President Trump told Axios in a phone interview Monday he's "in no rush" to decide whether to resume fighting in Iran. Why it matters: The midterm elections have been seen as an inflection point for Trump on whether to unleash a massive bombing campaign to try to bring the war to an end. But it appears the president, at least for now, will continue pursuing dual tracks — letting negotiations play out while preparing to go back to war if he concludes a deal isn't possible. What he is saying: "One way or the other, we will do something, but there is no rush. We crippled them financially. They have no money, no gasoline and their people are getting very tired of it," Trump said in the interview. Driving the news: Qatari mediators have written a draft agreement outlining a three-day sequence of confidence-building measures aimed at resuming direct U.S.-Iran negotiations, according to regional sources. A diplomat with knowledge of the situation said the Qatari mediators are waiting for feedback from the U.S. and Iran. Trump is giving diplomacy a chance but is clear-eyed about the chances of reaching a deal. "We are talking to them. It's going fine. The problem with them is ... they try and tap tap tap [us along]. There's less urgency [on the Iranian side] than you think there would be, but they want to make deal more than they ever wanted," Trump said. Between the lines: Trump is weighing three courses of action, backed by three different camps: Make a deal: Vice President Vance and White House envoy Steve Witkoff are urging him to move toward a deal because a renewed war might not change the situation for the better. Most Gulf countries support this position and have communicated that to Trump, sources say. Go back to battle: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants to resume combat, as does Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. They argue that Iran can't be trusted to make a deal let alone abide by one, and that Trump should finish the job militarily. Maximum econo
Results for “talking points”
Sunday’s win at Liverpool showed the Gunners are deeper, more experienced, and are playing against a weaker class of contenders than last season Sign up for our free newsletter here Arsenal are three points clear at the top of the Premier League table . But given the team in second are Manchester City, who are likely to be facing at the very least a major points deduction , perhaps more significant is that they are five clear of Brighton in third. The season of domination that many anticipated from the champions appears to be coming to pass. Liverpool challenged them on Sunday. There was a 20-minute spell before half-time when they swarmed all over Arsenal, and Anfield felt at least like it did in the golden years of Jürgen Klopp, when it buzzed with an energy that could overwhelm visitors. But Arsenal got through that, reset at half-time, and navigated the second half with relative comfort. For the second league game running, they denied Liverpool a shot on target. This is an extract from Soccer Desk, a newsletter from the Guardian US. Subscribe for free here . Continue reading...
In a downpour against the Atlanta Falcons, Tampa Bay decided throwing was for losers. They were proved right I don’t think I’m being cheeky when I say that passing is the most exciting part of football. A solid hit is nice, and a big run can thrill you, but this is a quarterback-centric game. When a QB is bad, teams usually lose and fans get bored. So, Sunday’s performance by Baker Mayfield and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers has me positively gobsmacked. I wouldn’t say their 16-0 win over the Atlanta Falcons was thrill-a-minute, but it certainly was historic. By completing a grand total of zero passes out of a paltry three attempts, Baker Mayfield led the Bucs to the first game with no passing offense since the Buffalo Bills beat the New York Jets 16-12 on 29 September 1974. If you are miraculously old enough to remember the NFL before the advent of the forward pass in 1906, first off, congratulations on being over 120 years of age. Please email me your full diet and exercise regimen. You’re probably on your feet (if standing is still something physically possible), cheering a bit of hard-nosed, classic football. The rest of us young whippersnappers still grinding through our first century are holding our noses. Of course, Mayfield – a former No 1 overall pick – can throw. As recently as 2024 he threw for 41 touchdowns and 4,500 passing yards in a season. But Sunday’s game was played in pouring rain that led to farcical moments like this , and Tampa clearly decided that the ground game was the only way to go. That Tampa Bay could score at all, let alone 16 points, is a credit to Bucky Irving and Kenneth Gainwell running as if their lives depended on it. Irving finished the day with 170 rushing yards and one touchdown, while Gainwell had 140. Combined, they rushed 52 times for 324 yards – the most ever in a single game for the Bucs. They more than made up for Mayfield’s borderline irrelevance in the pocket. Mayfield made himself useful blocking for his runners, but otherwi
