Global Pulse

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  • Urgent warning issued after traveller dies in Western Australia from rare mosquito-borne disease with no vaccine

    Urgent warning issued after traveller dies in Western Australia from rare mosquito-borne disease with no vaccine

    A fatal case of Murray Valley encephalitis (MVE), a dangerous mosquito-borne virus with no available vaccine or targeted cure, has prompted state and national health authorities in Australia to issue an urgent public alert for the Kimberley and Pilbara regions of Western Australia. The victim, identified as an out-of-region traveller, is believed to have contracted the virus from an infected mosquito while visiting the West Kimberley area, according to confirmation from WA Health.

    Through ongoing routine surveillance monitoring, public health teams have detected active MVE virus circulation across both the Kimberley and Pilbara regions. Managed by the Australian Centre for Disease Control, the virus is classified as a rare but aggressive infection that targets the brain and spinal cord, with mortality rates as high as one in three among patients who develop symptomatic encephalitis. For those who survive the initial infection, nearly half face permanent long-term neurological damage that impacts quality of life permanently.

    “There is no vaccine to prevent MVE, and there is no specific treatment available to address the infection once it takes hold,” the Australian Centre for Disease Control noted in its public guidance, adding that while outbreaks of the disease are rare, every recorded event carries severe public health risk.

    Andrew Jardine, managing scientist for the WA Department of Health, emphasized that the current seasonal window puts local communities and visitors at elevated risk. “The wet season in northern Western Australia, and the period immediately following it, brings the highest level of mosquito-borne virus activity, and this elevated risk can extend all the way into July,” Jardine explained. He added that the only effective protective measure against infection is to avoid bites from infected mosquitoes, urging anyone in the high-risk regions to take consistent precautions.

    Health officials have outlined clear early symptoms of MVE to help residents and visitors seek care quickly, including severe headache, slurred or confused speech, fever, drowsiness, stiff neck, nausea, and dizziness. In more advanced cases, the infection can trigger seizures, coma, permanent brain damage, and death. For young children, fever may be the only visible early sign of infection, so parents and caregivers are advised to monitor closely for any unexplained high temperature after potential mosquito exposure. Anyone experiencing matching symptoms is urged to contact a medical provider immediately for assessment.

    To reduce bite risk, authorities recommend a multi-layered approach: using registered insect repellent consistently, wearing long, loose-fitting, light-colored clothing that covers arms and legs, fitting mosquito netting over infant prams, maintaining short grass and vegetation around residential properties to reduce mosquito breeding and resting spots, and emptying or removing any outdoor containers that hold standing water, which are common breeding grounds for mosquitoes.

  • Vote looms in Switzerland after foes of migration put proposal to cap population at 10 million

    Vote looms in Switzerland after foes of migration put proposal to cap population at 10 million

    GENEVA — On Sunday, Swiss voters will head to polling stations to decide on an unprecedented national proposal that would put a hard cap on the Alpine nation’s total population, capping decades of anti-immigration advocacy led by the country’s most prominent right-wing political bloc. If approved, the initiative would lock in a maximum population of 10 million for Switzerland by the middle of the 21st century, marking the first time any national electorate has ever voted on an explicit legal limit to a country’s total population.

    Switzerland’s direct democratic system gives citizens the power to force national votes on policy changes through signature collection, with national referendums typically held four times annually. The measure is championed by the populist Swiss People’s Party, the largest faction in the country’s federal parliament, which has built decades of political support on stoking isolationist sentiment around immigration. Pre-election polling from leading Swiss research firm gfs.bern indicates the outcome will likely be an extremely close contest, leaving the final result uncertain ahead of voting.

    Proponents of the initiative argue that decades of open border policies with the neighboring European Union have stretched Switzerland’s housing stock, public infrastructure, social welfare systems, and natural resources thin, eroding the country’s distinct way of life. Bernard Bapst, a Fribourg-based lawmaker for the Swiss People’s Party and former customs official, claimed that cross-border openness has led to a measurable rise in criminal activity across the country, rejecting critics’ warnings that the policy threatens national security.

    Opponents, however, warn that passing the proposal would amount to a catastrophic self-inflicted economic and diplomatic wound for the wealthy, export-dependent nation. They emphasize that Switzerland has reaped enormous economic benefits from free movement with the EU, which supplies critical skilled labor to key Swiss sectors including healthcare, finance, pharmaceuticals, and technology. The country’s federal government and national parliament both officially oppose the cap, and EconomieSuisse, Switzerland’s leading business group, has labeled the initiative an “absurd proposal” that puts the country’s long-term security and prosperity at risk.

