Day: October 23, 2026

An outbreak without a vaccine The outbreak was announced in the Democratic Republic of Congo in mid-May and has caused more than 9,000 cases and more than 4,000 deaths, with a case fatality rate of 48.2%. The WHO has said it is on track to exceed West Africa’s 2014-16 epidemic,

Half a million people marched across France last Saturday. Town halls were set alight, 1,200 were arrested, and two people died. The marchers speak of fuel prices, the cost of living and decaying schools. Yet behind the tear gas lies a harder number: French public debt stands at €3.6 trillion,

A national sector under strain The national backdrop is sobering. In the first quarter of 2026, manufacturing fell 0.8% quarter-on-quarter, the only industry that dragged GDP growth down. Output then slumped 4.3% year-on-year in May, edged up 1.1% in July and fell 4.3% again in August. Producer inflation on final

Volvo Cars reported a third-quarter operating loss of 3.7bn Swedish crowns ($373m), against a profit of 5.8bn a year earlier. Analysts had expected a loss of only 724m crowns, so the result was a shock, and the shares fell almost 30%. The Geely-owned carmaker will cut a further 2,500 jobs,

Anthropic’s first-half net loss reached $80.7 billion, up from $13 billion a year earlier, according to its draft IPO prospectus. The number is startling, but most of it isn’t cash leaving the building. About $72 billion is an accounting charge, because the estimated value of convertible bonds that could become