War Secretary Pete Hegseth is set to announce during today's State of the Force address that the Pentagon will slash the number of billets reserved for generals and admirals by 20 percent, doubling last year's 10 percent reduction under his "less generals, more GIs" push. Plans for the Army, Navy, Air Force and the joint pool were approved earlier this month, with the services directed to finish the cuts by January 1, 2027. The reductions target positions rather than officers, and some slots will be downgraded rather than eliminated.
The 10-year Treasury note touched 5.15 percent, its highest since 2007, while the 30-year pushed past 5.44 percent, a level unseen since 2004. Equities still ground higher on semiconductor strength, with the S&P 500 at 7,743 and the Nasdaq up 2 percent on the week, but analysts warn the rising cost of money will eventually bite. Brent crude swung wildly between $90 and $108 on shifting US-Iran signals before settling near $104.
Judge Wayne Ozzi voided tax notices already mailed to New York City property owners, calling the rollout "arbitrary and capricious, affected by errors of law, and in violation of the recipients' due process rights" because the city never verified primary residences. The judge left the door open for the surcharge itself to survive if the city follows proper procedure. Mayor Zohran Mamdani appealed immediately, triggering an automatic stay that lets collection continue for now.
A federal appeals panel heard arguments over whether US District Judge James Boasberg may continue his contempt inquiry into Trump administration officials. The core question is the scope of a district judge's authority to investigate senior executive-branch figures for alleged violations of his orders. Whichever way it lands, the ruling will set the boundary line for judicial oversight of the administration.
Roughly 60 million barrels moved through the Strait of Hormuz over the previous 72 hours under US Navy protection, the strongest traffic since the war with Iran began and a direct blow to Tehran's core leverage. The Navy continues to blockade Iranian ports. Inside Iran, authorities mobilized an estimated 51,000 IRGC and police personnel with motorcycle patrols and checkpoints during "Sacred Defense Week," bracing for unrest.
Five British nationals in their early twenties were arrested near the US air base at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire after a farmer flagged three white vans parked nearby; no viable explosives were found and all five were bailed Monday. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told "Hannity" the case "clearly involves the hands of a foreign actor" and promised repercussions, while Trump suggested an Iranian link and criticized the bail decision. Iran denies involvement.
Trump sat down with Venezuela's acting president Delcy Rodríguez on the sidelines of a UN reception, the first face-to-face between a US and Venezuelan leader in more than a decade and the first since American forces seized Nicolás Maduro on January 3. At the General Assembly, Rodríguez pledged elections and "full democracy" through dialogue with opposition sectors but named no date. A major US-Venezuela oil agreement now anchors the new relationship.
SpaceX's Starship Flight 14 lifted off from Starbase, Texas at about 8:48 a.m. ET on September 28 and reached low Earth orbit for the first time, riding a 33-engine Super Heavy booster. It deployed 26 Starlink V3 satellites at one-minute intervals, completed a full orbit, and splashed down in the northern Pacific three hours and eight minutes after launch despite losing an engine seven minutes in. A Starship variant is slated to serve as a lunar lander for Artemis III in 2027.
Boeing won a contract worth more than $20 billion to develop the F/A-XX, a carrier-based sixth-generation strike fighter that will replace the Super Hornet and the EA-18G Growler starting in the 2030s. It is Boeing's second sixth-gen program alongside the Air Force's F-47, with a new manufacturing facility rising in St. Louis. Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao called it "a generational leap in air superiority."
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps published a 26-page open letter addressed to the American people ahead of the November 3 midterms, urging voters to oppose Trump and insisting the slogan "death to America" was never about Americans personally. The letter invites Americans to come visit the Strait of Hormuz, claims the US economy is "on the precipice of collapse," and floats the notion that the September 11 attacks were a false-flag operation. No evidence is offered for any of it.
