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Amelia Earhart: Castaway or crash victim? Amelia Earhart disappeared in 1937 during a daring attempt to become the first woman to fly around the world. But nearly 90 years later, what happened to her remains a mystery. Despite dozens of searches, her plane has never been found, fueling theories that she and navigator Fred Noonan either crashed into the Pacific or landed on Nikumaroro Island and survived for a time as castaways. This week, researchers are heading to the remote island as part of a $900,000 expedition to investigate satellite imagery of an object that could either be Earhart’s plane — or simply a tree. + Interactive story: The enduring quest to solve Amelia Earhart’s disappearance + Don’t miss a discovery: Sign up for Wonder Theory, CNN’s science newsletter

Gulf Coast faces hurricane threat A tropical storm is expected to become Hurricane Isaias and batter parts of the southern US later this week. The system is forecast to turn north toward the Gulf Coast and rapidly strengthen into a Category 2 hurricane with 100 mph winds by Friday, bringing threats of heavy rain, powerful winds and flooding across multiple states. The storm’s exact track remains uncertain, but anyone along the Gulf Coast from Louisiana to Florida’s Big Bend should monitor the forecast closely. + Read more: Hurricane Isaias could soon take shape + Get live updates and alerts: Download the CNN Weather app

To mail or not to mail? A ballot drop box in Renton, Washington, on September 24, 2026. (David Ryder/Reuters) Election officials are urging voters to use ballot drop boxes as concerns grow that changes at the US Postal Service could delay mailed midterm ballots. The USPS has reduced trips between local post offices and processing centers, meaning some mail can sit longer before receiving a postmark — and even a one-day delay could put a ballot at risk in states with strict deadlines. The concern isn’t hypothetical: A recent study found rejection rates for late-arriving ballots roughly doubled in areas affected by the USPS’ processing changes. Drop boxes, where available, offer voters a way to bypass the mail altogether. But as they take on a bigger role, officials are also working to make them more secure. Several were damaged in recent elections, prompting some cities to add safeguards, including surveillance cameras, fire suppression devices and sensors that can detect tampering. + Read more: Election officials push voters to ‘use the drop box rather than the mailbox’ + USAFacts: Who shows up to the midterms? The past two midterm elections have drawn higher voter turnout than in recent decades. Editor’s note: CNN has partnered with the not-for-profit USAFacts to share government data and insights that we believe are relevant to our audience.

