Federal agents with Homeland Security Investigations searched Rep. Ilhan Omar's Washington, D.C., home Monday morning under a judicially authorized warrant approved by the Department of Justice as part of an ongoing federal criminal investigation. Current and former federal officials said the multi-year probe involves alleged immigration fraud connected to whistleblower complaints, allegations Omar denies. Omar said the search was an attempt to target political enemies and weaponize federal law enforcement and said she will not be silenced, as the action drew rebukes from Democratic leaders weeks before November's midterms in which she is seeking reelection.
Signal read, tense. Rain along the alder bank. Illustration: NOISE.
Source date: Oct 4, 2026. Last attempt: Oct 12, 2026, 17:45 ET. Last successful check: Oct 04, 2026, 17:45 ET. Latest check did not return a usable dated reading.
Source date: Oct 6, 2026. Last attempt: Oct 12, 2026, 17:45 ET. Last successful check: Oct 12, 2026, 17:45 ET.
Source-check times describe acquisition. They don't change a poll's field dates or a publisher's reading date. NOISE doesn't combine publishers' averages or calculate election forecasts.
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U.S., 1 story
Elon Musk has become the biggest known donor of the 2026 midterms with more than $276 million to Republican groups, including $158 million to the Senate Leadership Fund. It is a major lift as Republicans fight to hold congressional majorities.
Musk gives $276 million to Republicans, leads midterm donorsElon Musk gave more than $276 million to Republican groups since July, becoming the biggest known donor of the 2026 midterm election. The donations include $158 million to the Senate Leadership Fund and more than $76 million to America PAC, plus $20 million to the Congressional Leadership Fund, $10 million to Lone Star Liberty PAC backing Ken Paxton in Texas, $10 million to the Republican Governors Association and $2 million to the Republican Attorneys General Association. His known federal giving this cycle totals about $366 million, surpassing the roughly $290 million he spent in 2024 despite saying in May 2025 he would spend a lot less, giving Republicans a major funding lift as they fight to hold congressional majorities.2 sources
NATO laid out how it would blunt a Russian attack as eastern allies weigh sabotage and drone incursions. At the same time, Houthi strikes closed Riyadh's airport and Britain accused Iran over a bomber base plot.
NATO commander outlines plan to block Russian attack on alliesNATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe Gen. Alexus Grynkewich outlined the alliance's "theory of victory" at the Warsaw Security Forum on Monday, Oct. 12, 2026, saying NATO would block an initial attack and, if it persisted, break the attacker's forces and support systems without seeking strategic defeat. The classified plan finalized three months earlier calls for affordable mass such as drones, an autonomous zone with ground robots, a cloud data backbone for targeting, and long-range strikes on command posts and air defenses in Kaliningrad, near St. Petersburg and in Belarus, while more than 20,000 personnel conducted the 10-day Steadfast Duel wargame simulating defense by about one million troops. The public deterrence message aims to reassure Baltic states, Poland and other eastern flank allies amid more than 211 suspected Russian sabotage, arson and drone incursions since 2022, Danish and Polish warnings of a limited attack to split NATO, and questions over U.S. troop levels and shortages of PAC-3 Patriot interceptors and ATACMS linked to the conflict with Iran.3 sources
Houthi strikes on Saudi airports threaten economy, investmentHouthi missiles hit Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport on Saturday, killing 13 people and injuring more than 300, followed by another attack on Sunday that killed one person and injured nearly a dozen. The airport has been hit five times since Wednesday and will stay closed until at least Friday, while strikes on Dammam and southwestern airports and disruptions in Jeddah forced thousands of flight cancellations. The disruption strikes at Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's Vision 2030 plan to build a finance, tourism and aviation hub, prompting the chiefs of ExxonMobil, TotalEnergies, Shell and BP to withdraw from the World Petroleum Council congress in Riyadh, the FT reported, and raising doubts about future tourism and foreign investment.3 sources
Houthi missile strike on Riyadh airport kills at least 13At least one Houthi missile struck King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh on Saturday, killing at least 13 people and injuring hundreds. Two terminals were hit with roofs partially collapsed, and Saudi authorities said another projectile caused a fire in Terminal 4 on Sunday that killed one person. The escalating attacks on airports, energy facilities and the east-west pipeline are straining Saudi air defenses, threatening tourism and investment plans including an investment conference later this month, and widening the budget deficit as the Finance Ministry expects GDP to shrink 3.6 percent in 2026.2 sources
UK blames Iran for alleged plot against US bomber baseBritish Prime Minister Andy Burnham told the House of Commons on Monday that Iran's Revolutionary Guard was almost certainly behind a suspected plot against RAF Fairford, where US bombers were stationed, in Britain's first official attribution to Iran. The US evacuated a dozen B-1 bombers from the base 10 days ago on intelligence of a possible Iranian drone attack, days after British security forces arrested several dual British-Iranian citizens suspected of planning an attack, with Israel saying it provided intelligence on the threat. Britain summoned Iran's ambassador over the allegation, which Iran categorically rejected while asking for evidence, as the US, UK and 27 other Western countries issued a joint statement condemning Iranian plotting and citing Fairford as proof of IRGC activity beyond its borders.1 source
Former foreign intelligence chief August Hanning was arrested on charges of treasonous espionage for allegedly passing nearly 2,000 documents to private clients. The case has prompted warnings of lost allied trust and demands for intelligence reform.