Despite the US president’s ratings being at rock bottom, undoing his legacy will be difficult, not least because the Democrats are in disarray The stats and polling all suggest one thing: the Republicans are set for a hammering in the midterms. Donald Trump has the lowest approval rating of any US president going into a midterm election since Harry Truman. And it’s still dropping. The Democrats are projected to win by a margin of 11 percentage points , the largest swing by any party in almost 20 years. It is possible that the Democrats flip the Senate and secure a large majority in Congress. Those majorities would make a material difference, perhaps finally establishing oversight of the policies Trump has brought in during his second term: immigration enforcement, trade disputes, gutting the federal workforce, the Iran war, to say nothing of his own family’s corruption. The tide seems to be turning, and one question is on everyone’s mind: is the Trump era really ending? “Nobody wants to jinx it,” wrote David Wallace-Wells of the New York Times, but: “All the signs we have suggest that, historic or not, these midterms are likely to mark the end of a political era.” What that gives way to is a much more complicated picture in which the US will be delivered from Trump himself, but remains a country riven and undermined by what he has unleashed. By the time he is gone, Trump will have been president for eight years, and a toxic force for more than 12. That is a long time even for a normal politician. Under one who shatters norms and forces himself into the centre of everything, Trump’s effect is as if he were president for decades. Continue reading...
Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) faced fierce backlash from fellow Democrats, party officials and her own staffers after endorsing Republican Mike Rogers for U.S. Senate on Sunday. Why it matters: It's a stunning reversal in standing for Stevens, who came within a few percentage points of being her party's nominee for Senate in Michigan just months earlier. "Pathetic, petty, selfish, unhinged," Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) told Axios of her endorsement of Rogers. "You run out of words." Rep. Sam Liccardo (D-Calif.) said of the video Stevens posted to social media announcing her endorsement and her joint press conference with Rogers: "I've seen more pleasant self-immolations." State of play: Stevens' endorsement of Rogers came after her long-running feud with Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed reached a boiling point over the weekend. El-Sayed, a leftist who narrowly defeated the more moderate Stevens in the Senate primary in August, said in a statement on Friday that Stevens "seems intent on relitigating a primary that ended three months ago." Stevens had been pressing El-Sayed to more forcefully condemn an ad from an outside super PAC that suggested U.S. aid to Israel was partly to blame for rising prices. Stevens, in her video endorsing Rogers, said that El-Sayed "said that I was no longer welcome in his campaign, and that I should stay away," adding, "He's right. ... I don't belong in Abdul's campaign." What they're saying: Stevens' Democratic colleagues met her endorsement with shock and fury. "I am lost for words," Rep. Lateefah Simon (D-Calif.) told Axios. Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-Md.) said in a text to Axios: "WTF!!??" "I JUST SAW THIS BULLSHIT," Rep. Emily Randall (D-Wash.) texted. "There is too much on the line for BS like this." "What the fuck is she doing?" another House Democrat said. "This election is not about her, and this will not age well." Zoom in: "I'm dumbfounded that Haley told me one thing last night and changed her mind today," said Rep. Jamie Raskin (D
Unbeaten Minnesota v Detroit; Jackson v Allen in Buffalo Email Graham here A pair of quarterback heavyweights?! Yes, just a bit. Lamar Jackson returns from a three-game absence for the Baltimore Ravens to face Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills. Jackson’s two MVP awards play Allen’s one but Allen is very much the favourite to add to a second to his trophy cabinet after a scintillating start to the season. After their own hot start with Jackson at the controls the Ravens have slumped to 4-3. Two defeats in succession leave Baltimore bottom of the AFC North. So they will be hoping Jackson can jump back in and stop the slide. Unfortunately the omens aren’t great. The Bills have beaten the Ravens on three straight occasions at home, the latest being last season’s thriller from the opening week as Buffalo scored 16 unanswered points in the final four minutes to overturn a 15-point deficit in their 41-40 victory. (4-3) Baltimore Ravens v Buffalo Bills (5-1) (1-6) Tennessee Titans v Cincinnati Bengals (4-2) (2-5) Arizona Cardinals v Dallas Cowboys (3-4) (6-0) Minnesota Vikings v Detroit Lions (4-2) (2-5) Indianapolis Colts v Jacksonville Jaguars (4-2) (3-4) Las Vegas Raiders v New York Jets (2-5) (5-2) Cleveland Browns v Pittsburgh Steelers (5-2) (3-4) Atlanta Falcons v Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2-5) Continue reading...