October 7, 2026 By Sam Sifton Good morning. It has been three years since the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel. Christa Pike regained consciousness after two botched execution attempts. And Lionel Messi played his last game with Argentina’s national team. There’s more news below, including a look at the future of Washington’s Lafayette Square. But first, let’s go to France. At the Place de la République in Paris yesterday. Dimitar Dilkoff/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images French drain It is an autumn of discontent in France. Students are demonstrating and workers are striking. Mariners have blockaded ports to protest surging fuel costs. Financial markets are rattled, and bond yields are soaring. The nation will replace a term-limited President Emmanuel Macron next spring, and its politics are turbulent. Mark Landler, our Paris bureau chief, puts it well in his reporting: France suddenly finds itself engulfed by crisis — not a single spasm of unrest, but a cascade of disruption that is roiling city streets, trading floors and public offices across the country. France’s “rentrée,” or “return,” as the French call the back-to-school and back-to-work season, has been anything but orderly. Why? The proximate cause is student anger over conditions in the nation’s schools. An austere new budget offered by Macron won’t dampen the sentiment — the proposal would cut billions of euros in public spending. But the markets are jittery, too, fearful that France could tumble into an all-out financial crisis. Meanwhile, the far-right candidate for president, Marine Le Pen, could take over the country and break from European Union rules. Le Pen is leading in the race, according to recent polls. It’s a lot! In the streets In Paris. Kenzo Tribouillard/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images There were more than 40 demonstrations across France yesterday, as labor activists, teachers, parents and university students rallied to support high schoolers who have spent the past two weeks blockading schools. They’re upset about understaffing, overcrowded classrooms and decrepit buildings. One of the protesters in Paris told The Times he was happy that so many adults had joined the protests. “We feel like we’re not alone,” he said. Another lamented the state of suburban schools. Hers is in the Marais, in the heart of Paris, and she said she was one of the lucky ones. “The buildings are falling apart, their teachers are absent all the time, their classes are overcrowded,” she said. “We have 36 people in our class, and we are among the privileged.” The government said more than 250,000 people had joined the marches. (One union said it was twice that many.) They were mostly peaceful, though a fire was set in Lyon yesterday and the authorities deployed tear gas on the crowds in Marseille and Paris. Some were suspicious. “The government is pushing them to violence, so that public opinion will turn against them and their demands won’t be heard,” one union member told The Times. Beyond the schools In Bordeaux. Philippe Lopez/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images The anger in France is not simply about education. The country’s debt stands at around $4 trillion, nearly 120 percent of the value of everything it makes in a year. The cost of servicing that debt will be near $100 billion next year. Add on the costs of health care and pensions for the country’s aging population, as well as increased military spending as France supports the war in Ukraine. Now the folks who watch and run the country sound nervous. Next year’s presidential elections intensify that jumpiness. “It’s not just a debt crisis or bond-market crisis,” one European political analyst told Mark. “The investors I’m talking to are worrying about an existential political and constitutional crisis. It’s all of these issues coming together in a deeply unhelpful way for whoever wins the presidential election.” No easy remedy In Toulouse. Ed Jones/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images I tracked Mark down in Paris yesterday and asked him what to make of all of it — the students and the nation’s mood. He told me he spent some time with young people in the suburbs last week and found them genuine and idealistic, mostly well intentioned. He offered a caution as well. This crisis isn’t going away, and when it comes to protests, “the French have a lot of muscle memory.” Again he puts it well: But there are no easy remedies, certainly not from a cash-strapped, debt-laden French government. As the protests expand, other groups with grievances will be tempted to join in. That could change their mostly peaceful character. The question many here are asking is whether France is on the cusp of something like the yellow-vest movement, which disrupted the country, often violently, between 2018 and 2020. Now, let’s see what else is happening in the world. Allons. 10/7, THREE YEARS LATER Gali Berman, left, and his twin brother. Ziv, outside their temporary home in Kibbutz Beit Guvrin, Israel. last year. Avishag Shaar-Yashuv for The New York Times Three years ago, militants from Hamas stormed out of Gaza, slaughtered about 1,200 people in southern Israel and retreated with about 250 hostages. In the war that followed, Israel killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and flattened much of the territory. The two stories below reflect life in each community since Oct. 7, 2023. Gali and Ziv Berman, twin brothers, were snatched from their kibbutz by Hamas gunmen when they were 26 and freed two years later. Read how they’re rebuilding their lives. Israeli strikes on Gaza, though less frequent now, haven’t stopped. Saher Alghorra, a photographer for The Times, has documented how residents are coping. Watch the video below to see his images. The New York Times THE LATEST NEWS Politics President Trump does not plan to reimburse taxpayers for the more than $10 million he already spent on TV ads promoting himself, White House officials said. The Justice Department is filling the ranks of its civil rights division with conservative partisans and conspiracy theorists. The U.S. trade deficit — the difference between what the country imports and what it exports — hit a 17-month high, despite Trump’s tariffs. Around the World Kenya recorded its first case of Ebola, in a man who had recently arrived from Congo, which is at the center of a severe outbreak. The police in