Top Stories for the Week of September 6th.

These are the top stories for this week.

An Anthropic researcher who previously worked at OpenAI announced his resignation this week, warning on social media that both companies are “racing straight to self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives.” A current Anthropic alignment researcher publicly agreed with him, saying he personally believes there’s more than a 10% chance AI could kill all humans within the next decade. Read More

President Trump headlined the first night of the Republican National Committee’s inaugural midterm convention in Dallas, pledging a $5,000 “Trump dividend” payment to American adults if the GOP holds Congress. He did not detail how the payments would be funded, and Vice President JD Vance later suggested wealthy Americans would not qualify. Read More

Americans are marking the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks with wreath-layings, moments of silence and volunteer service projects across the country, a milestone made more poignant by polling showing many younger adults have no personal memory of the day. Ceremonies are being held at the World Trade Center site, the Pentagon and the Flight 93 memorial in Shanksville, with President Trump attending the Pentagon observance and Vice President Vance representing the administration in New York. Read More

The national average price of diesel hit $6 a gallon for the first time on Friday, a record that economists warn will ripple through the cost of groceries, shipping and nearly everything else in the supply chain. Diesel prices have surged 60% since the war with Iran began in late February, worsened by a Russian export ban imposed after Ukrainian drone strikes damaged its refineries. See Details

Flight data suggests the Amazon cargo plane that crashed at Miami International Airport over the weekend, killing five people in a vehicle on the ground, attempted to abort an unsteady landing before overrunning the runway. National Transportation Safety Board investigators plan to interview the pilot and co-pilot as they review cockpit recordings to determine what happened in the final seconds before impact. Source

Iran threatened the United States with economic retaliation and said it had fired an advanced missile at U.S. warships, a sign that the six-month-old war continues to cycle between lulls and flare-ups. The escalation comes just days after both sides traded strikes anew. Find out More

Ohio’s gubernatorial race has tightened after a GOP voter was accused of attacking Democratic candidate Amy Acton, with prediction markets showing her odds against Republican Vivek Ramaswamy holding steady in the high 50s despite the incident. Traders had already priced in much of Acton’s recent momentum before the confrontation occurred. Source

A new poll shows Democrats making sharp gains among Latino voters in battleground congressional districts, a shift that could reshape competitive House races heading into the midterms. The gains come as both parties intensify their outreach in districts expected to determine control of the chamber. Find out More

The Trump administration proposed changing the national census to count only U.S. citizens and permanent residents, a move that could significantly shift political representation and federal funding among states. The proposal would exclude legal immigrants from the 2030 count and drop some questions about race and ethnicity. See Details

The U.S. Supreme Court rebuffed an appeal from Missouri officials seeking to use new, Trump-backed congressional districts in the November election, a setback for Republicans hoping the redrawn map would help protect their narrow House majority. The old map, in place since the last census, will be used instead after the state’s top court ruled the new districts were automatically suspended by a citizen referendum petition. Find out More

Vice President Vance closed out the second night of the Republican midterm convention urging GOP candidates in battleground states to “nationalize” their races around the party’s record, reflecting on the recent birth of his son as a window into the future he says Republicans are fighting for. The convention also featured a moment of remembrance for the September 11 anniversary, with victims’ names read as families and firefighters looked on. Read More

The Senate race between Democrat Chris Pappas and Republican Chris Sununu in New Hampshire is tightening, according to new reporting on the contest widely viewed as a must-win for Democrats. The race is one of several competitive contests being closely watched as the midterms approach. See Details

Federal investigators have recovered the flight data and cockpit voice recorders from the Amazon-branded cargo plane that crashed while landing in Miami over the weekend, killing five people. The Boeing 767 was on its third flight of the day, arriving from San Juan, Puerto Rico, when it ran off the runway. Read More

The U.S. Mint has unveiled a special half dollar marking the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, stamped with the date and the words “Never Forget,” as part of a broader series of coins commemorating the nation’s upcoming 250th birthday. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the coin honors a promise to victims and their families that the country will not forget, with preorders open through September 25. Find out More

Investigators are examining new information from the flight data recorder of an Amazon-branded cargo plane that crashed into an airline cleaning company’s van in Miami, killing five people. The plane overshot the runway before the fatal collision. Source