    Official government data illustrates the scale of demographic and economic shift that has fueled the debate. Since Switzerland and the EU agreed to ease free movement rules for workers and residents across their shared border in 2002, Switzerland’s total population has surged 23% to 9.1 million by the end of 2024. Over that same period, the country’s total economic output has also grown by 24%. “We are the victim of our own success,” explained Reto Föllmi, an international economics professor at the University of St. Gallen, summing up the core tension at the heart of the vote.

    If voters approve the cap, the Swiss federal government will be legally required to implement policies to hit the 10 million target by 2050. If the population hits the 9.5 million threshold before 2050, the government would be forced to impose new restrictions on asylum claims, family reunification, and permanent residency permits. It would also likely require Switzerland to scrap its existing free movement agreement with the EU entirely.

    Experts note that any immediate economic or demographic disruption would be limited by the policy’s long-term timeline, but the diplomatic and investment impacts would be felt far sooner. Political science professor Rene Schwok of the University of Geneva notes that a yes vote would significantly strain relations between Bern and Brussels — the EU is Switzerland’s largest trading partner by a wide margin — and create deep uncertainty for foreign firms looking to invest in the country. As of 2024, 32% of Switzerland’s population is foreign-born, the second-highest share among OECD nations, trailing only Luxembourg where more than half of all residents were born abroad.

    Immigration has been a polarizing, long-running political issue across the European continent for decades, as countries grapple with aging native populations and rising anti-immigrant political sentiment. Unlike many other Western European nations where anti-immigrant rhetoric focuses primarily on migration from the developing world, the vast majority of foreign-born residents in Switzerland come from other European countries.

    This is far from the first time Swiss voters have weighed in on immigration restrictions over the past 50 years. Only one prior immigration cap referendum — the 2014 “Against Mass immigration” measure — passed by a narrow margin, after campaigners stoked public fears about overpopulation and growing Muslim communities in the country. While many countries around the world enforce limits on new immigration, no nation has ever held a national vote on an explicit cap to its own total population, according to Philippe Wanner, a leading demography expert at the University of Geneva.

    The debate in Switzerland stretches back generations. At the turn of the 21st century, as anti-immigration sentiment began to rise, former Swiss President Adolf Ogi summarized the opposing perspective that still defines the “no” campaign: “We live from foreigners … we need laborers for tourism … we need intelligent people in Switzerland.”

  • Taxpayers potentially on the hook after government case dismissed in High Court immigration ruling

    Taxpayers potentially on the hook after government case dismissed in High Court immigration ruling

    Australia’s federal Albanese government has suffered another costly legal defeat over its immigration detention policies, opening the door for Australian taxpayers to face compensation payouts that could reach tens of millions of dollars. The full bench of the High Court of Australia based in Canberra delivered its ruling on Wednesday in favor of Safwat Abdel-Hady, an Austrian national who has been in the country since he first arrived in 1997.

    Abdel-Hady’s visa was canceled by former Immigration Minister Peter Dutton back in March 2017. Court documents confirmed that he lives with an aggressive form of thrombophilia, a blood clotting condition that makes air travel medically unsafe for him, leaving the Commonwealth government with no reasonable path to deport him from Australian territory. The executive branch already conceded that Abdel-Hady was unlawfully held in immigration detention between July 2022 and February 2024, but attempted to avoid civil liability for damages by claiming government immunity.

    Commonwealth lawyers argued that the officers who detained Abdel-Hady acted in accordance with the Migration Act and legal precedents that were in place before the landmark 2023 NZYQ ruling, which first established that detaining any person with no reasonably foreseeable prospect of deportation is illegal under Australian law. They also maintained that officers had acted in compliance with all applicable Australian legislation.

    However, High Court Justice James Edelman rejected the government’s immunity claim in his ruling, warning that granting immunity would create unequal treatment under the law between the Commonwealth, its executive officers involved in immigration detention, and all other Australian residents.

    “If the Commonwealth were granted immunity, public officials would be protected from liability for false imprisonment when acting on a mistaken understanding of the law, while ordinary citizens would face no such protection,” Edelman wrote. “This unequal treatment directly contradicts the Diceyan principle of legal equality that requires all people to be held equally accountable under the law. All persons, regardless of their position, must comply with the law as properly applied to their conduct, and abide by court orders. Without explicit statutory authorization, there is no justification for treating the Commonwealth or its executive officers differently from any other person.”

    Abdel-Hady had argued that his entire period of detention between 2022 and 2024 was unauthorized under the Migration Act, and sought full damages for unlawful false imprisonment, arguing the Commonwealth was vicariously liable as the employer of the detaining officer. Justice Edelman ultimately ruled that the Commonwealth is liable both directly and vicariously for the unlawful detention.

