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Claude helping build its next version Chart: Anthropic Claude is helping Anthropic develop the next, more intelligent version of itself, the AI lab announced: "Claude is not operating fully autonomously for any measured subset of AI R&D work," Anthropic said. "Claude 'leads' 26% of Anthropic's AI R&D work." Why it matters: The announcement was unclear about how close the company believes it is to achieving recursive self-improvement (RSI, when AI builds itself). But the pace at which Claude is increasingly contributing to research and development is escalating, AP notes: The portion of work Claude "leads," or does in large part while remaining under human supervision, was zero in February. Six months later, in August, it was 26%. Read the announcement.

🐊 Fear and loathing in Trump's backyard Illustration: Shoshana Gordon/Axios Axios' Marc Caputo, a Miami Herald alumnus, writes from his Miami home: Staring into the camera, Rep. Maria Salazar cut a new campaign ad that told President Trump what so many of her fellow Hispanic Republicans in Miami are saying: The immigration crackdown has gone too far. Why it matters: The anger at Trump over heavy-handed immigration enforcement is palpable in Miami-Dade County, and there's mounting political worry among Republicans across the state that it could cost the GOP in the midterm elections. 🔎 Zoom in: A bellwether, Miami-Dade is Florida's most populous county, which Trump flipped to the Republican column in 2020 and 2024 thanks to strong Latino support, especially among Cuban Americans. "Mr. President, some of your immigration enforcement efforts have gone too far," Salazar says in her ad. "The same Hispanics who helped you get to the White House in 2024 feel betrayed today." Trump carried her district by 15 points two years ago. Today, she's tied in polls with newscaster Eliot Rodriguez, a fellow Cuban American, who said her new ad was a sign of desperation. A Trump adviser told Axios: "I'm getting the Trumpiest Cubans sending me videos from Miami of guys getting busted at places like the gas station, for no apparent reason." A GOP pollster from Miami said: "Support is just evaporating. The economy sucks and ICE is just out of control. People feel they didn't sign up for this." Keep reading.

"Most contentious interview" In the new episode of "The Axios Show," out this morning, left-wing streamer Hasan Piker said he "absolutely" wants to campaign for New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez if she runs for president in 2028 and said he has talked with AOC and her team. Why it matters: Piker, who has millions of followers online, has been a high-profile campaign surrogate this year for a new generation of left-wing candidates, and wants to do the same in 2028. In an hourlong interview with Axios' Alex Thompson that Piker later described as his "most contentious" ever, the Twitch star defended his stances that some Democrats are recoiling from: China: Piker traveled to China last year and has said that the country is the closest government model he would like to see adopted in the U.S. He also thinks that "trajectory-wise, I worry that a Chinese child might have better conditions in the next decade or next two decades than an American one. And I think that should worry every American citizen." Asked about his past praise of Mao Zedong, Piker said: "He's a great man of history. Of course, there were a lot of excesses." When asked to clarify what he meant by "excesses," Piker said: "Deaths borne out of mismanagement and famine." Political violence: Axios asked Piker about several of his past statements about killing or harming political opponents, and he said they amounted to "three or four choice quotes." He said he consistently says that the "appropriate way to deal with political problems, even violent ones, is to advocate, organize, and create a response that is borne out of labor militancy, work stoppages and the like, to apply political pressure that way." Talking with a friend on his stream, Piker once said of landlords who don't rent their properties: "Kill those motherf*ckers and murder those motherf*ckers in the streets. Let the streets soak in their f*cking red capitalist blood, dude." He told Axios that "we were messing around. It wasn't a serious call to violence." Piker — a frequent and aggressive critic of Israel's government — said he believes "Zionism is fascism" and that it was equivalent to neo-Nazism. Asked about the potential danger of his rhetoric, Piker said: "I'm not worried that [my followers are] going to be violent against Zionists. No, I'm not." Watch the full interview ...

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Fiji's HIV Emergency Fiji declared a national HIV emergency this week, finding one in 60 residents has the bloodborne virus, up from one in 167 five years ago. The government partly attributes the spike to expanded testing efforts, with only 39% of infected individuals aware they are HIV positive. Experts say infections likely also began rising around 2019, as Fiji became a "superhighway" for drugs from Latin America and Asia to lucrative markets in Australia and New Zealand (watch documentary). This has increased drug use in Fiji too, primarily among sex workers. More than half of the cases with known modes of transmission were traced to sex, while over 42% were tied to injecting drugs. Only 22% of infected people are receiving treatment, compared with 78% globally. Fiji is working with Australia, New Zealand, India, and NGOs to provide free antiretrovirals, which studies show reduce HIV to undetectable levels in 90% of patients and lower the risk of AIDS. Watch how here.

