Inside the US-Starlink relationship

Plus, a deal brokered by Melania Trump

Stay informed with Reuters. Subscribe for $1/week. Weekend Briefing Weekend Briefing From Reuters Daily Briefing   By Robert MacMillan, Reuters.com Weekend Editor Thanks very much for reading the Weekend Briefing. France’s interior minister urged police to be “hyper-reactive” as new protests begin. Gunmen killed 8 people and wounded 40 in an attack on a church in Jordan. And Donald Trump is putting the body into the body politic. Inside the US-Starlink relationship   REUTERS/Sam Wolfe Not the first time: The Biden and Trump administrations asked SpaceX several times to turn its Starlink service off or on in various countries, sources tell our reporters. In the most recent known case, Ukraine found its service throttled as it fought Russia. Ukraine’s defense minister says its speeds have returned to normal. Humanitarian corridor: The White House credited Melania Trump with brokering a ceasefire in the Russian-occupied town of Oleshky while Volodymyr Zelenskiy said peace negotiators would meet next month for new talks. Russian diesel is coming to America In the flow: A tanker is carrying 40,000 metric tons of diesel to the USA from the Baltic port of Primorsk. Trump hopes that cheaper diesel will lead to more votes for Republicans in the midterm congressional elections. We report on heating oil’s emergence as a hurdle to the party’s Senate candidates. American opinion: Midterm voters tend to choose their candidates more on economic issues than on world affairs, but as our reporter Matt Spetalnick explains, Trump’s tariffs and his campaign against Iran are turning foreign policy into a domestic issue. And while I’m on the topic of elections, Trump wants a Senate victory in Alaska – or else. What’s in your emergency kit? Take another look: Britain advised the public to keep three days of emergency supplies at home, including bottled water and non-perishable food. The exposure this week of the PHP software glitch and a summer of heat, drought and wildfires should make this need clearer than ever, the government said. And act: Our reporter A.J. Vincens offers some steps that you can use to stay safe online, even when problems like the PHP vulnerability surface. American spirits Liquor and weapons: The Supreme Court will decide on the legality of a federal law ban on the home distillation of alcoholic spirits that was enacted in 1868 to crack down on tax evasion. Northrop Grumman and RTX raised their annual profit forecasts thanks to demand from military programs. AI and outsourcing: A cybersecurity researcher spent a few weeks watching as a Chinese-speaking hacker broke into websites belonging to more than 100 companies, including the farm-equipment maker Deere. Here’s the interesting part: the hacker did almost none of the work – AI agents did. Don’t sit so close to me Flight plan: US airlines are getting better financial results from charging higher fares instead of slashing prices to fill empty seats. Could this mean that we won’t have to hear the phrase “it’s a very full flight today” when we’re boarding? Pay up: European airfares will see their biggest increase in history next year, Ryanair’s chief executive said. Michael O’Leary puts it down to the cost of jet fuel and fewer available seats as a result of bankruptcies and takeovers. Before I forget… It started with a love affair and ended with the arrest of a Romanian on charges of spying for Ukraine. But it wasn’t an arrest at all. Fire engulfed the former Nazi guest house near Berchtesgaden known as the Eagle’s Nest. Kamta Prasad would like to vote in India’s elections. Now all he has to do is convince the government that he’s not dead. Brazilians choose between Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro in Sunday’s presidential runoff. Lula is catching up with a nation of online voters with the acquisition of his first mobile phone at the age of 81. Critics say the Czech ruling coalition’s changes to public media funding could weaken journalistic independence. A TV reporter helped rescue a man after floodwaters in Australia engulfed his car. The video is crazy. The latest mission to find the wreckage of Amelia Earhart’s plane in the South Pacific turned up nothing more than a cluster of washed-up trees.   Sponsors are not involved in the creation of newsletters or other Reuters news content. Advertise in this newsletter or on Reuters' website   Weekend Briefing is sent once a week. Think your friend or colleague should know about us? Forward this newsletter to them. They can also sign up here. Want to stop receiving this email? Unsubscribe here. To manage which newsletters you're signed up for, click here. This email includes limited tracking for Reuters to understand whether you’ve engaged with its contents. For more information on how we process your personal information and your rights, please see our Privacy Statement. Terms & Conditions   © 2026 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved. 3 Times Square, New York, NY 10036

A dramatic Ukrainian survival story

Plus, weight-loss drugs fuel protein boom.

