Best Buy expands multi-year Fire TV partnership with Amazon (AMZN.O) for connected-TV advertising.

White House NEC Director HASSETT on Wednesday criticized recent Federal Reserve officials advocating further rate hikes, saying additional tightening is worrying with core inflation near 2% and asking “why raise rates.” He questioned comments from officials not appointed by Trump and said Fed Chair KEVIN WARSH is running a “highly politicized” Fed, calling restoration of the central bank’s independence a key priority. HASSETT also criticized senior Fed officials remaining in post after leaving leadership roles, naming Powell and Barr as departures from past transition norms. Several Fed officials have sent hawkish signals recently: Barr said further hikes may be needed to bring inflation back to 2%, and Collins and Musallam also expressed support for additional tightening. The Fed’s latest projections show 16 officials expect at least one more rate hike this year.

CENTCOM said it is assembling the world’s first multinational joint attack unmanned aerial systems (UAS) force. The command said its Rapidly Deployable Joint Task Force (REJTF), stood up one year ago, has introduced advanced capabilities including the US military’s first one-way attack UAS squadron in the Middle East and the first sea-launched air-attack UAS from a US Navy vessel. In June an unmanned surface vessel (USV) assisted in rescuing a downed helicopter crew in regional waters; in July CENTCOM recorded the first operational use of a one-way attack USV. The multinational force is presented as a follow-on to those operational advances over the past 52 weeks.