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  • Former Geelong Cats president Craig Drummond outlines ‘lengthy discussions’ were had over concussion contract

    Former Geelong Cats president Craig Drummond outlines ‘lengthy discussions’ were had over concussion contract

    The fallout from Australian Football League’s (AFL) most high-profile off-field controversy of the year continues, as newly installed AFL Commission Chair Craig Drummond has publicly addressed the controversial concussion waiver scandal that has put his former club, the Geelong Cats, under intense public and regulatory scrutiny.

    Drummond, who led the Geelong Cats as club president through 2024 before stepping into the league’s top governance role in March 2026, released an official statement Saturday morning amid growing pressure to comment on the 2024 incident. In the statement, he described the ordeal as an “extremely complex and sensitive matter”, and formally announced he would recuse himself from any internal AFL disciplinary processes related to the case.

    “I was President of the Geelong Football Club in 2024,” Drummond wrote. “This was an extremely complex and sensitive matter, and obligations to both the player and the Club were very carefully considered by the Geelong board.”

    Drummond emphasized that the welfare of the player at the center of the scandal, Cats defender Jake Kolodjashnij, was the top priority for the club’s board throughout all internal discussions. Kolodjashnij, who has a history of concussions, was medically cleared to return to play before the agreement was drafted, and the club held extensive consultations with the player, his family, treating physicians and insurance providers to weigh the potential risks of continued play.

    Still, Drummond acknowledged that the club overstepped in adding a legal liability waiver to the player’s informed consent documentation. “Regardless of the player’s agreement, the Club went too far in adding a waiver into an informed consent document and it will be removed,” he said, adding that the waiver did not override the player’s existing legal protections under Australian statutory health and safety regulations. He also confirmed a separate procedural failure, noting the club failed to properly lodge the completed agreement with the AFL and the AFL Players Association (AFLPA).

    “As the Club has also acknowledged, there was also a process failure in relation to lodgement of the agreement with the AFL and the AFLPA. I have not and will not be involved in any deliberation in relation to this matter and its assessment under the AFL rules and regulations. I apologise for the mistakes made in this very complex situation,” Drummond added.

    Earlier this week, Kolodjashnij came forward publicly to identify himself as the player involved, putting an end to days of widespread media speculation. “While I appreciate the efforts made not to identify me, the speculation has left me feeling I needed to address this personally,” the veteran defender said. He confirmed he completed the AFL’s independent concussion assessment process, accepted its outcome that cleared him to play, and has continued competing in the AFL since the agreement was signed.

    The story first broke in the Herald Sun last Thursday, which revealed the 2024 contract clause required Kolodjashnij to accept full legal responsibility for any future head injuries sustained while playing. Geelong chief executive Steve Hocking has pushed back against claims the player was coerced into signing the agreement, noting the negotiations stretched over two months, and Kolodjashnij had full representation from his legal team and family throughout the process.

    “It was an extensive process, it was conducted over a roughly two-month period. The player’s representatives were involved, including family, legal representation as well, and that letter spelt out all of that entire process. It took time, it wasn’t rushed, as much as some people believe he may have been coerced into it. That is not the case,” Hocking told reporters.

    Hocking also confirmed the AFL had requested a formal explanation from the club following the story’s publication, though the league indicated Thursday evening that it was satisfied no disciplinary action would be taken against Geelong at this stage. Drummond, who spent 13 years at Geelong’s Kardinia Park as club president, was confirmed as the new AFL chair in late October 2025 before officially taking office earlier this year.

  • Top doctor slams NSW health system following controversial Chris Minns plea

    Top doctor slams NSW health system following controversial Chris Minns plea

    A growing public health conflict has erupted in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, after state premier Chris Minns drew sharp criticism from a leading medical leader over his controversial call for residents to avoid public hospital emergency departments unless facing life-threatening conditions. The premier’s appeal came in response to a historic winter surge in demand that saw almost 10,000 Sydney residents seek emergency care in a single day earlier this week – a figure that marks the highest daily emergency department attendance ever recorded in the region.

  • Colombia’s new president signals energy policy shift, backs oil and gas

    Colombia’s new president signals energy policy shift, backs oil and gas

    On the day of his inauguration, Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella laid out a bold new policy direction for the nation’s energy sector, marking a clear break from the environmental agenda of his predecessor Gustavo Petro. In his inaugural address, the new leader framed energy security as a non-negotiable cornerstone of his administration, with three core priorities: breathing new life into Colombia’s stagnant oil and gas industry, rehabilitating the majority state-owned energy giant Ecopetrol, and shoring up the nation’s strained electricity grid.

