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Gaza’s destroyed sewage system linked to ‘rare’ algae bloom shutting Israeli desalination plants

An unprecedented large-scale algal bloom along Israel’s Mediterranean coastline has forced the temporary shutdown of five out of the country’s six major seawater desalination facilities, triggering a fresh discussion over environmental vulnerabilities in the region and the multiple factors that may have sparked the historic event, according to regional and international media reports.

Desalination is the backbone of Israel’s drinking water supply, meeting more than 65 percent of the nation’s demand, with nearly all major desalination infrastructure sited along the Mediterranean coast. Lior Gutman, a spokesperson for Mekorot, Israel’s national water utility, confirmed the scale of the disruption, noting that an event of this magnitude has never been recorded in Israeli history. “An event of this kind has never occurred before in Israel … it was an extremely rare event,” Gutman stated. The affected plants include key facilities at Ashkelon, Ashdod, Palmachim, Sorek A, and Sorek B.

In response to the shutdowns, Israeli water officials moved quickly to stabilize the national water supply by drawing increased volumes from the Sea of Galilee, underground groundwater reserves, and existing storage reservoirs, while implementing limited restrictions on agricultural and public irrigation. Even as supplies remain stable for the moment, the crisis has pulled back the curtain on a critical fragility: Israel’s heavy reliance on desalination leaves it exposed to unexpected large-scale environmental disruptions.

Israeli news outlet Ynet first reported that one leading potential cause being examined by researchers is the massive volume of untreated sewage flowing into the Mediterranean from the Gaza Strip, where the local wastewater treatment infrastructure has sustained severe damage during the ongoing conflict. Palestinian and Israeli data indicates roughly 40,000 cubic meters of untreated wastewater enters the sea from Gaza every day. A number of leading Israeli environmental researchers have pointed to this nutrient-rich runoff as a key contributing factor.

Algal blooms require two core conditions to proliferate: warm water and high concentrations of nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen, explained Avner Gross, head of Ben-Gurion University’s Climate Change Laboratory. While satellite data has detected similar algal masses near Egypt’s Nile Delta, where agricultural runoff enters the Mediterranean, Gross told Ynet that no other explanation currently fits the pattern of the bloom off Israel’s coast. “In our case, I currently have no other explanation except a pollution source in the southern Gaza Strip,” Gross said.

Gross added on the social platform X that human-caused climate change has transformed the Mediterranean into an ideal breeding ground for such events, writing: “global warming had turned the Mediterranean into ‘a bathtub in August.’ Add phosphorus and nitrogen pollution and you get a deadly algal bloom. Coincidentally, in recent days there were weak, steady winds that mixed the fertiliser from the sewage along Israel’s coast. A perfect storm.” Noga Armi, chief executive of Israeli environmental nonprofit Zalul, echoed this conclusion, telling Roya News that “the scientific link is well established. Untreated sewage discharged into the sea from Gaza was one of the factors that contributed to the incident.”

However, not all researchers agree that Gaza’s untreated sewage is the main driver of the bloom. Tamar Guy-Haim, a marine ecologist at Israel’s National Institute of Oceanography, argued that the probability of Gaza sewage being the primary cause is relatively low. Researchers have so far identified the organism behind the bloom as a cyanobacterium from the genus Synechococcus, but the exact species and the full set of triggers behind its sudden explosive growth are still the subject of active investigation.

In addition to nutrient pollution, scientists have pointed to a range of other possible contributing factors: unusually warm Mediterranean seawater, strong seasonal sunlight, natural ocean current patterns, and a recent storm that increased water turbidity along the coast. Or Bialik, a researcher at Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research, told Haaretz he had never encountered a bloom of this scale in his decades of Mediterranean work. “I’ve worked in the Mediterranean Sea for a long time and have never seen anything like this. The water is green like a lake. The turbidity is such that you can’t see your instruments after half a metre,” Bialik said.

Multiple research teams have noted the bloom appears to have originated near the Nile Delta before drifting northward along the coast with prevailing ocean currents. Looking forward, many researchers warn that even as this event is unprecedented, it is unlikely to be a one-off occurrence as climate change continues to warm Mediterranean waters. “It’s a fair estimation that this will not be a once-in-a-lifetime kind of event … you can assume that this will occur more and more through climate change,” Edo Bar-Zeev, a water researcher at Ben-Gurion University, told CNN. To date, no definitive single cause has been confirmed, with most scientists acknowledging the bloom may have resulted from a combination of warming temperatures, natural ocean dynamics, Nile Delta agricultural runoff, and Gaza wastewater pollution.

5 9 月, 2026
Springboks, All Blacks go to US without Kolbe and Savea after brutal injuries in rugby test series

BALTIMORE — A blockbuster four-test rugby series between South Africa and New Zealand is set for its deciding clash next Saturday, but the decider will play out without two of the teams’ most impactful stars after a dramatic third test that saw the world champion Springboks claim a narrow 29-24 victory to move ahead 2-1 in the overall series.

