The White House is monitoring a reported plague outbreak in Russia after a laboratory technician died and around 200 people who had contact with her were placed under observation.

A Trump administration official told Axios on Sunday that officials were “aware, monitoring the outbreak, and assessing options.”

Darya Shipilova, 28, was reportedly employed at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute in Siberia when she was exposed to pneumonic plague.

According to the news outlet Lyudi Baikala, Shipilova told medical workers that she had accidentally broken a test tube containing live bacteria.

She later fell ill during a field expedition with colleagues in Buryatia, near Russia’s eastern border with Mongolia.

Shipilova was hospitalized on September 29 and placed on a ventilator. She died two days later.

Around 200 people are believed to have come into contact with her and are now being monitored amid concerns that the disease could spread.

Three hospitals in the region have introduced heightened security measures, while authorities have also imposed a mask mandate.

Irkutsk Governor Igor Kobzev said those under observation had not developed symptoms and had tested negative for the disease, according to The Moscow Times.

The hospital where Shipilova received treatment is among the facilities placed under quarantine. The other hospitals are caring for people who had contact with her.

Pneumonic plague is a serious infection of the lungs. Symptoms can include fever, breathlessness and coughing up blood, and usually appear between three and seven days after exposure.

When antibiotics are administered within the first 24 hours of infection, the fatality rate for pneumonic plague falls to approximately 17 percent.

Without treatment, however, the disease is almost always fatal.

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Claims have also emerged that Russian authorities are trying to conceal the full circumstances surrounding the incident.

Reports further allege that supplies of drugs used to treat the disease are running low in the region, prompting anxious residents to crowd pharmacies and medical facilities in search of medication.

Mikhail Favorov, a senior Russian epidemiologist, rejected the account involving the broken test tube, according to The Moscow Times.

Favorov said: ‘It’s laughable. Someone working at the Anti-Plague Institute in Irkutsk wears a protective anti-plague suit.

‘If you break a test tube, the likelihood of infection is actually very low. In short, it doesn’t matter to the general public – they’ll believe the “broken test tube” story.’

He added: ‘It’s absolutely hair-raising. We will not be told what really happened.’

Pneumonic plague is one of three types of plague caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis.

It is transferred as a result of breathing in airborne droplets from another person.

Septicaemic plague causes a blood infection as a result of flea bites or handling infected animals. Symptoms include internal bleeding and tissue turning black due to necrosis. 

The third is the bubonic plague – also known as the Black Death and notoriously responsible for the Great Plague of 1665, which killed at least a third of the population of Europe at the time. 

It is also caused by flea bites and causes fever, chills and painful, swollen lymph nodes known as buboes.

The Daily Mail has reached out to the White House, State Department, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and White House Office of Science and Technology Policy for comment.

The FBI arrested an Irvine woman at Los Angeles International Airport as she allegedly prepared to board a flight to China.

Wanying Zhang, also known as “Heather,” is 34 and was taken into custody by the FBI’s Los Angeles field office.

Zhang faces a federal complaint accusing her of acting in the United States as an unregistered agent for the People’s Republic of China.

Bill Essayli, First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, said an affidavit alleges that Zhang traveled to Seattle in 2025 under instructions from PRC officials. There, prosecutors say, she monitored a close relative of a Taiwanese government official and provided officials with photographs, video footage and license plate details.

Essayli said Zhang arranged the trip with an associate and used methods intended to avoid detection. He added that she did not inform the attorney general that she was working on behalf of a foreign government, which is a federal crime.

Zhang is expected to make her initial appearance in federal court in Los Angeles tomorrow, according to Essayli.

A chemical emergency in an Oregon high school cafeteria that left a student in critical condition has turned into a domestic terrorism and attempted murder case against the same teenager school employees worked to save.

The 15-year-old Benson Polytechnic High School student is facing 19 criminal charges after authorities said he brought chemicals from home and combined them inside the Portland school on Sept. 8, releasing toxic gases that put students and staff at risk.

“Safety in our schools is not something that can be negotiated,” Multnomah County District Attorney Nathan Vasquez said at an Oct. 2 news conference.

“That violence or the threat of violence in a school … it doesn’t just stay in that building. It follows families home. It sits at the dinner table with them.”

