While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, Oct 17, 2026

Katie Zacharia fired after less than week as Trump’s new press secretaryWhite House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia was pushed out on Oct 16 after less than a week in the high-profile job, following a series of blunders that added to distractions for her embattled boss President Donald Trump.“Can confirm,” a White House official told AFP, after Fox News reported that Zacharia, 41, was “transitioning out.”The writing was on the wall earlier when Trump made clear he was ready to see his newly minted spokeswoman go amid criticism that she had pretended to be a lawyer and over her one, much-mocked press briefing.“I said, ‘Katie, is this for you?,’” Trump told reporters. “I said, ‘Katie, you don’t have to do this’... I said to her, ‘Honestly if I were you I’d reconsider.’”READ MORE HEREWall Street tumbles as worries about AI trade and high oil prices weighPHOTO: EPAWall Street tumbled on Oct 16, with CoreWeave, Broadcom and other AI-related technology stocks under renewed pressure, while a jump in oil prices spooked traders heading into the weekend.The Nasdaq was on track for a loss of over 4% for the week, hammered by concerns that debt-laden AI infrastructure companies may not turn profits in time to repay debts, particularly with borrowing costs expected to rise.Nvidia-backed CoreWeave slumped 12%, bringing its loss over the past five sessions to about 25%. The data centre operator’s bonds also sold off sharply this week, pushing yields above 15%.READ MORE HEREJapan’s weather agency cancels mistakenly issued 9.9-magnitude quake alert, transit disruptedPHOTO: REUTERSJapan’s weather agency cancelled a mistakenly issued warning of strong seismic shaking from an earthquake off northern Japan on Oct 16 after overestimating the temblor’s magnitude as a catastrophic 9.9, causing temporary public transport disruptions in parts of the country.The Japan Meteorological Agency said its computer system erroneously determined the quake’s focus, resulting in the magnitude being overestimated.It issued the warning for a wide area extending from northern to central Japan at 12.40pm local time (11.48am Singapore time), saying that the earthquake had occurred in the Chishima Islands, also known as the Kuril Islands, off Hokkaido.READ MORE HEREPutin says Russia is building non-negotiable ‘security zone’ in Ukraine along borderPHOTO: REUTERSRussia is establishing a “security zone” inside Ukraine along their border, which will be non-negotiable in any future talks with Kyiv, President Vladimir Putin said on Oct 16.Putin, wearing military uniform and speaking during a visit to a command post, said the operation was in response to Ukraine’s 2024-25 incursion into Russia’s western Kursk region.“The Russian armed forces were tasked not only with expelling the enemy from our land but also with establishing a security zone in the adjacent territory. This task is being carried out successfully,” he said in televised comments.READ MORE HERENorwegian teen jailed for 20 years for UK murder plot after being recruited onlinePHOTOS: REUTERSA Norwegian teenager found guilty in the UK of conspiring to commit murder for Sweden’s most notorious criminal network was on Oct 16 handed a 20-year sentence.Would-be hitman Johannes Kongsnes Natland, 19, travelled to Britain in March 2025 to shoot the unknown target for €25,000 (S$35,934). However, police arrested him at a northern England hotel before he could carry out the hit.Sentencing Natland at London’s Woolwich Crown Court, Judge Bobbie Cheema-Grubb said he had agreed to “murder for money” at the age of 18.READ MORE HERE