September 2026
All columns and Brief analyses.
10 results
Palo Alto Networks pays 500 million dollars for agentic IT startup Console
TechCrunch reports Palo Alto Networks paid 500 million dollars in cash and stock for Console, an agentic IT help-desk startup, citing two people with knowledge of the deal; Console's tools already handle routine work like password resets. The Elec reports Palo Alto Networks announced the deal on September 1 without disclosing terms, folding Console into its Cortex security-operations platform as part of an acquisition run that also brought in Chronosphere, CyberArk, Portkey and Koi this year.
Putin points to a chance of ending the war in Ukraine and denies targeting Zelensky
Speaking at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok on Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said a chance remained of ending the war in Ukraine, that Moscow and Kyiv must settle it between themselves, and that the United States and China were ready to back a deal. He denied Russia was striking Ukraine's political leadership, saying only officials willing to negotiate could resolve the war peacefully. Ukraine's foreign minister said he expected a new diplomatic dynamic.
Riyadh blames Iran for the strike that killed two Filipino seafarers on the tanker Sidr
Saudi Arabia's foreign ministry said on Wednesday that Iran had targeted the tanker Sidr, owned by the national carrier Bahri, as it transited out of the Strait of Hormuz late on Monday, and Bahri confirmed the loss of two Filipino seafarers. Kuwait and Qatar called the attack a violation of international law and of freedom of maritime navigation. Iran's Revolutionary Guard says the tankers struck mines on an unauthorised route.
Rubio warns that countries helping Iran evade US sanctions will face measures too
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, asked about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's meeting with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Bishkek, said no country should be helping Iran evade sanctions and that Washington would have to sanction those which choose to do so. Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the same summit, and Islamabad defends the memorandum signed in June as the region's most viable path to peace.
Scientists complete the fruit fly's 166,000-neuron connectome, enabling the first sex-by-sex brain comparison
Researchers at HHMI's Janelia Research Campus and collaborators completed the first full connectome of a fruit fly's central nervous system, mapping more than 166,000 neurons across the brain and nerve cord. Four papers published in Cell trace several hundred sex-specific neuron types, tied to the fruitless and doublesex genes, to differences in courtship behaviour between male and female flies, and place the new male map alongside the 2024 female brain map for direct comparison.
Spain's opposition fills the streets over Ceuta as Sánchez denies proof of Moroccan planning
Rallies called by Partido Popular- and Vox-led city councils drew more than 50,000 people in Madrid on Wednesday, along with a large demonstration in Ceuta itself, over the government's handling of July's migrant border rush. The protests followed a police report saying Moroccan forces showed total permissiveness during the crossings. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez told parliament no institution has given his government solid proof that Morocco planned or carried out the rush, while acknowledging Moroccan gendarmes let crossings continue for ten hours on 30 July.
Syria destroys 42 Assad-era chemical bombs as its envoy accuses Israel of blocking the work
UN High Representative Izumi Nakamitsu told the Security Council on Thursday that an OPCW team had verified the irreversible destruction of 42 aerial bombs in Syria, the first confirmed destruction there since 2014, after finding a further production site, two storage facilities and an undeclared nerve-agent chemical. Syria's UN envoy Ibrahim Olabi said repeated Israeli attacks had impeded the search and destruction work and put Syrian teams at risk.
The AI-designed protein shell STV-C8 carries RNA into cells more efficiently than lipid nanoparticles
Teams at Helmholtz Munich and the Technical University of Munich combined natural protein building blocks with a scaffold designed by generative AI to build a class of RNA carrier they call the Synthetic Transfer Vehicle. More than a hundred variants were screened, and the most efficient of them, STV-C8, delivered RNA into cultured cells markedly better than the lipid nanoparticles and virus-like particles tested. The team gave it intravenously to mice and injected it into a pig's muscle with CRISPR-Cas9 components, editing the dystrophin gene.
The Federal Reserve's Beige Book finds modest growth in ten districts and employment barely moving
The Federal Reserve's Beige Book, published on 2 September 2026 with information collected through 24 August 2026, found economic activity up modestly since early July: ten of the twelve districts reported slight to moderate growth and two reported no change. Employment rose very slightly, wage growth stayed modest to moderate, and prices increased moderately in eight districts. Input cost pressure remained elevated in manufacturing and construction.
Three Bundibugyo vaccines move toward efficacy trials in Congo as the epidemic passes 3,000 deaths
The World Health Organization says the Bundibugyo outbreak declared in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on May 15, 2026 has passed 6,000 reported cases and reached 3,000 deaths. No licensed vaccine exists for this species. Candidates from Moderna and the University of Oxford are in safety trials in the United Kingdom and Canada, while Ervebo, licensed against the Zaire species, is going to frontline health workers in Kisangani under trial protocols. Efficacy trials for all three are targeted for October or November.