Both teams flew to Baltimore together on Sunday, already reeling from key injuries sustained during Saturday’s physical encounter. Cheslin Kolbe, South Africa’s standout goalkicker who delivered near-flawless performances across the first three matches, suffered a broken jaw after a collision with New Zealand’s Luke Jacobson. All Blacks captain Ardie Savea is at high risk of a dislocated right shoulder sustained during a ruck clearout from Springbok Jasper Wiese, while All Blacks center Quinn Tupaea sustained MCL damage that will also rule him out of the final test. None of the three will be available for selection, and neither side has announced plans to call up replacement players for the closing match, which will be hosted at the Baltimore Ravens’ NFL stadium.

For Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus, the come-from-behind series lead — secured after a loss in the opening test — came as a significant relief. He described the contest as a grueling, high-stakes epic encounter, saying he was simply grateful to walk away with the win.

Erasmus pointed to his long-standing familiarity with the Springbok squad as the key edge that separated the two sides. The South African coach has overseen the national program since 2018, giving him nearly a decade of insider knowledge of his players’ strengths, communication styles, and resilience under pressure. In contrast, New Zealand coach Dave Rennie only took over the All Blacks setup this past June, still in the early stages of building team cohesion.

“Dave doesn’t have that luxury yet,” Erasmus explained. “He’s building a team and I know what that feels like; in 2018 I got the team 18 months before a World Cup. I know these players inside out. They know me. They know when to take me serious and when not. We’ve got the luxury of knowing each other for nine years, through tough times, and that’s not to say we’re always going to win because of that, but we’re just a little more used to navigating tough moments. Dave and his team will find that cohesion eventually, but for us, pushing through tight stretches is just that much easier.”

Erasmus noted the 29-24 scoreline was a fair reflection of the tightly matched contest, adding that the Springboks only grabbed their first lead of the test in the 60th minute after a grueling battle for dominance in set pieces. He also pushed back on any suggestions the result proved South Africa was far superior, acknowledging that good fortune played a role in the final outcome.

“We’re not sitting here thinking we are awesome,” he said. “We’re thinking there was also a lot of luck that went our way.”

For Rennie, the result was a disappointing one, as the All Blacks coach argued the gap between the two sides was razor-thin, and just two costly first-half errors ultimately shifted momentum against his team.

“It’s frustrating because there was a lot of effort out there but we just weren’t clinical in that first half and couldn’t wrestle momentum back when it mattered in that second half,” he said.

The first pivotal error came shortly after New Zealand scored to take a 17-12 lead in the second half. Young defender Leroy Carter failed to bring down South Africa’s Jesse Kriel, who broke free to score a critical try that leveled the score. Rennie defended Carter, noting the experienced defender was already beating himself up over the mistake.

“I feel for Leroy. He’s a good man, he’s a very good defender, I’m sure he’s hurting about that,” Rennie said. “Our job once they’ve scored was to bounce back, try and take control of possession but they were able to dominate the next 10 minutes and that was pivotal.”

The second turning point came when All Blacks star Will Jordan accidentally kicked the ball dead, gifting South Africa a scrum that quickly turned into a penalty, and eventually a rolling maul that led to a match-winning try for Springbok hooker Malcolm Marx.

“Just unlucky,” Rennie said. “It was a good option but you come back to a scrum, which is a penalty, which is a maul where they drive however many meters to score. We scrambled to try and get in front of it and they kept rolling through us. It was the only maul that troubled us today. It’s disappointing.”

The stage is now set for a highly anticipated decider next weekend, as the Springboks look to close out the series win while the undermanned All Blacks aim to pull off an upset draw against the world champions.

