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Russia Frees American Stephen Hubbard, 74, Without a Swap as Putin Meets Trump Envoy Witkoff in St Petersburg: October 21, 2026

ST PETERSBURG, Russia — Russia has released Stephen Hubbard, a 74-year-old American jailed on charges of fighting for Ukraine, as President Vladimir Putin met U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff in St Petersburg on Wednesday, BBC News and The Guardian reported.

Putin said during the meeting that Hubbard had been taken to the city’s Pulkovo Airport. The former teacher from Michigan was captured by Russian forces in Izyum, Ukraine, shortly after Moscow’s full-scale invasion in 2022 and was sentenced in 2024 to almost seven years in a penal colony. The U.S. State Department had classified him as “wrongfully detained.”

President Donald Trump said Hubbard was “on his way back home” and that the release followed a request he “made directly” to Putin last week. “There was no ‘swap’ necessary for this release,” he wrote, according to The Guardian. Some earlier releases of Americans held in Russia came through prisoner exchanges. The White House announced the release on X:

CBS News, the BBC’s U.S. partner, reported that Hubbard had been in poor health and was expected to be flown to Texas for treatment.

Witkoff praised Putin at the start of the talks at the Constantine Palace. “You talk so much about my president, President Trump, being a humanitarian — you are a humanitarian also sir, and I salute that,” he said. Witkoff, who met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Oslo the day before, said he had brought “some ideas, some sort of peace deal between Russia and Ukraine,” The Guardian reported. It was his ninth visit to Russia since Trump tasked him with brokering an end to the war.

Witkoff also thanked Putin for this month’s deal to export Russian diesel to the United States. Putin said the first shipment would leave Russia “in two to three days,” according to the state news agency TASS, BBC News reported.

In Kyiv, Zelenskyy wrote that “much depends on whether the American side can hear something new from Russia today — about peace, and not about continuing the war.”

Sources: BBC News, The Guardian, AP

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World Brief, Evening: October 20, 2026

Volodymyr Zelenskyy says U.S. missile warnings are flowing again after talks in Oslo, and Steve Witkoff heads to Russia next; Nigeria has confirmed its first Ebola case; and the toll from Sudan’s weekend of army drone strikes has passed 300. Ten stories as of Tuesday evening, October 20.

1. Oslo / Norway, and Kyiv / Ukraine. After sitting down with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff in Oslo, with Jared Kushner on a video link, Zelenskyy said U.S. intelligence sharing on incoming Russian missiles “works now,” BBC News reported. “We are thankful to American side, now it works, it’s great,” he said of the early warnings. Finland’s President Alexander Stubb said “genuine progress” was made but gave no details; a U.S. official called the talks “very productive and constructive” and confirmed Witkoff will meet Vladimir Putin in Russia on Wednesday. The talks covered security guarantees, a postwar economic plan and Europe’s wider security setup, a U.S. official told Reuters, per The Guardian. Back at the White House, Donald Trump said “Ukraine has to want to settle this war,” and on getting the two sides together: “I don’t care how it’s done,” Al Jazeera reported. The Wall Street Journal reported that Elon Musk himself ordered last week’s slowdown of Starshield, the military version of Starlink that Ukraine’s drone units rely on, per CNBC; Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said, “We haven’t pulled anything back.” Russian drones killed at least 10 people across Ukraine on Tuesday, and NATO said it’s sending more patrol aircraft, radar systems and drones to the Black Sea after Russia hit five more cargo ships, The Guardian reported. Zelenskyy on the guarantees:

2. Abuja / Nigeria, and Kenya. Nigeria confirmed an Ebola case in its capital after a woman who arrived from Uganda tested positive, NPR/AP reported. She began showing symptoms on October 7 and was admitted to a private hospital on October 11; Health Minister Muhammad Ali Pate said 44 contacts are being traced. Uganda’s health ministry says she only passed through on the way back from a business trip to eastern Congo and that Uganda has no active cases, per The Guardian. “We are facing an extremely serious threat,” said Africa CDC chief Jean Kaseya, calling this Bundibugyo outbreak the most geographically extensive in history. It has caused more than 9,500 cases and at least 4,600 deaths in Congo, and there’s no approved vaccine or treatment for this strain, BBC News reported. Kenya now has nine confirmed cases, all linked to its first patient; health officials said Tuesday evening the eight still being treated are improving, per BBC News.

