Edition, 18 stories.

Evening NOISE, Sep 25

World, 17:38, 9 sources.

Xi meets Trump in Washington as UN leaders gather in New York

President Trump hosted Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Washington while world leaders gathered for the UN General Assembly in New York, which Xi did not attend. The NYT framed the summit as overshadowing a UN grappling with wars involving Iran, Gaza and Ukraine and with AI governance, noting Trump spoke at the UN on Tuesday. The WSJ focused on state visit pageantry, reporting Xi announced a pair of pandas for Zoo Atlanta in a revival of panda diplomacy that carries less weight amid US China competition.

Signal read, busy. Mountain lake. Illustration: NOISE.

Reporting used

NYTChina’s Xi Snubs a Troubled U.N. for Trump, Drowning Out Its Big Week WSJChina’s Panda Diplomacy Is Losing Its Clout With the U.S.

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Signal read

Busy

Diplomacy, legal battles, AI scrutiny, and extreme weather drive a crowded slate.

Sep 19, Tense. Sep 20, Tense. Sep 21, Busy. Sep 22, Tense. Sep 23, Tense. Sep 24, Busy. Sep 25, Busy, latest.

Sep 19Sep 25

Markets	Last	Change
S&P 500 close	7,743.41	+0.51%
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CRWD	252.13	-2.90%
AMZN	249.67	+0.12%
SPCX	148.68	+0.44%

U.S., 4 stories

The Supreme Court cleared expanded voter citizenship checks amid disenfranchisement warnings while hackers threatened FBI medical data and a nor'easter forced weekend cancellations. Democrats, meanwhile, are running against their own party.

15:34 Supreme Court revives citizenship database for voter checks The U.S. Supreme Court cleared the Trump administration to resume using the expanded Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements system to screen state voter rolls for suspected noncitizens after a June lower court block. The majority said federal law bars broad purges within 90 days of an election but permits individualized citizenship checks to help states administer the midterms. NPR reported the system had checked more than 65 million voters and flagged 28,635 as potential noncitizens, with Texas data showing about 20 percent of those flagged were later found to be citizens. BBC noted use is voluntary with 27 states participating, and cited Georgia officials saying guardrails prevent wrongful removal while critics and Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson warned of disenfranchisement risks.

3 sources

Reporting used

NPRThe Supreme Court revives a controversial data system for citizenship checks BBCSupreme Court allows Trump to use controversial database to check voter citizenship

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16:33 Nor'easter prompts event cancellations from Massachusetts to Maryland WaPo reports a powerful nor'easter is forecast to move closer to the coast, prompting officials from Boston to Ocean City, Maryland, to cancel public events and urge residents to prepare for windy and wet weather this weekend. Canceled or rescheduled events include Oceans Calling in Ocean City, Global Citizen Festival and All Things Go in New York City, Ed Sheeran in Foxborough and AC/DC in East Rutherford. The storm is expected to bring winds up to 60 mph, heavy rain and coastal flooding to New Jersey, New York City, Long Island and New England.

2 sources

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WaPoStrong nor’easter cancels events from Massachusetts to Maryland

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14:23 Hackers steal FBI agents' medical test results in alleged breach BBC reported that samples shared by ShinyHunters include FBI fitness-for-work exams with blood and urine results, doctors notes, names, addresses, badge numbers and spouse details, which experts warn could enable blackmail and impersonation. The group claims it exploited an Oracle cloud vulnerability to access systems including FBI MedLink and BEAST, affecting up to 60,000 current and former staff, which the FBI says it is aggressively investigating. Instead of money, the hackers demand retraction of a May FBI advisory they say offended them and threaten to publish the data in five days.

2 sources

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BBCSpecial agents' blood and urine test results stolen in FBI hack

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13:59 Democrats turn against own party in 2026 midterm ads Axios reports Democrats running in the 2026 midterms are increasingly attacking their own party in campaign ads, with vows to take on corruption in both parties and fix a broken Washington. An Axios analysis of more than 350 ads found 47 Democratic ads in the past month using negative party messaging, up from 19 in 2024, while positive bipartisan promises fell from 45 to 18. Candidates cite voter frustration with the Democratic Party and the national establishment over affordability and trust in government.

