The briefing for Sunday, August 2.

President Donald Trump announced Saturday he is canceling planned military strikes against Iran, claiming Middle East allies have reached the parameters of a deal to end the five-month conflict. The announcement came via Truth Social, where Trump stated the emerging agreement would include "Immediate, Complete, and Total OPENING OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT, and an end to Iran's nuclear threat." Iran has not offered any public response to the announcement.

The reversal marks another turn in the conflict a day after Trump had suggested the U.S. was close to resuming heavy strikes to force Tehran to negotiate. According to the AP, Trump said he reached the decision after being "asked" by Iran and other Middle Eastern countries to "hold off" on attacks to allow for a deal. He added that Israel agreed to join the U.S. in the commitment to complete the agreement.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman spoke with Trump by phone Saturday, raising concerns about potential U.S. escalation and the risk of Iranian attacks on Gulf energy infrastructure, according to a person familiar with the discussion. The State Department issued security alerts urging Americans across the Middle East to prepare for possible flight cancellations and travel disruptions. The U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on February 28, starting a war aimed at destroying Tehran's missile capabilities, but stated goals and timelines have repeatedly shifted, and an earlier mid-June ceasefire deal crumbled within weeks.

Truth Social began Saturday selling Wall Street traders early access to President Trump's market-moving social media posts, raising questions about insider trading and profiting from public office. The paid service offers subscribers advance notice of the president's announcements, which regularly send stocks, bonds, and currencies soaring or plunging. Trump's company, Trump Media & Technology, will profit directly from the service.

Similar fast-access feeds are sold by other social media firms and data providers, but Truth Social uniquely distributes news it creates rather than aggregates. According to the AP, the service presents opportunities for high-frequency traders who specialize in buying and selling within milliseconds to exploit tiny price differences. "If this was the CEO of a public company, this would be jail time," said Irene Aldridge, head of Able Alpha Trading, which doesn't plan to buy the service.

Trump Media & Technology issued a statement defending the service, blasting Democratic critics for "mischaracterizing" it "out of ideological opposition to free markets or a failure to grasp the distinction between public and nonpublic information." The White House press office declined to comment on whether White House lawyers had vetted the arrangement. The service raises unprecedented questions about a president whose company directly profits from policy announcements made through his personal social media platform.

The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has become the biggest in the country's history, the World Health Organization announced. As of July 30, there were 3,605 confirmed cases including 1,587 deaths, a fatality rate of 44%. The outbreak, caused by the Bundibugyo strain of the virus, was declared on May 15, 2026, and now surpasses the previous largest outbreak between 2018 and 2020.

The WHO said the outbreak is "intensifying, with sustained transmission and continued increases in reported cases and deaths." During the past week alone, the outbreak reached its highest weekly total with 567 cases and 296 deaths. The organization warned these figures underscore "the exceptional pace of transmission." There is currently no approved vaccine or treatment for the Bundibugyo strain, though vaccines are being developed in the UK and Singapore.

The center of the outbreak is the Ituri province in the northeast, which borders South Sudan and Uganda, but it has also spread to North and South Kivu provinces, where large areas are controlled by the Rwanda-backed M23 armed group. According to the WHO, "factors like insecurity, population displacement, and cross-border movement continue to hamper response efforts and increase the risk of further spread." Ebola spreads through contact with bodily fluids and has killed 15,000 people across Africa over the last 50 years.

Michigan on Saturday joined Minnesota in reporting cyberattacks on water systems, with nine facilities affected in Michigan and over 30 in Minnesota. All systems continued to operate safely and there are no known public health concerns, according to Dale George, communications director at Michigan's Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy. The FBI is investigating but has not publicly identified who might be responsible.

The attacks came amid warnings that Iranian hackers have been targeting water and wastewater systems and operational controls of other critical infrastructure sectors. The FBI, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and other agencies issued an advisory last week about the threat. Digital warfare has increasingly targeted local water plants and healthcare facilities, which often lack the funds and expertise to install the latest security patches.

In Braham, Minnesota, a city of about 1,700 people, attackers shut down operating controls at the water plant on Monday, leaving the city temporarily able to provide only the water held in its water tower. The city said the attack didn't cause any water quality issues. In Plymouth, Minnesota, a city of about 80,000, officials said water infrastructure communications were restored by Tuesday afternoon. President Trump claimed without evidence during a Friday Cabinet meeting that recent cyberattacks in Minnesota were the state's fault, prompting Minnesota Governor Tim Walz to respond that Trump "knows exactly who is responsible for this attack, and knows that other states were hit too."

President Trump threatened Saturday to push forward with a controversial compensation fund if two Republican senators refuse to support his attorney general nominee Todd Blanche, injecting fresh uncertainty into a Senate confirmation vote planned for next week. Trump asserted in a Truth Social post that he would keep Blanche in his current role as acting attorney general and press ahead on the "Anti-Weaponization Fund" if Senators John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina don't back the nominee.

The administration needs their votes, but both lawmakers have protested Blanche's selection because of a lawsuit settlement that created a $1.8 billion fund to compensate people who feel mistreated by the criminal justice system and provided Trump and family members with immunity from tax audits. In a sign of apparent progress Friday, Trump had pronounced the fund "dead."

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley rescheduled a committee vote for Blanche that had been postponed earlier in the week. A committee spokesperson said Grassley would like to see Blanche confirmed before the August recess and that putting the Tuesday vote on the calendar "gives more time for the White House to secure the votes for the President's nominee." Trump's Saturday threat underscores his continued interest in securing payouts for supporters who feel unjustly persecuted.

At least nine people were killed and dozens injured in Russian ballistic missile strikes on Kyiv on Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said. Moscow has escalated deadly ballistic missile attacks on the capital recently, prompting Zelensky to say that missile interceptors are urgently needed. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported more than 10 explosions across the city, with fires breaking out and power cuts in some areas.

The emergency services said at least seven people were killed in a strike in the Darnytskyi district, with another 14 injured including two children. In Solomyanskyi district, two people died and eight were injured, including two children, as a five-story residential building was partially destroyed. A missile landed near the Lithuanian embassy, breaking windows and scattering debris in the compound.

Separately, Ukrainian drones sank a Russian-owned container ship in the Black Sea on Saturday. Moscow confirmed all 17 crew members were rescued from the 100,000-ton capacity vessel Yanina, which state-owned nuclear operator Rosatom said was transporting civilian goods. The strikes come two days after a suspected Russian cruise missile landed in Poland during a widespread attack that killed at least eight people. Earlier this week, Zelensky met President Trump in Washington to urge the U.S. to grant Ukraine a license to produce Patriot interceptor missiles. Trump said Friday the U.S. had not agreed but talks were ongoing, calling it "a big step" and emphasizing concerns about sharing advanced weaponry.