📰 Politics and government

The Washington Post

Democrats are favored to win Congress, but unusually uncertain polling leaves room for outcomes ranging from a rout to losing the Senate.

The Washington Post

A conservative PAC's effort to turn out fraternity brothers shows how hard it is to replace the cultural pull that moved young men in 2024.

The Washington Post

The White House's closing pitch is that the economy is better than voters think, even as premiums, power bills and prices rise.

The Washington Post

Further reading from the day's section on The Coalition Cracks: Podcasters, Pollsters and Frat Houses.

The Washington Post

D.C. and Virginia have filed suit to stop the proposed 250-foot arch near Arlington National Cemetery, calling it flagrantly unlawful.

The Washington Post

A congresswoman on the Kennedy Center board alleges leaders tied foundation funding and payroll to keeping Trump's name on the building.

GZERO

Bremmer explains Lula's record comeback in Brazil, Flavio Bolsonaro's flight to Miami, and Netanyahu's fraud claims after Israel's inconclusive vote.

The Washington Post

GDP grew at a 3.4% annual rate in the third quarter, with business investment, much of it AI hardware, driving more than half.

AI

The New York Times

The administration opened a criminal investigation into noncitizens on California's voter rolls days before the election.

Elections

The Washington Post

Judge Ana Reyes will appoint a special master to examine whether government lawyers misled her about closing the East Potomac golf course.

The Washington Post

Interior plans to spend $1.2 million in park visitor fees removing trees for Trump's planned championship golf course.

The Washington Post

Judge Tanya Chutkan signaled she may halt the 250-foot triumphal arch, and D.C. is weighing its own lawsuit.

Regulation

The Washington Post

The head of Vietnam Veterans of America says the White House misled him into backing a brief supporting the arch.

The Washington Post

White House political director James Blair could take the blame if Republicans lose badly on Tuesday.

The Guardian

Trump's weekend rallies in Kansas and Iowa were canceled and then put back on within a day.

Axios

Reddit will push users to log in after U.S. daily users fell to 50.7 million as search traffic declined.

AI

NBC News

DoorDash agreed to buy Instacart for about $17 billion, less than half what it once considered paying.

Semafor

The AFL-CIO is drafting its own AI bill on worker protections and privacy, calling it its highest priority.

Surveillance · AI

The New York Times

U.S. intelligence found a Chinese businesswoman close to Jensen Huang may have passed information to Beijing; Nvidia says it was debunked.

Reuters

Canada is taking an equity stake of up to $1.1 billion in Toronto AI company Cohere as allies build sovereign AI.

AI

The New York Times

The Times found Mary Peltola's campaign worked with people who recruited a second Dan Sullivan onto Alaska's Senate ballot.

Elections

The New York Times

A federal judge rejected the DOJ's attempt to make California set aside about 20,000 ballots.

Regulation · Elections

Vox

Vox argues the courts and state control of elections make attempts to subvert the midterms likely to fail.

Elections

The Washington Post

Democratic campaigns raised $574 million from small donors, four times Republicans' total.

Elections

The Guardian

Gulf states are drafting a multipart deal, including reopening Hormuz, to keep the US-Iran war from restarting.

El País

Spain's second deadly train crash this year killed 68 people a month before an election.

Elections

Reuters

Volkswagen posted its worst results in a decade as Chinese competition hits legacy automakers.

StreamTV Insider

Network news audiences on YouTube rose about 20% in September ahead of the midterms.

Elections

The Washington Post

Further reading from the day's section on What I'm reading next.

The Washington Post

Further reading from the day's section on What I'm reading next.

The Washington Post

A CDC report that could fill major gaps about measles in pregnancy, a condition doctors have rarely seen for decades, has not been cleared for publication.

Public health

The Washington Post

Senate control comes down to seven races, most of them in Republican-leaning states, with Democrats needing to win at least four.

The Washington Post

Possible 2028 rivals used Vivek Ramaswamy's attack ad to go after JD Vance, who stood by it.

The Washington Post

The Post reviewed all 180 noncitizen voter-fraud cases the administration has charged and found many defendants cite honest mistakes.

The Washington Post

$749 million has been spent in the final push before the midterms.

Elections

The Washington Post

The Justice Department sued to block certification of Alaska's Senate result if the incumbent narrowly loses.

NBC News

More than 500 midterm ads use the words 'pedophile' or 'predator,' three-quarters of them from Democrats.

Elections

Vox

Vox argues that young voters' disillusionment, including over the Epstein files, could make a big difference next week.

The Washington Post

Israel's election left neither bloc with a majority, and Netanyahu stays on as caretaker prime minister.

Elections

The Bond Buyer

A settlement ends the lawsuit over the Chiefs' domed stadium, clearing the move to Kansas City, Kansas, for 2031.

Stadium financing · Regulation

Vox

Further reading from the day's section on What I'm reading next.

The Washington Post

Anthropic's filing shows an $80 billion first-half net loss next to $16.3 billion in revenue, up about fourteenfold.

The Washington Post

AI companies' capital needs are outrunning available funding as Meta, Alphabet, SpaceX and Anthropic all raise at once.

Space · AI

Reuters

China's STAR50 index of AI and chip leaders fell 40% in under four months, erasing about $480 billion.

AI

The New York Times

China's state-backed 'national team' bought stocks to stop a slide that pushed markets into bear territory.

Semafor

DoorDash is in advanced talks to buy Instacart, a deal that would draw affordability scrutiny from regulators.

Regulation

The Washington Post

A Post analysis finds costs outpaced wages in more Republican-held battleground districts.

NBC News

More than 30 million early votes are in, with Democrats ahead in eight of ten Senate battleground states.

NBC News

The Justice Department charged James Comey a third time, this time by criminal information rather than a grand jury indictment.

The Washington Post

Trump's planned arch would shade Arlington National Cemetery on more than 280 mornings a year, a Post analysis finds.

The Washington Post

The administration fought back after Obama said Trump's White House renovations looked like a Cheesecake Factory opened by Saddam Hussein.

Axios

Exit polls from Israel's record-turnout election put Gadi Eisenkot's bloc ahead of Netanyahu's, with no clear path to a government.

Elections

Vox

Vox explains how Arab parties may decide Israel's coalition math and the 'deeper foundational problem' in its democracy.

Elections

Financial Times

Brazil's real had its worst day this century and stocks fell 14% after Lula's surprise reelection.

Elections

Semafor

The US blueprint for Venezuelan elections starts with a new supreme court by mid-December.

Regulation · Elections

Reuters

Food prices hit a nearly four-year high in September on fuel and fertilizer costs tied to the Iran war and El Niño.

AP

A new study finds nearly all coral reef ecosystems face a high risk of collapse within 50 years.

AP

The Dallas Cowboys agreed to recognize a union for their cheerleaders after years of pay disputes.

Labour

The Washington Post

A Post columnist test-drove the Chinese electric cars sold in Mexico but unavailable in the US.

Press freedom

Vox

Further reading from the day's section on What I'm reading next.

The New York Times

Further reading from the day's section on What I'm reading next.

The Guardian

Further reading from the day's section on What I'm reading next.

The Washington Post

Anthropic's IPO filing shows an $81 billion first-half loss and more than $400 billion in future chip and data center commitments.

Data centres · IPO

The New York Times

The Times highlighted Anthropic's 14-fold growth alongside its losses as it prepares to list.

IPO

The Washington Post

A startup founded by former DOGE staffers says it reached Anthropic's internal systems using AI agents.

AI

The New York Times

Elvis Presley's music rights holders are seeking more than $41 million from Anthropic over training on his songs.

AI

The Washington Post

Obama and Clinton campaigned against Trump by tying his White House renovations to voters' cost-of-living worries.

The Washington Post

A Post poll finds 22% of Trump's 2024 voters now disapprove of him, about 8% of the electorate.

The Washington Post

Democrats see a long-shot chance in Mississippi's Senate race, and Trump campaigned there Monday.

The Washington Post

Corruption has become a central issue in the competitive Texas Senate race between Ken Paxton and James Talarico.

NPR

Republicans who redrew maps to protect their House majority are now spending millions in races they expected to win easily.

