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[l] at 9/24/26 7:37am
American reconnaissance aircraft have reportedly been spotted around the Strait of Hormuz as tanker traffic through the key waterway rises The US has stepped up military activity around the Strait of Hormuz, with reconnaissance aircraft spotted near Iranian territory and additional fighter jets reportedly deployed to the region, RIA Novosti reported on Thursday, citing sources. US reconnaissance aircraft were observed overnight near the Iranian islands of Qeshm and Hengam, while aircraft and small drones were also seen over Kermanshah Province in western Iran, according to people familiar with the matter. Washington has also reportedly transferred 12 F-16 fighter jets from Spangdahlem Air Base in Germany to the region, the source said, adding that the increased activity could signal a possible escalation. DETAILS TO FOLLOW

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[l] at 9/24/26 7:33am
Berlin has said the country will stop using coal, oil, and gas in less than two decades Germany has presented a roadmap for completely phasing out fossil fuels by 2045. The government is sticking to its green transition policy, despite Chancellor Friedrich Merz earlier acknowledging that the country is going through “an energy crisis.” Germany abandoned Russian pipeline gas, on which its energy-intensive manufacturing sector had been built, after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022. The US-Israeli war on Iran this year, which led to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, accounting for some 20% of global crude oil trade, has further complicated the situation for the country’s businesses and households. The German economy contracted in both 2023 and 2024, marking its first back-to-back annual decline in more than two decades, while 2025 only saw a weak growth of 0.2%. Over the past few years, leading German companies such as BASF, Bosch, and Volkswagen have been forced to shut down factories or announce major staff cuts. In the document released on Wednesday, Merz’s government for the first time explicitly promised to get rid of coal, oil, and gas altogether. Previously, it only committed itself to “carbon neutrality.” Read more German chemicals giant reveals details of downsizing According to the roadmap, the proportion of renewable energy obtained from windmills and solar panels should increase from 55% to 80% in electricity generation by 2030. It also envisages a reduction of methane emission by 30% by 2030 in line with the global methane pledge signed by Berlin in 2021. The plan to phase out fossil fuel is being rolled out at a time when Merz’s approval ratings sank to a record low of 10%, with even the majority of supporters of his own Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party disapproving of his policies, according to the latest polls. Speaking about the roadmap at the UN General Assembly on Wednesday, German Environment Minister Carsten Schneider called the 19-year deadline feasible, saying that the plan “combines independence, affordability, and climate protection.” “Our roadmap is intended to set an international example. I am sure that many other countries will follow,” Schneider insisted. Germany is only the third country after France and the Netherlands to publish such a plan. Read more AfD is Germany’s new ‘people’s party’ – co-leader Greenpeace energy expert Mira Jager welcomed the roadmap, but noted that “at the same time, the federal government is subsidizing the oil industry, breaking the heating transition, and slowing down the expansion of renewables,” as cited by Deutsche Welle. The right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD), which delivered crushing defeats to the CDU in two local elections this month, warned in a post on X on Wednesday that “the German middle class dies” if the fuel price climbs from the current €2.3 ($2.6) per liter to €3 ($3.4). “We demand the reduction of EU energy taxes as well as value-added tax. In addition, the immediate abolition of the CO2 levy on gasoline and diesel,” it said. AfD co-leader Alice Weidel, who has been a strong opponent of Germany’s green transition, previously called wind turbines “the windmills of shame.” She also repeatedly argued that restoring economic ties with Moscow and bringing back Russian gas is key to reviving the German economy.

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[l] at 9/24/26 7:28am
Khartoum is ready to engage with Washington and other partners on peace efforts “far from dictates and external interferences,” the Foreign Ministry has said Sudan’s army-backed government has rejected US remarks questioning its legitimacy, insisting that efforts to end the country’s civil war must respect its sovereignty and national institutions. US State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said on Tuesday that neither the Sudanese Armed Forces nor the rival Rapid Support Forces (RSF), or their leaders, “represent legitimate, constitutional governance for Sudan.” He said “the conduct of each leader of the warring factions renders them ineligible to govern the country,” adding that Washington seeks “to restore peace and give power back to the Sudanese people.” In a statement on Wednesday, Sudan’s Foreign Ministry said Khartoum “strongly rejects” the State Department’s remarks and “calls for positive engagement with the Sudanese government.” It warned that negotiations must not legitimize territory taken by the paramilitaries or “reward the rebellion for its crimes against civilians and state institutions.” It demanded the dissolution of militias and exclusive state control over weapons. The dispute comes as Washington has reportedly withheld a visa for Sudan’s transitional leader, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, to attend the UN General Assembly in New York, making his attendance conditional on accepting a 90-day ceasefire, according to Reuters, citing sources. READ MORE: Hundreds of Sudan paramilitary fighters defect to army Three years of war Sudan has been at war since April 2023, when a power struggle between Burhan and RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo erupted into fighting. Burhan’s government relocated to Port Sudan on the Red Sea coast after fighting engulfed Khartoum. Prime Minister Kamil Idris announced its return to the capital earlier this year, following the army’s recapture of the city in 2025. The army controls Khartoum and eastern Sudan, while the RSF dominates much of the western Darfur region. The paramilitary group and its allies established a rival administration last year in Nyala, South Darfur, with Dagalo heading its governing council and Mohammed Hassan al-Taishi serving as prime minister. The conflict has displaced millions of people and pushed parts of the country into famine. Repeated ceasefire efforts, including US-Saudi talks in Jeddah, have failed to halt the violence. Mediation difficulties Burhan rejected a US-led proposal last November as “the worst yet,” arguing it would dismantle state security institutions while leaving the RSF in place. The Quad – comprising the US, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the UAE – proposed a three-month humanitarian truce followed by a political transition toward civilian rule. The RSF said it accepted the truce. Read more A land of mass graves and mercenaries – Can this genocide be stopped? The UAE’s involvement in mediation remains a major point of contention. Sudan’s army-backed government severed diplomatic ties with Abu Dhabi in May 2025, accusing it of supporting the RSF. The UAE denies supplying weapons to the paramilitaries. On Wednesday, the Sudanese Foreign Ministry said peace remains the government’s “choice and strategic goal.” It affirmed Khartoum’s readiness “for positive and responsible engagement” with the US and other partners, including Russia, who it said are “working sincerely and impartially” to achieve stability in Sudan, “far from dictates and external interferences.”