Florida Republicans aren't panicking about sluggish turnout for the midterms , but in the words of one GOP elder: "We're white-knuckled." Why it matters: Florida once looked like a much safer Republican bet for the midterms. Losing any statewide race would stun and embarrass its elite Republican residents, starting with President Trump . "I don't necessarily want to be the bearer of bad news, but I don't think the turnout is as strong as we would like to see," Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis fretted last week. The biggest GOP concern is U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds' campaign for governor, though most polls show him narrowly leading Democrat David Jolly. Donalds has raised $176 million; Jolly just $28 million. Zoom in : The GOP's jitters are rooted in early turnout data. Republicans led Democrats in early ballots cast by just 2.8 percentage points as of Saturday afternoon. That's much lower than in the past two general elections — and it's despite a much-bigger Republican registration advantage over Democrats: 11 points. Republican turnout is weakest in parts of the conservative Panhandle and rural North Florida, including many of the 17 counties Donalds lost in the Republican primary. In those 17 counties, GOP turnout is 3.2 points below 2022, compared with 1.1 points below in counties that Donalds won, University of Florida political scientist Michael McDonald found. Between the lines: Republican turnout is made up of more habitual voters, while Democrats and independents are banking ballots from people who don't always show up. That could benefit Jolly if polls underestimate those voters. Democrats already have surpassed their entire 2022 early and mail-in vote totals in 15 counties, compared with four counties for Republicans. Nearly every poll shows independent voters favoring Democrats by double digits, so Republicans need a heavy turnout advantage. About two-thirds of Florida voters typically cast ballots before Election Day, making the early and absentee margins critica
Singer Becky G takes gift giving very seriously. These are some of her favorite products to give to loved ones, especially from small businesses.
Lance Wallnau has gathered supporters to talk about Charlie Kirk and school boards – with no mention of GOP One of Donald Trump’s most influential Christian nationalist backers has privately shied away from rallying supporters for the Republican party before the midterms, instead urging them to focus their attention elsewhere – including emulating El Salvador and Poland, finding a successor for Charlie Kirk and even focusing on their own diets. At the “As One” weekend for paying “partners” in the Dallas-Fort Worth area earlier this month, Lance Wallnau, one of the first prominent rightwing evangelicals to back Trump in 2015, spoke across three sessions about the virtues of El Salvador’s prison system, school boards and the movement’s future. The midterms, then little more than three weeks away, were not mentioned once. Continue reading...
The world's biggest crypto heist is the latest feat by North Korean hackers who have spent years perfecting an arsenal of financial theft, social engineering and sophisticated cyberattacks. Why it matters : The suspected North Korean hackers behind the $6.3 billion Binance theft appear to have combined familiar hacking tactics with extraordinary speed and automation — raising fresh questions about how AI could supercharge their already sophisticated operations. Driving the news : Binance said late Thursday that its blockchain partners have frozen at least $3 billion of those $6.3 billion assets on-chain so far, and it believes the hackers gained initial access by compromising one engineer's laptop alongside other "points of breach." Several blockchain investigation firms have tied the hack to TraderTraitor, a group linked to the North Korean government's Lazarus Group collective. Binance co-CEO Richard Teng said in a video on social media Friday that the attackers also used a "self-destruct mechanism that destroyed tooling and traces" as they went, making it more difficult to investigate what happened. "This was a complex attack," he said. The big picture: North Korean government hackers have spent more than a decade carrying out financial heists and disruptive cyberattacks, and they have turned cryptocurrency theft into an industrial-scale operation. In 2016, hackers attempted to steal nearly $1 billion from Bangladesh's central bank, successfully making off with $81 million. In 2017, North Korea was blamed for the WannaCry ransomware outbreak , which disrupted hundreds of thousands of computers across more than 150 countries. In recent years, the country has intensified its focus on pillaging crypto exchanges in part because the digital assets can more easily be transferred and laundered across borders — although those attacks tend to leave more of a paper trail. The same North Korean hacking group, TraderTraitor, also set the last record for the world's largest c
In a frank interview, she described her disappointment and also said she was considering converting to Judaism. Her fiancé had thoughts, too.
