Congo curtails funeral wakes in Ebola outbreak as WHO upgrades risk assessment

Congo curtails funeral wakes in Ebola outbreak as WHO upgrades risk assessment

JUSTIN KABUMBA

 MONIKA PRONCZUK

 Authorities in northeastern Congo banned funeral wakes and gatherings of more than 50 people Friday in an effort to curb a rapidly spreading Ebola outbreak in a region where medical workers have struggled with a lack of resources and pushback from angry residents. 

The World Health Organization said that the outbreak now poses a “very high” risk for Congo — up from a previous categorization of “high” — but that the risk of the disease spreading globally remains low. 

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said 82 cases and seven deaths have been confirmed in Congo, but that the outbreak is believed to be “much larger.” 

There is no available vaccine for the Bundibugyo virus, which spread undetected for weeks in Congo’s Ituri Province following the first known death while authorities tested for another, more common, Ebola virus and came up negative. There are now 750 suspected cases and 177 suspected deaths, though more are expected as surveillance expands. 

“We are trying to catch up,” Congo Foreign Minister Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner told the AP. “It is a race against the clock.”

Supplies were being rushed to Ituri in the northeastern corner of the country, where nearly a million people have been displaced by armed conflicts over mineral resources. Ramping up contact tracing is a priority, Kayikwamba Wagner said. 

In the provincial capital of Bunia, AP reporters saw empty emergency treatment centers, and doctors in the nearby town of Bambu using expired medical masks while tending to suspected Ebola patients.

The provincial government said Friday it was temporarily banning wakes and gatherings of more than 50 people. It said funerals must be conducted in strict compliance with health protocols. The authorities also required journalists to obtain a permit to report on the outbreak, impeding their work.

The illness also has been reported in two Congolese provinces to the south of Ituri — North Kivu and South Kivu, where the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group controls many key cities, including Goma and Bukavu, where the rebels reported two cases. 

The group said Friday it was creating a crisis team to fight the outbreak.

Kayikwamba Wagner said having the illness in rebel-held areas was alarming because “M23 is, despite whatever ambitions they may have, thoroughly ill equipped” to fight the disease. 

She said the Congo government and rebels were not communicating on the outbreak.

The efforts of health officials and aid groups have met with pushback from communities due to misinformation or situations where medical policy has clashed with local customs such as burial rites.

On Thursday, an Ebola treatment center in Rwampara was set on fire by youths who were angered when they were blocked from retrieving the body of a friend who apparently had died of Ebola, according to witnesses and police.

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"Drills Are Intended To Send A Signal": Russia Holds Massive Nuclear Drills On Land, Sea And Air Alongside Belarus

"Drills Are Intended To Send A Signal": Russia Holds Massive Nuclear Drills On Land, Sea And Air Alongside Belarus

 TYLER DURDEN

Trucks carrying intercontinental ballistic missiles rumbled over forest roads, atomic-powered submarines set sail from Arctic and Pacific ports, and crews scrambled into warplanes as Russia and neighboring Belarus held the final stage of their joint nuclear drills Thursday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the maneuvers in a video call with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko. “The use of nuclear weapons is an extreme, exceptional measure for ensuring the national security of our states,” Putin said, according to AP.

Lukashenko earlier inspected Russian short-range nuclear-capable Iskander ballistic missiles at a military unit involved in the drills and declared: “I dreamed about this machine a long time ago.”

The three-day drills that began Tuesday come amid a surge in Ukrainian drone strikes. including on Moscow’s suburbs that killed three people and damaged several buildings and industrial facilities. The strikes made it harder for officials in the Kremlin to cast the conflict in Ukraine — now in its fifth year — as something so distant that it doesn’t affect the daily routines of Russian civilians.

Drills involve wide array of nuclear weapons

Russia’s Defense Ministry said the exercise involved 64,000 troops, over 200 missile launchers, more than 140 aircraft, 73 surface warships and 13 submarines, including eight armed with nuclear-tipped ICBMs. The drills focused on the “preparation and use of nuclear forces under the threat of aggression,” it said.

The maneuvers also practice cooperation with Belarus, an ally that hosts Russian nuclear weapons. Russian arsenals in Belarus include its latest intermediate range nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile system.

Along with nuclear-tipped ground- and submarine-launched ICBMs, the maneuvers featured a broad assortment of short- and medium-range weapons.

Unlike the intercontinental missiles that can destroy entire cities, tactical nuclear weapons intended for use against troops on the battlefield are less powerful. They include aerial bombs and warheads for short- and medium-range missiles and artillery munitions.

The Defense Ministry said the Russian armed forces test-fired Yars and Sineva ICBMs, as well as medium-range sea-launched Zircon and air-launched Kinzhal missiles, noting that all missiles hit their designated practice targets. Belarusian troops test-fired a short-range Iskander ballistic missile inside Russia.

Putin has repeatedly reminded the world about Moscow’s nuclear arsenals since the war in Ukraine started in February 2022 to deter the West from ramping up support for Kyiv.