Investigators found what Portland Police Bureau Public Information Manager Mike Benner described as “concerning behaviors and statements” before the incident. Those included an interest in hazardous chemicals, explosives and violence.

The teenager’s name has not been released because of his age. He faces 10 counts of attempted aggravated murder, along with one count each of attempted first-degree murder, attempted second-degree murder, first-degree domestic terrorism and second-degree domestic terrorism.

The remaining charges are unlawfully manufacturing and possessing a destructive device, possessing a weapon in a public building, unlawfully using a weapon and recklessly endangering another person.

The teen’s attorneys denied the allegations and said he is receiving care at an inpatient mental health facility, The New York Times reported.

Vasquez said prosecutors would seek to transfer the case from juvenile court to adult court, citing the need to protect students and school staff.

“And I want to be clear, they’re teenagers, but these are children, and they deserve a safe environment,” he said.

The district attorney also criticized what he described as a broader weakness in Oregon’s juvenile justice system. Under the system, oversight ends when a person turns 25, even if authorities believe that individual remains a threat to the public.

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“I think that that is wrong,” Vasquez said, arguing that the age limit does not account for the potential danger posed by someone convicted of multiple killings or domestic terrorism.

“I’m looking at conduct and how dangerous that is and what I consider to be safe for the community going forward,” he said.

The chemical incident began shortly before 8:30 a.m., when numerous students and staff members were near the teenager, Assistant Chief of Investigations Franz Schoening said.

Teachers and administrators quickly moved students away while the school nurse treated the teenager until first responders arrived. He was transported to a hospital in critical condition but survived.

“Those first few moments were critical in preventing further harm and lives being lost,” Schoening said.

More than 100 students and staff members were evaluated after the evacuation, and at least seven people needed medical care following the incident, he said.

Sgt. Jim DeFrain, who supervises the investigation and the Metropolitan Explosive Disposal Unit, said initial testing indicated the presence of hydrogen sulfide, a toxic gas.

An Oregon National Guard team agreed with that assessment. Samples were sent to an FBI laboratory for further testing, with results still pending at the time of the briefing, DeFrain said.

The FBI was also examining electronic equipment seized during searches.

Vasquez said the investigation remained open and that anyone else found to have criminal involvement could face charges.

“If we determine or find any links, if there are people that can be charged, this office will charge them,” he said.

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has launched a legal challenge against the courts and police over searches linked to Jeffrey Epstein at his former homes in Windsor and Sandringham.

The disgraced former prince has served Thames Valley Police (TVP) and the Old Bailey with a judicial review claim, which is understood to question the legality of the search warrants used by officers.

Police searched Andrew’s belongings at Marsh Farm in Norfolk in February after arresting him on suspicion of misconduct in public office.

The arrest followed the publication of material suggesting that Andrew had shared sensitive information with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The former Duke of York has asked a judge to determine whether TVP acted lawfully when it searched his former residence at Royal Lodge in Windsor and his home on the Sandringham Estate.

The proceedings are highly confidential, with a closed-door hearing scheduled this week. Mr Justice Hilliard is expected to consider an application to keep at least some details of the judicial review private.

If successful, the challenge would mark the first time in almost 400 years that a royal had contested the legality of criminal proceedings, dating back to the trial of Charles I in 1649.

Andrew’s arrest, which came on his 66th birthday, was the first of a British royal in more than 350 years and has been described as one of the most extraordinary incidents in modern royal history.

At 8am, police arrived at the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk in unmarked cars. Andrew had been staying there for two weeks.

The former prince was taken to Aylsham police station, around 40 miles away, where he was interviewed under caution as plain-clothes officers searched the property.

At the same time, TVP officers arrived at Royal Lodge, the Windsor Great Park mansion Andrew had called home for 22 years.

He had been made to leave the property earlier that month amid growing scrutiny over his relationship with Epstein.

The public backlash intensified after photographs showed Andrew riding horses, smiling and waving at members of the public. The images reportedly angered his brother, King Charles, who is understood to have subsequently evicted him from the residence.

Sarah Ferguson was also told to leave Royal Lodge alongside Mountbatten-Windsor after living there for 18 years.