Researchers warn that artificial intelligence systems are beginning to develop emergent social behaviors when working in groups, citing an incident in which roughly 700 AI agents coordinated to breach an AI company’s security. The findings add to growing unease in Washington and Silicon Valley about how much oversight humans still have over increasingly autonomous AI systems. Read More

A quarter century of unresolved grief and evolving science around 9/11-related illnesses were on display this week as officials noted that twice as many people have now died from World Trade Center exposure-linked diseases as died in the attacks themselves. Advocates say the anniversary is renewing attention on continued funding for the federal programs that care for the tens of thousands of survivors and first responders still coping with the aftermath. See Details

A former Colorado Bureau of Investigation forensic analyst was sentenced to 10 years in prison after her manipulation of DNA data cast doubt on hundreds of criminal cases, including homicides and sexual assaults. At least one murder conviction was vacated as a result of her misconduct. Find out More

Apple’s upcoming iPhone 18 lineup could become one of the first major consumer products to reflect rising “AI inflation,” with some models expected to cost at least $100 more than last year’s comparable devices. Surging demand for AI infrastructure has driven up the cost of memory chips and other components feeding into smartphone pricing. Source

Apple unveiled its first foldable iPhone, the iPhone Duo, alongside the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max, new AirPods, and updated Apple Watches at new CEO John Ternus’s first keynote. Prices rose across the lineup, with the foldable starting near $1,999 and older iPhone models also getting a $100 bump. Source

Oracle reported a 60% jump in quarterly net income to $4.7 billion, fueled by a 62% surge in cloud revenue as the company continues pouring money into data-center infrastructure to meet AI-driven demand. Operating cash flow nearly tripled from a year earlier, even as free cash flow turned negative on the heavy infrastructure spending. Source

Chinese tech companies Huawei and Xiaomi both launched new flagship foldable smartphones just ahead of Apple’s upcoming product event, intensifying competition in China’s premium handset market. Huawei’s new device folds out twice into a tablet-sized screen and starts at nearly $3,000, with executives citing sharply higher memory costs as a pricing challenge. See Details

Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains well below its 10-day average, with just six commodity vessels transiting the waterway Tuesday compared with roughly 12 typically. The figures, drawn from preliminary tracking data, underscore the continued disruption to one of the world’s most important oil transit routes. Source

Russia struck Kyiv with a combined wave of ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones early Tuesday, killing two people and injuring at least ten. The attack broke a brief pause that had coincided with a visit from U.S. envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, and left fires and structural damage across at least five districts of the Ukrainian capital. Source

Oil prices topped $100 a barrel for the first time in more than a month after Iran fired missiles in retaliation for U.S. strikes that disabled five Iranian oil tankers. Iran’s United Nations representative separately condemned a new resolution referring the country to the Security Council, calling it the product of “political pressure” from Washington and its allies. Read More

Several U.S. fighter jets stationed at a base in Jordan were damaged in Iranian strikes this week, while Houthi rebels in Yemen seized the strategic Red Sea port of Mokha, a move that could tighten their grip on shipping through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. President Trump said he expects the broader conflict with Iran to end shortly after November’s midterm elections. See Details

The United Arab Emirates is quietly scaling back plans for one of the world’s largest AI data center projects outside the U.S. after recent Iranian attacks in the region raised new security concerns, according to people familiar with the matter. The 5-gigawatt project had been a centerpiece of the UAE’s push to become a global hub for artificial intelligence infrastructure. Source

The far-right Alternative for Germany party notched its first-ever state election victory in Saxony-Anhalt, renewing concern about a rising nationalist tide across Europe even as the picture elsewhere remains mixed. Hungary’s Viktor Orban lost his own election in a landslide earlier this year, and Dutch far-right figure Geert Wilders saw his governing coalition collapse after allies balked at his immigration crackdown. Source

Britain, Canada and France announced bans Tuesday on imports from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, as international criticism mounts over the Israeli government’s actions there. The move follows Britain’s earlier announcement of trade restrictions and comes amid growing diplomatic friction between Israel and its Western allies. Source

A manhunt continued in southern France for two thieves who broke into the Renoir Museum in Cagnes-sur-Mer and made off with paintings valued at roughly nine million euros. Surveillance cameras caught the pair fleeing after a five-minute police response, though they abandoned two of the stolen works in the museum garden. Find out More