In 2024, the Kremlin adopted a revised nuclear doctrine, noting that any nation’s conventional attack on Russia that is supported by a nuclear power will be considered a joint attack on his country. That threat was clearly aimed at discouraging the West from allowing Ukraine to strike Russia with longer-range weapons and appears to significantly lower the threshold for the possible use of Moscow’s nuclear arsenal.

The revised doctrine also placed Belarus under the Russian nuclear umbrella. Putin has said that Moscow will retain control of its nuclear weapons deployed in Belarus, which borders Ukraine and NATO members Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, but would allow its ally to select the targets in case of conflict.

Drills come as Ukrainian drones spotted in the Baltics

The maneuvers are held amid an increase in drone activity in the Baltic nations. On Tuesday, a NATO jet shot down a Ukrainian drone over southern Estonia. Ukraine apologized for that “unintended incident,” without specifying what had happened.

On Wednesday, an emergency announcement about a drone flying over Belarus prompted residents of the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius, including top officials and lawmakers, to take shelter and led to a brief closure of its airport.

Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service said Tuesday that Ukraine is preparing drone attacks against Russia from the territory of the Baltic countries and warned of retaliation It alleged Ukrainian military personnel had been deployed to Latvia and warned that the country’s membership in NATO wouldn’t protect it from “just retribution.” Latvian authorities said the allegation was not true.

Last month, the Russian Defense Ministry published a list of factories in Europe that it said were involved in producing drones and their components for Ukraine. It warned that attacks on Russia involving drones manufactured in Europe are fraught with “unpredictable consequences.”

Some commentators interpreted the bellicose statements from Moscow and this week’s exercise featuring short- and medium-range nuclear weapons capable of reaching targets in Europe as part of Kremlin efforts to discourage Western allies from bolstering support for Ukraine.

Asked what message the nuclear exercise was intended to send, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded that “any drills are intended to send a signal,” but wouldn’t elaborate.

M4.4 earthquake triggers seismic swarm at Italy’s Campi Flegrei caldera

M4.4 earthquake triggers seismic swarm at Italy’s Campi Flegrei caldera

Teo Blašković

A shallow M4.4 earthquake struck the Campi Flegrei caldera west of Naples at 03:50 UTC on May 21, 2026, beginning a seismic swarm in the Gulf of Pozzuoli.

The Italian National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) said the earthquake had a depth of about 3 km (1.9 miles) and was the strongest event in today’s sequence. The swarm consisted of 12 earthquakes before it was announced finished at 12:01 UTC. The events were concentrated offshore between the Pozzuoli and Bacoli sectors of the caldera.

The main shock was felt across the Naples area, prompting local checks and precautionary closures. Officials at the Municipality of Naples ordered precautionary school closures in the Bagnoli-Fuorigrotta “Red Zone” while inspections are carried out on public and private buildings.

The sequence occurred during the continuing bradyseismic unrest at Campi Flegrei. INGV previously stated that about 23 000 earthquakes were recorded during the current bradyseismic crisis through 2024.

Campi Flegrei (Phlegraean Fields) is a large volcanic caldera west of Naples, spanning about 12 km (7.5 miles) across and partly extending beneath the Gulf of Pozzuoli. The volcanic field contains more than 20 craters and volcanic edifices, including the Solfatara crater, and sits within one of Europe’s most densely populated volcanic regions.

The caldera formed through two major explosive eruptions, including the Campanian Ignimbrite eruption about 39 000 years ago and the Neapolitan Yellow Tuff eruption about 15 000 years ago, while its most recent eruption formed Monte Nuovo in 1538.

About 3 million people live in the wider Naples metropolitan area, while several hundred thousand residents live within or immediately adjacent to the Campi Flegrei caldera, making the area one of the world’s highest volcanic-risk urban environments.

Proposed Global AI Body: Another Step Toward One-World Governance?

Proposed Global AI Body: Another Step Toward One-World Governance?

PNW STAFF

The rise of artificial intelligence has sparked legitimate fears about cyberwarfare, mass surveillance, deepfakes, economic disruption, and even autonomous weapons. In response, a growing number of world leaders, tech executives, and international organizations are now calling for a centralized global body to regulate AI development. On the surface, it sounds responsible. After all, who wouldn't want safeguards against dangerous technology?

But beneath the polished language about "global cooperation" and "shared standards" lies something far larger: another accelerating step toward global governance, where unelected international bodies gain increasing authority over nations, economies, speech, and eventually human behavior itself.

This week, OpenAI openly backed the creation of a U.S.-led global AI governance organization that would include communist China as a member. Chris Lehane, OpenAI's vice president of global affairs, suggested the body could function similarly to the International Atomic Energy Agency, which establishes international standards around nuclear energy.

The proposal is being framed as a way to create "safer" and "more resilient" AI systems worldwide. Yet history teaches that international institutions rarely remain neutral guardians of freedom. Instead, they often become political tools shaped by ideological pressure, global elites, and shifting cultural agendas.

Americans have already watched this happen repeatedly with the United Nations itself.

Now imagine those same global dynamics applied to artificial intelligence.

