PRESS REVIEW – Wednesday, October 22: Papers discuss the cancellation of the Trump-Putin summit. The Moscow Times looks at the current state of the Russian army. Next, an investigation reveals that NATO is involved in a million-dollar corruption scandal. Also: a report reveals the dark side of the business of surrogacy. On another note, mosquitoes have been found in Iceland, in a first for the country. Finally, we take a look at the world's biggest cat show.

After the announcement that the meeting between US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin was cancelled, Trump said that it only risked being a "waste of time". The Kyiv Post says the "sudden reversal" casts fresh doubt on Trump's push for a quick peace deal in Ukraine. The paper quotes an expert who says there are "no miracles in diplomacy", only "the successful execution of a well-planned strategy". An opinion piece in The Washington Post writes that "Russians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity". It estimates that the "collapse" seems to have been triggered by Monday's call between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who said that Russia can't simply stop fighting because that would mean that Russians "are forgetting the root causes of the conflict".

But the situation on the frontline doesn't seem to be advancing. Russia's summer wasn’t what the Kremlin had imagined, according to an opinion piece in The Moscow Times. The paper calls it a "strategic defeat for the Kremlin". Despite the fact that the Russian army outnumbered Ukrainian forces by three to sixfold in certain areas, it only managed to achieve "limited tactical gains". The opinion piece says that after the "obvious summer failure", Russia is now betting on "terror tactics" for the fall season, like terrorising civilians with drone attacks on energy and gas facilities. The paper adds that the Russian army is also currently facing the dilemma of how to counter Ukrainian long-range strikes. But beyond frontline strategy, there’s another issue. The Moscow Times reports that Russian researchers are now starting to publish data showing that Russian soldiers are confronting PTSD, alcohol abuse and suicidal thoughts after fighting in Ukraine. The paper says that the issue has been discussed before by Western media and researchers, but it's the first time that researchers within Russia are talking about the scale of the problem. The Moscow Times also says that notions of masculinity that are deeply rooted in Russian culture stop many men from seeking professional psychological help. They also fear it could harm their military career.  

Next, a multimedia investigation reveals that NATO is getting involved in a million-euro corruption scandal. It's a collaboration between French paper La Lettre, Belgian newspapers Le Soir and Knack and Dutch investigative media Follow The Money. It reveals that agents and consultants of NATO's support and procurement agency NSPA are suspected of having received millions of euros connected to purchases of explosives and drones. Follow the Money writes that several suspects were arrested across Europe in May. But a few months later, the US dropped charges against four of them, despite what the paper calls strong evidence. Follow the Money quotes experts who say that the American withdrawal from the case shows that the Trump administration "does not want to prosecute corruption".

Next, The Wall Street Journal reports on the dark side of the business of surrogacy. The paper calls it a "multibillion-dollar business" where "sometimes the money goes missing". Couples often use escrow accounts to handle the large amounts of money they have to deal with. But these companies, part of an industry that's loosely regulated, handle millions of dollars with almost no oversight. There are reports of escrow companies using their clients' money to fund a recording studio, a yoga business or buy bitcoin. Millions were stolen by one employee to feed an online gambling habit. The paper says that the lack of regulation often means that parents and surrogates can't recover their funds if the money goes missing. 

An unexpected species has been found in Iceland: mosquitoes. That’s a first for the country, which was one of the few places in the world without the insects; the other being Antarctica. The Guardian says that this shows that global warming is making Iceland more hospitable for insects. Glaciers are also collapsing, inviting fish from warmer climates. The article says that Iceland is warming "at four times the rate of the rest of the northern hemisphere". 

Finally, nearly 10,000 people and 550 cats have attended one of the world's largest cat shows in Cleveland in the search for a "once-in-a-lifetime" cat. National Geographic reports that it was organised by the Cat Fancier Association – the world’s largest registry of pedigreed cats. 

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