Germany detains two Turks over Polish Starlink fire blamed on RussiaGerman police detained two Turkish citizens at Poland's request in connection with a September fire at a Starlink station in Masovia in central Poland. Polish Interior Minister Marcin Kierwinski said the men will face charges in Poland of sabotage on the instructions of a foreign intelligence agency, while Special Services Minister Tomasz Siemoniak said Russia was behind the attack, which Russia calls baseless. The blaze engulfed the station's power system and backup generator in what Poland described as an attempt to disrupt internet services, including for Ukraine's military, which relies on tens of thousands of Starlink terminals that Poland says it helps fund.2 sources
Merz says Trump Russia diesel deal out of question for EuropeGerman Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Monday in Berlin that a US-Russia agreement on diesel exports is out of the question for Germany and Europe. He said Russia would only negotiate seriously under pressure and called for further EU sanctions after Russian attacks on Ukraine's civilian energy infrastructure. Merz also questioned US President Donald Trump's announcement of an immediate mutual halt to energy strikes, saying Moscow had answered with massive strikes, and said efforts toward a just and lasting peace will be discussed at this week's EU summit.1 source
German postage to rise 20 percent to €1.14 in 2027Germany's Federal Network Agency has proposed allowing Deutsche Post to raise letter and postcard rates by 20.35 percent from January 2027. A standard domestic letter weighing up to 20 grams would rise from 95 cents to about €1.14, crossing the one euro mark for the first time, with exact prices to be set by Deutsche Post and apply for 2027 and 2028. The regulator said the increase is justified by falling volume, from 16.9 billion letters in 2005 to under 9.4 billion in 2025, while delivery networks must be maintained. A final decision is expected in November after comments due October 30.1 source
Frankfurt Book Fair honors rights lawyer Philippe Sands with peace prizeThe 2026 Frankfurt Book Fair concluded Sunday with Franco-British lawyer and author Philippe Sands receiving the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade in the presence of German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. The jury honored Sands, a law professor at University College London known for his 2016 book East West Street, for his advocacy for victims of war crimes, racism, torture and colonial injustice. In his acceptance speech, Sands criticized Germany for what he called inappropriate silence on Israel's actions in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, while also condemning the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023 as appalling and saying Israel's right to self-defense must stay within international law.1 source
Arrest of former German spymaster prompts calls for reformFormer foreign intelligence chief August Hanning, 80, was arrested at his estate in Nordwalde on charges of treasonous espionage and handing state secrets to a foreign power. Federal prosecutors allege he paid his former chief of staff Manfred D to remove nearly 2,000 documents over 12 years for clients of his private consulting firm, including briefing papers prepared for top officials such as the chancellor; Hanning denies the claims through his lawyers and faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted. The case has prompted lawmakers and intelligence experts to warn of lost trust among allies and to demand reform including a lifelong lobbying ban for senior intelligence officers as parliament prepares a law to expand intelligence powers.1 source
The S&P 500 bull market turned four, up nearly 120 percent since 2022 on AI demand that made Nvidia worth about $5.5 trillion. Investors now doubt a fifth year as inflation, bond yields and narrow breadth weigh.
