Evening Brief: Rubio says Trump hasn't decided on new Iran strikes as Tehran floats a two-day Hormuz reopening on its terms; G20 ends without a communique; D.C. and Virginia sue over Trump's arch
Plus Iran's new target list, a U.S. Embassy threat warning in Moscow, Oleshky's evacuation completed, France's third protest weekend, Poland's court crisis talks, Trump on California ballots, Alaska's 'Decoy Dan' filing, a threat against Kash Patel, the $5,000 check pledge and the Supreme Court's week ahead.
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I'm Nora Vale with your 5 PM World Brief for Saturday, October 31. Rubio: Trump has made no decision on new Iran strikes; no deadline for talks. Iran: Hormuz could reopen in 2 days, on its terms. G20 in Atlanta ends with no joint communique. Rubio: allies' help guarding Hormuz 'very limited.' U.S. Embassy in Moscow warns of 'credible threat' of mass casualty event at Tsaritsyno Museum Reserve. D.C. and Virginia sue to stop Trump's 250-foot arch, the third lawsuit; work could start Nov. 5. Trump vows to keep fighting after appeals court refuses to set aside ~20,000 California ballots. In national weather, from the National Weather Service: Heavy rain threat renews over southern California and Desert Southwest this evening; impactful flash flooding expected in the Great Basin and Four Corners Sunday. Heavy rainfall threat along the east coast of Florida Sunday and Monday. Our opinion. Iran wants cash and fewer U.S. troops to reopen a sea lane it never had the right to close. Keep every option open: open seas, no Iranian bomb. At home, only citizens should vote. That's your 5 PM World Brief. Full stories and sources at WorldBriefNow.com.
Closing the G20 foreign ministers' meeting in Atlanta on Saturday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said President Trump had made no decision on further military action and that he did not know whether there was a specific time frame for the Qatar-led talks, adding, "If there is a diplomatic solution, we would be open to it," The National reported. Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Al Jazeera a U.S. letter from Vice President JD Vance was "a positive step" and that a proposal now cuts the time to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to two days, but only if the U.S. lifts sanctions, reduces its forces in the region, restores oil waivers and frees Iran's frozen funds; he said Iran sees "no need to meet with the Americans at this stage." An Iranian delegation is in Doha for more talks with Qatari mediators, Al Jazeera and CNBC reported.
Iran's armed forces chief of staff, Maj. Gen. Ali Abdollahi, said Saturday that Iran would answer any attack with "immense force" and no geographic limits, acting on Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei's orders, and said, "We have a new stockpile of enemy targets and assets," Al Jazeera reported. Iranian state media quoted a Hormozgan province official as saying U.S. forces attacked two fishing boats near Qeshm Island; CNBC said the report was not independently confirmed and U.S. Central Command did not immediately comment, and ABC News (Australia) reported an Iranian official said two fishermen were missing. Oman said it evacuated 25 crew from a burning Panama-flagged tanker off Musandam, ABC reported, and Brent crude's December contract settled Friday at $117.64, CNBC reported.
The G20 foreign ministers' meeting in Atlanta wrapped up Saturday without a joint communique, and a planned group photo was scrapped because several Western members did not want to be seen near Russia's Sergey Lavrov, The National reported. Rubio released a chairman's statement stressing "secure, resilient, and uninterrupted energy flows, including safe navigation," and said Russia must have a voice if the war in Ukraine is to end in a negotiated settlement. He also said other countries have given "very limited" help protecting Hormuz shipping, leaving the burden mainly on the U.S.
The U.S. Embassy in Moscow issued a security alert Saturday saying it was "aware of a credible threat of a mass casualty event TODAY October 31" at the Tsaritsyno Museum Reserve and was coordinating with Russian authorities, Fox News reported. The embassy urged people to avoid the area, stay alert, avoid crowds and keep phones charged. Fox noted the museum, a former summer home of Catherine II, drew more than two million visitors in 2022.
Kyiv and Moscow said the evacuation of residents from Russian-occupied Oleshky was completed, with those who chose Ukraine crossing Saturday after a route through Crimea, southern Russia and Belarus; the local cease-fire runs until Nov. 1, RFE/RL reported. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked the United States and Melania Trump for their mediation. Ukraine's military said it struck the Kombinat Kamensky chemical and defense plant in Russia's Rostov region with drones and Neptune missiles, saying it makes solid rocket propellant.
