser for the event. Musk has also said the presentation will be a “banger” and said during a recent appearance at the All-In Summit that the company needs a live audience to vouch that what they see “is not AI.”

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The event could include a demonstration of a limited-edition Roadster equipped with cold-gas thrusters developed in collaboration with SpaceX, according to recent reporting. Tesla’s teaser imagery appears to lean into that possibility, showing the vehicle against a launch-themed backdrop.

The Roadster program has reportedly evolved significantly from its earlier design. Tesla abandoned one approach based on Model S Plaid components in favor of developing an all-new carbon-fiber hypercar, according to The Information.

The Tesla Roadster is on display at the Tesla Giga Texas manufacturing facility during the “Cyber Rodeo” grand opening party on April 7, 2022, in Austin, Texas.  (Suzanne Cordeiro/AFP via Getty Images)

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Tesla originally unveiled the next-generation Roadster in November 2017 and said deliveries would begin in 2020. At the time, the company advertised a $200,000 base price, acceleration from zero to 60 mph in 1.9 seconds and a 620-mile range. Tesla also took $250,000 payments for a limited “Founders Series” version.

The vehicle never entered production as planned and has faced repeated delays in the years since.

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It remains unclear what Tesla will charge for the redesigned Roadster or how the company will handle customers who placed reservations years ago. Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment about reservation priority or updated vehicle specifications.

Reuters contributed to this report. 

Speaking in London, Goolsbee said fiscal policy and deficits should remain “background weather” for the Fed and matter only when they affect inflation.

“Should the Fed try to reduce the rates to make the deficit smaller or to make it less costly to increase the debt?” Goolsbee asked. “Let’s be a little careful with that. … Because I think that is the canonical argument” for central bank independence.

Goolsbee described efforts to push interest rates lower as government debt rises as a “monetise the debt” argument. Economists warn such a move could fuel inflation and backfire by raising market borrowing costs as inflation expectations rise, Reuters reported.

President Donald Trump has urged the Fed to cut its policy rate to around 1%, well below the current 3.75–4% range. Meanwhile, rising long-term Treasury yields are increasing the cost of financing annual deficits equivalent to about 6% of US economic output.

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Strong demand may warrant faster Fed rate hikes
US inflation may no longer be driven solely by tariff and energy-price shocks, with strong demand also adding to price pressures and potentially requiring the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates more quickly, Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee said on Monday.Inflation over the past 18 months was initially attributed to tariffs and then to oil-price shocks. Policymakers were inclined to “look through” these supply-side pressures without raising borrowing costs, expecting them to fade over time, Goolsbee said at an event hosted by the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum in London.

However, supply-driven inflation has proved persistent, while evidence suggests that robust demand is broadening price pressures. Goolsbee said booming investment in artificial intelligence could lift prices across the economy, while elevated services inflation indicates that the problem extends beyond the latest oil shock.

“If the through line is that it’s coming from overheating demand, I think the implication is the rate response is more aggressive and more and more front-loaded,” he said. Recent economic data and discussions with businesses suggest “that some of it maybe is coming from overheating demand.”

“If demand overheats, there is no ambiguity about how the Fed needs to respond,” Goolsbee said, referring to the potential need for higher interest rates. He added that AI investment could be “spilling out of its own lane and raising aggregate output beyond what the economy can absorb.”

The Fed raised its policy rate by a quarter of a percentage point last week. Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh subsequently highlighted the strength of consumer spending, business investment and other demand-side indicators.

Policymakers also removed language from their policy statement attributing elevated inflation to “supply shocks that have driven price increases in certain sectors, including energy.” The revised statement simply said, “inflation remains elevated”.

(Disclaimer: This article is based on inputs from agencies. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)

The Bank of England has secured Capitol House in Leeds to replace Yorkshire House, with a move planned for late 2028. It previously announced plans for at least 500 staff in the city by 2027.

The Bank of England is preparing to launch a new office in Leeds as it continues to strengthen its foothold in the city.

