Morning Brief: Ukraine resumes refinery strikes; two ships sink near Hormuz; Court pauses FCC ad-rate order
Also: a school roof collapse kills at least 28 children in Peshawar; China and North Korea open a long-delayed bridge; Trump announces a Montana weapons "super range"; and Denmark says Greenland exploration must follow local law.
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I'm Nora Vale with your Morning Brief for Thursday, October 15. Ukraine resumes refinery strikes; Russia reports attack on Ryazan refinery. Two cargo ships sink near Hormuz; all 21 GFS Pride crew evacuated. Peshawar school roof collapse kills at least 28 children and a teacher. Trump announces Montana super range for advanced weapons testing. Supreme Court pauses order on party ad rates; discounted rates stay in place. In national weather, from the National Weather Service: Flash Flooding threat across portions of Texas into the Midwest, Ohio Valley, and Mid-Atlantic on Thursday. Severe Thunderstorm threat across portions of the Mid-Mississippi Valley into the Ohio Valley and Southern Plains for Thursday. Our opinion. Pressure Moscow, not Kyiv; meet Iran with strength; don't rush campaign rules before the vote. Full stories and sources are at WorldBriefNow.com. I'm Nora Vale. Thanks for watching.
Ukraine has resumed strikes on Russian oil refineries after holding off for three days following President Trump's "energy ceasefire" announcement, NBC News reported Thursday; Ryazan Gov. Pavel Malkov reported a fire at an oil refinery in his region, and Russia's defense ministry said Ukraine "attempted a massive attack on the Ryazan oil refinery." President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the Financial Times "The block (on attacking refineries) is out. We're done," and said U.S. counterparts had warned "if you will not stop [the energy strikes], we will block intelligence," which was later presented to Kyiv as a technical glitch. A source in Ukraine's defense ministry told NBC News that in-motion Starshield service had been restored Thursday morning, while Zelenskyy said more than 850 Russian drones had filled Ukraine's skies since midnight.
The Singapore-flagged container ship GFS Pride sank after being hit while sailing through the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, and Singapore's Maritime and Port Authority said all 21 crew members were safely evacuated with no injuries, Reuters reported. The Antigua and Barbuda-flagged bulk carrier Cape Dao also sank near the strait, weeks after a Sept. 23 projectile strike that killed one crew member, according to International Maritime Organization data; the two are the second and third vessels to sink since the U.S.-Iran war began Feb. 28. Reuters said attacks around the waterway have surged over the past 10 days, with Iran saying it is stepping up strikes in response to the U.S. blockade of its ports, and two senior Iranian officials told Reuters Iran is seeking to keep oil prices elevated and influence the U.S. midterm elections.
The roof of a private school in Peshawar, Pakistan, collapsed Thursday, killing at least 28 children and a female teacher and injuring more than 50 people, a hospital spokesman told The Associated Press; all the children killed or injured were 13 or younger. Hours later, rescue officials said everyone trapped had been pulled from the rubble, and an injured teacher said the three-story school had about 1,200 students from nursery through fifth grade. Peshawar police chief Saeed Ahmed said the school's owner had been arrested and that the building was structurally weak, and the provincial government formed a committee to investigate.
A new four-lane, 3-kilometer (1.8-mile) bridge linking Dandong, China, and Sinuiju, North Korea, opened Thursday after more than a decade of delay, with Chinese Premier Li Qiang saying relations had "entered a new stage, embarking on a new chapter," The Associated Press reported, citing Xinhua. The bridge was first expected to open in 2014, and the aging Dandong-Sinuiju bridge handles more than 70% of official trade between the two countries. Ewha University professor Leif-Eric Easley told AP the new bridge "could facilitate trade that violates U.N. sanctions"; it opened about a month after North Korea and Russia opened a road bridge of their own.
At a Kalispell, Montana, rally Wednesday night, President Trump said "the Department of War is going to establish a new super range for testing advanced weapons and technologies, including potential autonomous weapons, space and electronic warfare technology, supersonics and hypersonics," Montana Public Radio reported. MTPR said no official details had been announced at the time of its report. The Secret Service estimated about 5,000 people attended the rally, where Trump campaigned for Republicans Aaron Flint, running for Montana's western U.S. House seat, and Kurt Alme, running for U.S. Senate.
Denmark's foreign ministry said Wednesday that any U.S. exploration of Greenland's resources would have to happen within the island's own legislation, and that last month's three-way security deal "does not grant investors from the U.S. any preferential treatment," Reuters reported. The statement followed President Trump's Truth Social post that "Massive Oil, Gas, and Mineral Exploration is getting ready to begin" on what he called "our new and beautiful Greenland." Reuters noted Greenland banned all future oil exploration in 2021 and is reviewing whether Texas firm Greenland Energy can use permits that predate the ban; the September deal paved the way for two new U.S. military bases and the Golden Dome missile defense system but allocated no mining or drilling rights.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted the Federal Communications Commission's application in FCC v. Brown (No. 26A476), staying an Oct. 7 Fourth Circuit order pending a timely petition for certiorari, with Justices Sotomayor and Jackson saying they would deny it, according to the Court's docket. SCOTUSblog's Amy Howe reported that the five-page unsigned opinion means the FCC no longer has to rule before the November election on a challenge by four Democratic candidates, including former Sen. Sherrod Brown and Sen. Jon Ossoff, to a Media Bureau notice letting political parties and joint fundraising committees get the favorable ad rates. Those rates remain in place, and this is an interim order while the case continues.
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