PHOTO: AFP
While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, Oct 22, 2026
· The Straits TimesGlobal diesel prices seen staying high despite Russia deal
US President Donald Trump’s deal with Russia to supply diesel to US and global markets is unlikely to meaningfully lower diesel prices, market watchers and analysts said, noting that the promised volumes are too small to ease a global supply squeeze.
Diesel prices have shot to record highs during the US-Israeli war on Iran, creating a political liability for Trump and his Republican party as they campaign to maintain thin majorities in the US Congress in the Nov 3 midterm elections.
Critics of Trump’s move said lifting sanctions on Russian diesel could help Moscow fund further attacks on Ukraine, undermining years of efforts to curb Russian energy revenues and raising the risk the Kremlin could profit while consumers get little relief from high fuel prices.
Trump said Russia would immediately export 300,000 metric tons, or 2.25 million barrels, followed by 500,000 tons in November and 1 million tons “immediately thereafter”.
Russia frees retired US schoolteacher in goodwill gesture
Russia freed Stephen Hubbard, a 74-year-old retired US schoolteacher in custody since 2022, from prison on Oct 21 and took him to St Petersburg to fly back to the United States, after talks that Washington said were a step towards ending the war in Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin made the announcement at a meeting in St Petersburg with US envoy Steve Witkoff, who later said the talks will continue towards planned technical-level discussions involving the US, Russia and Ukraine.
Witkoff thanked Putin for Hubbard’s release and called the Russian leader a “humanitarian”, in footage of the exchange, a remark that drew sharp rebuke from Republican and Democratic lawmakers given Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Pope Leo will not need further cancer treatment
Pope Leo will not need any further therapy after undergoing lung cancer surgery last week, his doctors said on Oct 21, indicating that his tumour had not spread.
The announcement came as it was still unclear whether the US-born pope would proceed with a planned trip to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru, scheduled for Nov 6-17.
The 71-year-old pontiff had the lower lobe of his right lung removed in surgery on Oct 13 and was diagnosed with lung adenocarcinoma, the most common form of lung cancer.
PHP developers issue updates fixing vulnerabilities
Developers of the PHP programming language said a set of new updates fixing two previously identified critical vulnerabilities was now live, and acknowledged a delay in addressing a previously identified flaw.
Government websites in Europe and elsewhere went offline on Oct 21 after the disclosure of critical vulnerabilities in PHP sent website operators around the world scrambling to protect their systems.
PHP underpins large parts of the internet and the vulnerabilities had raised concerns that a significant number of websites could be vulnerable to attack. The developers issued four patches to address two “critical” vulnerabilities that could allow hackers to execute code on vulnerable systems.
‘Mood of defeat’: Como hammer Manchester United
Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes said his side failed to apply enough pressure and adopted a “mood of defeat” after conceding early in their 4-1 Champions League loss at Como on Oct 21, a result that increased scrutiny on manager Michael Carrick.
Como opened the scoring in the second minute and United collapsed, with only a stoppage‑time consolation goal from Joshua Zirkzee making the scoreline slightly less severe.
“We started on the wrong foot, and they scored very early,” Fernandes told TNT Sports. “There was not enough pressure on the ball and not many good movements off the ball. There were many things not going our way.”