3. West Kordofan / Sudan, and Abyei. The death toll from drone strikes blamed on Sudan’s army has passed 300, BBC News reported. The Sudan War Observatory says 150 people died in West Kordofan on Sunday evening, 145 of them when a truck carrying about 200 mourners was hit as it arrived in Al-Dabab. In Abyei, the disputed area Sudan and South Sudan jointly run, the region’s information minister now says 153 people were killed when drones hit a market on Monday, up from 73 this morning. A military source told the BBC the army carried out the Abyei strike, calling the market an RSF fuel supply site. South Sudan summoned Sudan’s ambassador, and the UN says 20 million people in Sudan face acute hunger.

4. Tehran / Iran, the Strait of Hormuz, and Cairo / Egypt. Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian told Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, that Washington “must lift its pressures, threats and sanctions before any negotiations,” according to an Iranian readout, CBS News reported. Trump, asked about Iran, said: “Do we want to win the nice way or the not nice way? But we’re doing very well.” The Revolutionary Guards said two tankers were set ablaze after hitting their mines on a route south of the strait that Tehran calls unauthorized; neither ship was named, per Euronews, and maritime monitors have repeatedly found no substantiation for earlier Iranian mine claims, gCaptain reported. Brent crude hit a five-month high Tuesday, per CNBC. In Egypt, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has asked parliament to authorize the military to help defend Saudi Arabia from Houthi attacks; a vote expected Tuesday was pushed to next Monday, CBS News reported. And at Windsor, King Charles praised Oman’s “noble efforts” to help reopen Hormuz as the sultan began a state visit.

5. Paris, Marseille and Limoges / France. Police arrested a 34-year-old suspect linked to a far-left movement over the fire that gutted Limoges’ 19th-century city hall during Saturday’s unrest; French media say he’s on a national security watchlist, BBC News reported. The curfews keep spreading: Paris extended its overnight curfew “for as long as it proves necessary,” Marseille imposed one for minors in commercial areas from Tuesday to Friday, Bordeaux started a week-long overnight curfew, and Lyon, Nice and Lille kept theirs. Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin said 149 people are in detention, and Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu promised a big police presence at Saturday’s planned protest. More than 3,000 shops and businesses were looted Saturday, according to French reports, and the National Assembly’s president has proposed a parliamentary inquiry, per BBC News.

6. Fairford, Gloucestershire / United Kingdom. Counter-terrorism police re-arrested two men, a 24-year-old British national and a 25-year-old dual British-Iranian national, on suspicion of assisting a foreign intelligence service, in an investigation police say relates to Iran, BBC News reported. It follows the September 27 incident when three vans carrying petrol were found near RAF Fairford, the U.S.-run airbase used for strikes on Iran this year; no explosive devices were found. Seven men have been arrested in all. “We consider it highly likely that there is Iranian state involvement,” said Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor, head of counter-terrorism policing.

7. Wangaratta / Victoria, Australia. Brendan Nugent, 43, appeared in Wangaratta Magistrates’ Court over the attack on MP Helen Haines; his lawyer said he has a rare neurological condition and isn’t currently medicated, no bail was sought, and he’ll be back in court in February, ABC News reported. Police added charges of cultivating and possessing cannabis. Victoria Police and the AFP say they haven’t ruled out further charges, including attempted murder, and will look at whether he had links to the sovereign citizen movement, per ABC News. Chief Commissioner Mike Bush called it “a deliberate but isolated act,” saying police had no intelligence on him beforehand. Haines remains critical but stable.

8. Edmonton / Alberta, Canada, and Washington. In an address to Albertans on Tuesday, Premier Danielle Smith called the turnout “historic” and said that as long as she’s premier she “will not be holding another referendum on this issue,” BBC News reported. Prime Minister Mark Carney called the result a “great result” for Canada and said he was “thrilled that Albertans have chosen unity.” Meanwhile in the U.S., the group that won the case against Trump’s “liberation day” tariffs filed a new suit over his 50% levy on about $20bn of Canadian goods, on behalf of a New Jersey cheese importer, arguing the White House misused a 1930 trade law, BBC News reported.

