Economy, Other, Health
222 storiesRussia quarantines hospital as lab worker’s death puts nearly 200 under observation
A female employee of the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East died last week of pneumonia of unknown cause, Russian authorities said, and a hospital in the town of Shelekhov was placed under quarantine. Officia…
Iraq devalues dinar to 1,500 per dollar as war disrupts oil shipping
Iraq devalued its currency on Wednesday, moving the official exchange rate from about 1,300 dinars to the dollar to 1,500, the central bank said. The AP reported the rate was set at a Cabinet meeting the night before, with banks selling dol…
Pennsylvania measles cases pass 1,000, largest state outbreak in decades
Pennsylvania has reported 1,004 measles cases in 2026, the state Department of Health said Monday, including at least 198 hospitalizations and five deaths. State health officials say it is the largest outbreak in any U.S. state in more than…
Russian anti-plague lab researcher dies; US and EU say they are monitoring
A 28-year-old female researcher at the Irkutsk anti-plague research institute in Shelekhov, Russia, died after being diagnosed with pneumonia of unknown cause, the state agency Rospotrebnadzor said. About 200 people who may have had contact…
WHO says risk low as US presses Russia for transparency on plague lab death
The U.S. State Department is monitoring reports of a fatal case of suspected pneumonic plague in Irkutsk Oblast, Russia, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio has publicly called on Moscow to be more transparent about the death of a 28-year-ol…
WHO and Russia say no further plague infections after Siberian lab worker's death
A female worker at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute of Siberia and the Far East died last week from pneumonia of undetermined origin, according to Russian authorities and the WHO. Russia's Rospotrebnadzor said 60% of the identified contact…
MFDS approves Hanmi's EPPE, Korea's first homegrown GLP-1 obesity drug
Korea's Ministry of Food and Drug Safety approved Hanmi Pharmaceutical's EPPE auto-injector (efpeglenatide) on Oct 7, the first domestically developed GLP-1 obesity drug and the country's 45th homegrown new drug. The injectable is indicated…
Kenya confirms first Ebola death after patient arrives from Congo via Uganda
Kenya’s Health Ministry confirmed the country’s first imported Ebola case on Tuesday, after a Kenyan man who arrived from the Democratic Republic of Congo via Uganda was treated at Nairobi Hospital and died late Monday. Authorities placed K…
Kremlin: Russia informed WHO of Irkutsk region situation after worker death
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia has informed the World Health Organization about the situation in the Irkutsk region, following the death of an employee of the Irkutsk anti-plague institute. Peskov also said he had no informatio…
Japan government weighs second supplementary budget focused on disaster response
The Japanese government is considering a second supplementary budget for fiscal 2026, limited to necessary items such as disaster response rather than an economic-stimulus package, with spending expected to be small. It would cover recovery…
WHO says Russia reported no plague case in Irkutsk as US tracks lab worker's death
The World Health Organization said Russian authorities reported no plague case had been recorded in the Irkutsk region, while the cause of a 28-year-old anti-plague laboratory worker's death remained unconfirmed. The US State Department sai…
Rospotrebnadzor calls Irkutsk region situation stable after reports of plague
Rospotrebnadzor said the sanitary-epidemiological situation in Irkutsk Oblast, including the cities of Irkutsk and Shelekhov, is stable, in connection with the case of an employee of the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute of Siberia and the Far …
Japan August real wages rise 1.5% for eighth straight month
Japan's real wages rose 1.5% in August from a year earlier, the eighth consecutive monthly increase, according to the health, labour and welfare ministry's preliminary monthly labour survey published on 7 October. Nominal total cash earning…
Kremlin urges reliance on official statements amid Irkutsk infection rumors
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Rospotrebnadzor is the competent agency on the situation in the Irkutsk region and that people should follow its official statements rather than rumors and speculation. The comments follow the death of a…
IMF chief warns energy shock, debt and AI risks threaten global growth
IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said in a speech in Singapore on Wednesday that countries rich and poor must act faster to cut debt and regulate artificial intelligence, warning of a triple shock from the AI boom, heavy borrowing…
Russian government to write off nearly 3 bln rubles of Belgorod region debt
The Russian government will write off almost 3 billion rubles of the Belgorod region's budget debt under a federal programme to support regions, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said, according to TASS, RIA Novosti, Kommersant and RBC. Komm…
Russia denies plague after worker at Siberian institute dies of unknown pneumonia
A woman who worked at a plague-control research institute in Russia's Irkutsk region in eastern Siberia has died; Japanese outlets differ on whether she died on Oct 1 or Oct 2. Russian authorities say the cause was “pneumonia of unknown cau…
China's FX reserves fall 1.11% to $3,400.3bn at end-September
China's foreign exchange reserves stood at $3,400.3 billion at the end of September 2026, down $38.1 billion, or 1.11%, from the end of August, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange said. The regulator attributed the drop to a rising…
Bank of Korea: corporate spare cash hits record 67.1trn won on chip boom
The Bank of Korea said non-financial companies' net financial surplus reached a record 67.1 trillion won in the second quarter of 2026, driven by a semiconductor-driven surge in operating profits. Households' surplus fell to 60.7 trillion w…
IMF warns global government debt set to pass 100% of world GDP
IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said global government debt is at its highest level since World War II and is likely to exceed 100% of world GDP, naming advanced economies led by the US as the worst offenders. Vedomosti reported …