US Starlink requests, Alaska's Senate race and Serbia's elections

Hi, I'm Peter Devlin in London, it's Saturday, October 24th. Today, sources reveal how the US has repeatedly asked Musk to alter starling services in Ukraine and the Middle East. How two Republican candidates with near-identical names are causing a stir in Alaska's midterms. And the student protest movement challenging the government in Serbia's election. This is Reuters World News bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in ten minutes, seven days a week. We begin with a Reuters exclusive on US requests for Elon Musk's satellite communication system. Long before this month's throttling of Ukraine's military access to starlink, both the Biden and Trump administrations repeatedly asked BSX to turn the service on or off in various countries. That's according to six former senior US officials familiar with the matter. Under Joe Biden, those requests including switching of starlink to prevent Iranian-backed militias in Yemen and Lebanon from communicating and turning it on in Iran and Ukraine. Likewise, after US is really strikes in 2025 and 2026, President Donald Trump's administration asked Musk to turn it on inside Iran to help anti-government protesters. When contacted for comment, the White House referred to these comments from Trump on Friday. The BSX did not respond to requests for comment. In a social media post earlier in the week, Musk said any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military, and ultimately, the president. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has arrived in China via newly opened bridge between the neighbors according to a South Korean government official. China and North Korea officially opened their most significant land border crossing in Dandong this month after years of strained ties. Kim's last known visit to China was in September 2025. Chinese President Xi Jinping made a state visit to North Korea in June this year in a sign of improving relations. President Trump has been keen to meet with Kim, but US and South Korean officials see little chance of that happening this year. Typhoon Champi has swept past Taiwan on Saturday, killing one person and leaving more than 500 injured. In Taipei, uprooted trees lie across streets and cars. Now weakening Champi was at one point a super typhoon and one of the strongest storms in the Pacific this year. It's still packing gusts of around 126 kilometers per hour as it heads up the Chinese coasts and towards southern Japan. In the US, diesel prices are climbing again, creating a political challenge for President Trump just before the midterm elections. The average rose nearly 10 cents this past week hitting in the record high of $6.28 per gallon. Higher diesel costs raise expenses for producers, and those prices can trickle down to consumers. It was a nice to farmate, reduce rules on red dyed diesel, and even relax sanctions on Russian diesel, an effort to reduce costs. But critics say those moves are unlikely to make a meaningful dent on prices. A tanker carrying 40,000 metric tons of Russian diesel is currently heading to New York according to ship tracking data. In one Senate race, the Trump administration is suing to pre-entively block the results, more than a week before voters even head to the polls. The Justice Department suit argues that in Alaska, people could be confused because two candidates on the ballot have nearly identical names. Republican incumbent Dan S. Sullivan and former teacher, Dan J. Sullivan, are legal reporter Jan Wolfe explains. When Alaskan's head to the polls, they will see that state-level officials have tried to distinguish the two Dan Sullivan's on the ballot. They'll have their middle initials which are different. And the incumbent Republican Senator, Dan S. Sullivan, will be identified as such. We'll say Republican incumbent. Dan J. Sullivan, Jr., the challenger, will not have as a party affiliation by his name. Jan says that despite the possible confusion, the Trump administration's unprecedented lawsuit faces several challenges. With the midterms just stays away, it's possible that the judge assigned to this case could simply just not rule on the request for effectively preemptive relief before the votes have even been counted. A judge could also dismiss the case without prejudice, meaning it could be refiled and just say this doesn't seem right right now. You can raise this issue once we get closer to the certification process. The thing I think people should understand is that there is a valid concern here about voter confusion, which has probably been tempered by the fact that somebody Alaskan has read about the saga now. But that is real. But that is, you know, not the question of judge is going to be deciding. The judge is going to be deciding, you know, has the Trump administration pointed to relief I can offer under federal law. And accordingly, little experts is likely to dismiss this case. This matter has already been adjudicated by Alaska's courts who have the authority here. In Germany, police have arrested a man after a fire broke out at a historic Nazi guesthouse. Once used by out of Hitler, our on 200 firefighters battled the police at the so-called "Eagles Nest" in Bavaria. Police say the suspect was detained close to the scene. The Eagles Nest was built in 1938 and used as a retreat for Nazi officials. Supporters of the political party knew Serbian political thoughts rallying in Belgrade ahead of Sunday's election. The party is a political newcomer, a crew out of a student protest movement, an eye is running neck and neck with the Serbian progressive party, which has governed Serbia since 2012. The student-led movement has built support with a strong anti-corruption message. But as reporter Ivana Shek Uleraad's explains, beyond that message, it's still not clear what a new Serbian political thought government would look like. As a group, as a group that everyone can relate with, you know, they are young, they cannot be corrupt, they cannot be spoiled, so that's how they gained support. And on top of that, they use social media. They organize some kind of walks, protests, and marches across the country and reach out to people, basically, in those remote villages. And then gradually they grow into a strong political force. They want it to represent themselves as a movement which doesn't have leadership, which has a great horizontal structure, but doesn't have vertical structure. We don't know who would be Prime Minister if they win. Not having leader could be a great challenge. That is especially why they were criticized by the rolling party and also by opposition. The people who are on their list are not professional politicians. They are mostly professors, actors, and there is one lawyer, but he's from rep band. If the students fulfill their aim, which is to bring strong institutions and to fight corruption, I think that would be a great achievement. But really, this is unknown. People are unsure how they would govern. You're on a GLP medication, let's talk about one of the most underrated supplements for helping to preserve muscle. Allison Vecchio, who says weight loss drugs, changed her life. They also changed her monthly shopping list. The Florida ER nurse nice bands a few hundreds of dollars a month on supplements like fiber, collagen, and electrolytes, which she says help her manage the side effects that come with taking a GLP one drug. When I started looking into more supplements with the GLP to kind of like get the maximum effect that I could from the dose I could tolerate, but then also get the results that I wanted. Vecchio isn't alone. Nearly half of GLP one user started taking new vitamins or supplements after beginning the drugs, according to the nutrition at business journal. And people aren't just finding these products in stores, they're finding them on social media. The reporter Nick Braun says platforms like TikTok are playing an increasingly important role in shaping an already fast growing industry. In the US, more and more, we're seeing that it's being promoted and marketed by people on social media, largely TikTok. In fact, TikTok's shop generated a billion dollars or so of e-commerce sales, and that number is only going up. And doctors and researchers have said we need more regulation of online marketing in the supplement space because it's hard to gauge the credibility of some of these online influencers. Nick says supplements have grown to become a $74 billion market, supercharged by GLP one users, but the government is now considering changing the rules because of concerns about oversight. Historically, there have been very low barriers to entry in the supplement space. Unlike pharmaceuticals, you don't need to have done significant clinical trials. You don't need pre-approval by the FDA of the claims you make on your packaging. US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy wants to tighten that regulatory framework. He wants to make it so that the ingredients you're introducing and the claims you're making go through a pre-approval process by the FDA. For more on any of the stories from today, as well as more analysis and new shaping our world, check out Reuters.com or the Reuters app. there's a link in the description to download it and start getting pure news, straight from the source. Don't forget to follow us on your favorite podcast player, if you're listening on a smart speaker, just ask for the latest news from Reuters seven days a week. We'll be back tomorrow with our daily headline show.