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Today's Brief: Riyadh, Pope Leo, and Zelenskyy

The Homebrew · Brief for · Posted · AI-drafted daily brief, synthesized from Left, Center, and Right coverage. Facts may be inaccurate — verify with the cited sources below.

A missile strike on Riyadh's main airport killed at least 13 people and injured more than 300 on Saturday, Saudi officials said, and President Trump said the United States is weighing whether to join Saudi strikes on the Houthi rebels who were blamed for it. Pope Leo XIV announced Sunday that he will have surgery in the coming days to remove an early-stage nodule from his lung. Trump said Saturday that Ukraine should "get a new leader" a day after announcing a Russian diesel deal, and Ukrainian officials pushed back. The Justice Department said it is investigating whether the TV networks that suspended White House pool coverage last month violated antitrust law. Isaias has faded after killing at least four people in the Southeast, and Hurricane Simon, which peaked at 155 mph early Sunday, lashed Mexico's Pacific coast while its eye stayed just offshore and had weakened to a Category 2 storm by Monday.

A missile hits Riyadh's airport, and Trump says the U.S. may join the fight against the Houthis. A missile struck King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh on Saturday, killing 12 people and injuring 309, Saudi officials said, according to CBS News; India's embassy said an Indian national died Sunday of injuries from the attack, which would bring the toll to 13, the AP reported, and NBC reported that at least 13 were killed. The Associated Press, carried by NPR, said it was the deadliest attack in any Gulf Arab country since the Iran war began. The dead included four Saudi citizens, two Bangladeshis, and one person each from Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Palestine and Sudan, along with one American, CBS and NBC News reported. The missile hit a complex housing terminals 3 and 4, which handle domestic flights, a regional official said, according to CBS. A Saudi-led coalition blamed the Iran-backed Houthi rebels of Yemen, CBS reported, and the Houthis later claimed responsibility for Saturday's attack and others, the AP reported (via NPR). CBS said the Houthis had earlier claimed attacks on the same airport this week that killed three Saudis, including a pilot. The coalition called the strike a "fully-fledged war crime," NBC said, and U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres called it "a violation of international law."

Trump told reporters on Saturday that the United States was considering joining Saudi strikes on the Houthis. "We may," he said, adding, "We move very quickly," according to CBS and NBC. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who confirmed that an American was among the dead, said in a social media post, "The United States strongly condemns the recent attacks on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia by the terrorist Houthis," CBS reported. NBC said Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman urged Trump in September to take military action against the Houthis, citing a person familiar with the matter, and that Trump had said after Houthi gains last month that the group did not want to fight the United States. Fawaz Gerges, a professor at the London School of Economics, told NBC he doubted "there is an answer or even a military solution to the Yemeni conflict."

A new attack was launched on the airport Sunday, a Saudi official said, according to ABC News, and the AP reported that a projectile struck a passenger terminal; the Houthi threat had closed it and other Saudi airports as of Monday morning, ABC reported. Saudi authorities said one person, described as a Pakistani national, was killed and 11 were injured in Sunday's strike, the AP reported. Saudi Arabia's General Authority of Civil Aviation said 20 people were killed and 356 injured in attacks between Oct. 6 and Oct. 11, according to ABC. CBS reported that FlightAware showed at least 291 flights canceled at the Riyadh airport over the past 24 hours. The Houthis renewed a warning to stay away from Saudi airports, NBC reported, and the New York Post reported a retaliatory Saudi strike on the Houthis' Sanaa International Airport in Yemen on Sunday. The Houthi-run health ministry says Saudi-led coalition strikes have killed 91 Yemenis in five weeks, the AP reported. The AP said Saudi Arabia is running low on missile interceptors and asked France, Britain, Pakistan and Egypt for air defense support, citing regional officials last month. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote on X that "Attacks by Iran's proxies are pushing the region into a spiral of violence," the New York Post reported.

