“It’s the first thing I read every day.” — Brigadier General (retired) Russ Howard, founding director of The Combating Terrorism Center at West Point.
1. China’s Tsinghua University has emerged as the world’s top institution in computer science across multiple major global rankings, marking a symbolic shift in a field once dominated by American universities. For the first time, Tsinghua now leads lists ranging from the widely recognized US News Best Global Universities to CSRankings, a system seen as rigorously academic and historically US-centric within the research community. In the latest CSRankings results – which weigh institutions by faculty publications in top-tier conferences across artificial intelligence, computer systems, theory and interdisciplinary research – Tsinghua has overtaken long-time leader Carnegie Mellon University to claim the top spot. Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Zhejiang University and Peking University followed in third, fourth and fifth place. The top 10 is now evenly split between Asian and US universities, underscoring Asia’s growing strength in the field. (Source: scmp.com)
2. Bioterrorism threats are rising because of advances in artificial intelligence and synthetic biology, scientists have warned, after researchers found a “striking vulnerability” in software that guards access to genetic material used to make deadly proteins. An international team rolled out updates to close the loophole but said it was the first “zero day” of AI and biosecurity — a term used in cyber hacking to describe a blind spot unknown to the software developer. The news highlights the growing urgency in dealing with potential threats unleashed by the use of AI as it helps deepen and accelerate the understanding of living systems and how to change them. Experts are seeking to prevent the creation of bioweapons and synthetic organisms that could threaten life on Earth. “AI-powered protein design is one of the most exciting frontiers of science [and] we’re already seeing advances in medicine and public health,” said Eric Horvitz, Microsoft’s chief scientific officer and senior author of the latest research, published in Science yesterday. “Yet, like many powerful technologies, these same tools can also be misused.” (Sources: ft.com. science.org)
3. Russian President Vladimir Putin continued to threaten Europe as part of a multi-pronged informational effort to deter the West from responding to hostile Russian actions. Putin claimed on October 2 that Russia is closely monitoring the “militarization” of Europe and explicitly stated that Russia is “listening closely” to Germany regarding remarks that the German military should be the “most powerful in Europe.” Putin claimed that “no one doubts” that Russia’s response to Europe’s “militarization” will not be “long in coming” and that Russia is evaluating whether Europe’s efforts are “just talk” or if Russia must take “countermeasures” that “will be very convincing.” Putin absurdly claimed that Russia has “never initiated a military confrontation” but suggested that competing with Russia militarily would “ultimately end badly for the provocateur.” Putin simultaneously downplayed the threat that Russia poses to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), claiming that European warnings of Russian aggression are “nonsense” and efforts to “whip up hysteria” within Europe. (Source: understandingwar.org)
4. President Trump has decided that the United States is engaged in a formal “armed conflict” with drug cartels his team has labeled terrorist organizations and that suspected smugglers for such groups are “unlawful combatants,” the administration said in a confidential notice to Congress this week. The notice was sent to several congressional committees and obtained by The New York Times. It adds new detail to the administration’s legal rationale for why three U.S. military strikes the president ordered on boats in the Caribbean Sea last month, killing all 17 people aboard them, should be seen as lawful rather than murder. Mr. Trump’s move to formally deem his campaign against drug cartels as an active armed conflict means he is cementing his claim to extraordinary wartime powers, legal specialists said. In an armed conflict, as defined by international law, a country can lawfully kill enemy fighters even when they pose no threat, detain them indefinitely without trials and prosecute them in military courts. (Sources: nytimes.com, wsj.com)
5. Two-to-One:
6. The Washington Post:
Sora, released by ChatGPT maker OpenAI, is a social app where every second of audio and video is generated by artificial intelligence. Users can create fake clips that depict themselves or their friends in just about any scenario imaginable, with consistently high realism and a compelling soundtrack complete with voices. OpenAI said the app is initially available only in the United States and Canada, but that access will expand….
Experts have warned for years that AI-generated video could become indistinguishable from video shot with cameras, undermining trust in footage of the real world. Sora’s combination of improved AI technology and its ability to realistically insert real people into fake clips appears to make such confusion more likely.
