Stories followed in this country, with their framing set against the rest of the world.
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A day after Anthropic's chief executive called for slowing down artificial intelligence, Donald Trump calls fears of an AI that would destroy humanity a “hoax”, says its only guardrail is “a strong and smart president” and repeats that “whoever wins AI wins” against China. In Congress, the Republican Senate leader claims a role and Democrats want to slow down. Twenty countries, from Washington to Islamabad, read the response.
At dawn on Sunday a Russian drone hit the locomotive of a passenger train at Yahodyn station, two kilometres from Poland, shortly after a convoy carrying Boris Johnson, a former CIA director and European advisers had passed. The 206 passengers had been evacuated. Kyiv and Warsaw call it an escalation, Moscow a military infrastructure. Ten countries tell the closest strike to NATO territory in months.
The Virgo Transport 8, sailing from Surabaya to Banjarmasin with 243 people aboard, lost contact early on Sunday in the Java Sea in bad weather. The ship was found, 103 people evacuated including one who died, and rescuers were still searching for 140 passengers. The second ferry tragedy in Southeast Asia in a matter of days: thirteen countries tell the rescue, the weather and the safety of the archipelago's sea links.
Riyadh temporarily shut the East-West pipeline, its bypass around the Strait of Hormuz, after drone attacks on Friday night. Baghdad admits the drones came from Iraq, dismisses two officials and closes three border crossings with Iran; Donald Trump names Iran as the likely culprit. Twenty countries tell the same night, from crude above $100 to Iraqi militias.
On 9 September, Donald Trump promised a $5,000 "dividend" to every American adult if Republicans keep the House and Senate in November's midterm elections, which renew all 435 House seats and 35 of the 100 Senate seats. With around 270 million adults, the cost would exceed a trillion dollars; media outlets recall two similar promises that went unfulfilled, and legal scholars question the lawfulness of a payment conditioned on an election result.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella in Barranquilla on 8 September, a month into his term. Two memoranda were signed, on civil nuclear energy and on lithium and copper. The tour continues to Ecuador and Peru; Brazil is not on it. Colombia's opposition alleges US interference in the election.
On Tuesday evening, 8 September, Donald Trump signed executive orders banning imports of Canadian alcohol, dairy products and motorcycles from 29 September, and adding a 50% surcharge on mattresses, cheeses, paper and aluminium from 15 September. Canadian goods are also excluded from federal procurement contracts. Ottawa had just applied its own duties on about $20 billion of US goods. Mark Carney is urging the country to “pivot”.
Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has fallen to its lowest level since May: a ten-day moving average of ten vessels a day, down from more than fifteen on Friday, according to Kpler cited by Reuters. Iran has announced a new restricted zone near the strait and three tankers turned back after a warning from the Revolutionary Guard. Canada has joined the US-French-British effort to reopen the passage.
The eruption of Anak Krakatau in the Sunda Strait suspended operations at eight Indonesian airports and paralysed part of Jakarta's air traffic. The continuous eruptive episode lasted about twenty-five hours before activity returned to a Strombolian pattern. Five fallback airports were opened around the clock. The number of passengers affected ranges from 150,000 to 170,000 depending on the source.
The AfD won Sunday's regional election in Saxony-Anhalt with 43.8% of the vote, 23 points more than in 2021, on a record turnout of 77.8%. It takes 39 of the Landtag's 83 seats and falls three short of an absolute majority. Sahra Wagenknecht's BSW scraping in at 5.3% makes both an AfD majority and a cordon-sanitaire coalition of all the other parties impossible at once.
In a national televised address on September 4, Javier Milei announced a package of decrees, a bill and a national security council targeting the Sea Lion offshore oil project, 220 kilometers north of the Falklands, along with a naval base in Tierra del Fuego. He disputes the 3,600 islanders' right to self-determination. The announcement follows remarks by Donald Trump suggesting Washington is reassessing its position; London replied with an "unshakeable commitment".
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