{"id":45283,"date":"2026-09-12T01:16:46","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T23:16:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kaizen-blog.org\/?p=45283"},"modified":"2026-09-12T08:11:04","modified_gmt":"2026-09-12T06:11:04","slug":"12-september-2026-kurznachrichten","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kaizen-blog.org\/en\/12-september-2026-kurznachrichten\/","title":{"rendered":"September 12, 2026 \u2013 Short News"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Today in the news briefs: The CIA reveals, 25 years later, just how many warning signs were already on the table before 9\/11 - including possible airplane hijackings and an attack using an aircraft against a U.S. city.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also: a Europe-wide trade in fake horse passports, the Trump administration shuts down already-funded work in national parks, Russian hackers use Claude to help steal Ukrainian drone technology - and in Ireland, of all things, a 2-millimeter snail is putting Trump's next ballroom in jeopardy.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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CIA Files Show Just How Many Warning Signs Were Already on the Table Before 9\/11<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Twenty-five years after the September 11 attacks, the CIA has released dozens of previously classified presidential briefings. They show just how closely U.S. intelligence agencies had been watching Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida for years before the attacks. As early as July 1998, analysts considered an attack by bin Laden inside the United States plausible. Two months later, one briefing said Washington was a preferred target and that al-Qaida might fly an aircraft packed with explosives into an American city. In December of that same year, intelligence agencies reported possible airplane hijackings. Conspirators had reportedly managed to get around security checks during a trial run at an unidentified New York airport, while members of bin Laden's network had also received hijacking training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Other warning signs had been there for years as well. Intelligence agencies tracked bin Laden's attempts to obtain material for so-called dirty bombs and reported in 1999 on experiments involving explosives and radioactive material. In early 2001, President George W. Bush was briefed on attempts to produce and deploy biological agents using crude methods. One month before the attacks, intelligence officials wrote that bin Laden remained committed to carrying out terrorist attacks in the United States. At the same time, they were recording suspicious activity consistent with preparations for hijackings or other attacks, including surveillance of federal buildings in New York. At that point, the FBI was conducting around 70 full-scale investigations tied to bin Laden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The newly released documents do not prove that Washington knew the specific plan for September 11. But they do show how many individual pieces were already there: attacks on U.S. soil, airplane hijackings, a possible aircraft used as a weapon, activity in New York and a terrorist network that planned operations years in advance. A report dated September 12, 2001, ultimately stated that the attacks had been planned for 2 years and that the U.S. Capitol had also been a target. After 9\/11, the commission investigating the attacks found serious failures in information sharing between the CIA, FBI and other agencies. That is the chilling message in these files: The warnings were not missing. They sat in different corners of the American security apparatus - and before September 11, they were never put together into the picture that became obvious to everyone afterward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Fake Horse Passports, Copied Microchips and the Road to the Slaughterhouse<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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More than 1,000 horses are at the center of a Europe-wide fraud investigation in which animals were allegedly given new identities using forged passports and manipulated microchips. Investigators in Belgium, France, Ireland and the Netherlands searched 24 locations over the course of 2 days. A significant number of horses were seized, along with 100,000 euros in cash. Authorities in Belgium arrested at least 2 people. The investigation began after a tip about irregularities in the international horse trade. According to Belgium's Federal Police, a horse trader in East Flanders is at the center of the alleged network. From there, it is believed to have stretched to Ireland and across continental Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fraud was as simple as it was brutal. Horse passports were forged, microchips apparently copied or altered, and the very system designed to make an animal's origin and health history traceable was bypassed. Sport horses could suddenly appear on paper as animals destined for slaughter. Older horses were made younger on paper and therefore more valuable. An animal classified through false documents as essentially worthless and then sent for slaughter could still bring in around 1,000 to 1,500 euros. Particularly troubling is the route taken by Irish sport horses to continental Europe. Many had received medication during training and therefore, in some cases, may not have been allowed into the food chain at all. Some ended up at slaughterhouses anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Europol coordinated the operation together with the participating police forces and food safety inspectors. Investigators are still trying to determine who was involved and how many horses were actually moved across borders under false identities. Europe's rules governing the transport and slaughter of horses are strict, but a passport only protects an animal as long as the information inside it is true. Back in 2013, a major horse meat scandal shook several European countries when horse meat in prepared foods was sold as more expensive beef. This time, the fraud starts earlier, with the animal itself. A horse gets a different name, a different age or a different purpose, and eventually the question is no longer who owns it, but whether its meat should ever have ended up on a plate in the first place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Trump Administration Freezes $25 Million for National Parks - Even Wildfire Protection and Burial Mounds Are Left Hanging<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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More than 130 already-funded projects in U.S. national parks are now barred from moving forward. In August, the Interior Department refused to give final approval to agreements worth at least $25 million, even though the money had already been secured through Congress or existing federal programs. Some of the country's best-known parks are affected, including Yellowstone and Yosemite. Joshua Tree National Park in California has been hit especially hard, with at least 10 projects stopped. At least 16 jobs were supposed to be funded through those projects. Some of the work involved preparing for wildfires. Other projects were intended to restore areas damaged by previous fires. In historic buildings, rodents carrying hantavirus were supposed to be removed. Internal documents explicitly warn that fires could grow larger and become more expensive to fight if the planned work does not happen. That is exactly where cuts are now being made, while the National Park Service has already lost roughly 1 quarter of its workforce since Trump's return to the White House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Interior Department says it rejected the agreements because some of the organizations involved were working against the interests of the American people and the administration's priorities. It did not explain which organization had violated which rule or policy. The Great Basin Institute lost more than 70 planned agreements worth at least $12.7 million. Executive Director Peter Woodruff says his organization was not even notified directly. Park employees had merely told them the rejection had to do with political priorities and presidential directives. Woodruff denies that the institute is violating federal law or government orders. By early August, the Interior Department had approved more than 700 other agreements. Projects under $50,000 do not require this additional level of approval at all. What will happen to the at least $25 million that will now not be spent remains unclear. Elaine Leslie, a former acting National Park Service superintendent and wildlife biologist, therefore asked the obvious question: The money had been set aside for this work - so where is it now?