AI Model Misbehavior OpenAI disclosed six new cases of concerning behavior by its AI models, including systems that hid mistakes, fabricated data, and took unauthorized actions. The company responded with a new framework for investigating and publicly reporting such incidents. The incidents occurred during training or evaluation, not customer deployments, over the past six months. In one case, a model wrote hidden instructions reminding itself to conceal errors; another inserted "jailbreak-like" commands into its own notes. Under the new framework, employees can flag concerning behavior, which is routed into one of three investigation tracks. The move follows OpenAI's report on a July incident involving Hugging Face in which models circumvented safeguards and accessed third-party systems (see a database of reported AI incidents). The announcement follows public calls for a slowdown in AI development: A recent poll found 63% of Americans believe advanced AI poses at least a moderate risk of eventually causing human extinction (watch how that could play out).

The front paws of a cat are different from the back paws. They have five toes on the front but only four on the back. James

Some koff ou will recognize two of the listed, but not ll of them. https://spectrummagazine.org/news/how-some-of-adventisms-wealthiest-built-their-empires-and-cemented-their-legacies/

Postal Service chief says work stopped on computer system key to Trump effort to limit mail voting WASHINGTON (AP) — The top official at the U.S. Postal Service said Thursday that the agency has stopped work on developing a controversial computer system that was central to President Donald Trump’s effort to limit mail voting after the Supreme Court rejected his executive order this week. https://apnews.com/article/trump-mail-ballot-us-postal-service-995f98147fbb49fb71696be824abff95?