9. Brasília / Brazil. President Lula’s campaign was set to ask Brazil’s top electoral court on Tuesday to disqualify Flávio Bolsonaro over alleged “algorithmic manipulation” by Meta to bury Lula’s content and boost his rival, France 24 reported, citing AFP. Meta said Tuesday it has complied with the court’s order to treat both candidates equally, per AP, and denies favouring either side. The Bolsonaro camp has filed seven actions of its own seeking to annul Lula’s ticket, according to Folha de S.Paulo. Polls show a technical tie ahead of Sunday’s runoff.

10. New Delhi / India. About two dozen independent UN experts called on India to stop using “excessive force” against opposition and student protesters and to open an impartial investigation, citing injuries, reported ill-treatment and reports of sexual violence in detentions, Al Jazeera reported. The protests, led by the Cockroach Janta Party, demand the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar after 130 million names were removed from voter lists. The Election Commission says it removed duplicate, dead and ineligible voters, and India has dismissed such criticism as interference.

Coming Up

Confirmed dates on The Watch: October 25, Brazil’s presidential runoff (Flávio Bolsonaro vs Lula). October 27, Israel’s election for the 26th Knesset, and the Fed’s two-day meeting opens in Washington (October 27–28). Full board at the link.

World Brief: October 20, 2026

Alberta has voted, and it isn’t close: roughly three in four said stay in Canada; Volodymyr Zelenskyy flew to Oslo to try to patch things up with Donald Trump’s envoys; and France says soldiers will help free up police for this Saturday’s protests. Ten stories as of Tuesday morning, October 20.

1. Edmonton and Calgary / Alberta, Canada. Albertans overwhelmingly rejected starting the legal process toward a binding vote on leaving Canada: with more than 1.5 million votes counted, 76% chose to remain and close to 24% backed beginning the process, according to unofficial Elections Alberta results reported by NPR/AP. Late-opening polls pushed results back by more than two hours, and the nine other questions on the ballot could take days to count, per The Guardian. “Albertans made a clear choice… Above all, Albertans chose Canada,” Prime Minister Mark Carney said. Premier Danielle Smith, who called the vote but opposed separation, said “Albertans have voted for a stronger Alberta in a united Canada” and will address the province Tuesday evening. Separatists say they aren’t done: Jeffrey Rath told the BBC the movement “isn’t stopping” and wants Smith pushed out as leader of her United Conservative Party, BBC News reported. Carney said Tuesday morning that he’d called Smith:

2. Oslo / Norway, and Kyiv / Ukraine. Zelenskyy met U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff in Oslo on Tuesday, with Jared Kushner joining by video link, after first sitting down with Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and Finland’s President Alexander Stubb, BBC News reported. Støre said the aim is to put diplomacy on “a more constructive path.” Speaking in India, Secretary of State Marco Rubio called claims that Ukrainians are dying because the U.S. is withholding intelligence “scandalous,” and said “there’s nothing being deliberately denied to Ukraine,” though he allowed that Patriot interceptors may not have arrived yet, per ABC News. Zelenskyy called his own call with Rubio “substantive.” Back home, Russian attacks killed at least seven people across Ukraine on Tuesday and caused power outages in almost half the country’s regions. The Kremlin says it hopes to see Witkoff soon too.

3. Paris and Marseille / France, and Milan / Italy. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu told the National Assembly that the security deployment for this Saturday’s planned protests “will be massive,” said last weekend’s operation was “too static,” and accused small far-left groups of an “insurrectionary plan,” DW reported. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez confirmed soldiers from the Sentinelle force will be deployed “mostly to free police and gendarmes” to keep order, per The Guardian. Monday night passed without major incidents, and more curfews will be set locally with mayors, Al Jazeera reported. In Marseille, business leaders say more than 500 premises were damaged, most of them looted, and a curfew for minors starts in parts of the city Tuesday evening, per BBC News. Italy is sending 500 soldiers to Milan, where police detained 271 young people over the weekend, The Guardian reported.