Britain said they had arrested a seventh man as part of an investigation into an incident near an air base used by the United States, on suspicion of planning terrorist acts. A far-right party in Germany won the speakership in a state legislature, for the first time since the Nazi era. Artificial Intelligence China’s booming A.I. sector has given local researchers a reason to stay in the country. But China still has trouble luring talent from overseas. Hospitals in Canada are using A.I. to train new surgeons. OpenAI released solutions to 377 advanced math problems. Mathematicians weren’t happy. Crime A Southern California couple were arrested and charged with conspiring to abuse 15 of their children, nearly all of whom were born to surrogates. The authorities in Rhode Island arrested a man in a murder case from 1985 after collecting his DNA from a water bottle he tossed at a rock concert. Other Big Stories Paramount closed its deal to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, putting David Ellison, the son of the tech mogul Larry Ellison, in control of a vast media empire now called Skydance. Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their work on asymmetric organic synthesis. IN ONE CHART The New York Times Americans say their representatives in Washington are too old, but we keep re-electing them. The Times analyzed 143 partisan primary Senate and House races with an incumbent and a challenger in 2026. Nearly half featured an incumbent 65 or older. Only seven of those lost; 57 won. Explore the details of our gerontocracy here. FREE TO READ Spot the Spyder: This beloved adult tricycle has become a victim of the Trump administration’s trade war with Canada. How did that happen? Take the physical challenge: The Nickelodeon show “Double Dare” first aired 40 years ago this week. Bring on the slime. Your pick: The most clicked link in The Morning yesterday was a video about ancient artifacts revealed by melting glaciers in Switzerland. Keep out: Lafayette Square, steps from the White House, is a historic protest site. See how Trump plans to fence it off. The New York Times OPINIONS Foreign countries are flooding A.I. models with propaganda. To resist their influence, think like a spy, a former senior intelligence officer suggests. As trade disruptions become more common, now may be the time for the United States to reclaim its onetime position as a shipbuilding leader. The Anniversary Sale ends soon: Morning readers, enjoy our best offer. Don’t miss this opportunity to expand your interests with expert coverage of news, culture, business and more. Save now: $1/week for your first year. TODAY’S NUMBER 130 million — That is at least how many names an election commission struck from India’s voter roll, a number larger than the population of Mexico. Learn why it happened, and what’s happening as a result. MESSI’S ‘LAST TANGO’ Lionel Messi Luis Robayo/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Last night, Lionel Messi played his final game for Argentina’s national team. Our correspondent Emma Bubola was there. She sent in this dispatch: They were wearing Messi jerseys, holding Messi cutouts, scrawling Messi’s name on their foreheads. Argentines packed a stadium in Buenos Aires to watch their idol, possibly the world’s greatest soccer savant, play his final game for their country last night. For Argentines, Messi was much more than a sports hero. In a country hobbled by a chaotic economy and far removed from the center of world affairs, Messi brought Argentina the spotlight. With him, they were excellent — often the best. Outside the stadium last night, supporters distributed stickers with a world map. They had Argentina at the center. RECIPE OF THE DAY Rachel Vanni for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Spencer Richards. Here’s an easy midweek dinner: chicken and white bean stew, with a bunch of kale stirred in at the end. It’s a great reminder of the excellence of chicken breasts poached in broth. Have a Parmesan rind in the fridge? Add that early and it’ll bring an additional thrum of flavor to the whole. A LEGACY REVISITED The author Cormac McCarthy in 1973. David Styles There’s a new biography of the novelist Cormac McCarthy, by Tracy Daugherty. Dwight Garner reviewed it for The Times, and his sentences crackle. Dwight opens with a scene of McCarthy writing in bed, his typewriter balanced on a piece of wood in his lap. Then: He didn’t stay in bed all the time. His life, in this telling, was also packed with cars, cheap hotel rooms, interstates, young women, crazy friends, dive bars, and wives and children left behind, not necessarily in that order. If his life were a stock car, one side would have a dull matte finish and the other would have flames running down the side. Read the whole, delicious thing. More on culture The National Book Foundation announced the finalists for the 2026 National Book Awards, across the categories of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, translated literature and young people’s literature. See who made the cut. Stephen King’s 1974 novel, “Carrie,” has been a paperback best seller, an Oscar-nominated film, a Broadway flop, a network TV movie and a big-screen remake. Now it’s a series. Here’s what to know before you watch that. Eva Marie Saint seduced Cary Grant in “North by Northwest” and won an Oscar for her role as Marlon Brando’s love interest in “On the Waterfront.” She died at 102. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS Owen Richards for The New York Times Golf at St. Andrews in Scotland, the sport’s birthplace — or just enjoy more beautiful photographs of the course and its history. Let us help you find your next great book. Pack your lunch. It’s cheaper than the options at the salad bar and often more delicious, too. You’ll need a lunch box. The deskbound busy bees at Wirecutter have found a few. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was notched. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections, Crossplay and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times and me. See you tomorrow. — Sam Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Host: Sam Sifton Editor: Adam B. Kushner News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti News Staff: Evan Gorelick, Brent Lewis, Lara McCoy, Karl Russell Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Editorial Director, Newsletters: Jodi Rudoren Deputy Editorial Director: Lauren Jackson

