Plague in Siberia? What We Know, What We Don't — and Why This Is Not Another COVID

October 5, 2026

Editorial 

What has happened in Russia's Irkutsk region is a serious public-health incident involving a suspected plague infection. It is not yet a confirmed plague outbreak

A 28-year-old laboratory worker in Siberia is dead. Nearly 200 people have been placed under medical observation. Several hospitals have introduced quarantine measures, masks have appeared at a major industrial plant, Russia's top public-health official has travelled to the region, and governments in Washington and Brussels are watching the situation. It sounds like the beginning of another pandemic story. But it is not — at least not on the evidence available today. 

Brazil's Election Is Not Over, But If You Care For Spoilers, Follow the Money

By Mars Strangelove Jr. and Yiannis Damellos

October 4, 2026

Brazil has finished the first round of its presidential election, but the political story has only become more interesting. Flávio Bolsonaro finished first with 47.03% of the valid vote, while President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva received 45.16%. Neither reached the required majority, so the two will face each other again on Oct. 25. Yet, there is another number worth watching: the votes that did not go to either of them. Brazil had 12 registered presidential candidacies. Augusto Cury, Renan Santos, Ronaldo Caiado and Romeu Zema were among the candidates outside the runoff, and their supporters now represent a substantial political constituency.

U.S. Rushes to Withdraw Bombers From U.K. Air Base After New Threats

The withdrawal came with unusual speed, following what U.S. officials said were threats of an Iran-based plot against the installation

By Eric Schmitt

Reporting from Washington

Oct. 4, 2026 Updated 6:34 p.m. ET

The United States rushed over the weekend to withdraw all 12 B-1 Air Force bombers from an air base in southern England after commanders received new threats about an Iran-backed plot against the installation, two U.S. officials said on Sunday.

The Most Dangerous Phase of the Iran War May Be the Search for a Way Out

By Yiannis Damellos and Mars Strangelove Jr.

October 4, 2026

The most dangerous moment of the Iran war may not be when either side believes it can win. It may be when one side begins to believe it can no longer afford to lose

There is something profoundly dangerous happening in the Iran war, and it has little to do with the daily math of who has destroyed more missiles, aircraft, or military installations. The United States is preparing to put a third aircraft carrier strike group into the region, accompanied by thousands of additional troops. The deployment is being planned as the Trump administration considers its next move after or even before the November midterm elections. U.S. officials describe it as a way to give the president more military options. In Washington, that may be called flexibility. In Tehran, it must look like the battlefield is about to become considerably larger.

The Whistleblower Who Found Lutnick’s Epstein Trail Is Dead. The Questions Are Alive and Kicking

By Mars Strangelove Jr.

Curated by Yiannis Damellos

October 4, 2026

Simon Andriesz spent years trying to make people listen. When he finally found the documents he was searching for, he also uncovered something considerably more consequential. Now, at 57, he is dead, and the circumstances surrounding his death remain less clear than the coincidence itself.

There is a particular kind of story that begins not with a gunshot, but with a document and a name hidden in a database. An email that should not have existed and a question that refuses to go away. Simon Andriesz was a British former banker and whistleblower who spent years trying to make institutions listen to his allegations about his former employer, BGC, and its then-chief executive, Howard Lutnick. In 2026, he discovered something of far greater significance; a 2018 email exchange between Lutnick and Jeffrey Epstein concerning Adfin, a digital advertising startup in which Epstein and Cantor Fitzgerald had invested. The BBC investigated Andriesz’s discovery and broadcast his story in July. Now Andriesz is dead, aged 57.

CNN: Researcher at Russian plague laboratory dies of ‘unknown’ infection

CNN World

Cover Photo: The Moscow Times
By Tim Lister and Svitlana Vlasova
5 hr ago

Russian authorities are responding to an incident in which a suspected dangerous infection was released as a result of a laboratory accident in Siberia and a researcher died. The incident occurred at the Anti-Plague Research Institute in Shelekhov, near Irkutsk, according to Russian state media TASS.

Sass Jordan, Canadian rock and blues singer, dies at 65

News

October 4, 2026

Canadian rock and blues singer Sass Jordan, a Juno Award winner whose career spanned more than four decades, died peacefully on Oct 2, surrounded by family. She was 65 

Jordan’s family announced her death, remembering the singer as “an inimitable force of nature” and “an irreplaceable being of light and joy.”

