Every story LiveDigest published on Friday, October 16, 2026, newest first.
Friday, October 16, 2026
All sections · Newest first
Russian missiles and drones hit power plants in Kyiv and Kharkiv this week, causing rolling blackouts and water outages, weeks after Ukrainian intelligence intercepted a Russian assessment targeting the country's grid.
Barack Obama paid tribute to Manchester cotton workers who stood in solidarity with enslaved African Americans during the American civil war, citing their story as an inspiration at An Evening With Barack Obama at Co-op Live on Thursday.
At an EU summit in Brussels on Friday, Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked European leaders for another €70bn (£60bn) next year to fund Ukraine's defence against Russia, saying the war will cost €155bn in 2027 - while confirming that Starlink access for Ukraine's military is not yet fully restored.
Donald Trump said on Friday that his new White House press secretary, Katie Zacharia, should 'reconsider' taking the job after she was pressed by Trump-friendly Fox News hosts during her first week in the role.
An investigation found that batteries made by Volkswagen, Ford and Tesla may contain nickel mined on deforested indigenous land in Sulawesi, Indonesia, which holds the world's largest nickel deposits. Satellite analysis links the Cahaya and Hengjaya mines to widespread loss of primary rainforest on land of the indigenous Tolaki people.
The Sky supernatural series Possession, filmed entirely in Jamaica, features a Jamaican film take on a biracial British lawyer who uncovers a vengeful spirit tied to a plantation's colonial past while investigating a multimillion-pound inheritance dispute. Director Storm Saulter says representing the trauma and legacy of enslavement was critical to the production.
Downing Street said on Friday it has not ruled out Chinese EV tariffs as part of the EU's Made in Europe package, while welcoming the goal of UK inclusion in the Industrial Accelerator Act after France dropped its opposition.
The Air Force Museum of New Zealand has released nearly 50 black-and-white photos from a 1938 aerial survey of Nikumaroro Island, where Amelia Earhart is believed to have crash-landed. The 47 high-resolution images went online after several requests and renewed interest sparked by a US expedition to the island.
Cockroach Janta party youth movement leader Abhijeet Dipke was detained by police on Friday in Delhi ahead of an anti-government protest he had called in central Delhi.
UK national security adviser Jonathan Powell is under pressure to distance himself from an X post by his wife, writer Sarah Helm, supporting Palestine Action, the group proscribed last year. Downing Street said on Friday the views 'do not represent the government in any capacity'.
Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said on Thursday night he now supports lowering the age of criminal responsibility from 18 to 16 for heinous crimes, reversing his longstanding opposition, in a TV Globo interview held just over a week before the presidential runoff.
More than 100 current and former cast and crew of The Archers, joined by Judi Dench, have written to BBC director general Matt Brittin arguing that the show's recording must stay in Birmingham, after the BBC moved to stop recording in the city for the first time in its 75-year history.
The Guardian-produced documentary NAZA, which details Israel's mass killing of civilians in Gaza, opened in UK cinemas this week to five-star and four-star reviews from critics worldwide and will screen in more than 50 countries.
The IMF has urged Chancellor John Healey to find savings in pensions and welfare rather than taxing Britain's banks at the budget later this month, with the fund's Helge Berger arguing that taxes at roughly 40% of GDP are already historically high for the UK.
Ofgem has opened a consultation on reintroducing the market stabilisation charge, under which energy suppliers winning customers with cheaper deals would pay a charge to rivals, as the regulator prepares for a winter of volatile wholesale prices linked to the Middle East conflict.
Airbus chief executive Guillaume Faury has written to Prime Minister Andy Burnham warning that awarding the £2.4bn Skynet 6 military satellite contract to Lockheed Martin could cost the UK a key role in the European space industry.
Masked Israeli settlers attacked Palestinians harvesting olives in towns across the West Bank on Friday, injuring at least six people in Abu Falah near Ramallah, among them Washington Post photographer Heidi Levine.
