⚡ TODAY IN HISTORY

On October 7, 1985, Palestinian gunmen hijacked the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro in the Mediterranean with more than 400 people aboard. In 2023, Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel and killed more than 1,200 people. Today? Israel marks three years since that attack with a nationwide moment of silence at 6:29 a.m., the minute it began.

TOP NEWS

Russia pounds Ukraine with 70 missiles and 130 drones 15+ KILLED

Russia launched the barrage at Kyiv and a dozen other Ukrainian regions overnight into Wednesday, on President Vladimir Putin’s 74th birthday. Ukrainian officials said at least 15 people were killed, while Russia’s Defense Ministry said it struck factories that build Ukraine’s missiles and drones.

US pulls bombers from British base over Iran-linked plot 7 ARRESTS

Citing an Iran-linked threat, the US moved its bombers out of RAF Fairford, a base about 100 miles west of London used for strikes on Iran this year. British police arrested a 22-year-old man in London on Tuesday, the seventh arrest in a suspected plot that US officials say targeted American troops and planes.

Trump approves first Army firing squad since World War II DEC. 3

Nidal Hasan, the former Army psychiatrist who killed 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas, in November 2009, will face a firing squad under an order President Trump approved Monday. The Army set the execution for Dec. 3 at Fort Hood, which would make it the first US military execution since 1961.

Most families of soldiers killed in Kuwait skip Trump’s Gold Star event 19 US TROOPS DEAD

An Iranian drone strike on Port Shuaiba, Kuwait, killed six US soldiers on March 1, the deadliest attack on American forces in the Iran war. Only one relative of the six told the Associated Press they would attend Tuesday’s White House reception, as some families press for answers about the strike.

Yemen’s war spills into Saudi Arabia as the death toll climbs 270+ DEAD IN A DAY

After Houthi rebels seized nearly all of Yemen’s Red Sea coast in September, Yemen’s Saudi-backed government launched a counteroffensive on Sunday to take it back. More than 270 troops and fighters died in 24 hours, AFP reported, and the Houthis fired a ballistic missile at Riyadh’s main airport early Wednesday.

WORLD

Tankers hit near Hormuz as Iran calls US talks ‘meaningless’ 4 TANKERS IN 3 DAYS

With talks on reopening the Strait of Hormuz stalled, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Monday that negotiations with the US were “meaningless.” A British maritime agency said four tankers were hit by unknown projectiles in the strait, which carried a fifth of the world’s oil before the war, between Saturday and Monday.

Turkey and Pakistan rush troops to Saudi Arabia

As Houthi missiles and drones target Saudi airports and oil sites, Turkey and Pakistan agreed Monday to a “rapid deployment” of troops to the kingdom. The three countries announced the move after a meeting in Riyadh under a new mutual defense alliance.

French student protests shut 400 high schools 2,000 ARRESTS

Students angry about teacher shortages, crowded classrooms and run-down buildings began protesting at a school near Paris in mid-September, and the movement has since spread nationwide. About 400 high schools closed on Oct. 2, and Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin said police had arrested about 2,000 people, mostly teenagers.

Three Iranians go on trial in London for spying on journalists

British prosecutors say the men watched homes linked to two journalists at Iran International, a Farsi-language channel that Tehran labels a terror group, as groundwork for a possible attack. Mostafa Sepahvand, Farhad Manesh and Shapoor Noori pleaded not guilty when the trial opened Tuesday.

Antarctic ‘ghost particle’ hunter wins Nobel in physics $1.2M PRIZE

Francis Halzen, an 82-year-old Belgian-born physicist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, won the prize Tuesday for leading IceCube, a detector buried under nearly a mile of ice at the South Pole. IceCube captures neutrinos, tiny particles from deep space that scientists say hold clues to how the universe evolved.

POLITICS

Trump names spy chief Jay Clayton as AI czar 2 JOBS

After promising in September to name an AI czar, President Trump picked Jay Clayton, his director of national intelligence and a former head of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Clayton is expected to keep his intelligence post while leading AI policy, a role left open when David Sacks stepped down in March.