🇦🇷 1 for the road: Messi's farewell Lionel Messi waves during his final game for the Argentina national team. Photo: Matias Baglietto/Reuters Lionel Messi played his final game for the Argentina national team last night — bidding farewell to international soccer after 21 years, 125 goals and a World Cup championship. The Argentine soccer federation turned the exhibition game into a national farewell billed as "the last tango." Photo: Alessia Maccioni/Reuters A drone display honored Messi at the end of the match. Go deeper.

📺 Fox News turns 30 Data: Nielsen. Chart: Christine Wang/Axios Fox News turns 30 today with a distinction few legacy TV networks can claim: Its ratings lead over rivals has never been wider, Axios Media Trends author Sara Fischer writes. Last year, the network averaged 1.69 million total-day viewers, compared with 551,000 for MS NOW and 432,000 for CNN. Through Sept. 29, Fox is outpacing CNN and MS NOW combined this year in both total day viewership and primetime. Then and now: Sean Hannity, who joined the network in 1996, hosts the primetime "Hannity." Photos: Fox News The big picture: Fox News launched Oct. 7, 1996. Fox News Media president and executive editor Jay Wallace, who has been with the network alongside CEO Suzanne Scott since launch, attributes the brand's durability to consistent ownership and strategy. "We've had a pretty consistent model for 30 years," Wallace told Sara. He credited the Murdochs' stewardship for allowing the network to be creative in developing new products and pursuing challenging stories. Keep reading ... Watch the first broadcast ... Anchor reflections ... Anniversary page.

🚨 Senate shocker: Toss-up Kansas Chart: The New York Times In a major Senate shift, Cook Political Report yesterday moved Kansas — yes, Kansas — from lean Republican to toss-up, citing "perhaps a perfect confluence of events." Cook also moved New Hampshire from toss-up to lean Democrat, and North Carolina from lean Democrat to likely Democrat. 📊 The N.Y. Times/Siena poll (charted above) gives Democrats a lead among likely voters in the Senate races in Texas and Alaska, each of which usually votes Republican. Democrats have an edge in Ohio, which has trended red for years. Republicans have an edge in Iowa. Kansas, which hasn't voted for a Democratic senator since 1932, is neck and neck. More from the poll (gift link).

🤖 AI agent economy unfolds Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Stock: Getty Images Axios CEO Jim VandeHei writes in his weekly C-Suite newsletter: We're getting a live look into the post-app, post-web world: Meta's new personal agent, Muse — the #1 free app on Apple's App Store in the U.S. — and Microsoft's new Copilot for Business are built on the same premise about where this is headed. Why it matters: We won't use apps (life) or software (work) to get things done. We'll tell AI agents, each running on its own cloud computer, and they'll do it for us. This is happening now. Ben Thompson, whose Stratechery is essential reading for tech thinkers, lays it out in his latest essay, "Apps, Agents, and Aggregation." He can be dense and deep in the weeds. Read him anyway. 1. You (Muse): You text your agent, and it gets the job done. Once you grant permission, it plugs into your email, calendar, payments and shopping, doing the clicking and scheduling you'd otherwise do with apps and websites. That's why Amazon blocked Muse, Thompson explains: An agent shopping for you never sees or clicks on Amazon's ads. Instinct, an invite-only Muse competitor lighting up Silicon Valley, just raised $1B at a $10B valuation — 4x its value ONE MONTH earlier. 2. Your business (Copilot, OpenAI's dots, Muse for Small Business): Same idea, but built for the enterprise. The competition in this space is intense. Microsoft's new Autopilot works overnight, monitors Teams channels and handles follow-ups. You tag it like a colleague, and any employee can build and share an internal app or solution on the spot. Both Meta (Muse for Small Business) and OpenAI (dots) rolled out their versions this week. Anthropic's entire business is built around business. Thompson's bet: No human will touch clunky enterprise software again. Why would you, when an agent can customize what you need cheaply and instantly? 🥊 Reality check: Trust is the hurdle. Just 8% of Americans say they'd trust Meta with their passwords, and 58% wouldn't share them with any AI agent, according to an Oppenheimer survey.

