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Thursday, 3 September 2026 Daily Edition

The Daily Edition

Thursday, 3 September 2026

400 stories across 8 sections

The Takeaway

President Donald Trump's efforts to restrict birthright citizenship were halted by a federal judge, who issued a preliminary injunction against an executive order targeting "birth tourism". Meanwhile, in the financial sector, Japanese government bond yields dropped to historic lows, and the yen strengthened against the dollar, with a gain of 0.07 percent to 158.59 per dollar.

A surge in tensions between the US and Iran also made headlines, with Kuwaiti forces intercepting a missile and drone assault from Iran, and Egypt and China calling for reduced tensions. On the business front, the Bursa Malaysia market opened higher, buoyed by gains in financial, plantation, and utilities stocks, as investors anticipated Bank Negara Malaysia's overnight policy rate decision.

Written by urgent.news from the day's reporting.

AI

AI

Safety experts warn novel design of OpenAI’s Astra model could make future AI agents harder to monitor

OpenAI's chief scientist says the company is committed to ensuring its models' reasoning remains interpretable.

·fortune.com·12 outlets

Safety experts are voicing concerns over OpenAI's new frontier AI model, Astra, which could make it harder for humans to monitor the reasoning behind AI agents. OpenAI has utilized a method called "recurrent depth" or "looped Transformers" in Astra, which allows the model to be more efficient by requiring less computing power per prompt.

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'Welcome to the AGI era': OpenAI launches GPT-6 Astra

The rumors were true, all of them (and then some): OpenAI today is releasing GPT-6 Astra, a new frontier model that the company says likely marks the onset of artificial generalized intelligence (AGI), its long sought goal of "highly autonomous systems that outperform humans at most economically valuable work." In a closed a press…

·venturebeat.com·9 outlets

NVIDIA To Acquire Hugging Face For US$12.93 billion

NVIDIA has agreed to acquire AI development platform Hugging Face for US$12.93 billion (~RM52.24 billion), in what marks one of the company’s biggest moves to expand its presence beyond AI hardware. Its CEO, Jensen Huang, said the acquisition will allow the two companies to scale Hugging Face’s platform and expand access to AI for…

·lowyat.net·8 outlets

Tech

Tech

Microsoft Announces Big Changes to Xbox Cloud Gaming, Switches to Monthly Hour Limits

Microsoft has announced big changes to Xbox cloud gaming, including a switch to monthly hour limits.

·ign.com·9 outlets

Microsoft has unveiled significant modifications to its Xbox cloud gaming service, implementing monthly hour limitations. Starting in November, Game Pass plans will allot a specific quantity of cloud gaming hours per month: Game Pass Ultimate receives 15 hours, Game Pass Premium receives 10 hours, and Game Pass Essential receives 5 hours.

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Apple faces yet another lawsuit over App Tracking Transparency, with a twist

While Apple has long used privacy as a selling point for both its hardware and services, I do wonder whether it now regrets introducing one privacy measure: App Tracking Transparency (ATT). For something with rather limited scope, it sometimes feels like scarcely a month goes by without a new antitrust lawsuit or regulator challenging it.

·9to5mac.com·9 outlets

Business

Business

Russian Black Sea attacks, low Danube waters push EU to seek alternative routes for Ukrainian grain exports

Ukraine’s two main wartime export outlets are under pressure at once, threatening farm revenue as global crop prices climb.

·euromaidanpress.com·8 outlets

The European Union is currently exploring ways to assist Ukraine and its neighboring nations in exporting crops, particularly through "solidarity lanes," according to Agriculture Commissioner Christophe Hansen. These lanes facilitate the transportation of Ukrainian goods via road, rail, and river networks when sea traffic in the Black Sea is disrupted.

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Why I ordered Tata Chemicals out of Kenya: Ruto

NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 3-President William Ruto has ordered Tata Chemicals to leave Kenya, accusing the Indian-owned company of extracting Kajiado’s mineral wealth for more than a century without doing enough…

  • President Ruto orders Tata Chemicals to withdraw from Kenya
  • Company has extracted Lake Magadi minerals for 100 years without local job creation
  • Ruto demands Tata build glass and chemical plants in Kajiado

·capitalfm.africa·4 outlets

The security workers who guard OpenAI and Anthropic could go on strike

This week, the security workers who stand guard outside some of Silicon Valley’s most deep-pocketed AI companies decided they were ready to go on strike if necessary. The unionized workers, who are represented by SEIU-United Service Workers West, are staffed at tech giants like OpenAI, Anthropic, Salesforce, and Google, where they provide…

·fastcompany.com·4 outlets

Finance & Markets

Finance & Markets

Wall Street rallies as Fed’s Waller eases rate hike fears

·investing.com·7 outlets

On September 3, 2026, Wall Street experienced a rally as investors reduced their concerns about potential interest rate hikes. The Federal Reserve's Governor, Christopher Waller, signaled his support for holding the Fed funds target rate steady if inflationary pressures began to ease. Following Waller's remarks, financial markets adjusted their expectations for rate increases at the Fed's upcoming September meeting, lowering the probability from 63.2% to 50.4%.

