While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, Oct 17, 2025

Trump to meet Putin in Budapest after ‘great’ call to discuss Ukraine

US President Donald Trump said he planned to meet Russia’s Vladimir Putin in Hungary after making “great progress” in a call Oct 16, just a day before Ukraine’s leader is due at the White House to push for Tomahawk missiles.

Mr Trump did not give a date for the meeting in Budapest, which would be his second with Mr Putin since returning to office. The pair met in Alaska in August without a breakthrough on ending Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Kremlin said it would start “immediately” preparing the summit following the “extremely frank and trustful” call.

But Ukraine’s envoy to Washington said Russia was already rejecting Mr Trump’s peace efforts through “terror” strikes.

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Trump threatens to ‘go in and kill’ Hamas if it doesn’t stop Gaza killings

US President Donald Trump threatened Hamas with reprisals if the group continued killings inside of Gaza, saying that such action violated the ceasefire agreement he helped broker with Israel.

“If Hamas continues to kill people in Gaza, which was not the Deal, we will have no choice but to go in and kill them,” Mr Trump posted on Oct 16 on social media. “Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

The president’s remarks open the door for direct US military action in Gaza, and appeared to mark an escalation from previous statements from the administration warning that the US would back renewed Israeli strikes if the terms of the deal were violated.

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China blames US for trade tensions, warns against decoupling

China’s Commerce Minister Wang Wentao on Oct 16 blamed the recent escalation in trade tensions with the US on American actions following the latest bilateral round of talks, in Madrid in September.

“The recent fluctuations in China-US economic and trade relations are mainly due to the US’s intensive introduction of a series of restrictive measures against China after the Madrid” talks, Mr Wang told Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook during a meeting in Beijing, according to a readout posted on the Commerce Ministry’s website.

Foreign Minister Wang Yi appeared to strike a more diplomatic tone during a meeting with the US private equity group Blackstone’s Steve Schwarzman, saying that “decoupling” isn’t a realistic and rational option.

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Britain delays Chinese embassy ruling for a second time

Britain delayed a decision on whether to approve China's plans to build the largest embassy in Europe in London for a second time on Oct 16, as ministers faced pressure over the collapse of a trial of men accused of spying for Beijing.

China's plans to build a new embassy on the site of a two-century-old building near the Tower of London have stalled for the past three years because of opposition from local residents, lawmakers and Hong Kong pro-democracy campaigners in Britain.

Concerns that the new embassy could be used as a base for spying have prompted some politicians in Britain and the US to urge the government to block Beijing's plans.

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Former Trump national security advisor John Bolton charged

John Bolton, US President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, was indicted on Oct 16 on charges of mishandling classified information, marking the third time in recent weeks the Justice Department has secured criminal charges against one of the Republican president’s critics.

Bolton’s lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment. His lawyer had previously denied that Bolton engaged in wrongdoing.

The indictment, filed in federal court in Maryland, charges Bolton with eight counts of transmission of national defense information and 10 counts of retention of national defense information, all in violation of the Espionage Act.

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