Shigella, the bug behind dysentery, is spreading through sex faster than through food or travel. In the US, the share of cases that shrug off all five usual antibiotics went from zero to 8.5% in just over a decade. Here is what it is, how you catch it, and how to stay safe.
Read the storyOn 8 October 2026 President Trump hung the National Medal of Science around Elon Musk's neck and called him a national treasure. Sergey Brin, Jensen Huang and Lisa Su got one too. Here is what the medal is, what Trump said, who else was honoured, and why some people are furious about it.
Read the storyRiot police fired tear gas and used a water cannon on Place de la Bastille in Paris on Thursday, at the end of another day of high school protests. More than 6,000 people, most of them under 18, have been arrested since the movement began. It started with broken schools and missing teachers. Now it is one of the biggest youth revolts France has seen in years.
Read the storyA party school modelled on Beijing's, Chinese police desks in Johannesburg, a train deal the Zondo Commission tied to kickbacks and a Taiwan office pushed out of the capital. Here is what is on the record, and what nobody has answered.
Read the storyArmenia is building a Jesus statue that will stand 101 metres tall with its base, far above Christ the Redeemer in Rio. A billionaire is paying for it. But the country's ancient church says a statue of Christ breaks its own tradition, and the man behind it has been arrested.
Read the storyA claim that the BBC pays white staff less than ethnic minority staff in 6 of its 7 pay bands has been seen hundreds of thousands of times. We went to the BBC's own pay gap report. The band numbers are real. But across the whole BBC, white staff still earn slightly more, and the reason is a maths trick most people have never heard of.
Read the storyIsrael votes on 27 October, three years after the Hamas attack. The bereaved and the freed hostages are on both sides of the fight over Netanyahu.
Read the storyDiscovery is up 8.2%, Bonitas 8.7%, Momentum and Medshield 7.9%. The regulator asked for 3.8%. Here is every big scheme's 2027 increase in one table, what it costs you each month, and who has not announced yet.
Read the storyThe Central Energy Fund's daily numbers show 95 petrol short by R4.58 a litre in early October. Here is what that means for 4 November, for your tank, and when the official price comes. We update this page as the data moves.
Read the storyNovember's grant days clash with the 4 November local elections, so SASSA is reviewing them. Here are the dates on the official schedule, every grant amount, the R370 SRD, and how to check your status safely.
Read the storyMore than 29 million South Africans can vote on Wednesday 4 November. Here is how to check you are registered, where your voting station is, which ID to bring, how the two or three ballots work and what your council actually controls.
Read the storyPneumonic plague is a lung infection caused by the same bacterium as the Black Death. Here is how it spreads, the symptoms, how deadly it is, how it is cured and where it still exists.
Read the storyBeatriz Flamini lived 70 metres under the ground in Spain with no clock, no sunlight and no people. When they came to bring her up, she thought about 160 days had gone by.
Read the storyA flydubai jet to Tel Aviv suddenly dived over Saudi Arabia. Inside the locked cockpit, the co-pilot had allegedly hit the captain with the crash axe. One last push on the door handle changed everything.
Read the storyThe US Embassy in Moscow put out a health alert about suspected pneumonic plague in Siberia. Inside it sits a familiar order: Americans in Russia should depart immediately. Was the outbreak the reason?
Read the storyThe Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute has hunted plague across half of Russia since 1934. Here is what it does, where the disease still lives, and what the latest reporting says about the young technician's death.
Read the storyA Kenyan man who lived in DR Congo flew home sick and died in Nairobi. Congo's outbreak has passed 8,600 cases and is surging in a new province.
Read the storyRussia says there is no plague, yet a Siberian hospital is handing out plague checklists. Here is how pneumonic plague spreads, how it is cured, and how worried you actually need to be.
Read the storyA plague lab worker in Siberia died of what Russia calls pneumonia. The world is sceptical because Moscow has hidden deadly lab outbreaks before, once for 13 years.
Read the storyA 28-year-old technician at a Siberian anti-plague institute died two days after reaching hospital. Hospitals were sealed, nearly 200 people isolated, and now Trump says he will raise it with Putin.
Read the storyTrump says a call with Putin about the suspected plague case in Siberia is coming "very soon". Washington wants data, the WHO wants answers, and the Kremlin says thanks but there is nothing to see.
Read the storyCalifornia, central Chile, the Mediterranean, the Western Cape and southern Australia share one rare climate. If AI makes work optional, money may flood there.
Read the story
