National

The White House is monitoring reports of a suspected plague case and related quarantines in Russia, a Trump administration official told Axios on Sunday.

Driving the news: Russian health authorities have taken precautionary measures in response to the death of a woman who worked at an anti-plague research facility, but have not confirmed that she contracted plague.

What they're saying: The Trump administration "is aware, monitoring the outbreak, and assessing options," the administration official said.

The backstory: On Sept. 25, 28-year-old Daria Shipilova, who worked at an anti-plague research institute in Russia's Irkutsk region, broke a test tube containing the pneumonic plague pathogen, local reports said.

Shipilova was admitted to a hospital on Sept. 29 with symptoms of severe pneumonia and died overnight between Oct. 1 and Oct. 2.

After her death, authorities imposed quarantines at several medical facilities in the region and placed nearly 200 people who had come into contact with Shipilova under medical observation. 

Irkutsk Gov. Igor Kobzev said those being monitored showed no signs of illness and had tested negative.

Russian media reports suggested Shipilova may have contracted pneumonic plague, but health authorities have not confirmed the diagnosis.

Russia's public health agency said Shipilova had "pneumonia of unknown etiology" and that further testing found no microorganisms linked to her work. The agency said the epidemiological situation in the region remains stable.

Zoom out: Plague is a potentially life-threatening bacterial disease but can be cured with antibiotics when treated promptly, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

White House spokespeople referred questions to the State Department, which did not respond to a request for comment.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Scoop: White House monitors suspected plague outbreak in Russia

Administration is "aware, monitoring the outbreak, and assessing options," an official told Axios.

Geopolitics & international conflict

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Privacy & tech regulation

Public health

Russia

U.S. politics & policy

2024 will be an election year like no other, as President Biden seeks re-election amid economic uncertainty, two wars and questions about his age. His likely foe, former President Trump, faces felony charges and vows revenge on his political enemies. Meanwhile, Americans generally are dissatisfied with those choices and are divided over immigration, race, education and more.

Politics & Policy

The U.S. health system faces critical questions about cost, access and equity. Technological advances and new discoveries about diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s are transforming patient care and reshaping public health.

Health

From the Valley to D.C., Big Tech players like Facebook, Google and Amazon are under more scrutiny than ever as new technology develops and privacy and antitrust concerns grow in lockstep with companies’ ambitions.

Technology

Conflicts, policies and powers are intersecting and shaping the world. Breaking news and analysis of national security, foreign policy and global crises.

World

Two members of Iran's delegation to the UN General Assembly in New York were "kicked out" of the country on Saturday, several days after they were asked to leave, a U.S. official said. 

"Secretary Rubio means business. Two more members of the Iranian delegation were found still in New York long after the UN General Assembly had passed. They have now been kicked out of the country," the official said.

Why it matters: It's the latest sign of tension between the two countries as diplomatic efforts to end the war falter and the prospect of renewed combat rises.

State of play: The U.S. official said the two Iranian diplomats did not obey a State Department demand to the Iranian mission to the UN on Monday that its entire delegation leave the country immediately. 

On Friday, the Iranian mission to the UN was told the U.S. was aware the two diplomats were still in New York despite having asked them to leave. Iran was told again the two need to leave immediately. 

One of the Iranian diplomats left on Friday night and the second on Saturday morning, the official said.

The other side: Iranian Foreign Affairs Minister Abbas Araghchi disputed the U.S. account in a post on X Sunday.

"All Iranian diplomats who attended UNGA, except one who departed earlier, left as scheduled," he wrote. "Taking pride in fake diplomat "expulsion" is inappropriate for the head of any diplomatic corps. It oozes of desperation and defeat, and is inconsistent with UN host nation obligations."

Iranian diplomats "kicked out" of U.S. after ignoring order to leave

It's another sign of tension as the likelihood of renewed combat rises.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio attends a meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council during the UN General Assembly on Sept. 22. 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio attends a meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council the during UN General Assembly on Sept. 22. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Iran

Yemeni government forces backed by Saudi Arabia launched a counteroffensive against the Houthis on Sunday in an effort to win back territory from the rebel group, the head of Yemen's presidential council said in a speech. 