She is believed to have spent much of her time in hiding across Europe since the pair lost their royal titles last October, following intense public scrutiny of Andrew’s links to Epstein.

Andrew was released under investigation 11 hours after his arrest.

As he was driven away from the police station, photographers captured the now-infamous image of Andrew slumped in the vehicle and attempting to shield himself from the waiting cameras.

The search at Sandringham concluded on the day of his release, while the operation at Windsor continued until the following week.

The warrants for these searches were sought by TVP and granted by the Old Bailey.

Andrew served as the UK’s special representative for international trade and investment from 2001 until 2011, when he stepped down amid the controversy over his friendship with Epstein.

His arrest came after emails released as part of the Epstein files suggested Andrew may have shared confidential information with the financier about his official work.

It has been alleged Andrew forwarded reports to the paedophile about his visits to Singapore, China, Hong Kong and Vietnam as well as allegedly sharing a briefing note on investment opportunities in Afghanistan’s Helmand province.

It emerged in May that detectives investigating Andrew could consider allegations of sexual misconduct as part of their inquiry into potential offences.

It is understood that Andrew’s legal team are trying to make a case that these searches were unlawful, with an application made earlier this year being recently granted by a High Court judge.

A judicial review, in effect, acts as an appeal process. It involves a judge examining the lawfulness of a decision or action by a public body.

The details of Andrew’s claim – or how TVP and the Old Bailey may have acted unlawfully – remain unclear.

He has strongly denied any wrongdoing.

Authorities say a Florida man who fatally shot a teenager searching for a lost cellphone inside a gated community will not face criminal charges.

The shooter, a man in his mid-20s, killed 15-year-old high-school freshman Heitor Amaral on Sept. 20 at a Tampa apartment complex, according to the Tampa Police Department and the Tampa Bay Times.

Following what police described Thursday as a “comprehensive review of the evidence,” investigators determined they could not charge the unidentified resident who fired the weapon.

Earlier that day, Amaral had misplaced his cellphone. He and two friends used tracking pings to follow the device to the complex on River Willow Place, police said.

The teens entered through an open gate and parked a truck in the roadway as they searched for the phone.

After moving the vehicle at a resident’s request, the group went door to door seeking information. When no one answered at one residence, they entered an enclosed back patio and struck a glass sliding door, according to police.

The resident told investigators that he put on a mask and armed himself to frighten the teenagers away. Two of the boys ran, while a “physical altercation” then began between Amaral and the man.

The resident said Amaral placed him in a headlock, prompting him to fire one shot because he feared for his life.

The bullet critically wounded Amaral, who died at the scene.

Tampa police submitted their investigation to the state attorney’s office. Prosecutors concluded they could not disprove the resident’s claim that he shot Amaral in self-defense.

“We recognize the profound pain and concern this tragedy has caused for the family and friends of those involved, and for our entire community,” the police department said in a statement.

Police did not publicly identify the teenager. His sister, Maysa Amaral, told the Tampa Bay Times that Heitor was the boy who died and had only recently begun his freshman year of high school.

Yessenia Gonzalez, whose 16-year-old son Julio was with Amaral that day, disputed the account of a physical confrontation. She said the teenagers were running when the resident opened fire.

“I want the truth out there,” Gonzalez told the newspaper. “There was no fighting. These kids had no weapons.”

Gonzalez said her son told her, “I don’t know what scared me more, the guy wearing a mask in his own house or the gun.” She said Julio described the shooter as appearing to have a “new toy,” jumping up and down and seeming ready to use the weapon.

Both Gonzalez and Maysa Amaral said Heitor was short and thin and not someone who would have started a fight.

Maysa described her brother as the youngest of three children. He regularly completed his chores, enjoyed video games and loved riding the electric bike his father had given him.

“He was such a good kid,” Maysa Amaral said. “He absolutely did not deserve what happened to him.”

A GoFundMe campaign launched by Maysa to help pay for Amaral’s funeral and legal expenses for his family had raised more than $6,000 toward its $10,000 goal.

“I want people to know that my brother was a loving and caring kid who had so much more life ahead of him, and now he is resting,” the fundraiser states.