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The day in brief — October 20, 2026

The stories that led the day, ranked by how many independent outlets covered each one.

Japan's MMX probe has set off for Phobos, a Martian moon that may once have been an asteroid and is now set to become an object of study. While space gets explored, Alberta has chosen to stay in Canada, and Google Cloud gave European banks an unplanned stress test.

The day's stories

1. France to extend curfews, deploy military for Oct 24 protests
   77 outlets
2. Alberta votes to stay in Canada in historic referendum
   69 outlets
3. Google Cloud outage disrupts European banks, services
   59 outlets
4. Japan launches historic mission to bring back samples from Mars moon Phobos
   54 outlets
5. Witkoff, Kushner to hold Ukraine talks in Oslo
   48 outlets
6. South Korea to withdraw some diplomats from embassy in Ukraine
   43 outlets
7. US delays Patriot missile deliveries to Ukraine, Zelensky says
   43 outlets
8. UK to deploy Typhoon jets to defend Saudi Arabia from Houthi attacks
   40 outlets
9. North Korea releases photos of Kim Jong Un after death rumors
   38 outlets
10. France arrests suspect over Limoges town hall fire
    37 outlets

Other stories of the day

• Critical PHP flaws trigger global website outages
  156 outlets
• Musk backs Tesla-SpaceX merger idea as Tesla profit drops 43%
  92 outlets
• WSJ: Musk personally ordered Starlink slowdown for Ukraine
  65 outlets
• Australian MP Helen Haines loses both legs after car attack
  59 outlets
• Italy tightens protest laws, sends 500 troops to Milan after riots
  54 outlets
• PSG beat Barcelona 4-2 in Champions League, but lose three players to injury
  54 outlets
• Nigeria confirms first Ebola case in over a decade
  53 outlets
• Prince Harry says he wants to reconcile with royal family
  51 outlets

Full methodology →