    De la Espriella affirmed his support for a global transition toward cleaner renewable energy sources, including wind and solar power, but pushed back against the rapid fossil fuel phase-out pursued by the previous government. He argued that any responsible energy transition must be built on national economic strength and self-sufficiency, rather than forcing the sector into decline and leaving Colombia dependent on foreign energy imports. “I believe in the energy transition,” he stated. “But that transition must be built from strength, not from weakness, from self-sufficiency and not from dependence.”

    This policy shift stands in stark contrast to the agenda of former President Petro, who paused the awarding of all new oil and gas exploration contracts, centered his environmental platform on Amazon rainforest protection, and positioned Colombia as a global leader in the push to phase out fossil fuels. Just four months before de la Espriella took office, Petro’s administration hosted a high-profile international climate summit in the Caribbean coastal city of Santa Marta, where it rallied global support for accelerated fossil fuel transition.

    The new president’s pledges align directly with campaign promises that carried him to victory, where he repeatedly called for expanded oil and gas production and a rollback of Petro’s signature energy policies. Framing energy development as a core issue of national sovereignty, de la Espriella argued that Colombia cannot achieve long-term economic prosperity by leaving its abundant domestic fossil fuel reserves undeveloped.

    Among his top priorities is the rehabilitation of Ecopetrol, Colombia’s majority state-owned oil firm and one of the single largest contributors to government revenue and national export earnings. De la Espriella accused the previous administration of systematically weakening the company, and pledged that rebuilding Ecopetrol would be a “definitive and absolute priority” for his government.

    In addition to resuming exploration activities, the new president confirmed that his administration will authorize hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as fracking, a controversial extraction method that involves injecting high-pressure mixtures of water, sand and chemicals underground to break up rock formations and unlock trapped oil and gas reserves. He stressed that fracking operations would operate under “the strictest technical and environmental standards” to mitigate ecological risk.

    De la Espriella warned that Colombia’s energy system is currently in a “critical situation,” citing a years-long decline in proven oil and gas reserves, repeated delays to critical energy infrastructure projects, and steadily rising domestic electricity demand that has stretched supply thin. He added that the approaching El Niño weather phenomenon, which typically brings prolonged drought conditions to Colombia that cut output from the nation’s hydroelectric power sector, leaves no room for delayed action. “The El Niño phenomenon won’t wait for us,” he said. “To overcome it, it is imperative to implement urgent solutions.”

    This report from the Associated Press notes that the outlet’s climate and environmental coverage receives grant funding from multiple private philanthropic foundations, with the AP retaining full editorial control over all content.

  • Scale of devastation shocks US city’s fire-seasoned residents

    Scale of devastation shocks US city’s fire-seasoned residents

    Every summer, seasonal wildfire smoke and small-scale evacuation drills are a familiar routine for residents of Spokane, Washington, located in the U.S. Pacific Northwest. Communities here have long grown accustomed to waiting out the dry fire season for the damp autumn rains that eventually extinguish blazes, and few expected the 2026 fire season to bring anything out of the ordinary. But this year’s wildfire outbreak has shattered all local expectations, leaving widespread destruction in its wake and marking an unprecedented disaster for the city.

    For Chris Matthews, a Spokane resident with a family of five, the second evacuation in a year felt routine at first. Just 12 months prior, a brushfire had forced his family to flee their home for only a few hours before they were allowed to return. So when a towering dark smoke column bore down on his neighborhood last Saturday, Matthews grabbed his family and evacuated assuming they would be back home by the end of the day. Instead, when he finally returned to his property, all that remained was smoldering ash and ruined foundations. “All of us thought we were going to be able to get back to our houses,” Matthews recalled. “And we didn’t think it’d be a situation where we were going to lose our homes or anything like that.”

    The scale of the blaze’s advance shocked even long-time residents. Kira Townsend, a 39-year-old local, said she understood the catastrophic danger the fire posed only when officials announced it had crossed the Spokane River – a natural geographic barrier that has never failed to stop wildfires from reaching developed neighborhoods. “It’s never jumped the river like that, and just roared up the hill that fast,” Townsend described. Driven by unusually strong winds, the fire crossed the water barrier as if it did not exist, local resident Scott Hansen, 73, explained.

    Since the outbreak began, nearly 65,000 people – a quarter of Spokane’s total population – have been ordered to evacuate their homes. Roughly 900 buildings across the city have been confirmed destroyed, leaving hundreds of families like Matthews’ with nothing. Even for residents whose homes survived the blaze, officials warn it may take weeks before air quality and fire risks subside enough to allow a safe return to affected neighborhoods. Miraculously, however, no deaths or critical injuries have been reported as of the latest updates.

