Geopolitics, places and the global stories behind the posts.
Orcas and whale sharks are suddenly showing up off Mozambique every week. Out in the Pacific, the strongest El Niño ever measured for this time of year is growing. Here is what it could mean for South Africa's rain, food prices and summer heat.
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 S&P 500 is sitting at record highs. Michael Burry, the investor from The Big Short, says that is what denial looks like, and that in 2000 and 2008 this stage lasted six to nine months.
Read the storyPlague is normally stopped with a week of antibiotics. Russia sealed hospitals instead. An MIT biosecurity expert says that points to a germ drugs can't stop, or something else entirely, and Senator Rand Paul is spreading the warning.
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.
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