🇺🇸🇷🇺 Trump Signs Order Exempting Russia From Sanctions Law

President Trump signed an executive order exempting Russia from a new sanctions measure that Congress passed last month. The sanctions were intended to target Russian officials, oligarchs and financial institutions, and were part of a law that was named after Senator Lindsey Graham.

“I am hereby waiving the application of such sanctions, restrictions and duties provided for in the Graham Act,” — Mr. Trump said in the order.

“I have submitted to the Congress a certification that the issuance of such a waiver at this time is in the national interests of the U.S.”

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🇺🇸🇲🇽 US Gives Green Light for New Routes from Mexico City Airports

The US will allow Mexican airlines to offer new flights into the country from Mexico City’s two biggest airports, lifting restrictions that had blocked additional routes.

The move ends constraints the US imposed a year ago on local carriers operating from the Mexican capital’s major international hub, the Benito Juárez airport (AICM), as well as the four-year-old Felipe Ángeles (AIFA) hub, clearing the way for local airlines to add flights from the two facilities to destinations in the US.

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🇪🇺 ECB’s Lagarde Pushes Digital Euro and Tokenized Settlement at IMF

European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde reaffirmed that the ECB is “preparing to complement cash with its digital equivalent” — a CBDC, or electronic money issued by a central bank. Unlike commercial bank deposits or privately issued stablecoins, a digital euro would represent central bank money.

“Adopting the Regulation on the establishment of the digital euro by the end of 2026 is key,” — she said, adding that the Eurosystem plans to run a 12-month internal pilot in the second half of 2027.

The ECB’s approach is to make central bank money available for tokenized financial markets, rather than rely exclusively on private settlement assets.

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👀 The eye has a hidden cleanup system scientists never knew existed

Researchers from the University of British Columbia and the University of Toronto have discovered a previously unknown drainage route at the back of the eye, called the posterior ocular lymphatic outflow (POLO) pathway.

🐁 Demonstrated in mice, the system appears to carry fluid and waste away from the back of the eye and into the lymphatic network, which helps the body maintain fluid balance, remove waste, and support immune defenses.

The discovery could shed new light on how waste buildup and impaired fluid drainage contribute to conditions such as glaucoma and age-related macular degeneration. Understanding this pathway may open new avenues for developing treatments for diseases that cause permanent vision loss.

"This gives us a whole new framework for understanding these diseases and a potential target for therapeutics," — said said Dr. Neeru Gupta, professor and head of UBC's department of ophthalmology and visual sciences.

"The question now is: How can we enhance or exploit this cleanup system to treat or even prevent disease."

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🇵🇭🇺🇸 Philippines, US Looking to Expand Cooperation on Energy Security

The Philippines and the US are exploring an expansion of collaboration on energy security, including the creation of strategic oil reserves, according to Manila’s energy department.

Department of Energy Secretary Sharon Garin met with her US counterpart Chris Wright in Washington “to explore expanded bilateral cooperation aimed at strengthening the Philippines’ energy security, diversifying energy supply, and advancing the development of indigenous resources,” the department said in.

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🤑 Stellar (XLM) Slated for 2027 as DTCC Unlocks $30 Trillion Tokenization Market

At the end of this month, the DTCC opens commercial access to its Tokenization Service. The post-trade giant will allow major players to create "digital twins" for traditional securities.

❗️John Hallahan, Director of Business Solutions and Advisory (EMEA) at Fireblocks, said in a video interview that the DTCC’s tokenization service launches at the end of October.

“DTCC’s tokenization service is launching at the end of the month,” — Hallahan said.

“I believe it’s on the 28th.”

"We're working with several of the participants along with Citadel and being READY FOR THAT DATE”

"You'd expect to see some really interesting trades happening from the end of this month." 👀

The project covers a colossal pool of assets worth $30 trillion, a quarter of all funds under the control of the DTC central securities depository. 💸

👉 However, Stellar is not yet being let into this market: under the approved plan, the first wave of liquidity will go to private bank networks, so the public blockchain will have to wait its turn until next year.