Donald Trump accused fellow Republicans of 'hurting Texas' by working against Ken Paxton, the Republican nominee in the Texas Senate race, in a Truth Social post. Polls show Democratic nominee James Talarico holding a slight lead over Paxton.
British food and drink exports to the EU fell by more than a third in the year to July compared with the same period in 2019, according to National Farmers' Union analysis of HMRC data.
Prime minister Andy Burnham visited Scotland on 16 October 2026 to offer the Scottish government greater devolved control, saying he wants people and places to be able to 'change things for themselves'.
Pope Leo has been diagnosed with lung cancer, the Vatican announced late on Tuesday, after the 71-year-old pontiff had the lower lobe of his right lung removed in an operation at Rome's Gemelli hospital.
Robert Jenrick, Reform UK's Treasury spokesperson, defended Nigel Farage against racism claims on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, saying Farage had probably done more than almost anybody else to stand against racism and the far right.
EU leaders met Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Brussels on Friday, 16 October 2026, to discuss Russia's war on Ukraine, with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen saying on Russia sanctions that the EU will not lift any unless Russia stops the war.
Bernd Lange, the German MEP who chairs the European parliament's trade committee, said in London that a 'Switzerland plus deal' setting out closer UK-EU relations could be negotiated within months of any decision by Britain to deepen ties - and that the choice rests with the UK alone.
A report from the Prosperity Institute, endorsed by shadow business minister Andrew Sharpe, calls for a five-year minimum wage freeze at £12.71 - a step it says would lift youth employment but cost low-paid workers almost £9,000.
Donald Trump branded Ukraine's renewed strikes on Russian oil refineries a 'disgrace' after Volodymyr Zelenskyy abandoned an energy ceasefire declared by Trump that neither Moscow nor Kyiv had agreed to.
Youssef al-Manasif faces imminent execution in Saudi Arabia for attending protests and funerals between the ages of 15 and 17, human rights groups say. His death sentence has reportedly been upheld by the country's supreme court.
Culture secretary Lisa Nandy says she is 'minded to intervene' in Sky's £1.6bn purchase of ITV's broadcasting and streaming arm, a Sky ITV deal that would create the UK's biggest commercial broadcaster.
The Prince Charles cinema in London's Leicester Square has signed a new 25-year lease with its landlords, ending the threat of closure after 21 months of uncertainty.
Great Britain's grid operator paid £47.9m on Wednesday to balance the electricity system - some of the highest grid balancing costs since 2022 - after transmission bottlenecks forced windfarms to switch off while gas plants were turned on.
US senator Susan Collins of Maine has dismissed Susan Collins corruption allegations that she traded federal contracts for campaign cash as 'completely false', responding to an ethics complaint filed the previous week by a Maine attorney.
Yemen's Houthis fired a houthi missile strike at the Aden presidential palace on Thursday, killing five people and wounding 16, the Yemeni government said.
On his Washington visit, defence secretary Wes Streeting made the case for continued US support for Ukraine, speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies before meeting his US counterpart Pete Hegseth.
Showing 33 stories · October 16, 2026
Every story LiveDigest published on Friday, October 16, 2026, newest first.
Friday, October 16, 2026
All sections · Newest first
Russian missiles and drones hit power plants in Kyiv and Kharkiv this week, causing rolling blackouts and water outages, weeks after Ukrainian intelligence intercepted a Russian assessment targeting the country's grid.
By LiveDigest · 21:23 GMTBarack Obama paid tribute to Manchester cotton workers who stood in solidarity with enslaved African Americans during the American civil war, citing their story as an inspiration at An Evening With Barack Obama at Co-op Live on Thursday.
By LiveDigest · 20:57 GMTAt an EU summit in Brussels on Friday, Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked European leaders for another €70bn (£60bn) next year to fund Ukraine's defence against Russia, saying the war will cost €155bn in 2027 - while confirming that Starlink access for Ukraine's military is not yet fully restored.