Bibi's last stand Photo illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios. Photos via Getty Images Israel is marking the third anniversary of the Oct. 7 terror attacks three weeks before an election where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's personal culpability for the country's worst-ever security failure will be a central issue, Axios' Barak Ravid and Dave Lawler write. Why it matters: Netanyahu has defied expectations by keeping his government afloat through years of simultaneous wars and perpetual emergency. Tight polls still leave the ultimate political survivor a path to hang on. The big picture: Oct. 7 still looms over the country and his candidacy. The opposition lambasts him for refusing to take responsibility or allow an independent inquiry into the Hamas attacks that killed around 1,200 people. Netanyahu's chief opponent, former Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot, lost his son and two nephews during the war in Gaza. Sources close to Eisenkot say he sees his main mission as replacing the man he holds responsible for allowing the Oct. 7 attacks. 🔎 Zoom in: Netanyahu blames the deep state, claiming his security chiefs kept him in the dark. His political and media allies have even spread conspiracy theories implying that those officials betrayed Israel. But recent reporting suggests Netanyahu had at least some warning. Israeli outlet Haaretz reported that United Arab Emirates President Mohammed bin Zayed (MBZ) told Netanyahu that Hamas was planning a major operation days before the attack. Three knowledgeable sources confirm to Axios that UAE intelligence gave a general warning to its Israeli counterparts and that MBZ spoke to Netanyahu to make sure he received it. Netanyahu denies receiving the UAE warning and has sued several media outlets and journalists that reported he had. Between the lines: The vote could determine not just Netanyahu's political survival, but his legal future as well. Losing power would also mean losing any levers to delay or influence an ongoing corruption trial. But if he wins, Netanyahu could argue he was acquitted by the people of Israel and take stronger action to thwart the proceedings. 👀 The intrigue: President Trump could give Netanyahu a boost by endorsing him, but so far he's declined. Trump has privately blamed Netanyahu for the Oct. 7 failures, according to two people who have discussed the matter directly with the president. He's also mused about Netanyahu damaging Israel's international reputation. However, Trump has stuck close to Netanyahu during the war in Iran and may still endorse him.

THIS DAY IN HISTORY October 7 2001 U.S.-led attack on Afghanistan begins American and British forces begin an intense bombing campaign on Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. The invasion of Afghanistan was the opening salvo in the United States “war on terror” and a response to the September 11 terrorist attacks. read more 21st Century 2023 Hamas launches deadliest attack in Israeli history 2003 Arnold Schwarzenegger elected California governor American Revolution 1780 Battle of King’s Mountain Arts & Entertainment 1960 CBS broadcasts the premiere episode of “Route 66″ 1975 A judge reverses John Lennon’s deportation order 1983 ‘Never Say Never Again,’ which brings back Sean Connery as 007, opens in U.S. theaters 1955 Poet Allen Ginsberg reads “Howl” for the first time Civil War 1864 Union and Confederate forces clash at Darbytown Road outside Richmond Cold War 1949 East Germany created 1960 Kennedy and Nixon debate Cold War foreign policy Crime 1985 Palestinian terrorists hijack an Italian cruise ship Inventions & Science 1913 Moving assembly line debuts at Ford factory Sports 1985 Lynette Woodard becomes first female Harlem Globetrotters player 1916 Georgia Tech shuts out Cumberland, 222-0, in most lopsided college football game World War II 1943 Japanese execute nearly 100 American POWs on Wake Island 1944 Hundreds of prisoners revolt at Auschwitz-Birkenau

Scientists win chemistry Nobel for discoveries about mirrored molecules that led to many drugs STOCKHOLM (AP) — Scientists Henri B. Kagan and Kenso Soai won the Nobel Prize in chemistry Wednesday for untangling mysterious mirror images in molecules, a discovery that has been used to develop countless drugs and transformed modern medicine. https://apnews.com/article/nobel-prize-chemistry-sweden-e92801a294ba29d5ff1fbbf63904c977?

If your throat tickles, scratching your ear can make it go away. James

🌴 California dreaming Photo: Natalie Daher I snapped this view of the Pacific and Santa Monica Mountains on a cloudless morning yesterday from Santa Monica, Calif. I'm on the ground producing an upcoming Axios Show interview with longevity entrepreneur Bryan Johnson.