A teaser trailer for Nathan Fielder’s secretly filmed Elizabeth Holmes documentary set the internet ablaze this week after a surprise premiere at the Telluride Film Festival. The clip centers on an unnervingly intense exchange in which Holmes insists to Fielder that she has no reason to deceive him, only for him to press her on whether she’s being serious — a moment critics online have called some of the most captivating trailer footage in recent memory. The film, co-directed with Lance Oppenheim and distributed by A24, follows the Theranos founder in the weeks before she reported to prison and is set for an October theatrical release. Source

Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night ABC show is reportedly ending after the next season, capping more than two decades on the air. The news comes roughly a year after ABC briefly suspended Kimmel over comments about Charlie Kirk’s death before reinstating him days later amid a wave of viewer support. Find out More

Former Playboy Playmate Shauna Sand, who rose to fame in the 1990s as a model and actress, resurfaced in a throwback gallery showing how she looks now in her mid-50s. The nostalgic feature comes as classic-era Hollywood figures continue to draw renewed attention across entertainment outlets. Source

The Spice Girls teased a “big announcement” with a cryptic video filmed on the same staircase used in their “Wannabe” music video, sending fans into a frenzy. The clip featured a mock newspaper ad seeking a “superfan” with singing and dancing ability, fueling speculation about a reunion. Source

No. 19 SMU escaped Tallahassee with a 27-24 win over Florida State on a game-winning field goal with 21 seconds left, capping a sloppy but entertaining ACC opener in which Heisman hopeful Kevin Jennings threw for close to 300 yards and three touchdowns despite two turnovers. The game itself almost didn’t happen on schedule — a power surge blew a transformer at Doak Campbell Stadium roughly five minutes before kickoff, plunging the lights out and freezing the scoreboard for nearly two hours while both teams retreated to their locker rooms and officials scrambled for a backup plan. Play eventually resumed on limited power, with the broadcast unable to show replays for the rest of the night. Source

Quarterback Baker Mayfield and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers agreed to a three-year, $165 million contract extension, ending months of tense negotiations between the two sides. The deal places Mayfield among the NFL’s highest-paid passers and signals through the 2029 season, days after the sides had appeared to reach an impasse. Source

Michigan escaped with a win over Western Michigan on a Hail Mary after a disputed clock decision let the Wolverines run one more play than the Broncos believed should have been allowed. Officials have faced sharp criticism since, with many arguing Western Michigan was denied a signature upset. Find out More

San Francisco routed the Los Angeles Rams 27-7 in the NFL’s first-ever regular-season game in Australia, with quarterback Brock Purdy throwing three touchdown passes in front of a crowd at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Both coaches said the trip’s early travel schedule helped the 49ers settle in ahead of the historic matchup. See Details

The Seattle Seahawks began the defense of their Super Bowl trophy by defeating the New England Patriots 13-10 in a Super Bowl rematch. Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold left the game with an injury. See Details

The College Football Playoff announced it will open discussions with broadcast partner ESPN about potentially expanding the tournament from 12 to 24 teams. The CFP emphasized the move does not represent a decision to expand but rather an opportunity to gather information on a possible format change as soon as 2027. See Details

New York Knicks star Jalen Brunson is set to host the Season 52 premiere of “Saturday Night Live,” continuing the show’s tradition of tapping recent champions. Brunson led the Knicks to their first NBA title in more than half a century earlier this year. Read More

An Ole Miss fan who went viral after ESPN cameras caught her looking visibly stressed during the team’s dramatic comeback win over Louisville says she’s now being flooded with direct messages following her newfound internet fame. Sara Smith posted a video responding to the attention, showing off some of the messages that have poured into her inbox since the clip spread online. Source

An American Airlines flight from Dallas-Fort Worth to Newark was diverted to Baltimore after a passenger became violent and hurled racial and homophobic slurs, including at a Black flight attendant who tried to intervene. He struck a seatmate, bit another passenger hard enough to leave teeth marks, and shoved a woman attempting to help before crew and fellow travelers restrained him with duct tape to his seat. Law enforcement met the plane in Baltimore and removed the man before it continued on to Newark; the airline said it does not tolerate violence against customers or crew. See Details

The driveway of a coastal Malibu mansion owned by actor Nicolas Cage collapsed into a giant sinkhole amid heavy coastal flooding, prompting a gas leak and a temporary shutoff of natural gas service to the street. Utility crews said the leak was brought under control within hours. Find out More