World

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.

(OSV News) — Catholics around the world will mark World Mission Sunday on Oct. 18, and a “renewed energy” infuses the annual celebration of the Church’s missionary activity this milestone year, one expert told OSV News. “There are more and more dioceses around the country that are finding innovative ways to tell the stories of missionaries, and the need to support missionaries, the need to pray for missionaries,” said Father Anthony D. Andreassi, a priest of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri in Brooklyn, New York, and a researcher for the Pontifical Mission Societies USA.

Ticket prices range from USD $9.62 (R158) for entry-level tickets to USD $31.31 (R514) for the highest-tier matches. Special consideration has also been given to family bundles, student and pensioner pricing, early-bird local allocations, and community club and school group pricing. ICC CEO, Sanjog Gupta said: “One million ticket applications in just over 48 hours of opening the ticket ballot is a demonstration of the attention, stature and affiliation for ICC Cricket World Cup 2027. ICC events are now spectacles which transcend cultural and geographic boundaries and serve as platforms to widen and deepen fandom for the sport.

6 October 2026Indy Almroth-WrightSouth of EnglandIan PatonIan Paton, from Lymington, grew the pumpkin over about four monthsA pumpkin grower has set a new world record after producing a giant squash. Ian Paton, from Lymington, Hampshire, entered his exceptionally large specimen into a giant vegetable weigh-off near Reading in Berkshire. It weighed 2,856.8lbs (1,295.8kg), has circumference of over 20ft (6m) and was officially confirmed by Guinness World Records judge, Sebastian Suski. Paton said growing the pumpkin named Bagheera, tending to it for up to six hours and providing about 130 gallons of water daily, had been "bloody hard work". It was the first time the 65-year-old, who has grown giant pumpkins with his twin brother Stuart for over 50 years, had entered the competition on his own. Sebastian SuskiPaton said he spent about spent up to six hours a day tending the pumpkin that needed about 130 gallons of water dailyThe pumpkin is now on show at Sunnyfields farm near Southampton, where it will be displayed for the next few weeks. Paton said the pumpkin would later be used as feed for cows. More on this storyRelated internet links

EAST GREENSBORO, N. C. (Oct. 6, 2026) – Forever a North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University Aggie and now a Hillman College Falcon, former Mister A&T Joshua Suiter ‘22 is starring in the Netflix reboot of the 1980s and 1990s hit sitcom “A Different World.” The series, which debuted at No. 1 on Netflix in the U. S., has already been renewed for a second season. It builds on the cultural impact of the original series, which helped shape national perceptions of historically Black college and university (HBCU) life and inspired generations of students.

Building the foundations for an AI-ready economy can contribute to turning Africa’s growth into more jobs and better opportunities for the region's rapidly growing labor force WASHINGTON, October 6, 2026 — Sub-Saharan Africa’s economy remains resilient despite geopolitical tensions, climate shocks, declining development assistance, and fiscal pressures. Growth in the region is projected to rise from 4.1% in 2025 to 4.3% in 2026, 0.3 percentage points above the April 2026 forecast, according to the latest edition of the Africa Economic Update, the World Bank Group’s biannual economic report for the region.

Africa is about 14 times larger than Greenland. Brazil is five times bigger than Alaska. Canada and China are roughly the same size. But by looking at the Mercator Projection, one of the most widely used map projections, one wouldn’t know it. Created by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator in 1569 to help maritime travel in the 16th century, the Mercator Projection remains the world’s default map despite its glaring distortions. With its unique mathematical projection that determines the shapes, sizes and arrangement of the continents, the Mercator map has depicted countries near the poles as being larger than they really are for more than 400 years.

