The Evening: Oil prices jump after attacks

October 8, 2026

	By Matthew Cullen

Good evening. Here’s the latest at the end of Thursday.

Middle East violence shakes oil markets
Anne Carson wins literature Nobel Prize
Plus, Broadway’s new heated rivalry

A busy highway with many cars in multiple lanes. A hazy cityscape with tall buildings is visible in the background.

The Saudi capital, Riyadh, in February. Isabel Infantes/Reuters

Explosions rattle the Saudi capital

Global oil prices jumped today after attacks in Saudi Arabia threatened to widen a Middle East conflict that has disrupted energy supplies. The Houthis, an Iran-backed militia in Yemen, claimed responsibility for strikes on Saudi airports for the second time this week.

The attacks, which killed three people, were the deadliest on Saudi Arabia since the war with the Houthis reignited in recent weeks. President Trump has rebuffed requests from the Saudi government to join the fight against the Houthis, but hundreds of U.S. intelligence and military analysts are assisting the Saudis in command centers inside the kingdom.

Relatedly, tankers in the Strait of Hormuz have come under repeated attack over the last couple of weeks. Just yesterday, a tanker in waters north of Qatar was hit by “multiple projectiles,” causing casualties.

For more: The U.S. military is preparing options to restart major combat operations against Iran, though Trump said today that he would not attack before the midterm elections.

Demetrius Freeman for The New York Times

Vance accuses U.S. companies of abusing green card program

The Trump administration is planning to suspend Microsoft from using a visa program that allows foreign workers to permanently reside in the U.S. after an investigation found that the tech giant had abused the system.

Vice President JD Vance accused Microsoft and other U.S. companies of attempting to replace American workers with “foreign indentured servants.” Microsoft disputed some of Vance’s claims, saying that its pay was among the highest reported in H-1B filings.

In other Trump administration news:

U.S. officials said that the administration is considering using ships for deportations.
The White House’s proposed Russian oil deal would benefit a group of Middle Eastern investors, including some with business ties to key U.S. officials.

A man and a woman sit with a small French bulldog on the concrete front steps of a brick home. The woman wears a sleeveless, floral-patterned dress, and the man wears a light blue button-down shirt with blue trousers.

Sydney Brockman, left, and Mathew Wellhausen in St. Louis. Costs delayed their home search for four years. Neeta Satam for The New York Times

Mortgage rates continue surging

The average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage has risen to 7.4 percent, the highest mark in nearly three years. In February, before the U.S. went to war in Iran, mortgage rates were below 6 percent.

The elevated borrowing costs have squeezed would-be home buyers, particularly because home prices continue to rise nationwide. As a result, the housing market has slowed: sales of existing homes dropped 1.2 percent in August compared with the year before.

$A view over the shoulder of a pair of students in a lecture hall at the Simons Laufer Mathematical Sciences Institute in Berkeley, Calif., at work on a math project on their laptops.$

Ian C. Bates for The New York Times

A.I. advances are upending the math world

Mathematicians are still digesting OpenAI’s announcement this week that its artificial intelligence systems had conquered hundreds of the math world’s major open questions. But the initial response appears to mostly be astonishment.

“If a human did this, it would be an instant Fields Medal,” said Alex Kontorovich, the math chair at Rutgers University, referring to the industry’s top honor. He was speaking of just one of OpenAI’s more than 300 findings.

For more:

We used an A.I. image generator to make a picture. It’s getting harder to spot such fakes; let us walk you through the tells.
To prevent surgical mistakes, Canada is experimenting with A.I. in the O.R.
The former head of safety transparency at OpenAI talked to Ezra Klein about why he just quit.

MORE TOP NEWS

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Candidates in three key Senate races — Georgia, Maine and Michigan — are holding debates tonight. Here’s what to expect.
Trump is dragging down Republicans across the country in a “red undertow.” People who voted for him explained how he’s alienated them.
Sporting a Jos. A. Bank suit and Florsheim dress shoes, Trump has adopted a budget look in his second term.

WHICH MAJORS PAY OFF

Click to watch. The New York Times

A new analysis reveals which college majors pay off, as well as the single most lucrative degree in America. We built a calculator for you to navigate the data.

TIME TO UNWIND

Anne Carson in yellow-orange glasses, a pinstripe jacket and a scarf in shades of dark and light red.

Pontus Lundahl/TT News Agency, via Reuters

What to read from the newest Nobel laureate

The Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded this morning to the Canadian poet and essayist Anne Carson, who is best known for remixing ancient Greek texts in a modern and playful voice. Her partner snapped a photo of her slack-jawed upon hearing the news.

Carson’s work “can seduce even people who don’t like poetry,” my colleague Sam Anderson wrote in a 2013 profile. Among the works cited by the Nobel committee are “Eros the Bittersweet,” her debut book-length essay, and “The Glass Essay,” a poem about unrequited love. Here’s what to read if you are new to her work.

Footage from outside a diner with a bright sign reading “Diner 24,” food on a terrazzo tabletop, a woman in an apron singing into a microphone.

Cole Saladino for The New York Times

Broadway has a new heated rivalry

For nearly four decades, Ellen’s Stardust Diner has been serving burgers, shakes and other blue-plate comforts from the heart of Manhattan’s theater district. No one would call it a typical diner, though, because from 7 a.m. until midnight, its waiters — some of whom have Broadway ambitions — belt show tunes between taking orders.

But Ellen’s can no longer call itself unique. Just a block away, at a new spot called Diner24, you can also expect the waiters to break into song throughout your meal. We checked out both diners.

An open loft space with a bar in the foreground. A Keith Haring mural is on a wall behind the bar and the larger room is characterized by high ceilings and designer furnishings.

Keith Haring Foundation; Photograph by Tim Waltman

Dinner table topics

As a student in 1979, Keith Haring painted a mural inside a Gilded Age mercantile building that later became a stylish New York loft. Now, it’s for sale.
Tom Gammill wrote for “Seinfeld” and “S.N.L.,” but he really wants you to see the genius of the comic strip “Nancy."
How much do you know about the most common cancer among women? Take our quiz.
Experts agree: Nobody knows what “biweekly” or “bimonthly” means.