AI is not merely another technology. It is rapidly becoming the infrastructure layer for society itself. Whoever controls AI standards may eventually influence banking access, digital communications, online speech, employment systems, military applications, healthcare decisions, surveillance networks, and even what information populations are allowed to see or share.

That is why the push for a global AI authority deserves intense scrutiny.

The language surrounding these proposals often sounds eerily familiar: "collective security," "global coordination," "shared responsibility," and "harmonized standards." These phrases may appear harmless, but they almost always involve shifting power away from individual nations and toward centralized international frameworks. Americans should ask a simple question: who ultimately decides what constitutes "safe" AI?

Would biblical views on gender, marriage, or human life eventually be classified by global AI systems as "harmful" or "dangerous misinformation"? Would pro-Israel perspectives be deprioritized by international moderation standards shaped by anti-Israel governments? Would Christian ministries someday find themselves digitally restricted by algorithms trained under "global consensus" rules?

Around the world, governments are already experimenting with digital censorship systems, biometric surveillance, facial recognition databases, and online speech controls. China's infamous social credit system has shown how technology can be used to monitor and shape human behavior on a national scale. Western nations, meanwhile, increasingly pressure social media companies to suppress content deemed "harmful" or "misleading."

AI dramatically amplifies those capabilities.

An advanced global AI governance structure could eventually become the nervous system for a new era of centralized control -- one capable of tracking financial activity, monitoring communications, identifying dissidents, and restricting access to digital systems with unprecedented precision.

For Christians familiar with Bible prophecy, these developments carry chilling implications.

Scripture describes a future world system under the rule of the Antichrist that exercises extraordinary global authority over commerce, allegiance, and human behavior. The book of Revelation specifically warns of a time when people will be required to receive a mark in the right hand or forehead in order to buy or sell.

For years, skeptics mocked such warnings as impossible. How could any government realistically control all global commerce or monitor billions of people?

Today, the technological pieces are rapidly falling into place.

Digital IDs are spreading across multiple nations. Central bank digital currencies are actively being explored worldwide. Biometric payment systems already allow individuals to pay using fingerprints, facial scans, or palm recognition. Artificial intelligence can analyze enormous amounts of behavioral data in real time. Surveillance cameras paired with AI can identify individuals instantly in crowded cities. Financial systems are increasingly becoming fully digital and programmable.

What once sounded futuristic now feels disturbingly plausible.

Putin to Attend BRICS Summit in India

Putin to Attend BRICS Summit in India

Martin Armstrong

The West still refuses to understand what is taking place because they are trapped inside their own propaganda. They actually believed sanctions would isolate Russia, collapse its economy, frighten China, and force the world back under American and European financial dominance. Instead, they accelerated the creation of an entirely new geopolitical order right in front of their eyes.

Now Vladimir Putin is openly traveling to India for the BRICS Summit in September alongside China as if to send a direct message that Russia is not isolated at all. The Kremlin confirmed Putin will attend the summit in New Delhi on September 12–13, and meetings with Xi Jinping are already expected on the sidelines. This is not some hidden backroom alliance anymore. Putin is not hiding. China is not hiding. BRICS is no longer pretending to be merely an economic discussion forum. It is becoming the nucleus of a competing world order.

What the neocons never understood is that power abhors a vacuum. Once the United States began weaponizing SWIFT, freezing foreign reserves, sanctioning entire nations, and threatening secondary sanctions against anyone refusing to comply, the rest of the world began quietly preparing alternatives. You cannot confiscate Russia’s reserves, threaten China daily, sanction Iran, pressure India, and then expect these countries to continue trusting a Western-controlled financial system indefinitely.

BRICS now represents more than 40% of the global population and continues expanding. Iran joined. The UAE joined. Egypt joined. Ethiopia joined. Indonesia joined. Saudi Arabia continues deepening cooperation. Countries lining up outside the door understand exactly where this is going.

Meanwhile Europe is deindustrializing itself in real time while Germany sinks into economic contraction. The United States is drowning in debt while financing endless wars it cannot afford. Yet Russia and China continue increasing bilateral trade, expanding energy agreements, trading increasingly outside the dollar system, and building long-term infrastructure across Eurasia. Putin himself declared that relations between Russia and China have reached an “unprecedented level” of trust and strategic coordination.

The arrogance coming out of Washington and Brussels has blinded them to the historical pattern unfolding. Every reserve currency empire eventually overextends militarily and financially. Spain did it. Britain did it. Rome did it. The mistake is always the same. They begin believing the system cannot function without them. Then the rest of the world slowly builds alternatives.

That is what BRICS really represents. Not simply an alliance against the West, but a rebellion against a financial system increasingly viewed as politically weaponized and unstable. The sanctions regime accelerated the fragmentation of the global economy far faster than anyone in Washington anticipated. Instead of frightening Russia and China apart, they pushed them together permanently

The symbolism of Putin standing openly beside Xi and Modi in New Delhi matters enormously because it demonstrates confidence. The man Western leaders claimed would become isolated is now helping shape an entirely parallel global bloc stretching across energy, trade, commodities, manufacturing, and finance. The world is breaking into competing spheres again, and the political class in the West still seems incapable of accepting that reality.