4. Shabwa / Yemen, and Riyadh / Saudi Arabia. The toll from Monday’s Houthi missile strike on the al-Alam training camp near Ataq has risen to 73 security recruits, local authorities say, the deadliest attack since the war flared up again, BBC News reported. Britain will send RAF Typhoon jets to help defend Saudi cities and infrastructure from Houthi missiles and drones; Defence Secretary Wes Streeting said they “will not conduct offensive strikes,” per BBC News. A strike on Riyadh’s airport on October 10 killed 13 people. The UN refugee agency says more than 250,000 Yemenis have been displaced since July, three-quarters of them from the besieged city of Taiz, Al Jazeera reported.

5. West Kordofan / Sudan, and Abyei. Drone strikes blamed on Sudan’s army have killed more than 200 people since Sunday evening, BBC News reported. The Sudan War Observatory says 150 died in West Kordofan, most of them when a truck carrying about 200 mourners was hit as it arrived in Al-Dabab. On Monday, drones hit the Amiet market near Abyei town, in the disputed area Sudan and South Sudan jointly administer, killing 73, the region’s information minister said; a military source told the BBC the army carried out that attack, calling the market an RSF fuel supply site. South Sudan summoned Sudan’s ambassador. The army says it doesn’t target civilians.

6. Wangaratta / Victoria, Australia. Victoria Police charged Brendan Nugent, 43, with dangerous driving causing serious injury, intentionally causing serious injury, and the federal offence of causing harm to a Commonwealth public official, which carries up to 10 years, and will allege the attack on independent MP Helen Haines was targeted, ABC News reported. Haines, 65, has lost one leg and surgeons are fighting to save the other; Nugent allegedly did a U-turn and struck her twice, per The Guardian. His father and partner said Haines has been their friend for more than 20 years and called it a “shocking and horrific crime,” BBC News reported. He’s due in Wangaratta Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday.

7. Tehran / Iran, and Doha / Qatar. Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, arrived in Tehran on Tuesday evening, his fifth trip since Islamabad brokered the April ceasefire, a day after Russia’s Sergey Lavrov was there, Al Jazeera reported. Analysts say the diplomacy is about heading off another round of fighting; the U.S. has sent an additional aircraft carrier toward the region. CENTCOM’s Adm. Brad Cooper claimed the U.S. blockade has kept at least $25bn in Iranian crude off the market and left the Revolutionary Guards unable to pay their troops; Tehran denies it is near collapse but admits financial strain, per Al Jazeera. In Doha, U.S. envoy Tom Barrack said Washington is moving away from oil-for-security but “we’re not leaving,” and Qatar said talks to end the war go on, Al Jazeera reported.

8. London / United Kingdom. A “power event” at a Google Cloud data centre in London knocked out services across Britain and parts of Europe for hours on Tuesday, starting shortly after 6 a.m. U.K. time (10 p.m. Monday Pacific), ABC News reported. Customers of Revolut and Halifax had trouble getting into their accounts, and the video platform used for remote court hearings went down, along with live streams of trials. Google says the problem has been mitigated for most customers and it will publish an analysis once its internal investigation is done.

9. Tshwane / South Africa. Residents in about five townships east of Pretoria were told not to drink or cook with tap water after 408 people, mostly children under four, fell ill between October 7 and 18, BBC News reported. Tests found high levels of E. coli plus norovirus, campylobacter and shigella, traced to a local water treatment plant; officials found local authorities hadn’t warned residents. No deaths have been reported, and tankers are bringing in clean water. A cholera outbreak in nearby Hammanskraal killed 29 people in 2023.

10. Across Brazil. With the runoff on Sunday, the race between President Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro is a dead heat: PoderData now has them at 50% each, after three polls last week gave Bolsonaro a razor-thin lead, DW reported. Bolsonaro won the first round with 47% and led by up to six points the week after, but Lula has gained with mass rallies and a promise of a shorter workweek, and Bolsonaro is back holding big rallies of his own.

Coming Up

Confirmed dates for the week ahead (full board on The Watch): October 23, Brazil’s second and final runoff debate. October 25, Brazil’s presidential runoff (Flávio Bolsonaro vs Lula). October 26, Egypt’s parliament is due to vote on military support for Saudi Arabia. October 27, Israel’s election for the 26th Knesset, and the Fed’s two-day meeting opens in Washington (October 27–28). Alberta’s referendum is now marked done on The Watch.

