Q: Can you give us an update on the suspected plague case in Russia?

Rubio: We are monitoring it very closely. I don't think it's cause for alarm, but it's cause for focus, and we're doing that.

Marco Rubio on Yemen:

Saudis have come under Houthi attacks, and they have a right to defend themselves.

Zelensky:

A horrific strike by two Russian drones on a civilian vessel in neutral waters carrying corn and owned by Türkiye.

There were citizens of Azerbaijan and India on board. As of now, unfortunately, it is known that the ship’s captain was killed.

My condolences. The fate of one other person is still being determined. Eleven crew members were rescued, one of whom was injured.

Ukraine has repeatedly proposed concrete steps toward de-escalation and ensuring security in the Black Sea.

There have also been corresponding proposals from third countries. But Russia consistently chooses terror and the sinking of civilian vessels instead of normal maritime navigation.

Alleged Chinese Operative Arrested for Surveilling Taiwan President's Son

Federal prosecutors allege Wanying “Heather” Zhang, arrested by the FBI, surveilled Taiwanese leader Lai Ching-te’s son and his family in Seattle at China’s direction.

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US Withdraws All B-1 Bombers from UK After Suspected Iran-Backed Plot

Commanders ordered an urgent departure from RAF Fairford after fresh intelligence intensified fears of a suspected Iran-backed attack; some crews took off before refueling was ready.

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Germany has held exploratory talks about joining the UK-Italian-Japanese Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) after the collapse of its fighter jet partnership with France.

Britain is pushing Germany to join GCAP, which aims to field a sixth-generation fighter by 2035, but German officials have concerns about securing enough industrial work and influence in a program already shaped by its three founding members.

An internal German assessment instead favors a potential German-Swedish-Spanish fighter partnership, saying their military requirements are more closely aligned and Germany would have a stronger role.

Source: POLITICO

GRAPHIC: Video shows Saudi-backed pro-government Yemeni forces using armored vehicles to run over surrendering Houthi fighters during today’s offensive.

Turkish President Erdogan:

As part of our Lunar Research Program, we have completed the production, assembly and integration of the lunar spacecraft we developed.

We are now conducting system-level environmental tests.

Karoline Leavitt, who stepped down as Trump’s White House press secretary in August, is joining Fox News as an on-air contributor starting Nov. 1.

She will appear across both Fox News opinion and news programs, becoming the second former Trump press secretary to join the network after Kayleigh McEnany.

Source: NYT

Turkish President Erdogan:

The space race cannot be a competition conducted among just a few countries.

Space is not a prize to be seized by whoever gets there first. In particular, weaponizing space and turning it into an arena for an arms race is profoundly wrong.

Yemen’s Houthis warned airlines that Saudi airspace would become an “arena of activity” for their forces, amid an intensified Saudi offensive against the group.

Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, the longest-serving Republican speaker in U.S. history, has died at 84.

Hastert represented Illinois in Congress from 1987 to 2007 and served as House speaker from 1999 to 2007.

In 2015, he pleaded guilty to illegally structuring cash withdrawals to conceal hush-money payments to a former student who accused him of sexual abuse.

He was sentenced to 15 months in prison in 2016, when a federal judge called him a “serial child molester.”

Source: NBC News

More than 200 U.S. intelligence and military analysts are working inside Saudi command centers, helping analyze and select targets for Saudi-backed Yemeni forces fighting the Houthis.

The U.S. is also providing aerial refueling for Saudi defensive patrols, though Trump rejected Saudi requests for direct U.S. strikes on Houthi targets.

Source: NYT

Iran’s government has nominated Mehrdad Akhlaghi as defense minister.

Source: Fars

Aramco CEO Amin Nasser warned that global oil inventories have fallen to dangerously low levels, calling the world’s supply cushion “scarily thin.”

Nasser said nearly 3 billion barrels of oil supply have been lost since the war with Iran began, while reserve releases offer only temporary relief and rebuilding inventories could take up to two years.

Source: POLITICO

Trump’s top national security aides held a secret, hours-long meeting at Camp David to discuss the Iran war and the Saudi-Houthi conflict in Yemen.

Vice President Vance chaired the meeting, joined by Marco Rubio, Pete Hegseth, Steve Witkoff, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Gen. Dan Caine and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

One U.S. official said major Middle East issues were “decided or at least deeply discussed.”

Source: Axios

Soldiers stationed at Port Shuaiba in Kuwait — including survivors of the March 1 Iranian attack — said U.S. commanders knew the site lacked effective drone defenses but still moved troops there ahead of Iran’s strikes.

On March 1, an Iranian drone hit the operations center at the port, killing six U.S. soldiers and wounding dozens.

The soldiers said commanders had rejected safer alternatives and, despite warnings about low-flying drones, troops were pushed out of bunkers shortly before the strike.

The Army completed its investigation in June but has not released it publicly.

Source: AP

Saudi-Backed Yemeni Offensive Retakes Control of Bab El-Mandeb Strait

Saudi-backed Yemeni forces have gained effective control of Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the government says, following a coastal offensive to reclaim the oil chokepoint from the Houthis.

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WATCH: Yemen's Houthi forces fired two missiles toward a government-controlled area as an Al Arabiya correspondent was preparing to go live.

Ex-Prince Andrew Takes Police to Court Over Epstein Investigation

The former Duke of York has taken Thames Valley Police to court over search warrants used in the Epstein files investigation, opening a legal challenge eight months after his arrest.

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