Parisians defy swimming ban to cool off as record heat hits Europe
NewsFeed Parisians cooled off in the city’s Saint-Martin canal as an unprecedented heatwave pushed temperatures across Europe far above seasonal norms. Swimmers ignored long-standing bans, swimming outside designated bathing sites. Published On 28 May 202628 May 2026 Click here to share on social media share-nodes Share googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Adblock test (Why?)
Google employee charged with insider trading over Polymarket bets
Michele Spagnuolo allegedly used insider information to profit from bets on people on Google’s most-searched list. Published On 28 May 202628 May 2026 A Google software engineer has been charged with fraud by US authorities after allegedly using insider information to win more than $1.2m in bets on the prediction market platform Polymarket. Michele Spagnuolo, an Italian citizen residing in Switzerland, is accused of using confidential information to wager on the results of Google’s annual most-searched list, according to a criminal complaint unsealed on Wednesday. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list US prosecutors accuse Spagnuolo of using an account named “AlphaRaccoon” to make trades on various markets linked to the results of Google’s 2025 Year in Search. The total sum of the bets was approximately $2.75m, according to the complaint, filed in federal court in New York. Among the bets, Spagnuolo successfully predicted that indie pop musician d4vd would top the list for the most-searched for person last year, hours after accessing confidential data at Google, according to prosecutors. Spagnuolo, 36, faces charges of commodities fraud, wire fraud and money laundering. “Today’s charges reinforce a decades-old message: corporate insiders cannot use confidential business information to turn a profit in our markets,” US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Jay Clayton said in a statement. “Insider trading compromises the integrity of our markets, and the American people want this greed-driven conduct investigated and prosecuted,” Clayton added. Bets on Maduro’s capture Google said in a statement that it is working with law enforcement and that using confidential information to place bets is a serious breach of company policy. Advertisement Spagnuolo has been placed on leave, according to a Google spokesperson. A Polymarket spokesperson said the company had worked closely with the US Attorney’s Office on the investigation and that the firm “is the only prediction platform to date whose cooperation has led to insider trading charges in the United States”. “We are committed to maintaining accurate, fair, and transparent markets as well as enforcing our rules and working with our regulators and law enforcement,” the spokesperson added. Last month, a US soldier was charged with using classified military information to place bets on Polymarket regarding the abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Prosecutors accuse Gannon Ken Van Dyke, 38, of cashing in on the US operation against Maduro, to the tune of more than $400,000. Adblock test (Why?)
Aid cuts and climate change drive deadly malaria surge in Zimbabwe
Harare, Zimbabwe – Precious Mvundura woke up with joint pain, a high fever and a pounding headache on a chilly autumn morning in eastern Zimbabwe. The 37-year-old initially thought it was just the flu. But when the headache persisted for three days, she became worried. Her five-year-old son had also fallen ill and was sweating heavily. In early May, the pair sought help from a village health worker in Chishakwe, a rural farming community outside Zimbabwe’s third-largest city, Mutare. Both tested positive for malaria. “I felt relieved,” Mvundura told Al Jazeera. “From the moment I took that medication, I started getting better.” Her son has also recovered and is back in school. Their ordeal comes as malaria cases and deaths surge across Zimbabwe after US funding cuts disrupted key malaria control programmes. Shortly after returning to office for a second term in 2025, US President Donald Trump slashed foreign aid funding, including programmes backed by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). In Zimbabwe, the cuts disrupted tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and malaria research, prevention and treatment programmes. Among the affected initiatives were the Zimbabwe Entomological Support Programme in Malaria (ZENTO) at Africa University in Mutare, which provided scientific research to support the country’s National Malaria Control Programme, and the Zimbabwe Assistance Programme in Malaria II (ZAPIM II), which helped strengthen malaria diagnosis, treatment and prevention in high-burden districts. Advertisement USAID had disbursed $270m for health and agriculture programmes in Zimbabwe in 2024. Malaria cases jumped to 65,399 between January and April 2026, up from 36,000 recorded during the same period in 2025 and 17,000 in 2024, according to Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Health National Malaria Control Programme weekly surveillance report. Deaths have also risen sharply, reaching 174 between January and April 2026, compared with 85 