Bull market turns four as investors question fifth yearThe S&P 500 bull market turned four years old on Monday, up nearly 120 percent since its closing low on Oct. 12, 2022, powered by investor demand for artificial intelligence after the release of ChatGPT. Nvidia, once known for video game graphics cards, is now valued at about $5.5 trillion after first passing $1 trillion in 2023, while Micron passed $1 trillion in May, and the S&P 500 topped 7,800 last week with about 40 percent in tech stocks. Investors doubt the rally can reach a fifth year because of higher inflation, surging bond yields and a more hawkish Federal Reserve, plus weakening breadth after 75 percent of S&P stocks fell in September, though Oppenheimer chart analyst Ari Wald said the median fifth year return was still 21 percent.1 source
Meta released Muse Wonder and Wonder Full, claiming frontier AI performance to power its assistant and sell to businesses. The push follows heavy data center spending after Llama 4 fell short, though a subscription bug marred the launch.
Meta says Muse Wonder puts it at AI frontierMeta released Muse Wonder and Muse Wonder Full on Monday, with chief executive Mark Zuckerberg saying the systems put the company at the frontier of AI. Meta said the closed models match or outperform Anthropic's Claude Opus 5.5 and Fable 5.1 and OpenAI's GPT-6 Astra on some benchmarks, will power its Muse assistant and be sold to businesses, with Wonder priced at $4 per million input tokens and $20 per million output tokens through its API while Wonder Full is limited to Muse Code subscribers. The release follows heavy spending on data centers, including its Prometheus facility in central Ohio, and hiring after its Llama 4 model fell short, positioning Meta to compete for corporate contracts, though a bug affecting Code subscription usage limits marred the launch.5 sources
Epic delays Disney shooter to shift to AI first developmentEpic Games has delayed its Disney collaboration shooter to adopt an AI first production model with no hand-written code and art made with full AI workflows, Bloomberg reported. The project is part of the $1.5 billion Epic and Disney collaboration announced in early 2024 and described as a Marvel and Star Wars themed shooter planned for 2027. Human developers will manage code and art generated with models including Anthropic's Claude, a shift Epic said is led by developers as visionaries while CEO Tim Sweeney said the goal is to build more and better content.2 sources
Police tool can pinpoint homes from single interior photoGraylark Technologies added interior image search to its Raven tool, which has been bought by the Los Angeles Police Department and the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office. Demo videos show a single photo of a laundry unit or bathroom returning a specific property in Charlotte, North Carolina, Montecito, California, and San Francisco by matching details to other photos on Airbnb, Vrbo and Zillow, 404 Media reported. CEO Daniel Heinen said the feature can turn an unidentified room into a location lead for trafficking and exploitation cases, allowing police to identify homes without location metadata. Airbnb said it has no relationship with Graylark, prohibits scraping and is reviewing the case, while Zillow said scraping violates its terms of use.1 source
Microsoft unveils Maia 300 AI chip to cut Nvidia relianceMicrosoft announced its third-generation Maia 300 in-house AI chip, designed to become the primary AI inference system for its products and services. The chip will roll out to production workloads in 2027 and is expected to deliver 40 percent more tokens per megawatt than leading GPU-based systems and up to 7 times the rack-scale throughput of Maia 200. Microsoft plans multi-gigawatt Azure deployments starting in 2027 to rely mainly on its own chips instead of Nvidia and AMD for inference.1 source
Buffalo will be without captain Rasmus Dahlin on Tuesday in Montreal after he left a win over Florida with an upper-body injury. Alabama also says star receiver Ryan Coleman-Williams is unlikely to face Tennessee with head and leg issues.
Sabres captain Dahlin out Tuesday against Canadiens with injurySabres captain Rasmus Dahlin is day to day with an upper-body injury and will miss Tuesday's game against the Canadiens in Montreal. He left Monday's 5-3 win over Florida in the second period after blocking a shot while quarterbacking Buffalo's power play and did not return. Coach Lindy Ruff said Dahlin will stay in Buffalo for treatment rather than travel for the second half of the back-to-back, after Dahlin scored his second goal of the season in the first period.1 source
Alabama WR Coleman-Williams unlikely to face TennesseeAlabama coach Kalen DeBoer said star wide receiver Ryan Coleman-Williams is unlikely to play at Tennessee on Saturday because of a head issue and a lower extremity injury and will be week to week after that. Coleman-Williams left last Saturday's 20-17 loss to Georgia after a hit to the head and an earlier apparent leg injury, and he has 23 catches for 415 yards and four touchdowns this season. Alabama fell to 5-1 and is also evaluating center Racin Delgatty and defensive tackle Terrance Green for lower leg injuries before traveling to Tennessee and then hosting Texas.1 source
Ravens
30
Falcons
23
Lions
45
Cardinals
21
Bears
7
Packers
31
Bills
Rams
Ohio State
Indiana
Penn State
Michigan