President Trump warned that any country providing Iran an economic "lifeline" will face unprecedented consequences, as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent prepares what he's calling the toughest sanctions package in history. Vice President JD Vance says the conflict has entered a new phase built around economic pressure rather than open fighting. Trump also said the regime would use a nuclear weapon "without question" if it got one.
Federal agents arrested an Albany-area woman accused of pledging allegiance to ISIS and plotting to bomb the New York State Capitol and kill state senators. Prosecutors say she intended to disguise the explosive device as a food delivery. The arrest is one of the more advanced domestic terror plots disrupted this year.
The Treasury announced it would at least double the size of its debt buybacks, from two billion dollars to four billion, but investors barely blinked and yields climbed right back. Thirty-year Treasury yields have pushed to levels not seen in roughly two decades, a warning sign about the government's fiscal health. Peter Navarro argued this week the answer is to "grow our way out" rather than cut.
A Pennsylvania State Police Bell 407 helicopter and a Cessna 150 collided in midair near Carlisle Airport, killing the pilot of the small plane and injuring two state troopers. Investigators from the NTSB and FAA are on scene reconstructing the flight paths. The troopers were transported for treatment following the crash.
Iran's armed forces chief promised "revolutionary, crushing, regret-inducing and devastating" retaliation as the US naval blockade squeezes Iranian oil out of the market. China, Tehran's biggest customer, cut imports to roughly 534,000 barrels a day in August, down from about 823,000 in July. Brent crude closed up 2.4 percent at 93.78 dollars, its highest since late July.
Russian ballistic missiles struck Kyiv before dawn Thursday, killing 12 people and injuring more than 30 while knocking out power in parts of the capital. Moscow's defense ministry claimed it hit a transport and logistics hub and military-industrial warehouses. Ukrainian officials say residential buildings took direct damage.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio formally designated US citizen Min Zin as wrongfully detained after his June 3 arrest in Yunnan province, where he had traveled at Beijing's invitation. The designation moves his case to the special envoy for hostage affairs and raises the diplomatic stakes considerably. It lands just weeks before Trump is set to host Xi Jinping at the White House.
The president signed a presidential memorandum Thursday directing federal agencies to dramatically expand American commercial launch capacity, with a target of a thousand launches annually by 2030. Agencies are ordered to survey federal land for new launch and reentry sites and to expedite permits and environmental reviews. The push leans heavily on public-private partnerships to fund the infrastructure.
Defense officials are racing to field a next-generation radar architecture because existing systems struggle to track maneuvering hypersonic weapons. The concern is that current sensors can detect a launch but lose the track mid-flight, leaving interceptors with nothing to aim at. The gap has become more urgent given Chinese and Russian hypersonic fielding.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's move back to the United Kingdom has put a fresh spotlight on the explosive allegations they made against the royal family. Commentators note the couple now has to live in the same country as people they publicly accused of serious misconduct. It's an awkward homecoming by any measure.