👉 For the Stellar Development Foundation, this release confirms the status quo.

Integration with public networks was originally planned for the first half of 2027, and nobody has changed that schedule. Stellar will join the platform together with Circle's Arc solution, using its SEP-41 standard to transfer assets.

By that time, DTCC promises to expand the list of available securities, add support for corporate actions, and launch on-chain collateral settlements via digital cash.

2027 could be a defining year for Stellar. 🚀

#Stellar

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🇲🇽 Mexico to require digital platforms to shield minors from harmful content

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has signed a decree ordering digital platforms, ​including social media and streaming sites, to shield children and teenagers ‌from violent, sexual and other harmful content.

Digital platforms will ⁠have one month to come into compliance with the decree. Sheinbaum added that if companies failed to follow the decree, the ​government would back a bill to penalize the platform.

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👀 MapQuest’s new ‘surveillance layer’ feature flags Flock cameras on users’ routes

MapQuest added a new feature to its mobile app that allows users to turn on a “surveillance layer” to find known license plate readers in their route.

“The Roads Have Eyes!,” — MapQuest said announcing the new feature.

“Turn on the Surveillance Layer in Map Options to see known license plate readers from Flock Safety, Motorola Solutions (Vigilant), Genetec, Axis Communications, Axon, Leonardo (ELSAG), Neology, Rekor, PlateSmart, Ubicquia, Verkada, and other outdoor surveillance cameras,” — the post read.

Earlier this month, progressive lawmakers introduced legislation to ban federal agencies from using automatic license plate readers (ALPRs). The Ban Flock Act would stop federal agencies from using ALPR and pause federal grant funding to state and local governments with ALPR contracts.

The legislation would also allow Americans to sue the federal government for the use of ALPRs.

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🇸🇬 Singapore Gulf Bank Brings USDT and USDC Trading Directly Into Its Banking App

Singapore Gulf Bank (SGB), a Bahrain-regulated digital bank backed by Singapore’s Whampoa Group and Bahrain’s sovereign wealth fund Mumtalakat, has enabled retail customers to convert bidirectionally between U.S. dollars and the stablecoins USDT or USDC directly inside its mobile banking app.

The service supports two-way conversion between USD and USDT or USDC, is available 24 hours a day from Monday to Friday, and allows deposits and withdrawals to external wallets. The bank’s messaging emphasizes the removal of the traditional “runaround” between a bank account and an exchange.

SGB announced the feature on its official X account on October 14, 2026.

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🧑‍⚖️ Anthropic quietly pitches its own AI safety bill to lawmakers

Representatives for Anthropic have quietly pitched Capitol Hill lawmakers on a draft bill to regulate frontier AI safety and security.

“This bill represents the proposals outlined in Anthropic’s Advanced AI Framework, which we have been advocating for with federal and state lawmakers since June,” — an Anthropic spokesperson said. “These are sensible policies we believe Congress should act on.”

🔘The bill would let the government block a model’s release or use only if it poses a foreseeable, imminent risk of more than $1 billion in damages, or of killing or seriously injuring more than 50 people. The risk must stem from the creation or release of a biological weapon, the model evading its developer’s controls or a cyberattack.

🔘Under the bill, independent evaluators, which would register with the Commerce Department, would be tasked with periodically evaluating the lab and its frontier models. If the evaluators determine there is “imminent enumerated risk” for a company’s frontier models, they must report it to Commerce within 72 hours of completing their assessment.

The language mirrors that found in California’s AI laws including SB 53, which was signed into law last year.

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🚀 Japan to launch world-first mission to collect samples from Martian moon

Japanese scientists are launching the unmanned Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) probe on an H3 rocket from Tanegashima to retrieve samples from Phobos. The spacecraft reaches Mars next August, will orbit Phobos, deploy the IDEFIX rover, land and collect 10 grams, then return.

Scientists hope the samples will resolve whether the moons formed by a giant impact or are captured asteroids. The findings could show how water and organics reached rocky planets and help prepare for crewed Mars exploration.

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