France put 70,000 police officers on the streets Saturday as a third weekend of anti-government protests over costs and schooling began, with at least 150 planned gatherings tracked by the Interior Ministry, Fox News reported. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez promised "an extremely firm response," and France's top administrative court banned a planned march between Republique and Bastille in Paris. France's Chamber of Commerce estimates looting and property damage losses at over $1 billion, and the government is drafting a law to make rioters pay up to about $11,000.
Polish President Karol Nawrocki met party leaders at the Presidential Palace on Saturday, including Law and Justice leader Jarosław Kaczyński, over the Constitutional Tribunal dispute while protesters stayed outside the court, Polskie Radio reported, citing PAP; the Left declined to attend. Overnight Nawrocki had pushed his way into the tribunal and told judges elected by Prime Minister Donald Tusk's majority, "You are not judges," after one of them suspended the court's PiS-named president, Bogdan Święczkowski, Politico Europe reported. Nawrocki accused the government of "forcibly seizing a constitutional institution."
President Trump said on Truth Social Saturday that Bill Essayli, the top federal prosecutor in Los Angeles, "has done a fantastic job" and vowed, "We are going to continue our yearslong fight on Election Integrity," the New York Post reported. The post came after the Ninth Circuit ruled 2-1 on Friday against the Justice Department's bid to make California separate ballots tied to roughly 20,000 people the administration suspects are not citizens. Separately, a judge ruled Tuesday that Essayli was unlawfully serving as a de facto U.S. attorney, though the order is delayed while the government appeals.
Alaska's attorney general's office asked U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason on Saturday to dismiss the Justice Department lawsuit filed at President Trump's direction to stop certification of a possible win by Democrat Mary Peltola, calling it "meritless," the AP reported via the New York Post. DOJ on Friday asked that ballots cast for the second Dan Sullivan be separated; the state called that "both disturbing and impossible" without violating voter privacy. The state noted the senator is listed on the ballot as a Republican and the incumbent, the other as "Daniel J. Sullivan."
The District of Columbia and Virginia sued in federal court Saturday to block the planned 250-foot memorial arch at Memorial Circle, arguing it would snarl traffic, pollute the Potomac and interfere with emergency services; it is the third lawsuit against the project, CBS News and AP reported. The administration has said it will seek final approval from the National Capital Planning Commission on Thursday and could begin construction the same day, and Judge Tanya Chutkan is weighing an order to halt work in an earlier suit. White House spokesman Davis Ingle said the arch "will serve as a gateway to Arlington National Cemetery" honoring "the noble sacrifices" of American heroes.
Federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of Michigan charged Anthony Daniel Palazzolo, 42, with threatening to murder FBI Director Kash Patel and one of Patel's unnamed associates, the Washington Examiner reported. Palazzolo was arrested Friday and charged with one count of interstate communications involving threats, a felony punishable by up to five years in federal prison.
Speaking to a full house at Daytona Beach's Ocean Center on Friday night, President Trump repeated his promise of a $5,000 check to all U.S. citizens if Republicans keep control of Congress, adding, "you have to spend your money in the United States of America," Observer Local News reported. He rallied for gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds and Sen. Ashley Moody, and at least four protesters were escorted out.
The Trump administration's emergency request to lift a judge's order halting border-wall construction in Texas's Big Bend region (Mullin v. Friends of the Ruidosa Church, 26A560) is before Justice Alito after challengers filed their response on Oct. 29, SCOTUSblog reported. Judge Kathleen Cardone ruled the DHS waivers likely exceed the major questions doctrine because Big Bend accounts for only 0.3% to 2.2% of border apprehensions; Solicitor General D. John Sauer argues Congress "did clearly authorize" the secretary to build barriers and waive laws. No order had been issued as of Saturday.
The justices return to the bench Monday, Nov. 2, to hear Maxwell v. Dinis, on whether a federal inmate can use a habeas statute to challenge the Bureau of Prisons' refusal to speed his move to a halfway house or home confinement, and Younge v. Fulton Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office, Georgia, on raising an affirmative defense at summary judgment, SCOTUSblog reported. St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy, the Colorado Catholic preschools' religious-discrimination case, is set for argument this week. Earlier this week the Court denied a request to pause a Texas-DOJ agreement on deportation proceedings, with no noted dissents.
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