外媒每日新闻 9/11 @ 25 & AI Whistleblower Edition

On Sept. 11, 2001, al-Qaida extremists hijacked four commercial jets and crashed them into New York's World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The attacks left nearly 3,000 people dead and launched a decades-long trail of aftermath. Friday's milestone anniversary brought memorial rituals across the nation. President Donald Trump attended a ceremony at the Pentagon. For the first time, New York's commemoration added a silent moment to honor people exposed to toxic dust from the towers' collapse who have since died of cancer and other illnesses. A new Ipsos poll found about half of U.S. adults remember 9/11 as one of the most historic events of their lifetime. The Smithsonian marked the anniversary with a display of rare artifacts, and most states now require schools to teach about 9/11, though details differ.^[1]

President Donald Trump said Thursday he has no regrets about launching the war on Iran and would make the same decision again, insisting his administration succeeded in destroying Tehran's nuclear capability. "I don't believe in the word 'regret.' You can always question yourself a little bit," Trump told Fox News host Laura Ingraham in an interview at the Republican midterm convention in Dallas. "If I had it to do again, I would do exactly as I did. I took out their nuclear capability." Trump also predicted the war could end before the November 3 midterm elections: "I don't know that they're gonna be able to hold out. But it'll get settled after the elections. Or maybe sooner." He acknowledged that gas prices are likely to stay high through the midterms. The war, launched in February and intended to last weeks, is now in its seventh month with no clear exit strategy. It has cost U.S. taxpayers more than $37.5 billion and left 18 U.S. service members dead.^[2]

Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthi rebels captured a strategic island at the southern entrance to the Red Sea on Friday, opening a new front in the Iran war and further threatening Saudi oil exports through one of the world's key shipping lanes. The capture of Mayun — a tiny, barren volcanic island inside the Bab el-Mandeb Strait also known as Perim — was confirmed by a senior military official with Yemen's government and a Houthi official. The Houthis also seized the port city of Mokha on Thursday, their biggest territorial gains in years. The Houthi armed forces vowed "escalation for escalation" against Saudi Arabia while declaring that "maritime navigation is safe for all companies except for Saudi vessels." Yemeni government officials expressed shock at the slow Saudi military response. Over 46,000 people have fled the fighting this week, according to the U.N. migration agency. The fighting risks ending a fragile truce that had largely halted Yemen's civil war since 2022.^[3]

Algeria announced Thursday it was severing diplomatic relations with the United Arab Emirates following years of mounting tensions, accusing Abu Dhabi of increasingly "provocative or hostile" actions despite repeated warnings from Algiers. The Algerian foreign ministry said the government had "exhausted all means" of preserving bilateral relations. The UAE ambassador was summoned and formally informed of the decision, given 48 hours to leave. Algeria also closed its airspace to all UAE-registered aircraft, though commercial flights to Algiers are permitted until the end of 2026 under existing contracts. The rupture marks the culmination of years of behind-the-scenes friction between the two Arab nations, reportedly linked to disputes over regional influence, the Western Sahara issue, and alleged Emirati intelligence activities in North Africa. The UAE responded that it hoped the measure was "temporary."^[4]

Diesel prices in the U.S. hit yet another record on Friday, soaring past $6 a gallon on average as Washington's war with Iran disrupts the world's flow of fuel. The national average of $6.05 is up from $5.85 last week and $3.70 from this time last year, according to motor club AAA. Higher diesel prices mean more expensive transportation for a long list of everyday goods, as diesel powers freight and delivery networks. Some businesses have already passed along steeper costs to consumers through added fees on online orders and packages. Shoppers may feel more sticker shock, particularly in the grocery aisle — perishable foods like meat and produce face the most immediate strain because they need frequent hauling and restocking. GasBuddy analyst Patrick De Haan warned that record diesel prices could "reignite inflation across the entire supply chain." The previous record before this year was $5.86 set in 2022.^[7]

U.S. stocks closed in the red Thursday as surging oil prices and Treasury yields intensified concerns about inflation and the economic effects of the prolonged U.S.-Iran war. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 316.56 points, or 0.6%, to 52,064.10. The S&P 500 declined 0.58% to 7,591.70, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.65% to 26,081.72. The selloff was driven by Brent crude remaining above $100 a barrel, diesel hitting a record $6.05/gallon, and the 10-year Treasury yield reaching its highest level since November 2023. The CME FedWatch Tool now prices in about a 60% probability of a 25-basis-point rate hike at the Fed's September 15-16 meeting. For the year, the S&P 500 remains up 12.1%, the Dow up 9.8%, and the Nasdaq up 13.7%, though those gains are narrowing as Middle East tensions persist.^[8]

At least five people were killed and 67 others injured — including children — when a Russian strike hit a shopping centre in Pavlohrad, central Ukraine, on Thursday. The attack occurred in broad daylight "when there were many people on the streets," authorities said. Overnight, Russia launched 161 attack UAVs and S8000 drones at Ukraine, with Ukrainian air defense destroying or suppressing 138 targets, according to Ukraine's Air Force. A separate Russian drone strike on a shopping mall in Sumy killed two people aged 21 and wounded 20. Meanwhile, Russia's Defense Ministry claimed its forces captured eight localities in the Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kharkiv regions during the past week. The intensifying attacks came as U.S. envoys visited Kyiv for peace talks earlier this week, and as Ukraine reportedly struck the Russian oil refinery in Saratov, adding further pressure to global energy markets already strained by the Iran war.^[11]