“The challenge with tools like Sora is it makes the problem exponentially larger because it’s so available and because it’s so good,” said Ben Colman, chief executive and co-founder of Reality Defender, a company that makes software to help banks and other companies detect AI fraud and deepfakes.
Just a few months ago, regular people didn’t have access to high-quality AI video generation, Colman said. “Now it’s everywhere.” (Sources: openai.com/sora, washingtonpost.com)
7. Gallup:
Americans’ confidence in the mass media has edged down to a new low, with just 28% expressing a “great deal” or “fair amount” of trust in newspapers, television and radio to report the news fully, accurately and fairly. This is down from 31% last year and 40% five years ago.
Meanwhile, seven in 10 U.S. adults now say they have “not very much” confidence (36%) or “none at all” (34%).
When Gallup began measuring trust in the news media in the 1970s, between 68% and 72% of Americans expressed confidence in reporting. However, by the next reading in 1997, public confidence had fallen to 53%. Media trust remained just above 50% until it dropped to 44% in 2004, and it has not risen to the majority level since. The highest reading in the past decade was 45% in 2018, which came just two years after confidence had collapsed amid the divisive 2016 presidential campaign.
The latest 28% confidence reading, from a Sept. 2-16 poll, marks the first time the measure has fallen below 30%. (Source: news.gallup.com)
8. President Donald Trump is weighing slashing “thousands” of federal jobs ahead of a meeting with his budget director, Russell Vought, as the White House looks to ratchet up pressure on Democrats to end a government shutdown that has entered its second day. “It’s likely going to be in the thousands,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Thursday, saying that the “entire team at the White House” was working to identify possible cuts. “We’re going to look at agencies that don’t align with the administration’s values, that we feel are a waste of the taxpayer dollar,” she added. Leavitt’s comments came after Trump on social media earlier Thursday said he planned to meet with Vought to “determine which of the many Democrat Agencies, most of which are a political SCAM, he recommends to be cut, and whether or not those cuts will be temporary or permanent.” (Source: bloomberg.com)
9. President Trump has projected unwavering confidence that he is winning the messaging war over the government shutdown. But behind the scenes, his team is increasingly concerned that the issue at the center of the debate will create political vulnerabilities for Republicans. Advisers are worried that the GOP will take the blame for allowing healthcare subsidies to expire, raising costs for millions of Americans ahead of next year’s midterm elections, according to administration officials. Inside the White House, aides are discussing proposals to extend the enhanced subsidies for Affordable Care Act health-insurance plans, the officials said. Trump hasn’t yet decided whether he will endorse such a proposal, according to the officials. Republicans say they will only hold negotiations with Democrats on the matter after the government is reopened. (Source: wsj.com)
10. The Trump administration has approved a new generic version of the mifepristone abortion pill, a decision made by the Food and Drug Administration this week that is now prompting uproar among antiabortion leaders. The approval of the drug on Tuesday comes less than two weeks after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and FDA Commissioner Martin Makary said the department was conducting a review of the safety of abortion pills, a decision that antiabortion activists welcomed. Now, those same activists are questioning the administration’s commitment to their cause, marking the first significant pushback Trump has received from his otherwise loyal base of social conservatives. “This is a wildly disappointing decision. We are extraordinarily disappointed,” said Kristi Hamrick, a spokeswoman for Students for Life of America, in an interview with The Washington Post. “This has to be addressed.” (Source: washingtonpost.com)
11. Morgan Stanley:
The value of the U.S. dollar against other currencies dropped about 11% in the first half of this year, the biggest decline in more than 50 years, ending a 15-year bull cycle.
Morgan Stanley Research estimates the U.S. currency could lose another 10% by the end of 2026.
Despite a recovery of 3.2% in July, the delayed impact of tariffs on growth and unemployment – besides policy uncertainties – are likely to keep negative pressure on the dollar.