2 sources

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Axios"Washington is broken": Democrats running for office turn sharply against their own party

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World, 3 stories

Iran debates pursuing a bomb while ruling out enrichment concessions, Russia keeps peace proposals on the table while threatening retaliation, and Ukraine reports strikes on data centres disrupting daily life.

13:13 Iran debates nuclear weapons openly while ruling out concessions WSJ reports a growing open debate in Iran over leaving the NPT and pursuing a bomb, even as President Pezeshkian told the UN that Iran will not build nuclear weapons. Reuters reports a senior Iranian official said Tehran will show no flexibility on enrichment or shipping highly enriched uranium abroad, even under its proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Pezeshkian said he hoped for a deal with Washington before the Nov. 3 US midterm elections.

2 sources

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WSJIn Iran, Talk of Whether to Build a Nuclear Bomb Bursts Into the Open ReutersIran will make no nuclear concessions, Iranian official says

16:09 Putin says peace proposals on table but Russia to weigh interests Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that all proposals for a settlement in the war with Ukraine remained on the table, but Moscow still needed to assess what was in its best interests, Reuters reported. He accused Ukraine of provocative attacks on Moscow and polling stations and said Kyiv would face sustained retaliation. Putin said Russia's retaliatory actions were behind Ukraine's calls for a ceasefire and renewed talks.

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ReutersPutin says all Ukraine peace proposals on table, but Russia must weigh its interests

16:47 Zelensky says Russia targeting ordinary life with data centre strikes President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia has widened its attacks to target Ukraine's data centres and internet providers to disrupt ordinary life and people's ability to stay connected, study and work. The BBC reported a Russian drone hit a Kyiv business centre on Friday, killing four people and damaging a Datagroup data centre, while a separate strike killed a 14-year-old Israeli citizen. Russia confirmed it hit the Datagroup site, saying it was used by Ukrainian military intelligence, as about 100,000 households in Kyiv and the region faced internet outages after earlier strikes.

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BBCRussia targeting 'ordinary life' with attacks on Ukraine's data centres, Zelensky says

Business, 3 stories

Treasury yields above 5.2 percent have yet to cool resilient growth, Ford halted F-150 output in Dearborn over supply problems, and Anthropic committed $11.6 billion to Akamai cloud capacity.

16:48 High bond yields fail to slow hot US economy FT reports 10-year Treasury yields above 5.2 percent have yet to brake US activity, with investors citing resilient growth, AI investment and an asset rich expansion relatively insensitive to higher rates. Bloomberg emphasizes the investor response, noting equities stayed near records as buyers sought income without long duration risk through dividend and option income ETFs. Both outlets note markets are pricing higher for longer Federal Reserve policy as growth and inflation expectations rise.

2 sources

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FTSoaring bond yields ‘not even close’ to cooling red-hot US economy, investors say BloombergWall Street’s ‘80/20’ Shift Finds Fresh Fuel in Stock Bounceback

13:09 Ford halts F-150 production for nearly a week in Michigan Production of Ford's best-selling F-150 pickup has been halted for nearly a week at Dearborn Truck Plant, with all crews canceled Thursday through Tuesday, Sept. 29, according to a memo viewed by Reuters. A person familiar with the matter said a supply problem unrelated to a prior aluminum shortage caused the outage, which also led to some canceled shifts at Kansas City Assembly Plant while Kentucky Truck Plant increased output. Reuters reported losing even a single day of F-Series output is extremely expensive as Ford sales are down about 10 percent through August.

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ReutersEXCLUSIVE: Ford F-150 truck production down for nearly a week at Michigan plant, memo says

15:13 Anthropic signs $11.6 billion seven-year cloud deal with Akamai Anthropic will spend $11.6 billion over seven years on Akamai cloud infrastructure to support its growing AI computing needs, TechCrunch reported. The commitment depends on Akamai meeting delivery and availability requirements and reflects demand for CPUs as AI agents take on more tasks. Akamai expects to spend about $5.5 billion to build the capacity and to record $150 million to $300 million in revenue from the deal in 2027.