The New York Times

Lula won a fourth term 51.8% to 48.2%, the first runoff comeback since Brazil's return to direct elections in 1989.

Elections

The Conversation

Analyst Guilherme Casarões said no Brazilian runoff campaign had ever brought so many people to the streets and social media.

Elections

The Guardian

A student-backed movement born from a deadly 2024 railway collapse toppled Serbia's ruling party after 14 years.

Elections

The Washington Post

A former immigration judge gives a firsthand account after the Justice Department fired about 100 of roughly 700 immigration judges.

Immigration

The Washington Post

About one in five Trump voters no longer back him, and the Post argues their choices will shape the GOP's midterm fortunes.

The Washington Post

Tariffs on Canada are hurting Republican candidates in key races, and the White House is now removing some of them.

Tariffs

The Washington Post

Scott Colom is competitive in Mississippi's Senate race nine days before the midterms.

The New York Times

The former 60 Minutes executive producer joins a video journalism startup that raised $12 million led by Emerson Collective.

NBC News

Musk admitted SpaceX throttled Starlink service in Ukraine after first denying it.

Space

Reuters

The Justice Department accused a contractor of leaking national defense information to a Substack publisher.

The Washington Post

Ryan Zickgraf on tech founders on screen, as A24's Elizabeth Holmes documentary grew 25% in its second weekend.

Reuters

eMudhra is leaving the SSL/TLS business after browsers said they would stop trusting its certificates.

AP

Prosecutors say counterfeit postage labels sold for $2 each cost USPS more than $126 million.

The Washington Post

A fast-growing Arizona suburb is fighting over the price of water.

The Washington Post

A remote Alaska family earning about $155,000 says it is struggling, and a past Republican voter is backing a Democrat over affordability in a close Senate race.

The Washington Post

The Post reports voters angry about prices may get little relief from a narrowly divided next Congress.

The Washington Post

A woman who called an Iowa Democratic House candidate dangerous for kids in an ad had pleaded guilty to child endangerment after driving drunk with her children.

The Washington Post

An AI-generated ad mocks Texas Democrat James Talarico, and Democrats are betting it backfires while largely avoiding AI video themselves.

AI

The Washington Post

The Post profiles how Sen. Jon Ossoff's investigative documentary career shaped his anti-Trump message, calling him a potential presidential candidate.

FouAnalytics

Fou's earlier column explained how attackers used real identifiers, not audience segments, to target specific journalists with spyware via ads.

Surveillance

The Washington Post

The Post reports doctors' offices are charging patients ten times more by billing as hospitals.

The Athletic

The NWSL dropped its Rodman Rule criteria in a settlement resolving several players' union grievances.

Women's sport · Regulation · Labour

FouAnalytics

Augustine Fou explains how attackers used phone numbers and network IDs, not inferred audiences, to deliver spyware to journalists through ads.

Surveillance

Citizen Lab

Citizen Lab found Discover-Tech used online ads to deliver zero-click Candiru spyware to devices at Al Jazeera.

Surveillance

The Guardian

Microsoft abandoned its lease at Nscale's flagship Essex data centre, citing power supply concerns.

Data centres · AI

The Washington Post

Monica Hesse asks why Netflix is restaging the Stanford Prison Experiment as entertainment.

The Washington Post

The Justice Department sued to block certification of Alaska's Senate race if Sen. Dan Sullivan narrowly loses.

The Washington Post

Elon Musk is preparing to fight congressional investigations if Democrats win either chamber.

Elections

The Washington Post

A Post poll finds two Texas districts Republicans had counted on now feature tight House races.

The Washington Post

Vivek Ramaswamy's ad featuring his opponent's estranged mother drew condemnation from Gov. Mike DeWine and a defense from JD Vance.

The Washington Post

The DNC works with more than 500 creators and runs unbranded FactPost accounts to reach young voters.

Ian Bremmer

Ian Bremmer previews elections in Brazil, Serbia and Israel and recaps the Oslo talks on Ukraine.

Elections

Times of Israel

A final poll ahead of Israel's Tuesday election shows the blocs in a dead heat, neither with a majority.

Elections

Reuters

Polls show Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro about even ahead of Sunday's Brazil runoff.

Reuters

Melania Trump brokered a temporary ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine in Oleshky.

The Guardian

England's Independent Football Regulator could force a sale of Manchester City if the guilty verdict on inflated revenue is upheld.

Regulation

The Washington Post

Republicans hold cash advantages of more than $1 million in several long-shot districts Democrats now target, and the DCCC warned it could leave winnable seats on the table.

The Washington Post

Residents in a Virginia county blocked Amazon from building more data centers, an example of how AI infrastructure has become a campaign issue.

Data centres · AI

The Washington Post

The final Michigan Senate debate between Abdul El-Sayed and Mike Rogers centered on questions of loyalty and personal attacks.

NPR

AIPAC said it will no longer endorse candidates or make direct campaign contributions, less than two weeks before the midterms.

AP

About 80 percent of voters want Congress to prioritize the cost of living and about 70 percent ending the Iran war, while under a third prioritize cutting aid to Israel.

The Washington Post

Attack ads referencing candidates' families have spread this cycle, from Ohio's governor race to Maine's Senate race.

The Washington Post

Vivek Ramaswamy is spending $4 million on an ad featuring his opponent's estranged mother despite bipartisan condemnation.

Axios

The White House ordered Politico to retract reporting about chief of staff Susie Wiles or face unspecified legal consequences.

The Washington Post

The White House removed a print pool reporter and threatened an outlet as it continues to operate without a press secretary.

NPR

Democrats on intelligence committees told NPR they are planning on the assumption that the president will not accept the midterm results.

Elections

Politico

The Trump administration accused Canada of election interference; Ottawa denied it and barred its diplomats from appearing with US candidates.

Elections

The New York Times

Thousands of AI-generated fake local news sites are designed to influence the chatbots voters consult rather than voters themselves.

Elections · AI

The New York Times

Michael Bender traces how each administration has reinterpreted Title IX, from women's sports to harassment rules to the current two-sex policy.

Women's sport

Reuters

Oil hit a five-month high as the State Department ordered non-emergency staff out of Saudi Arabia amid Houthi attacks.

The Guardian

Citizen Lab researchers say an ad company used online ads to profile millions of users and could enable spyware installation without a click.

Surveillance

Vox

Further reading from the day's section on What I'm reading next.

The Washington Post

Trump is promising Camp Lejeune settlements, a Kentucky drug plant investment and year-round E15 ethanol only if Republicans win the midterms.

Regulation · Elections

The Washington Post

A Ramaswamy campaign ad features Amy Acton's estranged mother calling her a liar, though court records back Acton's account of abuse.

The Washington Post

Vivek Ramaswamy is putting $4 million behind the Acton ad despite the backlash.

The Washington Post

Maine Democrats are betting anger at Susan Collins and Trump will carry Troy Jackson, a nominee even supporters call uninspiring.

The Washington Post

Democratic groups allege the Justice Department threatened and intimidated election officials to purge voters ahead of the midterms.

Elections

Brennan Center

The Brennan Center's Michael Waldman argues most of Trump's efforts to reshape voting have failed in court or Congress.

Elections

The Washington Post

A group of national security experts is advising states on how to respond to any federal interference on Election Day.

Elections

Reuters

Anthropic's revenue rose 45 percent to $16.8 billion, but investors are discussing a roughly $1.5 trillion IPO valuation, below earlier $2 trillion talk.

IPO

Status

CBS's owned stations will carry DraftKings branding on their election coverage through Election Night.

Elections

Inside the Games

Further reading from the day's section on What I'm reading next.

Regulation

The Washington Post

Kansas's Senate race between Roger Marshall and pastor Adam Hamilton has tightened as diesel costs and farm frustration weigh on Republicans.

CBS News

Trump announced an $8 billion one-time payment program for farmers facing high diesel costs, one of several pre-midterm giveaways.

The Washington Post

The Trump-backed Texas redistricting may backfire in South Texas and cost some rising Latino Republicans their seats.

The Washington Post

About ten current and former national security officials are advising election officials in 10 states who fear federal interference in the midterms.

