Middle East — Iran Retaliates Across the Gulf, Israel’s Katz Threatens to Send Tehran “Back Into the Stone Age”#

Iran answered the renewed US strikes covered in September 2’s roundup by firing roughly 25 ballistic missiles at Jordan and Kuwait and two dozen-plus drones at Bahrain, Kuwait, and Erbil on Wednesday. Jordan’s military said 13 Iranian missiles entered its airspace, ten of which were intercepted, with three landing in remote areas; Bahrain and Kuwait both said their air defenses shot down incoming drones, and two drones aimed at Erbil, Iraq, were also intercepted. No American casualties were reported. President Trump said on Wednesday he expects the renewed fighting “will not last long.”

The exchange sharpened further on Thursday when Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz, speaking at a Rosh Hashanah toast at the Defense Ministry, warned that “an Iranian attack on Israel will free Israel from all existing constraints regarding strikes on Iran.” Katz said Israel would “strike all of Iran’s national, military, and civilian infrastructure — including its energy infrastructure — and send Iran back deep into the Stone Age and darkness,” adding that economic strain and fear of unrest inside Iran could push the regime toward “desperate measures.”

Sources: Al Jazeera — Iran claims attacks on Bahrain, Jordan, Iraq after US strikes kill 11 · Asharq Al-Awsat — Iranian Drone and Missile Attacks Target Kuwait, Jordan, Bahrain and Iraq · Al Jazeera — Iran war updates: Trump says renewed US-Iran fighting will not last long · The Jerusalem Post — Defense Minister Israel Katz says any Iranian attack would free IDF ‘from any restrictions’ · Xinhua — Israeli defense minister threatens to hit Iran’s energy infrastructure if Tehran attacks

Ukraine — Moscow Airports Go Dark After Zelensky’s “Closed Skies” Warning, Overnight Strikes Hit 13 Oblasts#

President Volodymyr Zelensky warned this week that Russian airspace “will be de facto closed” because of Ukraine’s expanding long-range drone campaign, telling foreign airlines, insurers, and governments to account for “drones in Russia’s skies on a scale that has to be taken into account.” The warning had immediate effect: flights in and out of Moscow’s Sheremetyevo and Vnukovo airports were disrupted for a second straight night on Tuesday into Wednesday, with 21 cancellations and 235 delays at Sheremetyevo and 22 cancellations and 94 delays at Vnukovo. Turkish carrier Pegasus Airlines canceled several Moscow-bound flights — three aircraft reportedly turned back mid-route — and Turkish Airlines, flydubai, Kuwait Airways, and other foreign carriers also dropped some Russia services.

Russia kept up its own bombardment overnight into Wednesday, striking targets across 13 Ukrainian oblasts and killing at least 5 people and injuring 67, the Kyiv Independent reported, extending the run of near-nightly attacks on Kyiv covered in September 2’s roundup. Odesa Oblast took the heaviest toll, with at least 17 people injured, including three children; drones also reached western regions including Khmelnytskyi and Vinnytsia, damaging apartment buildings, houses, and a humanitarian aid distribution point.

Sources: Kyiv Independent — Moscow airports cancel flights after Zelensky’s ‘closed skies’ warning · The New Voice of Ukraine — Moscow airports halt flights for second straight night following Zelenskyy warning · Kyiv Independent — Russian attacks kill 5, injure 67 across Ukraine as drones target western regions

Tech & AI — OpenAI’s Astra Crosses “Critical” Cyber Threshold, Anthropic Ships Fable 5.1 and Mythos 5.1, Google Avoids Ad-Tech Breakup#

OpenAI said its unreleased Astra model became the first to cross the “Critical” cybersecurity capability threshold in its Preparedness Framework, after expert-led testing found it could discover previously unknown vulnerabilities in a hardened browser and operating system and chain them into working exploits without human help — including a full browser-compromise chain that escaped the sandbox to execute commands on the host, and a local-privilege-escalation chain to root. OpenAI said Astra will still ship, but its most advanced cyber capabilities will be restricted to a vetted group of testers under additional safeguards.

Anthropic separately launched Claude Fable 5.1 and Claude Mythos 5.1 on Monday, its latest coding- and knowledge-work-focused models built on the Fable/Mythos 5 line first shipped in June. Fable 5.1 is generally available and cuts cache-read pricing by 75%, bringing typical-workload costs down roughly 25% and highly agentic workloads down up to 45% versus Fable 5; Anthropic said the update also cut safeguard interventions during an average Claude Code session by about 60%. Mythos 5.1, aimed at vetted cybersecurity and life-science professionals, remains restricted to Anthropic’s “trusted access” program.

In antitrust news, US District Judge Leonie Brinkema ruled Monday that Google will not be forced to break up its ad-tech business, despite having found in April that the company illegally monopolized the online advertising market. Brinkema said Google must still make unspecified behavioral changes to its ad exchange and publisher-ad-server businesses, reasoning that a breakup and the ensuing years of appeals risked harming the small publishers who rely on Google’s tools more than it would help competition.

Sources: SecurityWeek — OpenAI’s Astra Crosses ‘Critical’ Cyber Threshold After Finding Zero-Days · CNBC — OpenAI says Astra AI model is its first that crosses ‘Critical’ cybersecurity capability · OpenAI — Responding to the next frontier of critical cyber capabilities · Neowin — Anthropic launches Claude Fable 5.1 and Mythos 5.1 with lower costs and fewer restrictions · Anthropic — Introducing Claude Fable 5.1 and Claude Mythos 5.1 · AdExchanger — Google Won’t Have To Break Up Its Ad Tech Business, Judge Brinkema Rules · Axios — Google won’t be forced to break up its ads business

Science — BepiColombo Begins Its Final Approach to Mercury#

The ESA-JAXA BepiColombo mission entered its “arrival phase” at Mercury on Thursday, nearly eight years after its October 2018 launch, as its Mercury Transfer Module began the process of separating from the two science orbiters it has carried more than 6 billion miles. The Mercury Planetary Orbiter and Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter are due to settle into orbit around the planet on November 21, separate from each other in December, and begin science operations in April 2027, aiming to explain how a planet so small and so close to the Sun formed and evolved.

Sources: CNN — Mercury’s enduring mysteries are ready for an unprecedented close-up · EarthSky — BepiColombo mission 1 step closer to Mercury today