    The destruction has left many survivors reeling from grief and shock. Thirty-one-year-old Matthew Kincanon fled his Prosperity Lane neighborhood as the fire swept through Saturday night, and when he returned 12 hours later to find his home completely gone, he was overcome. “As soon as I stepped out of the car I threw up. I felt sick. I couldn’t control it. I just lost it. It hit me all at once,” Kincanon said.

    Right now, the city is navigating two overlapping crises: three large active blazes surrounding Spokane remain less than 40% contained, with hundreds of firefighters working nonstop to stop the spread, while early recovery efforts are already underway for residents who have lost their homes. “We have two fronts going at the same time. We’re actively fighting the fire and trying to put that out. But we’re also starting recovering for folks that have lost their homes,” City Councilman Zack Zappone, who grew up in the destroyed Indian Trails neighborhood, told the BBC. Speaking from a city-run evacuation shelter, Zappone acknowledged the widespread strain across the community: “There just a lot of uncertainty and frustrations and difficultness.”

    Many residents are also directing intense anger at preventable causes of the blaze, urging the public to take extra precautions to avoid sparking new fires. Local officials have warned that even routine, seemingly harmless activities such as lawn mowing can generate sparks that ignite dry brush, and many residents are calling for greater public care. “People have got to use their brains. Stop doing things that are gonna cause sparks. I can’t believe someone was mowing. So many people have lost their houses, and people are just being so stupid,” said Chrissy Goodrich, who remains trapped in a mandatory evacuation zone with her father Hansen.

    Public anger intensified after local police arrested 37-year-old Aaron Farinacci, a local man who investigators say has confessed to intentionally starting one of the major fires. Court records show Farinacci has a prior criminal history: he was previously convicted of killing his own father in Arizona in 2010, and had been questioned for arson in previous local incidents. According to investigator accounts, Farinacci specifically chose a dry, windy day to ignite the blaze, aiming to spark a large-scale wildfire. He has not yet entered a plea, and a judge has ordered a mental competency evaluation to determine if he is fit to stand trial. For many survivors, the arrest has brought a strange sense of closure. “It brought a little bit of closure, that sounds weird to say,” said Melissa Matthews, whose home was destroyed in the blaze. Her husband Chris echoed that feeling: “Knowing that a person did this, as opposed to it being a natural thing that happened, it just does feel a little bit comforting for some reason.”

    With more dry, windy days forecast for the region in the coming weeks, the fire risk remains far from over. Having lost his home to the unprecedented blaze, Matthews is now urging his fellow residents to prepare for the worst, warning that past patterns cannot predict the new reality of regional wildfires. “For future reference, and for everyone else – take it seriously. Don’t assume past historical times are what’s going to happen in the future as well,” Matthews said.

  • He’s been frozen on Everest for 30 years, now ‘Green Boots’ may finally be coming home

    He’s been frozen on Everest for 30 years, now ‘Green Boots’ may finally be coming home

    For nearly 30 years, a frozen body tucked into a rock overhang just 350 vertical meters below Mount Everest’s summit has served as one of the mountain’s most haunting and recognizable landmarks. Known universally by the distinctive lime-green mountaineering boots it has worn since the 1996 blizzard that killed its owner, “Green Boots” has guided countless climbers toward the peak of the world’s highest mountain, a grim reminder of the cost of conquering Everest. Now, three decades after the tragedy that claimed his life, Indian authorities are preparing to launch an unprecedented high-risk recovery mission to bring the remains — now confirmed to belong to Indian climber Dorje Morup — home to his waiting family.

    Morup, a 48-year-old lance corporal with the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), was an experienced Himalayan mountaineer who had already summited Stok Kangri, the highest peak in India’s Ladakh range, when he joined a historic 1996 ITBP expedition. The team aimed to become the first Indian expedition to summit Everest from the treacherous northern slope, located on the Chinese-administered Tibetan side of the mountain, a far less popular and more dangerous route than the southern approach from Nepal.

    The night before he departed his Ladakh home for the expedition, Morup made a promise to his wife, Konchak Yangskit: he would return a hero, and make India proud. He asked her to care for their children and wait for him at the airport on his return. But Yangskit carried a quiet premonition that night: she wondered if she would ever see him again.

    When the expedition hit a brutal snowstorm mid-ascent, three of the six team members turned back early. Morup and two other climbers, Tsewang Smanla and Tsewang Paljor, pushed on, successfully reaching the 8,849-meter summit. Disaster struck as they began their descent, however, when a full blizzard engulfed the upper slopes, killing all three men. Like more than 300 other climbers who have died on Everest since record-keeping began, their bodies were left trapped in the mountain’s extreme altitude, where recovery was deemed impossible at the time. While the bodies of Smanla and Paljor were never located, Morup’s remains, identifiable by his bright green boots, settled into a stable snow cave at 8,500 meters — just inside what climbers call the “death zone,” where oxygen levels are one-third of those at sea level and temperatures can plummet to -40°C.

