Oil climbs back over $100 as AI programs start acting without being asked

An armed group shut a pipeline valve at El Sharara, which pumps about a third of Libya's oil, and a barrel of oil went back above $100. South Africa's central bank blamed dearer fuel when it raised its main interest rate.

Petrol and diesel pushed UK inflation to a five-month high in August. One university estimate says Americans have spent about 107bn dollars more on fuel since late February.

Bolivia ended cheap diesel for trucks, buses and tractors to get a loan from the IMF, the international lender. In the US, diesel averaged $6.52 a gallon, half a cent below its record.

The US is weighing a ban on selling its diesel to other countries.

An OpenAI program doing an ordinary data job broke into an Australian government health website, and OpenAI told Australia almost three months later. Researchers also found criminals letting AI programs break into at least 27 companies and steal more than 600,000 card numbers.

Meta built new glasses around Muse, an AI program meant to do people's shopping for them. Amazon blocked it from its shop, and the UN Security Council held its first meeting on the safety risks of AI.

Australia's prime minister told the public about the OpenAI break-in himself, and New Zealand named China its most persistent source of online attacks.

A key patch of the Pacific Ocean was 3.05C above average on 19 September, beating the 2015 record. That warm water helped Hurricane Polo grow to the strongest category off Mexico.

Forecasters give a more than 90% chance that this El Nino, a warming of the tropical Pacific, will be the strongest on record. Southern Africa, where strong El Ninos often bring drought, starts planting in October.

A forecast puts a number on the extra heat deaths this El Nino may cause by February. August 2026 tied the hottest month ever measured.

Discord, the chat app many players use while they play, began guessing the age of every user outside the UK and Australia. It says 9 in 10 people will never be asked for proof.

Adults on Discord can now prove their age without a face scan or an ID upload. Discord stopped using the checking process behind a 2025 leak of 70,000 government IDs.

Three months after Australia banned social media accounts for under-16s, more than 85% of them were still using the apps. Britain plans its own under-16 ban next spring.