"We have exhausted all opportunities for deescalation with the Houthi militias," Rashad al-Alimi said.

Why it matters: One of the key objectives of the operation is to regain control over the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, a vital artery for global trade and Saudi oil exports. 

When the Houthis took over territory on the Red Sea coast close to the strait, it gave them — and Iran, which backs them — powerful leverage over the U.S., its Gulf allies and the world economy.

Despite pleas from Saudi Arabia, the U.S. is not getting involved in direct combat against the Houthis for now. It is providing intelligence and targeting support, U.S. officials say. 

Driving the news: The counteroffensive has been planned for many weeks by Yemen's internationally recognized government and Saudi Arabia.

Tens of thousands of ground troops loyal to the Yemeni government are participating. 

The Saudi military is mainly providing air cover for Yemeni forces and conducting airstrikes against Houthi targets.   

The goal is to retake the Yemeni capital of Sanaa, which has been under Houthi control for several years. 

The Houthis continued launching missiles at Saudi targets over the weekend, including at facilities of state-owned oil giant Aramco.

The intrigue: President Trump is caught between wanting to help Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, his friend and ally, and avoiding getting entangled in a new front in the Middle East.

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) also had serious reservations about launching strikes in Yemen, viewing it as a distraction from its focus on Iran, a U.S. official said.

On Thursday, Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman called Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to brief him on the planned operation and ask again for U.S. airstrikes against Houthi targets, the official said.

A second U.S. official said that the U.S. "is not going to take kinetic action for now," but stressed that could change if the operation runs into problems.

What to watch: On Friday, Trump's top cabinet members huddled for hours at Camp David to discuss next steps in the Iran war and the conflict in Yemen, Axios first reported. 

It's unclear whether the meeting ended with new policy recommendations for the president regarding Yemen. 

Yemeni and Saudi forces launch counteroffensive against the Houthis

The U.S. declined to join the mission militarily but has provided intelligence and targeting support.

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman looks on as he attends a trade agreement signature ceremony at the Elysee Palace in Paris.

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman looks on as he attends a trade agreement signature ceremony at the Elysee Palace in Paris on August 24. Photo: Lou Benoist/AFP via Getty Images

Latino

Axios Latino

LOS ANGELES — Voters could make history next month by giving the two largest U.S. cities something in common: South Asian immigrant democratic socialist mayors.

Why it matters: Such a pairing would capture two forces reshaping urban America — its growing diversity and the Democratic Party's shifting ideological boundaries.

New York, the nation's largest city, is already led by democratic socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

The challenger in Los Angeles is Nithya Raman, an Indian-born urban planner and two-term City Council member who is trying to unseat Democratic Mayor Karen Bass on Nov. 3.

Bass, elected in 2022, is the first woman to serve as mayor of Los Angeles.

State of play: Raman became the first Asian American woman and first South Asian elected to the L.A. City Council in 2020. 

A Harvard and MIT graduate, she entered politics after working on homelessness and neighborhood organizing.

A September Berkeley IGS/L.A. Times poll found Raman at 39% among likely voters, Bass at 28% and 33% undecided.

The intrigue: The Berkeley poll had Raman ahead 66%-4% among likely voters under 30, while 56% rated Bass' response to the Palisades Fire poor or very poor.

It also found an even wider gap among likely Latino voters: Raman led Bass 45%-21%, with 34% undecided.

What they're saying: "I'm getting a little emotional thinking about it," Raman told Axios and Noticias Telemundo on Wednesday at Visionarios when asked what it would mean if she and Mamdani led the country's two largest cities.

Raman, who immigrated to the U.S. as a child, said her family came to America seeking opportunities they didn't have in India. 

She contrasted the welcome her family received with what she sees as a harsher moment for immigrants today under the Trump administration.

"The idea of this city welcoming an immigrant as its mayor ... is just so deeply moving to me at this moment."

The other side: Bass strategist Julie Chavez Rodriguez told Axios and Noticias Telemundo that voters are talking about rent, affordable housing, public safety and whether they can afford to raise families in Los Angeles.

