⚡ TODAY IN HISTORY

On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and opened the space race with the United States. In 1853, the Crimean War began when the Ottoman Empire declared war on Russia. Today? Russia has told NATO it is ready to use nuclear weapons if the alliance tries to cut off Kaliningrad, Moscow’s territory on the Baltic Sea.

TOP NEWS

Third US aircraft carrier heads for the Middle East 10,000 TROOPS

Seven months after the US-Israeli war with Iran began on Feb. 28, and with peace talks stalled, the Pentagon is sending the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier group and about 10,000 sailors and Marines to the region. The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that President Trump has told aides he expects to resume bombing Iran in late November, after the Nov. 3 midterm elections.

Mortgage rates post their biggest weekly jump in four years 7.28%

A sell-off in US government bonds is spreading into housing, where loan costs follow the 10-year Treasury yield. The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate rose to 7.28% this week from 7.03%, according to the home-loan company Freddie Mac, the steepest climb since October 2022.

Co-pilot stabs captain, tries to crash Israel-bound jet 174 ABOARD

On Wednesday, Sept. 30, the Omani co-pilot of FlyDubai Flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv stabbed Indian captain Smit Machchhar and sent the plane into a steep dive, Israeli officials said. Machchhar and passengers regained control and landed the jet, carrying 174 people, in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, while investigators work to establish a motive.

Russia warns NATO of nuclear response over Kaliningrad

In a diplomatic note sent Sept. 30, Moscow warned that Russia would be ready to use nuclear weapons if NATO members tried to cut off Kaliningrad, a Russian territory wedged between Poland and Lithuania. Speaking in Moscow on Oct. 1, President Vladimir Putin also ruled out a ceasefire on long-range strikes with Ukraine.

Tennessee halts executions after inmate survives lethal injection

Christa Pike, condemned for the 1995 murder of fellow Knoxville Job Corps student Colleen Slemmer, was set on Sept. 30 to become the first woman executed in Tennessee in about 200 years. Pike survived two doses of the sedative pentobarbital and remains in critical condition, and Gov. Bill Lee has stayed her execution pending an outside investigation.

WORLD

Brazil votes today in a Lula vs. Bolsonaro race 45% VS. 40%

Brazilians head to the polls Sunday, Oct. 4, in the first round of a general election that pits President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva against Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, son of former President Jair Bolsonaro. Recent polls put Lula at 45% and Bolsonaro at 40%, and a candidate needs more than half the valid votes to avoid a runoff.

Russia’s heaviest grid attack in months forces Kyiv power cuts 7 KILLED

Russia fired nearly 190 drones and ballistic missiles at Ukraine’s energy system overnight into Wednesday, Sept. 30, killing seven people, including a child, President Volodymyr Zelensky said. Grid operator Ukrenergo then imposed emergency power cuts in Kyiv and three nearby regions, the capital’s first since spring, as Ukraine heads into winter.

US tells Europe to release diesel reserves or lose American supply 120M BARRELS

With the Iran war choking Middle East fuel supplies, the Trump administration has asked the European Union to release 120 million barrels of diesel from emergency stocks over six months, Reuters reported. Washington has warned France and Germany, which hold about 35% of the EU’s reserves, that they could otherwise face a US diesel export ban.

Hurricane Rachel grows into a Category 3 storm off Mexico

Days after Hurricane Polo made two landfalls in northwestern Mexico, Rachel strengthened into a major hurricane on Thursday, Oct. 1, with winds of 121 mph off the country’s Pacific coast. Forecasters expect Rachel to stay at sea, but Mexican officials warned of floods and landslides from heavy rain in Baja California Sur, Sinaloa and Nayarit.

Nigerian public workers strike through Sunday

A day after Nigeria marked 66 years of independence on Oct. 1, public servants across the West African country began a three-day warning strike that ends Sunday, Oct. 4. Union leaders called the walkout after the federal government failed to meet demands from the Joint National Public Service Negotiating Council, the workers’ bargaining body.

POLITICS

Supreme Court opens its new term Monday with a climate case OCT. 5

By federal law, the Supreme Court’s term starts on the first Monday in October, and the justices begin Oct. 5 with Suncor Energy v. Boulder County. A Colorado county is seeking millions of dollars from oil companies over climate damage, and later this month the court will also weigh how long immigrants can be held without a bond hearing.

