The NFL kicked off yesterday, and so did the money machine. Franchises are now averaging $7.65 billion in value, up 18% from last year. The Cowboys top the list at $12.5 billion, proving that in Dallas, even mediocrity pays like a dynasty. And thanks to revenue sharing, every team, big market or small, gets a piece of the pie.

It’s less a sport, more a Wall Street product in pads. Now, time for the important stories.

Moscow’s Biggest Strike Yet

Russia just dialed the Ukraine war up a notch. Overnight, Moscow launched its biggest aerial assault yet, more than 800 drones filling the skies, and for the first time, it targeted Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers building in the heart of Kyiv. That’s not just another strike. That’s a direct hit on the country’s political nerve center.

The attack killed three people, including a one-year-old child pulled from the rubble. Fires broke out across the capital, spreading from the government complex to high-rise apartments. Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko confirmed the damage, saying the roof and upper floors of the building were on fire while rescue crews worked around the clock. It was a scene meant to rattle both leaders and everyday Ukrainians.

Up until now, Russia had largely avoided striking Ukraine’s top government institutions. That line is gone. Once a government building is fair game, everything else is too. It signals a shift from military targets to symbols of statehood itself. That’s not just strategy, it’s psychological warfare.

The sheer scale of the attack also matters. Sending 800 drones in one night isn’t just about destruction. It’s about showing Ukraine and the rest of the world that Russia can still go big, even as Western analysts question how sustainable its war effort really is. Think of it as a reminder shot, delivered at massive human cost.

For Ukraine, this raises the stakes on defense. For Russia, it’s a gamble that upping the pressure on Kyiv will force political cracks to widen. For the rest of the world, it’s a stark reminder that this war is far from frozen. When government buildings start burning, the conflict stops being background noise and becomes something harder to ignore.

Rapid Fire

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 London just saw one of its largest mass arrests in years. Police detained 890 people during a rally tied to Palestine Action, a group the UK banned as a terrorist organization back in July after it admitted to damaging aircraft at military bases. Of those arrested, 857 were picked up for showing support for the group, something that’s now illegal under anti-terror laws, while the rest faced charges ranging from public disorder to assaulting officers. Seventeen cops were reportedly punched, kicked, or spat on.

Police made clear this protest wasn’t like others they handled the same day. A separate pro-Palestinian march drew 20,000 people without major incident. The Palestine Action rally, by contrast, was confrontational from the start, which explains the staggering number of arrests. The operation highlights how quickly the ground has shifted: what might have looked like political protest a year ago now counts as terrorism under UK law, setting the stage for more clashes between activists and authorities.

🗳️ Guyana’s President Irfaan Ali just locked in a second term, sworn in this morning at State House after being declared the winner of last week’s election. His party, the PPP/C, pulled in 36 seats in the National Assembly. The vote wrapped up peacefully, with international observers giving it the thumbs-up, no small thing in a region where elections don’t always go smoothly.

The timing couldn’t be bigger. Guyana is suddenly rich on oil money, turning from one of South America’s poorest countries into its fastest-growing economy almost overnight. Billions are pouring in from ExxonMobil and other oil majors, and GDP growth has been off the charts. Ali’s second term isn’t just about politics. It’s about steering a nation flush with new wealth and making sure the oil boom doesn’t turn into an oil curse. In other words, the hard part starts now.

💰 China’s anti-corruption dragnet just caught another big fish. Yi Huiman, former head of the country’s securities regulator, is under investigation for “serious violations of discipline and law.” Translation: Beijing thinks he was on the take. Reports suggest the probe is digging into whether Yi’s relatives cashed in while he was running the China Securities Regulatory Commission.

The timing matters. China’s economy is wobbly, markets are jittery, and Xi Jinping’s anti-graft campaign is still in full swing. Yi’s ouster earlier this year and replacement by Wu Qing, the hard-nosed “Butcher of Brokers”, fits a larger pattern. His predecessor was also sidelined in 2019 for similar reasons. Beijing has now cycled through multiple securities chiefs in just a few years, raising questions about stability at the very top of China’s markets. For global investors already uneasy about transparency, this only adds another layer of risk.

World Watch

Mozambique just scored World Bank backing for a $6 billion hydroelectric plant, the biggest project of its kind in southern Africa in 50 years. For a country where electricity access has been patchy at best, this could be a game-changer. Think barbers swapping scissors for clippers, shops staying open after dark, and whole communities suddenly plugged into opportunity. It’s also a rare piece of big, forward-looking infrastructure in a region where investment usually crawls.

The stakes go beyond Mozambique. The project could supply power across southern Africa and give one of the world’s poorest countries a shot at real economic lift. The $6 billion price tag shows both the scale of the region’s infrastructure problem and the willingness of global institutions to bankroll solutions. Success would mean a new economic engine for the region. Failure would underline just how hard it is to build and sustain giant projects in fragile economies.

Today in What the Hell

The U.S. Tennis Association reportedly told broadcasters to avoid showing crowd reactions to Trump during the men’s final, hoping to keep the spotlight on the court. Nice try. When his face hit the jumbotrons during the national anthem, the boos were loud enough to cut through ABC’s telecast. A few cheers were sprinkled in, but the jeers won the day.

Broadcasters tried muting reactions at times, but live crowds don’t exactly stick to the script. Add in the fact that Trump’s visit delayed the match by half an hour thanks to extra security, and it’s clear his presence shaped the event whether organizers liked it or not. For the USTA, it was a reminder that inviting a political figure courtside guarantees politics will follow. And for broadcasters, it showed the limits of “managing” live coverage in an era where every phone in the arena doubles as its own broadcast.

That’s all folks

That’s a lot of ground covered, from Moscow’s biggest strike to Guyana’s oil boom to boos at the U.S. Open. The through line? Power. Whether it’s military, political, financial, or just the ability to cut the broadcast feed. 

We’ll keep cutting through the noise so you don’t have to.