While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, Oct 20, 2026

Trump open to Putin, Xi trilateral summit but would focus on nuclear armsPresident Donald Trump said he would be willing to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping but indicated his focus would be on denuclearisation efforts rather than ending the war in Ukraine. “I would do it – not so much for Ukraine, because Russia, frankly, has been fine on Ukraine,” Trump told reporters Oct 19.“We would have it to talk about nuclear weapons and denuclearisation,” he added. “We would schedule a meeting based on the denuclearisation, and that’s a very positive thing for the world.”While there are no finalised plans for such a meeting, Trump suggested that it could happen in China. He is slated to visit the country in November for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit and for talks with Xi on the sidelines.READ MORE HEREFrance announces curfews as government grapples with unrestPHOTO: AFPFrance announced partial curfews in Paris and other cities on Oct 19 after weekend demonstrations over soaring prices degenerated into some of the worst street violence in recent years.Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu did not rule out imposing a state of emergency after the interior minister said police had “lost control”.Tourists in Paris had a taste of the disruption on Oct 19 when they found the Louvre closed because of a small group of student protesters, while the US embassy in Paris urged American citizens to avoid the demonstrations.READ MORE HERESchools in UK, Hungary, Serbia sent hoax bomb warningsPHOTO ILLUSTRATION: UNSPLASHHundreds of schools in Northern Ireland, Scotland, Hungary and Serbia were sent bomb threats on Oct 19 with some evacuated as the authorities said the warnings appeared to be a hoax.It is not yet known whether the incidents were connected to each other.“Police investigating the circumstances of threatening emails sent to schools across Northern Ireland this morning ... are treating the matter as a hoax,” police said.READ MORE HEREAnthropic, Musk outline duelling approaches to AI-era philanthropyPHOTO: REUTERSAnthropic and Elon Musk laid out starkly contrasting approaches to redistributing part of the proceeds of the AI boom, with the Claude developer committing 5% of its shares to an unprecedented new fund for the “public good,” while Musk pledged to give one SpaceX share to “every kid in America,” arguing for such direct distributions as the burgeoning sector faces growing public scrutiny.AI safety concerns have multiplied following security breaches by AI systems and dire warnings from industry heads about the possibility of severe, even existential, risks of runaway AI development in addition to public concerns about potential job losses.While Anthropic is betting on distributing wealth through ways including nonprofit donations and direct contributions to specific populations, Musk has said he recommends “giving the shares directly to the public”.READ MORE HEREKenyan starvation cult leader convicted of murder over deaths of 190 children, one adultPHOTO: REUTERSStarvation cult leader Paul Mackenzie and 28 others were found guilty of murder by a Kenyan court on Oct 19 over the deaths of 190 children and an adult in one of the world’s worst cult-related tragedies in recent history.Mackenzie was arrested in 2023 after police received a tip-off, and weeks later the authorities began unearthing bodies in shallow graves in the Shakahola Forest near the coast in south-eastern Kenya.Prosecutors say Mackenzie and his Good News International Church organised a Christian doomsday sect in which they ordered followers to starve themselves and their children to death to enter heaven before the world ended.READ MORE HERE