Elections

The Washington Post

A Post poll finds 7 in 10 Americans doubt Trump would accept Republican midterm losses.

The Washington Post

Republicans are campaigning on tax cuts to keep Ohio red, and voters are not sold.

Vox

Vox traces how Trump's Russia policy, from Russian diesel imports to pressure on Zelenskyy, tracks US gas prices before the midterms.

Vox

Further reading from the day's section on Ukraine, the Gulf, and a World Bracing for Impact.

The Washington Post

The administration is holding up Patriot interceptors meant for Ukraine as relations with Kyiv deteriorate.

The Guardian

Italy is deploying 500 soldiers to Milan after weekend looting, as cost-of-living protests spread in Europe.

The Washington Post

Heating oil above $6 a gallon, up more than 70% in a year, could tilt close Senate races in Maine, New Hampshire, Alaska and Montana as the administration again proposes ending heating aid.

The Washington Post

The Post's guide maps House races in once-safe Republican districts that will decide control of the chamber two weeks before the midterms.

The Washington Post

A Post/ABC/Ipsos poll puts Trump's approval at a record-low 33%, as Americans increasingly trust Democrats more on the economy.

The Washington Post

Suburban women turning against Ken Paxton could cost Republicans the Texas Senate race against James Talarico.

Semafor

Semafor reports CBS News editor Bari Weiss has pushed her newsroom to pursue stories on Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed's purported Muslim Brotherhood links.

Press freedom

The Washington Post

Iranian officials say Tehran is trying to hurt Trump in the midterms by keeping oil prices painful.

Energy

The Washington Post

The Trump–Zelensky feud is escalating as Trump waives Russia sanctions over objections from his own party.

Stratechery

Ben Thompson argues Apple's HomeView rests on trust in integration and privacy, but the real question is whether buyers will commit their homes to Siri AI.

Surveillance · AI

The Washington Post

A Post-ABC-Ipsos poll puts presidential approval at 33 percent, with Democrats leading by eight points for control of the House.

The Washington Post

The same poll found a jump in the share of Republicans who say the president is enriching himself.

The Washington Post

Ted Cruz is working to push Ken Paxton across the finish line in Texas's Senate race.

The Washington Post

Water scarcity has become the biggest flashpoint in Arizona's election, the Post reports.

Elections

The Washington Post

The president endorsed Benjamin Netanyahu days before Israel's October 27 election, in a race centered on the October 7 attack and its aftermath.

Elections

The Washington Post

The president shared a plan to overhaul the East Potomac course while a federal lawsuit over the land is pending.

Regulation

The Guardian

CBS News correspondent Jan Crawford deleted and apologized for a post about Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed.

The Juggernaut

130 million names have been removed from India's voter rolls, and the Supreme Court has ordered election officials to respond.

Regulation · Elections

The Guardian

Pakistan declared an emergency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and detained the PTI-led provincial government.

NPR

Noah Adams, longtime host of NPR's All Things Considered, has died at 84.

The Washington Post

The Post reports the President's election fraud task force has turned toward the former officials who investigated him.

Elections

The Washington Post

Katie Zacharia left the White House press secretary job after five days and a single 14-minute briefing.

The Washington Post

Rep. Ilhan Omar's lawyers say authorities ignored a judge's limits during a search of her home.

The Washington Post

Democratic candidates are campaigning with an overtly physical, combative style aimed at young men.

The Washington Post

Democrats lead in polls but remain anxious after recent elections where good polling didn't hold.

Elections

The Washington Post

GOP megadonors are stepping in as Democratic candidates outraise Republicans.

Business Insider

Exclusive concession contracts let stadiums, many publicly funded, set food prices with little regulation.

Stadium financing · Regulation

The Washington Post

The Post reports top aides are jockeying for position as some expect Chief of Staff Susie Wiles to step down after the midterms.

The Washington Post

Trump dropped Pete Hegseth's plan to livestream the Fort Hood shooter's execution after rare, broad Republican opposition.

The Washington Post

The White House Historical Association took $2.5 million from a man who wanted to demolish the East Wing, and donors are now withholding money.

The Washington Post

The States Project has raised more than $100 million for Democratic state legislative races, up from $70 million last cycle.

CNN

The Pentagon is considering using its largest non-nuclear bomb on Iranian targets.

The Washington Post

Masked settlers beat Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine in the West Bank as settler violence escalates.

Vox

Vox's Zack Beauchamp explains settler violence as a deliberate tactic backed by ministers in Netanyahu's government.

Vox

Vox's Adam Clark Estes found AI agents useful but unpredictable after handing them his life for two weeks.

AI

Semafor

Kalshi is in no hurry for the Supreme Court to decide whether states can regulate its sports contracts as bets.

Regulation

Front Office Sports

Jon Rahm is forfeiting $7.47 million in unpaid dues and his team equity to leave bankrupt LIV Golf.

Regulation

The Washington Post

A24's Elizabeth Holmes documentary opened in theaters Friday.

Vox

Further reading from the day's section on What I'm reading next.

Data centres

Vox

Further reading from the day's section on What I'm reading next.

The Washington Post

The arrest of an OpenAI engineer revived fears that US tech companies are hiring spies.

AI

Vox

Vox argues rising prices, especially heating oil in Maine, are weighing on Republican Senate candidates like Susan Collins.

The Washington Post

Republican groups are pulling money from one-time battleground races to defend incumbents three weeks before Election Day.

Elections

The Washington Post

Secret documents obtained by The Post name the donors behind $330 million for Trump's White House ballroom, with Nvidia and Apple at $25 million each.

The Washington Post

A judge concluded the administration rushed to cut down hundreds of trees at East Potomac golf course because Trump wanted it done.

The Washington Post

A Post poll found eight in 10 Americans opposed live-streaming the Fort Hood shooter's execution, a plan Trump canceled.

Front Office Sports

Jon Rahm will forfeit all remaining LIV Golf payments under a separation agreement that could clear a PGA Tour return.

Regulation

AP

FIFA's proposed $6.35 billion development fund would give $25 million to each of its 211 national associations.

The Washington Post

Scientists are finding AI may make people remember things that never happened.

AI

The AI Furnace

Details on the OpenAI recording-device arrest, including a second device found in the engineer's bag and a possible five-year sentence.

Press freedom · AI

The Washington Post

September consumer prices rose faster than expected, raising odds of another Fed rate hike three weeks before Election Day.

Elections

The Washington Post

For the first time in a decade, Gallup finds Americans trust Democrats over Republicans to keep the country prosperous.

The Washington Post

Michigan's Democratic Senate candidate proposes freezing development of powerful AI systems and data centers.

Data centres · AI

Iowa Capital Dispatch

Backlash against data centers has become a major issue in Iowa, home to several top federal races.

Data centres · Elections

The Washington Post

Union ironworker Brian Poindexter's toss-up race in Ohio shows how hard it is for working-class candidates to run for Congress.

Labour

The Washington Post

The Justice Department searched Rep. Ilhan Omar's DC home weeks before the election, which Democrats say breaks DOJ's informal 60-day blackout.

Elections

The Washington Post

The new White House press secretary faces questions about whether she is a lawyer.

SportBusiness

The Independent Football Regulator found 94% of English clubs lose money and nearly two-thirds of EFL and National League clubs are technically insolvent.

Regulation

Reuters

Netflix won rights to all 104 matches of the 2030 World Cup in Spain and Andorra, with a free-to-air package including every Spain match.

Front Office Sports

The SEC is pressing its lawsuit against LSU and still threatening expulsion, even after LSU backed off adding two former NFL players.

Regulation

The Washington Post

Investigators examining Rep. Ilhan Omar are focused on her birth date and decades-old immigration paperwork, three weeks before the midterms.

Immigration

The Washington Post

Federal agents searched Omar's Washington home within the window when the Justice Department traditionally avoids public steps in politically sensitive cases.

Vox

Vox counts at least 30 Trump critics who have been accused, investigated or charged during the second term, many in cases that later stalled.

The Hill

Omar launched a fundraising drive the morning after the search of her home.

The Washington Post

Midterm candidates are running ads featuring voters and politicians from the other party to signal cross-party appeal.