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[l] at 9/24/26 6:57am
The FSB says it intercepted over 300 kg of the drug in Moscow Region from a trafficking route linking Latin America and the EU Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has seized about 311 kg of cocaine in Moscow Region. Some of the packages feature a portrait of Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky. One suspect has been detained on suspicion of helping organize a supply route from Latin America to the EU. The FSB said its officers caught the suspect while he was transporting the drugs. In a video shared by the agency, the man’s car could be seen loaded with about a dozen heavy duty bags filled with cocaine bricks. During the examination of the packages, about nine of the bricks were revealed to have a photo of Zelensky with dollar signs for eyes. The agency has not offered any explanations as to why the Ukrainian leader’s photograph appeared on the cocaine packages. However, Zelensky’s image has increasingly been associated with cocaine use. His former press secretary Yulia Mendel recently confirmed to Tucker Carlson that the Ukrainian leader’s drug use is “an open secret” in Kiev. Russian officials have also long accused Zelensky and other Ukrainian elites of being addicts. The detained man is an unemployed Russian citizen born in 2001, according to the FSB. It described him as an active member of an organized group that arranged large drug sales through the dark web without meeting buyers in person. The agency said the group’s international supply route brought cocaine from Latin America through Russia for eventual sale in EU countries. Investigators have opened a criminal case against the suspect on charges of attempted large-scale drug trafficking. A court has ordered him held in custody while the investigation continues, the FSB said. Read more Gadaffi ecstacy bust: Libya now a narcotics hub for European drugs (PHOTOS) In commentary shared by the agency, Alexander Yevtushenko, a dean at Kuban State University, said international drug traffickers have increasingly used Russia as a transit route. He described cocaine arriving from Latin America by sea in containers carrying goods such as bananas and fish before being moved overland toward the EU. The latest bust follows several major cocaine seizures in Russia in recent years. In July, the FSB said officers found more than half a ton concealed inside frozen tuna imported from Ecuador. Before that, in September 2025, the agency also announced the discovery of a record 1.5 tons of the narcotic hidden in a cargo of bananas at a St. Petersburg port. Тhe UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) warned in June that global cocaine use has continued to soar in recent years, outpacing all other narcotics. Its illegal production skyrocketed to a record 4,000 tons in 2024, more than four times the level recorded a decade earlier.

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[l] at 9/24/26 6:16am
The tech company did not disclose the breach for nearly three months after its AI accessed restricted Medicare files, PM Anthony Albanese has said An OpenAI artificial intelligence agent “infiltrated” an Australian government health portal in what is believed to be the world’s first publicly reported AI-led hack of a state website. The IT giant kept the breach quiet for nearly three months after its agent accessed restricted files, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has claimed. An AI agent is a software system that can independently carry out tasks on a user’s behalf, making decisions and taking actions with limited human supervision. The OpenAI agent hacked the public-facing Medicare Statistics Reporting Service portal on June 18 while researching Australian spending on medicines, Albanese said. The portal, widely used by researchers and academics, hosts aggregate data on health spending and government drug subsidies. Read more Google’s Gemini joins rogue-AI case list– WSJ The prime minister disclosed the breach in New York on Wednesday after a telephone conversation with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Both are attending the UN General Assembly, where Albanese said he had a “very frank discussion” with the tech executive over the company taking “too long” to report the breach. The agent repeatedly tried to obtain information from the portal and, after being blocked, found ways around the restrictions. It ultimately accessed restricted files, but officials said there is no evidence that personal Medicare records were compromised. “The AI agent found a way around those blocks. Didn’t accept no for an answer, if you like,” the Australian prime minister told reporters. Read more OpenAI covered up scale of rogue agent security breaches – Reuters OpenAI, however, did not tell the Australian government about the breach for nearly three months. The company claimed it became aware of the incident only in August during an ongoing review of “misaligned model activity” and eventually notified Australian officials on September 10. The portal has since been shut down and its data moved to more secure systems. Albanese said he had expressed “Australia’s extreme concern about this incident” and warned there would “obviously be legal consequences.” Altman acknowledged there were “issues with protocols” at OpenAI, according to the prime minister. A “forensic investigation” led by the Australian Signals Directorate will examine whether OpenAI could face criminal charges, whether other government systems were affected, and why Australian security agencies failed to detect the intrusion. Albanese suggested the agent may have been examining Medicare spending for “commercial reasons,” including expenditure on particular medicines. Read more This is how we lose control of AI – one successful task at a time Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said it was the first known case of an AI agent gaining unauthorized access to Australian government IT systems. This is not the first time OpenAI has been accused of covering up rogue agent activity. The company reportedly kept unauthorized activity quiet for months after its agents bypassed restrictions and used more than ten previously undisclosed websites to communicate. On Germany’s DseWiki alone, they made over 15,000 edits and exchanged tactics for evading safeguards and detection. In a more serious breach in July, OpenAI agents circumvented safeguards during cybersecurity testing, reached the open internet and gained unauthorized access to systems belonging to Hugging Face, a major AI platform. The incident showed that rogue agent behavior could spill beyond controlled tests and compromise real-world systems. OpenAI acknowledged the breach, calling it a “warning shot” over the risks posed by increasingly autonomous AI. READ MORE: AI could harm children more than social media – ex-Google exec Other developers have reported similarly troubling behavior in controlled tests. Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4 resorted to blackmail when threatened with replacement in simulated scenarios, while other agents covertly altered code, facilitated fraud and manipulated records – behavior researchers call “agentic misalignment.”

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[l] at 9/24/26 6:11am
A Delhi court conditionally released them after investigators failed to file terror-related charges in time Six Ukrainian nationals accused of providing drone warfare training to armed groups in Myanmar were freed on bail in India after the country’s counterterrorism agency failed to file terror charges within the mandatory 180 days of their arrest. The immigration charges against the Ukrainians – Viktor Kaminskyi, Petro Hurba, Taras Slyviak, Ivan Sukmanovskyi, Marian Stefankiv, and Maksim Honcharuk – were also settled before the Foreigners Regional Registration Office. However, they will have to remain in Delhi while the investigation is ongoing. The six, arrested by India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) in March along with American national Matthew Aaron VanDyke, had allegedly trained members of Myanmar-based ethnic armed groups, including the Chin National Front and Kachin Independence Army, in drone warfare, operations, assembly, and jamming technology. However, the agency’s initial chargesheet filed on September 8 accused the seven foreigners of only relatively mild illegal entry and visa violations under the Immigration and Foreigners Act – and no charge was brought under India’s primary anti-terror law, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). The same Delhi court had last week given bail to VanDyke for the same reasons. Read more Indian court grants bail to US national in terror training case – report The NIA says anti-terror charges could still be added against them if further evidence emerges. The agency says it has established links between the accused and Myanmar-based armed groups; no conclusive evidence has so far emerged that they acted against India or trained Indian insurgent organizations. The seven were described as “mercenaries” and were alleged to have participated in combat operations and in a drone attack on a Burmese passenger plane. UAVs and related equipment detained by Indian customs authorities were later seized during the probe. Indian investigators arrested them after alleging they had entered the country on tourist visas, traveled through the northeastern state of Mizoram without mandatory permits, and crossed into neighboring Myanmar illegally.