White House says Trump’s Los Angeles remark was misread

At a rally in Nebraska on Monday, President Trump suggested letting Iran strike Los Angeles and San Diego, and California Gov. Gavin Newsom called the remark “deranged and dangerous.” White House spokesperson Steven Cheung said Trump meant that a nuclear Iran would have threatened US cities.

Trump blames Ukraine, not the Iran war, for high gas prices $6.53 DIESEL PEAK

With fuel costs elevated and the Nov. 3 midterms four weeks away, President Trump wrote Monday on Truth Social that Ukraine’s strikes on Russian refineries were driving up gasoline prices. The same day, Trump signed an order easing limits on tax-free red-dye diesel after the fuel hit an all-time high of $6.53 a gallon in September.

Bill to end clock changes stalls in the Senate

In July, the House passed the Sunshine Protection Act, a bill with support from both parties that would make daylight saving time permanent. Senate Majority Leader John Thune says the bill remains stuck, so most Americans will still set their clocks back one hour on Nov. 1.

Rubio says Iran has ‘lost complete control’ of Hormuz

Secretary of State Marco Rubio made the claim Wednesday in Athens, Greece, where he opened a new round of talks with Greek officials. Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, has said Iran will not reopen the strait until conditions it set in June are met.

MARKETS

S&P 500 closes above 7,800 for the first time +0.58%

Strong demand for AI chips lifted Nvidia and AMD to all-time highs Tuesday, pushing the S&P 500, the index of 500 large US companies, to a record close of 7,818.93. The Nasdaq Composite also set a closing mark of 27,599.79, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 253 points to 51,521.28.

US trade deficit hits a 17-month high $105.6B

Imports of AI chips, crude oil and gold climbed to $420.8 billion in August, far outpacing a 1.4% gain in exports, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. The resulting gap, up 13.7% from July, was the widest since March 2025, just before President Trump’s sweeping global tariffs took effect.

Brent slips below $100 as Gulf oil flows recover ~$98/BARREL

Gulf oil exports outside Iran reached 81% of prewar levels in September, and G7 nations agreed to release more emergency stockpiles. Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, fell to about $98 a barrel Tuesday but stays roughly 30% above its price before the Iran war began on Feb. 28.

10-year Treasury yield eases from a 24-year high 5.27%

The 10-year Treasury yield, which helps set US mortgage rates, closed Monday at 5.31%, its highest level since 2002. The yield slipped to 5.27% Tuesday, while the 30-year yield held near 5.64%.

Google’s $4.3 billion nuclear deal sends Constellation up 13%

To secure power for its AI build-out, Alphabet, Google’s parent, signed a 20-year deal Tuesday to buy 890 megawatts of nuclear power from Constellation Energy. The electricity will come from upgrades at six existing plants in Illinois, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

ENTERTAINMENT

Paramount closes its $110 billion Warner Bros. takeover $110B

Seven months after Paramount Skydance beat Netflix in a bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery, the deal closed Tuesday once Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan denied a last-minute bid to block it. The combined company, now called Skydance, puts HBO Max and Paramount+ under one roof.

Fitch cuts the new Skydance’s credit rating on day one

The ratings firm Fitch lowered Skydance’s credit rating Tuesday, citing its heavy debt and the risk of merging two large studios. On the same day, Skydance raised pay and extended contracts for its top executives, Deadline reported.

Tom Cruise’s ‘Digger’ bombs with an $8 million opening $8M DEBUT

Warner Bros. spent $160 million to $180 million on the climate satire from director Alejandro González Iñárritu, which casts Cruise as an oil tycoon. The film’s weekend debut was the actor’s weakest in 19 years, while the Colleen Hoover adaptation “Verity” took No. 1 with $32.6 million.

PTL televangelist Jim Bakker dies at 86

Jim Bakker and his first wife, Tammy Faye, built “The PTL Club” into a TV ministry watched by millions before a 1987 sex scandal and a 1989 fraud conviction brought it down. Bakker died Monday, his second wife, Lori Bakker, said, and no cause of death was given.

Blunt, del Toro and Brolin return for ‘Sicario 3’

Emily Blunt, Benicio del Toro and Josh Brolin will star in a third film in the drug-cartel thriller series that began in 2015, Deadline reported Tuesday. Steven Knight is writing the script, Padraic McKinley will direct, and filming is expected to start in 2027.