The Washington Post

A Republican ad meant for Portland, Maine, aired in Portland, Oregon, and the buyer had to refund $25,000.

The Washington Post

Collins, Ossoff and the Iowa Senate candidates debated Tuesday night with the midterms three weeks away.

Elections

The Washington Post

New White House press secretary Katie Zacharia gave a 14-minute first briefing amid questions about her bar credentials.

The Guardian

Sabah manager Valdas Dambrauskas funded his coaching career with $1,000 won on a quiz show.

The Washington Post

Federal agents searched Rep. Ilhan Omar's Washington home 22 days before her reelection, an action DOJ guidance has long cautioned against near elections.

Elections

The Washington Post

A judge ordered the administration to stop airing taxpayer-funded ads featuring the president, and AdImpact data showed two ran past the deadline.

The Washington Post

A judge halted tree removal at East Potomac Golf Links after preservationists said more than 500 trees were felled.

The Washington Post

The president's low approval ratings limit where he can help Republicans turn out voters.

The Washington Post

The Post examines what a Democratic Senate would mean for the president from January, starting with his nominees.

The Washington Post

DOGE alumni have raised at least half a billion dollars for firms in cyberwarfare, AI and data centers.

Data centres · AI

Reuters

A Reuters-Ipsos survey found almost eight in ten Americans blame the administration for rising costs.

Marketecture

Alan Chapell argues Apple's privacy rules let it decide who does business on Safari, while Google appears absent from its blocklist.

Surveillance

The New York Times

The Justice Department opened an antitrust investigation into the five White House pool networks after their brief coverage boycott.

Antitrust

The Bulwark

The Bulwark found the incoming White House press secretary deleted tweets sharing vaccine conspiracies and 2020 election claims.

Public health · Elections

The New York Times

Alex Gibney suggested Universal wavered on the global rollout of his Musk documentary amid legal threats; Universal says its plans haven't changed.

TheWrap

NPR's chief content officer told the newsroom a reorganization is coming without job losses.

Press freedom · Labour

The Washington Post

Senate Republicans fear losing the chamber and expect a Democratic Senate to block the president's Supreme Court and Cabinet nominees.

Regulation

The Washington Post

A Post interactive sorts readers into the voter types who will decide control of Congress in battleground districts.

Elections

The Washington Post

The Post asks whether Democrats' thin agenda will be enough three weeks before the midterms.

The Washington Post

Arizona's GOP nominee for elections chief, Alexander Kolodin, built his career on false 2020 election claims.

Elections

The Washington Post

Jay Mathews on how strangers react to his Vietnam veteran's cap and what it says about a divided country.

The Washington Post

Thirty-five years ago Anita Hill testified at Clarence Thomas's confirmation hearings.

The Guardian

Finland ordered Google to halt two data centers over missing environmental impact assessments.

Data centres

The Guardian

A Guardian analysis finds Drax's planned wood-burning data center would emit nearly twice the yearly CO2 of all Gatwick flights.

Data centres · Climate

The Guardian

Norway proposed a temporary ban on smart glasses in parks, beaches, schools and kindergartens.

The Guardian

The Golden State Valkyries became the first women's pro team to pass $100 million in annual revenue.

The Washington Post

The Justice Department opened an antitrust probe of the five White House pool networks, which the Post called a sharp escalation against perceived press enemies.

Antitrust

The Washington Post

With the midterms weeks away, the president is using direct checks and tax relief to reach economically anxious voters.

The Washington Post

Former Republican Kansas governors are backing Democrat Adam Hamilton as Republicans race to defend the Senate seat.

The Washington Post

A Montana Democrat who denies being a Republican plant is refusing to leave a race where a more popular independent is running.

The Washington Post

Republicans need the president to sell Ken Paxton in Texas, and he keeps talking about vomit and barbecue.

The Washington Post

Some House lawmakers want a pledge in place to head off a possible post-election crisis.

Elections

The Washington Post

Trump created a commission to investigate Fed governor Lisa Cook after the Supreme Court said he cannot fire her without cause.

Regulation

The Washington Post

A Post-Schar School poll puts Troy Jackson at 50% to Susan Collins's 46% in Maine, within the margin of error.

The Washington Post

Abdul El-Sayed and Mike Rogers traded personal attacks in their first Michigan Senate debate.

The Washington Post

Jon Ossoff and Mike Collins clashed in Georgia, part of a night of hard-hitting Senate debates.

The Washington Post

Trump called for a debate between Ken Paxton, who has declined five offers, and James Talarico.

The Washington Post

Lawmakers are moving to stop candidates from trading on their own elections as prediction-market volume nears $200 billion a quarter.

Sports betting · Elections

Vox

Eric Levitz asks whether AI labs' warnings of catastrophe are partly a marketing strategy.

AI

Fast Company

Meta's Muse agent passed 900,000 downloads in its first week, while some early users deleted it after privacy scares.

Surveillance

Ian Bremmer (GZERO)

Ian Bremmer on Brazil's runoff, France's student protests and Israel's coming election.

Elections

Vox

The world's largest penguin colony has shrunk by two-thirds since 2011.

Stratechery

Ben Thompson interviews former Facebook elections chief Katie Harbath about tech's role in politics.

Elections

The Times of India

India's finance minister says trade talks with the U.S. have reached a plateau amid tariffs and pressure over Russian oil purchases.

Tariffs

The Washington Post

Trump walked back a suggestion that Iran could hit Los Angeles or San Diego, saying 'we protect our cities.'

The Washington Post

Former Trump administration officials are taking jobs in Venezuela's oil sector, now under U.S. control.

The Washington Post

Isaias became the first Atlantic hurricane of the season and threatens the Gulf Coast and U.S. Gulf oil production.

Climate

The Washington Post

Operatives from both parties say early voting and earlier opposition research have blunted the late-campaign October Surprise.

The Washington Post

Iowa's Senate race is competitive as tariffs and record diesel prices weigh on farm-state voters.

Tariffs

CNN

A CNN-SSRS poll finds 58% of likely Iowa voters disapprove of Trump and most say his policies raised their cost of living.

Vox

Data centers have become a bipartisan midterm attack line, though few voters rank them as their top issue.

Data centres

Vox

Both Wisconsin governor candidates are trying to distance themselves from data centers without backing a ban.

Data centres

The Washington Post

The Post reviewed $1.6 billion in midterm campaign ads.

Status

David Ellison toured CNN's newsroom after Skydance closed its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery.

Press freedom · M&A

Business Insider

Apple's iOS 27 update blocked domains used by The Trade Desk, LiveRamp, ID5 and Permutive, disrupting ad serving.

Surveillance · Advertising

Front Office Sports

The NFL asked the Supreme Court to treat sports event contracts as state-regulated gambling, citing $1.8 billion of NFL trading on one Sunday.

Sports betting · Regulation

AP

The IOC confirmed seven bidders for the 2036 Olympics, including India and Qatar.

The Washington Post

Republicans have spent roughly half a billion dollars since Labor Day, yet credible polls show Democrats tied or leading in seven Senate battlegrounds.

The Washington Post

Maine voters who like Susan Collins describe voting against her anyway as a vote against Trump, while some liberals back her.

The Washington Post

Collins and Troy Jackson's first debate centered on her ties to Trump, her seniority and the tax and spending bill.

Semafor

Gallup finds 63% of Democrats but only 37% of Republicans are confident in the honesty of US elections.

Elections

The Washington Post

Trump wants part of his West Palm Beach golf club granted to the federal government as a new Camp David.

AP

The administration proposed a $70,000 fee on the program that lets international students work in the US after graduation.

The New York Times

OpenAI released solutions to 377 advanced math problems, and mathematicians questioned what the model actually did.

AI

Reuters

France suspended stun grenades after a teenager lost his hand as student protests spread to more than 40 cities.

The Washington Post

Further reading from the day's section on The World: France Boils, October 7 at Three, Rubio in Athens.

The Washington Post

The withdrawal of B-1 bombers from a UK base shows how an outgunned Iran keeps the US on edge with asymmetric threats.

