Sports3:28Lionel Messi has announced his retirement from Argentina’s national soccer team. He played in six World Cups, winning the 2022 tournament and appearing in the 2014 and 2026 finals. Messi will continue playing for MLS club Inter Miami.
NBC News
WorldLeaders of 21 established and rising powers are meeting in Bishkek for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit as wars put pressure on the global order. China and Russia have used the SCO to project influence and oppose the West, while middle powers are seeking fresh economic and political momentum.
WorldAn urgent search is underway after flash floods in the Grand Canyon. Rescue operations continue in Nepal as the death toll rises, while the U.S. strikes Iranian launchers near the Strait of Hormuz.
NBC News
ScienceFat Marmot Week is an online contest in which people vote for the plumpest marmot. Scientists at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory in Gothic, Colorado, created it as a bit of fun and to raise funds for long-running rodent research amid federal funding cuts.
EconomyWells Fargo analyst Timna Tanners says Canada’s retaliatory steel tariffs are largely “for show,” arguing that the trade war with the US has already made American imports too expensive.
Bloomberg Television
WorldRescuers in Nepal are racing to save more than 900 people believed to be trapped in tunnels and underground areas across around six hydropower projects.
OtherWatch the full Aug. 31 episode of TODAY. NBC airs the program on weekdays at 7 a.m. local time.
NBC News
WorldAlon-Lee Green, national co-director of Standing Together, says the escalating violence in the occupied West Bank is being used as a tool to gain votes ahead of Israeli elections.
PoliticsBill Essayli, first assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, discusses the federal arrest of Honduran national Darwin Jonathan Rivera Flores, who is charged with illegally registering to vote.
Fox News
Economy4:00Anthropic’s planned IPO is shaping a crowded US listing calendar, making it harder for other companies to attract attention after the Labor Day holiday. The developer of Claude is preparing to file publicly in the coming weeks, with a potential fundraising haul as large as or larger than SpaceX’s record $86.2 billion debut.
Bloomberg Television
WorldOn August 7, the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Türkiye signed a security agreement in Mecca. Their defence and foreign affairs ministers are now working to turn it into an operational framework. The pact says an attack on any one of the three countries will be treated as an attack on all three. Talks in Istanbul focus on coordinating defence production and expanding defence-industry cooperation, but hurdles remain.
CultureCanada is set to debut at Eurovision in 2027, where participating countries submit original songs for public and jury voting. Applications are now open to Canadian artists, with CBC/Radio-Canada leading the selection of the country’s first entry.
PoliticsVoters are casting ballots in federal byelections in Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia. Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberals are seeking to preserve their narrow House of Commons majority, while the continuing Canada-U.S. trade war is expected to weigh on voters, especially in a closely contested three-way race in Chicoutimi.
Global News
SocietyRajendra Dawadi, head teacher of Tribhuvan Trishuli Secondary School in Nepal’s north-central Trishuli Valley, acted quickly to evacuate about 900 students as floodwaters tore through homes, bridges and villages. His response has become a striking example of foresight and courage amid the catastrophic disaster.
The Associated Press
WorldThe coffin of Norway’s late King Harald V was taken through the royal palace to its chapel on Monday. Queen Mette-Marit joined the procession, making her first official appearance since taking the title.
The Associated Press
WorldUS President Donald Trump is threatening to hit Iran hard after Washington and Tehran exchanged fire for the first time in a month. US forces struck Iranian rocket launchers in the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday, and Tehran responded with missiles and drones targeting US bases across the region. Former US diplomat William Lawrence analyses Trump’s aims.
PoliticsVice President JD Vance is expected to speak at a state Republican-led event in Sterling Heights, Michigan.
Fox News
WorldOfficials say catastrophic flooding in a remote area of the Grand Canyon has killed at least two people and left more than a dozen others missing.
NBC News
PoliticsKalshi has permanently barred former Rep. George Santos after he secretly placed a wager against his own unannounced plans to attend the State of the Union.
NBC News
WorldA Brandeis University study says 74% of US students believe Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. The finding comes as Israeli attacks continue across the Gaza Strip despite a ceasefire, with most students surveyed expressing opposition to Israel’s actions and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
OtherThe broadcast features Serena Williams discussing a potential tennis comeback, NASA launching a revolutionary new telescope, and “Under Story” being selected as the GMA September Book Club pick.
ABC News
WorldThe US military has struck Iran in what is described as the first known American attack on the country since late July. Omid Memarian, a senior Iran analyst and communications director at Democracy for the Arab World Now, offers an explanation of what may follow.
WorldTürkiye is hosting Saudi and Pakistani ministers in Istanbul for the first meeting under the Mecca Defence Agreement. The pact treats an attack on any one of the three countries as an attack on all, with the ministers set to discuss areas of joint work.
WorldAl Jazeera spoke with Loui Abu Ridi, a Palestinian American trapped at his home in Qusra, south of Nablus in the occupied West Bank. He says an Israeli military checkpoint is restricting movement and preventing families from delivering food and essential medicines.