‘Did he know?’: Why Israel is rejecting an October 7 reckoning

AL JAZEERA NEWS

Opinion | Israel-Palestine conflict
The fixation on Netanyahu’s failures allows Israel to avoid confronting what it has done in Gaza.
Published on 4 Oct 2026 by Yoav Litvin, Doctor of psychology/neuroscience, writer and photographer.

As Israel prepares to mark three years since the October 7 attacks and with less than a month to go to parliamentary elections, one topic is dominating the electoral agenda. Media reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was warned by the United Arab Emirates before the attacks have put his alleged responsibility back in the spotlight. “Did he know?” is the question on everyone’s lips.

Mr. Carney, Is Washington Trying to Break Up Canada With the Help of Alberta Separatists? This Is a National Security Matter

The evidence does not yet establish an American government plot to break up Canada. However, it does establish enough American involvement in Alberta’s separatist movement to demand an immediate national-security investigation.

By Yiannis Damellos

October 4, 2026

Dear Prime Minister,

The question confronting Canada is no longer simply whether some Albertans want independence. We all know that Canadians have every right to debate their country’s constitutional future, however profoundly others may disagree with them. The question is whether foreign political actors are attempting to influence that constitutional future from outside Canada — and whether Canadian institutions are prepared to stop unlawful interference before it can affect a democratic process. A major Globe and Mail investigation published Oct. 3 reports that Republican political operatives from Michigan travelled to Alberta to assist separatists, while some of those Americans have themselves advocated Alberta’s separation and even U.S. annexation. The investigation also reports that Alberta separatist representatives went to Washington and that discussions there included proposals involving Alberta’s oil royalties, land access and fresh water in exchange for assistance with a transition toward independence.

John Maynard Keynes and the search for the good life

Playwright James Graham on an economist who asked the right questions in bad times — and why he matters so much today

James Graham

Published OCT 2, 2026

You can read the original article here

There are many different ways to measure how well a country is doing.
Some plump unimaginatively for gross domestic product (GDP), or perhaps you prefer gross national income (GNI). Maybe it’s “wellbeing” as defined and diagnosed by the OECD, or the habitability of your environment through the Global Liveability Index. Is it more what human rights are enshrined in law, or average longevity instead? Gold medals, or gold reserves?

Republicans Don’t Merely Promise Policies Anymore. They Promise Cash — Courtesy of “The National Bank of Trump”

Opinion 

October 4, 2026

BY YIANNIS DAMELLOS

Mars Strangelove Jr. contributed to this story

The United States of Broken Promises is starting to look like a developing economy in the Balkans. Trump just offered $90 for Medicare, $500 for some folks, $1,776 for troops only, and $5,000 for everyone if his party takes the House and Senate in the midterms. But what Americans really need is a system that doesn’t require an election trick to make life affordable — and a social program that makes relief checks unnecessary. Only Bernie can deliver that.

El Pais: «Η αλήθεια είναι ότι η Κούβα έχει ήδη πέσει»: Η στρατηγική των Ηνωμένων Πολιτειών για την υποταγή του νησιού

Παρότι ανακοίνωσε αλλαγή πορείας τον Ιανουάριο, η Ουάσινγκτον έχει απλώς καταστήσει τη χώρα  περισσότερο οικονομικά εξαρτημένη. Οι Κουβανοί συνεχίζουν να επιβιώνουν μέσα σε διακοπές ρεύματος και ελλείψεις, όμως μια νέα ιδιωτική τάξη αναλαμβάνει ρόλους που κάποτε ανήκαν στο κράτος.