Britain’s central bank has secured a long-term base at Capitol House in Bond Court, Leeds, which it says will accommodate its “growing headcount” in the city and ultimately replace its existing premises at Yorkshire House.

The Bank currently employs just under 300 staff in Leeds, having previously announced ambitions to grow its West Yorkshire workforce to at least 500 by 2027. The relocation to Capitol House is scheduled for late 2028.

Bank governor Andrew Bailey said: “The Bank’s new office in Leeds is an important milestone in our long-term commitment to the city. We have seen first-hand the value of the exceptional talent, expertise and fresh perspectives that Leeds and the wider region offer.

“Moving to Capitol House strengthens our presence across the UK and helps ensure the Bank better reflects and represents the people, businesses and communities we serve.”

Tracy Brabin, mayor of West Yorkshire, said the move would support efforts to drive growth across the regions.

She said: “The Bank of England putting down even deeper roots in Leeds is a powerful endorsement of our Northern Square Mile, and signals a national belief in our region’s economic future.”

She added: “The Bank establishing a permanent base in Leeds won’t just be good for the people of West Yorkshire – it will help ensure that the future of our national economy is shaped by voices from across our regions and nations.

“That is how we’ll deliver good growth in every postcode and build a stronger, brighter UK economy that works for all.”

The enhanced presence in Leeds also forms part of a wider restructuring of its property portfolio, known as its location strategy programme, which will see it renovate its historic Threadneedle Street headquarters and reportedly close the neighbouring Moorgate site.

The Bank stated the Threadneedle Street renovation is “designed to allow consolidation of the Bank’s property footprint in London by end-2028”.

The Bank originally opened a Leeds branch in 1827 under Thomas Bischoff, who served as the Bank’s first agent.

It operates 12 agencies throughout the UK, working from a network of offices in Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Fareham, Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle and Nottingham.

Filip Pesek is the founder and CEO of DonnaPro, a Slovenia-headquartered agency that places EU-based executive assistants with founders and chief executives in the UK and across Europe.

The company says it rejects more than 99 per cent of applicants, can have an assistant ready to start within nine business days and keeps 91 per cent of clients after a 60-day trial. Pesek previously ran a marketing agency and spent years managing assistants of his own before building the model. He tells Business Matters why the assistant is only half the answer, what he would tell his younger self and the ten-day test every founder should try.

What do you currently do at DonnaPro?

I am the founder and CEO of DonnaPro. We take the admin off founders’ plates so they can get back to running their companies. Every client gets an executive assistant based in the EU, hired, trained and still managed by us.

The assistant is the part you see. The team behind her is the part that makes it work. It is why 91 per cent of our clients stay on after the 60-day trial.

My role has changed a lot as we have grown. In the early days I did most things by hand, from sales to recruitment to whatever needed doing that week. Now we have a lot of assistants and a proper team on the corporate side.

So my work has moved to people, strategy and making sure the systems hold up as we keep growing. If DonnaPro cannot run without me sitting in the middle of everything, I have built the wrong thing.

Two things I am keeping for now. I still take a lot of first calls with founders, and I still do the final interview with every person we hire.

What was the inspiration behind your business?

It started with my own problem. Then our clients confirmed it.

I have worked with assistants for years, going back to when I ran my marketing agency. Some were great, some were not. Whenever one left, replacing them landed on me. I had to find someone new, train them and work out again how we would work together. I spent a lot of time managing assistants who were supposed to be saving me time.

Eventually I got it down to a science. But even with a great assistant, the company still had a bottleneck, and it was me. That was not because of her. It was because I had not built the systems underneath. Between making the assistant relationship work and putting out fires across the company, I never gave the business the structure it needed.

Then two things happened. People around me saw how I worked with my assistant and started asking where I found her and how I trained her. And at the agency, we were doing our job well. We flooded our clients with leads, and all the admin that came with that growth landed on the founders’ plates.

