Ebola Outbreak: 952 Confirmed Cases and 247 Deaths

Ebola Outbreak: 952 Confirmed Cases and 247 Deaths

Mac Slavo

The Ebola virus is still making its way through the Democratic Republic of Congo. SO far, there have been 952 confirmed cases and 247 deaths. There doesn’t seem to be an end in sight either.

Cases have increased by 38 percent over the past week, spreading across 32 health zones in eastern Congo. Accoridng to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the outbreak is heavily concentrated in the Ituri province, which accounts for more than 90 percent of reported infections.

The outbreak is outpacing those attempting to contain it. Several factors are at play, making this particular viral outbreak a different situation.

“It has been a month after the Ebola outbreak, and it is still outpacing our response efforts. There are big gaps in surveillance, diagnosis, contact tracing, and community engagement,” says Dr. Kerry Dierberg, who is on the ground, speaking from Goma to The Indian Express.

Dr. Dierberg, an emergency medical coordinator at Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), is dealing with an epidemiological situation that remains unclear and is evolving rapidly.

Dr. Dierberg, an emergency medical coordinator at Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), is dealing with an epidemiological situation that remains unclear and is evolving rapidly.

The current strain spreading, called Bundibugyo, has proven incredibly difficult to treat. Current vaccines are ineffective against this strain of the virus, but conflict and humanitarian displacements continue to complicate the containment effort as well. Many locals in the community are resisting health protocols and not adhering to strict safe-burial protocols...

Health officials say that they are also fighting the battle of misinformation about Ebola.

Infants and young children are exceptionally vulnerable to Ebola. The virus spreads through direct contact with bodily fluids (such as saliva, vomit, and feces), making the hands-on, constant care required in orphanages highly conducive to transmission.

The primary symptoms of Ebola include:

• Sudden onset of fever and profound fatigue
• Severe muscle pain and weakness
• Vomiting and diarrhea
• Impaired kidney and liver function
• In advanced stages, internal and external bleeding

There is no estimate on how bad this outbreak could get, nor is there any kind of time approximation for when it could peak. Considering it hasn’t yet, this could still get much worse.

Russian Envoy Calls US Demand for Iran Uranium Enrichment Ban Irrational

Russian Envoy Calls US Demand for Iran Uranium Enrichment Ban Irrational

Sputnik

The US demand for a ban on uranium enrichment in Iran appears completely irrational, Russian Permanent Representative to International Organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov said on Sunday.

"Can anyone explain why the US insists on zero uranium enrichment? It seems to be absolutely irrational," Ulyanov wrote on X, commenting on the publication about Pezeshkian's statement.

Earlier in the day, Saudi Arabian news channel Al Arabiya cited Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian as saying that Tehran was ready to provide written guarantees that it had no plans to make a nuclear weapon, but would never abandon its legitimate right to peaceful nuclear energy and uranium enrichment. 

On May 15, US President Donald Trump said he would be satisfied with a 20-year suspension of Iran's uranium enrichment. The Iranian Foreign Ministry stated that Tehran would not give up the rights provided under the Treaty on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The New York Times claimed that Iran had agreed to a 10-year suspension.

On June 16, US Vice President JD Vance said that the US and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) would help Iran destroy its enriched uranium stockpiles, claiming this was reflected in the memorandum of understanding.

Why Experts Fear the Last Days of Normal Have Already Begun Ahead of a Possible 2030 Collapse

Why Experts Fear the Last Days of Normal Have Already Begun Ahead of a Possible 2030 Collapse

Milan Adams

People have always imagined the beginning of a crisis in dramatic terms. They imagine emergency broadcasts interrupting television programs, endless traffic jams, crowds gathering in confusion and images powerful enough to convince everyone that something unusual is happening. History, however, has rarely unfolded with such theatrical precision. More often, profound changes have emerged quietly, disguised behind ordinary routines and familiar landscapes. Some of the most significant disruptions experienced by societies during the last century began during periods that, in retrospect, appeared almost painfully normal. Shops remained open, roads stayed crowded and millions of people continued planning holidays, discussing mortgage payments and making appointments for the following month, unaware that the mechanisms supporting that normality had already begun experiencing pressures invisible to the public.

Throughout 2026, discussions among analysts specializing in infrastructure, logistics and long-term resilience have become increasingly focused on a subject that rarely attracts widespread attention. Their concern has not revolved around spectacular disasters or apocalyptic scenarios, but around something far more difficult to explain. Modern civilization has become extraordinarily efficient, perhaps more efficient than at any other moment in history. Yet efficiency and resilience have never meant precisely the same thing. Systems capable of operating with remarkable precision under normal circumstances are not necessarily systems designed to absorb multiple disruptions occurring simultaneously.

