{"id":45063,"date":"2026-09-09T02:44:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T00:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kaizen-blog.org\/?p=45063"},"modified":"2026-09-09T07:21:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T05:21:13","slug":"09-september-2026-kurznachrichten","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kaizen-blog.org\/en\/09-september-2026-kurznachrichten\/","title":{"rendered":"September 9, 2026 \u2013 Short News"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Today in our short news: Trump hands out $45,000 cash gifts to close female aides in the White House while ethics experts raise questions. At the same time, Republicans are still going all in on Trump in the midterms - despite just 38 percent approval.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also: a Russian bot army feeding the German public fake reports made to look like they came from Handelsblatt, the Financial Times, Bloomberg, Politico and The Economist. In them, Friedrich Merz is suddenly accused of stealing 700 million euros in Ukraine aid, while Germany supposedly wants to keep the 5,000 drones for itself. Completely fabricated stories packaged as Western journalism.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also: Iran's alleged capture of a modern U.S. underwater drone near the Strait of Hormuz, newly released records about toxic air in New York after 9\/11 and the worst PISA results since the study began.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Trump Hands Out $45,000 Cash Gifts to Close Female Aides - Ethics Experts Raise Serious Questions<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Donald Trump gave his close aide Natalie Harp, as well as Margo Martin and Chamberlain Harris, $45,000 each in cash. In the official financial disclosures, the payments appear as a \"holiday cash gift.\" Each of the three women earns around $150,000 a year at the White House, meaning Trump's gift amounts to almost a third of their annual salary. Harp works as the president's personal assistant and is known for constantly supplying Trump with printed news articles and social media posts. Martin accompanies the president at many appearances and films his daily activities for social media. Harris also works as a personal assistant and was additionally appointed by Trump to the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, which oversees construction projects in Washington, among other things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Walt Nauta also received money from the president. The director of Oval Office operations reported a $20,000 gift while earning an annual salary of $175,000. Nauta was already part of Trump's inner circle during his first term and was later a co-defendant in the classified documents case involving Mar-a-Lago. Harp, Martin, Harris and Nauta also worked for Trump in Florida between his two presidencies. That closeness is exactly what makes the payments so sensitive. Government ethics experts say they are not aware of any comparable case in which a U.S. president gave White House subordinates cash gifts of this size.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Richard Painter, a former top White House ethics lawyer under George W. Bush, believes the payments may be illegal. A federal law prohibits supplementing the salary of government employees with money from outside sources. Painter says Trump is making it financially easier for the recipients to work for him in the White House - exactly the kind of thing a president is not simply allowed to do. The White House disagrees and says Trump has been giving Christmas money to people around him for years. The payments had nothing to do with the employees' official duties and were therefore legal. Whether that argument holds up legally is far from settled. Under the law, both the person who pays an improper salary supplement and the recipient can be held liable. The statute of limitations is five years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don Fox, former acting director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, takes a more cautious view of the legal question. Based on the facts currently known, he says it cannot be determined with certainty that Trump violated the law. He still finds the payments problematic. Someone who receives $45,000 as a gift from their boss could feel indebted to that person afterward. That is exactly where the problem begins, even if it never results in a criminal case. A president is not a private businessman who can simply hand his staff an envelope whenever he feels like it. His employees are paid by the government and work at the center of power in the U.S. government. Fox remembers a fruit basket as one of the most expensive gifts he ever received from a superior during his own time in government. Under Trump, we're talking about $45,000 in cash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Russian Bot Army Targets German Drone Program - Merz Is Suddenly Accused of Stealing 700 Million Euros<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Hardly had it become known that more than 5,000 attack drones for Ukraine were being built in Germany before the Russian fake-news machine got moving. The \"Matryoshka\" bot network is spreading videos designed to look as though they came from Handelsblatt, the Financial Times, Bloomberg, Politico or The Economist. The names and visual appearance of major Western media outlets are being used to make completely fabricated stories look credible. One of them claims Friedrich Merz stole 700 million euros from an aid program for Ukraine. According to the bots, of the original 1.5 billion euros, only 800 million reached Kyiv, while the rest supposedly ended up with Merz through companies in Sweden and Lithuania. The editor-in-chief of the Financial Times is even falsely quoted as personally calling Merz the organizer