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U.S. Central Command struck three Iranian oil tankers after the IRGC targeted American warships, and the M/T Kylo has now gone down in the Gulf of Oman. CENTCOM says it has redirected 92 commercial vessels, disabled three and boarded two, with F-35As flying patrols over the strait. Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf warned any further attack will draw a "faster, heavier and more painful response."
The national diesel average pushed back above $5.60 a gallon Friday — roughly two dollars higher than a year ago — as the Iran conflict and refining disruptions tighten supply. Regular gas is sitting north of $4, with 23 states averaging $4 or more and 11 above $4.30. Brent crude traded around $96 a barrel.
The economy added 162,000 jobs in August against economist expectations of just 55,000, with construction up 22,000 and average hourly earnings rising 0.3 percent. Federal payrolls shrank by 5,000 and state government jobs by 10,000. The number lands right before the Fed's meeting later this month, where the debate is now whether to hike rather than hold.
The RNC convenes Wednesday and Thursday at the American Airlines Center with more than 100 speakers, headlined by Vice President JD Vance and President Trump. Notably, a lot of congressional Republicans are skipping it to campaign at home, and grassroots activists have grumbled about the price tag. Democrats are sending a four-member counterprogramming squad to Texas.
The Kremlin called Saturday's session "highly useful," and Putin ordered a 72-hour pause on strikes against Kyiv ahead of the delegation's arrival there. Zelensky confirmed the envoys land in Kyiv today. The hard part is unchanged: Kyiv still rejects Moscow's demand that it withdraw from the Ukrainian-held portions of Donetsk and Luhansk.
The IDF hit Hezbollah positions after the Iran-backed group launched a drone at Israeli soldiers along the border, saying the strikes removed an immediate threat. Four people were killed. Among the targets was a command center the IDF says was operating out of a building formerly used as a hospital.
The cartel declined to raise production for October even with Iranian barrels stranded behind the blockade. Analyst Jorge Leon said the group has "very limited power over the physical oil market" when the disruption is logistical rather than a supply shortfall. Meanwhile Iran's economy minister publicly rejected the idea that sanctions pressure will change Tehran's policy.
Moon Base II sends Astrobotic's Griffin lander with more than 500 kilograms of cargo, including Astrolab's FLEX rover to test astronaut mobility. Moon Base III carries the Lunar Vertex mission to investigate lunar swirls — bright surface formations possibly tied to buried magnetic fields — plus European and Korean payloads. All three are targeted before the end of 2026.
UC San Diego surgeons remotely guided a pair of off-the-shelf humanoid robots through a laparoscopic gallbladder removal on a pig — a preclinical first. The machines mirrored the surgeons' hand movements rather than making any decisions themselves, and no human patients were involved. The point is cost: cheap hardware could put remote surgery in places that can't afford a million-dollar surgical system.
Karina, Lowell and Marie spun up simultaneously across a stretch of ocean running from Mexico to Hawaii. Lowell briefly hit Category 5 and was still a strong Category 4 with 140 mph sustained winds, forecast to pass near the westernmost main Hawaiian Islands late Monday. Three named hurricanes churning the same basin at the same time is a genuinely rare sight.