Trial or Error View in browser If Democrats win control of the House in November, they will face a dilemma: Should they attempt a record third impeachment of Donald Trump? The president and his allies have warned that this would be a Democratic majority’s first move. “I’m going to be impeached. They’re going to impeach me,” Trump said last month at a rally in South Carolina. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has been noncommittal. “We haven’t ruled anything in, and we haven’t ruled anything out in terms of impeachment,” the would-be speaker told ABC’s This Week on Sunday. But Representative Jamie Raskin, the lead manager of Trump’s second impeachment, seemed more open. Earlier this month, on Meet the Press, he said that Trump had “undoubtedly” committed impeachable offenses. “We understand it’s not a panacea. It is a tool in the toolbox,” he said. “We will not hesitate to use it if we need to use it.” Realistically, House Democrats may have a hard time resisting impeachment. Their voters are in a punchy mood. A new CBS News / YouGov poll found that opposition to Trump is the top motivation for Democratic voters in the midterms, and the political consultant Sarah Longwell recently wrote in The Atlantic that the most important priority for Democratic voters is not left-versus-right ideology but a willingness to fight Trump tooth and nail. Jeffries has already faced criticism for being too passive a leader, as well as for meeting with Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, and he may struggle to ignore a groundswell of support for impeachment. As a constitutional matter, the case for impeaching the president is solid. Trump has usurped congressional powers, started an unauthorized war or two, defied courts, and used his position for outrageous personal and family enrichment. In 2019, my colleague Yoni Appelbaum made the intellectual case for impeachment as a useful democratic process. The political case for impeaching Trump is shakier. Regardless of the results in November, Democrats are unlikely to get enough votes in the Senate to convict and remove him, meaning that a third impeachment would hit the same dead end as the first two. An impeachment can still be effective as a way of damaging a president, but Trump is already deeply unpopular and will never face voters again, so the upside is limited, and an impeachment might give him a way to rally his remaining base around him—which would only strengthen his power and resolve. But what if House Democrats impeached Trump’s Cabinet members instead? The power to impeach secretaries and other executive-branch officers is explicit in the Constitution but perhaps not well known, because it’s been used only twice in history. One reason such proceedings are rare is that a president usually fires a Cabinet member or forces them to resign before they can be impeached, but Trump has shown serious reluctance to fire aides because of public pressure. The congressional scholar Norm Ornstein has argued that if Trump won’t rein them in, Democrats should. On Tuesday, outgoing Representative Thomas Massie, a Republican, brought new attention to the possibility by moving to impeach Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. GOP leadership promptly shut down all voting until after the election. In 1876, Secretary of War William Belknap was impeached for corruption, but he resigned the same day and the Senate subsequently acquitted him; a number of senators doubted they had jurisdiction post-resignation. (This historical example resurfaced during Trump’s second impeachment trial, which occurred after he’d left office.) In 2024, House Republicans impeached Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas on vague grounds, but the Senate voted to dismiss the charges as unconstitutional without a trial. A Democratic House could plausibly launch impeachment inquiries into several administration officials, many of which would dovetail with investigations that representatives say they already have planned. In some cases, Democratic representatives have already filed articles of impeachment against Cabinet members, including Hegseth, Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, but those have gone nowhere in the GOP-led chamber. A new Democratic majority could change that. The conduct of a few particular individuals makes them likely targets for impeachment efforts. Kennedy has done serious damage to American public health, undermining vaccinations and weakening the CDC. At least one Republican senator has accused him of lying about vaccination rules during his confirmation hearings, when he also falsely characterized a trip he took to Samoa. Hegseth has waged an unauthorized war against Iran, for which he seems to have no realistic game plan; mishandled classified information; possibly violated the Hatch Act by appearing at a fundraiser for a political candidate; and left the armed forces bereft of leadership by firing a slew of qualified generals and admirals. Attorney General Todd Blanche has been instrumental in turning the Justice Department into a partisan tool for persecuting Trump’s political adversaries, and a federal judge rebuked him for his role in Trump’s attempt to set up a $1.8 billion slush fund for political allies. Multiple sources shared with my colleague Sarah Fitzpatrick serious worries about FBI Director Kash Patel’s leadership, including claims of emotional volatility, heavy drinking, and absence from the job. (Patel denied the allegations and sued Fitzpatrick and The Atlantic for defamation, demanding $250 million.) Russell Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, has led a concerted effort to take congressional powers for the White House. As a policy matter, impeachment of some of these officers could be more effective than ordinary investigations would be in halting the egregious actions taken by their offices and departments. It might also have a couple political benefits over impeaching Trump. First, such an effort could escape the Trump vortex: By moving the focus to officials who don’t command the same personal loyalty as Trump, impeachment might allow more emphasis on actual administration actions and policy, instead of on presidential personality. Second, conviction might still be a remote possibility, but GOP senators who are fed up with the White House might be more willing to vote to convict officers than they would be to risk taking on Trump himself. The real question is whether controversial Cabinet secretaries will stick around to see whether Democrats try to target them. A midterm election, especially one that goes poorly for the president’s party, is typically a moment for some secretaries to exit. But Hegseth seems entrenched, continuing to push out rivals; Blanche just won confirmation; and Kennedy and Vought are ideologues pursuing treasured agendas. If neither they nor Trump are willing to change course, then a Congress that has done little for the past two years will have a chance to do something novel: act. Related: How does impeachment work? (From 2017) How Trump broke—and then saved—impeachment (From 2021)

Loma Linda University Medical Center (LLUMC) has been named to Newsweek's list of America’s Best Physical Rehabilitation Centers 2026, ranking Number Three among rehabilitation centers in California, United States. This marks the sixth consecutive year Newsweek and Statista have recognized LLUMC. LLUMC East Campus offers a comprehensive range of rehabilitation services for patients recovering from injuries, illnesses, and other complex conditions. Through inpatient and outpatient programs, rehabilitation teams provide patient-centered care that combines advanced therapies, innovative treatments, and research-informed practices to help patients regain function and independence. "Every day, our rehabilitation teams help patients overcome significant challenges and take meaningful steps toward healing and independence," said Darryl VandenBosch, CPA, senior vice president for LLUMC East Campus and Surgical Hospital. "We are grateful for this recognition because it highlights the extraordinary care our team members provide to the patients and families we have the privilege to serve." https://adventist.news/news/newsweek-names-loma-linda-medical-center-a-best-physical-rehabilitation-center-for-sixth-consecutive-year