of a fraud scheme. There is no evidence for any of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Another video claims Germany is hiding the actual drone production in the middle of a residential area in eastern Germany and is deliberately putting the public at risk. In reality, the exact location is not being disclosed for security reasons. That is exactly what the bot accounts are turning into their story. An alleged Bloomberg report goes even further: a new German national security strategy supposedly assumes that Ukraine will no longer exist by the end of 2027. That is why, according to the fake claim, the 5,000 drones will actually stay in Germany and Merz is merely using Ukraine as an excuse to rearm the Bundeswehr. Sweden is dragged into it as well. More than 90 percent of German military aid is supposedly routed through the country, while 25 billion euros in civilian aid for Ukraine allegedly ended up with companies linked to Merz and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson. There is no solid evidence for that either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is actually happening looks very different. Since the beginning of September, Germany has been ramping up serial production of more than 5,000 medium- and long-range drones for Ukraine. The German government contract is worth around 300 million euros and is supposed to be completed by mid-2027. The systems are being built by a joint venture between the German-American company Auterion and Ukrainian manufacturer Airlogix. The first drones have already been produced at a site near Munich, while a second production line is being set up in eastern Germany. The long-range version is expected to be able to fly up to 1,500 kilometers. Airlogix supplies the airframes and mechanics, while Auterion provides the software and operating system. The drones are equipped with AI modules that are supposed to allow them to reach their targets even under heavy electronic jamming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Matryoshka\" does not operate through a single fake account that can quickly be exposed. Large numbers of profiles are created that pose as ordinary users, media outlets or analysis platforms. The same fabricated content is then launched across multiple platforms at the same time, complete with the logos of well-known news organizations and supposed quotes from real journalists. The current videos even end with a call to share them \"by any means\" with family and friends. On top of that comes the claim that the drone program has pushed the CDU close to a historic low shortly before the elections. The Russian campaign does not need real revelations for any of this. It takes a real German weapons production program, fills the undisclosed security details with fabricated stories and then slaps the names of Western media outlets on top.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We deliberately do not publish direct links to the fake images and videos in order to avoid helping spread them further or giving the Russian disinformation campaign additional reach.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Trump Turns the Midterms Into a Test of His Own Political Power - Even Though Just 38 Percent Approve of His Performance<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Republicans are putting Donald Trump completely at the center of their convention in Dallas even though his approval ratings have continued to fall throughout his second term. Trump plans to appear on both nights and effectively turn the November 3 midterms into a vote on himself. His message to his supporters is to vote as if he personally were on the ballot. For Republicans, that is a huge risk. Republican pollster Whit Ayres points to just 38 percent approval of Trump's job performance and warns that MAGA voters alone are not enough to win competitive districts and states. Independent voters in particular, whom the party needs, are increasingly turning away. The war in Iran is unpopular, gasoline and food are expensive, and many Americans view the economy more negatively than they did just months ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump and those around him are still betting everything on Trump. Party members are supposed to defend his policies in Dallas, sell his administration's accomplishments and boost vulnerable candidates with his name. JD Vance will appear, along with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Attorney General Todd Blanche, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Donald Trump Jr. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, on the other hand, is not on the speakers list. Other Republican lawmakers and donors are also staying away from the event. Some candidates openly say that with only weeks left before the election, campaigning back home matters more than spending two days in Dallas. Trump himself pushed for the unusual convention even though major party conventions like this normally only take place during presidential election years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The nervousness is especially obvious in Texas of all places. Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton is fighting for a Senate seat his party had safely held for decades. His Democratic opponent James Talarico is outraising Paxton and is specifically trying to appeal to moderates and Republicans who have become disillusioned with Trump. MAGA Inc., Trump's political support network with around $400 million in reserves, is therefore pouring $10 million into this race alone. While Paxton speaks at the convention, Talarico's campaign plans to hold a statewide food drive in Dallas to draw attention to high food prices. The fact that Republicans have to spend this much money and attention in Texas at all shows just how uncomfortable the situation has become.