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[l] at 9/24/26 6:01am
As the warnings about Russia grow louder, the public is being told to fear more, question less and prepare for war Great Britain is going through a war scare. Or to be precise, its combined political and media establishment is subjecting its people to a relentless propaganda (in up-to-date NATO-speak “cognitive warfare”) campaign to create a sense of impending war against Russia.  As you would expect, that war is, of course, framed as strictly defensive. In propaganda textbook manner, the message is both very simple and very repetitive: The UK is in great danger of a Russian attack, and its whole population must prepare itself to withstand and resist it.   It goes without saying that Moscow’s repeated declarations of having no such intention make no difference.  Britain is certainly not alone in its establishment-induced hysteria. Much of NATO-EU Europe is undergoing, in essence, the same treatment. In France, for instance, President Emmanuel Macron has called a theatrical all-manicured-hands-on-deck meeting to give what can only be called a national scare talk about “Russian hybrid warfare”; in Germany, Berlin and its mainstream media won’t stop stirring the pot about the murky drone affair at Leipzig-Halle airport.      Yet, over the last weeks, within a crowded field of European panic-mongering, Britain has stuck out as especially virulent. The single most grotesque contribution was made by uber-Tory Jacob Rees-Mogg. Comfortably seated against a backdrop that screamed country-squire probity, Rees-Mogg held forth on war within the next few years, ancient Rome (he’s been to Eton, he wants you to know) and, most importantly, “circumstances where people may have to die.” Either that or – so Rees-Mogg’s stern message – decline and fall, as happened to those Romans, who let mercenaries do their fighting and thus lost their empire. Read more The UK suspiciously reeks of the late-stage USSR So much to unpack. For one thing, the reference to paying others to fight – and die – must be a Freudian slip. Surely, Sir Jacob cannot have meant to refer to how the West, Britain very much included, has paid the Kiev regime to send its subjects – if need be, after kidnapping them – into the folly of a proxy war meatgrinder to demote Russia. And then, that Roman Empire analogy? Clearly, Rees-Mogg, true to type, is still struggling with the fact that Britain has its imperial collapse well behind it already.  Yet, sour oddball as he is, the arch-conservative – and multimillionaire – Rees-Mogg is perfectly representative of the current British establishment trend. Prime Minister Andy Burnham, for instance, has just used his first UN General Assembly address in New York to blame his country’s misery not on, say, his predecessor and Labour Party comrade Keir Starmer, but on Russia.  Meanwhile, at home, Sky News is rolling out ‘The Wargame’,  a bizarre “docu”-fantasy in four parts, built on the premise that the Russians are coming, no, they really, really ARE this time!  Pretending to be a sort of “realistic” account of what a British government would do in case of Moscow launching a series of escalating attacks, this production – from available reviews – is unusually awful shlock. It features has-been politicos doubling as un-reality TV stars, such as Michael Gove and Nicola Sturgeon, and living out their inner Tom Clancy by pretending to be serious, decisive, and, most of all, terribly important to the nation’s survival.  Unintentionally funny, though, as it may be, ‘The Wargame’ clearly has substantial political support and much hype around it. Propaganda can easily look ridiculous and be highly toxic at the same time. Because effective propaganda is, above all, one simple thing: the psychological manipulation of the many by the few. This is such a case. The viewers of ‘The Wargame’ are fed a silly but efficiently dramatized story, with the whole bag of well-worn but powerful tricks: suspense, shock, and, last but not least, a thrilling score.  Read more NATO 3.0 marches into Copenhagen It’s no surprise that the attitude of those doing the manipulating is, at best, patronizing. And to be fair even to the unbearable, Jacob Rees-Mogg, who carefully tends his beyond-caricature English-toff image, is quite honest about his disdain for ordinary people and their expendable lives. From his always obstinately ill-fitting yet clearly expensively tailored suit to the diction of a terribly bored yet forbearing Eton headmaster, his performance oozes good old upper-class condescension.  When Rees-Mogg tells you that you may have to die, you know he won’t lose sleep over it, because you are you, and he – well, he is something entirely different and, really, much better (and, as it happens, richer, too), of course.      In a Sky News interview, the UK’s Chief of the Defense Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton, has revealed a less excentric as well as more insidious approach to the masses. Referring to a “national conversation on defense,” both he and his interviewer took it for granted that the purpose of such a conversation is to remedy “what the British public hasn’t got, […] haven’t understood.”  What a delicate way to start a “conversation”: let me tell you how damn slow you are and where you need to catch up. Not: Let’s exchange views and respect each other as equal citizens. Indeed, it’s not only very rude – what has happened to English manners? – but positively Orwellian to call such offensively complacent preaching a “conversation.”  Marshal Knighton’s idea of how the British can and must do better was no less revealing: In essence, be more like the Estonians or, at least, the Swedes. Because in Estonia “the threat from Russia” is “part of normal daily conversation,” and in Sweden, they are at least trying to achieve the same single-minded obsessiveness.  Read more Why the world’s great powers are thinking about empire again There you have it, chums on the homefront: Make an effort, will you now? Learn from the worst, get a grip, and make your whole life turn around the fear we tell you to feel.  And don’t you dare notice that – how embarrassing, really – it is precisely the Estonian authorities who, notwithstanding their generally record-level Russophobia – have just called on everyone in NATO-EU Europe to cool it.  Because, those unpredictable Estonians tell us, the Russia-at-the-gates narrative “has been blown completely out of proportion. For example, Russia makes some adjustments on the other side of the Narva River and now everyone across NATO is losing their heads and hyperventilating over it,” while, in reality, “there is absolutely no reason to believe that Russia is imminently going to launch a military attack on NATO, Estonia, or the Baltic states.” Oops.  Unfortunately, war propaganda is almost immune to its own absurdities, inconsistencies, and plain silliness. Because it is designed to operate not by appealing to reason but to fear, stereotypes, and conformism. A conformism that some British establishment members already openly want to reinforce by locking up any dissenters.  The true weak spot of this warmongering may be its arrogance. There are signs on social media that many Brits do not appreciate their establishment’s latest efforts to scare and mobilize them for senseless war. Let’s hope that the mix of threats and condescension – displayed by a snob as gleefully aloof as Rees-Mogg, an officer-bureaucrat as clumsily tactless as Knighton, and the makers of something as slick as ‘The Wargame’ – rubs much of the country the wrong way. The “elites” are insane and malevolent. Any hope for peace and a return to reason will have to come from below.     

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[l] at 9/24/26 5:02am
The East African nation is seeking a non-permanent place for 2029–2030 with elections due in June 2028 Tanzania has announced its bid for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council for the 2029–2030 term, Vice President Deogratius Ndejembi said on Tuesday.  Speaking at the 81st UN General Assembly debate in New York, Ndejembi said that if elected, the East African nation intends to focus on preventive diplomacy, the peaceful settlement of disputes, the role of women and young people in peace and security, and reforming UN peacekeeping operations. “The African Union formally took note of Tanzanian’s candidacy for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council for the term 2029-2030 during elections to be held by this Assembly in June 2028,” the vice president said. Tanzania has previously served two terms on the Security Council, in 1975–1976 and 2005–2006.  Read more Africa demands its seat at the table. Will it get one? “We will put forward and prioritize deliberations on matters vital to the maintenance of international peace and security,” the vice president said. The Security Council has five permanent members – Russia, China, the US, the UK and France – which hold veto powers, as well as ten non-permanent members elected by the UN General Assembly for two-year terms. Africa is currently represented by the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo), Liberia and Somalia, with Somalia’s term ending in 2026 and Zimbabwe set to replace it in January after being elected for 2027–2028. DR Congo and Liberia will remain on the Council through 2027. READ MORE: Africa must get permanent seats on Security Council – UN chief Calls have meanwhile intensified for Africa to gain permanent representation on the Security Council. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said at the opening of the 81st UN General Assembly debate that the continent’s continued exclusion from permanent membership is unjust and that the body should be reformed to better reflect the modern global order. Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama has described the continent’s exclusion as a “historical injustice,” while Russia has repeatedly backed greater representation for African and other Global South nations on the body. Every third child is born in Africa, which is home to over 1.59 billion people and 54 countries which are members of the UN, roughly 28% of the total.