Disappointing earnings reports from Alphabet, Amazon and Intel renewed fears on Friday that the AI trade could unravel.
Both US parties scramble to win young voters via influencer operations. The evidence doesn’t support their efforts In tight races, any group that shifts a few points can be called decisive. In 2024, however, gen Z voters actually earned the spotlight. Take Michigan, where Donald Trump won by about 1.4 points: he and Kamala Harris evenly split the youth vote, a 24-point collapse in the Democratic edge since 2020. If young voters made up just 15% of the state’s electorate, their swing toward the president would be worth roughly 3.6 points, larger than Trump’s entire margin of victory. Alex Bronzini-Vender is a writer living in New York Continue reading...
Democrats' main Senate super PAC is privately telling top donors that Texas offers their best shot at flipping a deep-red Senate seat, followed by Ohio, where the race remains close. Senate Majority PAC also sees victories in Iowa and Alaska as within reach, though the outcomes could take longer to become clear. Why it matters: Democrats are increasingly confident about Election Day on Tuesday — and sharing their qualified optimism with their biggest donors. To retake the Senate, Democrats need to win two of those four states — all of which Trump won by double digits in 2024 — flip North Carolina and Maine, and avoid an upset in Michigan. JB Poersch, president of Senate Majority PAC, projected confidence that Democrats will wrest control of the Senate from Republicans during a private donor briefing this week as he walked through the races state by state. He also reminded donors that Kansas, where even Republicans are deeply worried, is a state Trump won by roughly 16 points in 2024. But it's in play . What they're saying: "This matches what we've been saying publicly and privately for weeks. There are signs of optimism in Texas, but it remains a toss-up, as do Iowa, Ohio and Alaska," said Lauren French, a spokesperson for SMP. "There is positive movement for Democrats, but it is critical to remember that every seat on the battleground map voted for Donald Trump by double digits," she said. "These are deep red states and we're focused on bringing them over the finish line so the Senate can work to provide real relief to families who are being crushed by the cost-of-living crisis." The big picture: Texas hasn't elected a Democratic senator since Lloyd Bentsen in 1988. Democrats thought they'd end the drought in 2018 and let themselves fall for then-Rep. Beto O'Rourke, who lost to Sen. Ted Cruz by 2.6 percentage points. Four years later, O'Rourke tried again to prove a Democrat could win statewide in Texas. He lost the governor's race by nearly 11 percentage points. T
It makes sense that sports teams want to keep influencers out of their games. The battle some clubs are waging with their fans, however, is a different dilemma By all appearances, things on the Yellow Wall seemed as they always had been. The stadium announcer hollered out the first names of Borussia Dortmund’s starting lineup and the supporters responded with their last names, tens of thousands of voices bellowing as one. Dozens of black and yellow flags waved over Europe’s largest standing terrace, a mass of faces fixed on the field beneath them. And then Signal Iduna Park, sold out with 81,365 fans, roared when Max Beier’s lone goal led Dortmund to victory over Eintracht Frankfurt last Saturday, putting the home side even on points with Bayern Munich atop the Bundesliga standings. Continue reading...