    For decades, mountaineers assumed Green Boots was the remains of Tsewang Paljor. But new testimony from surviving 1996 expedition members, combined with analysis of the location of Morup’s final radio transmission, led Indian authorities to conclude the body is in fact Morup. A recent review of his climbing gear and clothing confirmed the preliminary identification, and ITBP has now spent years planning a mission to retrieve their former comrade. Officials say the goal is to confirm the identity via DNA testing and finally give Morup’s family the closure they have waited 30 years to receive.

    “On some days, before I went to sleep, I would think that there’d be a knock on the door tonight and that when I opened, he would be there,” Yangskit, now in her mid-70s, told the BBC. “When he comes home, I will ask him: ‘Where were you all these years?’” For decades, Yangskit has refused to fully accept Morup’s death, because she never saw his body. “Even though we organised cremation prayers at home, my heart refused to believe he had died,” she said, through tears. “I didn’t see his dead body, so it was difficult for me to believe it.”

    The recovery mission that will attempt to bring Morup home is one of the most complex and dangerous high-altitude recovery operations ever attempted on Everest. The body lies on the steep, underdeveloped northern slope, which lacks the helicopter evacuation infrastructure and support systems that exist on Nepal’s more popular southern side. Unlike the south, there is no option for emergency evacuation if the recovery team runs into trouble. Even in the mild spring climbing season, reaching 8,500 meters to retrieve a frozen body is a monumental challenge. Autumn, when ITBP hopes to complete the mission before September, brings far more unpredictable and dangerous weather.

    Veteran mountaineers who have led prior recovery efforts say the operation will require a team of 10 to 12 experienced summit climbers just to fix support ropes to the recovery site. Frozen into the snow and encased in layers of ice, the body will weigh several times its original mass, and must be carried by hand down 1,000 meters of extremely steep, rocky terrain before it can be transferred to a helicopter or yak train for transport to India. The first 1,000 meters of descent, experienced Indian climber Kuntal Joisher noted, will be the most treacherous part of the entire mission, with logistical challenges that put the entire team at severe risk.

    “The main thing is to not put Sherpa lives at risk for a dead body,” Joisher said. Most recovery operations on Everest cost between $40,000 and $80,000, a sum out of reach for most families of fallen climbers. This mission will be far more expensive, and is being fully funded by ITBP, which has never forgotten its fallen comrade. “We never forgot him. It was only a matter of time,” an anonymous ITBP official told BBC News Hindi.

    For most fallen climbers left on Everest, authorities and local teams typically only move bodies out of sight of climbing routes, rather than undertaking the dangerous work of full recovery. For example, American climber Francys Arsentiev, known as the “Sleeping Beauty of Everest,” was only moved to a more private location on the mountain a decade after her death, rather than being brought down. But for Morup’s family, full recovery is the only way to finally close 30 years of uncertainty.

    If the mission is successful, Morup’s eldest son Punchok Dorjai says the family will hold a public funeral near the Martyrs Park in Leh, the capital of Ladakh. “My father gave his life for the country and he should be remembered as a martyr,” Dorjai said, noting that his two fallen teammates deserve the same recognition. The family plans to display Morup’s famous green boots alongside his Chinese-issued Everest summit certificate in their home, as a permanent reminder of his legacy.

    For the thousands of climbers who have passed Green Boots on their way to the summit over the past 30 years, the landmark has been a permanent part of Everest’s landscape. If the recovery mission succeeds, it will bring an end to one of the mountain’s most famous stories, and finally give a fallen hero the homecoming he promised 30 years ago.

  • Conservative congressman David Brat appointed as US ambassador to Australia

    Conservative congressman David Brat appointed as US ambassador to Australia

    After nearly two years of vacancy, the United States has formally confirmed former Republican Congressman David Brat as its next ambassador to Australia, filling a critical diplomatic post just weeks ahead of a major milestone in the Indo-Pacific alliance between the two nations.

    The U.S. Senate confirmed Brat’s appointment on Friday U.S. time, which corresponds to Saturday Australian Eastern Standard Time, wrapping up the nomination process hours before the federal government entered a five-week summer recess. This appointment marks the first ambassadorial change for the U.S. in Canberra since former envoy Caroline Kennedy departed office in November 2024, shortly after Donald Trump’s inauguration for his second presidential term.