Go beyond the headlines with Reuters on the stories shaping the day. Subscribe for $1/week. Daily Briefing Daily Briefing By Kate Turton Hello. Trump's diesel price relief efforts grow costlier as the election nears, weight-loss drugs fuel a protein boom, and AI-discovered bugs may soon trigger fresh disruptions. Plus, the story of a Ukrainian soldier who severed his own foot to survive. Today's Top News   An artilleryman sets up Starlink satellite internet system near the frontline in Donetsk region, Ukraine. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo Donald Trump said that SpaceX CEO Elon Musk had restored Ukraine's Starlink access but the US president declined to comment when asked whether he had spoken to the billionaire about the matter. Listen to the Reuters World News podcast for more. Businesses, cultural events and museums plan to close at the weekend despite curbs on demonstrations, as French President Emmanuel Macron seeks to restore order a week after nationwide protests turned violent. Republican US Senate candidate Mike Rogers and allies including President Trump are escalating their efforts to tie Democratic rival Abdul El-Sayed to the Muslim Brotherhood with Trump falsely branding him a "jihadist." Corey Lewandowski, a former political adviser to President Trump and top aide at ‌the Department of Homeland Security, is under criminal investigation over allegations he profited from his role in the US government. Almost all of Taiwan shut down ahead of the arrival of Typhoon Champi, which is forecast to bring strong winds and ‌torrential rain, and though the storm is weakening it could still make direct landfall on the island. The number of people injured in a magnitude 7 earthquake that struck China's southwestern region of Tibet has risen to 76, while the death count remained unchanged at 16. After more than three years of war, a lull in fighting raised hopes that a good harvest would ease hunger in Sudan. Instead, El Niño has delivered a damaging drought and, in some areas, led to the lowest rainfall since 1984. Business & Markets   From fuel subsidy removal in Nigeria to privatisation in Egypt and market opening ⁠in Uzbekistan, years of reforms have helped emerging economies weather shocks — yet often grate with citizens who hear of economic turnarounds that do nothing for them. Protein-infused bottled water. Ice cream. Boxed macaroni and cheese. Even vodka. The rise of weight-loss drugs is driving a boom in protein-based products, as users of GLP-1 medication look for ways to counter the muscle loss those drugs can cause. Volvo Cars said it would cut a further 2,500 jobs, mostly in Sweden, after plunging to a much bigger-than-expected third-quarter operating loss, sending its shares down almost 30%. US airlines are increasingly willing to fly with empty seats rather than slash fares simply to fill them, betting that disciplined pricing and flight schedules will help protect profits at a time of soaring fuel costs. Advances in artificial intelligence have uncovered a stream of new software vulnerabilities that are almost certain to trigger more disruption along the lines of the outages that percolated across global government websites this week, according to seven cybersecurity professionals who spoke to ‌Reuters. The Week Ahead Brazilian Senator Flavio Bolsonaro and President ‌Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva are about even heading to Sunday's election runoff. Israel's election on Tuesday is poised to be one of the most consequential in the country's history. It's a packed week for central banks. The Fed, Bank of Canada and Reserve Bank of New Zealand meet on Wednesday, the ECB on Thursday, and the BOJ a day later. British finance minister John Healey will announce his first budget on Wednesday, when he will try to offer some relief from higher energy prices to households, but without unsettling the bond market by ramping up borrowing. Here's all you need to know about the coming week in financial markets. A Ukrainian soldier severed his own foot to survive. Then came a dramatic rescue.   Kostiantyn Vlasenko was huddled in a hole under the boiler of a bombed-out school when he came to a terrifying conclusion: To survive, he needed to amputate his only remaining foot. The Ukrainian infantryman had already lost his left foot in a Russian drone strike in February. His right leg was broken and bent in the same attack, hindering his ability even to crawl. About three months later, after working up the courage, he grabbed his knife, sliced off his foot and applied a tourniquet to staunch the bleeding. He survived. Read about his daring rescue Photos Of The Week Protesters react amid water sprayed from a water cannon during an anti-government protest by students in Albania. REUTERS/Louisa Gouliamaki A selection of the best images from our photojournalists around the globe this week. View gallery   Sponsors are not involved in the creation of newsletters or other Reuters news content. Advertise in this newsletter or on Reuters' website   Reuters Daily Briefing is sent 5 days a week. Think your friend or colleague should know about us? Forward this newsletter to them. They can also sign up here. Want to stop receiving this email? Unsubscribe here. To manage which newsletters you're signed up for, click here. This email includes limited tracking for Reuters to understand whether you’ve engaged with its contents. For more information on how we process your personal information and your rights, please see our Privacy Statement. Terms & Conditions   © 2026 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved. 3 Times Square, New York, NY 10036