President Trump seems to think he can save a vulnerable Ohio Republican senator's ass by talking about how strong it is. Why it matters: Republicans are getting hammered over the war in Iran, gas prices and data centers. But they're playing along with Trump's ogling of male candidates, which he's described as an election strategy. "I don't do this with men very often. I started examining his body because I didn't know he was a great athlete. And I looked and I watched up and down and I looked at his ass," Trump said of Sen. Jon Husted (R-Ohio) at an Ohio rally. "My wife and I have a good sense of humor, and we know he's doing all he can to help us win," Husted told Axios. "We have made sure to hit the gym during the busy campaign to uphold the high standards the president has set for us." Zoom in: In five rallies over three weeks across the country, Trump gave a head-to-toe appraisal of his most vulnerable Republican senator. "His ass was like a big piece of muscle," Trump said in Michigan last week. "Then I looked at his legs and I said, 'Man, his feet are big,' " Trump said in North Carolina. Polling has shown Husted narrowly behind or tied with former Sen. Sherrod Brown (D), and Republicans view him as the most vulnerable GOP incumbent. Zoom out: Husted is getting the most love, but he's not alone. "You know, he's a very handsome guy," Trump said about Sen. Tim Sheehy (R-Mont.) at a Montana rally earlier this month. "I like the white hair, I like the big, strong build. Big, strong guy." Trump said of Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.), who is running for Senate in Georgia. Trump called him "all man." "I actually think that Rick Jackson's a very handsome, distinguished, beautiful-looking guy," Trump said about the Republican gubernatorial candidate in Georgia. "Look at this beautiful guy," Trump said of House candidate Ed Gallrein (R-Ky.). Trump called him: "Central casting." Between the lines: Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) has also joined the fun: "I know tha
Vice President Vance sent a letter to Iran's national security chief stressing that any negotiations to head off U.S. military strikes "require discussions on the nuclear issue," a U.S. official said. Why it matters: The letter to Mohsen Rezaei, which focused on the possibility of restarting negotiations between the U.S. and Iran, is the most senior-level outreach by the U.S. to Iran in several months. It comes as President Trump considers resuming major combat operations in Iran after the midterm elections. Behind the scenes: Vance suggested sending the letter to Rezaei, who is one of the top national security officials in Iran and has a direct line to Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei. "The President was enthusiastic about the letter," said the U.S. official, who declined to say when it was sent. The Wall Street Journal first reported the letter. Zoom out: One of the key sticking points in efforts to relaunch negotiations is Iran's demand that the U.S. first lift its naval blockade, release frozen funds, and allow oil sales. The U.S. wants Iran to restart nuclear negotiations before receiving any sanctions relief. What he's saying: Trump told reporters Wednesday that Vance's letter was about helping Iran obtain needed medical supplies. "Basically, it's getting supplies in to help people that are not well," he said.
Democrats will happily tell you how good they feel about retaking the House on Tuesday — just as soon as they stop hyperventilating into a paper bag. Why it matters: They've been burned too many times on Election Day to feel anything more than "nauseously optimistic," as one House Democrat put it to Axios. The polls point to a decisive Democratic victory on Nov. 3, yet fears of a massive polling error or some other eleventh-hour disaster are giving party members sleepless nights. "One woman at a rally in New Jersey told me last week that she was 'nauseously optimistic,'" Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) told Axios. "That may capture a lot of people's last-minute jitters." A House Democrat who has spoken to leadership told Axios: "They feel optimistic. You know, guarded. Guarded optimism. Where we're going to end up, you never know." State of play: Democrats are targeting dozens of Republican-held seats they think could flip, some of which President Trump carried by 10, 15, even 20 percentage points in 2024. Democrats' House Majority PAC, for instance, went on the air Wednesday in retiring Rep. Elise Stefanik's (R-N.Y.) district, which Trump won by 21 points. They also began spending against Rep. Mike Flood (R-Neb.), who won his last reelection with 60% of the vote. HMP is so bullish it has moved money out of the races to replace retiring Reps. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), Chuck Edwards (R-N.C.) and Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), which they believe Democrats are on track to win handily. "I am cautiously optimistic we win between 20-25 seats," Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) told Axios. Democrats' landslide scenario puts them closer to 40 or 50 pickups, which would be a historic night for the party. Yes, but: Mid-decade redistricting in Republican-controlled Southern states is all but certain to cut into those gains. The GOP is expected to easily flip redrawn seats in Tennessee and Louisiana where the incumbent Democrats chose to retire rather than face uphill reelection battles. Democratic lead
