Trump and Putin to discuss Siberian lab scientist's mysterious death
A young scientist has died from pneumonia of unknown origin at a Siberian plague research center, prompting the WHO and the US to demand more information from Russia and a planned phone call between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. The 28-year-old woman died Friday in a hospital near Irkutsk; Russian authorities say the cause was pneumonia, not plague. The WHO has offered technical support and urged transparent information sharing to clarify conflicting reports. The US CDC is monitoring the unconfirmed case, while the Wall Street Journal reports Washington warned Moscow that withholding details violates international health obligations. Online speculation about a potential epidemic has emerged, though plague transmission differs from COVID-19.