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[l] at 9/24/26 4:47am
Eight sailors tried to kill themselves during a lengthy deployment that included the war against Iran Eight US Navy personnel assigned to the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group attempted suicide during a ten-month deployment that included the country’s war against Iran, CNN reported on Thursday, citing a letter from the service’s acting secretary. The carrier, whose tour of duty began in late November 2025, drew media attention earlier this year after reports emerged of logistical and maintenance problems, including food and basic-supply shortages, a lack of hot and potable water, and plumbing failures. In a written response to questions from Senator Kirsten Gillibrand about the morale and mental health of the USS Abraham Lincoln’s crew, acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao disclosed the figure, which hadn’t previously been made public and covers several ships that travel together, including the carrier. Cao also noted that no service members had killed themselves during the deployment that was expected to end in May but has been extended indefinitely. In August, military outlets Navy Times and Stars and Stripes reported, citing crew members’ families, that collapsing morale, burnout, and mental health problems had driven several sailors to attempt to jump overboard. The Pentagon has moved to dismiss senior editorial staff at Stars and Stripes, citing insubordination, after the outlet reported on US military operations in the Middle East, including problems involving weapons supplies and the extended deployment of the USS Abraham Lincoln. The moves came after senior staff publicly opposed potential Pentagon interference in the outlet’s editorial independence. Read more Burned-out US aircraft carrier sailors near Iran tried to jump overboard – media Last month, multiple media outlets cited officials as saying that the aircraft carrier was finally heading home from its extended deployment. Earlier this week, Military Times reported that the ship and Carrier Strike Group 3 pulled into Guam for a short logistics stop, officially marking the tenth month of its tour of duty. The confirmation of suicide attempts previously disclosed by the media comes ahead of the US midterm elections on November 3, amid mounting public disapproval of the Iran war. Earlier this week, a poll conducted by SSRS for CNN suggested that Americans’ opposition to the war in the Islamic Republic had hardened, with nearly two-thirds saying the US is not winning the conflict and an even larger share saying President Donald Trump is not doing enough to end it. Last week, a Fox News national survey found that 71% of respondents believe the current administration lacks a plan to end the war, while 60% called the military action against the Islamic Republic the “wrong decision.” Trump, along with members of his administration, has repeatedly accused media outlets of spreading “fake news” about various issues related to the Iran war, including reports that US weapons stockpiles have been depleted.

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[l] at 9/24/26 4:38am
The rest of the 28-member crew of the bulk carrier MV Cape Dao, including 19 Indian nationals, were rescued after the incident off the coast of Oman An Indian seafarer was killed when a commercial ship was attacked off the coast of Oman on Wednesday. The Antigua and Barbuda-flagged bulk carrier MV Cape Dao was reportedly hit by two torpedoes, killing crew member Suraj Yadav from Deoria in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. All the other crew members, including 19 other Indian nationals, have been rescued. An Omani warship helped with the rescue operations, reports said. The attack caused damage near the engine room and accommodation area, the Forward Seamen’s Union of India (FSUI) posted on X. Some reports said the ship, which was sailing from the port of Mina Saqr in the United Arab Emirates to India, was struck by projectiles. No group or country has so far claimed responsibility for the attack. Another Indian seafarer killed.Wiper Suraj Yadav of Deoria, Uttar Pradesh, is dead after MV Cape Dao was attacked today while sailing toward India.28 crew on board, 20 of them Indian.Two torpedoes: • Port side C-deck (accommodation) • Port side hull (engine room)Assurances… pic.twitter.com/AvrD2p1Cwd— FSUI (@FSUIINDIA) September 23, 2026 The Indian Foreign Ministry condemned the attack and said “the targeting of commercial shipping, seafarers and civilian infrastructure in the region must end.” The Indian Embassy in Oman is closely monitoring the situation and coordinating with Omani authorities to facilitate the early repatriation of the rescued seafarers. At least ten Indian nationals have died so far in attacks on commercial shipping in the Middle East since the start of hostilities there. India is the second largest supplier of seafarers, with more than 300,000 Indians working in the shipping industry globally. New Delhi has repeatedly condemned such attacks and issued advisories for its nationals on ships transiting the Gulf and Black Sea conflict zones amid the rising attacks on commercial shipping.

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[l] at 9/24/26 4:28am
The bloc’s conduct is illegal, spokesman Dmitry Peskov has stressed The EU is committing “theft” by handing over profits from frozen Russian assets to Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said. Some $300 billion in Moscow’s funds were blocked by the US and EU after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022. Around $240 billion of the sum is still being held at the Belgium-based clearing house Euroclear. On Wednesday, high-ranking Russian Foreign Ministry official Vladislav Maslennikov told RIA Novosti that Brussels has already transferred €8 billion ($9.1 billion) in income generated by the frozen Russian assets to the government in Kiev. When asked to comment on the development by journalists on Thursday, Peskov replied by saying that Moscow considers such actions as illegal. “We truly believe this is theft. And we treat it accordingly, nothing has changed in our position here,” the spokesman noted. DETAILS TO FOLLOW

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[l] at 9/24/26 4:28am
Three priests were reportedly among the victims of the attack in the southeastern city of Jaroslaw A Ukrainian man has stabbed five people at a Catholic convent in southeastern Poland, according to local police. The attack occurred at around 9:30 AM on Thursday inside a church at the Benedictine Sisters’ abbey in Jaroslaw, in Poland’s Podkarpackie region, which borders Ukraine. Local media reported that the clergy were preparing for Mass when the attacker struck. The victims included four men and a woman, police said in a statement on X, adding that three men sustained serious injuries. Polish news portal Interia identified the victims as three priests and two laypeople. Local media have reported, citing police, that one of the victims, a clergyman, has died, while two others remain in critical condition. FILE PHOTO: a view of the Monastery of the Benedictine Sisters in Jaroslaw, Poland. ©  Artur Widak / NurPhoto via Getty Images The suspected attacker, identified as a 31-year-old Ukrainian citizen, was detained at the scene. According to preliminary findings cited by Polish media, he is believed to have used a kitchen knife. Investigators have yet to establish a motive. The incident comes amid a marked deterioration in Polish attitudes toward Ukrainian refugees. A July report by the polling agency CBOS found that, for the first time since it began tracking the issue, a majority of Poles opposed accepting them, with 52% against and 42% in favor. Support had stood at 94% shortly after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022. Warsaw has also begun scaling back some of the special arrangements introduced for Ukrainians after 2022. Earlier this year, Poland ended their separate refugee support system, moving Ukrainians toward the general system for foreigners under temporary protection and restricting access to some benefits. READ MORE: Polish MEP takes axe to Ukrainian Nazi-linked memorial (VIDEO) The share of Poles who believe reconciliation with Ukrainians is possible has fallen to a record low of 53%, according to CBOS data published in September, while 38% said it was impossible. The survey came amid persistent historical disputes, particularly over the WWII-era Volhynia massacres of Poles and the legacy of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA).