    The ruling marks the latest major setback for the Albanese government’s immigration framework in the wake of the NZYQ decision. Opposition home affairs spokesperson Jonno Duniam slammed the government for failing to act after repeated warnings, calling the outcome “another NZYQ disaster for the Albanese Government.”

    Duniam argued that the government’s mismanagement of the legal and practical fallout from the original NZYQ ruling has left taxpayers on the hook for potentially tens of millions in additional compensation claims. “Since the original NZYQ decision, Australians have been forced to watch dangerous non-citizens released into their communities, repeated legal setbacks, and a government constantly caught flat footed,” he said. “The Albanese government should be responsibly protecting the community, sensibly managing the immigration system, and ensuring the Commonwealth acts lawfully.”

    This defeat is not the first for the Albanese government following the NZYQ ruling. The government previously attempted to implement ankle monitoring for detainees released after the decision, but that policy was also struck down as unconstitutional by the High Court in March 2024. It also negotiated a multi-billion dollar agreement with the Pacific island nation of Nauru to resettle a group of detainees, a program that has been mired in ongoing controversy.

    In response to Wednesday’s ruling, a government spokesperson stated only that officials are “carefully considering the judgment and its implications.”

    The decision has been broadly welcomed by refugee and migrant advocacy groups, who describe it as a critical step toward accountability for unlawful indefinite detention. Jana Favero, Deputy CEO of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, called the ruling a significant outcome that paves the way for other wrongfully detained people to finally access justice.

    “We have always said that indefinite detention is harmful and comes at a devastating cost to people’s physical health, their mental health, and their overall wellbeing,” Favero said. “Families have been separated and people are still living with the consequences of having years of their lives stolen from them. The lesson from this case is clear – this harm should never have been inflicted, and the government must ensure it never happens again.”

    Legal analysts note that the ruling sets a binding precedent that could open the door to dozens more compensation claims from other people who were held in unlawful indefinite immigration detention, driving the total cost to taxpayers well into the tens of millions of dollars.

  • Model who alleges Kanye West choked her tells BBC she felt ‘suffocated and scared’

    Model who alleges Kanye West choked her tells BBC she felt ‘suffocated and scared’

    A former reality TV model has gone public with disturbing allegations against the iconic but controversial rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, claiming he assaulted her during a 2010 music video shoot and left her terrified and disrespected. Jennifer An, who competed on *America’s Next Top Model* in 2009, has detailed her account of the encounter in an exclusive interview with the BBC’s *Fame Under Fire* podcast, more than 14 years after the alleged incident took place.

    An was 24 years old when she landed a casting spot for the music video of La Roux’s breakout hit *In For The Kill*, a gig that came as a promising career step following her television appearance. When she arrived on set at New York’s iconic Chelsea Hotel, she had no advance warning that Ye would be attending the shoot. According to An’s account, the production team suddenly halted filming and scrambled to prepare when word spread that Ye was arriving, lining all models up in a hallway for him to select from for an unplanned cameo scene. Ye ultimately chose three models, including An, to join his sequence.

    An alleges that after struggling to recall his lines for the planned shoot, Ye abruptly pivoted to film an impromptu new scene. He positioned An in a chair directly in front of the camera, seated himself out of frame facing her, and gave no prior direction or warning about what would happen next. Once filming began, An says Ye suddenly reached out and began choking her with one hand, then added a second hand to the choke, smeared her stage makeup across her face, and forced his fingers into her mouth in a movement that simulated oral sex. She recalled feeling frozen with fear, worried that speaking up would cost her the job and derail her budding modeling career, while crew members stood by without intervening, simply staring at the encounter. When it ended, An alleges Ye declared “this is art, I’m Picasso” before abruptly gathering his things and leaving the set without a word.

    Ye never appeared in the final cut of the released music video, though he did feature as a guest rapper on an official remix of the track. Immediately after the incident, An said she spoke to La Roux’s frontwoman Elly Jackson, who apologized for what occurred and agreed not to include the footage out of respect for An’s privacy. In 2024, An reached out to Jackson via Instagram to revisit the incident, and Jackson confirmed her memory of the event, calling it “horrific” in written messages that have since been submitted as evidence in court. Jackson also claimed that after the encounter, Ye whispered to her that he “bet you think I just put women back about 10 years,” to which she replied that he had actually set women back 500 years.

    An filed a civil lawsuit against Ye in 2024 under New York’s Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Act, a law that temporarily extends the statute of limitations for survivors of sexual and gender-based assault. The case has not yet gone to trial. Earlier this year, Ye’s legal team filed a motion to dismiss the suit, confirming the encounter took place but framing it as an “intense and provocative theatrical performance” inspired by a scene from the cult film *American Psycho*. The defense argues that Ye is protected by the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of artistic expression, and claims An was a consenting participant who never objected to the scene or attempted to leave.