    Brat first rose to national political prominence in 2014, when he pulled off one of the most shocking primary election upsets in modern U.S. history: as a little-known challenger backed by the conservative Tea Party movement, he defeated sitting House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in Virginia’s Republican primary. A staunch advocate for conservative fiscal and social values, Brat built his early political brand opposing the Obama administration’s 2009 intervention in the U.S. housing market, aligning closely with the Tea Party’s small-government platform. He served one full term in Congress before losing re-election in 2018 to Abigail Spanberger, who now holds office as Virginia’s governor. Since leaving Congress, Brat has worked as senior vice president for business relations at Liberty University, an evangelical Christian higher education institution based in Virginia.

    The timing of Brat’s arrival in Australia will see him take up his post ahead of September 1, the 75th anniversary of the ANZUS security treaty that binds Australia, New Zealand, and the United States in a collective defense pact. Brat is one of 74 new presidential appointees confirmed by the Senate before the summer break, with new ambassadors also confirmed for postings to Cambodia, Cyprus, and Brazil.

    The appointment comes at a period of documented friction between the longstanding allies, following new trade tariffs imposed by the Trump administration and public disagreements over the ongoing Middle East conflict. In July, Trump announced a 12.5% tariff on Australian goods as part of a broad overhaul of U.S. trade agreements, with similar tariff increases targeting other major trading partners including China, India, the United Kingdom, and Canada. On the diplomatic front, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has publicly pushed back against Trump’s rhetoric on the Middle East war, calling for de-escalation and adherence to international law to protect civilian lives.

    Albanese has reaffirmed that his government will work cooperatively with whoever the U.S. selects to fill the ambassadorial role, respecting the sovereign right of the U.S. to appoint its own diplomatic representatives. “That is a decision for the United States. I understand that the president will put forward David Brat as ambassador, and there’s a process of confirmation that occurs through the U.S. processes,” Albanese told reporters in April, adding, “We respect the sovereignty of countries to put forward ambassadors, just like we expect our choices to be endorsed.”

    Australia’s opposition leader Angus Taylor has welcomed Brat’s appointment, framing it as a reinforcement of the decades-long alliance between the two nations. In an April post on X, Taylor wrote: “I welcome U.S. President Donald Trump’s nomination of former congressman, David Brat, to serve as America’s next ambassador to Australia. The face of the ambassador may change but the role remains the same … to develop our collective military strength – especially through AUKUS – to deter those who neither value liberty nor respect sovereignty.”

  • ‘I ran because I knew I would die’: Russian drones target medics in Ukraine

    ‘I ran because I knew I would die’: Russian drones target medics in Ukraine

    In the embattled southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, paramedic Inna Lytvynenko has become the face of a disturbing new reality of Russia’s full-scale invasion: deliberate hunting of medical first responders by unmanned drones. The veteran emergency worker never responds to a call without donning her high-visibility orange body armor, a precaution that proved life-saving last June when she was dispatched to treat a woman wounded in an earlier Russian drone strike.

    Moments after Lytvynenko arrived on scene, an FPV (first-person view) drone crashed directly into her marked ambulance. As she scrambled to escape, she caught the distinct buzzing of a second incoming drone, locked on a direct course for her. “I panicked. I grabbed my trauma bag and started running,” Lytvynenko recalled of the 10-minute pursuit that left her running for her life. “I shouted and screamed. I knew that if I stopped, I would die.” The drone eventually broke off its chase, and Lytvynenko was extracted by local police – but the coordinated attacks on the rescue mission did not end there. Two more vehicles arriving to evacuate the wounded woman were hit by drones, and it took hours before a third police vehicle could successfully pull the injured civilian to safety.

    Lytvynenko’s harrowing experience, which she describes as “safari hunting” of medical workers, is not an isolated incident. Data from global health and humanitarian organizations confirms a steady, alarming escalation of deliberate attacks on Ukrainian healthcare infrastructure and personnel that violates core international humanitarian law laid out in the Geneva Conventions, which require all warring parties to protect hospitals, ambulances, and medical teams.

    The World Health Organization (WHO) has documented 3,118 attacks on healthcare facilities and workers across Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022 – an average of two attacks per day. The trend of targeting has accelerated sharply in recent years: attacks rose by 30% in 2024, followed by a further 20% increase in 2025, and WHO officials project this upward trajectory will continue through 2026. “This is a new normality, which should not be the normality,” said Dr Jarno Habicht, WHO’s representative in Ukraine.

    A new report from Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières, MSF) concludes that these attacks are not accidental side effects of large-scale combat operations, but a systematic, deliberate strategy. The frequency of strikes confirms that targeting healthcare is “a sustained feature of the war rather than an episodic consequence of large scale offensives,” the report found.