Pope Leo XIV will have surgery for a lung nodule. Pope Leo XIV, 71, said Sunday at his noon prayer in St. Peter's Square that doctors found a nodule in his lung during medical tests and that he will have surgery to remove it. "It was detected at a very early stage and is well localized," he said, according to NBC News. Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said the operation is scheduled for the first days of this week and that recovery is expected to take about one week, NBC reported. The operation will take place at Rome's Gemelli Hospital, Vatican News reported. The Vatican said Monday that he will be admitted to Gemelli Hospital late Tuesday morning, Oct. 13, and canceled his audiences through Oct. 20, Vatican News reported. The pope said the surgery was already scheduled and thanked people for their prayers, according to NBC. Fox News said the Vatican has not said whether the nodule is cancerous; its on-page headline used the word "tumor," while its text called it a nodule; the New York Post called it a "small growth," and NBC, CBS, ABC and Breitbart called it a nodule or nodular lesion.

Leo has no previously known health problems and plays tennis weekly, NBC and CBS reported. He has a trip planned for Nov. 6 to 17 to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru. NBC said it is unclear whether the surgery and recovery will affect the itinerary, and CBS said Leo said earlier Sunday that he planned to go. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said she was sure "the Italian people, too, will not fail to offer their support and affection," per ABC. In the same address, Leo appealed for an end to the war in Ukraine, saying "The daily bread of millions of people cannot be held hostage by war," NBC reported.

Trump says Ukraine needs a new leader; Kyiv says that is for Ukrainians to decide. A day after announcing a deal to buy Russian diesel, Trump said Saturday, "I suggest they get a new leader who can make a deal because he could have made many deals and for some reason he never does," the Guardian and CBS News reported. CBS said Trump also blamed Ukraine's strikes on Russian oil refineries for high U.S. diesel prices: "He wants to make problems for the world. He wants to make problems for our farmers, our ranchers, with diesel fuel." Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote on X, "He has the support of the Ukrainian people, and they have the right to decide," according to CBS. Zelenskyy told ABC's "This Week" on Sunday that Ukraine was ready to stop striking Russian refineries if Moscow halted attacks on Ukraine's energy system, ABC reported, and he also said, "With all respect to President Trump, it's up to our society, up to our people to choose one or another leader." The BBC reported that Kirill Dmitriev, a Russian presidential envoy, called Trump's intervention "iconic and historic" and said Ukraine "needs leadership actually focused on peace," and that Trump had already called for new elections in Ukraine last December. Ukraine has been under martial law, which suspends elections, the BBC noted.

The comments came as Russia struck Ukraine again. CBS reported that Russian strikes killed at least 20 people, including three children, in the Zaporizhzhia region on Saturday, and the Guardian put the toll at 20, including three children; ABC said Zelenskyy put the toll from the Zaporizhzhia bombing at 23, including four children, and quoted Ivan Fedorov, a former regional head, as saying more than 30 people were wounded. Zelenskyy said Russia was thanking the United States for easing diesel sanctions "by dropping five glide bombs on residential buildings," the Guardian reported. A Kremlin aide called Friday's Trump–Putin call "very substantive and friendly," Interfax reported, according to the Guardian. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the deal "provides Moscow with more revenues to wage war," the Guardian reported. EU foreign ministers approved the package on Monday, adding 1,600 new listings, which Kallas called "the single largest expansion of our sanctions list since Russia started its war," Politico reported. Former Vice President Mike Pence wrote that "America should not be throwing a lifeline to Putin's war machine," CBS reported. ABC said a Ukrainian drone strike on Sunday halted a Yandex data center in Vladimir, east of Moscow, the third strike on the Russian technology company's facilities in four days.

Justice Department opens an antitrust inquiry into the TV networks that paused White House coverage. The Justice Department is investigating whether the five television networks in the White House press pool broke federal antitrust law when they suspended pool coverage of Trump last month, a department spokesperson said Saturday. "Group boycotts among commercial competitors can violate the Sherman Act. The Antitrust Division is simply investigating to determine whether these news organizations have violated the antitrust laws," spokeswoman Emily Covington said, according to NBC News and CBS News. NBC reported that the department sent civil investigative demands on Friday to NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN and Fox News. The BBC reported that the department asked the networks for their communications about the pool. CBS said The New York Times was first to report the investigation, and CBS noted that CBS News and CNN share a parent company, Skydance. ABC News told NBC it had not been notified but expected to be. NBC said representatives for NBC, CBS and CNN declined to comment.