    An’s legal counsel, Jesse Weinstein, has pushed back against this argument, warning that dismissing the case would set a dangerous precedent that allows artists to commit harmful, non-consensual acts against other people in creative spaces simply by labeling their behavior as art. Ye, who has been one of the most polarizing figures in popular culture over the last decade, has previously drawn widespread backlash for repeated antisemitic remarks and pro-Nazi content. He has apologized for his antisemitic comments in the past and attributed his well-documented erratic behavior to his public diagnoses of autism and bipolar disorder. The BBC has reached out to Ye’s representatives, La Roux’s label Universal Music Group, and other involved parties for additional comment, and has not received further response from Ye as of reporting.

    For anyone affected by the issues raised in this story, support resources are available through BBC Action Line.

  • Author honoured with Caribbean literature prize

    Author honoured with Caribbean literature prize

    One of the most prestigious honors in Caribbean literary circles has found its 2025 recipient: Guyanese-born author and University of East Anglia creative writing professor Tessa McWatt, who has won the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature for her deeply personal memoir *The Snag: A Mother, A Forest and Wild Grief*. The award was presented during a formal ceremony held in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, the Caribbean nation that held special meaning for McWatt’s late mother.

    Widely recognized as the leading international award for writing rooted in Caribbean experience, the OCM Bocas Prize carries exceptional prestige for authors working in the region and across the global Caribbean diaspora. For McWatt, the honor is far more than a personal career milestone — it is a tribute to the woman at the heart of her memoir.

    In an interview with BBC Look East, McWatt shared that winning the prize felt like “a real joy, as it feels like a win for my mother, who is the central figure in the book and my heart’s inspiration.” The memoir traces the two-month-long journey of losing McWatt’s mother to dementia, from the difficult transition of moving her out of her long-time home to the quiet, profound lessons McWatt learned while caring for her.

    What sets the work apart is how it weaves personal grief into a broader meditation on collective loss. While navigating her mother’s decline, McWatt also grieved the death of a close friend, supported another friend facing a stage four cancer diagnosis, and confronted the growing “climate grief” tied to widespread environmental destruction, exacerbated by cascading global crises including the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing armed conflict. Rather than turning away from this overlapping pain, McWatt set out to explore how to embrace grief as a natural, meaningful part of life.

    The book’s evocative title draws from a forestry term: a “snag” refers to a dead or dying tree left standing in a woodland. While many might see such a tree as useless and ready for removal, ecologists recognize snags as critical to forest ecosystems — they provide habitat for wildlife, cycle nutrients back into the soil, and sustain the forest’s long-term health. For McWatt, this concept became a powerful metaphor for her mother’s journey with dementia, and for the inherent value of aging and lives nearing their end.

    “It became a metaphor for my mum and richness of the elderly and the richness of watching someone go through dementia. I was learning some amazing things from her,” McWatt explained.

    Receiving the award in Port of Spain held extra emotional weight for the author, who noted her mother traveled to Trinidad every year. “It felt like going home and to give that honour to her there, it was really lovely. It was an award for her,” she said.

    For emerging writers hoping to share their own vulnerable stories, McWatt offered simple, direct advice: “write your truth, don’t stop.”

  • Messi plushies see roaring trade as China firms get World Cup boost

    Messi plushies see roaring trade as China firms get World Cup boost

    As the 2026 FIFA World Cup kicks off in North America this week, one unexpected winner is already emerging: Chinese sports merchandise manufacturers, who are capitalizing on massive domestic fan enthusiasm for global football to boost a struggling consumer economy. Even though China’s men’s national team failed to qualify for the tournament — marking its 24-year absence since its only World Cup appearance in 2002 — consumer demand for official football-themed memorabilia has hit unprecedented levels, turning small plush charms into unexpected bestsellers.

    At a factory in Yiwu, eastern China’s renowned global wholesale manufacturing hub, workers are working around the clock to fulfill orders for one viral product: palm-sized plush goat keychains decked out in Lionel Messi’s Argentina national team number 10 jersey. The plush is a playful nod to Messi’s widely accepted nickname as the GOAT — short for “Greatest of All Time” — and designed to clip onto backpacks, purses, and keys for a subtle display of fan loyalty. This star product is just one line from All Star Partner, a Chinese licensed merchandise manufacturer that holds official branding contracts with top national teams including Argentina.

    Company CEO Luo Bin told reporters that overall sales have jumped five-fold this year compared to volumes during the 2022 Qatar World Cup, a staggering growth that has exceeded all internal projections. The plush charm trend began organically a few years ago, when the company first tested the concept by dressing an ordinary plain teddy bear in a football kit. The product sold tens of thousands of units immediately after launch, convincing the firm that the niche had massive untapped potential. Today, the catalog extends far beyond Messi’s goats: shoppers can find soft toys modeled after Cristiano Ronaldo, fluffy roosters wearing France national team polos, and teddy bears clad in Spain’s iconic red kit, all competing for space in a market that also includes pop-culture hits like Pop Mart’s wildly popular Labubu collectibles.