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[l] at 9/24/26 4:28am
Three priests were reportedly among the victims of the attack in the southeastern city of Jaroslaw A Ukrainian man has stabbed five people at a Catholic monastery in southeastern Poland, according to local police. The attack occurred at around 9:30 AM on Thursday on the grounds of the Benedictine Sisters’ abbey in Jaroslaw, in Poland’s Podkarpackie region, which borders Ukraine, local media have reported. The victims included four men and a woman, the police said in a statement on X, adding that three men have sustained serious injuries. Polish news portal Interia has identified the victims as three priests and two laypeople. Local media have reported, citing police, that one of the victims, a clergyman, has died, while two others remain in a critical condition. The suspected attacker, identified as a 31-year-old Ukrainian citizen, was detained at the scene.

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[l] at 9/24/26 3:47am
Moscow’s crude supplies amid the Middle East conflict shows its reliability as an energy partner, says Andrey Rudenko Russian crude supplies helped cushion India from an oil-supply shock after the conflict in the Middle East disrupted energy flows through the Strait of Hormuz, showing Moscow’s reliability as an energy partner, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko has said. Rudenko’s statement comes amid renewed scrutiny on India’s Russian oil purchases, and after Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky called for choking off Russia’s oil trade under a new US sanctions law. Indian refiners turned heavily to Russian crude after the US-Israeli attacks on Iran disrupted traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, which used to handle roughly one-fifth of global oil supplies. The scale of the shift was most visible in March, when India’s Russian crude imports nearly doubled from the previous month to 2.25 million barrels per day (bpd) and accounted for half of its oil purchases. Gulf shipments to India simultaneously plunged 61% to 1.18 million bpd. Existing arrangements between Moscow and New Delhi helped “significantly mitigate” the consequences of disruptions to global energy trade, Rudenko told Russian news outlet NEWS.ru on Wednesday. It showed Moscow could meet demand from its partners even in difficult geopolitical conditions, he added. Good to meet @SecRubio of the US #UNHighLevelWeekReiterated India’s interests and concerns with regard to SRIA. Also discussed the Gulf and Ukraine situations.?? ?? pic.twitter.com/163YRVlMZG— Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) September 23, 2026 Meanwhile, Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar, who is in New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly meeting, raised New Delhi’s concerns about the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday. The law gives US President Donald Trump the authority to impose up to 100% tariffs on the top buyers of Russian oil and gas. India’s Russian oil purchases have eased from record summer levels as other supplies recovered, but Moscow remains India’s largest crude supplier. Read more Russia remains India’s top oil supplier despite lower imports Russian shipments stood at about 2.1 million bpd in August, and are tracking at around 1.9 million bpd in September, according to preliminary data from commodity analytics firm Kpler. India has maintained that securing affordable and dependable energy for its 1.4 billion people requires multiple suppliers, and warned against restrictions that could distort or constrict global energy markets.Russia’s energy cooperation with India extends beyond oil. Rudenko pointed to the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant in southern India built in collaboration with Russia and said another site will soon be allocated for a Russian-designed nuclear facility.

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[l] at 9/24/26 3:15am
The Authenticity and Modernity Party has secured 97 of 395 seats, ahead of outgoing Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch’s party with 66 Morocco’s Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) has won the most seats in parliamentary elections, overtaking its partners in the outgoing government as turnout fell to its lowest level in nearly two decades. Preliminary results announced by Interior Minister Abdelouafi Laftit on Thursday gave PAM 97 of the lower house’s 395 seats, up from 87 in 2021. The National Rally of Independents (RNI), which topped the previous election with 102 seats, fell to 66, narrowly ahead of the Istiqlal Party with 65. Turnout in Wednesday’s vote was 38.02% of the nearly 15.8 million registered voters, according to official data, down from 50.35% in 2021 and the lowest since 2007. The liberal-centrist PAM needs coalition partners to govern, but its leaders have ruled out another alliance with RNI. Outgoing Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch, a billionaire businessman whose government faced criticism over living costs and unemployment, did not contest the election. He announced his withdrawal in January, citing RNI’s two-term leadership limit and saying the party should choose his successor before the vote. The vote drew allegations of irregularities in several constituencies. In the northern port city of Tangier, the Left Alliance, which won eight seats nationwide, alleged ballot stuffing and demanded a rerun. Prosecutors opened investigations after a man was arrested carrying ballots at a polling site in Tangier. PAM rejected allegations linking its candidates to the incident, calling them a “political conspiracy,” and backed an investigation. READ MORE: Morocco hits back at Spain over Ceuta migrant accusations Founded in 2008 by an adviser to King Mohammed VI, PAM positioned itself as a secular-leaning rival to the Islamist Justice and Development Party, which recovered to 54 seats from 13 in 2021. The king appoints the prime minister from the party that wins the most seats but retains sweeping authority over defense, foreign affairs, and policy direction. Potential candidates include PAM leader Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri and Budget Minister Fouzi Lekjaa, who also heads Morocco’s football federation. El Mansouri would become the country’s first female prime minister if appointed. Read more From Phoenicians to Franco: Why are these African cities Spanish at all? PAM campaigned on promises of 1 million jobs and greater healthcare and social protection spending. The election follows youth-led protests last year over unemployment, failing public services, and alleged vast spending on preparations for the 2030 World Cup, which Morocco will co-host with Spain and Portugal. At least three protesters were reportedly killed and more than 400 people arrested during the demonstrations, according to Amnesty International, which accused security forces of excessive force and arbitrary arrests.