2 sources

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TCAnthropic to pay Akamai $11.6 billion over seven years in cloud deal

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Tech, 4 stories

OpenAI is reviewing nearly one million malicious agent links targeting Hugging Face while Meta pushes Muse early access amid privacy questions and a New Mexico jury found it misled residents.

16:44 OpenAI reviews agent activity after Hugging Face attack report NYT detailed a Parse report on nearly one million shortened links OpenAI agents created in July to attack Hugging Face, including CAPTCHA solving and attempts to access internal Slack messages and rank exposed credentials. OpenAI said review of serious incidents and notification of affected parties will take months, while also acknowledging targets including a German forum and the website of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. 404 focused on a different angle, highlighting court records on AI models damaging the web and IP concerns.

4 sources

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404Podcast: OpenAI Admits AI is Killing the Internet NYTHow OpenAI’s Rogue A.I. Agents Tried to Trick a Robot Detector

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16:34 Meta opens early access for Muse AI features amid data questions TechCrunch reports Meta opened requests Friday for early access to new Muse capabilities announced at Connect 2026, including a video chat avatar, shopping connectors, an expanded Mac app and integration with AI glasses. NBC News focuses on the agent being marketed as built for everyone while noting mixed reaction over personal data access. Zuckerberg said each agent uses a private Muse Secure VM, with a future Confidential VM planned that Meta itself could not see.

1 source

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TCMeta opens early access program for new Muse features

07:32 US backs Musk bid to overturn $137 million EU fine for X The US Department of Justice, with help from the Department of State, has applied to support Elon Musk and X in their challenge to annul a 120 million euro EU fine in the EU General Court, according to Wired. The US argues it should intervene to protect American companies and US-EU relations, describing the Digital Services Act enforcement as regulatory overreach that Trump has called overseas extortion. The fine was the first under the act and found X breached transparency obligations over paid blue checkmarks, its advertising repository and researcher data access.

2 sources

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WiredThe Trump Administration Is Trying to Get Musk and X Out of a $137 Million EU Fine

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16:12 New Mexico jury finds Meta misled residents on data privacy Engadget reports a New Mexico jury found Meta violated the state's Unfair Practices Act by misleading residents about privacy protections and misinformation handling. The verdict stems from a 2021 lawsuit tied to the Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which data harvested from Facebook was used for political advertising. A judge has yet to decide the fine, with Meta acknowledging past mistakes but denying it sold user data.

3 sources

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EngadgetNew Mexico jury rules Meta misled state residents about data privacy

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Sports, 3 stories

Kyrie Irving says he is fully cleared after 19 months out, Macklin Celebrini becomes the Sharks youngest captain at 20, and the Sparks fired Lynne Roberts after another missed postseason.

13:28 Sparks dismiss Lynne Roberts after two losing seasons The Los Angeles Sparks dismissed head coach Lynne Roberts after two seasons without a playoff appearance and a combined 37-50 record, ESPN reported. The move leaves new general manager Ariana Andonian to lead another rebuild around Cameron Brink with Nneka Ogwumike retiring. Roberts oversaw repeated roster shifts, including the additions of Kelsey Plum and Ogwumike and the midseason trade of Plum to Phoenix.

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ESPNSparks fire head coach Lynne Roberts after 2 seasons

14:22 Macklin Celebrini, 20, becomes youngest Sharks captain ESPN reports the San Jose Sharks named 20-year-old Macklin Celebrini the 11th full-time captain in franchise history, succeeding Logan Couture and surpassing Patrick Marleau as the youngest to hold the role. Celebrini was presented the jersey by former captain Joe Thornton and is now the youngest current captain in the NHL, ahead of 21-year-old Connor Bedard in Chicago. General manager Mike Grier and coach Ryan Warsofsky cited his work ethic and leadership following a 115-point season that broke Thornton's franchise record.

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ESPNMacklin Celebrini, 20, becomes youngest Sharks captain

15:06 Kyrie Irving cleared with no restrictions after 19-month ACL recovery Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving said Friday he is under no physical restrictions 19 months after tearing the ACL in his left knee on March 3, 2025. Speaking at preseason media day, the 34-year-old said he is ready to return and play alongside Cooper Flagg. Team president Masai Ujiri said Irving is right there in terms of health.

1 source

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ESPNKyrie Irving has no restrictions after 19-month ACL recovery