⬇️ A redistricting reality check Illustration: Aïda Amer / Axios House GOP leaders are now openly acknowledging that their mid-decade redistricting push didn't work out as well as they'd hoped. Why it matters: Redistricting still gave Republicans an edge, just smaller than they'd once thought. "We're not gonna win all 13 of those redistricted seats. That's correct. We're not," Emmer told us last week. Emmer echoed House Republican Conference chair Lisa McClain (R-Mich.), who told us last month that Republicans were unlikely to sweep all 13. Zoom in: Emmer said he'd be "surprised" if Republicans sweep all five newly drawn seats in Texas and "shocked" if they win all four in Florida. But he said Republicans are certain to pick up newly drawn seats in Alabama, Louisiana and Tennessee. Emmer told donors at the fundraiser for Rep. Harris that Republicans could also offset losses with pickups in Maine and potentially North Carolina, Ohio, New Mexico and Washington. Even assuming Republicans lose five seats because of redistricting in California and Utah, pickups elsewhere give the party a path to come out ahead, Emmer told donors. State of play: The Cook Political Report now projects Republicans will net around four seats from redistricting alone, down from the double-digit gains Republicans once hoped to squeeze from new maps. Democrats' maps in California and Utah offset the GOP gains, and some newly drawn Republican pickup opportunities have become more competitive than expected. The bottom line: Democrats need to net just three seats to win the House, and the broader battlefield is moving in their direction. Cook shifted 15 House races toward Democrats last month, while Sabato's Crystal Ball moved 11 races toward Democrats days later. Many of the most competitive races are now in districts President Trump carried in 2024. — Kate Santaliz

💣 "You suck": Emmer unloads on Senate Republicans House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) is saying out loud what House Republicans have been grumbling about for much of the year: They're fed up with the Senate. 💣 Why it matters: You won't ever hear Speaker Mike Johnson or Majority Leader Steve Scalise talk about their Senate counterparts like this. "There are no Democrats. There are no Republicans. They are just senators," Emmer told donors last week at a closed-door fundraiser for Rep. Mark Harris (R-N.C.). We were in attendance. Emmer said Senate Majority Leader John Thune "is doing the job that he thinks he's supposed to do. There's a certain fraternity sorority that is the U.S. Senate." 🚮 The intrigue: Emmer had a blunt message for senators who repeatedly say they can't pass House GOP priorities: "Don't just keep telling me 'Don't have the votes. Don't have the votes.' You suck." Emmer said he once thought as a House member that he should stay out of the filibuster debate. Now, he thinks his colleagues should "get rid of the darn filibuster." A Senate GOP aide retorted that what would "suck" would be losing the majority and that Republicans should be targeting Democrats instead of attacking their own side. 🤬 Zoom in: Emmer's comments are the most critical yet from a House GOP leader, but sum up the mood inside the conference. More than a dozen Republicans paralyzed the House floor this summer in an effort to force Senate action on the SAVE America Act, the GOP's signature election bill that's become a major source of tension between the two chambers. "We're frustrated with the Senate," Emmer told us in an interview after the fundraiser. House Republicans put their votes "up on the board," Emmer argued, while senators "try to avoid" taking tough votes. ☑️ The big picture: House GOP leaders often say they've "done their job" when asked about unfinished business. There's a clear implication in that phrase: The Senate hasn't. Johnson has pointed to the backlog across the Capitol — including when he defended sending the House home early last month by noting that hundreds of House-passed bills were awaiting Senate action. The speaker blames Democrats for that, but his complaints have put the spotlight on Senate GOP leadership. 🔜 Between the lines: Congressional Republicans spent much of the summer on completely different wavelengths over reconciliation 3.0, which doesn't require any Democratic votes. Johnson pushed the Senate to take up the House's reconciliation framework, declaring in July that the Senate would pass it before leaving for August recess. "That'd be news to me," Thune said at the time about Johnson's floated timeline. The Senate left town without any action on reconciliation 3.0. "They can say all day long, you know, 'It's going to be hard.' Everything's hard. Give me a lecture about how hard things are. That's what I do every day. They've got to figure out a way to get it done," Scalise told us of his colleagues in the Senate in July. 🧱 The bottom line: Emmer stopped short of saying Senate Republicans have been a bigger obstacle to the GOP agenda than Democrats. But he said two things frustrate lawmakers in the House when it comes to Senate Republicans: 1) They don't say what changes would get them to yes; and 2) they don't put themselves on the record when the answer is no. "Put your money where your mouth is. Put your vote up on the board, and let's see where you really are," Emmer told us. — Kate Santaliz