5 9 月, 2026
At the 9/11 museum, America remembers only its own

Ahead of the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks that claimed 2,977 lives across New York, Virginia, and Pennsylvania, a pre-anniversary visit to the 9/11 Memorial & Museum reveals sharp gaps in how the site frames one of the 21st century’s most defining global events. Since opening to the public in May 2014, the sprawling 110,000-square-foot institution, built into the original foundation of the World Trade Center complex and retaining a 1960s underground retaining wall that holds back the Hudson River, has amassed more than 83,000 artifacts recovered from the 2001 attack site. Seventy feet below street level at Ground Zero, every tangible trace of the tragedy is carefully preserved: charred fire trucks, twisted steel girders from the fallen towers, dented firefighters’ helmets, stopped watches recovered from victims, and the final, heartbreaking messages left by passengers aboard the four hijacked planes. Visitors can view footage of the planes striking the Twin Towers captured from multiple angles, listen to voice recordings from people on the flights who understood they would not survive, and walk through exhibits saturated with the visceral shock of that morning. After spending nearly three hours circling the displays, observing other visitors gasp and sigh at the harrowing imagery, studying exhibit captions, and absorbing the emotional weight of the collection, one critical observation emerges: the museum’s exhaustive documentation of the attacks themselves stands in stark contrast to its deliberate omission of key historical context and the far-reaching human costs of the United States’ post-9/11 response. The visitor experience is structured as an unrelenting loop of trauma, with core exhibits repeating the most graphic scenes of the attack in non-chronological order. Tight passageways and a constant barrage of sounds and images create a suffocating atmosphere that makes the 24-year-old tragedy feel immediate, as scholar Ross Poole has noted: “The shock of 9/11 becomes eternally present. And as we are invited to share the perspective of that day, we become as ignorant as those whom we observe dying or surviving, doing their best to help or simply to escape.” The museum does extend its narrative back to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, framing the site as a longstanding symbol of American power targeted by adversaries, but it fails to provide meaningful, honest context for the rise of al-Qaeda, the group that carried out the 2001 attacks. Curators describe al-Qaeda as an “international Islamist extremist terrorist network” motivated almost entirely by religious ideology, but their account of the group’s origins during the 1980s Soviet-Afghan War is deliberately vague and evasive. The museum’s caption notes that the U.S. supported the Afghan rebellion through Pakistan-based funding and arms transfers, adding that the CIA recruited Afghan fighters but did not directly fund foreign militants. This framing omits the core reality of U.S. statecraft at the time: Washington intentionally routed support through Pakistan to maintain plausible deniability, and the anti-Soviet campaign it backed created the exact ideological and organizational conditions that allowed al-Qaeda to emerge. By sidelining this history and centering religious extremism as the sole driver of the attacks, the museum perpetuates narratives that fuel anti-Islam prejudice. Most striking is the museum’s near-total silence on the 20-plus-year global “war on terror” launched in response to 9/11 – a campaign that has killed an estimated 1 million people and displaced 37 million more worldwide. It makes no mention of the vast expansion of domestic surveillance targeting Muslim communities in the U.S., the use of torture at CIA black sites and facilities like Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay, or the restructuring of U.S. immigration and security systems that created the Department of Homeland Security, ICE, and TSA. Ironically, the visitor entry process itself serves as an unplanned, living example of this post-9/11 security state: upon arrival, guests are processed through airport-style body scanners and pat-downs, mirroring the surveillance and screening infrastructure that 9/11 made permanent. Even the museum’s board underscores this bias: former U.S. President George W. Bush, who oversaw the launch of the war on terror, serves as an honorary trustee. One staff member privately shared reservations about the omission of the war on terror’s legacy but declined to comment further. While the museum meticulously records the names, faces, and stories of every person killed in the 2001 attacks, the hundreds of thousands of people killed in U.S. military action after 9/11 remain unmentioned, nameless, and faceless – a gap that is reflected in the visitor demographic, with almost no people of color observed among touring groups during the visit. As the 25th anniversary approaches, this incomplete narrative extends to current, 9/11-linked crises unfolding today. The visitor draws a striking parallel between the debris and public health disaster that followed the Twin Towers’ collapse, and the ongoing catastrophe in the Gaza Strip. In New York, more people have died from 9/11-related diseases like lung and blood cancer than were killed in the attacks themselves; just days before the visit, New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani released 170,000 previously undisclosed pages of documents confirming city officials knew the air around Ground Zero was toxic in the weeks after the attack. In Gaza, 78 percent of all homes and infrastructure have been destroyed with U.S. military and political backing, leaving more than 61 million tons of toxic debris to clear – a public health disaster on an unimaginable scale, with little access to medical care, clean water, or humanitarian aid. The gaps in the museum’s narrative also extend to the legal process for the accused 9/11 conspirators: just days before the visit, a U.S. military judge ruled that statements made by alleged plot mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to the FBI cannot be used at trial, because they were obtained through torture during his detention in CIA custody. His trial is not scheduled to begin until 2028 – nearly 25 years after his capture. Beyond the critique of its curation, the museum also frames the trauma of 9/11 as a commercial product. Upon exiting the exhibit halls, ushers explicitly direct visitors to the on-site museum store, where guests can purchase branded 9/11 merchandise: magnets, t-shirts, American flags, and “Never Forget” mugs imported from Thailand. Above ground, the 9/11 Memorial – composed of two massive sunken reflecting pools named *Reflecting Absence*, opened in 2011 – offers a far more evocative framing of the tragedy. The names of those killed in the attacks are carved into the stone edges of the pools, where water cascades into a deep central void that never fills. Architect Michael Arad designed the memorial to capture a “sense of rupture and continued absence,” a metaphor that ends up carrying unintended meaning: while the memorial asks the public to honor the void left by the attacks, the museum pulls visitors deeper into an incomplete, politically motivated narrative that perpetuates division and erases far more tragedy than it documents. Today, as younger generations increasingly question the official 9/11 narrative, framing the attacks as a convenient pretext for endless war and global resource extraction, the 9/11 Memorial & Museum stands as a time capsule of an old, contested story – one that still serves political ends 25 years on. This article was originally published by Middle East Eye, an independent outlet covering the Middle East, North Africa, and global affairs.