Foreign investors have been adding hedges to their exposure to U.S. assets, which will likely further weaken the dollar. (Source: morganstanley.com)
12. Jim Chanos, one of Wall Street’s best-known short sellers, has sounded the alarm on the private debt boom, telling the Financial Times that First Brands Group’s chaotic bankruptcy could augur a wave of corporate collapses. Some of the biggest names on Wall Street are facing the prospect of multibillion-dollar losses from the bankruptcy of First Brands, a heavily indebted maker of spark plugs and windscreen wipers based in Ohio. First Brands has now disclosed almost $12bn in debt and off-balance sheet financing built up in the years before its Sunday bankruptcy filing, which also ensnared less well-known private lenders such as a Utah-based leasing specialist. “I suspect we’re going to see more of these things, like First Brands and others, when the cycle ultimately reverses,” Chanos told the Financial Times, “particularly as private credit has put another layer between the actual lenders and the borrowers.” (Source: ft.com)
13. Gas turbines don’t typically feature on a list of climate solutions. After all, these fast-spinning devices weighing hundreds of tons burn methane to generate electricity, emitting carbon dioxide in the process. But there aren’t yet cheap enough batteries to ease the peaks and troughs of renewables, and gas can help provide grid stability while reducing carbon intensity and air pollution compared to relying on coal. There’s a problem, though: The world is experiencing a turbine shortage. Three companies control 70% of the global market for gas turbines and they remain skeptical about whether the recent surge in demand for turbines will last long enough to recoup investments needed to build new manufacturing capacity. Wait times for orders have increased from two years to five or more. The shortage has contributed to the cost of building gas power plants in the US increasing from $800 per kilowatt in 2021 to as much as $2,800 per kilowatt today. (Source: bloomberg.com)
14.Laure’s Weekend Movie Pick: “The Billionaire, The Butler, and the Boyfriend.” How did a feud between the world’s richest woman and her daughter develop into a major scandal? The story is told in this three-part documentary, available on Netflix. It’s well done. (Sources: netflix.com, wwd.com/fashion, Laure Sudreau)
Quick Links: America’s looming electricity crisis. CBS News has a new editor-in-chief: Bari Weiss. PGA of America president belatedly admits US Ryder Cup fans ‘crossed line’ with abuse. Boston mourns. Yankees win.
Financialization: Bridgewater is back. AI data centers give private credit its mojo back. On the mojo question, Paul Kedrosky begs to differ. Venture capitalists poured $192.7 billion into AI startups so far this year, setting new global records. Bitcoin rose to $120,000 for the first time since setting a record high seven weeks ago. Stockholm is becoming Europe’s hottest market for IPOs.
Political: US Treasury chief sees ‘big breakthrough’ ahead in China trade talks. Trump explores bailout of at least $10 billion for U.S. farmers. The upcoming gubernatorial election in New Jersey leans Democratic, but it’s close. Japan’s ruling party edges towards picking youngest leader in a century. The unravelling of France’s centrist project. Nigel Farage has a Russia problem. Italy’s regions are creating a right to die. The Czech Republic will head to the polls today and tomorrow to elect its next Chamber of Deputies. The election has the potential to return populist candidate Andrej Babiš’s Action of Dissatisfied Citizens (ANO) party to power. No Wexit! Canada’s prime minister, Mark Carney, is doing everything he can to pump more oil and gas. Peggy Noonan: “The Embarrassing Pete Hegseth”. Pope Leo’s critique of Trump ends honeymoon with conservative Catholics.
Science/Technology: A high-stakes rivalry (between the U.S. and China) is playing out over a vast but vulnerable web of underwater cables that carry nearly all global internet traffic. America’s big tech names like Meta, Google, Microsoft and Amazon now account for more than 70% of all used subsea-cable capacity, up from less than 10% a decade ago. America risks a dangerous dependence on Chinese chips. A simple formula could guide the design of faster-charging, longer-lasting batteries. YouTube is the next YouTube. Time spent on social media peaked in 2022 and has since gone into steady decline.
War: Putin’s dream of demilitarizing Ukraine has turned into his worst nightmare. Ukraine is negotiating a deal with the U.S. to share its drone technology in exchange for royalties or compensation. Munich airport closed after drone sightings. Russia is attempting to jam UK military satellites on a regular basis, according to the head of UK Space Command. Hamas to demand key revisions to Trump Gaza plan before accepting, sources say. Two killed in attack at synagogue on Yom Kippur in England.