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Spaceflight Now reported on September 13 that SpaceX completed the 700th launch of its Falcon rocket family in the early hours of the day from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, sending the final three O3b mPOWER medium-Earth-orbit satellites for Luxembourg-based operator SES into orbit, formally closing out the multi-year medium-Earth-orbit satellite internet upgrade program. The Falcon family has crossed from maiden flight to 700 missions in just over a decade, averaging more than 60 launches per year and becoming the most frequently launched and most reusable rocket series in commercial spaceflight. The success not only cements SpaceX’s lead in the reusable launch and commercial launch services markets, but also gives SES a fully upgraded capability to deliver differentiated services to government, maritime, aviation and telecom operator customers around the world.

The Block, citing Reuters, reported on September 13 that Mexican authorities raided a hidden cryptocurrency mining operation on suspicion of power theft and money laundering. The site, located near a local hydroelectric dam, is the fourth crypto farm discovered in the area since early 2025. The incident reflects rising tension in Latin America between energy-intensive crypto mining activity, local power supply stability, and regulatory compliance.

The Washington Post reported on September 13 that a Pennsylvania woman has died of measles-related complications, with the local coroner confirming the cause. The case is the third death reported in the state’s current measles outbreak, drawing further attention from US public health authorities to vaccination coverage and the responsiveness of disease control systems. NBC News and The Guardian have followed up with parallel reports, noting that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is facing growing scrutiny over the pace of its response amid concurrent outbreaks in multiple states.

CNN and BBC News reported separately on September 13 that Wisconsin Republican Congressman Tom Tiffany’s small plane made an emergency landing on a lake after an in-flight emergency, and Tiffany himself swam to shore where he was picked up by nearby fishermen and taken for medical evaluation. No serious injuries were reported, and the Federal Aviation Administration and other agencies are jointly investigating the cause of the incident.

The Wall Street Journal reported exclusively on September 13 that Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is actively pushing a plan to make Canada an ‘associate member’ of the European Union, and has held multiple rounds of informal consultations with EU counterparts. If implemented, the arrangement would give Canada partial member-like rights in trade, defense, energy, and migration while avoiding the full obligations of EU membership. The proposal is widely seen as a landmark move by Canada to reposition its external strategy and reduce dependence on the United States amid sustained US tariff and trade pressure.

BBC News and The Guardian reported on September 13 that a Russian drone struck an international passenger train running from Kyiv to Warsaw near the Ukrainian-Polish border, causing damage to carriages and injuries to passengers. The strike occurred shortly after former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and a group of senior European officials had concluded their visit and left the station, a temporal coincidence that quickly triggered high alert across Europe. The incident directly challenges the safety baseline of international civilian transport and further escalates the diplomatic confrontation between Europe and Russia over the situation in Ukraine, and is being viewed as a landmark event marking a significant rise in the spillover risk of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

CoinDesk reported on September 13 that as the U.S. Senate returned from summer recess, the Crypto Clarity Act still lacks a clear schedule for advancement in the Senate. The bill has already passed the House, but the Senate remains significantly divided over core provisions on digital-asset classification, the allocation of regulatory authority and stablecoin reserve requirements. Several industry observers have described the bill as being in a Schrödinger-style state of simultaneous life and death, stressing that until the Senate majority leader signals that it will be placed on the priority agenda, the bill’s ultimate fate remains highly uncertain.

USA Today reported on September 13 that a large number of U.S. retirees who spent their lives saving are now deeply anxious about spending and retirement planning amid persistent inflation, rising healthcare and long-term-care costs and financial-market volatility. Multiple surveys show that more than half of U.S. retirees are cutting discretionary spending, delaying medical decisions or considering returning to part-time work. Financial advisers point out that the traditional ‘4 percent withdrawal rule’ can no longer support basic living costs in the current interest-rate and inflation environment, and retirement planning is undergoing a structural reassessment.

The BBC reported on September 13 that a former researcher at AI lab Anthropic said in an interview that staff inside the company are ‘genuinely frightened’ about the threat that artificial intelligence could pose to humanity. The remarks came shortly after Anthropic’s chief executive publicly called for the pace of frontier-model development to be slowed and stressed that the associated risks are ‘very serious’, sparking broader debate across the industry about the path of frontier-model safety governance. Several AI safety researchers note that the disclosures from inside Anthropic reflect the structural tension that leading labs face as technical capability advances rapidly while external regulation lags behind, a debate that could directly shape the tempo of global AI legislation in the near term.

The BBC reported on September 13 that the Iran war is reshaping cooperation within the Brics grouping while also exposing deep internal divisions over how to build an alternative international order, advance a common currency and set up a dispute-resolution mechanism. Brics members broadly agree that a new global order is needed but have so far failed to converge on what should replace the existing one or on how to make that vision operational. Several observers note that the Iran war could become the moment when the Brics shifts its priority from expansion to substantive coordination, but internal disagreements are likely to persist in the short term.