Datacenter developers accused of manipulating EPA air permits
Bill Gates has called on the US to regulate the development of artificial intelligence, warning that the technology left unchecked could cause “a billion deaths,” the Guardian reported in its Sunday First Thing newsletter.
The same newsletter reported that datacenter developers are manipulating the Environmental Protection Agency’s air-pollution permitting process to avoid emission controls and scrutiny of their projects, according to environmental advocates. In New York City, activists gathered outside OpenAI’s offices during climate week, with figures showing that from 2024 to 2026 at least $64 billion in proposed datacenter buildout was blocked by local organizing.
The Guardian also reported that Donald Trump asked Chinese President Xi Jinping whether China would like to buy US weapons, alongside the panda-diploma arrangement that brought giant pandas Ping Ping and Fu Shuang to an Atlanta zoo after Xi Jinping’s trip to Washington. The Guardian characterized the panda arrangement as “softer diplomacy” than the reported weapons exchange.
Madonna and Taylor Swift triumphed at the 2026 MTV Video Music Awards, with Madonna winning three trophies and Swift taking the night’s top honor to extend her run as the most-awarded artist in VMAs history.
Experts largely attribute an increase in human-bear encounters, up in 15 states, to the impact of unusual weather on the animals’ food sources and a rebound in recent decades in black, brown and grizzly bear populations. In Salzburg, Austria, a new museum aims to lift the profile of The Sound of Music in the city where much of the film was made.
UK counter-terrorism arrests near RAF base. British counter-terrorism police are investigating whether Iran is behind a suspected bomb plot after armed officers found explosives in three vans parked minutes from RAF Fairford, an airbase used by the US military. Five men were arrested on terrorism charges, and investigators’ initial view was that materials found in the vehicles were consistent with improvised explosive devices. Counter-terrorism police said: “At around 12.45am Sunday, police received a call relating to three suspicious vehicles which appeared to be travelling towards the airbase. Armed officers responded and five men were arrested.” A resident of the nearby village of Whelford told The Guardian she was driving home from a party when she saw three white vans parked on a country road and a “large group of hooded and balaclavaed” men, prompting her to call emergency services. Police arrived 15 minutes later.
White House press ban. Attorney General Todd Blanche defended the administration’s decision to revoke press credentials from CNN, MS Now and Politico, arguing that “it is a privilege and not a right to be there.” A judge issued a temporary restraining order on Thursday requiring the White House to restore the credentials, and the affected journalists were allowed entry to the executive complex. On Saturday, CNN said its journalists were barred from joining the press pool traveling with the president on Air Force One. Pressed to identify specific reporting the administration objected to, Blanche said: “The information coming out of CNN and some of these other networks is wholly and completely, almost 100% negative toward the president.” Without providing evidence, Blanche repeated the administration’s position that the affected outlets’ reporting amounted to a “national security problem.”
Democratic midterm strategy. With control of the US Congress in the balance, the Guardian’s Shrai Popat interviewed Yasmin Radjy, a grassroots organizer, about what Democrats are getting right – and wrong – in the election run-up.
US-Iran negotiations. US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz told CNN that the Trump administration is skeptical of Iran’s negotiating posture. “They were asking for everything upfront with a promise that they would then talk,” Waltz said. “The president is just not confident that the Iranians are coming in good faith and that we will truly negotiate the end of their nuclear program.”
Gaza City debris clearance. The removal of war debris in Gaza City, in which lives, memories and unexploded Israeli bombs lie buried, is one of the largest clearance operations in modern history, according to Guardian reporting from Gaza City by Seham Tantesh.
Weather. Hurricane Nolo was moving away from the Hawaiian islands on Sunday, but the threat of heavy rain, flash flooding and strong winds persisted. Mexico’s National Meteorological Service said Polo was expected to make a Baja landfall on Monday. Meanwhile, a nor’easter storm was battering the US east coast with heavy winds causing power outages.
Previously covered items. Two other items from the Guardian’s Sunday newsletter were already covered in full by prior MSI reporting:
Former US federal government officials warned Sunday that the post-election “counting window” after November’s midterm elections is a particularly vulnerable moment for the Trump administration to cast doubt on results, following a succession of court setbacks to its plans to restrict voting access. With less than six weeks remaining until polls close, Caitlin Durkovich, a former deputy homeland security adviser, said: “I think because the administration has lost so many of their attempts to disrupt the normal process in court, that they are going to use the claim of foreign interference at the end of voting days to either seize equipment or to seize ballots, whether they’re legally justified to do so or not.”
Senator John Kennedy told CBS News on Sunday that the White House’s expansion of a taxpayer-funded advertising campaign promoting Trump’s political agenda before the midterms “probably” violates the Hatch Act, a law that bars government workers from partisan campaign activities. Kennedy said “there ought to be a rule” against such spending. The senator appeared to acknowledge an argument from Democratic congressman Jamie Raskin that any government employees who worked on the pro-Trump ads may have committed a felony violation of the law.