The Washington Post

The deal creates Skydance, owner of Warner Bros., Paramount, HBO Max, CBS and CNN, with $79 billion of debt.

The Washington Post

The Post reports on efforts by Trump allies to sideline AI safety advocates as calls for AI regulation grow.

Regulation · AI

The Washington Post

Democrats could break full Republican control in up to six states and win unified control in up to seven.

The Washington Post

No losing Democratic nominee has been renominated since Adlai Stevenson in 1956, the history Harris would have to overcome.

The Washington Post

Trump said self-promotional ads paid for by the government would move to his super PAC after bipartisan criticism.

The Washington Post

The administration moved to ease diesel costs as pump and heating fuel prices weigh on Republicans before the midterms.

BBC News

Analysts expect France's student protests to intensify after a teenager was badly injured by a riot police grenade.

The New York Times

Protests over underfunded, overcrowded schools have closed hundreds of high schools as France's borrowing costs climb.

The Washington Post

Alito says he weighs retirement every term, and Collins told the Post she would judge any replacement the way she judged Kavanaugh.

Regulation

The Washington Post

Isaac Arnsdorf lays out the midterm scenarios: Democrats have polls and history on their side, and Republicans have money.

Elections

Reuters

With near-record fuel prices before the midterms, the White House is turning to tax-exempt dyed diesel, which analysts call a Band-Aid.

The Washington Post

Further reading from the day's section on The Court Opens, the Ballot Fights Begin.

Regulation

Reuters

Saudi-backed Yemeni forces pushed the Houthis back from the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, limiting their reach over Red Sea shipping but risking a wider war.

The Washington Post

Pentagon disputes over weapons stocks and unclear goals when the US began bombing the Houthis in 2025 foreshadowed the problems in the Iran war.

The Washington Post

US officials are pressing Moscow for details after a suspected plague death at a Siberian research lab and dozens of quarantines.

Politico Europe

European officials say they are closely monitoring the suspected pneumonic plague case in Siberia while the Kremlin denies reports of plague.

The Guardian

Pedro Sánchez called a snap election after parliament rejected his emergency housing package, and the euro fell to its lowest since May 2025.

Elections · Housing

Semafor

Reflection AI released its first open-weight model, Beam, and wants open-model builders to have a say in Washington's AI regulation debate.

Regulation · AI

A Guy With A Scarf

Carlo De Marchis finds the Genius Sports CEO's settlement argument strong but his claim about exchange economics unbacked by any figure.

Regulation

The Washington Post

Further reading from the day's section on What I'm reading next.

Status

Status's earlier reporting on the union fight over McClatchy's push to use A.I. in its newsrooms.

Press freedom · Labour · AI

NPR

The families of two journalists killed on a 2022 reporting trip allege Fox News failed to adequately protect its crew.

The Washington Post

A White House A.I. task force led by DNI Jay Clayton and the FTC chair has 120 days to report on A.I.'s risks and opportunities.

AI

Reuters

Meta hired MongoDB's CEO to sell its A.I. models to businesses, and MongoDB shares fell nearly 19 percent.

AI

The Guardian

A youth-led movement in Mumbai is demanding India's chief election commissioner resign over a voter-roll revision it says removed tens of millions of names.

Elections

AP

More than 5,000 people marched in Islamabad for Imran Khan's release after talks between his party and the government failed.

Reuters

Floods have killed at least 56 people in Uttar Pradesh and 32 in Nepal.

The Washington Post

Shasta County, California shows what happens when distrust of voting systems takes root inside local election administration.

Elections

The Washington Post

Democrats are planning how to keep Trump's expansion of executive power from outlasting him.

The Washington Post

State officials say the administration isn't sharing intelligence on foreign threats a month before the midterms.

Elections

The Washington Post

The Post profiles Roy Cooper as Democrats' best Senate pickup opportunity.

The Washington Post

The Supreme Court is set to hear a case on whether oil companies can be held liable for climate change.

Regulation · Climate

Status

Ellison is keeping Mark Thompson as CNN's chief for now, with implications for him and CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss.

Press freedom

The Washington Post

With the Iran war pushing energy prices up, the Post asks whether soaring gas prices make an EV worth buying.

The Washington Post

The Democratic Senate candidate in New Hampshire faces an unusually tough race even as Republicans pull money from North Carolina.

The Washington Post

A record number of Native American candidates are on the ballot in the 2026 midterms.

Elections

The Washington Post

Gov. Hochul said the accuser was failed by campus police and the local prosecutor and appointed Letitia James as special prosecutor.

The Washington Post

Christa Pike was left on a ventilator after two lethal injections, and Tennessee's prison chief resigned days later.

The Washington Post

A Post opinion piece argues the failed Christa Pike execution exposes a conservative blind spot on the death penalty.

Front Office Sports

An Ohio appeals court reversed an injunction that had given about two dozen college athletes an extra year of NCAA eligibility.

College sport · Regulation

GZERO (Ian Bremmer)

Ian Bremmer argues the AI industry's self-regulation pact is not real governance, and previews Brazil's presidential vote.

Regulation · Elections · AI

The Washington Post

The federal government unveiled a chatbot to help people research and eventually enroll in government services.

AI

The Washington Post

Further reading from the day's section on Who Polices the Machines?.

AI

Vox

A UNC study found that middle schoolers who used AI for companionship grew lonelier over time.

AI

Vox

Pope Leo XIV's encyclical argued AI can never replace humanity, the backdrop to his clash with Anthropic's views on Claude.

AI

Stratechery

Stratechery finds OpenAI's Dev Day products confusing but sees a strategy underneath, including Sign in with ChatGPT.

Transit · AI

The Washington Post

The US added just 29,000 jobs in September, well below forecasts, raising odds the Fed holds rates.

The Washington Post

The Pentagon is preparing a possible surge of naval forces to the Middle East as Iran tensions rise.

The Washington Post

Democrats are campaigning against the One Big Beautiful Bill Act's 2027 cuts, but a presidential veto would limit what they could undo.

The Washington Post

The Supreme Court agreed to review the administration's policy of detaining immigrants without bond hearings.

Regulation

Yahoo Sports

A federal judge dismissed a class action accusing Fanatics and the leagues of monopolizing trading cards.

Regulation · Antitrust

Vox

Further reading from the day's section on What I'm reading next.

The Washington Post

Republicans are on pace to outspend Democrats $78 million to $58 million in Wisconsin since the August primary, forcing candidates to split 30-second ads into 15-second chunks.

The Washington Post

Democratic donors are being steered toward Scott Colom's long-shot Senate run, money that is not defending closer races elsewhere.

Vox

Only four in ten Republicans strongly approve of Trump, and some candidates are now defying him in their own campaign ads.

Vox

Further reading from the day's section on Congress Goes Home Scared.

The Washington Post

Young male crypto investors, a core 2024 constituency, have turned against Trump as their holdings soured.

Crypto

The Washington Post

The Court will decide whether immigrants can be held without bond hearings during removal proceedings, one of the first cases accepted since the summer recess.

Regulation

The Washington Post

The family of a mother of three killed by federal officers in Minneapolis named Kristi Noem, Stephen Miller and other senior officials as defendants.

Vox

Campaign-style ads were paid for with funds appropriated for border security and memorials, and ran on networks Trump has tried to bar from the White House.

Immigration

The Guardian

Passengers forced the cockpit, subdued the attacker and treated the injured captain before the aircraft landed in Saudi Arabia.

Vox

Republicans have soured on Trump's handling of the economy and of an Iran war that broke his promise to stay out of foreign conflicts.

The Guardian

Keane's reaction to the Premier League commission's findings against City.

BBC Sport

A players' union official blamed commercial fixture congestion for the injury list building through the international window.

Labour

The Guardian

Ronaldo left Portugal's camp after going unused in a win over Norway and said cryptically that the truth would emerge in time.

The Washington Post

Maladaptive daydreaming, obsessional jealousy and misophonia are now objects of study as social media trends push psychiatrists to revisit their diagnostic manual.

The Washington Post

House members spent $6.7 million of taxpayer money on Washington meals and lodging last year under a reimbursement program that does not require receipts, 21 percent more than the prior year.