5 9 月, 2026
Greeks promised tax relief, wage hikes as protesters take to the streets over cost of living crunch

THESSALONIKI, Greece – As Greece’s ruling conservative administration readies for a pivotal 2024 general election, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has announced a €2 billion ($2.3 billion) package of broad tax cuts and wage increases – a plan rolled out even as more than 25,000 protesters gathered in Thessaloniki Saturday to decry the country’s ongoing cost-of-living crisis.

Mitsotakis delivered the policy pledge during his annual state-of-the-economy address in Greece’s northern port city, framing the new measures as the long-awaited payoff for years of fiscal recovery after the nation’s crippling decade-long financial crisis. “Our country has pulled itself out of economic stagnation, and now it is time for Greeks to reap the rewards of our collective hard work,” the prime minister said. “As our economy stabilizes, we will deliver relief from crippling taxation, higher household incomes, and far-reaching structural reforms.”

The public appearance came with heightened security: more than 3,000 police officers were deployed across Thessaloniki, closing central streets and subway stations near the speech venue to manage large-scale demonstrations organized by national labor unions and grassroots advocacy groups. Protesters brought agricultural tractors into the city’s downtown core to amplify their demands, drawing attention to widespread financial strain hitting working people and farming communities across the country.

While Greece has posted notable macroeconomic gains in recent years – including a 2.1% GDP growth rate and a federal budget surplus in 2023, alongside steady reductions to its long-standing high public debt – Greek workers retain the lowest purchasing power of any nation in the European Union. “Wages have stagnated while consumer prices continue to skyrocket, and affordability has become the most pressing crisis facing ordinary Greeks,” explained Yiannis Panagopoulos, president of the General Confederation of Greek Workers (GSEE), Greece’s largest labor federation.

The newly announced support package targets multiple key voter blocs ahead of the expected April election, where Mitsotakis – who has held office since 2019 and is seeking a third consecutive term – will fight to retain control of government. The plan includes tax reductions for self-employed workers, small-scale agricultural producers, and residents of small rural villages, alongside across-the-board salary and benefit increases for public sector employees and retired Greeks.

Current polling indicates that Mitsotakis’ center-right New Democracy party holds a lead over opposition groups but is unlikely to secure an outright parliamentary majority, leaving the outcome of the upcoming vote uncertain. Saturday’s policy event was also overshadowed by tragedy: a Greek fighter jet crashed during an air show near Athens several hours before the speech, killing two elite air force pilots.

Derek Gatopoulos contributed additional reporting from Athens.

5 9 月, 2026
‘Governments continue to fail’: Freedom Flotilla sails again, vowing to challenge Israel’s Gaza blockade

Against a backdrop of a lingering humanitarian crisis and years of deadly interceptions of aid missions, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) has launched a bold new international initiative to challenge Israel’s long-running blockade of the Gaza Strip. The coalition announced that two activist vessels are already traversing European ports, with a coordinated attempt to reach the besieged Palestinian territory scheduled for October.

The mission will proceed despite a documented history of brutal violence and abuse against flotilla volunteers by Israeli forces during previous attempts to break the blockade. FFC representatives confirmed that past participants have faced severe beatings, repeated use of tasers, sexual assault, and arbitrary detention, abuses that have not deterred the coalition from moving forward with its latest effort. Organizers frame the voyage as a necessary response to what they call Israel’s deliberate restriction of life-sustaining supplies, including food, medicine, and fuel, that has pushed Gaza’s humanitarian situation into catastrophic territory.

“Freedom Flotilla sails again because our governments continue to fail to uphold their obligations,” stated Zohar Chamberlain Regev, a member of the FFC steering committee. “At every port, we will carry the demand that Palestinians be free to live with dignity. In October, we intend to carry that demand and the solidarity of people around the world to Gaza’s shores.”

As of the coalition’s latest update, two vessels have already completed stretches of their European port tour. The Handala II visited Norway, Sweden, and Denmark throughout June and July, while the Kate departed from Bristol, United Kingdom, earlier this month and has already made stops in Ireland, Germany, and France. The flotilla will next call at ports in Spain, Portugal, and Italy before setting a course for Gaza’s coastline.

The mission draws a diverse cohort of participants from across the globe, including seasoned human rights advocates, trade union organizers, sitting elected representatives, independent journalists, certified medical professionals, and other grassroots supporters of Palestinian rights. At every stop along the European route, organizers will host public gatherings and community meetings to build awareness of the crisis in Gaza and rally local support for the campaign.