More Than 100,000 Ukrainians and Sudanese Keep U.S. Deportation Protections for Now as DHS Holds Off on a Decision: October 20, 2026

MIAMI — More than 100,000 people from Ukraine and Sudan can stay in the United States without immediate risk of deportation, the Department of Homeland Security said, a temporary reprieve after their right to stay in the country was set to expire on Monday, the AP and The Guardian reported.

Temporary Protected Status was set to end Oct. 19 for about 101,000 Ukrainians and 1,800 Sudanese. DHS said an announcement “will be made at the appropriate time” and that until then, those covered “retain protection.” The department did not say how long they could stay or whether they can keep their work permits, though TPS generally allows people to work while protections remain in effect.

Federal rules say TPS is automatically extended for six months if the homeland security secretary does not make a determination at least 60 days before a designation expires, the AP reported.

Yuriy Boyechko, CEO of the nonprofit Hope For Ukraine, called the announcement “last-minute patches” and a “bandage that has been placed on a wound that does not solve the real issue.” Andrew Arthur of the Center for Immigration Studies, which favors lower immigration, said: “It’s simply going to be an extension until it is a termination,” adding that “it’s beyond cavil that both Sudan and Ukraine are experiencing ongoing armed conflict,” The Guardian reported.

The Trump administration has already terminated TPS for more than 1 million people from 13 countries, including Venezuela, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Afghanistan and Syria. But about a month ago it kept protections in place for nearly 200,000 Salvadorans whose status was set to expire on Sept. 9, also saying a decision would come at the appropriate time.

Ukraine was first designated for TPS in April 2022, two months after Russia’s full-scale invasion; Sudan’s designation dates to 1997. The decision comes two weeks before the midterm elections.

Sources: AP, The Guardian, PBS NewsHour

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More Than 400 Fall Ill Near Pretoria After a Water Plant Went Three Weeks Without Chlorine and Residents Were Not Warned: October 20, 2026

PRETORIA, South Africa — Residents of communities east of Pretoria have been told not to drink or cook with tap water after 408 people, most of them children under 4, fell ill with stomach cramps and diarrhoea, South African officials said, BBC News reported.

The cases were reported between Oct. 7 and 18 in Zithobeni, Bronkhorstspruit, Dark City, Rethabiseng and Sokhulumi, in the City of Tshwane’s Region 7, areas largely supplied by the city’s Bronkhorstspruit Water Treatment Works, according to a joint statement from the national health and water ministries, Gauteng province and the city. No deaths have been reported. New cases peaked at 72 on Oct. 13, with 16 reported on Oct. 18.

Tests by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases detected norovirus, Campylobacter and Shigella in three of four stool specimens analysed, and no cholera. Water tests on Oct. 14 found “extremely high levels of E. coli and total coliforms” in water from the plant and two reservoirs, the statement said.

A Department of Water and Sanitation investigation found that the city had difficulties with its chlorine supplier, so water from the plant was not chlorinated between Sept. 24 and Oct. 14. The plant draws from the Bronkhorstspruit River, which the joint statement said is “badly contaminated with sewage pollution” from dysfunctional upstream wastewater works and city sewage pump stations. It said the city had failed to warn residents that the water should not be drunk or used for cooking, washing or bathing, even after boiling.

The city closed the plant on Oct. 14 and reopened it on Oct. 16 after chlorine supplies were restored, but told residents the water was not yet safe to drink. Tankers carrying water from the Cullinan treatment works are supplying the area, with the fleet being increased to 36. “At this stage, it is not possible to give a timeframe for when residents will again be able to drink water emanating from the BWTW,” the statement said.

Tshwane has faced numerous outbreaks of waterborne disease in recent years. In 2023, a cholera outbreak in Hammanskraal, a township just outside Pretoria, killed 29 people, and in 2025 officials confirmed 48 cases of typhoid in the same area, the BBC reported.

Sources: BBC News, South African Government

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China Vows to Protect Its Companies After the U.S. Orders DeepSeek AI Removed From Federal Civilian Agencies: October 20, 2026

BEIJING — China said Tuesday it will “resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies” after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security ordered federal civilian agencies to stop using artificial intelligence tools from the Chinese startup DeepSeek, the AP, BBC News and The Guardian reported.

