The World in Brief from The Economist

Vladimir Putin agreed “in principle” to enter American-brokered peace negotiations next month, after he met Steve Witkoff, Donald Trump’s special envoy, in St Petersburg.

Vladimir Putin agreed “in principle” to enter American-brokered peace negotiations next month, after he met Steve Witkoff, Donald Trump’s special envoy, in St Petersburg; Websites around the world were hastily taken offline after “critical vulnerabilities” were uncovered within PHP, a programming language that is thought to run 70% of sites.

Elon Musk said that his rocketry and electric-vehicle firms, SpaceX and Tesla, were exploring a merger, and that a tie-up was “a good idea”. Also, Steve Witkoff, America’s special envoy, met Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, in St Petersburg on Wednesday.

Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine was now receiving American intelligence about Russian strikes.

Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine was now receiving American intelligence about Russian strikes; Elon Musk’s SpaceX reported revenues of $14.6bn in the third quarter, up 161% year on year.

Volodymyr Zelensky said he would fly to Norway to meet Steve Witkoff, America’s special envoy, on Tuesday. Also, several cities across France enforced overnight curfews after violent demonstrations developed into riots and looting over the weekend.

Donald Trump said he was open to meeting Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping to discuss ending the war with Ukraine—whether the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, is “there or not”.

Donald Trump said he was open to meeting Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping to discuss ending the war with Ukraine—whether the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, is “there or not”; Several cities across France, including parts of Paris, enforced overnight curfews on Monday after violent demonstrations took place on the weekend.