Beyond the voyage itself, the FFC has issued a set of clear demands to national governments worldwide: halt all weapons and energy shipments to Israel, end all diplomatic and military cooperation with the Israeli state, impose targeted sanctions, and prioritize the creation of safe corridors for unimpeded humanitarian aid to enter Gaza. The coalition is also calling on governments to guarantee the flotilla’s right to free passage under international law, and to explicitly warn Israel that any attack, seizure, diversion, or unlawful arrest of the mission’s vessels and crew will carry tangible diplomatic consequences.

Crucially, the FFC is demanding permanent, unobstructed free access to Gaza and a full end to what it terms Israel’s illegal blockade of all essential goods, including food, clean water, and medicine.

Participants in the mission acknowledge the severe risks inherent in sailing toward Gaza, but frame inaction as a far greater moral failing. “We know that sailing toward Gaza carries serious risks,” said Edward Digilio, an engineer from Maryland in the United States who is joining the voyage. “But silence and inaction carry a much greater cost for Palestinians and the world. This mission is an expression of shared humanity and a refusal to accept the destruction of an entire people as normal.”

This latest effort comes as the latest chapter in nearly two decades of activist attempts to break the Gaza blockade. The FFC grew out of the original Free Gaza Movement, which launched its first voyages to Gaza in 2008. The most infamous incident came in 2010, when Israeli commandos stormed the Turkish vessel Mavi Marmara, killing 10 activists on board. In the years since, activists have repeatedly documented severe abuse during interceptions, including allegations of abduction, torture, and sexual assault.

Most recently, a separate 2025 aid mission, the Global Sumud Flotilla, launched in direct response to what the coalition calls Israel’s ongoing genocide and aid blockade of Gaza, saw at least 15 boats raided by Israeli naval forces in international waters hundreds of nautical miles off Gaza’s coast. All crew members were abducted, according to the mission, and many vessels were deliberately disabled and left adrift, stranding activists at sea. In June 2025, British participants in the Global Sumud Flotilla told Middle East Eye that they were detained in international waters, subjected to beatings, sexual humiliation, tasering, and other forms of mistreatment after their boats were intercepted. They reported being transferred to Israeli “prison ships” and held in custody, accusing the British government of failing to provide any meaningful consular support during their detention.

The FFC’s new voyage comes as Gaza still grapples with a devastating humanitarian emergency, even after a ceasefire was declared in October 2025. Organizers say the central goal of the October 2026 voyage is to build sustained international pressure to secure permanent unrestricted access to Gaza and force an end to the Israeli blockade. Throughout the journey, the coalition will continue urging national governments to uphold international law protecting freedom of navigation and hold Israel accountable for any attempt to intercept or detain the mission’s crew and vessels.

5 9 月, 2026
South Africa outmuscles New Zealand 29-24 to take a 2-1 rugby series lead

JOHANNESBURG — In a rollercoaster, high-stakes rugby test that kept 85,970 roaring fans on the edge of their seats, South Africa pulled off a thrilling 29-24 victory over New Zealand on Saturday, snatching a 2-1 lead in their landmark test series.

The win marks a remarkable turnaround for the Springboks, who dropped the opening match of the series. With just one fixture remaining, South Africa has already guaranteed it cannot lose the series, and will head into next Saturday’s fourth and final test in Cape Town (corrected from original erroneous location) with a historic milestone in its sights: a first series victory over the All Blacks since 1976.

For nearly an hour of the match, New Zealand held the upper hand on the scoreboard, but the Springboks’ dominant scrum slowly shifted momentum in their favor. The home side grabbed its first lead of the match at the 60-minute mark, before sealing the result with a grueling, well-drilled lineout maul that ended with hooker Malcolm Marx diving over the try line, slamming the turf in unbridled celebration.

For the first time across the series, the two sides finished level on tries, with four apiece. The match saw a late injury blow to South Africa starting goalkicker Cheslin Kolbe, forcing young playmaker Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu into kicking duties. The stand-in delivered under pressure, slotting two conversions and one critical penalty.

Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s clinical performance stood in stark contrast to New Zealand’s kicker Ruben Love, who left seven easy points on the table from missed shots at goal. Most damaging for the All Blacks, however, was an early injury to inspirational captain Ardie Savea. Savea crossed for two tries, moving to the top of the all-time list for most test tries by a men’s forward, but was forced off the pitch with a rib injury just 30 minutes into the match, robbing the side of its key physical and leadership presence.

The opening 40 minutes of end-to-end action finished locked at 12-12, with both sides trading tries early. In a fractious sequence, Feinberg-Mngomezulu escaped with just a yellow card for a deliberate pass knockdown, avoiding what could have been a penalty try for the All Blacks, in the same attacking movement that saw Kolbe leave the pitch with a head injury.