Georgia election board asks Justice Department to ban QR-code vote counting

In letters sent Wednesday, Sept. 30, Georgia State Election Board director James Mills asked Attorney General Todd Blanche’s Justice Department to prohibit the state’s QR-code ballot scanners and set a six-month deadline to replace them. Early in-person voting in Georgia begins Oct. 13, and voting-rights outlet Democracy Docket notes the Justice Department has no legal power to declare voting machines unlawful.

Renee Good’s family sues over her killing by an ICE officer

Nine months after Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer Jonathan Ross fatally shot Renee Good, 37, in her SUV in Minneapolis on Jan. 7, her family filed two federal lawsuits on Thursday, Oct. 1. One claims wrongful death against the US government, and the other names Ross, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

No shutdown this fall as funding runs to Dec. 11

A year after a 43-day shutdown that began Oct. 1, 2025, Congress passed a stopgap spending bill early, and President Trump signed it on Sept. 2. Federal agencies are now funded at current levels through Dec. 11, which sets the next budget deadline about five weeks after the midterms.

Trump takes to the campaign trail with approval near 36%

With a month left before the Nov. 3 midterm elections, President Trump headlined rallies in Durant, Oklahoma, on Oct. 1 and Mobile, Alabama, on Oct. 2. Polling averages compiled on Sept. 24 put his approval at about 36%, with 61% of Americans disapproving.

MARKETS

10-year Treasury yield hits its highest level since 2002 5.34%

Investors are demanding more to hold US debt as energy costs push inflation up, and the Federal Reserve raised rates in September for the first time since 2023. The 10-year yield, which sets the pace for mortgages and car loans, touched 5.34% on Thursday, Oct. 1, before closing at 5.24%.

Diesel sets a record as China holds back fuel $6.50/GAL

PetroChina, the country’s largest oil company, reportedly suspended its October exports of gasoline and jet fuel to protect supplies at home. The move tightens a market already strained by the Iran war, and the US average diesel price has climbed to a record $6.50 a gallon.

Oil jumps $4 a barrel on the new Middle East buildup $102 BRENT

Crude prices settled more than $4 a barrel higher on Thursday, Oct. 1, after Washington confirmed a third carrier group was headed to the Middle East, Reuters reported. Brent, the global benchmark, traded near $102 on Friday, up about 58% from a year ago.

Britain’s 30-year bond yield crosses 6%

The bond sell-off is global: the yield on Britain’s 30-year government bond reached 6% on Thursday for the first time since 1998. In France, the 10-year yield climbed to 4.95%, its highest since 2002.

S&P 500 starts the fourth quarter in the green 7,666

Chipmakers and software stocks lifted the S&P 500, the benchmark index of 500 large US companies, 0.19% on Thursday, Oct. 1, to close at 7,666.45. Energy led all sectors with a gain of nearly 2%, and the index sits about 2% below its August record of 7,816.70.

ENTERTAINMENT

Anne Hathaway’s ‘Verity’ set to win the weekend box office $30M+ PROJECTED

Amazon MGM Studios’ version of Colleen Hoover’s best-selling thriller opened Friday in 3,510 theaters, and Variety projected a $30 million to $35 million debut. A No. 1 finish would be Hathaway’s third of 2026, after ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’ and ‘The Odyssey.’

Tom Cruise’s ‘Digger’ tracks for his weakest opening since 2007 $120M+ BUDGET

Alejandro González Iñárritu’s R-rated satire casts Cruise as an oil tycoon behind an environmental disaster, and forecasts put its opening at $8 million to $15 million. JoBlo’s $11 million estimate would rank as Cruise’s lowest debut since 2007’s ‘Lions for Lambs,’ for a film that cost more than $120 million.

Paramount’s $110 billion Warner Bros. takeover set to close Tuesday $110B

A California judge approved Paramount Skydance’s settlement with state regulators on Wednesday, Sept. 30, clearing the deal’s last hurdle, and both companies expect it to close Oct. 6. The merger puts CNN and CBS News, HBO Max and Paramount+ under one owner, which makes ‘Digger’ the final film Warner Bros. releases as a standalone studio.

‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ comes home after a box office record $936.8M

On Sept. 15, Tom Holland’s fourth Spider-Man film passed ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ to become the highest-grossing movie ever in the US and Canada. Fans can rent or buy it digitally on Amazon starting Tuesday, Oct. 6.

‘Avengers: Doomsday’ presales top $50 million $50M+

Marvel’s next ‘Avengers’ film had sold more than $50 million in US tickets by mid-September, three months before it opens in December, Deadline reported. Those presales came the same week ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ set the domestic box office record.