Republicans fear that Vivek Ramaswamy 's explosive attack ad featuring his opponent's estranged mother could cost them the Ohio governor's race, based on new internal polling that shows him falling further behind, Axios has learned. Why it matters: The poll's findings underscore Republicans' anxiety over Ramaswamy's decision to air the deeply personal attack on Democrat Amy Acton despite warnings from some fellow Republicans that it crossed a line. Driving the news: The private poll, commissioned by a Republican group and obtained by Axios, found Acton leading Ramaswamy by eight points — up from a two-point lead in the same poll earlier this month, before the ad began circulating on Oct. 19. The ad "is having a significant effect on the gubernatorial race," a memo attached to the poll states. Catch up quick: The ad at the center of the controversy features Donna Arthur, Acton's estranged mother, who accuses her daughter of lying about her childhood and urges Ohioans not to vote for her. Acton has said she was sexually abused by her stepfather when she was 12 and that her mother sided with her abuser. The stepfather was charged with sexual assault but fled to Pennsylvania, where he died in 2004 as a fugitive. Acton and her brother were removed from their mother's custody. Acton has said she hasn't seen her mother since 1978. Zoom out: As Axios first reported , Ramaswamy's campaign treated the ad as a game-changer in the campaign for governor, committing $4 million to airing the commercial statewide despite warnings from other Republicans that it could backfire. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R), who worked closely with Acton when she was the state's health director, said that airing the ad was wrong and urged Ramaswamy to take it down. But President Trump and Vice President Vance backed Ramaswamy. Vance told the bipartisan critics of the ad to "stop whining." The intrigue: The new poll done for Republicans indicates that the ad was indeed a game-changer — just not the type R
With less than a week until a potentially historic midterm election , the political discourse is being dominated not by war or seismic shifts in technology, but by the Cheesecake Factory . The big picture: Culture wars regularly swarm American political discussions, especially when the jibes are personal. Former President Obama's passing joke over the weekend about Cheesecake Factory decor did just that — by criticizing President Trump 's personal taste and style. "He's got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory," Obama said, poking fun at the president's controversial White House renovations . Zoom in: John Murphy, professor emeritus at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign who studies political rhetoric, tells Axios that the first time he heard Obama's comment, he "really did think, 'this is going to go somewhere.'" That's both because of the messenger and the butt of the joke: Obama "can get under Trump's skin like no one else in the world can," he says. Obama knows all too well how seemingly trivial moments can blow up; in 2014, he wore a tan suit instead of a black one to discuss foreign policy, and years later his sartorial choices remain a political talking point. The tan suit has its own Wikipedia page , and still nets pop culture references . State of play: Days after Obama's quip, the news cycle and social media are still serving up the joke, and the White House posted "Lo-fi" beats accompanied by a cartoon image of Trump in front of a Cheesecake Factory. Conservative critics used the jab to paint Obama as elitist. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent , a multimillionaire, criticized Obama outside a Cheesecake Factory, saying he "had a great meal, and I would tell the Martha's Vineyard set to give it a try." Murphy notes that framing comes from a classic red v. blue playbook to paint Democrats as "elitist." "It's a conscious strategy, I think, on the part of conservative media to gin up culture-war arguments," he says. Th
Senate Republicans see Iowa moving their way and Ohio slipping, with pessimism growing over Alaska and Kansas. Why it matters: Even when they squint, top Republicans struggle to see a majority beyond 51 seats, according to half a dozen senior operatives. ✈️ A combination of paid media and Air Force One visits has bolstered GOP confidence that they'll hold South Carolina and Mississippi . But across the map, the outlook looks bleak, with only a few bright spots. Zoom out: Republicans are fighting a two-front war: unprecedented Democratic enthusiasm and undeniable Republican apathy. 🏈 President Trump's strategy is to whip up the MAGA faithful with rallies in the reddest parts of red states. 