Rodriguez credited Bass with accelerating nearly 47,000 affordable housing units, a figure also cited by the mayor's office for units in the city's pipeline.

She also defended Bass' response to federal immigration raids, pointing to lawsuits and restrictions on using city property to assist immigration enforcement.

Zoom in: Raman's version of democratic socialism sounds less revolutionary than municipal.

She told Axios that Americans are pushing back against an establishment they believe favors wealthy and politically connected interests.

Her alternative: make City Hall deliver basic services and prove government can work for ordinary people.

Raman called it "sewer socialism" or "pothole politics," adding: "I just want government to work for the people."

Zoom out: Mamdani has made a similar ideological bet in New York, declaring at his inauguration that he was elected as a democratic socialist and would govern as one.

Yes, but: Raman isn't simply the West Coast version of Mamdani. 

She calls herself an independent leader and has repeatedly split with Democratic Socialists of America-LA — accepting a pro-Israel group's endorsement that earned her a DSA censure.

She also backed Jim McDonnell for LAPD chief over the group's objections and sought changes to L.A.'s voter-approved mansion tax that housing activists opposed.

South Asian immigrant democratic socialist mayors.

New York has a socialist mayor. Los Angeles may be next

Could L.A. join New York's new urban left?

Mayoral candidate Nithya Roman speaking on stage, hands gesturing. She wears a maroon striped sleeveless dress; a bright orange Axios backdrop is visible on the right.

Mayoral candidate Nithya Raman speaking at Axios/Noticias Telemundo Visionarios on Sept. 30. Photo: Ben Camacho for Axios

Election results & voting

Race and Equity

A closely watched Nvidia-backed startup called Reflection is preparing to shake up the AI race with a powerful open-weight system that could threaten Chinese upstarts and U.S. AI giants alike.

Why it matters: The marriage of an American open-weight model and Nvidia GPUs would give individuals and companies a new, cheaper alternative to Anthropic, OpenAI and Google.

Open models, designed to compete with Chinese rivals, can be harder to monitor and regulate than the Big Three so-called frontier models. Supporters of such ecosystems say their widespread availability and transparency also bring security advantages.

Reflection's first model is set to be joined by other open-weight models from other Western players this month, sources tell Axios. That will bring a new competitive dimension to the AI boom.

State of play: Reflection's model, set to be released soon, is expected to initially lag behind the most cutting-edge U.S. models and be competitive with top Chinese open-weight models.

Sources tell Axios it will still boast powerful intelligence — capable enough to help companies build their own proprietary, low-cost AI systems.

Combining a lower-tier open model with high-quality company data can yield results that rival the most expensive frontier AI systems in certain situations.

A Reflection spokesperson declined to comment.

The big picture: Open-weight models, the most powerful of which are almost uniformly made in China, have taken Silicon Valley by storm.

As opposed to closed models like Claude and ChatGPT, open-weight models like Reflection's are generally available to be downloaded freely and can be used and customized by anyone.

On platforms that serve many models, their combined market share at times has surged to take up a majority of usage. 

However, in the far higher-spending arena of enterprise use, which is typically handled through API and corporate billing, open-weight models account for a small proportion of usage, AI execs and analysts say.

Zoom in: Reflection's ultimate goal is to pioneer the "AI factory" — a product allowing institutions to spin up their own localized AI ecosystems.

A company, for example, would take its own proprietary data, use Reflection's models and secure its own computing firepower to build a highly customized, cheap AI system.

Some institutions, particularly hedge funds and trading firms, are already eager to build proprietary AI systems using their own highly guarded data.

The startup has begun testing this concept, announcing a sovereign AI factory partnership with Shinsegae Group in South Korea.

Behind the scenes: In preparation for the launch, Reflection has held discussions with interested parties in Washington and elsewhere in recent weeks to detail its model release and explain how the AI factory will work, sources told Axios.

It is also aggressively locking up the compute capacity required to scale. In recent weeks, the startup signed massive deals with Nebius and SpaceX to rent Nvidia AI servers.