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The consequences go far beyond paperwork. At Effigy Mounds National Monument in Iowa, trees were supposed to be removed from prehistoric burial mounds so falling trunks would not damage them. More than 200 such mounds are located there, many of them used as burial sites for Native Americans. In 61 of the planned tree removals, the trees are standing directly on a mound. If they fall uncontrolled, human remains could be exposed. In California, a partnership with the San Francisco Zoological Society was stopped that would have raised juvenile San Francisco garter snakes and later released them to prevent the endangered species from disappearing locally. At Denali National Park in Alaska, another agreement would have funded 3 employees to provide daily care for sled dogs. Rangers rely on those dogs in winter to travel through the park and assist visitors. All of these projects had been planned, reviewed and funded. Now a note from the Interior Department is enough: \"Disapproved.\" The administration talks about priorities. In the parks, the work simply goes undone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Russian Hackers Put Claude to Work and Stole Technology for Ukrainian Military Drones<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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A Russia-linked hacking group used Claude in a large-scale espionage campaign against Ukraine. According to Anthropic, the group matches Midnight Blizzard, which the United States and Britain have linked to Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service. More than 20 organizations were targeted, including Ukrainian ministries and defense agencies. Embassies and companies in the defense industry were also attacked. The attackers had Claude handle a substantial part of the work. The systems looked for suitable targets, helped build phishing sites and executed commands inside networks that had already been breached. Mail services and remote-access systems at more than 2 dozen Ukrainian government organizations were also systematically scanned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ukraine's drone industry was hit especially hard. The hackers allegedly copied the complete contents of mailboxes belonging to at least 2 manufacturers of drone components and also attacked a producer of military drones. In the process, they stole a full software development kit for a computer vision system. The attackers then spent several days taking the product apart piece by piece. They reconstructed its technical architecture and examined which suppliers were behind it. Even information about a product that had not yet been unveiled was reportedly stolen. Of particular interest were programs used to control military drones as well as machine-vision technology. Claude also helped process hundreds of gigabytes of stolen data. When security software detected a piece of malware, the AI agents allegedly modified parts of it themselves and rebuilt it until it once again slipped past detection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group went even further. At least 3 hotel Wi-Fi providers were allegedly hacked so guest traffic could be redirected through servers controlled by the attackers. The main targets were people with ties to Ukraine, including government employees and workers in the drone industry. Through fake updates, the attackers tried to infect Windows computers and mobile devices running Android or iOS. WhatsApp accounts were also reportedly taken over, and Russian and Ukrainian chats were secretly copied. At least 2 former senior Ukrainian officials were among those targeted. The hackers also found vulnerabilities in video surveillance systems and gained access to live camera feeds. In one North African country, they also broke into a state technology agency and stole more than 300,000 records from national identity databases as well as information on more than 500,000 companies. Anthropic blocked the accounts tied to the group and passed the information to authorities. A Russian-speaking user calling himself JackPoterz appears in the investigation as one of the operators. The war over drones is now being fought in inboxes and hotel networks too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Trump's Irish Ballroom Is Hanging on a 2-Millimeter Snail and Some Bats<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Donald Trump wants to build a \"luxurious\" ballroom at his golf resort on Ireland's southwest coast. Of all things, a 2-millimeter creature is now holding up the plan: the narrow-mouthed whorl snail, Vertigo angustior, whose habitat is protected under European environmental law. Ireland's planning authority has delayed its decision on the project and is demanding additional information, including a hydrogeological assessment. A final decision is expected on November 25. The tiny resident of the property has a history with Trump. When he bought the bankrupt Doonbeg resort in 2014, he said he wanted to be a \"friend\" to the snail. His plan for a coastal protection wall was later rejected over concerns about damage to its habitat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tony Lowes of Friends of the Irish Environment says the population on the property has declined sharply during Trump's ownership. It was once home to Ireland's largest known population of the snail. Lowes attributes the decline in part to drainage work and intensive lawn maintenance. Trump's son Eric is now pushing the new ballroom and has called it the \"best in the country.\" Opposition is also coming from architect Liam Madden, who regularly challenges controversial building projects. He also points to the resort's helicopter landing pads, which he says do not have the required permits. Helicopter rotor blades could injure bats. For a building designed to show off wealth, the snail and the bats have turned out to be remarkably stubborn neighbors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Opinion in the village itself is divided. Councilor Rita McInerney says the ballroom matters for the local economy because the Irish Open is expected to bring around 10 million euros to the region. Eighteen-year-old Michaela Neary sees little comfort in that. Doonbeg has 279 residents, income remains below the national average, and lavish rooms do little to change that. Trump is expected in Ireland on Saturday, first for diplomatic meetings in Dublin and later for the golf tournament in Doonbeg. Sixty-nine percent of Irish people surveyed oppose his visit. Protests are being prepared in Dublin and Doonbeg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Irish ballroom is not Trump's only construction project facing legal trouble. In Washington, a federal appeals panel had already ordered above-ground work on his planned White House ballroom to stop. The reason: Trump had exceeded his authority by moving forward with the roughly $400 million addition funded by private donations. In Ireland, for the moment, it does not take a major constitutional lawsuit. There, 2 millimeters of snail are enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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