September 2026
All columns and Brief analyses.
10 results
Bangladesh court leaves the central-bank governor change in force
Bangladesh's High Court summarily rejected a petition challenging Ahsan H Mansur's removal as Bangladesh Bank governor and Md Mostaqur Rahman's appointment in his place. The ruling leaves the new appointment in force, while the petitioner's lawyer said he would appeal to the Appellate Division.
Bilibili's first AI creation contest draws 13,400 participants
Bilibili concluded the first season of its Build in Bilibili AI creation contest in Shanghai on September 5. Project N.E.K.O. took first place and 1 million yuan from a total prize pool of 1.43 million yuan. More than 30,000 submissions came from 13,400 creators, with the participation figures pointing to a field dominated by small, one-person teams.
California's SB 813 sets an independence framework for AI auditors
California's SB 813 would establish a framework by January 1, 2028 for selecting and regulating independent verification organisations that assess frontier AI models. METR's use of about 400,000 dollars in API credits for an OpenAI-related review made both the cost of independent scrutiny and the risk of dependence on the company funding access more visible.
Death toll from strikes on southern Lebanon rises to seven
Lebanon's health ministry said seven people, including two women, were killed in Israeli strikes in the south on Sunday, while six people including two girls were wounded in Arab Salim. The Israeli military said it targeted Hezbollah infrastructure. President Joseph Aoun called the attacks a dangerous escalation and urged the United States and the international community to act.
FAST finds two starless hydrogen clouds beside M51
A FAST survey found two clouds near M51, each carrying about 3 million solar masses of hydrogen and no optically detectable stars. The team interprets them as candidate dark-matter haloes that never formed stars. The telescope's resolution, however, cannot yet distinguish that explanation from gas pulled out during M51's interaction with NGC 5195.
Foxconn cloud sales rise as consumer product divisions decline month on month
Foxconn's cloud and networking products and electronic components grew in August from the previous month, while smart consumer electronics and computing products declined. Cloud and networking sales also posted strong annual growth amid AI demand. Total August sales rose 51.98 per cent to 921.77 billion Taiwan dollars, leaving a company record that rested on divisions moving in different directions.
Foxconn posts its highest August sales
Foxconn’s August sales rose 51.98 per cent from a year earlier to 921.77 billion Taiwan dollars. The manufacturer expects to outperform market expectations in the third quarter as AI demand grows and the industry enters its second-half peak season. August was its second-highest sales month overall. Revenue for the first eight months rose 39.73 per cent, while monthly sales moved in different directions across its product divisions.
Gemini-planned Mount Shasta climb ends in an overnight rescue
Three hikers who used Gemini for route, timing, food and water advice on Mount Shasta reached the summit far later than expected. They went off route during the dark descent, spent the night in Mud Creek Canyon and were brought out the next morning. The local sheriff's office urged climbers to consult the ranger station and never rely solely on AI for trip planning.
GPT-6 Astra gains four points after Intelligence Index overhaul
Artificial Analysis rebuilt its Intelligence Index with two new tests and 40 per cent held-out data after GPT-6 Astra's score drew skepticism. Astra gained four points over its predecessor to place second, while Claude Fable 5.1 stayed first. On the same week's Arena WebDev table, Astra Max's higher point estimate still carried the same 1–2 rank interval as its rival, showing how evaluation design can change the picture.
GPT-6 Astra Max enters Arena’s WebDev table with a score of 1,797
Arena added GPT-6 Astra Max to its web-development leaderboard on September 5. Its score of 1,797 exceeds Claude Fable 5.1 Max’s 1,762, although both have rank intervals of 1–2. The comparison reflects user preferences between generated frontend applications in this particular evaluation. Astra Max has 1,199 votes and Fable Max has 2,275.