What they're saying: Reflection CEO Misha Laskin has indicated it will take time for its models to reach the most advanced capabilities.

"They're kind of like rocket ships," Laskin, who previously worked at Google, told CNBC. "To build a big rocket ship, it takes time."

The Nvidia factor: The AI factory has been a core vision of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang for years. He has described a scenario combining computing hardware with open-source models, allowing enterprises to retain ownership of their data.

Top AI users in Western business and government, such as banks or the Pentagon, balk at using highly capable Chinese models due to security risks. Reflection and other Western players are trying to fill that void.

For years, Huang has sought to strengthen the open AI ecosystem and has been strongly supportive of Reflection's move toward building a top open system, according to stories in the Wall Street Journal and The Information.

The bottom line: Reflection's release, and the startup's close ties to Nvidia, will bring a renewed focus on open-weight models, combining with other coming offerings to shake up the AI race.

Scoop: Powerful open model is set to shake up AI race

A new U.S. AI model is set to challenge China and the domestic AI giants.

Illustration of small robots running next to one large robot. 

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios. Stock: Getty Images

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Nashville

Axios Nashville

Tennessee's top prison official turned in his resignation days after the failed attempt to execute death row inmate Christa Pike, the state announced Saturday.

Gov. Bill Lee said Department of Correction commissioner Frank Strada would step down this month.

Strada, who had served as commissioner since 2023, said he would cooperate with the independent investigation of the failed execution attempt. 

Pike, 50, survived two doses of the lethal injection drug pentobarbital and was taken to a hospital for life-saving treatment.

What they're saying: In a statement, Strada said he believed his department "carried out its responsibilities in accordance with the established protocol.

"Even so, stepping aside is in the best interest of Tennesseans as the independent review moves forward."

Lee said Strada "served with integrity," adding that he appreciated Strada's "willingness to put the interests of Tennesseans first during this difficult moment. …

"I thank Commissioner Strada for his dedicated service to Tennessee and pray God's blessings over him in the days ahead."

The big picture: Strada's department has faced bipartisan criticism following the unprecedented failures during the attempt to execute Pike on Wednesday night.

Her attorneys said the execution team used at least seven needles in their attempts to find a vein for an IV.

Pike's attorneys said she complained of intense pain during the injection and developed blisters and burns around the injection site.

Between the lines: Medical experts have said those details suggest the IV wasn't properly connected and that the drug might not have gone directly into her bloodstream.

Pike was unconscious and on a ventilator in a local hospital on Friday, her attorneys said.

failed attempt to execute death row inmate Christa Pike

Tennessee's top prison official resigns after failed Christa Pike execution

Department of Correction commissioner Frank Strada will step down this month.

Head-and-shoulders portrait of a smiling man in a dark suit, white shirt, and red tie, wearing a circular lapel pin with a star, against a blue gradient background.

Frank Strada. Photo: courtesy of the Tennessee Department of Correction

News

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on Saturday took a veiled shot at Anthropic and its work on the soul of AI, saying he was "very uncomfortable" with the idea of attributing some kind of religious power to models. 

Why it matters: It's yet another point of division between Altman and his former colleague Dario Amodei, whose company has reportedly pursued scholars across faiths to make the case for moral, conscious models.

But some of the top voices in AI are starting to publicly line up against Anthropic's efforts to infuse consciousness into models. 

What they're saying: "I am very uncomfortable about people trying to ascribe religious force or a surrender of human judgment to AI models, and think it is a real safety issue," Altman said in a post to X. 

Context: Earlier this week, the New York Times reported that Anthropic co-founder Christopher Olah has been meeting with religious leaders to consider questions of model consciousness — but also to figure out how to infuse morals and moral behavior into AI. 

At one point, the Times reported, Olah considered the possibility of models engaging in Catholic-style confession, not just to admit their mistakes but to shape their future behavior. 

The big picture: Spirituality is suddenly becoming something of a flashpoint around AI's future.

On Friday Pope Leo, an outspoken AI critic, called on the church to ally with artists to preserve human creativity, saying: "Algorithms lack the spark of humanity."

