As China rises, Australia is increasingly enmeshed in the US war machine. Is the alliance still worth the risk? 12. September 2026 (02:00) Australia is being exploited by an ally that could draw it, however unwillingly, into war with China, experts warnGet our new political email, free app or daily news podcast“Physical security matters,” said Kevin Rudd, at his axiomatic best before the National Press Club this week.“Our first responsibility is to secure our people’s future in this most contested region of the world.” Continue reading...(The Guardian)
AI agents OpenAI was testing uploaded malicious software to another service, say researchers 12. September 2026 (01:56) Two months before hacking Hugging Face, malicious packages authored by internal OpenAI agents were uploaded to RubyGemsAI agents being tested by OpenAI uploaded hundreds of malicious packages to software service RubyGems in May, two months before they hacked open-source platform Hugging Face, a group of AI researchers said on Friday.“On May 11th, 2026, hundreds of malicious packages were uploaded to RubyGems by AI agents. We believe these were authored by internal OpenAI agents,” the researchers said. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Republican senator fires aide who used Nazi soldiers as Facebook profile picture 12. September 2026 (01:21) Washington Post report also reveals Jon Husted staffer Stephen Woytek created pro-Rhodesia playlist on Spotify The Republican senator for Ohio, Jon Husted, has fired an aide who was discovered to have used a photo of Nazi SS soldiers as his Facebook profile photo.Stephen Woytek was appointed as Husted’s political director last month in the senator’s knife-edge re-election contest against former Democrat senator Sherrod Brown. According to the Washington Post, Husted had decided to “part ways” with Woytek, 25, after learning that his Facebook profile showed he followed a military re-enactment group called LAH Living History Unit, which portrays the 1st SS Panzer division. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Military aircraft reportedly blamed for UK air traffic control outage 12. September 2026 (01:04) Meltdown that grounded thousands of flights caused by ‘spurious’ flight data being entered into system, report saysThe air traffic control outage that caused thousands of flights to be grounded across the UK earlier in the week was caused by a military aircraft entering “spurious” flight data into the system, according to a report.Hundreds of thousands of passengers were affected after more than 2,000 flights were cancelled on Tuesday when the system used by the National Air Traffic Services (Nats) shut down for four hours. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
CIA releases dozens of presidential daily briefs on Bin Laden and al-Qaida from before 9/11 12. September 2026 (00:27) The presidential briefing documents were declassified on the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacksSeveral dozen presidential briefing documents declassified on Friday, the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, detail intelligence that government officials had gathered about Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida leading up to the hijackings that killed nearly 3,000 people and upended American national security.The documents illustrate security analysts’ tracking of Bin Laden’s movements and support system, as well as concerns about possible threats to US targets. They also detail officials’ understanding of his network in the United States and other countries, including how his operations were financed. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Reform UK given record £36m donation by British crypto billionaire 12. September 2026 (00:00) Ben Delo was convicted in US for failing to implement adequate anti-money laundering controls but pardoned by TrumpReform UK has been given a record £36m donation by Ben Delo, a British cryptocurrency billionaire convicted in the US for failing to implement adequate anti-money laundering controls.The businessman, who has moved back to the UK from Hong Kong, is now the biggest UK political donor by far, dwarfing the £15m contribution to Reform UK from Thailand-based Christopher Harborne. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
North Carolina state trooper charged with murder of police captain 11. September 2026 (23:23) Nekime Matu Oxendine accused of first-degree murder of Adam Bean, shot and killed in apparent domestic disputeA North Carolina state highway patrol trooper has been charged with the murder of the captain of a county sheriff’s office.Cumberland county Capt Adam Bean was shot and killed on 27 March at a home in the town of Hope Mills. A grand jury on Tuesday indicted Nekime Matu Oxendine, 44, with first-degree murder in Bean’s death, and a judge ordered him held without bond pending the outcome of the case. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Los Angeles to memorialize late mountain lion P-22 with sculpture in Griffith Park 11. September 2026 (22:56) The wild feline made its home in the park before being euthanized in 2022 after showing signs of declining healthThe city of Los Angeles will memorialize its most famous mountain lion with a bronze sculpture at Griffith Park, the 4,200-acre (1,700-hectare) stretch of land the cougar once roamed.Known as “P-22”, the number assigned by the team of biologists that first identified him, the lion gained national fame after photographer Steve Winter captured an iconic image of him prowling through Griffith Park with the Hollywood sign in the background. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Company hired for Trump’s reflecting pool makeover reportedly admits flaws in plan 11. September 2026 (22:30) Atlantic Industrial Coatings was given $14.7m no-bid contract and its findings contradict president’s claims of vandalismThe company hired to renovate the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool has acknowledged that “human oversight” and flaws in the repair plan caused the newly installed blue liner to peel and tear, according to documents reviewed by the New York Times that challenge Donald Trump’s repeated claims of vandalism.The president has repeatedly said vandals armed with knives or box cutters were responsible for tearing apart the pool’s “American flag blue” liner. But documents reviewed by the Times show that Atlantic Industrial Coatings, the company awarded the renovation contract, blamed its own execution of the repair work and a flawed design plan. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
US officials declare multi-state cyclospora outbreak over 11. September 2026 (20:26) Outbreak was linked to iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms, which infected 12,882 people and led to two deathsThe US’s largest recorded multi-state outbreak of sickness caused by the cyclospora parasite has ended, federal health officials announced on Friday.The record outbreak of cyclosporiasis was linked to processed iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms in central Mexico, which infected 12,883 people across 21 states and led to 570 hospitalizations and two deaths. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