“China consistently opposes the overstretching of the concept of national security and the politicizing of science, technology, economic and trade issues,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told reporters at a regular briefing, the AP reported.

The DHS notice, made public on Monday, orders agencies to remove DeepSeek and its affiliated products, as well as third-party products and services developed using DeepSeek, from their IT systems, and bars them from buying DeepSeek products. The ban took effect at the end of July and applies to civilian agencies including the Treasury, State and Justice departments, but not to agencies within the Department of Defense, the BBC reported.

“DeepSeek’s models present multiple threat vectors,” said a document attached to the notice, warning that use of the tools “may result in the transfer of sensitive data to (China) if used by US government employees or vendors,” The Guardian reported. It said DeepSeek’s servers are located in China, where the legal system gives the government “extensive authority” to access private company infrastructure.

DeepSeek did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The U.S. has accused DeepSeek and other Chinese AI startups of large-scale “distillation,” or extraction of capabilities from frontier American AI models, claims Beijing has dismissed, the AP reported. DeepSeek shook up the industry in January 2025 with a low-cost, high-performance chatbot and released its V4 model in April.

Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are set to meet in mid-November on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen, China, where AI is expected to be on the agenda.

Sources: AP, BBC News, The Guardian

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Illegal Gold Mine Collapse Kills at Least 14 Miners in a Remote Corner of Colombia’s Nariño Province: October 20, 2026

BOGOTÁ, Colombia — At least 14 miners were killed and seven others injured when an open-pit gold mine operating without permits collapsed in a remote corner of Colombia’s Nariño province, regional authorities said, the Associated Press and Al Jazeera reported.

The collapse happened in the rural Chambero sector of the Santa Bárbara de Iscuandé municipality, which is surrounded by dense rainforest and can be reached only by boat or small aircraft. The Nariño government said search efforts ended Monday night.

Jorge Tovar Castillo, a disaster response official in Nariño, said an additional 12 to 15 miners had been reported missing, and that communication with the area had been difficult, Al Jazeera reported.

“This emergency once again highlights the risks associated with informal mining,” the Nariño government said in a statement. “In less than three months, two collapsed mines in Nariño have killed 27 people,” the AP reported.

Governor Luis Alfonso Escobar described the site as an “informal” mine. “At this moment our priority is to save lives, accompany families and guarantee an opportune response to this painful tragedy,” he wrote on X.

In August, 13 people died in a similar mining accident in the municipality of Policarpa, also in Nariño. Informal and unregulated mining is common in rural parts of Colombia, where operations often lack adequate safety infrastructure, leading to frequent fatal accidents.

Sources: AP, Al Jazeera

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Kenyan Cult Leader Paul Mackenzie Found Guilty of Murdering 190 Children and One Adult in the Shakahola Starvation Deaths: October 20, 2026

MOMBASA, Kenya — A Kenyan court has found self-proclaimed pastor Paul Mackenzie guilty of murdering 191 people, all but one of them children, who starved to death after he ordered followers of his doomsday cult to fast so they could “meet Jesus,” BBC News, The Guardian and DW reported.

Twenty-eight other leaders of his Good News International Church were also convicted of murder. All had pleaded not guilty. “I am satisfied that the prosecution has proved the case against all the 29 accused persons for the murder of 190 children and one adult,” Justice Diana Kavedza Mochache said on Monday after a hearing lasting more than eight hours in Mombasa, DW reported. Sentencing is set for Nov. 6.

The judge said Mackenzie’s followers believed he was “Jesus’s mouthpiece,” and that in some cases children were isolated and denied food while their parents watched. Prosecutors described a “structured hierarchy of death” in which children were to die first, followed by teenagers, women and then men. Post-mortems showed the children mostly died of starvation, but also from “asphyxia, neck compression and traumatic head injury,” prosecutors said.

Mackenzie was arrested in 2023, after more than 400 bodies were found in shallow graves in the Shakahola forest near Kenya’s coast. Many were severely decomposed and only 26 have been identified, The Guardian reported. Monday’s judgment covered 191 deaths, and investigations into the others are continuing. Mackenzie also faces terrorism-related charges, and prosecutors say he directed the deaths of 52 people in Kwa Binzaro village while in detention; he has pleaded not guilty in that case.