By LiveDigest · 20:33 GMTDonald Trump said on Friday that his new White House press secretary, Katie Zacharia, should 'reconsider' taking the job after she was pressed by Trump-friendly Fox News hosts during her first week in the role.
By LiveDigest · 20:07 GMTAn investigation found that batteries made by Volkswagen, Ford and Tesla may contain nickel mined on deforested indigenous land in Sulawesi, Indonesia, which holds the world's largest nickel deposits. Satellite analysis links the Cahaya and Hengjaya mines to widespread loss of primary rainforest on land of the indigenous Tolaki people.
By LiveDigest · 19:44 GMTThe Sky supernatural series Possession, filmed entirely in Jamaica, features a Jamaican film take on a biracial British lawyer who uncovers a vengeful spirit tied to a plantation's colonial past while investigating a multimillion-pound inheritance dispute. Director Storm Saulter says representing the trauma and legacy of enslavement was critical to the production.
By LiveDigest · 19:13 GMTDowning Street said on Friday it has not ruled out Chinese EV tariffs as part of the EU's Made in Europe package, while welcoming the goal of UK inclusion in the Industrial Accelerator Act after France dropped its opposition.
By LiveDigest · 18:45 GMTThe Air Force Museum of New Zealand has released nearly 50 black-and-white photos from a 1938 aerial survey of Nikumaroro Island, where Amelia Earhart is believed to have crash-landed. The 47 high-resolution images went online after several requests and renewed interest sparked by a US expedition to the island.
By LiveDigest · 18:20 GMTCockroach Janta party youth movement leader Abhijeet Dipke was detained by police on Friday in Delhi ahead of an anti-government protest he had called in central Delhi.
By LiveDigest · 17:53 GMTUK national security adviser Jonathan Powell is under pressure to distance himself from an X post by his wife, writer Sarah Helm, supporting Palestine Action, the group proscribed last year. Downing Street said on Friday the views 'do not represent the government in any capacity'.
By LiveDigest · 17:26 GMTBrazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said on Thursday night he now supports lowering the age of criminal responsibility from 18 to 16 for heinous crimes, reversing his longstanding opposition, in a TV Globo interview held just over a week before the presidential runoff.
By LiveDigest · 17:01 GMTMore than 100 current and former cast and crew of The Archers, joined by Judi Dench, have written to BBC director general Matt Brittin arguing that the show's recording must stay in Birmingham, after the BBC moved to stop recording in the city for the first time in its 75-year history.
By LiveDigest · 16:36 GMTThe Guardian-produced documentary NAZA, which details Israel's mass killing of civilians in Gaza, opened in UK cinemas this week to five-star and four-star reviews from critics worldwide and will screen in more than 50 countries.
By LiveDigest · 16:11 GMTThe IMF has urged Chancellor John Healey to find savings in pensions and welfare rather than taxing Britain's banks at the budget later this month, with the fund's Helge Berger arguing that taxes at roughly 40% of GDP are already historically high for the UK.
By LiveDigest · 15:47 GMTOfgem has opened a consultation on reintroducing the market stabilisation charge, under which energy suppliers winning customers with cheaper deals would pay a charge to rivals, as the regulator prepares for a winter of volatile wholesale prices linked to the Middle East conflict.
By LiveDigest · 15:22 GMTAirbus chief executive Guillaume Faury has written to Prime Minister Andy Burnham warning that awarding the £2.4bn Skynet 6 military satellite contract to Lockheed Martin could cost the UK a key role in the European space industry.
By LiveDigest · 14:57 GMTMasked Israeli settlers attacked Palestinians harvesting olives in towns across the West Bank on Friday, injuring at least six people in Abu Falah near Ramallah, among them Washington Post photographer Heidi Levine.
