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A missile hit domestic Terminals 3 and 4 at Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport on Saturday, Oct. 10, killing 12, including an American and four Saudis, Saudi aviation authorities say. Hours later Trump said the U.S. "may" join Saudi strikes on the Houthis in Yemen: "We move very quickly."

The real number. AFP and the WSJ call it the deadliest attack in Saudi Arabia since an Islamic State mosque bombing killed 21 in May 2015; the NYT and AP, the deadliest on any Gulf Arab state since the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran began Feb. 28. With six killed earlier in the week (TIME), airport strikes have killed at least 18 since Tuesday, Oct. 6.

Why now. Yemen's Saudi-backed government opened an offensive on Sunday, Oct. 4, to retake Red Sea coast the Houthis seized in September. That coast overlooks the main shipping alternative to the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran attacks ships (AP).

The stakes. Joining would put U.S. bombs behind a Saudi-backed ground war and end the May 2025 Oman-brokered deal under which the Houthis stopped attacking U.S. ships and the U.S. stopped bombing them (NBC).

Congress. Ro Khanna (Rep-D California) and Thomas Massie (Rep-R Kentucky) filed a War Powers resolution on Friday, Oct. 9, to pull U.S. forces from hostilities against the Houthis that, it says, Congress never authorized. It gets a fast-track vote but skips the president, so a 1983 Supreme Court ruling leaves its force in doubt (Congressional Research Service). Trump's 2025 Houthi strikes rested on his own commander-in-chief authority.

Still open. Whether Trump strikes. He ordered Houthi strikes for Sunday, Sept. 20, and canceled them about three hours before launch (NBC). He now says he will speak to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Five Russian glide bombs hit apartment blocks in Zaporizhzhia, a southeastern Ukrainian city of about 700,000, early Saturday, Oct. 10, killing 20, including three children, per Reuters; regional official Ivan Fedorov put the wounded at 32. Zelensky called it Moscow's "thanks" for the diesel deal Trump announced hours earlier. It was Russia's third mass-casualty strike in a week (Reuters).

The talks. The "no talks right away" line predates the bombing. On their Friday, Oct. 9, call, Putin told Trump talks can't resume immediately, blaming Ukraine's Sept. 20 drone attack on Moscow during Russian elections, per Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov (Al Jazeera).

The deal. Trump says Russia will ship more than 300,000 tons of diesel now, 500,000 tons in November, 1 million tons "immediately thereafter" and 3 million more "within a short period," depending on its refineries: 4.8 million tons in all (AP, BBC). General License 135, a Treasury waiver exempting traders from sanctions, covers the sale and import of Russian diesel until April 7, 2027. It sets no cap and no conditions on Russia's war; it only blocks payments from U.S. accounts of Russia's central bank, wealth fund and finance ministry. AP says it is the first such waiver since 2022 to run past 30 days.

The real number. The first tranche is about 2.25 million barrels; the U.S. burns about 3.8 million barrels of diesel a day, per an analyst quoted by the BBC. At that rate all 4.8 million tons cover under 10 days of U.S. use, and not all of it is U.S.-bound. Russia, which has barred its own diesel exports since July, says it will lift that ban early (AP).

Still open. The White House hasn't said what Russia gets in return, who pays, or whether November cargoes land before the Nov. 3 midterms (AP, BBC). TASS, citing one source, says Witkoff and Kushner may visit Moscow within two weeks.

Donald Trump said Saturday, Oct. 10, that Volodymyr Zelensky (President, Ukraine) "could have settled this war many times" and that "it's time for Ukraine to get a new president," a day after Zelensky attacked the U.S.-Russia diesel deal (Axios, The Hill).

The refineries. "He better damn well stop," Trump said, because the strikes hurt U.S. "farmers, our ranchers" and "Russia supplies a large portion of the diesel fuel throughout the world." ([TS]Russia, once a major exporter, has banned its own diesel exports since July because Ukrainian strikes cut its output; the International Energy Agency puts Russian diesel production down about 30%, per AP.) Ukraine's Defense Ministry claims 51% of Russia's refining capacity is out of action; AP says that can't be verified.

The intelligence threat. Envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner warned Ukraine's team in Miami on Friday, Oct. 9, that U.S. intelligence sharing, which guides Kyiv's long-range strikes, was at risk unless the strikes stop, the Financial Times reported. A U.S. official told Axios no threat was made.

Kyiv's answer. Ukraine will stop if Russia stops hitting its power grid, Zelensky says (BBC). Until then, a senior official told the FT: "We will burn [Russian] refineries."

What next. EU foreign ministers are set to approve 1,646 new sanctions listings on Monday, Oct. 12 (Ukrainska Pravda). EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas: "This is not the time to ease pressure on Russia, and Europe won't."

President Trump said Saturday, Oct. 10, he would "make a decision ultimately" on streaming the execution of Nidal Hasan, who killed 13 people and wounded 32 at Fort Hood in 2009. A day earlier he said he "absolutely" approved. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says a stream would deter attacks; no U.S. execution has ever been broadcast (BBC).

The catch. Army rules bar witnesses under 18 and require an approved witness list, so a stream needs a waiver or rule change, a military lawyer told Snopes. Meta bans streams of executions; YouTube and TikTok allow "public interest" exceptions (BBC).

Who objects. Republicans split: Rep. Austin Scott (R-Ga.) said "live-streaming executions is what jihadists do"; Rep. Matt Van Epps (R-Tenn.) backs it. Retired Lt. Gen. Sean MacFarland, who approved Hasan's death sentence in 2013, called it "more of an act of vengeance than an act of justice" (Bloomberg). Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin said it is "certainly unacceptable to turn death into a spectacle"; Pope Leo called capital punishment "inadmissible" on Saturday, Oct. 10, without naming Hasan.

What next. Hasan can still file a habeas petition (a civilian-court challenge to his detention), which Yale's Eugene Fidell says could push the execution past this administration; whether he will is unclear, Snopes reported.

The Justice Department is investigating whether ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News and NBC broke antitrust law by jointly suspending the White House TV pool (one network films the president and shares the footage with the rest) in September. A judge has since ordered the barred outlets' credentials restored, so the probe targets a protest of a ban a court has blocked for now.

The theory. "Group boycotts among commercial competitors can violate the Sherman Act," the 1890 law against competitors jointly restraining trade, Justice Department spokeswoman Emily Covington said Saturday, Oct. 10; its Antitrust Division asked for the networks' pool communications (BBC). Trump ally Laura Loomer had urged an antitrust case two weeks earlier (CNN).

The catch. The networks have run the pool jointly for decades unchallenged (Variety). Their defense: they protested press access, not prices. The Supreme Court shielded a political boycott in 1982 but in 1990 refused to shield lawyers boycotting for higher fees.

Still open. Judge Timothy Kelly's temporary order restoring the credentials runs to Tuesday, Oct. 13; on Oct. 8 he seemed likely to make it permanent (Courthouse News). Reports do not say whether the department used a civil investigative demand (an antitrust document demand) or a subpoena.