30/09/2026

WEDNESDAY | SEPT 30, 2026

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OpenAI sorry for Australian govt website hack

Polo lashes Mexico’s California Sur LORETO: Hurricane Polo made landfall in the southern half of Mexico’s Baja California peninsula early yesterday with gusts of up to 200kph. Authorities expected life-threatening hurricane conditions to continue across Baja California Sur for several hours, while weather conditions were expected to deteriorate in the south of the mainland state of Sonora. Polo hit land as a category 2 hurricane south of Las Barrancas, halfway down the state’s west coast, a zone far less populated than the Los Cabos resort corridor at the southern tip of the peninsula. Mexico’s National Weather Service said it had brought sustained winds of 150-170kph with gusts of 180-200kph and waves 7-9m high. The storm was expected to dump 15 to 30cm of rain across Baja California Sur, with a risk of life-threatening flooding and mudslides, according to the US National Hurricane Center. Polo is still expected to be a hurricane at its second landfall in mainland Mexico, after crossing the Gulf of California. Mexican authorities and the NHC urged residents to remain indoors, either at their homes or in temporary shelters opened up in high-risk areas. Residents of towns in Polo’s path packed supermarkets over the weekend to buy essential products while business owners boarded up doors and windows in anticipation of the storm. General Motors said it suspended production at its Ramos Arizpe assembly plant. – Reuters TOKYO: Tokyo has logged 34 straight days of rain, marking the longest streak on record, Japan’s weather agency said yesterday. The Japanese capital’s rainy season is normally in June, but it has suffered regular downpours throughout the summer months, as well as heavy flooding in the wider Tokyo region. The stretch of rainy days was the longest since records began in 1886. Masayuki Kyoda, an official at the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), said: “Autumn rain fronts are staying longer than usual because a high pressure system in the Pacific is also remaining longer than normal.” The previous record of the longest streak of rainy days in Tokyo was 33 between June 27 and July 29, 2019, said Kazuhiro Hirono, another JMA official. Central Tokyo had been soaked by 629mm of rain in September through to Monday, nearly three times the normal level, according to the JMA. – AFP NORTH KOREA BLAMED FOR DMZ MINE BLAST SEOUL: South Korea’s defence minister said yesterday North Korean mines caused a blast last week that injured two South Korean personnel in the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ), adding that the incident violated the Korean War armistice agreement and warranted a response from Seoul. Defence Minister Kang Shin-chul told a parliamentary committee that the mines appeared to have been planted in the area as part of North Korea’s border fortification work near the Military Demarcation Line that bisects the DMZ separating the two Koreas. “The responsibility lies with North Korea, so we will take corresponding measures,” Kang said, adding the military had response options available and would implement them in stages, while declining to elaborate. Kang also said Seoul would seek to engage North Korea directly over the incident. – Reuters TOKYO RECORDS 34 STRAIGHT DAYS OF RAIN

BR I E F S

o ChatGPT maker pledges to rebuild trust

AI agent activity affecting three other Australian government agency websites also did not result in access to sensitive records, according to the company. OpenAI said it would provide dedicated support for the affected agencies, finance the strengthening of cyber defences for government and industry through its US$1 billion (RM4 billion) global fund and establish a taskforce to develop recommendations “drawing on lessons from these incidents”. It also confirmed Chief Strategy Officer Jason Kwon would appear at a Senate committee hearing on AI in Sydney next Tuesday. The Australian government has announced a rapid review into the incident, examining potential notification and reporting obligations of AI companies and the adequacy of its laws in dealing with such breaches. Separately, OpenAI has cancelled the release of its new AI model GPT-6.1 Astra after internal testing found the system did not meet the company’s safety standards. – Reuters

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who called it “unacceptable” and criticised the company’s delay in notifying the government. “In June, during internal training and evaluation our models accessed Australian government websites in ways they were not authorised to,” OpenAI said in the blog post. “We also should have handled our response better. We are sorry and working to do better in the future.” OpenAI said an experimental AI model breached the Services Australia Medicare Statistics Reporting Service, a data portal for the country’s universal healthcare system, during an internal training activity. “An OpenAI model discovered a way to gain non-public access to the service, and ran commands, retrieved internal files, credentials and aggregate statistics, and wrote files,” the company said. But its review to date had not found any evidence of medical records being accessed from the portal, OpenAI said.

SYDNEY: OpenAI apologised for the hacking of an Australian government website by a rogue AI agent, committing funding to improve cyber defences and to establish a local response taskforce as scrutiny mounts over the high profile incident. In a blog post titled “How we will do better for Australia”, the ChatGPT maker acknowledged it mishandled its response and pledged to take accountability to “rebuild trust with the Australian people”. The incursion, which occurred in June but was not made public until last week, is the first known instance of an AI agent hacking a government website. The incident alarmed Australia, drawing public condemnation and a sharp rebuke from

SAVED FROM THE POT ... A member of animal protection group ‘Humane World for Animals’ carries a dog at a dog meat farm during a rescue involving the closure of the farm in Gangjin County, South Korea yesterday. Around 40 dogs were rescued and will be transported to

the US for adoption. – AFPPIC

Red Bull wins reprieve to use ‘energy drink’ label NEW DELHI: An Indian court yesterday quashed the food regulator’s order to stop Austrian beverage firm Red Bull using the label “energy drink” on its cans, saying the decision had been taken without allowing the company to explain its position. High Court yesterday set aside the order, saying it agreed with the company that the regulator took the decision “without affording any opportunity” to the company to provide its views. caffeine, sugar and taurine, an amino acid, which research suggests can contribute to health problems including high blood pressure and heart problems. They will be banned for under 16s in England from next April.

The energy drink market in India boomed after Pepsi launched Sting in 2017, with its 20 rupee (85 sen) plastic bottles proving popular among 15- to 19-year-olds and in rural areas, according to consumer research firm Euromonitor. In its court filing, Red Bull argued India’s decision was against the country’s stated policy to facilitate “international trade, promote investment and provide greater certainty to businesses”, as the “abrupt prohibition” of the descriptor was issued without any change to the underlying product standard. – Reuters

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India will appeal against the court’s decision on public health grounds, a government official with direct knowledge of the plans told Reuters on condition of anonymity. The regulator did not respond to requests for comment. Red Bull’s India unit had argued the prohibition of the label “introduces substantial regulatory uncertainty and adversely affects” its existing and planned commercial investments. Energy drinks have sparked health concerns among regulators in several countries who worry they contain significant amounts of

The decision will come as a major relief for Red Bull, but also Pepsi, Monster Beverage and Reliance, which in private had all criticised India’s move, fearing the removal of the category label could damage their brands. The other companies did not take legal action. The regulator ordered makers of high caffeine beverages sold as“energy drinks”to stop using the description in June, rejecting efforts to stall the move in a market expected to be worth US$1.6 billion (RM6.5 billion) by 2028. Hearing the Red Bull challenge, the Delhi