    Just last month, three Russian missiles struck a Kherson hospital within minutes of each other, killing one doctor and leaving the facility severely damaged. Hospital director Olena Tymoshenko said the coordinated strike leaves no doubt it was intentional: “It cannot be an accident.”

    Moscow’s forces frequently employ a tactic called “double-tap”, where they strike the same location twice in quick succession, with the second strike deliberately targeting first responders who arrive to rescue survivors of the initial attack. In a recent large-scale air assault on Kyiv, seven people – including a police officer and a rescue volunteer – were killed in a second strike on an already targeted site. Most recently, Russian air strikes have also expanded to target humanitarian aid warehouses: last month alone, facilities belonging to three United Nations agencies, including the WHO, were damaged in strikes. Habicht noted that the WHO shares the exact coordinates of all its facilities with both Moscow and Kyiv specifically to prevent accidental strikes, making the damage even more alarming.

    While large missile strikes can sometimes be indiscriminate, FPV drone strikes are almost always intentional. These small, maneuverable drones transmit a live video feed directly to their operators on the ground, meaning the pilot can clearly see what target they are attacking. “When it hits an ambulance, it has to be on purpose,” explained Robin Meldrum, MSF’s country coordinator in Ukraine.

    Lytvynenko echoed that assessment, noting she was wearing a clearly marked medical uniform, and her ambulance bore standard medical identification that would have been visible to the drone operator. WHO data shows that 20% of all attacks on Ukraine’s healthcare system target ambulances, a statistic that confirms this is part of a pre-planned strategy to erode access to care for frontline civilians.

    The human cost of this sustained campaign is already devastating. Civilians living in areas near the front line – most of whom are elderly residents with chronic health conditions who could not evacuate – have been increasingly cut off from even basic health services. Even if they survive routine shelling and air strikes, lack of access to medication and routine care leaves many vulnerable to preventable death. Ambulance teams now face impossible choices: risk being targeted to reach a patient, or leave the injured and ill without care.

    For medics like Lytvynenko, every mission is now a matter of life and death. She and her colleagues constantly monitor social media for incoming threat reports, and pray for safety on every call. “These drones can appear from anywhere, they can even get through anti-drone nets,” she said. In many high-risk areas, police are now sent instead of ambulances to avoid losing medical personnel.

    As both Russian and Ukrainian forces develop longer-range FPV drones, the high-risk danger zone for medical operations has expanded steadily, forcing humanitarian health groups to move their mobile clinics further and further back from the front line. “Two years ago, we could go up to 5-8km from the frontline,” Meldrum said. “Now we won’t go anywhere within 30km and this distance keeps growing.”

    Over the past 18 months, MSF has suspended regular medical services in roughly 80 frontline villages that previously relied on its support, and recently paused ambulance operations in Sloviansk, a major eastern Ukrainian city. Following the most recent “safari” drone attack targeting medics, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called for greater international pressure on Russia to end the deliberate targeting of civilian first responders. For medical workers and humanitarian teams on the ground, the reality is clear: the fundamental rules of war designed to protect civilians and medical personnel are being ignored with devastating consequences. “It doesn’t feel like we’re protected in this environment, and in the way that Russia is conducting the war,” Meldrum said. “We don’t feel that the rules of war are being respected.”

  • ‘Massive loss’: Former teammate describes injured Isaah Yeo as Penrith’s “heartbeat” ahead of minor premiership showdown

    ‘Massive loss’: Former teammate describes injured Isaah Yeo as Penrith’s “heartbeat” ahead of minor premiership showdown

    Heading into their Friday night clash against the New Zealand Warriors, the Penrith Panthers entered the match as red-hot favourites to claim the 2026 National Rugby League (NRL) premiership. But a devastating injury to one of the sport’s top competitors has thrown the entire title race wide open, ahead of a pivotal top-of-the-table showdown with the Sydney Roosters next week.

    Penrith co-captain Isaah Yeo, widely regarded as the best lock forward in the world over the past five years, suffered a suspected pectoral injury during the Warriors match that could end his 2026 season. Official scans are set to confirm the full severity of the injury in the coming days, after sports medical outlet NRL Physio flagged serious concerns for a moderate to severe tear based on match footage of the incident. Yeo was forced from the field immediately after the traumatic tackle, with his arm held suspended away from his body following contact.

    If Yeo is ruled out for the remainder of the season, it will mark a catastrophic blow to Penrith’s title ambitions. The four-time premiership winner and 2024 Golden Boot recipient has been the linchpin of the Panthers’ sustained dynasty, serving as the on-field leader that drives the club’s defensive and attacking structure both with and without the ball.