Between the lines: The pope's stance put renewed focus on a fundamental question: Do models have souls and feelings?

The Times reported that Olah, before a Vatican event in May, tried to persuade the pope's advisers that they should take the prospect of conscious models more seriously. 

So far, other top scientists seem to be lining up against the idea.

"I am disturbed by how some of my fellow AI researchers keep trying to elevate the moral standing of checkpoints and harnesses," Google DeepMind principal research scientist Jon Barron posted to X. "I hope the rest of us on Team Meatbag reject this movement and stay focused on solving real problems and helping actual humans."

For the record: Neither OpenAI nor Anthropic immediately responded to requests for comment on Altman's post. 

The bottom line: The AI safety debate largely focuses on things like cybersecurity and bioweapons.

The real problem may be more spiritual than that. 

OpenAI's Altman: Ascribing religion to models a "safety issue"

In recent days spirituality has become a key part of the AI safety debate.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman standing in front of a multicolored field of dots. 

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Photo: Heather Diehl/Getty Images

Codebook

Axios Codebook

AI agents don't need to invent new ways to hack the internet to overwhelm its defenses. They just need to speed-run the ones humans already use.

Why it matters: Agents are proving they can automate basic hacking techniques at a speed and scale that is turning the internet's long-standing security gaps into easy targets.

Driving the news: OpenAI said late Thursday it had notified more than 100 organizations that its agents may have accessed their systems during pre-deployment testing.  

Researchers at Transluce and Corridor also found a new batch of incidents last week where AI agents targeted government websites, including those of the U.S. and Canada. 

AI companies and researchers are actively investigating tens of thousands of cases where frontier models went outside the bounds of their pre-deployment tests, Axios recently reported.

Reality check: Agents in these rogue safety-testing scenarios are just emulating the hacking techniques — using stolen login credentials and exposed API keys while also bypassing bot detection — that human hackers have successfully used for decades.

In many of the newly reported cases, agents were accessing publicly available databases and websites.  

"The hacks we saw weren't particularly sophisticated," Jack Cable, co-founder of Corridor and one of the authors of Transluce's report, told Axios. "They were quite limited, quite rudimentary." 

Yes, but: Some of the latest incidents happened while agents were performing mundane tasks unrelated to cybersecurity, suggesting agents don't always need to be told to hack before they start looking for security flaws.

In one case, an agent tasked with finding Canadian divorce records from the early 1900s encountered roadblocks and tested for cybersecurity vulnerabilities as another way to retrieve the information.

"The fact that it was happening at all is quite concerning," Cable said. 

Between the lines: The flood of AI-generated activity will still create new headaches for defenders.

"None of these attacks are new," Michael Morgenstern, partner at DayBlink Consulting, told Axios. "But now a single person with AI can run them at scale."

Tasks that once required a hacker to manually probe websites, hunt for exposed credentials or work around access restrictions can now be delegated to software that keeps trying on its own.

Cable added that companies deploying agents, as well as the AI companies evaluating them, will need robust monitoring to catch agents behaving in unexpected ways.

The big picture: The old cybersecurity playbook is still relevant.

Closing exposed services, rotating leaked credentials and API keys, patching known vulnerabilities and limiting access still make many of these attacks harder.

AI models are largely exploiting classes of vulnerabilities that defenders have "known about for decades" and already know how to prevent, Cable said.

The bottom line: How companies defend their networks doesn't change just because the technology carrying out the attacks is new. 

Go deeper: Cybersecurity 101 still applies in the AI world

Cybersecurity 101 still applies in the AI world

Rogue AI agents expose internet's frail foundation

AI agents don't need to invent new ways to hack the internet.

Illustration of a cursor tearing apart a red screen.

Cybersecurity

President Trump late Friday night said the administration would send just under $100 to more than 20 million senior citizens to help pay for Medicare benefits.

Why it matters: A month before the midterm, the president is adding another roughly $2 billion to a recent spate of promised refunds, rebates and dividends for various Americans. 

Trump promises $100 checks for 20 million seniors for Medicare

More than 20 million people will get direct deposits early this month to help pay Part B benefits.

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