theSIGNAL NEWS
17 October 2026
"Power is tested not when it is granted, but when it is restrained by the rules it created."
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World

Trump Waives Russia Sanctions Days Before Deadline

Two days before penalties were due to bite, the US president overrode a law he signed himself, igniting fury in Congress and Kyiv.

Donald Trump has blocked many of the sanctions on Russia he signed into law only months ago. He acted on Friday night, just two days before the measures were due to take effect. The tool was an executive order. It declared that withholding some of the penalties served the "national interest" of the United States.

Congress had passed the legislation, and Trump signed it in September. The law targeted Russia's economy. It gave him power to impose tariffs of up to 100% on imports from the five biggest buyers of Russian oil and gas, most notably China and India. It also aimed at senior Russian figures, including Vladimir Putin, as well as banks and the "shadow fleet" of ships used to dodge existing embargoes.

Many of those provisions are now waived. Democrats reacted quickly. Congressman Don Beyer of Virginia accused the president of betraying Ukraine and ignoring what lawmakers clearly intended. Kyiv is expected to object too.

Photo: Michael Schofield / Unsplash
The White House in Washington, where Trump signed an order waiving key Russia sanctions on Friday night.
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100%
Maximum tariff Trump could have imposed on Russian oil buyers
Discuss
  • Should a president be able to waive sanctions that Congress passed and he himself signed into law?
  • Why might lower fuel prices at home matter more to a leader than pressure on a foreign adversary?
World

Trump Freezes Russia Sanctions He Signed

President Donald Trump paused a sweeping new Russia sanctions package on Friday, two days before the law's own deadline. He told Congress the delay serves the national interest. He had signed the bill himself last month. Named for the late Senator Lindsey Graham, it targeted Russian banks, officials and a shadow tanker fleet.…
  • If a leader can suspend a law he signed, what are sanctions worth?
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Trump's latest surrender to Putin again betrays our Ukrainian partners and defies clear congressional intent of legislation designed to punish Russia for its illegal war of aggression.
Don Beyer, US Congressman for Virginia
World

Amazon Deforestation Hits Record Low

Amazon deforestation has hit its lowest level since records began in 1988. Satellite data show clearance fell 41.8% in a year, to 3,335 square kilometres. The Cerrado savannah also reached a 25-year low. Experts credit stronger enforcement and funding under President Lula.…
  • Can a forest's recovery survive a single election result in Brazil?
EUROPE · World
Zelenskyy sits down with NPR. And, Pope Leo diagnosed with lung cancer
AMERICAS · World
Trump says 'massive' oil, gas and mineral exploration to begin in Greenland
AMERICAS · World
Starlink: How Elon Musk's company influences geopolitics
ASIA · World
TSMC profit soars 69% in another record quarter fueled by AI boom
theSIGNAL IN THE LAB
IVOCABULARY
waivedexecutive order
shadow fleetembargoesfeud
soaredenforcement
IIGRAMMAR FOCUS
Third conditional — hypothetical past
Use 'if' + past perfect in the condition and 'would/could/might have' + past participle in the result to talk about imaginary situations in the past and their imagined outcomes. For example: 'If he had acted earlier, the outcome would have been different.'
had · hadn't · would · wouldn't · have · been · signed
  1. If Congress passed the legislation, Trump would never have had the chance to sign it in September.
  2. If Trump signed an executive order, the sanctions would have taken effect two days later.
  3. If fuel prices soared during the Iran war, Washington might not have allowed Russian diesel imports.
  4. The sanctions would hit China and India with tariffs of up to 100% if the president had not waived them.
  5. If inflation hadn't hurt Trump's standing, he have felt so much pressure to keep fuel cheap.
  6. If Zelensky had more willing to compromise, Trump might not have called him harder to deal with than Putin.
IIIPHRASAL VERBS
Match the phrasal verb to its definition. All six appear in today’s articles.
  1. dodge (existing embargoes)
  2. pull back (key military support)
  3. switch off (a sanction)
  4. starve (Russia's war effort) of cash
  5. ease (fuel prices)
IVCRITICAL THINKING
The articles suggest that political survival at home can shape a leader's foreign policy as much as principle does. Choose one example from today's stories (Trump's sanctions, Lula's environmental record) and ask: who benefits most from the policy being pursued, and who bears the cost? Whose voice is missing from the coverage?
VCREATIVE · HEADLINES
Write a headline for the top story in each of the following styles. One line each, no explanation:
  • TABLOID NEWSPAPER
  • LUXURY MAGAZINE
  • ACTIVIST BLOG
VIWRITING
Imagine you are an adviser to Volodymyr Zelensky. Write a short, diplomatic email (about 120 words) to a Western ally explaining why the waived sanctions matter to Ukraine, and what you hope they will do next.
VIIDEGREES OF EXTREMITY
Complete each ladder from mild to strong.
  • postpone→→
  • disagree with→→
  • rise→→
  • fall→→
  • a disagreement→→
  • put pressure on→→
VIIISPEAKING
  1. Does inflation make leaders abandon principles they once defended?
  2. Which matters more in foreign policy: consistency or flexibility?
  3. Should economic penalties ever be used as bargaining chips in negotiations?
  4. How do record-low deforestation figures change your view of environmental policy?