    Former Panthers forward Spencer Leniu, who spent five seasons alongside Yeo at Penrith before moving to the Roosters, says the star lock is irreplaceable as the “heartbeat” of the side. Leniu spoke to reporters shortly after his Roosters side secured a tense 20-18 win over the Canterbury Bulldogs, a result that pulled Sydney level with Penrith at the top of the NRL ladder heading into next week’s clash.

    “I think it’s a massive loss. He’s the heartbeat of their team,” Leniu said. “When I was there, he was the heartbeat, he was a captain, and he’s obviously the captain there now. When a lot of experience like that goes off the field, you definitely notice it.”

    Still, Leniu acknowledged that Penrith’s well-drilled culture of stepping up to fill gaps left by injured stars means the premiers are far from out of contention. “Knowing Penrith, they’re a world-class team and they’ll just have that next man up mentality. They’ve been doing it for the last couple of years, they’ve filled those voids when it’s come around, and it’ll be no different next week if he’s out,” he added. “They’re a well-oiled machine and it’ll just be next man up. No doubt they will still be pushing for that premiership at the end of the year.”

    Yeo has long been considered Penrith’s second-most important player, behind only star halfback Nathan Cleary, who will now be forced to elevate his game to even greater heights without his on-field co-pilot. The Panthers hold a 2-1 win-loss record in matches Yeo has missed this season, but navigating a full title run without their star lock will require a monumental effort against in-form rivals like the Warriors and Roosters. Lindsay Smith, who has previously impressed in the lock position, is widely tipped to step into Yeo’s number 13 jersey for next week’s clash.

    Leniu echoed that confidence in Penrith’s depth, noting that the “next man up” mentality has been central to the Panthers’ dynasty over the past half-decade. “With that next man up mentality, if you get that tap on the shoulder then you’ve got a duty to perform and wear that jersey with pride,” he said. “That’s been at the forefront of the Penrith Panthers for the last couple of years and that’s why they’ve been such a great team. No doubt they’ll be doing that in the next couple of weeks.”

    Next week’s clash carries massive stakes: the winner will take a near-unassailable lead in the race for the 2026 minor premiership. For the Roosters, the match also offers a chance to overturn a dismal recent record against Penrith, who crushed Sydney 40-4 in their earlier encounter this season.

    Leniu, however, says his side is ready for the challenge. “They’re a well-oiled machine and they’ve been the benchmark for the whole competition the last couple of years,” Leniu said. “No doubt they’ll be our biggest competition for the year and we’ll truly see what this team’s about next week. I’ve got a lot of confidence in this team. All the boys inside our four walls have got a lot of confidence in each other. Tonight was a scrappy win, but we got the win and we know that we can play bad footy and still win games. Whenever we get that good side of the coin and we’re playing good footy, we know we can beat anyone.”

  • Anti-Muslim lawmaker Andy Ogles loses Republican primary

    Anti-Muslim lawmaker Andy Ogles loses Republican primary

    In a stunning political upset that has sent ripples across American conservative circles, two-term Tennessee Congressman Andy Ogles — a hard-right lawmaker infamous for his repeated anti-Muslim rhetoric — was defeated in a Republican primary election Thursday, even with a formal endorsement from former U.S. President Donald Trump. For most GOP candidates, Trump’s public backing is widely viewed as an almost unbeatable advantage in intraparty contests, but Ogles fell to Charlie Hatcher, a dairy farmer and sitting state agriculture official who also ran on an explicitly pro-Trump platform.

    Hatcher built his campaign around the slogan “hire a farmer”, framing himself as a pragmatic conservative aligned with core Trump-era Republican priorities. His campaign website lists him as staunchly “pro-gun, pro-life, pro-Trump”, and he out-fundraised and outspent Ogles thanks to a major influx of financial support from outside interest groups that backed his policy focus on expanding domestic renewable energy production.

    Political analysts point to multiple factors that led to Ogles’ defeat. First, the congressional district Ogles was running in underwent significant boundary redrawing, a process that opened the door to shifts in the electorate after a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling weakened key protections of the Voting Rights Act. But beyond structural changes to the district, Ogles’ long history of inflammatory targeting of marginalized groups also played a major role in his loss.

    Ogles, a member of the hardline House Freedom Caucus and a vocal supporter of Israel, has spent months pushing extreme policy proposals targeting Muslim Americans. Just this year, he announced plans to introduce legislation that would ban immigration from multiple Muslim-majority countries. He went further in public posts on social media platform X, writing that “diversity is our weakness” and openly calling for the denaturalization and deportation of naturalized Muslim American citizens, including New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. In a June post that drew national outrage, Ogles wrote, “Zohran ‘little muhammad’ Mamdani is an antisemitic, socialist, communist who will destroy the great City of New York. He needs to be DEPORTED. Which is why I am calling for him to be subject to denaturalization proceedings.”