😱 "The Red Scream is my biggest concern , not the blue wave," said Alex Castellanos, a veteran Republican consultant who has worked to help Trump get elected. ‼️ "Republicans and independents are going to be screaming for attention, and many of them, including those who voted for Trump, may show their frustration by not showing up." Zoom in: Texas is starting to look like a late-season football showdown against an SEC rival: The GOP is still in the game, but defeat seems like a real possibility. 🌾 In Kansas, Sen. Roger Marshall (R) has stopped the bleeding, but it's unclear whether there's enough time left to save his seat. 🛥️ Republicans are quietly bullish on Michigan, but they recognize that the demographics have to break heavily in their favor, especially among Black voters. By the numbers: The math hasn't changed, but Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) sees multiple paths to 51 seats. No one disputes that North Carolina is going to have a Democratic senator. It seems like another lifetime ago that Republicans were talking seriously about flipping Georgia. If just two of the next tier of Ohio, Kansas and Alaska flip, the Senate would be split 50-50 before factoring in other competitive races, like Michigan, Iowa and Maine. 🦞 In Maine, Republicans and Democrats a
Israelis head to the polls today for one of the most consequential elections in the country's history — with rival camps warning that victory for the other would put Israel's future in jeopardy. Why it matters: The elections are yet another referendum on Benjamin Netanyahu's leadership and the path he's taken the country down over the past four years. It's Israeli voters' first chance to hold Netanyahu accountable for the security failures that led to the Hamas-led October 7 attacks — or to reward him for what he claims were unprecedented military successes in the three years of war since. If Netanyahu and his far-right coalition win, they're likely to renew the war with Iran in an effort to topple its regime, intensify their crackdown on Israel's democratic institutions and move to end Netanyahu's corruption trial. Driving the news: Netanyahu's campaign was totally focused on the war with Iran. After two military campaigns over the last 18 months in which he claimed that Israel destroyed Iran's nuclear program, Netanyahu's main talking point was that Iran is moving closer to a nuclear bomb. Earlier this week, Netanyahu went as far as posting an AI-generated image of Tel Aviv being destroyed by an Iranian nuclear bomb — implying that's what will happen if he loses. Behind the scenes: Netanyahu spent weeks trying to persuade President Trump to give him a green light to strike Iran ahead of the elections. Trump did not go along. In the 72 hours before the elections, Netanyahu tried to order the Israel Defense Forces to take steps to lay the ground for a potential new military strike or take actions short of an overt attack, Israeli officials say. IDF chief of staff General Eyal Zamir refused to abide. He warned that such a strike could lead to a miscalculation that quickly escalated hostilities and potentially forced the elections to be called off, the officials said. The Israeli officials said Zamir insisted there was no operational urgency in taking these steps ahea
The quickest and most affordable response to historically high diesel prices is also the simplest: Use less of it. Why it matters: Diesel is so entrenched in farming, trucking and other industries that even soaring prices aren't enough — at least not yet — to prompt a wholesale shift to alternatives from electric semi trucks to manure-powered tractors. Catch up fast: Diesel prices have climbed to record highs since the U.S. war with Iran began in February, rising faster than gasoline amid global oil supply disruptions . Diesel averaged $6.31 a gallon Thursday, up 74% from a year ago, according to AAA . Regular gasoline averaged $4.27, up 39%. The big picture: Gasoline gets the attention, but diesel is the workhorse of the American economy. It powers grocery trucks, tractors, freight trains, construction equipment, hospital backup generators and even school buses . Driving the news: The price spike is hitting farmers during the fall harvest. "Farmers buy diesel by the truckload, so we're talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars in diesel, and when it goes up the way it has spiked, that's the difference between profit and loss in a year," said Curt Blades, senior vice president at the Association of Equipment Manufacturers, a trade group representing tractor makers and other heavy-equipment manufacturers. The financial pain varies: Trucking companies can often pass higher fuel costs to customers through surcharges. Farmers, who have little control over crop prices, generally can't. The economic pressure has become political ahead of the midterm elections. President Trump announced $8 billion in one-time aid for farmers at a campaign rally in Kansas on Monday, where Republicans face a competitive Senate race. "It's a bit too soon to tell the impact," Blades said of the aid package, though he welcomed support during harvest. State of play: Trucking and agricultural equipment experts say the most immediate savings come from using existing diesel engines more effici