The pause followed a White House decision on Sept. 19 to revoke the credentials of reporters from CNN, MS Now and Politico, the Guardian reported; the White House said covering the president was a "privilege – not a right." NBC said Trump cited what he called the outlets' "constant 'reporting' FAKE NEWS!" The three outlets sued, and CBS said U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly granted a temporary restraining order that restored their credentials and later extended it to Tuesday while he considers the case. CBS said the White House has still kept CNN and Politico out of the Oval Office and Air Force One. The Guardian reported that pool coverage has since resumed. Jose Zamora of the Committee to Protect Journalists wrote on X that "The government should not use antitrust investigations to intimidate news outlets defending press access," per the Guardian.

Isaias fades after killing four; Hurricane Simon lashes Mexico's coast from offshore. Isaias, which made landfall near Destin, Florida, Friday night as a Category 2 storm with winds of about 105 mph, weakened within hours to a post-tropical cyclone, CBS News reported. At least four people died, two in Alabama and two in Florida, according to CBS and the BBC, which said that deaths included people killed by falling trees. The BBC also reported that one Florida death was a man who died of carbon monoxide poisoning from a generator run in a poorly ventilated garage. The BBC said roughly 500,000 people were without power Saturday evening, according to PowerOutage, and CBS said more than 389,000 customers in the Florida Panhandle and southern Alabama were still without power early Sunday. CBS said Trump approved an emergency declaration for Georgia on Saturday, after earlier declarations for Florida and Alabama, and that Isaias, with 25 mph winds, was about 75 miles south of Nashville and expected to dissipate Sunday. The BBC said the Carolinas and Georgia could see flooding from up to 10 inches of rain, according to NOAA. Joey Williams told NewsNation that his wife died when a tree fell through the roof of their home, the BBC reported.

On the Pacific side, Hurricane Simon peaked at 155 mph early Sunday, the National Hurricane Center said, but its eye stayed just offshore as it paralleled Mexico's coast; by Monday night it had weakened to a Category 2 storm with 100 mph winds about 80 miles west of Cabo Corrientes, the hurricane center said, and forecasters expect it to approach the coast again Wednesday into Thursday, CBS reported. In its 5 p.m. MST (8 p.m. ET) advisory on Monday, the hurricane center said Simon is expected to produce rainfall totals of 5 to 10 inches across coastal west-central Mexico, with isolated maximum amounts of 15 inches over the state of Sinaloa by Thursday. A senior hurricane center specialist warned of "life-threatening flooding and mudslides," according to NPR and CBS. Jalisco suspended classes in 22 coastal municipalities and began evacuating people, NPR reported. CBS noted that the Pacific season has been very active, with Hurricane Polo hitting Mexico last week as a Category 2 storm.

Pennsylvania: Erie victims identified by age, and a Philadelphia officer dies. In Erie, Pennsylvania, eight people were killed Friday and the suspected gunman was also found dead, CBS News reported. Police said the victims included a 1-year-old girl, a 5-year-old boy, four women, one of them pregnant, and two young men, and that the gunman was related to seven of the eight, per CBS. The BBC said the women were aged 51, 37, 24 and 44 and the men 19 and 21, and that one victim was eight months pregnant. Erie Police Chief Richard Lorah said all of the deaths happened before officers arrived and that it was "too soon to talk about motive," according to CBS. The BBC quoted Lorah as saying "mental health is at play here."

In West Philadelphia, Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel said Officer Shane Seiber, 40, a 10-year veteran, died after being shot early Saturday, CBS reported. The other officer, 33, was shot 12 times; CBS quoted Bethel as saying he was "not out of the woods yet," and Bethel said he was in stable condition, the New York Post reported. District Attorney Larry Krasner said a 35-year-old man is charged with homicide of a law enforcement officer, murder and attempted homicide, among other counts, and is held without bail, according to CBS. Krasner said nine other officers were fired on and none were hit, CBS reported. Krasner said the suspect faces roughly 80 charges, the New York Post reported.

Updated Oct 12: This brief was updated to reflect that Hurricane Simon's eye stayed just offshore as it weakened (it is forecast to approach the coast again later this week) and the Riyadh toll rose to at least 13, and to add the Houthi claim of responsibility, Sunday's new airport strike, the pope's Gemelli admission date, the EU's Monday sanctions approval, Erie victims' ages and corrected source credits.

Sources used

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