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dallas also has little in common financially with an ordinary party gathering. The Republican National Committee is charging $88,600 for a photo with Trump. The cheapest package offered to Republican lawmakers for two tickets costs $25,000. At the same time, the party is defending only narrow majorities in both chambers of Congress. Democrats need just three additional seats to take control of the House, and even the Senate, which until recently was considered safer for Republicans, is now competitive again. Trump is now supposed to save the very election that is increasingly being weighed down by his own unpopularity. Republicans are betting that nobody can mobilize their voters the way he can. On November 3, we will find out whether Trump can still bring enough people to the polls - or whether he now motivates the other side just as reliably.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Iran Claims Prize Near Hormuz: Revolutionary Guards Say They Captured Modern U.S. Underwater Drone<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Iran's Revolutionary Guards claim they captured a modern American unmanned underwater vehicle at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday morning. According to their account, it happened during a combined reconnaissance and combat operation. The Revolutionary Guards did not identify the exact system they say fell into Iranian hands. Images that later appeared online, however, apparently show a device resembling the Dive-LD made by the U.S. company Anduril. If that is confirmed, this would not be some small drone, but an autonomous underwater vehicle weighing around three tons and measuring roughly 5.8 meters in length. The system can dive as deep as 6,000 meters and remain underway autonomously for up to ten days. Each unit is estimated to cost around $2.5 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.S. Navy has been receiving these systems since April 2025 as part of its Replicator program. According to Anduril, its Rhode Island plant can build up to 200 of these underwater drones per year. The systems are designed, among other things, to conduct reconnaissance and operate for extended periods without a crew in hard-to-reach maritime areas. The Strait of Hormuz is an especially sensitive area for that. A significant share of the world's oil shipments passes through the strait, while U.S. and Iranian forces have been operating in close proximity there for years. If Tehran really has captured one of these U.S. systems intact, the big question will be what technical condition it is in and what data or components Iran may still be able to analyze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Iranian account has not yet been confirmed by the United States. That matters because Tehran has reported several military hits on U.S. systems in recent months. Iranian media previously reported the downing of an American MQ-1 reconnaissance drone over the Strait of Hormuz. Back in June, Iran also claimed to have hit an American AH-64 Apache attack helicopter patrolling the strait. Donald Trump promised a military response at the time. If the latest incident is confirmed, it would be technically sensitive for the United States above all. A modern unmanned underwater system is not simply a lost piece of equipment. It can contain sensors, control technology and software that Iran would be very interested in examining. That is exactly why it will matter whether Washington confirms the Iranian account, denies it or tries to play down the loss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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25 Years After 9\/11: New York Knew About the Toxic Air - and Still Told People It Was Safe<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Now the records are on the table, and they are devastating for New York's leadership at the time. After the September 11, 2001 attacks, the city knew that dangerous substances were in the air around Ground Zero. Residents, workers and first responders were still publicly reassured. Around 170,000 pages have now been released. They contain records of asbestos being found as late as ten months after the attacks, up to 800 meters from the ruins of the World Trade Center. In parts of Lower Manhattan, levels were above permitted limits. A report from November 2001 also documented elevated concentrations of the carcinogen benzene. Asbestos levels rose at the Fresh Kills landfill, where debris was taken. At the Deutsche Bank building right next to the World Trade Center, inspectors found asbestos, carcinogenic substances, heavy metals, mold and bacteria for months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And while these readings were known internally, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani told people in the fall of 2001 that the smell around the ruins posed no health danger. His successor Michael Bloomberg said in February 2002 that all tests had shown acceptable air quality. At the same time, the city had already been discussing something very different internally in October 2001: the risk of more than 10,000 possible lawsuits from people exposed to toxic substances after returning to Lower Manhattan. New York later acted as though it did not even know about this so-called Harding memo. The city denied that it existed. It was eventually found not in a New York government archive, but in a private archive in Texas. The rest of the records did not come to light voluntarily either. 