“I’m a happy man, that all persons have been convicted,” Stephen Mwiti, who lost all six of his children to the cult, told the BBC outside court. His former wife was among those convicted.

Mackenzie had been arrested in 2017 on radicalisation charges and acquitted, and again in 2019 over two child deaths before being released on bail, DW reported. President William Ruto said in 2023 that government agencies should have been able to prevent the deaths and that he took responsibility as president.

Sources: BBC News, The Guardian, DW

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Britain to Send RAF Typhoon Jets to Help Defend Saudi Arabia From Houthi Missile and Drone Attacks: October 20, 2026

LONDON — Britain will deploy Royal Air Force Typhoon fighter jets to help defend Saudi Arabia against escalating missile and drone attacks by Yemen’s Houthis, the government said Tuesday, BBC News and Al Jazeera reported.

“The UK will fly defensive counter air missions to support the protection of Saudi cities and critical national infrastructure against aerial attack, using RAF Typhoon fighter jets,” the Ministry of Defence said. “These aircraft will operate in a defensive role and will not conduct offensive strikes against the Houthis,” Defence Secretary Wes Streeting said in a written statement. The BBC said the mission was authorised by Prime Minister Andy Burnham.

Britain will also send military advisers and an RAF A400M transport aircraft to help move defence equipment within Saudi Arabia, and has extended its air-to-air refuelling support for Saudi defensive operations by 90 days, the BBC reported.

“The continuing attacks from the Houthis on our ally Saudi Arabia are absolutely despicable. The targeting of the airport in Riyadh in particular shows the lengths the Houthis are going to escalate the situation in the region,” Streeting said, as Al Jazeera reported. “That’s why today I have approved further UK military support.”

The Houthis said they were behind two strikes on Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport on Oct. 10 and 11 that left 14 dead and more than 300 injured, according to the BBC. Earlier this month, Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree vowed to continue “escalating operations deep inside Saudi Arabia.”

Streeting also pointed to violence in the Gulf disrupting energy supplies and raising costs for families and businesses. The announcement came a day after Egypt’s parliament delayed for a second day a vote on President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s request to authorise military support for Saudi Arabia; state media said a new session would be held on Oct. 26, Al Jazeera reported.

Sources: BBC News, Al Jazeera

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Google Cloud ‘Power Event’ in London Knocks Out Bank Payments and Court Video Links Across Britain: October 20, 2026

LONDON — A “power event” at Google’s London-based cloud computing operations disrupted services across Britain and parts of Europe on Tuesday, leaving customers of banks including Lloyds, HSBC and Revolut unable to make card payments, withdraw cash or move money, and knocking out the video system used for remote court hearings, The Guardian and ABC News reported.

“Due to a power event we had suffered an outage within europe-west2-b zone,” Google said on its Cloud website, warning that services in parts of Europe could see “elevated errors and intermittent network issues.” Google said the incident began shortly after 6 a.m. U.K. time (10 p.m. Monday Pacific). Services were starting to come back online as of 1 p.m. London time, The Guardian reported.

Revolut’s outage hit sign-up, sign-in, card payments, transfers, ATM withdrawals and cryptocurrency services. “We are currently experiencing a service disruption affecting multiple services. We can confirm that all our customers’ money and data are safe,” the bank said. Halifax, owned by Lloyds, said some customers were unable to log in through its app and online, and HSBC apologised to customers who were having difficulty accessing its services.

The U.K.’s Courts and Tribunals Service said on X it was “aware of an issue affecting Cloud Video Platform (CVP), used for some remote hearings.” The system, often used by defendants in custody, failed throughout the morning and was believed to have delayed several hearings, The Guardian reported. Court live streams, including the trial of comedian Russell Brand, were also reportedly affected, according to ABC News.

The Financial Conduct Authority said it was in touch with Google and seeking more information. The Guardian said the outage was the first major test for the FCA and the Bank of England since the regulators were given powers this summer to oversee Google and other providers of “critical” cloud services to U.K. financial firms.

The property portal Rightmove was also reportedly affected, and reports said Royal Mail and the delivery company DPD had suffered disruption.

Sources: The Guardian, ABC News

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