In 1963, the U.S. and Soviet Union set up the famous “red phone” hotline so Washington and Moscow could talk directly instead of risking nuclear war over bad translations. It wasn’t a literal red phone, more like clunky teletype machines and cables, but it symbolized urgency and transparency in a tense world. Fast-forward to today, when world leaders still juggle crises, only now the hotlines are WhatsApp chats, encrypted calls, and sometimes, very public tweets.

Now onto the important stories.

Trump’s Fiscal Sleight of Hand

President Trump is once again testing how far executive power can stretch when it comes to money Congress already approved. This week, he told House Speaker Mike Johnson that he won’t be spending $4.9 billion in foreign aid, effectively yanking the funds out of circulation without going through the normal legislative process. The maneuver he’s using is called a “pocket rescission,” and it hasn’t been dusted off in nearly half a century.

Here’s how it works. Normally, if a president wants to cancel congressionally approved spending, he has to submit a rescission request to Congress, and lawmakers have 45 days to approve or reject it. But if the request is filed near the very end of the fiscal year, Congress can’t act within the time limit. The clock runs out, the fiscal year closes, and the money quietly disappears. It’s a legal gray zone that effectively lets the White House sidestep Congress’s power of the purse, something the Constitution is pretty explicit about.

What’s at stake in this round: roughly $3.2 billion earmarked for the U.S. Agency for International Development, along with funding for peacekeeping operations and contributions to international organizations. Critics argue that withholding these funds undercuts America’s credibility abroad, especially at a time when U.S. allies are already skeptical about Washington’s reliability.

This isn’t the first time Trump has tried clawing back federal spending. Just two months ago, the Republican-led House passed his proposal to cancel $9.4 billion in previously approved funding, including cuts to foreign aid and even public broadcasting. But that move went through the legislative process. This pocket rescission play is different because it cuts Congress out entirely.

The bigger picture here is a constitutional standoff. Congress has the power of the purse. Presidents execute the spending. When presidents decide not to spend what Congress has already approved, it sets off alarms over separation of powers. That’s why you can expect this latest maneuver to spark a fierce backlash on Capitol Hill, and probably a court fight, too.

Bottom line: $4.9 billion is small change in Washington math, but the precedent is anything but. This is less about the money and more about who gets to call the shots.

Rapid Fire

🇰🇷 South Korea’s political soap opera just added two new stars. Former First Lady Kim Keon Hee has been indicted on bribery and market manipulation charges, the latest twist in a corruption probe tied to her ousted husband, ex-President Yoon Suk Yeol. Meanwhile, former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo got slapped with charges for backing Yoon’s disastrous martial law stunt last year.

That “stunt” was no small thing. Facing mass protests and gridlock in parliament, Yoon tried to bulldoze his critics by declaring martial law, a move that sent troops into Seoul and froze democratic institutions overnight. The backlash was immediate. Lawmakers impeached him, the courts removed him, and now he’s sitting in jail. These new indictments against his inner circle show the spiral he kicked off is still spinning and South Korea’s political reckoning is far from finished.

🇺🇸 A federal judge in New York just refused to let Saudi Arabia duck the long-running 9/11 civil suit. Judge George B. Daniels said the families’ claims clear the legal bar to move forward under JASTA, the law that carves out an exception to sovereign immunity for terrorism cases. Translation. The kingdom still denies everything, but the case lives and could head to trial.

The families say Saudi government agents helped build a support network for the hijackers in the U.S., pointing in particular to a Saudi imam and a community figure who allegedly assisted two future hijackers in early 2000. Reporting and filings have chipped away at the old “unwitting help” narrative, and survivors call this the biggest step yet toward accountability nearly 24 years later. The ruling is about jurisdiction, not guilt, but it keeps the door open for discovery and a test in court.

🇹🇷 Turkey just went all in on punishing Israel over the Gaza war. Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told the UN that Ankara has shut its airspace to Israeli planes, blocked Turkish ships from Israeli ports, and cut off all remaining trade. This isn’t a one-off move either, Turkey already severed direct trade ties last year over Gaza, but now it’s extending the freeze to air routes and every corner of commerce.

The message is blunt: as long as Israel continues what Turkey calls massacres in Gaza, there’s no business as usual. It’s a major escalation in Turkey’s foreign policy, with real economic costs for both sides. And it lands at a moment when regional tensions are already stretching global diplomacy to the breaking point.

World Watch

Argentina’s libertarian firebrand Javier Milei promised to torch the corrupt “caste” and run the government like a chainsaw. Less than a year into his presidency, he’s staring down the very scandal he swore to eliminate. Police raids hit more than a dozen luxury homes and offices, including the headquarters of a disability benefits agency, in an alleged kickback scheme tied to his inner circle. At the center of it all is his sister Karina Milei, not just family but his closest adviser and political enforcer.

The timing couldn’t be uglier. Milei’s radical economic shock therapy, slashing subsidies, deregulating markets, and leaning hard on austerity, has fueled inflation, protests, and real pain on the streets. Markets have wobbled, unions are restless, and voters are losing patience. So when Milei dismisses the raids as another plot from the “caste,” critics hear deflection, not leadership. Protesters aren’t buying it either. This week, rocks flew at his motorcade and his campaign stops turned chaotic. For a president who built his brand on being the anti-corruption outsider, this scandal cuts right at the core of his pitch, and risks turning Milei into the very thing he claimed he’d destroy.

Today in What the Hell

Egypt is coming down hard on teenage TikTok stars. Dozens of creators with millions of followers have been rounded up in recent weeks. The official charges? Everything from breaking “family values” rules to full-on money laundering. One name stands out: Mariam Ayman, better known online as Suzy El Ordonia. She’s just 19, has 9.4 million followers, and has been sitting in jail since August 2. Prosecutors accuse her of pushing “indecent” videos and moving around roughly $300,000.

This isn’t just about one influencer. It’s part of a bigger crackdown where the state is flexing on young people who built platforms the government doesn’t fully control. The message is blunt. Your ring light and millions of fans don’t matter. The state decides what’s acceptable, and if you cross the line, you’re not just getting shadow-banned, you’re getting locked up.

That’s all folks

That’s a lot of power grabs, crackdowns, and scandals for one day. The through-line? Whether it’s Washington budgets, Seoul politics, or Cairo TikTok, the fight is always over who gets to call the shots. We’ll keep cutting through the noise so you don’t have to.