By LiveDigest · 14:32 GMTDonald Trump accused fellow Republicans of 'hurting Texas' by working against Ken Paxton, the Republican nominee in the Texas Senate race, in a Truth Social post. Polls show Democratic nominee James Talarico holding a slight lead over Paxton.
By LiveDigest · 14:05 GMTBritish food and drink exports to the EU fell by more than a third in the year to July compared with the same period in 2019, according to National Farmers' Union analysis of HMRC data.
By LiveDigest · 13:38 GMTPrime minister Andy Burnham visited Scotland on 16 October 2026 to offer the Scottish government greater devolved control, saying he wants people and places to be able to 'change things for themselves'.
By LiveDigest · 13:13 GMTPope Leo has been diagnosed with lung cancer, the Vatican announced late on Tuesday, after the 71-year-old pontiff had the lower lobe of his right lung removed in an operation at Rome's Gemelli hospital.
By LiveDigest · 12:54 GMTRobert Jenrick, Reform UK's Treasury spokesperson, defended Nigel Farage against racism claims on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, saying Farage had probably done more than almost anybody else to stand against racism and the far right.
By LiveDigest · 09:54 GMTEU leaders met Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Brussels on Friday, 16 October 2026, to discuss Russia's war on Ukraine, with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen saying on Russia sanctions that the EU will not lift any unless Russia stops the war.
By LiveDigest · 08:50 GMTBernd Lange, the German MEP who chairs the European parliament's trade committee, said in London that a 'Switzerland plus deal' setting out closer UK-EU relations could be negotiated within months of any decision by Britain to deepen ties - and that the choice rests with the UK alone.
By LiveDigest · 08:01 GMTA report from the Prosperity Institute, endorsed by shadow business minister Andrew Sharpe, calls for a five-year minimum wage freeze at £12.71 - a step it says would lift youth employment but cost low-paid workers almost £9,000.
By LiveDigest · 07:13 GMTDonald Trump branded Ukraine's renewed strikes on Russian oil refineries a 'disgrace' after Volodymyr Zelenskyy abandoned an energy ceasefire declared by Trump that neither Moscow nor Kyiv had agreed to.
By LiveDigest · 06:25 GMTYoussef al-Manasif faces imminent execution in Saudi Arabia for attending protests and funerals between the ages of 15 and 17, human rights groups say. His death sentence has reportedly been upheld by the country's supreme court.
By LiveDigest · 05:36 GMTCulture secretary Lisa Nandy says she is 'minded to intervene' in Sky's £1.6bn purchase of ITV's broadcasting and streaming arm, a Sky ITV deal that would create the UK's biggest commercial broadcaster.
By LiveDigest · 04:48 GMTThe Prince Charles cinema in London's Leicester Square has signed a new 25-year lease with its landlords, ending the threat of closure after 21 months of uncertainty.
By LiveDigest · 03:56 GMTGreat Britain's grid operator paid £47.9m on Wednesday to balance the electricity system - some of the highest grid balancing costs since 2022 - after transmission bottlenecks forced windfarms to switch off while gas plants were turned on.
By LiveDigest · 03:07 GMTUS senator Susan Collins of Maine has dismissed Susan Collins corruption allegations that she traded federal contracts for campaign cash as 'completely false', responding to an ethics complaint filed the previous week by a Maine attorney.
By LiveDigest · 02:20 GMTYemen's Houthis fired a houthi missile strike at the Aden presidential palace on Thursday, killing five people and wounding 16, the Yemeni government said.
By LiveDigest · 01:29 GMTOn his Washington visit, defence secretary Wes Streeting made the case for continued US support for Ukraine, speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies before meeting his US counterpart Pete Hegseth.
By LiveDigest · 00:40 GMTShowing 33 stories · October 16, 2026
Every story LiveDigest published on Friday, October 16, 2026, newest first.
Friday, October 16, 2026
All sections · Newest first
By LiveDigest · 21:23 GMT
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Showing 33 stories · October 16, 2026