The Washington Post

The Post examined 15 years of Kennedy Center financial records and found the institution was solvent before the administration took it over.

The Washington Post

Further reading from the day's section on US Politics and the Midterm Machine.

Advertising · AI

The Washington Post

Further reading from the day's section on US Politics and the Midterm Machine.

AI

Associated Press

The Supreme Court temporarily lifted restrictions on deporting migrants to countries where they have no ties.

Immigration · Regulation

Forbes

After the White House lunch the president said self-regulation is important but stopped short of backing new guardrails.

Regulation · AI

Forbes

The new official government chatbot, built on Gemini and Grok, contradicts the president's own false claims about the 2020 election.

Elections · AI

The Hill

The Senate voted 77-22 to grant the NCAA federal antitrust protections while capping athlete compensation, agent fees and annual school spending.

College sport · Antitrust

Front Office Sports

Multiple soccer associations have withdrawn support for Gianni Infantino's FIFA presidency over a plan to sell private stakes in the World Cup.

Elections

CBC

CBC will air eight primetime Saturday PWHL games from December 5 in Hockey Night in Canada's 90th season.

The Washington Post

The Post explains why a rebound in oil shipments has not translated into lower pump prices.

Vox

Vox makes the case for junk journaling as a creative practice and an antidote to doomscrolling.

The New York Times

Employees who raised security concerns were told tests needed to move forward as quickly as possible, months before rogue agents hacked Hugging Face.

AI

The Washington Post

The White House shipped a public AI chatbot the same day it announced a non-binding accord with the frontier labs.

AI

CBS Sports

The bill codifies the House v. NCAA settlement with a limited antitrust exemption, up to $50 million in annual athlete funds and a 5% cap on agent fees.

College sport · Regulation · Antitrust

CBS News

Further reading from the day's section on The Bundle Runs Out.

Women's sport

The Washington Post

The Post's ranking is the baseline against which Amber Phillips lists five further races that could surprise, including Kansas and Nebraska.

The Washington Post

Consumer sentiment has fallen to its lowest level since 2014 five weeks before the midterms.

Public health

The Washington Post

Further reading from the day's section on The Midterms Are Five Weeks Out.

The Washington Post

Further reading from the day's section on The Midterms Are Five Weeks Out.

The Washington Post

Further reading from the day's section on The Midterms Are Five Weeks Out.

NBC News

Further reading from the day's section on The Midterms Are Five Weeks Out.

The Washington Post

Dan Merica argues nothing is holding back Republican fortunes more than the Iran war, which the President says Tehran will settle only after the midterms.

The Washington Post

Record diesel prices are hitting farm-country voters in the most competitive House and Senate races, many of whose incumbents voted against ending the Iran war.

The Washington Post

Riley Beggin reports that White House efforts to bring down prices, from beef to diesel, have so far failed to pan out.

The Washington Post

Liz Goodwin reports from a state whose Senate and gubernatorial races have turned unexpectedly competitive.

The Washington Post

Satellite imagery shows the physical scale of the US data center build-out.

Data centres · Space

Vox

Caitlin Dewey frames the tariff rollback as a Nixon-to-China reversal by a President who built his political identity on confrontation with Beijing.

Tariffs

BBC Sport

The possible sanctions range from fines and points deductions to retroactive trophy stripping, relegation or expulsion from the Premier League and EFL.

The Guardian

Pochettino fielded eleven debutants in a 4-1 win over Peru, including a first start for 16-year-old Cavan Sullivan.

LinkedIn (A Guy With a Scarf)

Carlo De Marchis walks through Munich's compact 1972-park bid, the 66.4% referendum, a roof renovation now at 283 million euros, and why he would target 2040 rather than 2036.

Elections

The New York Times

The taxpayer-funded spot repeats a 2024 Trump campaign ad, prompting Norm Eisen to say it openly repurposes prior political conduct.

The Washington Post

Diesel prices are hitting rural Republican voters in farm and trucking country, opening rifts in the President's base weeks before the midterms.

The Washington Post

Tejano singer Bobby Pulido is running as a Democrat in Texas and would be the only member of Congress with a Latin Grammy.

The Washington Post

Drew Harwell profiles Amy Dangerfield, who became a model figure in Nick Fuentes's online movement before an internal fight turned it against her.

Reuters

RedBird becomes the largest shareholder in the four-year-old digital publication as Standard Investments and TPG exit their stakes.

Reuters

The youth-led movement that already forced out India's education minister has threatened nationwide protests over allegations the chief election commissioner manipulated voter rolls.

Elections

BBC

Authorities ordered Khanum detained for 30 days ahead of demonstrations supporting the jailed former prime minister, deploying thousands of police and barricading Islamabad.

Reuters

Products would carry a red warning symbol if they exceed the limit on sugar, salt or fat alone, reversing an earlier draft that required two, in a packaged food market worth $100 billion.

The Washington Post

Further reading from the day's section on South Asia and the Wider World.

The Washington Post

Anti-doping frameworks built to ban compounds now face legitimately prescribed weight-loss drugs whose performance implications vary widely by sport.

Regulation

The Washington Post

A patient who never received care was still charged, illustrating how American emergency rooms bill for access rather than treatment.

The Washington Post

Zero-APR and buy-now-pay-later offers carry catches that get more expensive as the cost of money rises.

The Washington Post

Record-high diesel prices have states weighing temporary gas tax cuts before the midterms.

Elections

The Washington Post

Holding Democratic seats and flipping four Republican ones has gone from long shot to feasible.

The Washington Post

The White House moved to cancel refugee, climate and other funding Congress had already appropriated, and lawmakers say it infringes on their spending authority.

Climate

The Washington Post

The inquiry is a specific problem for a candidate whose durability rests on being the personally-trusted institutionalist.

The Washington Post

The ruling clears an expansive cross-referencing system built on sensitive records about millions of Americans.

Regulation

The Washington Post

The Supreme Court cleared the administration to check voter rolls against a federal immigration database that Nevada showed had wrongly flagged 185 citizens.

Immigration · Regulation

Vox

Forty days from the midterms, some Republican incumbents are distancing themselves from the president's immigration enforcement and the Iran war.

Immigration

Forbes

Two of the three banned outlets were kept out of the Trump-Xi state dinner even after a federal judge ordered their credentials restored.

Regulation

The Washington Post

Monica Hesse asks what the television presidency looks like when the networks have suspended pool coverage and the White House supplies its own pictures.

AP News

The summit closed with ceremony rather than substance, producing minor trade concessions, a student-visa pledge and two pandas for Zoo Atlanta.

SportBusiness

Paramount Skydance settled with a group of US states to resolve the antitrust suit blocking its takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery.

Regulation · Antitrust · M&A

Front Office Sports

New York accuses the prediction market of skirting state gambling law, the second such suit after Kalshi, testing whether CFTC oversight preempts state regulators.

Sports betting · Regulation

Front Office Sports

The Premier League's long-running financial-regulations case against Manchester City ended with guilty findings on all but one of 115 charges.

Regulation

The Guardian

Barney Ronay argues the system rather than the manager produced England's World Cup semifinal defeat, ahead of Saturday's match against Spain.

The Washington Post

Accounts of terminal lucidity raise the question of whether cognitive function in dementia is suppressed rather than destroyed.

Public health

Vox

Sinkholes are becoming more frequent worldwide as aging infrastructure meets extreme weather.

The Washington Post

The two nations weakened a range of safeguards in the U.N. effort to regulate lethal autonomous weaponry, in negotiations this month that marked the furthest progress yet toward a potential treaty.

Robotics · AI

The Washington Post

Prosecutors say the plan was coordinated between men in at least six states and took shape in mere weeks ahead of the June 14 event at the White House.

Combat sports

Pew Research Center

Pew is one of three surveys showing American opinion on China warming markedly since 2021, with the largest gains among young people.

The New York Times

The trade truce extension was agreed before Xi's White House visit and defers technology restrictions and critical minerals access to a later round.

Vox

Further reading from the day's section on The World Stage: Xi in Washington, Netanyahu Alone at the UN.

