Oct 16, 2026 · 6 min listen · Last updated October 16, 2026
From storyflo. This is your daily audio brief. Jessica here. October 16th. The news in ten — let's start at home. Let's get into it. First, from Channel News Asia. White House press secretary Katie Zacharia says she did not pass bar exam.
Listen · storyflo · news
Daily News Brief · October 16th
0:00-5:47
Pick your daily storyteller
Subscribe to match with Theo, Jessica, Chloe, Mason, Brock — your voice, every brief.
Audio pre-rendered by Storyflo · cached + delivered from the edge
White House press secretary Katie Zacharia says she did not pass bar exam
Zacharia, who joined the White House on Monday, has previously said she practised law before entering politics, and Trump had described her as an attorney. "You did not pass the bar exam, correct?" she was asked in an interview on Fox News' Hannity show late on Thursday. "Correct," she said in response to the host, Sean Hannity. "I did not," she said when Hannity asked if she ever took the bar exam a second time. Zacharia earned her law degree from Pepperdine University in 2011, according to the university.
On the markets — Kalshi traders have been actively repricing this story in the last day.
Trump says he is talking to Russia and China about denuclearisation
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said on Thursday (Oct 15) that Washington is holding talks with Moscow and Beijing aimed at denuclearising the countries with the biggest stockpiles of nuclear weapons. Russia has the most stored nuclear warheads, followed by the United States and China, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. The US outpaces Russia in the number of deployed warheads. During an interview with Newsmax, Trump said he expects China to "catch up" with the US within the next five years.
Trump says he is talking to Russia and China about denuclearisation
- Trump said the US is talking with Russia and China about denuclearisation, as the three powers hold the world’s biggest nuclear stockpiles. - He told Newsmax he expects China to “catch up” with the US within five years, and said he would “love to denuclearise if possible”. - His remarks came after the New START treaty expired in 2026, raising concern over future limits on nuclear arms. WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump said on Oct 15 that Washington is holding talks with Moscow and Beijing aimed at denuclearising the countries with the biggest stockpiles of nuclear weapons.
Taiwan to Curb AI Chip Exports to China as Part of US Trade Deal
Taiwan is preparing to tighten export controls on AI chips to further align with US restrictions, according to a senior official in Taipei, joining a Trump administration clampdown on the smuggling of cutting-edge semiconductors to China.
Guerre en Ukraine : Volodymyr Zelensky acte la reprise des frappes contre les raffineries russes, « une honte » selon Donald Trump
JavaScript is disabled in your browser. A required part of this site couldn’t load. This may be due to a browser extension, network issues, or browser settings. Please check your connection, disable any ad blockers, or try using a different browser.
Earthquake of 6.9 magnitude hits near Ozernovskiy in Russia
An earthquake of magnitude 6.9 struck 76 km northeast of Ozernovskiy in Russia on Friday (October 16, 2026), the U.S. Geological Survey said. The epicentre, with a depth of 143.2 km, was initially determined to be at 52.01 degrees north latitude and 157.25 degrees east longitude, it said. A perceptible earthquake with an intensity of up to four magnitude points has been registered in Kamchatka, Russia's state-run TASS news agency reported, citing the Kamchatka branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Geophysical Service.
Russia moves on more European firms ahead of Zelenskiy's appearance at EU summit
MOSCOW, Oct 16 - Russia has moved to place local assets of French, German, Swedish and Dutch companies under temporary management, according to a decree by President Vladimir Putin, as EU ties hit a new low over the bloc's support for Ukraine.
Why the GCC-EU summit was recently postponed | Explained
The story so far: The Gulf Cooperation Council and the European Union on Thursday (October 15, 2026) announced that the GCC-EU summit scheduled to be held in Riyadh on October 24 has been pushed to a later date. While new dates have not yet been announced, the GCC Secretariat has said that, along with the European Union, it will work towards establishing the appropriate conditions for convening the summit. What is the GCC-EU summit? The Gulf Cooperation Council comprises the UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait.
Russian security services were waiting when the flight landed in Moscow in December. On board were Russians the US had deported, including activists denied political asylum. "It was unbelievably frightening. My knees were shaking with fear," says Katya, one of the deportees. We have changed her name to protect her identity, as she remains in Russia. Katya had left Russia and claimed asylum in the US two years earlier. When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, many countries publicly welcomed fleeing Russians. But more than four years later, attitudes have hardened.
Report: White House Ordered the Slowdown of Ukraine’s Starlink Access
The order to restrict Ukraine’s access to a critical American satellite communications system came from “the White House,” according to an exclusive Reuters investigation published Thursday afternoon. The report, by Reuters journalists Erin Banco and Gram Slattery, cites two American officials and a Western official briefed on the matter who confirmed that Pentagon leadership received instructions to slow Ukraine’s access to Starshield, the military-grade version of Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite communications network.