Colombia's president offers support to veterans extradited to US over Haitian leader's killing Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella offered legal assistance Tuesday to a group of Colombian military veterans who were arrested over the 2021 killing of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse and recently extradited from the Caribbean country to Florida after their case languished for years. Read More.

Zambia says it will sign $3.6 billion US health deal after stripping patient data clauses Zambia will sign a revised health agreement with the United States that will not include contentious clauses committing the African nation to share patient health data and specimens with the U.S. government. Read More.

Pakistan provides fuel aid to over 9 million low-income people as Middle East war drives up prices Pakistan’s government has provided fuel subsidies to more than 9 million low-income people as the U.S.-Iran war drives up energy prices, officials said Tuesday. Read More.

Christa Pike is conscious and speaking after Tennessee failed execution, her attorneys say Tennessee death row inmate Christa Pike is awake and speaking at a hospital, her lawyers said Tuesday, six days after the state’s failed attempt to execute her by lethal injection left her unconscious and on a ventilator. https://apnews.com/article/christa-pike-tennessee-execution-85ea61961fc14ce01f78dbd9bdd728cb? Christa Pike is conscious after botched execution A week after surviving a failed execution, Tennessee death row inmate Christa Pike is conscious and speaking, her attorneys say. Pike, who was set to become the first woman executed in the state in 200 years, survived two ostensibly lethal doses of pentobarbital after executioners struggled to place her IV lines. Pike’s lawyers said they believe problems with the IVs caused the drug to flow into her body rather than her bloodstream. She is now receiving medical care, and her attorneys are seeking a court order to preserve evidence from her botched execution. + Read more: Christa Pike is conscious and speaking + Attorneys ask for evidence to be preserved + Video: Catch up on the latest in the case

US stocks rise to a record on expectations companies will make even fatter profits NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. stock market has never been higher, even as the list of challenges chipping away at it keeps growing. https://apnews.com/article/stocks-markets-oil-bonds-us-e8285ec7afbe81e9df277e8ee2127982?

✈️ 1 for the road: Aspen flight fight Illustration: Shoshana Gordon/Axios Planned upgrades to Aspen's airport sit at the core of a broader fight over the future of the iconic Colorado ski town, Andrew Zucker reports in The Wall Street Journal. The plan calls for shifting the roughly 8,000-foot runway 80 feet to the west and widening it to 150 feet, to accommodate bigger jets used by some of the ultra-wealthy visitors who've become a staple of the Aspen crowd. 🛬 Proponents say that mountainous, hard-to-reach Aspen will benefit from easier access by air. Detractors worry about being overrun with visitors — and the economic shock from closing the airfield for several months to do the work. Gift link.

🍿 Paramount Skydance closed its deal to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, ending a dramatic, yearlong process that rattled Hollywood, Wall Street and Washington. The deal creates one of the world's largest entertainment behemoths and makes CEO David Ellison one of the most powerful people in culture and business. More from Sara Fischer.

😡 California leaders are blasting President Trump after he said during a rally last night, about Iran: "Let them take out Los Angeles. Let them take out San Diego." The White House claims that Trump was talking about stopping Iran from attacking those cities. Get the latest.

🤖 AI boom drives record imports Data: U.S. Census Bureau; Chart: Courtenay Brown/Axios U.S. imports hit a record $421 billion in August, Axios' Courtenay Brown reports from new government data. Imports rose much faster than exports, widening the U.S. trade deficit by about 14% to $106 billion. (Still, the trade gap is about 20% smaller this year than at the same time last year.) 💻 Imports of semiconductors — critical to the data centers and computing infrastructure behind the AI buildout — jumped by a record $2.4 billion from July. Crude oil imports also rose sharply. The numbers underscore a tension at the heart of Trump's economic agenda: The administration wants to curb imports while accelerating an AI boom that heavily depends on them. Explore the data.