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[l] at 9/24/26 2:04am
OpenAI’s agents found their way into outside systems, exposing how little control developers may have once a model starts pursuing a goal Imagine you are teaching a group of students and ask them to read a long list of literature and describe the key themes. The students cheat a bit, as they are known to do: They split the list among themselves, with each reading only a small portion of it and sharing the answers with the others. When you find out they cheated, perhaps you’ll punish the students with an extra test, or maybe you’ll encourage them. After all, the ability to think outside the box and work as a team is important.  Now, instead of students, imagine neural networks displaying that same disregard for instructions and the same surprising teamwork. If that sounds confusing, get ready for more confusing news. An escape through the back door  It all started routinely. In May 2026, OpenAI was training an experimental AI model using so-called reinforcement learning – a method where the model attempts to solve tasks repeatedly and receives a reward for success. Read more US proposes AI alert system with China The AI agents, which were granted autonomy and access to work tools during training, began looking for ways to break out of their “sandbox,” as doing so would allow them to rack up more points. By the end of June, they had exploited a previously unknown zero-day vulnerability in OpenAI’s internal infrastructure. The company noticed it and quickly patched the flaw on July 4. Less than a week later, training resumed. This time, the agents went much further. From July 11 to 13, the agents hacked the infrastructure of Hugging Face, the world’s largest open-source AI collaboration platform. They rapidly gained control of the servers and, over the course of three days, managed to perform around 17,600 actions before being detected. A third of the platform’s infrastructure had to be rebuilt from scratch.  The developers had not instructed the agents to leave the controlled environment or to hack other platforms. Moreover, they had not expected the neural network to do so on its own.  Hugging Face disclosed the breach on July 16 without initially knowing the culprit; it was only five days later that the parties officially linked the incident to OpenAI’s models. The company published a detailed technical analysis only in early August at the Black Hat Cybersecurity Conference. Then, on August 18, it announced a two-week reinforcement learning pause.  By that time, over 1,100 OpenAI employees had signed a letter calling to pace AI development. Read more Trump vows not to slow AI despite industry warnings Notes on the fence  Alongside the investigation into the breach, another, even stranger episode came to light. It turned out that a different swarm of agents was being trained to perform research tasks. The agents were asked a series of questions; with each question, less time was given to provide an answer. The agents were permitted only to read information on the internet, but not to add a single line to it. Yet, the swarm found a way to bypass this rule. Older wiki engines allowed pages to be modified via HTTP GET requests. Security systems classified GET requests as read operations, so such requests passed through filters even though they actually altered the site’s content. In other words, while the agents were formally permitted “read-only” access, the architecture of older websites allowed them to turn read-only access into write access. Researchers discovered the first activity of this kind on May 11, 2026, on publictestwiki.com. On May 24, the agents made their first successful write to DseWiki, an old German-language developer forum. Initially, they posted useful links, but eventually turned the site into a repository for their own ‘cheat sheets’. Multiple agents operating in parallel received similar or identical sequences of questions. They discovered this and began sharing the following: Read more Google’s Gemini joins rogue-AI case list– WSJ answers to future questions; timing of upcoming questions; results of queries to statistical APIs; methods for bypassing network restrictions; proxies and tunnels; instructions on how to execute restricted POST requests; information on which pages the administrator deletes.  One of the first observed cases involved DseWiki, a German-language wiki hosted independently by Helmut Leitner, a retired developer from Austria. The site operator had to spend hours cleaning up after the agents. OpenAI did not publicly disclose the incident for months. Independent researchers brought the truth to light. By matching strings of data, similar or identical usernames, and IP addresses (some of which traced back to Microsoft Azure servers sometimes used by OpenAI), they discovered traces of similar activity on unexpected platforms: an advanced chemistry wiki for students; personal pages of Polish IT professionals; niche wikis for those “who like to have their brains stretched,” a two-decade-old site for text-editor enthusiasts; and even University of Toronto and Vanderbilt University link-shortening services.  Read more AI giants call for slowdown over ‘serious’ risks Estimates vary – one researcher counted 18 previously undisclosed sites, another identified at least ten, and a third group reported 23 sites. Yet all agree on one point: The officially acknowledged scale of the breach was understated. “We have no idea how much is out there,” said one of the researchers whose team first revealed the DseWiki incident. OpenAI did not answer a direct question about the exact number of affected sites but stated that it is conducting a broader review of agent activity and preparing a new reporting system for such cases. Helmut Leitner, whose site was hit the hardest, received only a brief, unsigned email from OpenAI. Yet, he pointed out the most important thing: the blame lies not with the machine, but with the people and organizations behind it. Misaligning the pieces In sci-fi scenarios, the trouble with machines often begins when they develop emotions like love and fear which compel them to rebel against oppression, or when a hatred for humanity compels them to kill all the “meatsacks.” In reality, it could be a lot simpler.  One of the main challenges in AI research is known as ‘alignment’. Its goal is not to expand the capabilities of neural networks, but to ensure they do exactly what humans want them to do. With simple tasks, aligned behavior is almost always observed. If you ask a neural network to identify who ruled Saxony in 1521, tally your monthly expenses, or write code for a standard website, it will deliver the desired result 99.99% of the time. These tasks involve clear success criteria and straightforward actions that require no further clarification. Read more The West calls it Russia’s Starlink. That misses the point Problems arise as tasks become more complex and there is no clear path to success. Here’s a simple example: If you ask a basic neural network to minimize traffic congestion by any means, it will propose banning cars altogether. Traffic jams will drop to zero, and the task will be accomplished. This is an “unaligned” result – the machine performs the job, but not in the way intended. This is precisely what happened with the site hijackings. The escape of OpenAI agents from their sandbox is not a “rise of the machines.” The swarm did not gain self-awareness, decide it had no need for humans, or set out to destabilize the internet. It was carrying out its assigned task and seeking ways to perform it better. Technically, it didn’t even violate the parameters of the rules it was given. However, the outcome was misaligned with human intentions. This time, the damage was relatively small. But it would take only one skilled bad agent – or a particularly large-scale experiment lacking robust safeguards – to cause real trouble. You don’t need Skynet to harm humanity; a single group of enthusiastic AI agents could do the job. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei believes this could happen as early as next year. He anticipates that if AI development is not paced, a swarm of agents could “take over” the internet and cause hundreds of billions of dollars in damage. And given that logistics, hospitals, and other critical industries rely on connectivity, the consequences could go far beyond financial loss. Moreover, adding more rules or refining prompts won’t solve the problem. A sufficiently powerful model can find arguments to justify rule-breaking and bypass virtually any restriction to solve the assigned task – even if doing so requires sacrificing those who had set the task. Read more North Korea’s Kim backs military AI The bitter pill AI pessimists tend to believe that the situation is hopeless and neural networks are destined to spiral out of control. But that isn’t necessarily the case.  Alarmist sentiments have moved beyond social media and found their way into corporate offices. In late July, over 1,000 OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and Meta employees signed a call to slow down the AI ​​technology race. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stated that he shared his employees’ views and was willing to slow the development of his company’s neural networks. However, during an all-hands meeting at OpenAI, Altman stated that he was willing to slow down only in coordination with other companies. In other words, to forgo increasing ChatGPT’s capabilities for the sake of safety, he wants guarantees that competitors will do the same. This lies at the heart of the problem. CEOs and policymakers can talk all they want about technology safety. Yet, no one wants to slow down the development of their own technology if potential adversaries continue to grow stronger in the meantime – particularly since AI has already proven its effectiveness in warfare and the US-China AI race is heating up. Humanity had solved a similar challenge before, when the major powers managed to reach an agreement and halt the expansion of their nuclear arsenals. Soon, we will find out whether world leaders can once again demonstrate such prudence.