For decades, abundance gradually transformed from a privilege into an expectation. Entire generations grew up without experiencing prolonged shortages, without preserving food for winter and without considering the possibility that products lining supermarket shelves represented the final stage of a chain extending across oceans and continents. Convenience became so deeply embedded in everyday life that the mechanisms sustaining it faded into the background. People no longer thought about warehouses, shipping routes or distribution centers for the simple reason that they had never needed to. Deliveries arrived. Shelves remained stocked. The machine continued functioning.

Historians studying previous periods of instability have repeatedly noted a curious phenomenon. Individuals describing the weeks preceding economic crises, wars or large-scale disruptions often remembered ordinary details with remarkable clarity. They remembered birthdays, sporting events, routine shopping trips and conversations that, at the time, appeared completely insignificant. Looking back years later, many struggled to identify the precise moment when circumstances changed. There was no single date, no universally recognized warning and no obvious signal that the assumptions governing daily life were becoming increasingly fragile.

According to assessments discussed throughout 2026, nearly two-thirds of households living in highly urbanized regions possess emergency reserves sufficient for fewer than six days. Such figures may appear abstract when presented as percentages, but their implications become far more unsettling when translated into ordinary reality. In a metropolitan area containing ten million inhabitants, this would mean that more than six million people depend almost entirely upon trucks arriving on schedule, warehouses operating without interruption and distribution systems functioning with almost surgical precision every hour of every day. The margin separating abundance from scarcity, according to several specialists, is no longer measured in seasons or months, but in the number of days required for shelves to be replenished.

Several projections extending toward 2030 have attracted particular attention among researchers concerned with resilience and infrastructure. Their conclusions vary considerably, yet they share a common observation. By the end of the decade, dependence upon automation, artificial intelligence and synchronized logistics networks may reach levels unprecedented in human history. Supporters describe these developments as the natural evolution of efficiency. Critics, however, have raised a different question altogether. They wonder whether increasing precision has gradually reduced the margin separating normality from disruption.

More....

Zelensky threatens to attack Belarus

Zelensky threatens to attack Belarus

RT

Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky has issued an ultimatum to Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, threatening him with military action if Belarus fails to dismantle the communication stations along its southern border, just days after a deadly Ukrainian drone strike on a bus carrying a children’s soccer team from the country.

Earlier this week, Lukashenko said that those seeking to drag his nation into the conflict “will have to pay dearly for that,” demanding answers from Kiev regarding the strike on the bus and other “provocations.” The attack in Russia’s Bryansk Region left six children injured and killed the wife of a Belarusian school soccer team coach who was accompanying the young athletes to a Russian seaside resort.

Kiev has denied responsibility, while Zelensky claimed that it was Lukashenko who must “be honest” and prove Minsk’s peaceful intentions by removing “retransmitters on his communication towers” along the border with Ukraine.

“I think one week would be enough for him to accomplish this,” the Ukrainian leader stated at a press conference in Kiev on Friday. “If he does not do it, we will.”

Lukashenko has repeatedly said that Belarus has no intention of engaging in a war against any nation and “is not threatening anyone.”Zelensky, however, stated that there was “no need for unnecessary words,” and issued another veiled threat against the Belarusian oil refining industry.

“Just like his, for example, oil refining industry,” Zelensky said, claiming that Minsk is one of Russia’s “main” suppliers of petroleum products. “Can this be stopped? I am sure that it is within his power.”

Over the past few weeks, Zelensky has been ramping up his rhetoric about an allegedly growing threat posed by Belarus – and threatened it with a preemptive strike. Earlier this year, the commander of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces warned that Kiev had already identified some 500 potential military and logistical targets across the country.

Iran’s delegation still at talks, US diplomat says, contradicting Iranian report

Iran’s delegation still at talks, US diplomat says, contradicting Iranian report

Jacob Magid

A senior US diplomat says Iran’s delegation remains at the negotiations venue in Switzerland, contradicting an Iranian state media report claiming that the team from Tehran had left the site in protest of US President Donald Trump’s repeated threats against the Islamic Republic.

The US delegation expects to continue working through the night, the senior US diplomat engaged in the negotiations says, adding that discussions are ongoing.

The US diplomat says discussions have focused on “clarifying some of the confusing messaging from Iran on the Strait and building deconfliction mechanisms to ensure the strait will remain fully open.”

Iranian state media had claimed that Tehran had closed the strait in response to Israeli actions in Lebanon, even though the US has insisted that the channel remains open.

Iranian state media has reported a series of claims that the US has asserted to be false, and motivated by a desire to present a harder line to Iran’s domestic audience.

“We have also worked through deconfliction mechanisms and enforcing the ceasefire in southern Lebanon,” the US diplomat says, regarding Sunday’s talks in Switzerland.

The latter part of the statement further highlights how the US-Iran talks have become the central venue for discussions regarding Lebanon, even though they include neither Israel nor Lebanon or the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group.

The US diplomat says negotiators in Switzerland also have had “robust discussions on all elements of the nuclear deal,” and that they plan to use “today’s work as a starting point for ongoing technical talks going forward.”