during the same period last year and 34 in 2024. Mvundura and her son survived because they sought treatment early. In many other cases, the disease has been fatal. Shortages of mosquito nets, test kits Thomas Chuchu, the health programme lead at Save the Children Zimbabwe, said several malaria elimination activities previously supported by ZAPIM II had been disrupted. “In practice, elimination has continued through government and other partners, but with weaker operational capacity and slower implementation,” Chuchu told Al Jazeera. Zimbabwe’s dependence on donor funding for essential medicines, diagnostic kits and mosquito-control supplies has left the country vulnerable [Farai Shawn Matiashe/Al Jazeera] The ZAPIM II programme ran through Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Health system in 11 districts across the provinces of Central and East Mashonaland and the province of Matabeleland North. Before falling ill, Mvundura said she had not been using mosquito nets or repellents. “I only started using a mosquito net a friend shared when I fell sick,” she said. In December 2025, Caroline Mawombedzi was diagnosed with malaria while living in Burma Valley, a farming community about an hour’s drive from Mutare. She had last contracted the disease in the late 2000s while still a child. In mid-May, her five-year-old daughter was also diagnosed with malaria by a village health worker in Chishakwe after suffering severe headaches and stomach problems. Although her daughter received treatment, Mawombedzi said she could not afford preventive measures such as mosquito nets. “I am unemployed. I cannot afford to buy a mosquito net. We have not been sleeping under a mosquito net for years,” she said. Virginia Chakandinakira, a village health worker serving Chishakwe, said malaria diagnostic kits and drugs are now in short supply. “I used to get plenty of malaria test kits and drugs. But in 2025, they did not give me. I referred everyone showing malaria to a nearby Chitakatira clinic,” she said. Chitakatira is a rural settlement about an hour’s drive from Chishakwe. “I only received test kits and drugs in February. However, the supplies are limited. The authorities told us they were only distributing them to hotspot communities.” Advertisement Research programmes crippled Professor Sungano Mharakurwa, the director of Africa University’s Malaria Institute, said the abrupt withdrawal of US support had worsened the malaria outbreak by affecting the programme. ZENTO was contributing data from the surveillance of malaria-carrying mosquitoes, which guided strategies employed by the National Malaria Control Programme to control malaria transmission, he said. The Trump administration’s funding cuts have also effectively put a stop to the US President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI), launched in 2005 by former President George W Bush to control and eliminate malaria worldwide. Mharakurwa said the PMI had played a major role in funding malaria medications, and communities had been left exposed without it. He said the Malaria Institute later secured funding from the United Methodist Church General Board of Global Ministry, but it fell far short of previous US assistance. Zimbabwe’s dependence on donor funding for essential medicines, diagnostic kits and mosquito-control supplies has left the country vulnerable. Itai Rusike, the director of Zimbabwe’s Community Working Group on Health, said the government needed to strengthen domestic health financing to reduce dependence on foreign donors. “It is risky for a country to depend substantially on external partners, as donors can withdraw financial support anytime should their interests shift,” he said. Climate change fuels spread Experts say climate change is also driving the spread of malaria and other vector-borne diseases across Africa. Rising temperatures are allowing malaria to spread into higher-altitude areas, which were once less vulnerable to outbreaks. Zimbabwe experienced El Niño between 2023 and 2024, a climate phenomenon marked by unusually warm temperatures in the Pacific Ocean, which typically disrupts rainfall patterns across Southern Africa. Heavy rainfall followed in 2025 and 2026, creating ideal breeding conditions for mosquitoes. Chuchu, from Save the Children Zimbabwe, said that the current spike in malaria cases was closely linked to the heavy rains during the 2025–2026 season. “The rains created favourable breeding conditions for mosquitoes, particularly in already endemic provinces such as Mashonaland Central, Manicaland, Mashonaland East and Mashonaland West,” he said. Health workers say malaria diagnostic kits and medicines are now in short supply in rural Zimbabwe [Farai Shawn Matiashe/Al Jazeera] “The
Vijay-PM Modi’s first meeting: What did the two leaders discuss? TN CM raises concern over key issues
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay on Wednesday met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Seva Teerth in New Delhi, during his first official visit to the national capital after assuming office earlier this month. The two leaders discussed various issues concerning the state.
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