The New York Times

The 30-year mortgage rate crossed 7% for the first time since January 2025 as Iran-driven energy prices spilled into the wider US economy.

Housing

The Refresh

AdTechGod's read is that regulators spent years opening Google's stack while AI companies build closed ecosystems of their own.

Advertising · Regulation · AI

Front Office Sports

The settlement removes the deal's biggest legal obstacle and sets up a combined CBS Sports and TNT Sports rights platform.

Regulation · Antitrust

The New York Times

The Nike founder's gift for a new engineering college is reportedly the largest known contribution to a flagship university, pushing his lifetime giving past $2 billion.

Vox

Vox argues the ultra-processed label lumps whole-grain bread and plant-based meats with Twinkies, and that the nutrition label is the better guide.

New York Post

The Mets are hiring the former Twins president of baseball operations after Steve Cohen said he wanted fresh perspectives on talent evaluation.

Vox

Caitlin Dewey argues the second-term escalation against the press runs through neutral-seeming rules like pool control and FCC license reviews rather than insults.

The Washington Post

The Justice Department argued in court that the three banned outlets' reporting threatened national security and that White House access is a privilege, not a right.

The Washington Post

Further reading from the day's section on The Press Ban Goes to Court.

The New York Times

Fox News was among several outlets that boycotted White House events this week in protest of the ban on CNN, Politico and MS NOW.

The Washington Post

Both governments say they need an agreement on artificial intelligence, and the reporting finds they are nowhere near one going into the summit.

AI

AP News

Iran's president said he is open to talks but will not surrender the nuclear program, a day after Trump threatened to annihilate Iran from the same podium.

The Washington Post

Michael Birnbaum reports Trump warned world leaders he would annihilate Iran while appearing frustrated by a war that has run past his initial promises.

The Washington Post

Further reading from the day's section on Iran, Diesel, and the Republican Retreat.

The Washington Post

Ten months after calling Texas the epicenter of AI development, Greg Abbott directed the state environmental commission to halt all data center permits pending an ERCOT audit.

Data centres · AI

NBC News

Of fifteen political characteristics tested, supporting a local data center drew the strongest negative reaction, with 64% of registered voters less likely to back that candidate.

Data centres

NPR

About 20% of middle-income renters were unable to pay their full rent in 2025.

Vox

One survey found 34% of singles now hold a hard must-have checklist, which experts tie to dating apps and negative social media narratives.

Business Insider

Researchers weigh the alignment and privacy risks of handing a personal agent your accounts.

Surveillance · AI

Reuters

Mbappe left Nike for On as the Swiss brand enters soccer with Thierry Henry as director of football.

The Guardian

Cole Palmer, Declan Rice, Kobbie Mainoo, Marcus Rashford and Tino Livramento all withdrew before England's Nations League tie with Spain.

Vox

Four beluga whales have died in a month at Chicago's Shedd Aquarium, three of them relocated from the closed Marineland park.

Vox

An argument that refusing every ethically compromised activity produces a smaller, less-lived life.

NBC News

DoorDash settled a New York City probe that found it underpaid or paid delivery workers late.

The Washington Post

A survey of how doomsday framing came to dominate the AI policy conversation, the backdrop to this week's pacing argument.

AI

The Washington Post

The three banned outlets filed First and Fifth Amendment claims in federal court and asked for an expedited hearing.

The New York Times

The case was assigned to the Trump-appointed judge who sided with Jim Acosta in his 2018 credentials challenge.

The Washington Post

Tyler Hassen gave the first major interview about his forthcoming memoir on the cost-cutting group, which he says he would join again.

NBC News

Further reading from the day's section on The Press and the Presidency.

The Washington Post

Internal records show at least $410 million authorized or pledged for third-country deportation agreements with 31 countries as of the end of June.

Immigration

The Washington Post

A single case showing what happens after a third-country deportation flight lands.

Immigration

Semafor

The migrant influx in the Spanish enclave has pushed the anti-immigration party Vox to its highest polling in years.

Immigration

CNN

Waltz argued the president is within his rights to limit journalists who in his opinion are not acting in good faith.

CNN

Connecticut's attorney general says he is fighting to preserve the independence of CNN and CBS News as settlement terms are negotiated.

Regulation

Variety

Ruffalo publicly urged California and other states to reject a settlement clearing the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery deal.

Regulation

The Wrap

Warren reiterated that the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery combination would be a dangerous merger.

Regulation · M&A

The New York Times

Further reading from the day's section on The Press Ban and the Paramount Squeeze.

The Washington Post

Further reading from the day's section on The Press Ban and the Paramount Squeeze.

The New York Times

Governor Newsom signed legislation penalizing influencers up to $5,000 per undisclosed paid political post.

The Washington Post

Trump announced an AI Force modeled on the Space Force without specifying what it would do, while rejecting industry calls to slow research.

AI

The Washington Post

The president and his sons hold large AI-related positions while he decides whether to constrain the sector.

AI

The New York Times

Ezra Klein published a weekend essay arguing for immediate action on AI as the safety debate intensified.

AI

The Washington Post

Further reading from the day's section on Moscow, Riyadh, Berlin, Nuuk.

The Washington Post

A local feud over a high school protest became a national story when police charged a woman with contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

BBC News

About 1,000 students face removal, and for the women among them returning to Afghanistan would end their medical careers.

BBC News

The Delhi High Court granted bail after nearly nine years of detention without conviction and a UN panel call for his release.

The Washington Post

Further reading from the day's section on An Impossible School Choice, and the Lightning Round.

BBC News

Sheeran said he had made mistakes and called the situation in Gaza catastrophic and unjustifiable at his first show since Macklemore was dropped.

The Washington Post

Trump announced a new AI organization and an official to run it while rejecting lawmaker and industry calls to slow the technology down.

AI

Status

Paramount is in advanced talks to settle the antitrust suit blocking its $111 billion Warner Bros. Discovery merger, with an independent oversight board for CNN among the concessions discussed.

Regulation · Antitrust · M&A

The Washington Post

Demonstrators formed a human chain around the Kennedy Center amid speculation the building could be demolished, and the Post examined what the city lost when it closed.

The Washington Post

Advisers say Trump has accepted blunt assessments of the GOP's midterm chances and signaled he understands he contributed to the environment.

The Washington Post

The confidential contracts behind the administration's drug-pricing deals include inducements for companies to raise prices overseas and promises of presidential protection.

The Washington Post

Russell Vought argued the NIH funds 'woke' priorities and proposed a presidential commission to review its grants.

The Washington Post

A university that recruits large numbers of Hispanic students allowed its campus police force to serve as ICE agents.

The Washington Post

Chuck Schumer told the Post that if the election were held today Democrats would win the majority.

Elections

The Washington Post

Polling has consistently found roughly 8 in 10 Americans support age limits for members of Congress.

The Washington Post

The health secretary told the group they have a friend at the White House as US measles cases hit their highest level since 1991.

Public health

The Washington Post

The nomination was pulled without explanation, leaving an agency that has had no Senate-confirmed director in a decade.

Vox

Vox cited a new Politico poll finding 63 percent of Americans think AI has at least a moderate chance of destroying humanity.

AI

Puck

Ian Krietzberg interviewed the Silicon Valley congressman about his five-point plan for AI regulation.

Regulation · AI

The Washington Post

Internal documents in the Times' lawsuit show Microsoft and OpenAI employees worried that training on news articles was a form of theft.

Regulation · AI

The Washington Post

Cybersecurity experts told the Post that freely available AI software is supercharging hackers.

AI

Defector

Luisa Rollenhagen explains the German political situation as Friedrich Merz faces state elections his party is expected to lose ground in.

Elections

The Guardian

Boehly is stepping down as chairman while investor Hansjorg Wyss remains a key shareholder.

Forbes

Lennar said the federal immigration crackdown is creating labor shortages for its partners and warned it may affect future financial results.

Immigration · Housing

Forbes

A federal judge ordered 30 days' notice before any changes to construction plans and required a sworn declaration about the temporary closure and emergency repairs.

Regulation

Vox

Diesel hit $6.40 a gallon, up 73% year over year, and because demand for it is inelastic the cost gets passed through to consumer prices rather than absorbed.

