Hello. Germany's Merz fights for survival after a humanoid robot as China slows IPO rush, and Iran and the US trade threats after Houthi attacks escalate regional conflict.
Plus, the 10 days that changed the course of AI.
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AfD campaign event ahead of the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania state election on September 18, 2026. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner
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- The far-right AfD took first place in state elections in northeastern Germany, delivering the worst result for Chancellor Friedrich Merz's mainstream conservative party since 1949.
- Russia's ruling United Russia party was on track to easily win a that President Vladimir Putin has cast as a after Ukraine launched a massive drone attack on the Russian capital.
- Iran and the US exchanged new threats, with President Donald Trump warning Iran would fail economically or face its leadership being wiped out if it didn't make a deal, and the Iranian military saying it would retaliate harshly.
- Denmark, Greenland and the United States are set to sign a deal on Greenland's security, an agreement Denmark says will put Arctic security under NATO's watch rather than leaving it solely to Washington and Copenhagen.
- The Trump administration has prepared sanctions against the entire International Criminal Court and plans to announce them soon, two sources familiar with the matter said, a move that would step up its attack on the global tribunal that prosecutes war crimes and genocide worldwide.
- World leaders gather in New York this week for the UN General Assembly, bracing for President Trump's return to the rostrum for a second year running, with talks centering on the widening conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine and the risks of AI.
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A humanoid robot by Unitree Robotics competes at the 2026 World Humanoid Robot Games. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang
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- Chinese regulators are putting the brakes on a rush of humanoid-robot companies seeking listings, people familiar with the matter said, as they scrutinize whether soaring valuations and revenue tied to state-backed projects reflect commercial demand.
- Oil prices slid to their lowest in more than a week as investors hoped for diplomatic progress on the Iran war with this week's UN meeting and eyed a partial recovery in shipments from Saudi Arabia despite ongoing Houthi attacks.
- AI giant Anthropic is building a wet biology lab to tackle rare diseases. Jeffrey Dastin tells the Reuters World News podcast that Anthropic is pushing into this area to maintain its influence over global AI safety policy, even as it navigates trust and data-privacy concerns from its new pharmaceutical partners.
- German auto workers staged nationwide protests, less than three days after a shock profit warning by Europe's biggest auto maker, Volkswagen, highlighted the sector's unprecedented challenges from high costs and fierce Asian rivals.
- Europe faces a fourth-quarter jet fuel deficit, even as it turns to far-flung suppliers including South Korea, which is set to boost its jet exports to Europe to a four-year high in September, according to analysts and shipping data.
- Wegovy-maker Novo Nordisk's CEO Mike Doustdar will face pressure on Monday to set out his strategy for competing with US rival Eli Lilly and how he plans to boost the company's growth beyond the blockbuster weight-loss drug.
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Trump and Xi walk together as they tour the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, China. REUTERS/Evan Vucci
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In the four months since the leaders of the two global superpowers last met, Xi Jinping has overseen a surge in China's trade with the world while Donald Trump has struggled with falling approval ratings at home.
That shift in fortunes has tempered expectations for their summit in Washington this week, analysts say, with Xi in no rush to make concessions and Trump constrained by a costly war with Iran that has hurt both his popularity and Americans' wallets.
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Anthropic's former employee Joe Benton in his apartment in Berkeley, California. REUTERS/Carlos Barria
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For years, the race to build ever-more powerful artificial intelligence followed a well-worn Silicon Valley principle: move fast and break things.
But in a series of cascading events over a 10-day stretch, the largest AI labs found themselves reeling as their own creations threatened to break humanity itself.
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