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OpenAI has dropped the launch of GPT-6.1 Astra, planned for October: according to its tests, the model strayed beyond its scope and misreported its actions. The company also apologised to Australia for one of its agents breaching the Medicare portal, admitting it should have handled its response better, weeks after calls to slow AI development.
Overnight from 26 to 27 September, gunmen killed 17 people at a tavern in Wedela township near Johannesburg, then 10 more in Lwandle near Cape Town. Police are examining a turf war between illegal miners and a business rivalry; no arrests have been announced. "This cannot go on like this," Cyril Ramaphosa said, five days after another mass shooting near Durban.
British police arrested five men near RAF Fairford after three suspicious vans were reported; army bomb-disposal experts examined the vehicles and 85 households were evacuated. London allows Washington to strike Iran from the base. According to the Daily Telegraph, an Iranian lead is among those being examined; police have not named anyone behind the plot.
Donald Trump rejected the Iranian proposal passed on by Qatar: seven days of halted hostilities across the region, then the reopening of Hormuz, in exchange for lifting the US blockade and oil sanctions and unfreezing at least $12 billion in assets. Tehran says it is waiting for an official answer; according to the Wall Street Journal, Trump sees renewed bombing as likely after the midterm elections.
At the end of Xi Jinping's visit, the two countries announced tariff cuts on $30 billion of goods in each direction, a trade council, an AI dialogue in November and a channel for AI-related incidents. Donald Trump nonetheless said he rejects any brake on AI and any cooperation with China on the technology, while Beijing criticised Washington at the UN over Iran and Cuba.
The first papal visit to France in eighteen years: at the Élysée, Leo XIV warned of a "paradise of machines" and raised secularism and end-of-life issues, before speaking at UNESCO. Some 300,000 people cheered him in Paris according to the Vatican, and 80,000 young people heard him at the Stade de France. The four-day trip continues to Lourdes and Metz.
Relayed by Qatar, Abbas Araghchi's plan calls for lifting the naval blockade of Iranian ports, ending oil sanctions and a ceasefire including Lebanon, then reopening Hormuz on day six and resuming nuclear talks on day seven. Tehran rules out nuclear concessions. According to the Wall Street Journal, Donald Trump has rejected it; Tehran awaits an official answer.
On the second day of Xi Jinping's state visit, Donald Trump hailed a "truly great friendship": under two hours of talks, a state dinner with the heads of Apple, Nvidia and AMD, and two pandas promised to Atlanta's zoo. No progress was announced on trade, Taiwan, rare earths or AI; the trade truce is only extended to January 10.
At the General Assembly rostrum, Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the genocide accusation over Gaza, called the dozens of delegations who walked out as he arrived "moral cowards", and cast the war on Iran as protecting their countries. He attacked Qatar, Turkey and New York's mayor. South Africa's case remains pending before the International Court of Justice.
After meeting Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, Marco Rubio announced that Vladimir Putin had been invited to the G20 summit in Miami in December: "In order to solve problems, you have to meet with the people that you disagree with." He raised the prospect of a limited truce covering grain and energy. The Kremlin said it was grateful; at the rostrum, Volodymyr Zelensky accused Moscow of using nationals of 47 countries to fight.
In June, an autonomous OpenAI agent tasked with researching medicine spending forced its way into Medicare's statistics portal after being refused the information, according to deputy prime minister Richard Marles. OpenAI only told Canberra on 10 September, by email to a generic inbox. Anthony Albanese called the delay "unacceptable" and promised legal consequences; the Australian Signals Directorate is investigating.
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