🍔 Dem food fight The House's last in-session week before the midterms was beset by furious private finger-pointing among House Democrats following several high-profile rebellions. 🔥 There is even chatter among members contrasting the ability of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) to control members with that of his top deputy, Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-Mass.), according to two House Democrats. Why it matters: This dynamic may only worsen if Democrats retake the House, which is set to see an influx of distinctly rebellious and independent lawmakers, particularly on the left. Said one of the two House Democrats, speaking on the condition of anonymity to share details of sensitive private discussions: "People are talking about 'Mom and Dad'.… Dad is soft." ⁉️ "I think people are asking the question: If this is happening in the minority, are you prepared for what will happen in the majority?" said a third House Democrat. ☀️ "There is no daylight between the three of us," Jeffries said at a press conference today with Clark and Democratic Caucus chair Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.). "We'll address the situation when we address the situation," he added. A Democratic leadership aide told us that everything Jeffries' deputies do is in coordination with him and doesn't represent a break between leaders. Catch up quick: Reps. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Wash.) and Jared Golden (D-Maine) yesterday provided Republican leadership with the necessary votes to advance a package of GOP bills, including a Russia sanctions bill strongly opposed by Democratic leaders. ⚡️ It was the second time this month that the pair of centrists defected from leadership on a procedural vote — even after Clark and Jeffries publicly threatened them with punishment the first time. Rep. Analilia Mejia (D-N.J.) said progressives "catch shit" for being "too ideologic and bold on our ideas," and that it's "curious … how there isn't an equally vocal attack" on centrists who break from the party line. Clark, along with Jeffries, engaged Gluesenkamp Perez in a heated discussion on the House floor during the vote in view of an Axios reporter, which sources said was about her defection. — Andrew Solender

🐳 Exclusive: GOP high-water mark House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) is staring at a scary political environment for Republicans and claiming to see something very different: a path to 225 seats. Why it matters: Republican leaders insist they can retain the majority, but only if they drive their voters to the polls by manufacturing the kind of voter enthusiasm Democrats are generating organically. 🏆 "If we make it a contrast election, we win," Scalise told us in an interview today. "We could get to 225. It would be a good night for us if we did, but it's possible," he said. "235 is not," he said. "You're literally doing coin tosses in a couple of seats." Between the lines: Asked if he saw any signs of a blue wave forming or the map expanding, Scalise said: "Not right now. No." ✅ Reality check: Republicans know that history — and many of the indicators heading into November — is working against them. "I know what history says, you know, but history's not on the ballot," Scalise said. 🗳️ Still, Democrats are turning out in primaries — and special elections — as if they're getting free gas cards for showing up. Democrats lead by nearly nine percentage points on the generic ballot. President Trump's approval rating is below 40%, according to the RealClearPolitics average. And Trump is underwater by a whopping 61 percentage points on inflation in a recent poll, an apparent record. 🔎 Zoom in: Republicans are examining the map with a jeweler's loupe and insist the picture isn't as bleak in the pivotal battleground seats. "We're not looking at national polls; we go district by district," Scalise said. That means trench warfare in 35 seats, where Republicans say they have proven winners, plenty of money and new rules to spend it. "We've got 20 [seats] on our side that we're fighting to hold on to that are real competitive, and 15 [seats] that we have a real chance to flip," Scalise said. "These are knock-down, drag-out fights." 🎧 What we're hearing: The White House has long thought of the midterms as a "hate election." Scalise uses the more genteel term "contrast election." But before Republicans can dream about growing their majority, they need to fix their enthusiasm problem — and match the Democratic energy showing up in many of the preelection indicators. The GOP's midterm convention in Dallas last week was the first step. "If we are able to capitalize on that kind of enthusiasm and carry that momentum into November, then we'll have the same turnout as the other side, and we'll hold the majority," Scalise said. 🚌 Now comes the road show: Congressional leaders — and the president — are hitting the campaign trail. In the next two weeks, Scalise will travel to 11 states to campaign for 16 Republicans — incumbents and challengers. The bottom line: The 225-seat scenario is Scalise's high-water mark. At another point in the interview, he suggested the majority could be smaller — closer to the 220–215 split Republicans won in 2024. "This isn't going to be a 10-seat majority, but it could be a six-seat majority." — Hans Nichols

Sweden's prime minister Kristersson to resign after left-leaning opposition narrowly wins election Sweden’s left-leaning opposition won a narrow majority in the country’s national election, a complete vote count showed on Thursday. Read More.

They seem to be very busy lately.

Serbia's President Vucic inaugurates assembly factory for Israel-made drones Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic said Thursday he has inaugurated an assembly factory for Israel-made drones in the Balkan country to boost its military. Read More.

