“What plague?” an Irkutsk resident exclaims when the epidemiological crisis that has put this small Siberian city near Mongolia on the front pages over the past week is mentioned. “Do you see me wearing a mask?” the annoyed clerk at a pharmacy retorts when asked whether she has noticed any concern over reports of quarantines and the death of a laboratory worker. “Whatever the authorities say, we’ll obey. We all obey the authorities,” say two elderly women, carefree as they sit on swings in a park in Shelekhov, the suburb that their own governor advised people not to visit due to “a particularly dangerous infection.”

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The Japanese apparel group Fast Retailing, owner of the Uniqlo chain, continues to grow at a rapid pace and could finish 2026 as the world’s second-largest fashion retailer. On Thursday, the company reported record annual results, with double-digit increases in both revenue and profit.

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At least 280,000 people are missing due to the war between Russia and Ukraine, according to the vast list maintained by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). It includes Ukrainians and Russians, without distinction, and the true figure is likely higher because the list contains only requests registered with the organization. The vast majority are soldiers. Although many have probably died, some parents and wives still set a meal at an empty chair and leave their rooms unchanged in case the person suddenly returns home. They carry a pain psychologists call ambiguous loss.

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The story coming to an end had it all: surprise and hope, sadness and dismay, the bitterest defeats and the triumphs that brought joy to an entire nation. Twenty-one years ago, Lionel Messi began writing the first page of his story with the Argentina national team, and on Tuesday, October 6, 2026, he will write the last. Between that ill-fated debut against Hungary on August 17, 2005 — when he was sent off 43 seconds after stepping onto the pitch — and the match with Benin that will close his international career, Messi has already become a legend of assured immortality.

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Kaliningrad, the militarized Russian exclave wedged between NATO and EU members Poland and Lithuania and a constant flashpoint between the Kremlin and the Atlantic Alliance, has become the center of Vladimir Putin’s nuclear threat against Europeans. Last week Moscow accused NATO of seeking to block Kaliningrad and threatened to use nuclear weapons if the military organization moves forward with that alleged plan. For the Kremlin, the exclave, which gives it a strategic outlet to the Baltic Sea (it is the only port it can use year-round) and is a key node in its hybrid war against Europe, is an advanced bastion. For NATO, it is a piece on the board that shapes any crisis in the Baltic because it could hinder allied military movements.

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The Russian invasion of Ukraine is approaching its fifth year. Since February 24, 2022, Europe and the United States have rolled out a battery of sanctions intended to strangle the Russian economy to the point where regime change would be the only viable outcome for the Kremlin. The wave of restrictions, however, has several loopholes — some deliberately left by the West to preserve certain exchanges, such as a limited purchase of hydrocarbons.

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© Vyacheslav Prokofyev (Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Pool Sputni)

The Kremlin has turned the parliament produced by last Sunday’s Russian legislative elections into an echo chamber for the war. Authorities barred the only party that had called for a truce, Yabloko, as well as candidates who were critical of the government — from independent Boris Nadezhdin to members of parties nominally loyal to the Kremlin such as the Communist Party and A Just Russia. In addition, the military are gradually displacing party bureaucrats in Russian politics.

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A story that had it all, from painful defeats to everlasting victories, will come to an end. It will happen on October 6, when Lionel Messi plays his final match with the Argentina national team. That day the Albiceleste will face Benin in Buenos Aires in a friendly. “The last tango of the world’s best player,” said the president of the Argentine Football Association (AFA), Claudio Tapia.

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El Gobierno de Canarias ha anunciado la desactivación de la alerta por altas temperaturas para pasar a nivel de prealerta, confirmando que la actividad lectiva presencial se retomará con normalidad este miércoles en todas las Islas. La decisión se adopta tras prever la Aemet una bajada generalizada de los avisos a nivel amarillo en casi todo el Archipiélago (a excepción de La Palma y El Hierro), con máximas que podrán superar los 34°C en zonas del sur y medianías.

Unos 30 robots recorrieron las calles de la capital polaca sobre principios de septiembre con pancartas y consignas para reclamar al gobierno de ese país que refuerce la regulación de la inteligencia artificial y proteja el empleo humano.

Los físicos de la Universidad Estatal de Luisiana, en Estados Unidos, han demostrado que la luz clásica brillante y fácilmente disponible permite diseñar una red óptica y desarrollar mediciones que cuentan los fotones uno por uno. Esta combinación revela y utiliza un comportamiento cuántico multifotónico oculto para el procesamiento de información, pero sin los problemas asociados a la luz cuántica.

El curso 2026-2027 será el último en el que Andalucía participe en el programa educativo de Lengua Árabe y Cultura Marroquí. El Gobierno de Juanma Moreno, formado por un pacto entre PP y Vox desde el pasado mes de julio, ya le ha puesto fecha de fin a la participación de los centros educativos de la comunidad autónoma en este programa coordinado por el Ministerio de Educación y la Embajada de Marruecos. En septiembre de 2027 desaparecerá de las aulas. En estos momentos, según los datos de la Consejería de Educación, hay 1.800 alumnos inscritos en este programa en Andalucía.