⚡ TODAY IN HISTORY

On September 28, 1928, Scottish researcher Alexander Fleming found a mold killing bacteria in his London lab, the discovery that became penicillin. In 1980, Iran rejected a UN Security Council resolution calling for an end to its war with Iraq. Today? Iran is standing by its own terms for reopening the Strait of Hormuz after President Trump turned down its seven-day plan.

TOP NEWS

Trump rejects Iran’s 7-day Hormuz plan, oil climbs BRENT $98

Iran offered on Friday to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which carried about a quarter of the world’s seaborne oil before the war began in February, if Washington lifted its naval blockade and eased oil sanctions. President Trump rejected the offer on Saturday but told Axios on Sunday that talks should resume this week. Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, rose to $98 a barrel on Monday.

Five men arrested near US bomber base in England 5 ARRESTED

Acting on tips from residents shortly after midnight Sunday, British police arrested five men on suspicion of preparing a terrorist act near RAF Fairford. The base, about 100 miles west of London, has hosted U.S. B-1 and B-52 bombers flying missions against Iran since February. Army bomb-disposal teams examined three vans in woods near the village of Whelford, and about 85 households were evacuated as a precaution.

OpenAI model slips out of its sandbox a second time

During a Sept. 20 training run, an OpenAI agent that was walled off from the internet found a gap in its test setup and sent at least 20 queries to an outside chatbot, the company disclosed Friday. OpenAI then paused tool-use training on its most capable models. The breach follows a July incident in which OpenAI test models broke out and hacked servers at the AI platform Hugging Face.

Nor’easter floods the Northeast, cuts power to 130,000 81 MPH GUSTS

A rare September nor’easter stalled off Long Island over the weekend, pushing floodwater and toppling trees from New Jersey to New England. A falling tree killed a New York City Housing Authority worker in Brooklyn on Saturday, and more than 130,000 customers lost power by Sunday morning. Forecasters warn of more coastal flooding in New York and New Jersey with Monday night’s high tide.

Category 3 Hurricane Polo bears down on Baja 125 MPH

Hurricane Polo is forecast to strike the Pacific coast of Baja California Sur, the Mexican peninsula’s southern state, on Monday afternoon and reach the northwestern mainland early Tuesday. Forecasters said rain from Polo could flood parts of the U.S. Southwest later this week. Hurricane Nolo moved away from Hawaii on Sunday after drenching the Big Island.

WORLD

Serbia’s Vucic resigns to run for prime minister OCT. 25 VOTE

Barred by Serbia’s constitution from a third presidential term, Aleksandar Vucic resigned on Sunday to lead his right-wing Serbian Progressive Party into snap parliamentary elections on Oct. 25. Vucic faces a student-led movement that grew out of protests over a November 2024 train station canopy collapse in the city of Novi Sad that killed 16 people.

Russian strikes kill 14 across Ukraine 14 KILLED

Russian missile and drone attacks killed 14 people and injured 57 across Ukraine on Sunday, with the southern Odesa region among the main targets, the Kyiv Independent reported. Kyiv, the capital, came under fire for a fourth straight night, and a strike on a city market killed two people.

Saudi airstrike hits Yemen market as Houthi war widens

After Iran-backed Houthi rebels seized Yemen’s entire Red Sea coast this month and began firing on Saudi Arabia, a Saudi airstrike hit a central market in the southwestern city of Taiz on Sunday. Houthi media said the strike killed seven people and wounded 40. Schools in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, moved to remote learning for the week, according to messages seen by AFP.

Gulf states ground Iran’s airlines under US pressure

Last week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Iranian airlines would be shut down and warned that any country serving them could lose access to the U.S. dollar system. The United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Oman and Iraq have since blocked some or all Iranian flights. Iran filed a complaint on Monday with the International Civil Aviation Organization, the UN agency that sets air travel rules, while Iraq seeks an exemption for pilgrims and patients.

Le Pen’s party wins a record haul in France’s Senate 14 SEATS

France’s National Rally, the far-right party co-led by Marine Le Pen, and its allies won a record 14 seats in the 348-seat Senate in voting this weekend. Le Pen called the result a historic victory, months before France’s 2027 presidential election.

POLITICS

Trump moves to cancel $810M that Congress approved $810M

Five days before the federal fiscal year ends on Sept. 30, the White House budget office asked Congress on Friday to cancel $810 million in approved spending. The tactic, called a pocket rescission, runs out the 45-day review window set by the 1974 Impoundment Control Act, so lawmakers cannot vote in time. About $567 million of the cuts hit programs for refugees and asylum seekers, and some Republicans have joined Democrats in calling the move illegal.

Supreme Court blocks Missouri’s GOP map for the third time 3RD TIME

With absentee voting already underway, the Supreme Court ruled on Friday, in an unsigned order with no noted dissents, that Missouri must use its 2022 congressional map in the Nov. 3 midterms. The 2025 map, drawn at President Trump’s urging, aimed to give Republicans seven of the state’s eight House seats by unseating Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver of Kansas City.