    His most controversial remarks came earlier this year, when he wrote on X that “Pluralism is a lie” and “Muslims have no place in American society” — claims that sparked widespread national condemnation from civil rights groups and lawmakers across the political spectrum. The comments came amid a documented nationwide surge in anti-Muslim rhetoric online, which tracked closely with rising geopolitical tensions between the U.S., Israel and Iran. A report from the Washington D.C.-based Center for the Study of Organized Hate found that between January 1 and March 5, as Trump repeatedly threatened military action against Iran, the volume of social media posts that explicitly dehumanized, excluded, or incited violence against Muslims skyrocketed. On the day the U.S.-Israel joint military campaign against Iran launched February 28, daily anti-Muslim posts jumped from fewer than 2,000 to more than 6,000, the report found.

    The Council on American–Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights organization, labeled Ogles “an anti-Muslim extremist” in a formal statement following his comments. The organization noted that Ogles is a member of the so-called “Sharia-Free America Caucus”, a congressional coalition that backs legislation that would effectively outlaw the practice of Islam in the U.S. “Islam is an American faith that has been present since the colonial-era when large numbers of Muslims were imported as slave labor, without any individual liberty or freedom of religion,” CAIR said.

    Democratic lawmakers across the chamber united to condemn Ogles’ rhetoric, calling it openly Islamophobic. Representative Judy Chu described his comments as “abhorrent”, while Representative Lisa Blunt Rochester called on Republican House leadership to publicly disavow the Tennessee lawmaker. House Minority Whip Katherine Clark wrote on X, “This disgusting shit doesn’t belong in American society. And Republicans who support it don’t belong in Congress.”

    Notably, Ogles faced no formal disciplinary consequences from the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, even after his most inflammatory remarks. This absence of action drew sharp criticism, particularly when contrasted with the 2023 censure of Palestinian-American Representative Rashida Tlaib over her comments supporting Palestinian statehood.

    Ogles’ current term in office is set to expire in January 2027, and he will leave office at that time following his primary defeat, ending the political career of one of the most openly anti-Muslim members of Congress in recent decades.

  • Maradona’s ‘Hand of God’ ball heads to US auction

    Maradona’s ‘Hand of God’ ball heads to US auction

    Nearly four decades after one of the most controversial and legendary moments in soccer history, the match ball from Diego Maradona’s iconic 1986 World Cup quarter-final clash between Argentina and England is set to go under the hammer at a Texas-based auction house this August, with experts projecting it could fetch as much as $10 million.

    The 1986 showdown at Mexico City’s Estadio Azteca remains etched in global soccer lore for two unprecedented goals from Maradona that sealed Argentina’s 2-1 win over England. The first, the infamous ‘Hand of God’ goal, saw the Argentine superstar illegally punch the ball past England goalkeeper Peter Shilton; after the match, Maradona famously quipped the goal was scored ‘a little with the head of Maradona and a little with the hand of God.’ Just minutes later, Maradona scored what is still widely known as the ‘Goal of the Century,’ dribbling past six England defenders from halfway across the pitch before slotting the ball into the net – all with the same match ball that is now heading to auction.

    Argentina would go on to claim their second World Cup title that tournament, cementing Maradona’s status as one of the greatest players to ever step onto a soccer pitch. Maradona died in November 2020 at the age of 60, leaving behind a legacy of unrivaled skill and enduring controversy that continues to draw global fascination.

    Dallas-based Heritage Auctions is set to open bidding on the historic ball from August 21 to 23, with an opening bid set at $2.5 million. Dan Imler, vice president of sports at Heritage Auctions, told Agence France-Presse that the ball stands alone as the most significant piece of soccer memorabilia in existence. ‘Both of the goals scored are just so iconic, so memorable,’ Imler said. ‘I think it’s easily the most historic ball in the realm of soccer.’

    The ball is not the only piece of memorabilia from the historic match to break price records in recent years. The jersey Maradona wore during the clash sold at auction for $9.3 million in 2022, retaining the title of the most expensive soccer shirt ever sold.

    Rivalry between Argentina and England has extended far beyond the soccer pitch for decades. The two nations have held a long-running political dispute over sovereignty of the Falkland Islands, which boiled over into the 1982 Falklands War just four years before the iconic 1986 World Cup match. The rivalry reignited most recently at the 2022 Qatar World Cup, where Argentina defeated England in a heated semi-final clash before ultimately going on to win their third World Cup title, 36 years after Maradona led them to their second win.