That is when it clicked. I had one problem, which was no systems. They had two: no systems and no assistant. And the assistant part is where most founders get stuck, because they end up doing what I did, spending hours managing the person who is supposed to save them time.

So that is the part we take away. With DonnaPro, we hire, train and manage the assistant, so the founder gets the time back without the management work. Our assistants come from the top 1 per cent of assistant talent in the EU, and they have our whole team behind them. We reject more than 99 per cent of the people who apply, and those who get through have two weeks of intensive training before they start with a client.

That support is why they often help put simple structure in place along the way. Better processes, clearer handovers, fewer things living only in the founder’s head. We do not come in as consultants. But a good assistant with proper support makes a company more organised the longer she is there.

Who do you admire?

I admire a lot of people, and they come from very different places. What they share is that they are exceptional at something.

In business, it is the founders I meet who have built something with real value that does not need them in the day to day. They can run it from a high level, or step back completely if they choose. Plenty of people build big companies. Far fewer build one that does not own them.

Then there are people I admire for how they think. Charlie Munger is one. I will be honest, I know him more from Poor Charlie’s Almanack than from his investing, but that book changed how I make decisions.

And I have a lot of respect for athletes who stay at the top of their game. Lindsey Vonn is one who comes to mind. She retired, had her knee rebuilt with titanium, came back after almost six years away and won World Cup downhills again at 41.

Looking back, is there anything you would have done differently?

Yes. I would have started DonnaPro sooner.

And once I did start, I would have been braver. I would have taken on more capital at the beginning and made a bigger bet. I was careful, and careful felt responsible. But when the demand is clearly there, careful mostly means slower.

The cost of thinking small is that you rarely see it. Nothing breaks. You grow, you are reasonably happy with it, and you never find out what the bigger version would have looked like.

Most founders answer this question with a mistake they made. Mine is more about the risks I was too careful to take. If I could tell my younger self one thing, it would be to dream much bigger, much sooner.

What defines your way of doing business?

Thinking long term, and actually living by it, which is the hard part.

When we hire someone, the plan is that they are still with us in five years. That changes how you treat people. If you want someone around in year five, you cannot burn them out in the first six months.

It shows up in boring, specific rules. Internal messages get checked once a day, not all day. Notifications are off by default. If something is really urgent, we call each other.

New people find this a bit scary at first, because they think being always online is what good looks like. It is not. Someone who replies to every message within seven minutes has spent the whole day reacting and no time thinking.

I try to run myself the same way. I have a son who is nearly five and obsessed with sport. I want to watch him play, not watch my phone while he plays.

What advice would you give to someone starting out?

Try this on yourself. Imagine you disappear for ten days, with no calls and no email. Does the business dip, hold, or actually run better? If it dips, you have found your problem, and it is not your team. It is the system you have not built yet.

Then stretch it to 30 days, then 90. When the company would be fine without you for 90 days, you have built a business. Before that, you have built a job with a team attached.

And stop confusing busy with effective. There is a line I keep coming back to: if you do not have an assistant, you are one. Somebody has to handle the work that keeps a business running. If nobody has been hired for it, it is you, and you are the most expensive person in the company to be doing it.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said in an interview on Friday that he disagrees with doomsday warnings that artificial intelligence (AI) may contribute to the extinction of humanity within a decade.

Huang told CBS News that “2030 is not going to be the end of the world. There is 0% chance that’s going to be the end of the world.”

“Scaring people is unnecessary. It is irresponsible,” Huang added, saying that predictions like those made by former OpenAI and Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon are “not grounded in science.”

“Our company’s success is directly connected to the safe deployment of products and services. If we don’t continue to do that, our value would be diminished,” Huang said.

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Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said that fears AI will wipe out humanity are overblown. (Sean Rayford/Getty Images)

Huang said that existing legal frameworks for liability around cybersecurity and damages caused by businesses should be the primary guardrails for the industry, rather than there being a need for new regulations.

“Apply that first – don’t let this doomsday narrative allow someone to relieve them of the laws that currently exist,” Huang said.