    Luo acknowledges that the tiny plush pendants offer little practical utility, which makes their sky-high popularity a telling sign of shifting consumer priorities in China amid a period of slowed economic growth. “Perhaps now because of the economic environment… people’s choices are no longer practical ones,” he explained. “People now care a lot about emotional value. That is, ‘I want to buy something that I really love. That, when I look at it, makes me really happy.’”

    That sentiment resonates deeply with young Chinese consumers, who are increasingly turning to low-cost sports merchandise as an accessible outlet for stress and emotional fulfillment. On a recent weekday at a local All Star Partner retail outlet, casual shoppers browsed through rows of jerseys, plush charms, keychains, pet toys, and event-themed travel accessories. Football fan Fang Tian, who has followed the World Cup since 2014, noted that young people today face mounting social and economic pressure, and affordable fan merchandise provides both an emotional outlet and an accessible way to engage with the sport they love.

    Influencer Zhu Hui added that the $11.60 Messi goats — which many buyers note look more like fluffy lambs than full-grown goats — are the undisputed top seller at the store. “I’ve found that Chinese people are actually highly enthusiastic about football stars, and (their enthusiasm) lasts a long time,” the 28-year-old said. “My friends are all willing to fight to stay up to watch the games.”

    Data from FIFA backs up that observation: during the 2022 Qatar World Cup, Chinese users accounted for half of all global digital and social platform viewership, despite the absence of the home nation’s team. For long-time fans like 43-year-old Shang Jianxing, a self-described England superfan from Zhejiang, the growing popularity of football culture in China signals a shifting landscape for the sport domestically.

    Shang, who chased his love for England stars David Beckham and Michael Owen to North London where he studied business between 2003 and 2008, has attended multiple World Cups in person and plans to travel to the U.S. to watch this year’s semi-final. He bought a Portugal-themed pet carrier for a friend ahead of this year’s tournament, and said he sees football slowly evolving from a niche interest to a widespread way of life for Chinese fans. Like many Chinese supporters, he watched the national team’s 2002 campaign — its only World Cup appearance to date, where it lost all three group matches without scoring a single goal — and holds out hope for a return to the global stage.

    Shang points to the expansion of youth football development programs across China as a promising sign for the men’s national team, which has long faced widespread criticism for its poor international performance. “It’s a pity China has missed out on every World Cup except 2002, given football’s popularity at home,” he said. “I think sooner or later the Chinese team will play in the World Cup again.”

    For now, though, Chinese merchants are reaping the benefits of that widespread passion, turning global football fever into a rare bright spot for a domestic economy that has struggled with stagnant consumer spending in recent years. What started as a small experiment with a plush teddy bear in a football kit has grown into a multi-million dollar business, proving that even without a national team in the tournament, China’s fan market remains one of the most lucrative in global football.

  • Some burial societies in Africa now focus on helping the living, too

    Some burial societies in Africa now focus on helping the living, too

    In the crowded, tight-knit Kuwadzana township of Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital, 29-year-old Melisa Kasu faced an unthinkable crisis when her mother passed away suddenly, leaving her family completely unprepared. Across Zimbabwe, cultural norms demand elaborate, costly funeral send-offs that feature feasts, entertainment, and community gatherings to uphold a family’s honor. For low-income households, these expectations often push grieving families into crippling debt or push them to sell vital assets just to avoid public shame. But for Kasu, a local mutual aid group stepped in at the worst moment. Arriving with large cooking pots, sacks of cornmeal, and all the other essential supplies needed for the funeral, members of the Kuchemana Burial Society even helped light the cooking fires to prepare food for mourners.

    “That’s the time I decided to join them,” Kasu recalled, and she took over her late mother’s membership in 2023. What she discovered after joining is part of a quiet, transformative cultural shift reshaping community mutual aid groups across much of Africa: traditional burial societies, long focused exclusively on ensuring dignified end-of-life ceremonies, are expanding their missions to support members while they are still alive.

    Founded by a group of local women in 2021, the Kuchemana Burial Society – whose name translates to “mourning one another” in the local Shona language – was originally created to spare low-income families the public embarrassment of holding a funeral that exposes their financial hardship. Today, it retains its core funeral support: each member pays just $3 in monthly dues, and receives a $150 cash payout when a family member passes away, plus on-site help with food preparation and ceremony logistics. But at a recent gathering of the group held under the shade of a large avocado tree, death was barely mentioned on the meeting’s agenda. Instead, members – most of them women, clad in matching T-shirts and floral skirts – sang together, debated community initiatives, and pitched small business ideas ranging from small-scale poultry farming to homemade detergent production.