Girl Scouts of the USA unveiled two first-of-their-kind additions to the national 2027 Girl Scout Cookie lineup on September 8. Patch Pals, developed in collaboration with BARK, is the first cookie created exclusively for dogs — a blueberry muffin-flavored treat bearing one of four classic Girl Scout patch designs (compass, trefoil, heart, or ball). Girl Scout Sparkables, developed with Partake, is the organization's first allergy-friendly cookie, free from major allergens. Both will be online-exclusive offerings available for direct shipping starting January 12, 2027. The additions join beloved classics like Thin Mints and Samoas. The move represents the Girl Scouts' effort to expand inclusivity — reaching dog owners, families with allergies, and new demographics — while maintaining the cookie program's role in teaching entrepreneurship and financial literacy to girls. The announcement generated significant buzz on social media, with dog owners particularly enthusiastic about Patch Pals.^[12]

Jacob Coxon, a 27-year-old pretraining researcher who worked at both OpenAI and Anthropic, resigned from Anthropic on September 8, warning that neither company is acting responsibly. In a seven-part thread on X, Coxon accused both companies of "racing straight to self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives." His resignation post drew nearly 76 million views within a day, fueled by a same-day Wall Street Journal interview. What makes the exit unusual is not even the resignation — it's who backed him up. Coxon, a Cambridge University graduate, spent three years training the very AI systems his industry insists it can control. "I no longer believe that," he wrote. He acknowledged that friends helped shape and amplify the message and that he deliberately tried to make it viral. Anthropic acknowledged that its Claude AI safety alignment has deficiencies but said there is "no solution yet." The resignation has reignited the AI safety debate, drawing comparisons to Ilya Sutskever's departure from OpenAI to found Safe Superintelligence Inc. (SSI).^[14]

Following the September 9 "Glowtime" unveil, full details of Apple's first foldable iPhone — the iPhone Duo — have emerged. The device features a 7.6-inch Super Retina XDR folding display with nano-texture and a 5.4-inch outer display, both with ProMotion and Always-On technology. The titanium frame and hinge provide durability. The camera system includes 48MP Fusion main and ultra-wide cameras plus a 12MP telephoto. Battery life is rated at up to 44 hours on the outer display and 31 hours on the inner display. iOS 27 brings foldable-specific optimizations and a rebuilt Siri AI assistant. The iPhone Duo starts at $1,999 for the 256GB model, with the 2TB version priced at $2,649. It comes in two colors: Star White and Night Sky. Pre-orders open in October, with shipping starting October 23. The new Apple CEO John Ternus defended the price: "iPhone Duo is worth more than other phones. Competitors' foldables feel like cheap plastic, like two phones clumsily glued together." In China, the device starts at 15,999 yuan.^[15]

Jacob Coxon's resignation thread on X drew nearly 76 million views within 24 hours, making it one of the most-viewed AI-related posts in the platform's history. The hashtag #AIWhistleblower trended globally as users debated whether Coxon is a hero or an alarmist. One widely shared post from an AI ethics researcher read: "This is the most important thread on AI safety ever posted. A practitioner — not a theorist — is telling us the guardrails don't work." Another viral post countered: "Every few months someone resigns from an AI lab with dramatic warnings. Nothing changes. The models keep getting bigger." Coxon's acknowledgment that he deliberately engineered the post's virality with help from friends sparked a meta-debate about the ethics of attention engineering in AI safety advocacy. Elon Musk, who has been vocal about AI safety risks, posted: "Interesting times ahead," which itself drew millions of engagements.^[17]

The hashtag #TrumpDividend trended across the United States after President Trump's promise of a $5,000 cash dividend to every American adult if Republicans retain Congress. The proposal generated fierce debate, with critics and supporters clashing over whether it constitutes vote-buying. One viral post from a law professor read: "This is textbook vote-buying. Tying a cash payment to an election outcome is arguably unconstitutional." Another widely shared post argued: "If tariffs generated the revenue, returning it to the people isn't bribery — it's fiscal responsibility." California's governor called it "nonsense" and "bribery," while Trump supporters embraced the hashtag #TrumpDividend with enthusiasm. The scale of the proposal — approximately $1.35 trillion — drew comparisons to pandemic-era stimulus checks, though those were not conditioned on election outcomes. Users also noted the irony that Trump, who campaigned on lowering prices, is now offering cash to offset the very inflation his policies helped create.^[18]

The hashtag #NeverForget trended globally on Friday as Americans marked 25 years since the 9/11 attacks. The conversation went beyond mere commemoration, however, as users drew parallels between the post-9/11 "endless wars" and the current Iran conflict. CNN's Peter Bergen published a widely shared analysis titled "How Trump has failed to learn the lessons of the wars that followed 9/11," arguing that Operation Epic Fury in Iran represents "a new peak in the war-making powers claimed by the US commander in chief" — launched without congressional authorization, NATO ally support, or a UN resolution. Others connected 9/11 remembrance to contemporary anxieties, with Coxon's AI superintelligence warning drawing comparisons: "On 9/11 we learned what happens when we ignore warnings. Will we make the same mistake with AI?" The trending discussion also noted that for the first time, New York's commemoration honored victims of toxic dust — a recognition that took 25 years to officially acknowledge. Trump's decision to attend the Pentagon ceremony rather than the New York event also drew commentary.^[19]