Tuesday morning news: September 15, 2026

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Trump on AI, China response » Debate is heating up in Washington over artificial intelligence.

President Trump made his feelings clear Monday about a potential industry slowdown. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei had called for one in a weekend essay, warning that AI agents could take over the internet within a year. OpenAI's Sam Altman backed him. So did Elon Musk.

Anthropic co-founder Jack Clark made the same case on Fox's Special Report:

CLARK: The worst time to react to an exponential is when it's too late. So we need to get a sensible common sense safety framework in place.

But the president criticized Amodei and dismissed fears of rogue AI as a hoax. He also said there is a “sick conspiracy” against AI data centers. And he added that a slowdown would only help China in the AI race.

Vice President JD Vance yesterday offered a more measured take:

VANCE: We wanna make sure that we actually regulate smartly and we're thoughtful about the risk here. So there are obviously risks to AI. There are some benefits to AI.

On Capitol Hill, Democrats say it's time for government to take the reins. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer:

SCHUMER: That means putting guardrails in to mitigate the risks of this technology and earn the public's trust, which is critical to American leadership.

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson says Congress has a role, but shouldn't overstep.

JOHNSON: I think we've got to have meaningful regulation that does not smother American innovation. Now, how to solve that equation, no one knows yet.

We’ll have more on this later in the program.

EPA scraps Biden-era power plant rules » And a member of the president’s cabinet is pointing to AI as one factor loosening rules on power plants.

The EPA has scrapped limits on greenhouse gases from coal and gas-fired power plants. The Biden-era rule would have made older plants capture their carbon dioxide or shut down.

At a G20 energy meeting in Houston, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said with artificial intelligence, electricity doesn't just become light and heat. It can now be turned into intelligence.

BURGUM: More intelligence is good for the planet. More intelligence is gonna transform every job, every company, every industry. It's gonna transform government. And the demand for electricity is gonna go up, and we have to continue to find ways to have reliable, affordable security to do that.

The agency argues the emissions are too small a share of the global total to trigger the Clean Air Act.

Environmental groups are suing, arguing that the agency has a legal duty to limit pollution.

NATO leader pledges more support to Ukraine » Panic at the border between Ukraine and Poland:

SOUND: [Screams and explosion]

As authorities say a Russian drone hit a passenger train just moments before NATO dignitaries passed through. That audio there courtesy of the Telegram channel Pivden.

According to Ukraine's state rail operator a train carrying former UK Prime minister Boris Johnson, among others had just left the station.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte told reporters:

RUTTE: The strike on a passenger train in Ukraine yesterday shows how desperate Putin has become. He thinks that he can stop us from supporting Ukraine and that he can undermine our unity. He is wrong. Our answer is to increase support to Ukraine so it has what it needs to defend itself.

Additionally Poland is pledging to increase security along its border with Ukraine...after the Polish defense minister said a Russian military-style drone was recovered from the Baltic Sea.

Measles in PA, U.S. » Pennsylvania's measles outbreak is closing in on 700 cases. Two people have died, and a third death is under review. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin reports.

KRISTEN FLAVIN: The state health department counted 693 cases Monday, across 38 counties. Of those, more than 130 people have been hospitalized.

The two who died last month were infants, too young for the vaccine. Over the weekend the coroner in rural Jefferson County reported the death of a 40-year-old woman and called it measles-related. The state is still looking into that.

Almost every case involved someone who was unvaccinated or whose vaccination status wasn't known. Out of nearly 700 cases, four had received the measles vaccine. The CDC says two doses are 97 percent effective.

The agency counts more than 3,000 cases nationwide this year, more than any year since the U.S. declared measles eliminated in 2000.

For WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

Indonesia ferry missing update » Indonesian crews are into a third day of searching the Java Sea, and no one has been found alive since Sunday.

The ferry was carrying more than 240 people when it rolled over on an overnight run to Borneo. 108 were pulled from the water that first day. Six are confirmed dead. Roughly 130 are still missing.

Rescue crews are searching with 17 ships and aircraft, dive teams and underwater drones. The ferry was still floating upside down Monday.

A survivor remarked that the ferry looked overcrowded, and that no alarm or announcement came as it listed. Officials say they still don't know what went wrong.

I'm Kent Covington.

Coming up, the Houthi rebels gain ground in Yemen. Plus, getting kids off screens in schools.

This is The World and Everything in It.

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