The high court on Friday allowed the Trump administration to keep using an overhauled version of the DHS "SAVE" database — now linked to Social Security records and capable of bulk searches — while litigation continues. The six conservative justices formed the majority; Jackson, Sotomayor and Kagan dissented. Practical effect on the November 3 midterms is likely limited, since states are already inside the 90-day federal window barring systematic voter-roll purges.
The 10-year Treasury yield touched 5.2 percent Friday, its highest since June 2007, with the 30-year hovering near 5.5 percent. The University of Michigan's final September consumer sentiment reading fell to 48.1, a four-month low, as fuel costs and midterm uncertainty weighed on households. Equities shrugged it off — the Dow closed at 51,828 and the S&P 500 at 7,743 as oil eased back on Iran diplomacy chatter.
More than 40 million people face heavy rain, gale-force winds and coastal flooding from North Carolina to New England through Sunday, with over 750 miles of coastline at risk across multiple high tides. Maryland's Ocean's Calling festival and New York's Global Citizen Festival were both canceled. Out in the Pacific, Hurricane Nolo is strengthening toward major status on a close pass south of Hawaii, with up to 35 inches of rain possible on the Big Island and a federal emergency declaration already approved.
Jurors found Friday that Meta willfully violated New Mexico's Unfair Practices Act 43,899,720 times by misleading users about data protections, misinformation and hate speech policies. They reviewed 34 company statements and found deception in nearly every one. At a statutory maximum of $5,000 per violation, the theoretical exposure is roughly $219.5 billion — District Judge Francis Mathew will set the actual figure.
Tehran floated a step-by-step timeline — four or five days of US concessions, the Strait of Hormuz reopening on day six, talks starting on day seven. The President turned it down and has reportedly told aides he expects another bombing campaign after the November midterms. Washington has also signaled it will not lift the maritime blockade of Iranian ports, betting economic pressure forces better terms.
Xi Jinping left the US on Thursday after White House talks, a military welcome and an East Room state dinner heavy with tech executives. Xi pressed Trump to oppose Taiwan independence; a US official said flatly the language and the policy are not changing. The existing trade truce was extended through January 10, and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer says the substance of the negotiations gets released Monday.
Russian strikes killed civilians across Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia, Odesa, Sumy and Kharkiv, while a Ukrainian drone attack on Russia's Krasnodar region killed three. Putin said all settlement proposals remain under consideration, subject to Moscow's own interests. Separately, Danish intelligence warned that Russia is likely to escalate hybrid attacks against NATO countries.
NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope activated its 300-megapixel infrared camera on September 21, an instrument built to survey enormous swaths of sky at Hubble-class sharpness. On the heels of that milestone, the agency announced PRIMA — the Probe far-Infrared Mission for Astrophysics — moving into Phase B development for a 2033 launch.
An international team using the James Webb Space Telescope detected dust and water forming and persisting remarkably close to Sagittarius A*, the black hole at the Milky Way's center. The evolved star IRS 3 appears to keep enriching its surroundings with fresh material despite brutal radiation. Astronomers expected that environment to be sterile — it isn't.
Amateur astronomer Joël Lapointe was scouting Quebec's Côte-Nord on satellite imagery when a suspiciously round feature near Lake Marsal caught his eye. He flagged it to researchers at Aix-Marseille University; a 2025 field expedition found shatter cones confirming a 25-kilometer-wide impact structure roughly 390 million years old. Named Uhackatik after consultation with the Innu Council of Ekuanitshit, it awaits formal recognition from the Meteoritical Society.