President Donald Trump has expressed a similar sentiment in opposing new regulatory frameworks for AI, arguing that it would give China an edge in the AI race.

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Huang argued that companies like Nvidia have a built-in interest in ensuring the safety of AI. (Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform last week that “We already have tremendous CRIMINAL and REGULATORY power over these companies! There is a SICK conspiracy going on against AI and Data Centers, and the only one that is happy about it is China. WHOEVER WINS AI, WINS!”

The president added in a follow-up post that “President Xi, of China, just announced that China will be doing absolutely nothing to stand in the way of AI, or its future.”

Trump also dismissed concerns about AI wiping out humanity as a hoax, writing that “I am the Hoax Buster, and I’m right now breaking another Hoax – That AI is going to take over, consume, and destroy the World, and that Robots will be marching into our Cities, and getting rid of us all!”

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Huang is among the tech leaders who are expected to attend a state dinner Trump will host for Chinese President Xi Jinping this week, with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Apple Executive Chairman Tim Cook also expected to be on hand.

The Nvidia CEO has pushed back on Washington’s restrictions on China’s ability to purchase specialized chips used to train AI models from U.S. companies like Nvidia, arguing that China is able to access “all the chips they need” despite the restrictions.

Huang told CBS that “Every single chip company should go and serve the world, compete for the world,” adding that it’s “all about competing. America is about competing.”

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He also told the outlet that he wants to discuss global standards for AI development with Xi, noting that Chinese leaders “want China to have the benefit of AI” and “want China to prosper, just as we want America to prosper.”

The floor price for the proposed deal has been set at Rs 179.50 per share, a discount of about 7.3% to Pine Labs’ previous closing price on the NSE.

As of June 30, 2026, Mastercard Asia Pacific held 49,724,182 shares, representing a 4.31% stake in Pine Labs, according to exchange data. The proposed sale of up to 49.7 million shares is broadly equivalent to the entire stake disclosed by Mastercard Asia/Pacific as of that date.

The transaction is structured as a 100% secondary sale, with Mastercard Asia/Pacific named as the selling shareholder. Citigroup Global Markets India Private Limited is the sole placement agent for the transaction.

The books opened on September 21 and are scheduled to close on September 22 at around 7:30 am IST, with an option for an earlier closure. The expected trade date is September 22, while settlement is scheduled for September 23.

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Pine Labs shares ended Monday’s trading session at Rs 193.55 apiece on the NSE, up 0.68% from the previous close of Rs 192.25. The stock traded between Rs 191.15 and Rs 195.70 during the session.According to the transaction document, no pricing guidance will be provided until the shares are crossed on the exchanges on September 22.

Pine Labs made its stock market debut on November 14, 2025, following an initial public offering (IPO) that raised around Rs 3,900 crore.

The company’s shares listed at Rs 242 apiece on the NSE, representing a 9.5% premium to the IPO issue price of Rs 221.

The proposed Mastercard transaction is a secondary sale, meaning the proceeds from the sale will accrue to Mastercard Asia/Pacific as the selling shareholder and not to Pine Labs.

About Pine Labs

Pine Labs is a fintech company focused on digitising commerce for merchants, consumer brands, enterprises and financial institutions. Its technology platforms support digital payments, card issuance and value-added financial services across India and international markets, including Malaysia, the UAE, Singapore, Australia, the US and Africa.

Disclosure: This article has been written by Kumar Gaurav, who is not a SEBI-registered Research Analyst or an Investment Adviser. Gaurav and their ‘relative(s)’ (as defined under Section 2(77) of the Companies Act, 2013) do not hold any financial interest in the companies mentioned in this article as of the date of publication. The views/recommendations mentioned in this article, wherever applicable, are those of the respective SEBI-registered Research Analyst/brokerage and have been reproduced/reported with due attribution. They should not be construed as the views or recommendations of The Economic Times Digital or the journalist. Readers are advised to consider the original research report and make their investment decisions based on their own assessment. Brokerage disclaimers here