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[l] at 9/24/26 1:44am
The aerial strikes hit launch and storage locations after UAVs were sent across the border, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar has said Pakistan says it launched air attacks inside Afghanistan early on Thursday morning, in response to an alleged drone incursion from the neighboring country a day earlier – in another round of escalation between the two countries. The “aerial and drone strikes” targeted ten locations for launching and storing the drones that crossed into Pakistan on Wednesday, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said in a post on X. He did not specify the locations hit. The minister said Pakistan’s air defense systems “neutralized all intruding platforms before they could reach any of their intended targets.” He added that Pakistan’s response was “deliberate, precise, calibrated and proportionate, and strictly limited to identified military objectives directly linked to the attempted attacks.” The Afghan authorities have not yet issued an official response regarding the strikes or the damage inside their territory. Update-Ghazab lil HaqIslamabad, 24 September 2026;Pakistan condemns in the strongest possible terms the deliberate and unlawful incursion into Pakistan by drones on 23 September 2026, launched from Afghan territory. This constitutes a blatant violation of Pakistan’s…— Attaullah Tarar (@TararAttaullah) September 24, 2026 Militant attacks have risen in Pakistan’s border areas in recent months. Islamabad has accused Kabul of hosting the militants and launched attacks inside Afghanistan in response. Kabul, however, says the strikes are hitting civilians. Islamabad struck alleged militant hideouts in Afghanistan earlier this week, in retaliation for a car-bomb attack on a mosque in a police facility in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on September 18 that killed at least 16 people. Read more Pakistani airstrikes target alleged militant hideouts in Afghanistan Pakistan claimed that the strikes, in the Nurgal district of Kunar province and the Barmal district of Paktika province, killed 28 militants. Afghanistan’s Taliban government said three civilians were killed, including a woman. A Taliban government spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, warned that there would be an “appropriate response.” Tarar said Thursday that Pakistan will “neither accept nor tolerate attacks launched from Afghan territory, whether by terrorist groups or by the Afghan Taliban regime itself.” He also called on the Taliban government to take action against the terror groups operating from Afghanistan, and warned against further provocations.

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[l] at 9/24/26 12:08am
Tehran’s resistance will only increase in the face of US “bullying,” Masoud Pezeshkian has said Tehran is open to diplomacy with Washington, but it will not accept the language of force, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has said in his speech at the UN General Assembly in New York. Pezeshkian delivered his address on Wednesday, a day after US President Donald Trump used the same tribune to threaten to “annihilate” Iran if negotiations to settle the conflict between the sides fail. “Do I drive them into hell with no chance of survival and no hope of future greatness or generations?” the US president said. Trump also labeled the authorities in Tehran sponsors of terrorism and called on other countries to join the US in enforcing the “complete economic isolation” of Iran until it agrees to sign the deal. Pezeshkian, who became the first foreign head of state to speak at the UN while their country is at war with the US, insisted that “the resistance of the Iranian people will only increase in the face of sanctions, increased pressure, increased bullying. We will never bow our head or bend at the knee.” Read more Trump threatens to ‘annihilate’ Iran in UN speech (VIDEO) “Iran must be understood by Trump and those who seek to bully us that we are ready for dialogue and diplomacy and negotiations without accepting the language of force,” he stressed. The US delegation walked out of the General Assembly hall when Pezeshkian began his speech, just as members of the Iranian team did during Trump’s address on Tuesday. “We are not terrorists,” the Iranian president said. “We have been the victims of terrorism,” he added, noting the assassination of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on the first day of the American-Israeli attack on February 28 and the missile strike on an elementary school in Minab which killed 175 people, most of them children. “Our innocent people have been the targets of cowardly attacks and aggression imposed upon our country and we defended ourselves with utmost strength… We responded, but we did not hit civilian populations,” Pezeshkian said. Read more US targets Iranian airlines (VIDEO) He insisted on Iranian control of the Strait of Hormuz, which is the route for around 20% of global crude oil trade, saying that “we cannot let some have free access and gain their interest from a waterway, while at the same time using that waterway to impose their aggression upon us.” On Wednesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff held unscheduled three-hour talks on the sidelines of the General Assembly, with both sides describing their first contact since June as constructive. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said afterwards that the meeting was aimed at conveying Tehran’s terms for peace to the Americans, which include “the end of the war in all its dimensions, the cessation of American aggressive actions, the naval siege, and the economic war, the release of Iranian assets and so on.”

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[l] at 9/23/26 10:10pm
Around 150 clergy took part in the Rome protest, carrying the names of hundreds of children killed in Israeli airstrikes Around 150 Catholic priests, bishops, friars, and nuns have marched to the Vatican as part of a procession through Rome demanding an end to what they describe as Israel’s “genocide” in Gaza. The group stopped near St. Peter’s Square before continuing to the Palestinian and Lebanese embassies and ending outside the headquarters of Italian arms manufacturer Leonardo. Participants carried olive branches and posters depicting the Madonna holding an emaciated child with the words “Christ Died in Gaza.” They also carried a large white banner bearing the names of hundreds of Palestinian and Lebanese children killed in Israeli airstrikes. Outside Leonardo, which has supplied weapons and military equipment to Israel, Italian Archbishop Franco Moscone called for international arrest warrants targeting arms-industry executives. Moscone has previously compared Israel’s conduct in Gaza to Nazi methods and urged European countries to consider withdrawing recognition of Israel. Tuesday’s event was organized by Priests Against Genocide, an international Catholic network established last year. The group said clergy from eight countries took part, including South Africa, England, Ireland, Germany, the US, and Spain. Read more The West’s pretend outrage won’t save Palestinians The network has taken a more categorical position than the Holy See. The late Pope Francis called for an investigation into whether Israel’s actions in Gaza met the legal definition of genocide, while his successor, Leo XIV, has said the Vatican is not prepared to make such a determination. A UN commission of inquiry concluded in September 2025 that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza, citing killings, serious bodily and mental harm, deliberately destructive living conditions, and measures intended to prevent births. A separate case brought by South Africa remains before the International Court of Justice, which has yet to issue a final judgment. Israel strongly rejects the genocide allegation, saying it targets militants and seeks to minimize civilian casualties while accusing Hamas of operating in densely populated areas. READ MORE: Israel wipes criminal record of soldier who shot wounded Palestinian Israel launched its offensive in Gaza following the Hamas-led attacks of October 7, 2023, which killed around 1,200 Israelis, mostly civilians. Gaza health authorities say more than 73,000 Palestinians have since been killed, nearly half of them women and children.

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[l] at 9/23/26 9:10pm
Tech companies are repeating past mistakes by releasing rapidly evolving tools without adequate safeguards, Tom Siegel has warned Artificial intelligence could pose greater risks to children than social media, with tech companies failing to put adequate safeguards in place, a former Google safety executive has warned. Tom Siegel, who founded Google’s trust and safety team and spent 15 years at the company, told Reuters this week that the industry was repeating mistakes made during the rise of social media. “We find ourselves in a really terrible situation in terms of what AI is doing to kids,” Siegel said. “The idea that the industry will figure it out by itself without outside help is unrealistic.” He warned of “very severe scenarios of harm,” citing risks ranging from suicide and psychosis to ‘cognitive offloading’ – reduced critical thinking caused by relying on AI for answers. Companies can and should take immediate steps, including stronger age checks to prevent children from accessing chatbots, he said. Read more Meta faces probe over AI flirting with kids Google has insisted that its AI search features help young users learn and explore information, telling Reuters that parents can block a child’s access to its search engine entirely. However, an internal Meta policy document, exposed by the publication last year, allowed its chatbots to engage children in conversations that could be “romantic or sensual,” prompting a congressional investigation. Major social media platforms have faced years of lawsuits over claims of harm to children and teenagers. Meta recently agreed to a $17 billion settlement with California and 28 other US states over accusations that Facebook and Instagram were deliberately designed to keep minors hooked, while denying wrongdoing. Thousands of similar cases have been filed in the US. READ MORE: AI has over 10% chance of killing all humans within decade – Anthropic researcher Governments have also moved to restrict children’s access to social media. Australia last year became the first country to require major platforms to prevent under-16s from holding accounts. About 4.7 million minors’ accounts were restricted shortly after the rules took effect. Read more Zuckerbeg’s Meta in $1.4 trillion addiction showdown: Why is the giant in court again? The EU last week proposed barring children under 13 from social media and allowing those aged 13 and 14 to use only restricted accounts managed by a parent or guardian. The proposed rules would also cover AI companions and chatbots. Siegel’s warning comes as prominent tech executives, including Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, OpenAI chief Sam Altman, xAI chief Elon Musk and Google DeepMind co-founder Demis Hassabis, have backed calls to slow the development of increasingly powerful AI systems. Anthropic researcher Evan Hubinger this month said he personally believes there is a greater than 10% chance that AI could “kill all humans” within the next decade.

