While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, Oct 6, 2026
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The Medical Assistance and Rescue Centre, an infectious diseases hospital, in the town of Shelekhov in the Irkutsk region, Russia. A laboratory worker at a plague research institute in the region reportedly fell ill and died.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Dozens quarantined in Siberia after plague institute lab worker dies
A laboratory worker at a plague research institute in Siberia fell ill and died in undisclosed circumstances, prompting the authorities to quarantine dozens of people and the head of Russia’s health watchdog to fly to the Irkutsk region.
The death has sparked public health fears on social media, but the authorities said on Oct 5 the situation was under control.
The World Health Organization said that based on available information, “the public health risk to the general population appears to be low”. New risk assessments would be conducted once further information became known, it said.
US President Donald Trump said the death was a “big problem for Russia” and offered to help Moscow deal with it.
New York declares state of emergency over measles outbreak
PHOTO: MADELEINE HORDINSKI/NYTIMES
New York Governor Kathy Hochul issued an executive order declaring a state of emergency in response to rising measles cases on Oct 5, as infections skyrocket nationwide.
The order allows the state to respond more quickly to the outbreak and speed testing and vaccination, Hochul said in a statement. As of Oct 3, New York has recorded 108 total cases, including seven in New York City. A majority of the infections were recorded since mid-July.
“No one should get seriously ill or die from a vaccine-preventable disease,” she said.
NATO drafts plan to defeat Russian attack with drones and AI
PHOTO: EPA
NATO’s top military commander is working on a strategy for achieving a quick victory against a Russian attack on its eastern flank, with a particular focus on integrating new defence technologies like drones and AI into traditional power.
The so-called theory of victory document, which Bloomberg has seen in an unclassified form, will be presented by Supreme Allied Commander Europe, General Alexus Grynkewich, in Poland on Oct 12 amid heightened tensions between NATO and Russia.
It is meant to clarify how the alliance would handle a possible incursion into NATO territory, according to senior officials and diplomats familiar with the matter. There have been numerous recent reports that Moscow is considering such action.
Turkey, Pakistan agree rapid troops deployment in Saudi Arabia amid Houthi attacks
PHOTO: REUTERS
Turkey and Pakistan will undertake a “rapid deployment” of troops to Saudi Arabia as part of a new mutual defence alliance, the three countries said on Oct 5, as the Gulf kingdom faces escalating attacks from Yemen’s Houthis.
The three countries in August signed the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement committing them to come to each other’s aid in the event one were attacked.
The pact unites NATO’s second-largest army, that of Turkey, with the Islamic world’s only nuclear-armed state, Pakistan, and the leading Gulf power, Saudi Arabia.
Nigerian military aircraft crashes, killing 32
PHOTO: REUTERS
A Nigerian Air Force plane crashed on Oct 5 in the country’s south-west, killing all 32 people on board, President Bola Tinubu said, declaring three days of national mourning.
It is one of the worst air disasters in recent years in Africa’s most populous country.
The passenger aircraft was on a “routine mission” from Benin City in southern Nigeria to the economic hub of Lagos when it went down at Igbokoda in south-western Ondo state shortly after 9am (4pm Singapore time), the president and the air force said.