Today's biggest news, explained like a human wrote it. Scroll down to travel back in time.
As Ukraine's fight against Russia grinds on, soldiers on the eastern front are pinning fresh hopes on a newly appointed general to turn the tide. One captain serving in the region told NBC News he has real optimism about the new leadership, even as the broader conflict shows no signs of ending soon.
That's everything from today — older stories are below if you're curious.
SpaceX had to postpone its next big Starship test flight after engine problems popped up, pushing back a new liftoff date to be announced later. If you've been following the Starship program's bumpy road toward Mars ambitions, this is just the latest delay in a long line of them.
While Tesla and Alphabet were getting hammered, Intel had the opposite day — shares rose in after-hours trading after its Q2 results beat expectations. It's a small bright spot in an otherwise ugly week for tech stocks, and could signal the chipmaker's turnaround efforts are finally gaining traction.
If you're watching the midterm landscape, Arizona just gave a strong signal: candidates backed by Trump won nominations for governor and a key House seat. It's another data point on how much sway the former president still holds over the GOP base heading into a competitive election cycle.
The Kuwait border strikes we told you about were just the start — the US just carried out its 11th straight night of attacks on Iran after Trump declared the ceasefire officially "over." Oil jumped over 3% on the news, with Brent crude topping $95 a barrel for the first time in a month, so brace yourself for higher gas prices if this keeps up.
The market rollercoaster continues: the S&P 500 and Nasdaq both slipped as investors braced for earnings from Tesla, Alphabet, IBM and Texas Instruments, all while rising oil prices from the Iran conflict add another layer of stress. If you've got a 401(k) or own tech stocks, this week's earnings drop could move your portfolio either way.
The US-Israel-Iran conflict just got a lot more regional: Iran hit three land border posts in Kuwait and an offshore rig run by the Kuwait Oil Company, and its Revolutionary Guard says it also struck HIMARS rocket launchers there. If you're watching oil prices, this is exactly the kind of escalation that spooks energy markets.
Keir Starmer is out and Andy Burnham is in, making him Britain's fifth PM in just four years. If you're keeping score, that's the UK's seventh prime minister in a decade — a wild stat that shows just how unstable British politics has become.
If your 401(k) felt like a rollercoaster this week, you're not imagining it — a cooling-off in AI stock hype combined with fresh US-Iran military strikes has markets on edge. Oil prices are climbing on fears the conflict could disrupt global energy supplies, which could mean higher prices at the pump for you.
In a rare primetime speech, the president claimed the U.S. election system has serious vulnerabilities and pointed a finger at China over voter data — claims election experts say the evidence doesn't fully support. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin followed up by claiming 250,000 noncitizens are registered to vote nationwide, a claim likely to spark fresh fights over election law heading into the midterms.
If you've eaten at Taco Bell recently, this is worth a look: the FDA is investigating iceberg lettuce from supplier Taylor Farms as a possible source of an escalating cyclosporiasis outbreak. It's a parasite that causes prolonged, nasty gastrointestinal illness, so health officials are moving fast to trace it.
Just when you thought the Iran situation couldn't get more tense, Iran struck back at the U.S. military presence in Jordan with drones after another round of American airstrikes. The U.S. also disabled an oil tanker trying to sneak past its blockade, and amid all the chaos, Iran released an American citizen who'd been detained since 2024 as a apparent goodwill gesture.
Big news for anyone watching the AI race play out globally: Alibaba's stock popped after word that its Qwen AI model will be integrated into Apple Intelligence for Chinese users. It's a sign of how U.S. tech giants are teaming up with Chinese AI players to navigate that huge market.
Goldman just blew past Wall Street's expectations, reporting earnings of $20.98 per share against forecasts of $14.48. Meanwhile IBM had the opposite day, warning of weaker profits and watching its stock drop 25% — a reminder that this earnings season is shaping up to be a mixed bag depending on the sector.
The White House just confirmed what everyone feared: the U.S.-Iran ceasefire is dead, and the fighting is back. Trump is reinstating a naval blockade of Iranian ports and slapping a 20% fee on all cargo passing through the Strait of Hormuz — a critical route for roughly a fifth of the world's oil.