Shortly after the card, a powerful break from New Zealand hooker Asafo Aumua set up Savea’s opening try, his 34th in international play. Down to 14 men, South Africa held firm and hit back, with Damian de Allende creating an overlap for right winger Kurt-Lee Arendse to cross the line.

Savea’s second score came from a smart line: a massive sidestep from Tupou Vaa’i, playing his 50th test, opened space, before a skip pass from Vaa’i to Leroy Carter put Savea into open space to score. Five minutes later, Savea was helped from the field clutching his ribs, with replacement Wallace Sititi entering the fray — a notable family moment, as Sititi’s sister Amarante had come off the bench to score in the New Zealand women’s victory over South Africa in the earlier curtain-raiser match.

The final 10 minutes saw New Zealand pinned deep in its own half, with Love sin-binned for a transgression. South Africa’s already imposing scrum forced a penalty try to level the scores after New Zealand interfered with a pushover attempt. New Zealand responded by earning a scrum penalty of its own after referee Nika Amashukeli penalized South Africa for moving off the mark, but Love missed the long-range 52-meter effort, wasting a golden chance to retake the lead.

Love also missed the conversion of Will Jordan’s 54th test try, which came after Jordan chipped the defense, collected a pop pass from Carter to score. That left New Zealand holding a narrow two-point lead heading into the final stretch, but a series of unforced All Blacks errors handed the initiative back to the Springboks.

A missed tackle from Leroy Carter let Jesse Kriel walk in unopposed for a try, flipping the 17-12 New Zealand lead into a South African advantage. The Springboks extended their lead to nine points with just 14 minutes left to play, before the decisive lineout maul that created Marx’s match-sealing score in front of the massive home crowd.

New Zealand still has a chance to salvage a drawn series in the final test next weekend, but stand-in All Blacks captain Luke Jacobson acknowledged after the match that his side had been outplayed in the critical closing stages. “They got on top of us,” Jacobson said of the decisive match-winning maul.

5 9 月, 2026
South Africa finish strongly to take 2-1 series lead against All Blacks

The iconic Soccer City stadium in Soweto played host to another epic chapter of rugby union’s most storied rivalry on Saturday, as defending world champions South Africa pulled off a hard-fought 29-24 victory over a gritty New Zealand side to seize a 2-1 advantage in the four-match Greatest Rivalry Series. The encounter, packed with dramatic momentum shifts and world-class athleticism, lived up to every bit of its pre-match hype, with the Springboks’ signature physical set-piece dominance ultimately proving the difference in the final quarter.

Pre-match tensions ran high ahead of kickoff. South Africa captain Siya Kolisi had urged his side to play with purpose, honouring the anti-apartheid activists who lost their lives in Soweto decades earlier. National pride was further stoked after New Zealand head coach Dave Rennie publicly criticized the Springboks’ scrum technique following South Africa’s second Test win in Cape Town the previous weekend. Expectations were for an explosive opening from the home side, but the All Blacks calmly defused the early pressure with smart tactical play.

A turnover breakdown by young flanker Peter Lakai halted an early Springbok surge, and fullback Will Jordan broke clear to shift play into South Africa’s 22-meter zone. When Springbok fly-half Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu was yellow-carded for knocking down Ardie Savea’s offload, the All Blacks capitalized from the resulting penalty: a clever line-out movement opened space on the fringe of the ruck, and Savea crashed through a stretched defense to open the scoring. Things got worse for the home side shortly after, when star winger Cheslin Kolbe – who held a perfect kicking record through the first two Tests – was forced off with a head knock, dealing a double blow to South Africa’s scoreboard and confidence.

For much of the first half, New Zealand’s quick ball handling and tactical creativity neutralized South Africa’s well-known set-piece supremacy. Hooker Asafo Aumua got the ball away cleanly from retreating scrums, and innovative line-out calls kept the Springboks off balance. But as All Black discipline began to fray under constant pressure, South Africa grabbed their opening: center Damian de Allende shrugged off a tackle from Leroy Carter and fed winger Kurt-Lee Arendse to score in the 21st minute.

New Zealand reclaimed a 12-5 lead minutes later, when second rows Sam Darry and Tupou Vaa’i carved out valuable territory with their agile play, and Savea scooped up a loose ball to score his second try of the half. But the Springboks’ scrum power could not be contained forever. Front row trio Malcolm Marx, Wilco Louw and Ox Nche lived up to the pre-match challenge, ploughing through the All Black pack to force a penalty try, leveling the scores at 12-12 going into halftime. Tragically for the All Blacks, their influential captain Ardie Savea was forced off the pitch just before the break with a shoulder injury, robbing the side of his on-field leadership for the final 40 minutes.

