What happened to last year’s Nobel peace prize winner? Maria Machado’s seven attempts to return home to Venezuela

The Independent - Oct 7, 2026

María Corina Machado was forced to flee her home country but has not been able to return despite the U.S. removing president Nicolas Maduro from power. Jessie Williams reports on her supporters’ hopes she will one day come back to lead them

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Oct 7, 2026

Russia warns of 'false' information as second plague case reported

MOSCOW — Russia warned Wednesday against "false" information as reports emerged of a second suspected case of plague in Siberia, with Washington and Brussels calling for transparency and neighbouring Mongolia tightening health surveillance. Russian news outlet People of Baikal reported last Friday that a 28-year-old woman employed at a plague research institute in Siberia's Irkutsk region had died of the disease, possibly after contracting it from a broken test tube. International concern has meanwhile grown over the death and suspicions that a second employee at the institute fell ill. The United States, the European Union and the World Health Organization have all called on Russia to be transparent about the situation. Mongolia's government said Wednesday that "health surveillance and monitoring measures (were) being implemented at the border" with Russia. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also urged Moscow to clarify "media reports of a second employee with pneumonia of undetermined cause" at the Irkutsk institute. Russian authorities have played down the reports, determining the w

Oct 7, 2026

Vance points to S. Korea's 'political dynamics' amid uncertainty over Alaska LNG project

WASHINGTON — U.S. Vice President JD Vance has pointed to "political dynamics" in South Korea amid uncertainty over Seoul's participation in a proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Alaska, according to a U.S. media report Wednesday. "I think you have some political dynamics, frankly, in South Korea, but we're going to get this done, whether the current government or the next government in South Korea, or frankly, whether we have to work with the Japanese and other nations, to get it done," Vance told Alaska's News Source in an interview on Tuesday while traveling the state. Vance did not elaborate on what he meant by "political dynamics" in South Korea. "People are desperate for the gas that comes out of the state. It's cheaper, it's higher quality, it's more reliable because it's coming from Alaska as opposed to some tin-pot dictatorship," he said. U.S. President Donald Trump last week announced South Korea's U.S. investment projects under last year's bilateral trade agreement: the construction of a gas-fired power plant in Texas, eight large-scale nuclear power plants and th

Oct 7, 2026

The status of Iran's uranium enrichment programme

VIENNA — U.S. Vice President JD Vance told Reuters on Tuesday Iran must make a "meaningful" reduction in its uranium enrichment capacity to satisfy U.S. demands and end the countries' seven-month war. While it is not clear what exactly he meant, below is a summary of what is known, and not, about the current status of Iran's uranium enrichment programme, which is at the heart of its nuclear infrastructure. What did Iran have before the U.S. and Israel bombed? Israel launched airstrikes on Iran's nuclear facilities on June 13 of last year, soon followed by the United States. In a 12-day campaign, they destroyed or badly damaged the three uranium-enrichment facilities that were known to be operating in Iran at the time. They argued that Iran was getting too close to being able to produce a nuclear weapon, but the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, said it had no credible indication of a coordinated weapons programme. Iran was, however, enriching uranium to up to 60 percent purity, a short step from the roughly 90 percent of weapons grade. The IAEA, which had acces

Oct 7, 2026

WHO says cannot conduct full risk assessment on Russia plague

GENEVA — The World Health Organization said Wednesday it could not produce a full risk assessment as it did not yet have the whole picture from Russia on the suspected plague death of a laboratory technician. "We don't yet have the full picture of this event and we're not able to conduct a full risk assessment," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a press conference.

Oct 7, 2026

Wall Street retreats from its record as stocks fall worldwide

NEW YORK — U.S. stocks are pulling back from their record on Wednesday. The S&P 500 fell 0.6 percent, a day after topping its prior all-time high set in August. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 535 points, or 1 percent, as of 11 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.8 percent lower. Stocks felt pressure as yields climbed in the bond market. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 5.30 percent from 5.27 percent late Tuesday, and higher yields put downward pressure on prices for stocks and other investments. They can also slow the economy by making it more expensive for everyone to borrow money, and the 10-year yield is near its highest level since 2002. Yields rose as oil prices ticked higher in their latest swing amid uncertainty about when the war with Iran will allow the industry to return to normal. The price for a barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, added 1.3 percent to $101.86. That’s well above its $72 price from before the war began, though it’s not as high as the nearly $110 it was scraping last month. Also pushing up on bond yields are

Oct 7, 2026

Trump administration proposes $70,000 fee for int'l students to work in US

WASHINGTON — The Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday proposed a $70,000 fee for international students seeking to work in the United States, the latest effort from the Trump administration to crack down on foreign enrollment. A proposed rule would require schools to pay the fee for every student who participates in the optional practice training program, known as OPT, which allows students to work in jobs related to their major during or after their time in school. Students are generally eligible for one year of work post-graduation, though certain science, technology, engineering and math majors are eligible for an additional two years. Schools would be required to pay the $70,000 for each new student's initial application to the program, and a $30,000 fee for each renewal. The change would represent a blow to American colleges and universities that heavily recruit students from overseas as a source of tuition revenue, as well as tech companies and other industries that hire many international students for technical roles. The OPT program allows international students to gain

Oct 7, 2026

Japanese brands, factories gain traction in Vietnam despite Korean competition

HANOI — About a 30-minute drive northwest of downtown Hanoi on Friday, the entrance to Thang Long Industrial Park came into view after crossing Nhat Tan Bridge, which connects Hanoi with Noi Bai International Airport. At factories throughout the industrial complex, Vietnam’s red flag with a yellow star flew alongside Japan’s flag. Developed by Japanese trading house Sumitomo Corp., the industrial park is, in effect, a cradle of Japanese manufacturing. Beyond the entrance, signs for more than 100 Japanese companies, including Panasonic, Canon and Fujitsu, stretched across a 2.73-million-square-meter site. Some 60,000 Vietnamese workers stream into the complex every day. A female worker at Panasonic said Japanese companies were regarded as more stable, even though Chinese and Korean firms paid higher wages, adding that many employees stayed for years. “Many skilled workers have been here for more than 10 years, and new employees join every month, so the atmosphere is good,” she said. Nguyen Thanh, 32, a management employee at the industrial park, said it had reached full occupancy

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What happened to last year’s Nobel peace prize winner? Maria Machado’s seven attempts to return home to Venezuela

Russia warns of 'false' information as second plague case reported

Vance points to S. Korea's 'political dynamics' amid uncertainty over Alaska LNG project

The status of Iran's uranium enrichment programme

WHO says cannot conduct full risk assessment on Russia plague

Wall Street retreats from its record as stocks fall worldwide

Trump administration proposes $70,000 fee for int'l students to work in US

Japanese brands, factories gain traction in Vietnam despite Korean competition

You can guess: Elon Musk's cryptic attack on 'oligarchs' blocking Starlink in India

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