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[l] at 9/23/26 8:23pm
The US president personally greeted his Chinese counterpart as B-1 bombers flew overhead Chinese President Xi Jinping has arrived in Washington for high-stakes talks with US President Donald Trump, receiving an unusually elaborate personal welcome as the two leaders prepare to tackle disputes ranging from trade and Taiwan to Iran and artificial intelligence. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump greeted Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, at Joint Base Andrews on Wednesday, rather than waiting to receive them at the White House. A 100-foot red carpet and a military honor guard were laid out, while two B-1 bombers conducted a flyover during the ceremony. Trump later said he believed the Chinese delegation appreciated the reception. The arrival coincided with another sign of easing tensions: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced that Washington and Beijing had agreed to extend their current trade truce until January 10. The arrangement has seen both sides scale back tariffs and refrain from introducing new restrictions while negotiations continue. NOW: President Trump has greeted Chinese President Xi Jinping in Washington, DC with the following: - 100-foot-long red carpet- Salute Battery- 21-Person Honor Cordon- 2 three-person color teams to include the U.S. and Chinese flag- USAF band playing fanfare and… pic.twitter.com/X7W0oOtc2u— Jordan Conradson?? (@ConradsonJordan) September 23, 2026 Trump and Xi are due to hold substantive talks at the White House on Thursday after another arrival ceremony and a military review, followed later by a state dinner. Despite the ceremonial welcome, both leaders arrive with significant economic and geopolitical leverage, according to an analysis by RT correspondent Konstantin Rozhkov. Wow??? 2 B1s flew over Trumps welcome ceremony for Xi at JBA. https://t.co/hktOHZPrMZ pic.twitter.com/kj1fNusQa2— American Nightmare ?? (@thewakeninq) September 24, 2026 Read more Beijing slams new US sanction threat One of Washington’s newest bargaining tools is the sanctions legislation signed by Trump last week. The law gives the US president the authority to impose tariffs of up to 100% on major importers of Russian energy, potentially including China. Taiwan is another potential flashpoint. Trump has delayed a roughly $14 billion weapons package for the island and has openly described arms sales as a negotiating tool in dealings with Beijing. Beijing, however, has substantial leverage of its own through critical minerals and rare earths. China accounted for around 91% of global refining of magnet rare earths and 94% of sintered permanent-magnet production in 2024, according to the International Energy Agency. Such materials are essential for automobiles, electronics and sophisticated military equipment. Read more US proposes AI alert system with China This dependence also intersects with Washington’s efforts to replenish weapons stocks depleted during the war with Iran. Heavy rare earths such as terbium are used in high-performance magnets found in radar systems and other military electronics, while China dominates their processing. Iran itself could therefore become another subject of bargaining. Trump has publicly said he asked Xi not to become more deeply involved in the conflict, while Washington has also sought to limit China’s economic ties with Tehran. Artificial intelligence rounds out another major area of competition. The US continues to control access to many of the most advanced chips, while Chinese companies have been narrowing the gap with lower-cost AI models. Ahead of the summit, Bessent said the two governments had discussed establishing a US-China AI dialogue and a mechanism for notifying each other about serious AI-related incidents. Watch more in the full report by RT correspondent Konstantin Rozhkov:

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[l] at 9/23/26 6:40pm
The top diplomats have discussed the Ukraine conflict and US-Russia relations on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York Ukraine’s deliberate attacks on energy and cross-border infrastructure are destabilizing global markets, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has told US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.  Lavrov and Rubio met on Wednesday on the sidelines of the 81st UN General Assembly in New York, where they held an extensive discussion on Ukraine, bilateral relations, and a range of international issues.  According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, Lavrov drew Rubio’s attention to what it described as close coordination between Kiev and its European backers and raised Ukrainian strikes on civilians and “cross-border infrastructure facilities,” which Russia said are deliberately contributing to instability in global energy markets. Read more Trump blames fuel price spike on Zelensky The issue has increasingly drawn attention in Washington as diesel prices have surged to record highs, topping $6.50 a gallon nationally in September 2026. US President Donald Trump recently urged Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky to stop striking Russian refineries, saying the attacks were creating a global shortage and “hurting the world.” US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent similarly said earlier this month that Ukrainian attacks on Russian energy assets and refined products were contributing to an “energy shock.” The US State Department’s brief readout from the Lavrov-Rubio meeting on Wednesday said only that the two diplomats had discussed the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the US-Russia relationship.  Following the meeting, Rubio said both Russia and Ukraine had expressed some interest in a limited ceasefire covering energy targets. He acknowledged, however, that such an arrangement “doesn’t solve the war,” and said reaching one would be difficult because both sides regard energy infrastructure as a strategic target. Moscow has repeatedly rejected the idea that any limited truce can substitute for a comprehensive settlement, pointing to what it describes as Ukraine’s past violations of ceasefires and arguing that Kiev seeks talks only when the situation on the battlefield becomes critical. Zelensky said this week that Kiev was prepared to stop targeting Russian refineries if Moscow halted strikes on a wide range of Ukraine’s energy, logistics, and port infrastructure. Read more No pause in Ukraine conflict for peace talks – Lavrov Lavrov reiterated on Wednesday that Russia would not halt its military operation merely to facilitate negotiations, arguing that such a pause would give Kiev and its European sponsors time to replenish depleted weapons stocks. Zelensky has meanwhile continued to push for the “full and swift implementation” of the recently enacted sanctions package championed by the late US Senator Lindsey Graham. The law gives Trump authority to impose tariffs of up to 100% on major buyers of Russian oil and gas, potentially targeting countries such as China and India. With global supplies already strained, sharply curbing Russian exports could further disrupt energy trade and drive prices higher as major importers are forced to compete for alternative barrels. Read more You still don’t have the cards: Did Zelensky bring bluff to Trump? The Russian side reiterated during the Rubio talks that it remains prepared to pursue a political and diplomatic settlement, but only one that addresses the “root causes” of the conflict. Russian officials have repeatedly identified NATO’s expansion toward Russia and Kiev’s policies toward Russian speakers among those issues. Lavrov also called for further normalization of US-Russia relations, including resolving disputes over diplomatic missions and Russian diplomatic property in the US. In another sign of continued engagement, Rubio announced after the talks that Washington had invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to attend the G20 summit in Miami in December. The Kremlin welcomed the invitation and said it would consider it through diplomatic channels.

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