The Rundown — October 4, 2026
THE WORLD · OCTOBER 4, 2026
What's going on right now, in one place. The ↗ links out to the original source; the item's own text turns into a link only once it becomes a full entry here.
The world
- Brazilians vote Sunday in the first round of a presidential election pitting incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, running for an unprecedented fourth term at 80, against Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, with an October 1 Datafolha poll putting Lula at 45% to Bolsonaro's 40% and a runoff set for October 25 if neither tops 50%. ↗
- Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced a U.S. strike on an alleged drug-smuggling boat off Venezuela on October 3 that killed four men he called "narco-terrorists," the fourth such strike in the Caribbean since early September. ↗
- The Pentagon is sending a third carrier strike group to the Middle East as President Trump warns of new strikes on Iran if talks over reopening the Strait of Hormuz collapse. ↗
Bitcoin & crypto
- The SEC approved a Cboe BZX rule change letting Volatility Shares list six new 3x-leveraged ETPs tracking CME bitcoin and ether futures alongside gold, silver, crude oil and natural gas — the first U.S. approval of triple-leveraged crypto ETPs, though trading awaits effective S-1 registrations. ↗
- Ether traded around $2,693 to $2,695 on October 4 per CoinGecko, up about 0.7% over 24 hours but nearly flat for the week, as 2026 ETF inflows into U.S. spot ether funds have reached roughly $1.5 billion versus about $985 million for spot bitcoin funds. ↗
Space
- A SpaceX Falcon Heavy carried the classified NROL-97 mission into orbit from Kennedy Space Center's pad 39A on October 1, the first time the National Reconnaissance Office has flown a payload on the heavy-lift rocket after 22 prior missions on the Falcon 9. ↗
Health & medicine
- The FDA approved the Autus Size-Adjustable Valve on October 1, the first pulmonary heart valve that can be widened with a balloon catheter as a child grows, starting around 13 millimeters and eventually reaching an adult-sized 22 millimeters. ↗
- A Nature Communications study of 1,196 cognitively unimpaired adults links higher blood levels of the gut bacterial compound imidazole propionate (ImP) to worse preclinical cognitive scores and more Alzheimer's-related brain biomarkers, with mouse experiments showing ImP that reaches the brain increases buildup of amyloid and tau. ↗
Technology
- Amazon's FTC antitrust monopoly trial, a bench trial in Seattle federal court on claims under the FTC Act and Sherman Act brought by the agency and 17 state attorneys general, is now set for March 29, 2027 (it was first scheduled for October 13, 2026); Washington's own attorney general is not among the 17 states. ↗