The New York Times

The drone strike on Saudi Arabia's East-West pipeline is one of two incidents driving this week's diesel price spike.

Reuters

Ukraine's drone campaign against Russian refineries is the second driver of the global diesel squeeze.

Axios

Restricting diesel exports is one of the options the administration is reportedly weighing to bring domestic prices down.

CBS News

Further reading from the day's section on The War Economy Meets the Fed.

NBC News

Public skepticism of AI extends to education, with growing support for schools that limit or ban the technology.

AI

Digiday

Sports marketing experts say F1's US growth has room left and brands shouldn't read a streaming-transition dip as a collapse in fandom.

Transit

BBC

Ursula von der Leyen responded by opening the door to making Canada the EU's first-ever associate member.

Reuters

Intel rose on the report, though SK Hynix played the discussions down later the same day.

Vox

Further reading from the day's section on Lightning Round.

Vox

Further reading from the day's section on Lightning Round.

BBC Sport

Further reading from the day's section on Lightning Round.

The Washington Post

A wave of Russian strikes and covert plots is raising fears in Washington that the conflict is spiraling.

The Washington Post

California homeowners are building a costly rock wall against years of beach erosion, escalating a fight over private property and the coastline.

Semafor

Experts warn the midterms could interrupt the momentum for AI regulation in Congress.

Regulation · AI

The Washington Post

Activists spent years cultivating allies on Capitol Hill, and lawmakers in both parties are now discussing AI extinction risk.

AI

The Washington Post

Sam Altman said people are right to fear advancing AI but should trust the leaders building it.

AI

The Guardian

US officials decided not to back Saudi Arabia after meeting Houthi leaders as fighting in Yemen escalates.

The Guardian

Panama cut canal traffic as El Niño drains water supplies, on a route carrying 40% of US container traffic.

The Guardian

The European Commission president invited Canada to become the EU's first-ever associate member amid its trade war with the US.

Tariffs

The Washington Post

The administration approved a $2.8 billion sale of 40,000 one-ton bombs to Israel, the largest such sale in years.

The Washington Post

Unite America finds just over 9% of eligible voters, in dominant-party primaries, effectively decided 88% of House seats.

Elections

The Washington Post

The Post's takeaways: the economy dominates voters' concerns and anti-establishment anger has spread to Democratic primaries.

Elections

The Washington Post

A review of over a million posts shows GOP candidates largely ignoring the President's advice to run on him and $5,000 payouts.

The Guardian

Macklemore was dropped from Ed Sheeran's tour after venues including Robert Kraft's Gillette Stadium refused to host him.

Stadium financing

Vox

Vox points to Gallup data showing the sharpest recent drop in sympathy for Israel among Americans aged 35 to 54.

Vox

Space data center proposals would require so many satellites that stars would become less visible.

Data centres · Space

The Hill

The Senate advanced the Protect College Sports Act 74-24, shielding the NCAA from antitrust suits and capping revenue sharing and agent fees.

College sport · Regulation · Antitrust

The New York Times

Countries are struggling to absorb the cost of the war in Iran as oil prices climb.

Energy

The Washington Post

The Court blocked Trump's rules limiting who can vote by mail, saying the administration was unlikely to succeed on the merits.

Regulation · Elections

Vox

Vox reports the three-sentence order stops Trump's new mail-voting rules from applying to the 2026 midterms or, probably, any election.

Regulation · Elections

The Washington Post

Patel defended firing numerous agents and declined to say whether bureau personnel will be sent to polling stations.

The Washington Post

Hours after the ruling the Kennedy Center board voted to close the performing arts venue.

The Washington Post

ICE is dismissing some new hires over red flags officials say should have been caught earlier in the process.

Front Office Sports

The WNBA players' union called it deeply disappointing that the NBA left the group off a joint letter to state betting regulators.

Women's sport · Regulation · Labour

The Guardian

Alexander Zverev beat Ben Shelton in four sets in the US Open final, though Shelton's run lifted him to world No. 4.

Vox

University of Bath and Faunalytics researchers found eating smaller animals causes greater total suffering because so many more must be farmed and killed.

The Washington Post

Anthropic, OpenAI and Google have discussed creating a new industry AI safety body behind their public calls to slow development.

AI

The Washington Post

President Trump dismissed AI leaders' calls to slow development, saying whoever wins AI wins.

AI

Vox

Vox lays out three federal options for making AI safer: a pause, independent auditors, or tougher liability law.

AI

Axios

Bernie Sanders and Steve Bannon are joining forces at a Washington Pro-Human Assembly to press for AI safeguards.

AI

NPR

Further reading from the day's section on Washington and Beijing Pick Sides.

AI

The Washington Post

Research finds 52% of Americans hold working-class jobs but only 2% of members of Congress held one before taking office.

The Washington Post

Further reading from the day's section on The Midterm Machinery: Ballots, Courts and Candidates.

Regulation · Elections

The Washington Post

Further reading from the day's section on The Midterm Machinery: Ballots, Courts and Candidates.

Elections

The Washington Post

Bombardier workers in Wichita are pushing back against Trump's threat to ban the Canadian jet maker.

Reuters

Ryanair's CEO warned of significant airfare increases as jet fuel runs 90% above last year.

Energy

The Guardian

Scammers are stitching influencers' photos into fake sponsored posts, including a fabricated GLP-1 drug ad.

The Baltimore Banner

A U.S. record rugby crowd of 68,173 filled Baltimore's M&T Bank Stadium to watch South Africa beat New Zealand 43-28.

Stadium financing

The Washington Post

A mathematician close to a major result was beaten to it by AI, a human-scale version of the weekend's AI debate.

AI

The Washington Post

The president rejected the labs' call to slow down, as Democrats increasingly attack his hands-off approach ahead of the midterms.

AI

The Washington Post

With seven weeks to Election Day, officials are preparing for seized ballots, ICE agents at polls and batch ballot rejections by the postal system.

Elections

The Washington Post

The center's Trump-installed leaders warn of certain fiscal collapse unless the president's name goes on the building, and recommend closing the main building.

The Washington Post

The Kennedy Center's troubles are spreading to businesses near the building.

The Washington Post

Interviews with dozens of voters explore why Democrats plan to turn out even if they dislike their party's leaders.

Reuters

India hosted a BRICS summit where members called for maximum restraint in the Iran war and agreed mainly on opposing tariffs.

Tariffs

Reuters

India beat growth forecasts, but a former finance secretary accused the government of revising last year's figure down.

CNN

Pete Hegseth and political appointees pushed the downed F-15 airmen into the season premiere interview despite their concerns.

The New York Times

The AP's refusal to give Trump's team rights to its assassination-attempt photo appears to be another reason for its White House ban.

AP

The 1998-2001 briefs show Osama bin Laden also planned to target countries including India and Pakistan.

The Guardian

Further reading from the day's section on Lightning Round.

The Washington Post

Further reading from the day's section on hot inflation and rising oil prices.

Energy

The Washington Post

Further reading from the day's section on hot inflation and rising oil prices.

Energy

The Washington Post

The Post reports lawmakers are racing to act on AI, as the leaders of the two biggest AI labs openly talk about slowing down.

AI

The Washington Post

Further reading from the day's section on AI labs talking about slowing down.

AI

The Washington Post

A federal judge ruled the administration's plan to cut FEMA by 50% illegal, saying it looked pulled from thin air.

The Washington Post

The Post outlined the Trump investigations House Democrats plan if they win in November.

The Washington Post

The Post reports al-Qaeda is regrouping in Afghanistan, 25 years after 9/11.

The Washington Post

Further reading from the day's section on Washington twenty-five years after 9/11.

The Washington Post

The Post profiled the billionaire Trump ally blowing up college football.

College sport

The Washington Post

A man cleaning his garage found a lost stash of World War II prisoner-of-war records.

The Washington Post

New studies raise questions about supplements and the aging brain.

The Washington Post

Further reading from the day's reading list.

The Washington Post

Further reading from the day's reading list.

Vox

August CPI held at 3.4% with core goods accelerating, and Trump's two-hour Dallas keynote never mentioned inflation, rent or housing.

Housing