World
Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany party won a landslide victory in Sunday's state election in Saxony-Anhalt, doubling its previous vote share to 43.8 percent. The center-right CDU, which has governed the eastern state since 2002, collapsed to 17.2 percent after winning 37.1 percent in the last election. The AfD still fell short of an absolute majority, so it cannot form a state government on its own. Mainstream parties have ruled out working with the AfD, and Chancellor Friedrich Merz called the result a turning point for the country. Negotiations over who will run the state now begin, with party leaders weighing how to respond to the far right's strongest-ever result.
BBC News
Politics
The share of Republicans who strongly approve of President Donald Trump and his handling of the Iran war has dropped sharply in recent months, according to a new NBC News Decision Desk Poll. The survey found that Trump's pool of most ardent supporters is shrinking as Americans give him low marks on his overall job performance and on the war. Across the full electorate, 66 percent of Americans disapprove of Trump's actions in the conflict, while 33 percent approve. The findings signal growing political risk for the White House as the military campaign in Iran continues with no clear endpoint, and they arrive as the administration faces legal fights and an active election season at home.
NBC News
Business
After-tax wage growth for lower-income US households reached 4.7 percent in August, outpacing the 3.5 percent recorded by higher-income households, according to the Bank of America Institute's monthly employment report. The figures flip the long-standing "K shape" of the recovery, in which high earners pulled ahead while lower earners lagged. Overall hiring cooled during the month, with estimated payroll growth slowing to 1.5 percent year over year from 1.8 percent in July. Bank of America economists said the data still points to a broadly resilient labor market, even as momentum fades, and separate institute data showed small-business hiring strengthening over the summer.
Bank of America Institute
Technology
The United States and China are preparing to hold a dialogue devoted to artificial intelligence safety in mid-September, two sources briefed on the planning told Reuters. It would be the first official bilateral talks focused only on AI since President Donald Trump returned to office. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is expected to lead the American side, with China's delegation possibly headed by Vice Premier He Lifeng. The agenda includes cooperation on monitoring AI-directed cyberattacks and a proposal for AI labs to share information and police themselves. The talks come ahead of a Trump-Xi summit planned for September 24 in Washington.
Reuters
Science
The two Mercury-bound spacecraft of the European-Japanese BepiColombo mission separated from their cruiser on Thursday and began the final leg of a voyage that began in 2018. Controllers at the European Space Agency's control center in Germany waited two anxious hours for radio confirmation from more than 124 million miles away. The craft still have about 2 million miles to travel before entering Mercury's orbit in November, then they will split apart in December to study the planet from different altitudes. The mission has already traveled more than 6 billion miles on a roundabout route that required nine planetary flybys.
AP News
Sports
Defending champions Aryna Sabalenka and Carlos Alcaraz powered into the US Open quarterfinals on Sunday with straight-set wins in New York. Top-ranked Sabalenka overcame early trouble on her serve to beat American Taylor Townsend 6-4, 6-3, while Alcaraz defeated Tommy Paul 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 in the second match at Arthur Ashe Stadium. Sabalenka has not dropped a set in the tournament. American men also surged into the last eight, with Frances Tiafoe beating Daniil Medvedev and Alex Michelsen also advancing, as US men chase their first Grand Slam title in years. The quarterfinals begin later this week at Flushing Meadows, where Sabalenka is set to face Czech teenager Linda Noskova.
AP News
Health
Blood markers of gut barrier damage begin rising two to three years before a woman's final menstrual period and stay elevated for years afterward, according to a study of 964 women followed for nearly 25 years. Researchers tracked two markers linked to intestinal barrier function: FABP2, which starts rising about 2.5 years before the final period, and sCD14, which rises about 2 years before. Both stabilized six to six and a half years after menopause at levels above their pre-menopause readings. The findings suggest the menopause transition is a long biological process that may help explain the chronic inflammation many women experience in midlife.
News-Medical
Environment
More than 600,000 hectares of land burned inside European Union countries in the first eight months of 2026, according to the European Forest Fire Information System. That figure is below the same period in 2025, the worst year on record, but it far exceeds the 20-year average of about 280,000 hectares. UN agencies are urging historically cooler and wetter countries to prepare, warning that wildfire risk is spreading to regions such as the Atlantic uplands of Ireland and Scotland and parts of northern and central Europe. Human activity starts most fires, but warmer, drier conditions driven by climate change make them spread faster and burn hotter.
UN News