Morning Brief: Russia frees American teacher as Witkoff meets Putin; Iran claims third tanker mined near Hormuz; Trump launches fraud tip rewards
Plus France calls in troops for Saturday, Britain sends jets to defend Saudi Arabia, an ICE crackdown on SNAP fraud, Trump's data-center 'dividend,' and the Supreme Court's religious-liberty case on Nov. 3.
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I'm Nora Vale with your 6 AM World Brief for Wednesday, October 21. Russia frees retired U.S. teacher Stephen Hubbard, 74, as Witkoff meets Putin; Trump says no swap. Iran claims a 3rd tanker hit a mine near Hormuz; no ships named, earlier claims unsubstantiated. France to deploy troops for Saturday protests; more than 2,500 taken into custody. DOJ: $10K-$30K for fraud tips that lead to charges. DHS: nationwide ICE operation on SNAP fraud. Court denied a stay; Florida executed William Reaves. Nov. 3: Catholic preschool religious-liberty case. In national weather, from the National Weather Service: Nor'easter continues to produce significant coastal impacts along portions of the Mid-Atlantic Coast. Severe thunderstorms with a potential for large hail, severe wind gusts and a couple tornadoes are expected today along the Mogollon Rim across parts of Arizona. Marginally severe wind gusts and an isolated tornado threat will also be possible along the southern and central California Coast, a level 3 of 5 severe storm risk. Our opinion. Welcome home, but no peace deal yet; keep Hormuz open; reward fraud tips; protect faith-based schools. Full stories and sources at WorldBriefNow.com. I'm Nora Vale. Thanks for watching.
Russia released Stephen Hubbard, a 74-year-old retired Michigan teacher held since April 2022 on mercenary charges he denies, as U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff met Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg on Wednesday, Reuters and NBC News reported. Trump said on Truth Social that he asked Putin directly for the release in a phone call last week and that the United States 'was not required to give anything in return'; NBC said Hubbard was the last American the State Department designated as wrongfully detained in Russia. Witkoff, in his ninth in-person meeting with Putin, brought documents outlining approaches to a possible peace deal a day after talks in Oslo with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that a U.S. official called 'constructive,' Reuters reported.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards said Tuesday that a third oil tanker, carrying more than 2 million barrels of crude, 'exploded and caught fire' after striking a naval mine south of the Strait of Hormuz, adding to their claim that two other tankers were set ablaze, AFP reported via Arab News. None of the ships were identified, and gCaptain reported that the Joint Maritime Information Center said in its Oct. 18 advisory there was 'no substantiation' for Iran's earlier claim of two supertanker mine strikes on Oct. 17. The same advisory kept the Strait's threat level at SEVERE and said traffic remained about 70% below prewar levels, gCaptain reported.
France will deploy soldiers from its Sentinelle domestic security force 'mainly on static security missions' to free up police for new protests planned Saturday, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez told lawmakers, and Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu promised a 'massive' security deployment, CNBC reported. More than 2,500 people had been taken into police custody by Monday evening, Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin said, and overnight curfews around Paris' Place de la République and Les Halles and in Lyon brought no major incidents Monday night, CBS News reported. A business group leader told CNBC that more than 3,000 shops had been looted, as President Emmanuel Macron faced criticism for a three-day tour of the Persian Gulf.
Britain will fly defensive counter-air missions with RAF Typhoon fighter jets to help protect Saudi cities and critical infrastructure from Houthi aerial attacks, the U.K. Ministry of Defence said Tuesday. The jets 'will not conduct offensive strikes against the Houthis,' and Britain will also send an RAF A400M transport plane and military advisers and extend air-to-air refueling for Saudi air operations, the ministry said. Defence Secretary Wes Streeting called the Houthi attacks 'absolutely despicable,' pointing to the targeting of the airport in Riyadh.
The Justice Department on Tuesday launched the Fraud Whistleblower Incentive Program, which pays $10,000 to $30,000 for tips leading to criminal charges in fraud against federal health care and benefit programs, with the Treasury committing $25 million, the department said. In the Oval Office, Trump said qualifying tipsters would get a 1% commission and that he would personally decide disputes over who deserves a reward, Fox News reported. At the same event, Medicare and Medicaid chief Dr. Mehmet Oz said the administration was deferring another $1.2 billion in California Medicaid payments for personal care services, Fox News reported.
The Department of Homeland Security has launched a nationwide operation targeting illegal immigrants accused of fraudulently obtaining SNAP food benefits, and ICE confirmed several arrests, Fox News reported. DHS named four Haitian nationals and a Cuban national living in the country illegally among those arrested and called the arrests 'the opening salvo in a sustained, large-scale ICE operation,' Fox News said. 'These programs are for Americans only,' Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in a statement.
At a rally in Greenville, North Carolina, for Republican Senate candidate Michael Whatley, Trump announced that the Department of War will invest $1.5 billion to produce semiconductor chips in the state, Fox News reported. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said at the rally that Sibelco, a supplier of high-purity quartz used in chipmaking, plans to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in its North Carolina operations, Fox News said. Whatley faces former Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper in the Nov. 3 election.
Trump on Wednesday urged data center operators to 'MAKE DEALS' with local communities, saying they should pay the community 'and/or individuals within the community, a dividend,' in a Truth Social post, CNBC reported. In a post around 1:37 a.m. ET he also said new large data centers 'are mandated by me to make their own electricity' and give or sell any excess back to the local grid, CNBC said. Data centers have become a midterm flashpoint over electricity prices, water and land use, with several states considering moratoriums, CNBC reported.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday denied William Reaves' application for a stay of execution, which was presented to Justice Clarence Thomas and referred to the full Court, and also denied his petition for review, according to the Court's order. Reaves, 77, was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m. at Florida State Prison after a three-drug injection for the 1986 shooting of Indian River County Deputy Richard Raczkowski, AP reported via CBS News. It was Florida's 18th execution this year; his lawyers had argued jurors were never told the VA rated the Vietnam veteran 100% disabled by PTSD, CBS reported.
The Supreme Court's November argument session begins Monday, Nov. 2, at 10 a.m. with Maxwell v. Dinis and Younge v. Fulton Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office, according to the Court's argument calendar. On Tuesday, Nov. 3, the justices hear St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy, a challenge by Catholic parishes in Colorado, and the Court limited its review to two questions about when a law that burdens religion counts as not 'generally applicable' and how Carson v. Makin applies, SCOTUSblog's case page shows. The U.S. solicitor general filed a brief supporting the parishes and was granted time to argue, the docket shows.
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