The second half began with tension thick enough to cut, and fly-half Ruben Love missed a long-range penalty opportunity that would have put the All Blacks ahead. In the 55th minute, it looked like New Zealand was on track for a historic away win – only the second ever on South African soil, after the 1996 “Incomparables” side claimed a 2-1 series victory – when Jordan chased his own kick and crossed for a try to open up a 17-12 lead.

But the Springboks responded within two minutes, as Jesse Kriel powered through a weak tackle from Carter to score the home side’s third try, putting South Africa ahead for the first time all match. The Boks extended their advantage in the 62nd minute, leveraging their scrum dominance to force another penalty from replacement All Black prop Fletcher Newell. Kicking the penalty into the corner, South Africa’s pack formed a 15-meter rolling maul that rumbled toward the line, with Marx plunging over for the decisive try.

Feinberg-Mngomezulu converted and added a penalty in the 70th minute to push the lead out to 29-17, giving the 85,976-strong Soweto crowd – already singing an adapted Cranberries-inspired tribute to head coach Rassie Erasmus – plenty to celebrate. Although All Blacks hooker Samisoni Taukei’aho crossed for a late try in the final play of the match, it was not enough to overturn the scoreline, leaving the final score 29-24.

The series now heads to Baltimore in the United States next weekend for a decisive fourth and final Test. New Zealand, who won the opening match of the series, will be looking to secure a draw, while South Africa will target a series win on neutral American soil. Rugby fans around the world have already hailed the three-match encounter so far as a showcase of the best of international rugby, with the All Blacks pushing the world champions to the brink in every clash.

5 9 月, 2026
US hits three Iranian oil tankers after saying its warships were targeted

Escalating tensions between the United States and Iran have erupted into open military confrontation in the Persian Gulf region, after U.S. Central Command (Centcom) launched targeted retaliatory strikes against three Iran-connected oil tankers Saturday. The operation came in direct response to ballistic missile launches by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) against two U.S. military vessels operating in the area.

According to Centcom’s official statement, the strikes inflicted severe, irreversible damage on the targeted vessels: one tanker was permanently disabled off the coast of Kharg Island, a second was rendered inoperable near the strategically critical Strait of Hormuz, and the third, the M/T Kylo crude oil carrier, was completely destroyed in the Gulf of Oman. Centcom confirmed that U.S. forces successfully evaded all incoming IRGC missile attacks aimed at a U.S. aircraft carrier and a guided-missile destroyer, and no American service members were injured in the exchanges.

Iranian state media had earlier reported a strike on one of its tankers off Kharg Island, but Tehran had not issued an immediate official response confirming the IRGC’s attacks on U.S. warships as of Saturday.

Admiral Brad Cooper, head of U.S. Central Command, issued a blunt public warning following the operation. “Let the message to the IRGC be clear: If you shoot at two of our ships, we will impose an even higher economic cost – taking out three of yours,” Cooper said. “We will not hesitate to defend American forces, and if necessary, destroy Iran’s limited and exposed oil fleet.”

Centcom, which is responsible for overseeing all U.S. military activity across the Middle East, alleges that the three targeted tankers operate as part of a sprawling, multi-billion-dollar shadow oil network that generates revenue for the IRGC and its network of regional armed proxies, which the U.S. has long designated as terrorist organizations.

Saturday’s strikes mark a major escalation just one week after a new cycle of open hostilities broke out between the two nations, ending a period of relative calm that had held for months. The most recent round of conflict began on February 28, when the U.S. and Israel launched wide-ranging airstrikes against Iranian targets. Iran responded with its own strikes against Israeli territory, U.S. military bases in the region, and U.S.-allied Gulf states, and effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz – the world’s most important chokepoint for global oil exports – to commercial maritime traffic.

The ongoing dispute over control of the strait has already driven a sharp increase in global energy prices. With U.S. midterm elections scheduled for November, incumbent former President Donald Trump is facing growing political pressure from voters and lawmakers over the rising energy costs that the conflict is imposing on American consumers.

5 9 月, 2026
Thousands rally in Croatia demanding urgent cleanup of toxic waste from a town

On a Saturday in the Croatian capital of Zagreb, tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered to voice public fury over government inaction on a year-long illegal hazardous waste scandal that has sparked widespread fears of irreversible environmental damage across the central European nation, a member of the European Union. The crisis, centered in the small central Croatian town of Gospic, has amplified growing public backlash against conservative Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic and his administration, which has spent weeks facing mounting pressure over its slow response to the dumped toxic materials.

The scandal first came to light in February of last year, when Croatian national police and Europol, the European Union’s cross-border law enforcement agency, announced the arrest of 13 suspects connected to a racket that illegally imported and disposed of thousands of tons of hazardous waste across Croatia. At the time of the arrests, Europol confirmed the criminal network had pulled in at least 4 million euros (equivalent to roughly $4.2 million) in illegal profits from the operation.