Fifa allowed the Democratic Republic of the Congo to compete at this summer’s World Cup despite reports suggesting an internal investigation found that the country had fielded an ineligible player in qualifying. The player in question, the goalkeeper Lionel Mpasi, starred for his nation at the tournament, including against England in the last 32. Mpasi, who was born in France and played for Les Bleus at youth level, had never completed the process of switching nationalities, Fifa reportedly found. No punishment was levied against the Congolese federation, Fecofa. The news will again raise questions over the Fifa president, Gianni Infantino, with a series of governance scandals having brought heightened scrutiny on his position. Fifa’s investigative teams are independent and the president has no input into their proceedings. Fifa is understood to have denied that Infantino played a part in the decision-making process over Mpasi, but his name is likely to remain in focus owing to a former university associate, Véron Mosengo-Omba, being elected unopposed as president of Fecofa this May.

Bee wee woop - it's time for WORLDS! For Summoner's Rift, this is the patch we'll be seeing our year-defining competitive play on. Lock in, because we've got some adjustments to some pro staples like Ambessa & K'Sante, and buffs to weaker champions who might be on the edge of viability like Kennen & Kindred. Rocketbelt is getting another tap to make it a bit worse at just being a purchasable Flash for immobile characters, with some immediate compensation for some core users because this is the patch and it's the only shot we've got. There's quite a bit more, including fun stuff for Mayhem & Classic, so read on for details! Looking for more information on all things League of Legends? Check out our community-run wiki here! Wrong patch notes? You can find the TFT patch notes here! Austin "Riot wroadie" Wright Erika "Riot Cashmiir" Haas Steven "Riot sternest" EarnestAmbessaAmbessa has been too reliable in her late game output for players with high mastery in all brackets, but especially pro-play.

Everyone at Exmouth Marina knew there was an unexploded German bomb in the water. Old hands at the dock had been saying so since the end of the second world war. But the marina had been dredged and re-dredged and nothing had ever come up. It had started to sound like an old wives’ tale. The marina is a busy stretch of water: a commercial port until the late 1990s that had since been converted into a home to private yachts. A bomb, you’d think, would have a hard time staying hidden. But in the middle of the afternoon on Wednesday 14 January 2026, 81 years after the end of the second world war, Steve Hockings-Thompson, the manager of Exmouth Marina, got a call from the crew of a dredging vessel telling him he’d better come out to the boat. “I thought: ‘Oh crikey. We’ve got a bit of an issue here,’” Hockings-Thompson told me recently. He went out to the dredger, a squat barge that hauls silt and other debris from the marina floor on to a flat deck that resembles a steel sieve. Sitting on the deck was a huge hunk of metal, caked in mud and stones. As Hockings-Thompson got closer and saw its distinctive conical shape, he knew it was a bomb – a big one.

October 06, 2026In 1950, almost one in four children worldwide died before their fifth birthday. In Africa, one in three children died. The chart shows the change since then. In every region, the mortality rate of children has declined. In Africa and Oceania, the child mortality rate declined 5-fold, in Asia 10-fold, and in Europe about 27-fold. Progress was not always steady. The sharp spike in Asia around 1960 was due to the “Great Leap Forward” famine in Mao’s China, the deadliest famine in recorded history. And the progress is far from finished. The global average has declined to 3.5%, but this still means that about 4.7 million children younger than five years died in 2025 — 13,000 children every single day. Explore child mortality data for every country in our interactive data explorerOur latest Data InsightsSee all Data Insights TodayAt the peak of the HIV epidemic, AIDS caused more than half of all deaths in some countriesHannah Ritchie and Pablo ArriagadaThe HIV epidemic — which started in the early 1980s and progressed rapidly in the 1990s — has had lasting impacts that continue today. More than 800,000 people still die from HIV/AIDS every year.

The Thompson Nashville is a sleek, but not sterile, high-rise in the heart of The Gulch, supported by an ethos of quiet luxury. Rest on Sferra linens in a dark, cozy room, and when refreshed, you can head out to hear music and drink Tennessee whiskey at the rooftop bar or in the surrounding vibrant neighborhood. Most of your Music City wishes can be answered by the concierge staff, be it tickets to a concert or a backstage experience. When hungry or thirsty, many of the city’s most popular restaurants are right outside your door, but you don’t even have to leave the hotel, thanks to the experiences provided by Marsh House and the rooftop bar L. A. Jackson, both onsite and well executed.