This shift in expectation led to a decrease in the benchmark U.S. Treasury yield, which had previously hit its highest level since November 2023.

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World

World

Billionaire Leon Black sues House Oversight Committee over Epstein investigation

Billionaire investor Leon Black refused to appear for a sworn deposition before Congress on Thursday and instead sued the House Oversight Committee, asking a federal court to block subpoenas issued as part of its investigation into disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein . The House Oversight Committee served Black with two subpoenas during a closed-door voluntary interview in June after lawmakers…

·fastcompany.com·12 outlets

Leon Black, a billionaire investor and co-founder of Apollo Global Management, has filed a lawsuit against the House Oversight Committee in an attempt to block their subpoenas related to the investigation into disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. Black refused to appear for a deposition before the committee in June and now seeks a federal court injunction to halt the subpoenas, which he argues are excessive and unrelated to legitimate legislative purposes.

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Science

Science

Scientists studying cockroach milk and nose-blowing win Ig Nobel prizes for quirky science

Ten research teams were honored Thursday at a satirical science awards ceremony that was hosted outside the U.S. for the first time due to travel concerns. Researchers who studied milk from…

·apnews.com·6 outlets

Ten research teams were honored at the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony in Zurich, Switzerland, on Thursday, marking the first time the satirical science awards were hosted outside the United States due to travel concerns. The ceremony, organized by the Annals of Improbable Research, shifted to Europe after 35 years in the U.S. over visa issues.

The award-winning projects included studying milk from cockroaches, analyzing soil health using underwear, reconstructing the evolutionary history of kissing, and investigating the science of blowing one's nose. Among the recipients were Matilda Brindle and Stuart West from the University of Oxford, and Catherine F. Talbot from Florida Institute of Technology.

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BepiColombo mission 1 step closer to Mercury today

The BepiColombo mission has been maneuvering its way into orbit around Mercury for 8 years. On September 3, it will release 2 orbiters in Mercury orbit. The post BepiColombo mission 1 step closer to Mercury today first appeared on EarthSky .

·earthsky.org·3 outlets

Health & Medicine

Health & Medicine

5 challenges Congo faces in containing its fast-moving Ebola outbreak

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Authorities in eastern Congo are shifting to a village-centered approach to fight the Ebola outbreak , Africa’s top public health agency said Thursday, as the virus continues to spread…

·apnews.com·5 outlets

The ongoing Ebola outbreak in eastern Congo is posing significant challenges for the country's health authorities in containing the virus, as Africa's top public health agency warns that the outbreak has not yet peaked. The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that the outbreak has expanded from three health zones to 60, resulting in 6,250 cases and 3,039 deaths since its declaration in mid-May.

The current outbreak is more severe than the 2014-2016 West African Ebola outbreak, which recorded over 11,000 deaths.

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Around 2,000 fall ill in Indonesia after eating free school meals

Around 2,000 students and teachers across Indonesia have fallen ill with food poisoning over the past three days linked to the government’s free school meals programme. In the latest case, 777 people became unwell after consuming the food at a high school in Rembang, Central Java, the institution’s headteacher said.

·kahawatungu.com·5 outlets

Global vaccine trials to begin as Ebola and mpox spread in Africa

The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is now the worst in the country's history, with the death toll having reached 3,007 amid an international push to develop vaccines to curb the spread of the disease. At least 6,186 cases have been confirmed in the DR Congo, with infections also spreading across its porous borders.

·thenationalnews.com·3 outlets

Culture

Culture

Gloria Steinem, trailblazing figure in women's liberation movement, dies at 92

The co-founder of Ms. Magazine was a leader in raising awareness about gender equality and violence against women, and for promoting inclusion, representation and social justice affecting women and girls.

·cbsnews.com·11 outlets

Gloria Steinem, a co-founder of Ms. Magazine and a pioneer of the women's liberation movement in the latter half of the 20th century, has passed away at the age of 92. She died peacefully at her New York City home, surrounded by loved ones. The cause of death has not been disclosed. In her forthcoming book, "A Unexpected Life," Steinem reflects on her years living in her brownstone, which has witnessed countless lives before hers and will continue to do so after her departure.

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Are financial rules fuelling the Premier League’s record transfer spending?

Premier League football’s financial regulations may have been designed to control transfer spending but they actually incentivise it, argues Danny Hill. Premier League clubs spent a record £3.46bn this summer. Around 38 per cent of deals were between Premier League clubs, up from 30 per cent last year, according to Reuters.

·cityam.com·8 outlets

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