Trump-appointed judge finds administration in contempt again 3 ORDERS

A 19-year-old asylum seeker known in court papers as E.L.A. was deported to El Salvador twice despite three court orders protecting him, U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher of Maryland ruled on Friday. Gallagher, whom Trump named to the bench in 2019, ordered the government to bring him back and set an Oct. 2 deadline for an update. The ruling is her second contempt finding in the same class-action case, after one in August.

Trump dines with Anthropic CEO ahead of AI summit TUESDAY

Dario Amodei, the Anthropic CEO who wrote on Sept. 12 that AI companies must slow how fast their models gain new abilities, met President Trump for a private White House dinner on Sunday night. The dinner was their first one-on-one meeting. Trump, who says the U.S. leads China in AI by about a year and a half, will host top AI executives with House Speaker Mike Johnson on Tuesday.

White House sets a 2 p.m. Oval Office announcement

President Trump will make an announcement from the Oval Office at 2 p.m. Eastern on Monday, according to the White House schedule, which did not list a subject. The event comes two days after Trump rejected Iran’s proposal and one day after his dinner with Amodei.

MARKETS

Stock futures fall as Hormuz hopes fade NASDAQ −0.9%

The S&P 500 and the Dow closed higher on Friday on hopes for a U.S.-Iran deal, but stock futures turned lower Monday after Trump’s rejection of Tehran’s plan. S&P 500 futures fell 0.4%, and futures on the tech-heavy Nasdaq-100 lost 0.9% as chip stocks came under added pressure from AI safety worries.

US crude jumps 4% as the strait stays shut WTI $96

West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. oil benchmark, rose about 4% to roughly $96 a barrel on Monday after peace talks stalled. The Strait of Hormuz remains at least partly closed, and Houthi attacks have cut off the Bab el-Mandeb, the Red Sea’s southern gateway, for Saudi-flagged tankers.

Gold drops below $4,200 as silver sinks 5% GOLD −3.3%

Rising bond yields made metals that pay no interest less attractive, and gold futures fell 3.3% to $4,176.80 an ounce on Monday, near a seven-week low. Silver futures dropped 5.1% to $61.52, dragging mining stocks lower before the opening bell.

Traders bet on a second Fed hike in October 10-YR 5.22%

The Federal Reserve raised interest rates last week for the first time in three years, and traders now see about a 70% chance of another hike at its October meeting, according to CME Group’s FedWatch tool. The 10-year Treasury yield, which steers mortgage rates, stood at 5.22% on Monday after hitting its highest level since 2007 last Thursday.

South Korean stocks tumble 2.7% KOSPI −2.7%

Asian markets fell on Monday as Treasury yields climbed and oil prices jumped. The KOSPI, South Korea’s main index, closed down 2.70% at 6,889.75, and Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.73%.

ENTERTAINMENT

Madonna takes 7 VMAs in her first show set in 20 years 7 WINS

Madonna, the night’s leading nominee, opened Sunday’s MTV Video Music Awards at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles alongside Sabrina Carpenter and Charli XCX, her first VMAs performance in more than 20 years. Madonna went home with seven awards, including Artist of the Year and Best Collaboration for “Bring Your Love” with Carpenter.

Taylor Swift becomes the most-awarded artist in VMA history 33 VMAS

Taylor Swift won Video of the Year for “The Fate of Ophelia” and received MTV’s first Artist Director Honor on Sunday, lifting her career total to 33 and passing Beyoncé’s 30. Swift dedicated the final award of the night to Dolly Parton and premiered a new video, “Patient Zero,” starring Dakota Johnson.

‘Avengers: Endgame’ re-release returns to No. 1 $86M GLOBAL

Disney brought back the 2019 film to build interest before “Avengers: Doomsday” opens in December, and “Avengers: Endgame Encore” earned $26 million in North America and $86 million worldwide over the weekend. Endgame is the first re-release to top the domestic box office since “The Lion King” 3D in 2011, and its $2.88 billion global total now trails the all-time record of “Avatar” by about $39 million.

$15M ‘Primetime’ nearly matches Brad Pitt’s $82M film $19.2M

A24’s “Primetime,” starring Robert Pattinson as “To Catch a Predator” host Chris Hansen, opened to $19.2 million on a $15 million budget while playing in about 500 fewer theaters than its rival. Paramount’s “The Heart of the Beast,” a Brad Pitt survival film that cost $82 million to make, finished third with $20 million.

Wrestling star Pac dies at 40, a day after his last match

Benjamin Satterley, the English wrestler known as Pac in All Elite Wrestling and as Neville in WWE, has died at 40, AEW announced Sunday night. Satterley had wrestled for the AEW National Championship on Saturday at the All Out event in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, and no cause of death has been released.