    Alongside its core funeral services, the society now runs a collective savings fund, where members pay an extra $10 per month to build a pool of capital. Both members and trusted community members can borrow from this fund at a 20% annual interest rate, and all profits from the interest are split between members at the end of each year. The group also operates a bulk grocery purchasing program, allowing members to access staple food goods at lower prices than they would pay at individual retailers. For Kasu, who was laid off from her job at a local hardware store in 2022, this expanded support has been life-changing. She accessed $100 from the savings cycle in December, then borrowed an additional $30 – no complicated bank applications, no strict eligibility checks, no hidden fees. With that capital, she purchased gas tanks and a sales scale, and now runs a small business selling cooking gas to neighbors in her community. “Business is good. I support myself,” Kasu said.

    Researchers note that this shift is not unique to Kuchemana, but reflects a broader trend across the continent. With more than two-thirds of Zimbabwe’s workforce employed in the informal sector, most workers lack access to formal bank loans, conventional financial services, and government social safety nets. Formal funeral insurance is the most widespread form of insurance held in Zimbabwe today – a legacy of the tradition’s roots dating back to the early 20th century, when colonial-era migrant workers formed the first burial societies to ensure they could receive a dignified burial if they died far from their home communities while working in neighboring South Africa. Today, official data shows that fewer than one in 10 Zimbabweans can access affordable health insurance, while low-cost funeral policies are widely promoted by insurance providers and even mobile phone companies. But community-run burial societies still fill a gap that formal insurance cannot, members and researchers agree.

    “Banks normally do not lend to the poor or the unemployed, and governments are not providing enough support,” explained Sharon Chilunjika, a social sciences lecturer at Zimbabwe’s Midlands State University. “People are using an institution they already trust, the burial society, and expanding it to cover more of their needs.” Chilunjika notes that unaffordable funerals are “one of the most underrated or underappreciated drivers of household poverty” across Africa, where families facing pressure to uphold cultural standards often turn to predatory loan sharks or sell critical farm or household assets to cover costs. Beyond financial support, community burial societies offer a sense of connection and belonging that formal corporate providers cannot match. “It is your neighbor, your church mate. They don’t ask you to fill a form. They come to your home and comfort you,” Chilunjika added.

    For the leaders of Kuchemana, the new mission is a natural evolution of the group’s original values. “We wanted dignity in death. Now we are striving for it in life,” said Nyadzisayi Mirisawu, the society’s secretary. “We don’t want members suffering while alive.”

  • Sentence for Christopher Joannidis over crash that killed five upheld on appeal

    Sentence for Christopher Joannidis over crash that killed five upheld on appeal

    One of Victoria’s deadliest road incidents in a decade has sparked renewed anger after the state’s highest court upheld a lenient prison sentence for the driver who caused the crash that killed five people, dismissing a prosecution appeal that argued the original penalty was far too low.

    In January last year, 32-year-old Christopher Dillion Joannidis accepted responsibility for five counts of dangerous driving causing death, and was handed a total sentence of five-and-a-half years behind bars, with a minimum non-parole period of just three years. The fatal collision occurred on April 20, 2023, when Joannidis was driving his Mercedes-Benz along Labuan Road in Strathmerton, a small northern Victorian community located near the New South Wales border. When he reached the intersection with the Murray Valley Highway, he failed to give way to oncoming traffic and crashed directly into a ute.

    The impact of the collision sent the ute spinning out of control, directly into the path of an oncoming heavy truck. The truck’s driver, Deborah Markey, and four visiting farm workers — Zhi-Yao Chen, Pin-Yu Wang, Wai Yan Lam and Hsin-Yu Chen — were killed instantly. Disturbingly, police had pulled Joannidis over just minutes before the fatal crash to issue him a speeding ticket, and explicitly warned him that the stretch of road was notoriously dangerous, with nine fatalities recorded in the area over the preceding 19 months.

    During the original sentencing, Judge Gavan Meredith adjusted the penalty after considering expert testimony that a raised rail hump positioned just before the intersection on Labuan Road created a hidden safety hazard, blocking drivers’ view of traffic on the Murray Valley Highway and turning the crossing into what experts described as a “trap” for motorists.

    Prosecutors with the Office of Public Prosecutions challenged the sentence before the Victorian Court of Appeal, arguing that the penalty was “manifestly inadequate” given the scale of loss of life, Joannidis’ clear culpability for the crash, and the need for a strong sentence to deter other motorists from dangerous driving behavior.

