Morning Brief: Iran claims it downed a U.S. drone as Trump weighs a strike; Houthis fire 10 missiles at Saudi Arabia; Trump says he could pardon staff
Plus Brazil's runoff today, Israel's election Tuesday, an arson fire at the Eagle's Nest, Trump's Georgia rally and Audi plant, Nicki Minaj in Michigan, $43 billion in farm aid, and a Catholic preschool case headed to the Supreme Court.
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I'm Nora Vale with your 6 AM World Brief for Sunday, October 25. Iran claims it downed a U.S. drone over Bandar Abbas. Trump: strike "maybe tomorrow" or a deal. Coalition intercepts 10 Houthi missiles; Riyadh airport tries to reopen after two weeks. Trump on preemptive staff pardons: "certainly I'd be allowed to." Brazil runoff today: Lula vs. Trump-backed Flavio Bolsonaro. Nov. 3: Supreme Court hears Catholic preschools' challenge to Colorado's pre-K rules. In national weather, from the National Weather Service: There is a Slight Risk (level 2 of 4) of excessive rainfall over parts of the Central/Southern High Plains and Central/Southern Rockies on Sunday. There is a Slight Risk (level 2 of 4) of excessive rainfall over parts of Southeastern Florida on Sunday. Our opinion. Pressure on Tehran; protect lawful staff; religious liberty for all. Full stories and sources at WorldBriefNow.com. I'm Nora Vale. Thanks for watching.
Iran's army said Sunday its air defenses shot down a U.S. LUCAS drone over the southern port city of Bandar Abbas, Iran International reported; the claim has not been confirmed by the U.S. military. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said a renewed war would not change Iran's policies, and parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf warned of a response "beyond their imagination," a day after President Trump said a strike could come "maybe tomorrow" or a "nice, big, beautiful agreement" could be reached. Iran International also reported, citing The Hill, that Central Command has follow-up strike plans ready pending White House authorization.
The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said Sunday it intercepted 10 Houthi ballistic missiles fired at southern Saudi Arabia and a cruise missile aimed at Khamis Mushait, Iran International reported. Explosions were heard in Riyadh as the capital's international airport was due to resume flights after a two-week closure, AFP reported via CBS News; a Houthi attack on the airport this month killed 13 people, including one American. Al Jazeera reported the Houthis warned travelers to avoid airports, declaring them "military targets."
Brazilians vote Sunday in a runoff between left-wing incumbent Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and right-wing challenger Flavio Bolsonaro after neither won a majority in the first round, the Washington Examiner reported. Bolsonaro, who has President Trump's support, led by roughly one percentage point in the latest polls released Saturday, according to Reuters as cited by the Examiner.
Israel votes Tuesday, Oct. 27, with several polls showing retired Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot's centrist Yashar party narrowly ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud, Fox News reported. Either side will need a 61-seat coalition to govern, and an outright winner likely won't be known for several days. Eisenkot, 66, led the IDF from 2015 to 2019 and lost his son Gal in Gaza in December 2023.
A 33-year-old German man was arrested on suspicion of arson after a fire broke out Friday evening at the Eagle's Nest, or Kehlsteinhaus, near Berchtesgaden, Fox News reported. Authorities said the suspect showed signs of mental illness and was taken to a psychiatric facility but did not rule out a political motive; no injuries were reported. Bavaria's interior minister, Joachim Herrmann, said, "We're not going to leave a ruin there."
Asked after voting Saturday about a Washington Sun report that White House lawyers are weighing mass pardons for junior staff, President Trump said, "I haven't thought about it, but certainly I'd be allowed to," citing what he called Biden's shielding of "many people, including the Congress," according to the White House travel pool report. He told communications adviser Margo Martin, "you're not going to have to worry about it," saying Democrats would "drag her into a grand jury." The Washington Examiner reported the remarks were aimed at shielding officials from potential Democratic-led congressional probes after the midterms.
Campaigning Saturday in Perry, Georgia, for Senate candidate Rep. Mike Collins and gubernatorial candidate Rick Jackson, President Trump said Audi "has just committed to invest 4.2 billion dollars in nearby Macon" on a plant to produce 200,000 cars a year, with construction to begin next month, the New York Post reported. Trump called Sen. Jon Ossoff "a far-left extremist," though the latest AJC poll shows Ossoff leading Collins 48% to 40%, the Post reported.
Rapper Nicki Minaj will appear with President Trump in Port Huron, Michigan, on Sunday, the Washington Examiner reported in an exclusive. The rally supports former Rep. Mike Rogers, the Republican nominee for Michigan's open U.S. Senate seat, and other GOP candidates in the final stretch before the Nov. 3 midterms.
The Trump administration has directly authorized some $43 billion in subsidies to farmers beyond what Congress enacted, the Washington Examiner reported, a sum critics say would not have been needed without tariffs and the war with Iran. This month Trump announced the Agriculture Department's $8 billion Harvest Fuel Relief Program for farmers facing record-high diesel prices.
On Nov. 3 the Supreme Court hears St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy, in which two Catholic parish preschools and the Archdiocese of Denver challenge Colorado's requirement that preschools in its universally funded program give every child an "equal opportunity to enroll" regardless of factors including religious affiliation, sexual orientation or gender identity, SCOTUSblog reported. The 10th Circuit upheld the rule under Employment Division v. Smith as neutral and generally applicable. The justices agreed to decide how Smith's test works and whether Carson v. Makin applies only when a state explicitly excludes religious institutions.
The Supreme Court's orders page still lists no orders after Oct. 21, and the docket in City of Baltimore v. Texas (No. 26A500), the bid to revive a Biden-era rule letting immigration judges pause deportation cases, shows briefing complete with the applicants' Oct. 23 reply and no ruling yet from Justice Alito or the Court. The justices return to the bench Monday, Nov. 2, for Maxwell v. Dinis and Younge v. Fulton Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office, with a conference Nov. 6, SCOTUSblog's calendar shows.
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