9\/11 Health Watch demanded their release back in 2023. The environmental agency initially said the documents did not exist. Later, 68 boxes containing hundreds of thousands of pages turned up. In May 2026, a court ruled that the city's refusal to release them was unlawful and called its actions arbitrary and unreasonable. Now $34 million is being spent to digitize the very records that supposedly did not exist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For thousands of people, this is not some historical footnote. More than 10,000 members of the New York Fire Department are now suffering from illnesses linked to September 11. More than 4,000 of them have cancer. Twenty-five years later, the released records show how early the danger was known - and how long people were still told the air was safe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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PISA Collapse: One in Five 15-Year-Olds Fails to Reach the Basic Level in Reading, Math and Science at the Same Time<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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The new PISA numbers are not some minor setback, but a massive collapse. One in five 15-year-olds in OECD countries now fails to reach even the basic level in reading, math and science at the same time. In 2022, that figure was still 16 percent. Now it is 19.7 percent. If teenagers who were not tested at all are also included, for example because they do not attend school or never progressed beyond sixth grade, the share rises to 29 percent. Almost one in two teenagers then falls below the basic level in at least one of the three subjects. More than 760,000 teenagers from 91 countries and education systems took part in PISA 2025, representing around 33 million 15-year-olds. Never in the 25-year history of the study have average results in all three areas been this bad. Reading has been hit especially hard. Over ten years, the OECD average fell from 489 to 461 points. A 28-point drop is roughly equivalent to a year and a half of schooling. Math fell from 485 to 463 points, while science dropped from 489 to 482. In reading, 31 percent are now below the basic level, compared with 35 percent in math and 26 percent in science.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teenagers perform especially poorly with long texts. As soon as they have to compare multiple sources, evaluate information and draw conclusions from it, the results drop sharply. Since 2018, the share of students who read quickly and accurately has fallen by around seven percentage points. At the same time, the number of students who read quickly and give incorrect answers has risen from seven to eleven percent. Results also get worse toward the end of the two-hour test. Researchers see this as evidence of declining attention, persistence or confidence when dealing with difficult tasks. The COVID pandemic alone does not explain it. The decline had already started before that, and no direct connection could be found between the length of school closures and later results. At the same time, only 57 percent of teenagers now say they are not bored when learning new things. This figure has worsened in 60 education systems since 2022 and improved in none. Support at home is also declining: only 71 percent say their parents ask about their school day at least once a week, compared with 77 percent in 2022. Students now spend an average of just 1.4 hours a day on homework, around ten minutes less than before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The simple explanation that \"phones and AI are to blame\" does not hold up against the numbers either. Teenagers in OECD countries spend around six hours on digital devices on a weekday, 3.4 hours of that for entertainment. At school, they spend an average of 1.7 hours using devices for lessons and another 1.1 hours for other purposes. Twenty-eight percent say classmates are distracted by devices in most or even every science class. In parts of China, Japan and South Korea, that figure is no higher than ten percent. Phone bans do reduce distraction, but researchers found no link to higher nationwide PISA scores. AI chatbots are already part of everyday life: 86 percent used them for at least one school task, 46 percent at least once a week and 19 percent almost every day. Teenagers who did not use AI at all for summaries, drafts or initial research scored better on average. Moderate use, however, did not perform worse than no use at all. Money does not provide a simple answer either. The gap between richer and poorer students narrowed, but mainly because the results of wealthier students fell more sharply. In science, teenagers from the wealthiest households still score 85 points higher than the poorest - more than four years of schooling. Thirty-seven percent of disadvantaged teenagers fail to reach the basic level there, compared with twelve percent of the wealthiest students. More spending does not guarantee success either: Luxembourg spent around $289,000 per student and still performed worse than countries spending less than half that amount.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

East Asia and a handful of European countries remain at the top. Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang lead in math and science, while Singapore leads in reading. Estonia and the United Kingdom are the only education systems outside East Asia to rank among the top ten in all three areas. Only 18 of the 91 participants scored above the OECD average in all three subjects. Ukraine took part despite Russia's war of aggression, with 7,105 teenagers from 17 regions. There, 65 percent reached the basic level in science, 54 percent in math and 55 percent in reading. A total of 29.3 percent fell below the basic level in all three areas. Russia did not participate in either 2022 or 2025. Its last comparable results date back to 2018. What PISA 2025 shows is painfully clear: in many wealthy industrialized countries, teenagers are losing ground in exactly the skills they will constantly need later in life - understanding longer texts, comparing multiple pieces of information and not giving up on a task after just a few minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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