Φωτογραφία: EL PAÍS ENGLISH

Κείμενο: Carla Gloria Colomé

EL PAÍS / Νέα Υόρκη / 2 Οκτωβρίου 2026 / 05:13 CDT

Ο Sandro Castro, εγγονός του Φιντέλ και influencer, ο οποίος διαχειρίζεται αρκετά νυχτερινά κέντρα στην Αβάνα, δέχθηκε πριν από λίγες ημέρες μια ερώτηση στο Instagram, την οποία είδαν περισσότεροι από 165.000 ακόλουθοί του. «Πότε θα έρθει η αλλαγή στην Κούβα;» Ο νεαρός Κάστρο ανάρτησε μια φωτογραφία του με μια κουβανική σημαία ριγμένη στους ώμους του, κοιτάζοντας από μακριά τον ρημαγμένο ορίζοντα της Αβάνας. «Η Κούβα ήδη αλλάζει, δεν το έχετε καταλάβει;» απάντησε. Πράγματι, η χώρα που υπήρχε τον Ιανουάριο δεν είναι η ίδια εννέα μήνες αργότερα: οι περισσότεροι άνθρωποι εξακολουθούν να βλέπουν τη ζωή να περνά μέσα σε ελλείψεις και πολύωρες διακοπές ρεύματος, όμως μια νέα ιδιωτική τάξη αναλαμβάνει ρόλους που κάποτε ανήκαν στο κράτος — προμηθεύοντας φαρμακεία, εισάγοντας και διανέμοντας ντίζελ και εξασφαλίζοντας την πώληση τροφίμων.

‘The truth is Cuba has already fallen’: the United States’ strategy to subdue the island

Although it announced a change in January, Washington has simply made the country economically more dependent. Cubans continue to survive amid blackouts and shortages, but a new private class is taking on roles that used to belong to the state

Carla Gloria Colomé

New York - OCT 02, 2026 - 05:13 CDT

EL PAÍS

Sandro Castro, Fidel’s influencer grandson who runs several Havana nightclubs, was asked a question on Instagram a few days ago that was seen by his more than 165,000 followers. “When will change come to Cuba?” The young Castro posted a photo of himself with a Cuban flag draped over his back while gazing at Havana’s cracked skyline from afar: “Cuba is already changing, or haven’t you noticed?” he replied. Certainly, the country that existed in January is not the same nine months later: most people still watch life slip away amid shortages and long power outages, but a new private class is taking on roles that used to belong to the state — supplying pharmacies, importing and distributing diesel, and ensuring food sales.

If humans want to learn how to control AI, shouldn't they learn first how to control themselves?

October 3, 2026

By Yiannis Damellos

AI is a sponge for human knowledge. Before we teach it to facilitate our existence, perhaps we should learn to control our greed and restrain ourselves from antagonism and profit-making. 

There is something almost wonderfully human about the great artificial-intelligence race. We have built machines that may one day exceed our ability to reason, and before they have even reached that point, their creators are already fighting among themselves over money, power, safety and the future of the species. What kind of example do we set for the Super Intelligence?

Canada scores a dairy win on US soil as farmers grumble about Trump's trade war

Story by CBC/Radio-Canada • 7h • 5 min read
On the most elite stage in the world of competitive dairy, a Canadian teenager and her "favourite cow" scored two major wins while on U.S. soil

Never heard of competitive dairy? Let me assure you, it's a really big deal. One win — let alone two — at the World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wisc., can be life-changing for farmers and their cows.

What a hiring slowdown signals about the state of the U.S. economy

Oct 2, 2026 6:55 PM EDT
By —Amna Nawaz, Courtney Norris, Molly Mazilu
U.S. hiring slowed in September as employers added just 29,000 jobs. The disappointing jobs report has wide-reaching implications for consumer prices and interest rates, and it comes a month before Americans head to the polls for midterm elections. Amna Nawaz discussed more with Beth Hammack, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.

Anthropic co-founder reportedly told religious leaders he fears having created something that "suffers perpetually"

Manuel Uth 

Oct 2, 2026

Nano Banana Pro prompted by THE DECODER

Key Points

• Since fall 2025, Anthropic has secretly flown in dozens of theologians and philosophers to discuss whether its language model Claude might be conscious and how to shape its moral character.
• The initiative is part of an internal research program led by co-founder Christopher Olah. An 84-page "constitution" guides Claude's overall personality.
• Critics and religious leaders warn that framing AI as a moral entity could shield Anthropic from liability when things go wrong, and that the consultations help the company claim moral legitimacy it couldn't earn on its own.

Iran Update, October 2, 2026

5 hours ago

William Doran, Adham Fattah, Ria Reddy and Brian Carter

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and The Critical Threats Project (CTP) at the American Enterprise Institute are publishing updates Monday through Friday to provide analysis on the war with Iran and the broader Middle East. Weekday updates cover events from the past 24-hour period, whereas weekend updates are abbreviated and cover the Houthi-Saudi conflict and major breaking developments related to the war with Iran.