    On Wednesday, the three-judge panel led by Justices Stephen McLeish, Christopher Boyce and Terry Forrest issued their ruling dismissing the appeal. The panel acknowledged that the original sentence was indeed lenient, but concluded it did not fall outside the acceptable range of penalties available to the original sentencing judge.

    “After anxious consideration, we have concluded that this appeal must be dismissed,” the justices wrote in their formal ruling. “Whilst lenient, the Director (of Public Prosecutions) has not demonstrated that the cumulation imposed and the consequent total effective sentence are manifestly inadequate.”

    In their reasoning, the judges noted that Joannidis was not speeding at the time of the crash, nor was he impaired by alcohol or drugs. They also agreed that the pre-existing hazard at the intersection reduced Joannidis’ moral culpability for the deaths, noting “we may have imposed a longer sentence, but that it is only when a sentence is obviously wrong that an appeals court should intervene.”

    Outside the courtroom following the ruling, Daniel Montero, son of crash victim Deborah Markey, said he was devastated by the decision and condemned the justice system as fundamentally broken. “This guy killed five people, and it doesn’t matter how you spin it, that’s what he did,” Montero told reporters. “It really has taken a massive impact on my life and my family’s, and today was just not the outcome that we wanted. I just need to try and move on with my life.”

  • Chemist Warehouse owner confirms talks to buy UK health giant Boots

    Chemist Warehouse owner confirms talks to buy UK health giant Boots

    One of Australia’s largest pharmaceutical powerhouses has launched a potential game-changing expansion into the United Kingdom’s retail health market, after confirming it has entered early-stage negotiations to acquire British health and beauty chain Boots in a deal valued at approximately $14 billion Australian dollars.

    In an official statement filed with the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) this week, parent company Sigma Healthcare – which completed its $34 billion merger with Australian retail pharmacy brand Chemist Warehouse only last year – confirmed that “preliminary discussions” are underway regarding the sale process for Boots, the UK’s biggest independent pharmaceutical chain by market share.

    “Sigma continuously reviews opportunities that would create value for shareholders and has engaged in preliminary discussions in relation to the sale process,” the statement read. A subsequent spokesperson for Chemist Warehouse also clarified that talks remain in the very early stages, and no final agreement has been reached regarding a potential transaction.

    Per reporting from the Financial Times, Boots’ current owner, US-based private equity firm Sycamore Partners, has received expressions of interest from multiple retail groups across North America and Australia. Alongside Sigma Healthcare, Canadian supermarket giant Loblaws and national pharmacy operator Shoppers Drug Mart are also listed as potential bidders for the iconic British brand. Industry analysts expect the final sale price to land around $10 billion US dollars, equal to $14.3 billion Australian dollars.

    Founded 177 years ago, Boots is a staple of British high streets, operating roughly 1,800 physical locations across the UK and employing more than 50,000 people. The brand has become a household name for both pharmaceutical products and general health and beauty retail, making it a high-value target for global retailers looking to break into the UK market.

    If Sigma completes the acquisition, the purchase would mark the company’s second major investment in the UK in less than six months. Back in May, the Australian group purchased a 75% controlling stake in British pharmacy operator Greenlight Healthcare, which runs 22 community locations, in a move that first brought the Chemist Warehouse brand into the UK market. Beyond the UK and its home market of Australia, Sigma already maintains a presence across New Zealand, Ireland and the United Arab Emirates’ Dubai, as part of its ongoing global expansion strategy.

    Shortly after the announcement of preliminary talks, Sigma Healthcare’s shares took a notable dip on the ASX, falling more than 7% to close at $2.72 AUD per share, as investors reacted to the news of the potential large-scale acquisition.

  • Insider tour of the Sagrada Familia reveals 5 divine enigmas and hidden treasures

    Insider tour of the Sagrada Familia reveals 5 divine enigmas and hidden treasures

    Barcelona’s iconic Sagrada Familia basilica has captivated visitors and worshippers for decades with its dreamlike sandcastle-inspired spires, intricately carved stone foliage that mimics nature, and a light-drenched kaleidoscopic interior filled with untold secrets. Even those who attend services regularly at Antoni Gaudí’s unfinished masterpiece still find themselves stopped in their tracks by new details that slip past unnoticed on first, or hundredth, view. Ahead of Pope Leo XIV’s highly anticipated papal Mass scheduled for Wednesday night, the basilica’s Catalan rector Josep Turull — who has overseen parish activities here for eight years — gave The Associated Press an exclusive private tour to highlight some of the site’s most underappreciated hidden treasures. As Turull puts it: “We say that one of the elements of the Sagrada Familia Basilica is that you never exhaust it. I have spent the last eight years as its rector, and each day I discover something new.”