More than 12 months after the initial bust, approximately 37,000 metric tons of toxic waste — equal to 40,000 U.S. tons — remain buried at an abandoned industrial site in Gospic, a town of just 12,000 people located adjacent to a protected nature park famous for its pristine forests, lakes, and rivers. The waste stockpile includes discarded electronic components, microplastics, construction debris, and even untreated medical waste, leaving local residents terrified of long-term health risks from contamination.

Last month, Croatia’s national anti-corruption agency USKOK published an independent expert assessment that confirmed elevated concentrations of toxic heavy metals in the site’s soil, and detected PFAS “forever chemicals” — a class of persistent toxic compounds linked to cancer and developmental harm — in local groundwater supplies. Despite these findings, not a single kilogram of hazardous material has been removed from the site more than a year after the scandal broke, according to organizers of the mass protest.

Vjekoslav Busic, a spokesperson for the grassroots group *Gospic Is Our Home* that organized the demonstration, noted local residents had been flagging suspicious illegal activity at the site as early as 2023, yet their repeated warnings went unanswered by authorities. Ivan Rittinger, a Gospic resident who joined the protest, rejected official framing of the crisis as an unforeseen tragedy, arguing the operation was a deliberate criminal enterprise. “Someone made money out of it and someone was paid to look the other way,” Rittinger said. “This is not a tragedy. This is a crime.”

Demonstrators put forward two core demands for Croatian leaders: first, that authorities release a detailed, time-bound remediation plan to fully and permanently clean up the contaminated site on an urgent timeline, and second, that the country implement an immediate ban on all hazardous waste imports. Protesters gathered in Zagreb’s main square, waving Croatian national flags and carrying signs reading “When if not now” and “The lungs of Croatia have trouble breathing.”

Zeljka Sikic, a Gospic resident who addressed the crowd, thanked attendees for showing their support, saying “we have been handed over to eco-mafia.” Zagreb resident Suzane Maria Flander, who joined the demonstration, emphasized the fundamental nature of the protesters’ demands: “It’s a basic human right to have clean soil, clean water and clean air.”

USKOK is currently investigating a domestic Croatian company alleged to be the main entity behind the illegal dumping scheme, which is suspected of burying imported toxic waste at dozens of sites across the country, with the single largest stockpile located in Gospic. According to Europol’s initial investigation, most of the waste dumped in Gospic was trafficked into Croatia from other EU member states: Italy, Slovenia, and Germany.

In response to public pressure, Plenkovic’s government has stated that formal investigations are active, and initial preparations for waste removal are underway. Officials have also claimed that multiple independent rounds of water and soil testing found no evidence of widespread contamination outside the immediate dump site, and noted that a contractor has been selected to begin partial waste removal while a long-term remediation plan is finalized, with temporary covering of the site planned to prevent rainwater from spreading toxins.

Prime Minister Plenkovic has gone further, accusing political opposition groups of stoking public panic over the scandal to advance their own electoral goals. While independent experts confirm the contamination is currently concentrated at the local level, they have issued urgent warnings that the region’s unique karst geography — characterized by porous, loose soil and an extensive network of connected rivers — could allow toxins from the site to leach into water systems that eventually flow to the Adriatic Sea, creating a much larger regional environmental risk.

5 9 月, 2026
A wedding party fire in Congo’s capital Kinshasa leaves at least 22 dead

A devastating fire that broke out at a wedding celebration in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s capital Kinshasa has claimed the lives of at least 22 attendees and left multiple others injured, the local regional mayor confirmed Saturday.

The blaze ignited late Friday inside a multi-story building in Lingwala, a neighborhood in northern Kinshasa, and burned through the structure into the early hours of Saturday. Emergency response and witness accounts point to deadly chaos as crowds tried to flee the spreading flames: the building’s narrow hallways became dangerously blocked by escaping guests, trapping many inside and worsening the death toll.

In the chaotic aftermath of the fire, desperate attendees pulled victims from the burning building and laid them along nearby roadsides, separating the injured survivors from the deceased in their efforts to rush the wounded to receive urgent medical care.

Norbert Mushinga, mayor of the Lingwala district, shared the provisional death toll of 22 with the Congolese Press Agency, adding that the final number of fatalities is likely to increase as search and assessment operations continue at the site.

As of Saturday, the exact cause of the blaze remains unconfirmed. Congo’s Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Jacquemin Shabani called the incident a tragedy during an on-site visit he conducted Saturday morning to assess the damage and meet with response teams.

Deadly fire incidents are a recurring public safety crisis in densely populated neighborhoods across Kinshasa. Much unregulated urban development across the capital has left most residential and event buildings without basic infrastructure including accessible fire exits and dedicated local fire services, putting communities at constant risk. Local media reports note that fires are particularly frequent during the region’s dry season, and this incident marks at least several deadly blazes recorded across the country this year alone.

5 9 月, 2026