The briefing for Saturday, October 17.

President Trump signed an executive order Friday night waiving a sweeping package of Russia sanctions that Congress passed last month, just two days before the law was due to take effect. Trump told Congress the pause was in the national interest, though the White House did not explain how. The law, named after the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, gave Trump authority to impose tariffs up to 100% on major buyers of Russian oil and gas, chiefly China and India, and targeted Putin, senior Russian officials, banks and Russia's "shadow fleet" of tankers.

The move follows Trump's announcement last week that the US had agreed to import Russian diesel to help lower US energy prices ahead of the midterms, a deal that drew sharp criticism from allies and lawmakers in both parties who say it benefits Russia's war effort. A bipartisan group of 20 lawmakers had sent Trump a letter Thursday urging "full and faithful implementation" of the sanctions law, saying it would be "decisive in forcing Putin to take peace talks seriously." Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the diesel deal a "gift to Putin."

The sanctions pause lands amid Trump's sinking approval ratings and Republican efforts to hold Congress in the November 3 midterms. It also became an issue in a South Carolina Senate race, where Sen. Darline Graham — the late senator's sister and Trump's endorsed candidate to fill his seat — said during a debate that implementation was ultimately "up to" the president. The decision signals a significant shift in US posture toward Moscow just as the Ukraine war grinds through its fifth winter.

Ukraine is negotiating with SpaceX and the Pentagon to lift a speed restriction imposed this week on Starshield, the military satellite network that powers Ukraine's interceptor drones, according to a Zelensky adviser. The cap, which cuts connectivity for anything moving faster than 100 mph, has hampered drones that chase down Russian jet-powered Shahed attack drones flying at over 250 mph. Officials have no explanation for why the restriction appeared suddenly this week.

Trump denied ordering the restriction, saying "it wasn't me, and I don't think it was Elon," referring to SpaceX founder Elon Musk. Musk has said the US government and military control Starshield, with decisions ultimately resting with the president. Reuters reported the order came from inside the White House, citing US and Western officials. A bipartisan group of 20 senators, including Republicans Thom Tillis and Susan Collins and Democrats Richard Durbin and Richard Blumenthal, sent a letter demanding an investigation, citing "grave concern" over the restrictions and reports that US personnel in Ukraine couldn't reach bunkers during Russian air raids.

Russian strikes hit nine Ukrainian regions Friday, cutting power to hundreds of thousands of households and wounding at least 15 people, as a brief energy-infrastructure truce collapsed. Zelensky accused Moscow of ignoring the ceasefire Trump had announced, and resumed strikes on Russian oil refineries. The UN human rights office reported at least 328 civilians killed and 2,105 wounded in Ukraine last month, an 85% increase over the same period last year.

The episode compounds strain between Kyiv and Washington following the Russian diesel deal and what Zelensky described as a breakdown in intelligence-sharing. At an EU summit in Brussels, French President Emmanuel Macron vowed Europe would not abandon Ukraine, while EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said persuading Washington to maintain pressure on Russia has become "very difficult." Zelensky told the European Council the war will cost €155 billion next year, with at least €70 billion needed from the EU.

The US Department of Energy is lending up to $4.4 billion to restart three nuclear plants that had already shut down — Michigan's Palisades Power Plant, Pennsylvania's Crane Clean Energy Center at Three Mile Island, and Iowa's Duane Arnold Energy Center. Combined, they would restore 2.25 gigawatts of electricity, enough to power roughly 2 million homes and businesses. No commercial nuclear reactor has ever resumed generating power after entering decommissioning, though some have restarted following long outages.

All three plants closed before their operating licenses expired, largely because the electricity they produced was considered too costly at the time. That calculus has changed: two of the plants have contracts with major tech companies willing to pay a premium for carbon-free power to run data centers. The Trump administration is pushing hard to expand nuclear power for artificial intelligence and manufacturing, and is also funding upgrades at currently operating plants.

