'Breakneck' Ebola epidemic in Congo outpaces world's response - Reuters

The World Health Organization has said the risk of an epidemic in Russia is low after the sudden death of a lab technician who worked at a plague research institute in Siberia. Darya Shipilova, who was 28, died last week, two days after falling ill. Russian media reports suggested she may have become infected after an accident at her workplace, where dangerous pathogens are kept and studied. Russian authorities have downplayed the incident and say Shipilova died of “pneumonia of an unknown aetiology”. Strict quarantine measures have been imposed at the research centre in the city of Irkutsk and in several neighbouring hospitals. Christian Lindmeier, a WHO spokesperson, said on Tuesday that there was no sign of a wider outbreak. “All ‌of the patients’ contacts have reportedly been identified and are being monitored for ‌illness, and none to date have shown ​symptoms of illness,” he said. Russian ⁠officials were still ​investigating whether viral pneumonic plague caused Shipilova’s death but the WHO had assessed the health risk as “moderate to low” for Irkutsk, “low” for the rest of Russia and “very low” for Europe, he said.

US president accuses Ukrainian leader of not wanting to end the war, as Zelenskyy speaks with Washington envoys. United States President Donald Trump has defended sanction waivers for Russia, saying he wants to keep Moscow at the bargaining table and accusing his counterpart in Kyiv of not wanting to end the war in Ukraine. Trump made the comments on Truth Social on Sunday in response to criticism of his decision to block numerous sanctions on Russia just days before they were due to take effect. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Trump faces bipartisan backlash over Russia sanctions waiverlist 2 of 3Ukraine launches over 1,000 drones at Russia, setting oil facilities ablazelist 3 of 3Russia’s war on Ukraine ‘must be brought to an end’, Zelenskyy saysend of list“My decision on Russia is a very simple one. I am in the process of negotiating Peace in the war between Russia and Ukraine, and don’t want to do anything that will drive, foolishly, Russia away from the bargaining table,” he said. The move has triggered a significant diplomatic fallout between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy over the past week.

Student-led protests continued in Albania for a sixth day with continued demands for Prime Minister Edi Rama to resign. Despite those calls, Rama is refusing to step down, saying the demonstrations were not a threat to government but rather a threat to Albania's ambition of accession to the European Union. Protesters gathered again at noon in front of the education ministry chanting "Rama, resign" amid a tense standoff with policeImage: Hameraldi Agolli/AP Photo/picture alliance