Sunday, October 4, 2026 · Evening Edition

Today

By StaffNews Desk

Good morning. The Pentagon pulled all 12 B-1 bombers this weekend from Britain's RAF Fairford air base back to their home stations in the US, weeks after an alleged terror threat against a US-operated post in England. Bloomberg reports the base was at the center of a suspected attempted terrorist attack last week. Washington's forward-deployed firepower is a target as much as a threat, and the danger lands on whoever is made to host it.

Those costs came due again in Okinawa, the southern Japanese island that has carried a large US military presence since World War II, where a US Marine was arrested on suspicion of burglary and murder. In California, the FBI arrested Irvine realtor Wanying "Heather" Zhang on a charge of acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government.

At home, the administration is scrambling over the squeeze working people feel. Republican John Kennedy warned his party not to dismiss voters' concerns about rising costs ahead of the midterms. Trump's answer is to buy time: health care rebates that may offer Medicare recipients only limited relief from rising premiums, alongside a promised $5,000 dividend he has made contingent on Republicans retaining Congress — relief rebranded as a bribe for votes. A poll meanwhile shows Latino voters dropping Trump.

There was a win for the movement: a judge dismissed Trump's lawsuit against pro-Palestine protesters, finding the organizers' call to assemble was protected speech. Beyond the border, more than 150 million Brazilians voted Sunday in an election that could reshape ties with Washington. And measles is spreading through Amish communities in Pennsylvania and Ohio where vaccination levels are low.