Nuclear engineering expert Todd Allen compared the restart process to reviving a car that's sat idle for years — technically straightforward but requiring retrained workers, updated maintenance, sufficient fuel, and renewed regulatory approval. Edwin Lyman of the Union of Concerned Scientists cautioned that taxpayer funds should also address safety risks at plants built decades ago to withstand weather patterns that have since shifted with climate change, adding that isn't currently happening. Iowa's Duane Arnold shut early in 2020 after storm damage, while Michigan's Palisades was already being dismantled by new owner Holtec International before officials pushed to reverse course.

Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels have repeatedly struck Saudi Arabia's main airport in Riyadh and the headquarters of national oil company Aramco in recent days, hitting targets hundreds of miles from Yemen. At least 19 people have been killed, flights have been canceled, and schools have closed. A senior Saudi diplomat said Iran is encouraging the escalation and that the Houthis rejected a negotiation offer over the summer.

The group has grown substantially despite a decade of air campaigns by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, the US, Britain and Israel. A UN report estimated Houthi fighter ranks grew from 30,000 in 2015 to as many as 350,000 by 2024. Iran and its allies in Lebanon and Iraq reportedly provide training and weapons technology, and a recent report found the Houthis have sought Chinese-sourced parts for precision-guided missiles with a range of roughly 1,200 miles. Iran denies arming the group, which would violate a UN embargo; China says its military export approach is "prudent and responsible."

The Houthis operate across rugged, sparsely populated terrain roughly three times the size of Texas, making their fighters and infrastructure hard to target. Saudi Arabia's US-supplied missile defenses are under strain, and it remains unclear how long the kingdom can fend off attacks on oil infrastructure and tourism ambitions from both the Houthis and Iran-backed militias in Iraq, one of which was blamed for briefly shutting down a major oil pipeline.

Brazil's government reported Friday that Amazon deforestation fell 41.8% to its lowest level since satellite records began in 1988, with the rainforest losing 3,335 square kilometers from August 2025 through July 2026. Deforestation in the Cerrado savanna region also fell 23.8%. The figures mark a reversal from a roughly 60% surge in Amazon clearing under former President Jair Bolsonaro between 2019 and 2022.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva revived a deforestation-prevention plan first launched in 2004, restoring satellite-monitoring enforcement, barring loans to properties with illegal clearing, and funding sustainable development in priority municipalities. Environmental advocates credited the drop to renewed political will and enforcement. Deforestation has fallen 71% since 2023 under Lula, according to the government.

The announcement arrives just before an October 25 presidential runoff between Lula and Flavio Bolsonaro, son of the former president, with polls showing a tight race. Flavio is expected to continue his father's approach to the Amazon, though he has pledged to combat organized crime in the region. Fire counts in the Amazon, while near historic lows this year, have tripled since the October 4 first-round vote, and authorities are investigating whether some fires were set for political reasons.

The Trump administration sent a letter Friday warning California election officials that processing and tabulating ballots from suspected noncitizen voters could expose them to criminal prosecution. The letter, from acting deputy attorney general Trent McCotter, was addressed to the Los Angeles County Counsel's office and copied to the California secretary of state and LA County registrar. It follows a Justice Department lawsuit filed Thursday seeking to block California from counting mail ballots from people federal officials have identified as "likely" noncitizens.

LA County Registrar Dean Logan responded that his office is focused on running a fair election and that the dispute should be resolved in court, with Election Day just over two weeks away. Trump wrote on Truth Social that those involved "will all go to jail for a long period of time." The lawsuit followed California's failure to meet a 48-hour deadline to review a federal list of roughly 20,000 names on a password-protected thumb drive.

The letter extends a broader administration push this year demanding detailed voter data from states and alleging large numbers of noncitizen registrations — including a claim of up to 250,000 across California, Nevada, New Jersey and Pennsylvania that state officials have disputed. A similar federal claim regarding 1,500 alleged noncitizen voters in Nevada was found to involve zero actual noncitizens once names were reviewed. Research in multiple states has shown noncitizen voting is extremely rare; the Justice Department has charged about 90 people nationwide this year for various election-related offenses.