    ### Mysteries Carved Into the Basilica’s Façades
    Every intricate detail woven into the Sagrada Familia’s multiple elaborately decorated façades carries intentional meaning, ranging from straightforward religious imagery to cryptic puzzles that reward close observation. The stark Façade of the Passion, which faces west, was designed by Gaudí to embody the agony of Christ’s final days. Its angular, contorted figures with strained bodies are intentionally harsh and unforgiving, “as if made of bones,” in Gaudí’s own words. Decades after Gaudí’s death, sculptor Josep Subirachs added subtle playful touches to soften the unrelenting misery of the narrative: Gaudí himself is carved above the central entrance, gazing across at Christ as he carries his cross toward Calvary. Next to the iconic scene of Judas betraying Jesus with a kiss sits a Sudoku-style numbered grid, a “magic square” that adds up to 33 — Jesus’s age at crucifixion — in every direction, a subtle reminder of the inevitability of Christ’s sacrifice. Further along the façade, tucked into the scene of Peter denying Jesus, a tiny square labyrinth carries its own message: Turull explains it symbolizes the need to hold fast to faith when one feels lost in life.

    ### Living Nature Atop the World’s Tallest Church
    When the Tower of Jesus Christ was completed in October 2022, the Sagrada Familia claimed the title of the world’s tallest church, and following his Mass on Wednesday, Pope Leo XIV will step outside the basilica to bless this iconic new addition. The soaring spires of Gaudí’s design are packed with natural imagery: from the rooster that marks Peter’s denial to reptile-shaped gargoyles and overflowing cornucopias of fruit that crown each tower. Most surprisingly, the heights are also home to living, breathing wildlife: a breeding pair of peregrine falcons and their offspring have made the St. James Tower their nest for more than 20 years. The falcons do double duty, keeping the nuisance pigeon population under control and restoring a natural ecological cycle that broke down when the species disappeared from Barcelona in the 1970s. The Sagrada Familia was selected as an ideal reintroduction site because it was one of the falcons’ last remaining nesting spots in the city before their local extinction, and the population has thrived here ever since. Turull notes that the swift predators “recover the cycle of natural life” in the heart of central Barcelona, fitting perfectly with Gaudí’s philosophy of drawing inspiration from the natural world.

    ### The Spiritual Heart Underground: Gaudí’s Final Resting Place
    For the more than 4.5 million tourists that visit the Sagrada Familia each year, jostling for photos of the colored light pouring through stained-glass windows and following guided tours of the main nave, the basilica’s “spiritual heart” is easily overlooked. To find it, visitors must slip through a unassuming side entrance and descend a short staircase to a small, quiet underground chapel. Here, the noise of tourism fades away, leaving space for small groups of worshippers to gather for silent Mass. It is also here that Antoni Gaudí — a devout Catholic who dedicated more than 40 years of his life to the Sagrada Familia — is buried in a simple, discreet tomb in a wall nook. Gaudí died exactly 100 years before Pope Leo XIV’s visit, killed instantly when he was struck by a streetcar in 1926. Today, worshippers and visitors come to the crypt to ask for Gaudí’s intercession, leaving candles at his tomb out of trust that their prayers will be answered. The Vatican is currently in the late stages of the canonization process for Gaudí: Pope Francis declared him venerable in 2025, and the Vatican is now reviewing a claimed miracle attributed to his intercession. If confirmed, Gaudí will be beatified, followed by canonization as a saint after a second verified miracle. The basilica has invited Pope Leo XIV to pray at Gaudí’s tomb during his visit, though it remains unconfirmed whether he will do so.

    ### Small Surprises: A Natural Holy Water Basin and a Papal Changing Room
    Even on the path to and from the crypt, small details reflect Gaudí’s obsession with integrating nature into his design. Before ascending back to the main level of the basilica, Turull pauses at a large, genuine seashell brought to Barcelona from the Philippines, set in hand-wrought iron and mounted on a column to serve as a holy water basin. It is a quiet example of Gaudí’s core design philosophy: “Gaudí always takes nature as an example,” Turull explains.

    Higher up in the basilica, up a winding staircase, a sunlit private changing room prepared specifically for Pope Leo XIV holds two intricately designed oak cabinets crafted by Gaudí himself, which hold the basilica’s most precious clerical relics and vestments. One of the most treasured pieces already stored there is the chasuble worn by Pope Benedict XVI when he consecrated the Sagrada Familia in 2010. For his visit, a brand-new chasuble is being hand-sewn at a local workshop specifically for the Mass, featuring custom details tied to the newly completed Tower of Jesus Christ and the historic occasion. Turull is keeping the full design under wraps for now: some details, he says, are meant to be a surprise for the day.

    This report includes contributions from AP videojournalist Hernán Muñoz.