At least four more U.S. service members have died during the ongoing Iran war than the Pentagon has disclosed publicly, the Washington Post reported on Friday, citing six officials from the Department of War.
Five of the officials said there have been at least 22 military fatalities, four more than the figure in the Pentagon's public database.
Another official said 23 service members have died since Feb 28, when the U.S. and Israel initiated the Iran war.
Not all of the undisclosed deaths are directly tied to the conflict but have involved U.S. personnel who were in the Middle East amid ongoing hostilities, the official added.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth denied the report later on the day, calling it "a complete lie" in a social media post.
U.S. troop deaths amid Iran war exceed Pentagon count: report
China's general public budget revenue reached 15.66 trillion yuan (around 2.33 trillion U.S. dollars) in the first eight months of 2026, up 5.7 percent year on year, according to data released by the Ministry of Finance on Friday. The central general public budget revenue increased 9.1 percent year on year to 7.0118 trillion yuan, while the local general public budget revenue increased 3.1 percent year on year to 8.6515 trillion yuan.
Tax revenue climbed 6.6 percent year on year to 12.91 trillion yuan in the period.
Domestic value-added tax rose 5.9 percent, driven by continuous growth in the industrial and service sectors and an upward trend in factory-gate prices, while corporate income tax grew 7.3 percent on the back of rapid profit growth. Meanwhile, value-added tax and consumption tax on imported goods increased 12.6 percent, driven by rapid import growth.
A total of 1.65 trillion yuan was refunded for value-added tax and consumption tax on exported goods, an increase of 70.7 billion yuan compared with the same period last year. By region, the revenues of eastern, central, western and northeastern regions increased 3.2 percent, 1.4 percent, 4.6 percent and 2.1 percent, respectively.
From January to August this year, China's national general public budget expenditure reached 18.15 trillion yuan, up 1.2 percent year on year. Expenditures on public well-being grew rapidly in the eight-month period, with social security and employment spending rising 6.5 percent and health care outlays increasing 9.2 percent.
China's general public budget revenue up 5.7 pct in first eight months
