January 4, 2026

North Korea Missile Launch Raises Tension Ahead Of China Visit

January 4, 2026 10:23 am

North Korea launched at least two ballistic missiles early Sunday, according to South Korea and Japan, in a move that added to mounting global tensions as diplomatic activity unfolded in East Asia and Washington escalated military action in Venezuela.

The launches — Pyongyang’s first missile tests in nearly two months — came just hours before South Korean President Lee Jae Myung began a state visit to China and shortly after the United States carried out a dramatic operation in Venezuela that led to the capture of President Nicolas Maduro.

South Korea’s military said the missiles were fired from the …

Iran Protests Over Inflation Leave At Least 16 Dead

January 4, 2026 9:49 am

At least 16 people have been killed across Iran during a week of nationwide protests, according to rights groups, as demonstrations over soaring inflation escalated into violent confrontations between protesters and security forces.

Deaths and hundreds of arrests have been reported by both Iranian state media and independent rights organizations, though figures vary and could not be independently verified. The unrest marks the largest wave of protests in Iran in three years, emerging amid deep economic strain and rising international pressure on Tehran.

The demonstrations began among bazaar merchants and shopkeepers before expanding to university students and residents in provincial …

Diseases That Pay: The Global Health Economy—Part 4

January 4, 2026 3:24 am

By Prof. MarkAnthony Nze

The Business of Research

From lab coats to lobbyists — who funds what you swallow.

Science likes to present itself as neutral.
Money does not.

Every pill begins as a question. Not a molecule, not a compound, not a cure—but a decision about what is worth asking. And in modern medicine, that decision is rarely innocent. It is financial.

Research does not start in laboratories.
It starts in budgets.

According to global health financing data, biomedical research funding is increasingly concentrated in private hands, particularly pharmaceutical corporations whose commercial survival depends on a steady pipeline of …