September 2026
All columns and Brief analyses.
10 results
Anthropic loosens biology safeguards for verified life-science labs
On 17 September Anthropic opened a beta Life Sciences Verification Program that gives verified teams Mythos, Opus and Sonnet with more permissive biology safeguards than its generally available Fable models. Applicants face credential, security and ethics review, with Standard Use and High-risk Use grants. Newsquawk the same day reported the beta for teams and institutions and named Standard-use grants for Mythos 5.1, Opus 5 and Sonnet 5.
Apple may sell M8 Ultra AI servers, perhaps in 2029
9to5Mac, citing The Information, says Apple is considering two-chip and four-chip M8 Ultra enterprise servers for outside AI customers, not only internal use, with a possible 2029 sale date that can still be cancelled. MacRumors adds that the line would return Apple to servers after Xserve ended in 2011 and that NVLink Fusion is one way discussed to link the chips.
Belarus freed 25 prisoners as the US lifted sanctions on two firms
Al Jazeera said Belarus freed 25 political prisoners and that envoy John Coale announced US sanctions relief for Lakokraska and Bellesbumprom, with those released taken to Vilnius. The Los Angeles Times, by Yuras Karmanau, reported the same 16 September interim deal.
Brazil cuts the Selic rate to 13.75 per cent
Copom cut the policy rate by 0.25 percentage points from 14 per cent to 13.75 per cent on 16 September, the fifth consecutive cut since March. SBT News says the fifth 0.25-point cut of the year matched market expectations.
Carney welcomes an EU associate-member offer; Trump answers with tariffs
In the European Parliament on 17 September, Mark Carney said Canada welcomes Ursula von der Leyen's ambition to make Canada the EU's first associate member, an idea that still needs member-state approval. Al Jazeera, with the Associated Press, says Donald Trump told a Charlotte audience he might answer that idea with very heavy tariffs or a cut in some trade, depending on intent. Associate membership does not yet exist in the treaties.
CBRT adds lira cash; the market report sizes repo at 300 billion lira
The CBRT said it would raise one-week repo funding when needed, revise interbank borrowing limits, and cut collateral haircuts. It did not publish amounts. CNBC-e, updating at 11.13 on 17 September, puts this week's auctions at 300 billion lira of repo and 7 billion lira of bonds and calls the interbank limit change a tenfold increase. Those sizes rest on the market report, not on release 2026-41.
Copilot members can now ask for more budget when credits run out
GitHub’s 16 September changelog says Copilot budget increase requests are generally available for Business and Enterprise usage-based billing. Startupik, dated 17 September, says that since 16 September 2026 a member who hits the limit can request more budget in the product, and an owner or billing manager can approve a new amount so access returns immediately.
Curiosity's sol-5000 postcard mixes a morning and afternoon view
NASA Science says the rover merged navigation-camera panoramas taken at Chocolatal at 09:56 local Mars time on 30 August 2026 and 17:39 on 2 September, sols 5000 and 5003. The Verge, at 18:11 UTC on 16 September, says the collage marks 14 years since the 2012 landing and that NASA added blue for morning and yellow for afternoon. Chocolatal and the clock times sit in the NASA entry, not in The Verge lede.
Five Galileo satellites ran a two-hour encrypted SAS lock at Andøya and ESTEC
ESA dated 17 September 2026 writes that five operational Galileo satellites carried an encrypted broadcast for two hours on 16 September afternoon. Ground kits at Andøya and at ESTEC locked a location with forthcoming SAS. A second independent publisher’s own in-window page with parseable datePublished was not retained: the pubt.io GSA wire had none, GPS World’s hit was a HAS explainer, and a BBC Jammertest feature is dated 8 September.
Generac tied Amazon generator deliveries worth 2.4 billion dollars to stock warrants
Reuters said a filing showed about 2.4 billion dollars of initial Amazon data-center generator deliveries in 2027 and 2028, with warrants for up to 1.69 million Generac shares. CNBC put the warrant package at up to 340 million dollars. Shares jumped more than 40 per cent after hours.