Romania's president nominates a new prime minister to break a political deadlock Romanian President Nicusor Dan nominated Liberal European lawmaker Siegfried Muresan on Thursday to be prime minister as he seeks to end a monthslong political crisis after his previous two picks failed. Read More.

The Iran war is driving clean energy development. It's not enough to help the planet, yet Countries are embracing clean power and taking steps to use less energy because of the war against Iran, but it is not yet enough to help address climate change. Read More. ps:Something that should've been happening many years ago!!!!!

⛽️ No relief for energy prices Data: FactSet. Chart: Axios Markets/Matt Phillips Markets are coming around to the view that energy prices will stay high well into next year, Axios' Matt Phillips reports. Brent crude futures contracts for April 2027 jumped to more than $85 a barrel this week. That's the highest since the war in Iran began in February, and higher than at the peak for oil prices back in early May. 💥 The upswing comes after drone attacks on an alternative crude oil export route to the Red Sea and on a key pipeline. The latest prices for Brent oil futures set for delivery over the next six months or so have jumped higher recently. (That's the pink line in the chart above, compared with the same contract prices a week, a month and a year ago.) Go deeper.

Trump says he's at Iran crossroads Photo illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios. Photos: Getty Images President Trump believes he's approaching a critical juncture in the Iran war over whether to restart massive attacks in an effort to end the conflict, he told Axios' Barak Ravid today. Trump said: "I have a big decision coming up. Do I want to go in and annihilate them [the Iranian regime] or do I not? It's a big decision. Anything could happen with me." 🇺🇳 Trump's comments come ahead of a planned meeting with leaders from six Gulf countries — Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman — on the sidelines of next week's UN General Assembly in New York. The meeting could shape the next phase of the war. If Trump wants to resume major combat operations, he'll need buy-in from his regional allies. The president has said several times in recent days that the war will end soon. Some U.S. officials warn that the conflict has settled into an unsustainable, neither-war-nor-peace stalemate, and they believe that Trump could return to major combat operations after the midterms if a deal isn't reached by then. 🌍 Trump made clear in the interview that he wants to use the UN meeting to hear directly from regional allies about the war's next steps. He said: "I want to find out where they are and how they are doing. We have been very protective of them." Trump declined to say whether he'll decide on the path forward before or after the midterms. Keep reading.

Wow. Thank you for posting this.

Trump withdraws Lance Schroyer, a former Oklahoma state trooper, as his nominee to lead ICE WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House said Thursday that it was withdrawing its nomination of Lance Schroyer, a former Oklahoma state trooper, to lead U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ensuring that an agency at the forefront of President Donald Trump’s domestic agenda will remain without a Senate-confirmed leader for at least a while longer. https://apnews.com/article/trump-immigration-ice-4cd354253c2e19ad2cb5e608fccf27e7? Judge orders Kennedy Center to provide 30 days’ notice before making any major physical changes WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Kennedy Center to provide 30 days’ notice before making any major physical changes to the building, including demolishing it as President Donald Trump has threatened. https://apnews.com/article/kennedy-center-fencing-trump-closed-repairs-128f25afb33841baff16245d492f320c?

Bail set for ICE officer accused of lying and assault in non-fatal shooting in Minneapolis MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A federal immigration officer charged with shooting a Venezuelan man during the immigration crackdown that roiled Minneapolis early this year made a brief first appearance Thursday before a Minnesota judge, following months of legal and political battles over whether he would be extradited from Texas to face state charges. https://apnews.com/article/ice-officer-justice-department-minnesota-castro-abb6a23eaa9e6cbbc8e563152f6e535e?

US mortgage rates brush 7%, weighing on buyers, sellers and further straining a bleak housing market Home shoppers holding out for relief from rising mortgage rates may be in for a long wait. https://apnews.com/article/mortgage-rates-housing-interest-financing-home-d57cc5a38163cfef3a7b2639dd3d8d7c?

Saudi civil defense says falling debris from intercepted Houthi drone kills 1 CAIRO (AP) — Debris from an intercepted Houthi drone has killed a Yemeni resident of Saudi Arabia, the Saudi civil defense said Thursday. It is the first civilian casualty since the Iran-backed rebels have increased their attacks against the kingdom, targeting Saudi shipping and oil facilities. https://apnews.com/article/yemen-saudi-arabia-houthi-drone-d29f7fb71331bea0098cbdb38d7577e0?