Global Pulse

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  • ‘Most exciting story in Australian sport’: Major milestone as the Perth Bears unveil their historic jersey

    ‘Most exciting story in Australian sport’: Major milestone as the Perth Bears unveil their historic jersey

    Western Australia’s newest national rugby league franchise, the Perth Bears, has hit another key milestone in its pre-launch journey, pulling back the curtain on its first official home kit for the 2027 NRL premiership season that carries deep historical ties to the founding of Australian rugby league itself.

    Unveiled to the public on Friday, just days before the NRL’s Storm versus Manly clash in Perth this weekend, the new jersey centers on the iconic red and black hooped design that first became synonymous with the North Sydney Bears, one of the sport’s eight original foundation clubs when top-grade rugby league launched in Australia back in 1908. To further cement this intergenerational connection, the 1908 founding year and North Sydney’s original team crest are featured on the jersey’s back collar, anchoring the new expansion franchise to the code’s earliest origins.

    Perth Bears Chief Executive Anthony De Ceglie framed the jersey reveal as a major step forward for the expansion club, describing the Bears project as the most compelling new development in Australian sport right now. “While our club is a new entity built for the west coast, it does not come without a rich shared history,” De Ceglie explained. “We are building forward on the foundations laid by both the North Sydney Bears and decades of rugby league development in Western Australia. We could not be prouder to carry these iconic red and black colours into a bold new era, while still honouring the legacy that got us here.”

    The new jersey has already locked in a strong slate of commercial partners ahead of the team’s 2027 debut: global secondhand retail network Cash Converters serves as the principal partner, insurance brand Budget Direct holds the premier partner position, and Penrite Oil, Atlas, and XFM join the lineup as major founding partners.

    This jersey launch comes on the heels of another key announcement for the franchise, just one day prior: English international forward Morgan Smithies became the latest high-profile recruit to sign on with the Bears, penning a long-term deal that will see him leave the Canberra Raiders at the end of the current NRL season.

    Club head coach Mal Meninga, one of the biggest legends in Australian rugby league, stepped forward to model the new kit during the unveiling, and expanded on the franchise’s dual mission of honouring its past while building a unique new identity for Western Australian rugby league. “It’s really important to acknowledge our shared history, but also to carve out a new identity for the Bears here on the west coast,” Meninga said. “A bear doesn’t shy away from a challenge; a bear stands up, a bear is bold and courageous, and that is exactly the identity we are building for this team. Our whole focus is on building a club that both Western Australia and North Sydney can be proud of, and we will deliver a team that lives up to that legacy.”

  • One man works to slow the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak in history, and he’s doing it unpaid

    One man works to slow the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak in history, and he’s doing it unpaid

    In the conflict-scarred, remote heart of eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Ituri province, the epicenter of the country’s surging Ebola outbreak, 29-year-old infection control specialist Wiza Bondele reports for duty every day. His mission is unwavering: slow the spread of the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak ever recorded. But since the outbreak was declared in mid-May, he has worked without pay, joining hundreds of other frontline responders from burial teams to ambulance drivers who put their lives on the line every day with no financial compensation.

    Bondele, a veteran of the 2018-2020 Congo Ebola response, volunteered to return to duty when the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola reemerged earlier this year. Ituri province accounts for nearly 90% of all confirmed cases in this current outbreak, and his years of experience on the frontlines made him a critical asset to the response. Today, his daily routine includes decontaminating high-risk treatment areas, screening visitors for fever, and enforcing mandatory handwashing protocols—work that brings him into regular contact with patients who are bleeding or vomiting, the bodily fluids that transmit the deadly virus. Even with this constant exposure, he and hundreds of fellow workers have yet to receive the $510 monthly salary they were promised when they signed on.

    While authorities have promised to resolve backlogged payments via mobile money transfers, only a small fraction of workers have received any compensation, and even those who were paid have not received their full wages. For Bondele, who supports his wife, child, and extended family, the financial strain has reached a breaking point. On one recent morning, he ran out of fuel for his motorcycle while commuting to work. With no cash to refill the tank, he left the bike with neighbors and walked the remaining 8 miles to the hospital, arriving with his shoes completely worn through.

    Latest government data puts this outbreak at more than 4,000 confirmed cases, with over 1,800 deaths recorded. This makes it the second-largest Ebola outbreak in recorded history, outpaced only by the 2014-2016 West Africa outbreak that killed more than 11,000 people, and deadlier than the 2018-2020 Congo outbreak that claimed at least 2,200 lives. Complicating the response further, the outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo virus, for which no approved vaccines or targeted treatments currently exist.

    In recent weeks, hundreds of unpaid workers including Bondele have joined strikes and protests to demand back pay, at times abandoning treatment facilities and leaving critical response gaps as the virus continues to spread faster than responders can track it. Workers warn that months of unpaid wages have crushed morale and directly undermined patient care, with one treatment center’s staff announcing they would remain on strike until concrete solutions to the pay crisis were implemented. Government Ebola response officials have acknowledged the issue, blaming logistical delays for the backlog and stating they expect to clear all outstanding payments soon after switching from cash to mobile money disbursements. But for Bondele, these promises have done little to ease his anxiety over his and his family’s future.

    The pay crisis comes at a time when the Ebola response is already battling multiple overlapping challenges. Ituri province is gripped by ongoing armed conflict, and widespread misinformation has fueled deep public mistrust of health workers. Bondele says he has been threatened and even beaten while conducting community awareness outreach, as many residents reject basic prevention measures like regular handwashing. Restrictions on traditional burials, which require avoiding contact with highly contagious deceased patients, have stoked resentment, while persistent false rumors claim the outbreak is a hoax, that health workers are profiting from the crisis, or that hospitals withhold treatment from infected patients.

    This misinformation has repeatedly turned violent: crowds have burned down treatment centers, stormed hospitals to retrieve the bodies of deceased relatives, and attacked teams conducting safe burials. Public mistrust has also made contact tracing—one of the most critical tools for stopping Ebola spread—far more difficult, especially in remote communities already destabilized by rebel violence.

    Even with all these hardships, Bondele and hundreds of his colleagues continue to show up for work seven days a week, convinced their work is too important to abandon. “Working this job takes a lot of courage,” he said. “But today, I am discouraged.” He still holds out hope that authorities will follow through on their promises to pay workers what they are owed: “I hope their conscience tells them that I deserve to be paid.”

    This reporting was supported by the Gates Foundation, with The Associated Press retaining full editorial control over all content. Banchereau contributed reporting from Dakar, Senegal.

  • Craig Bellamy confirms he will coach next year but flags end to iconic career

    Craig Bellamy confirms he will coach next year but flags end to iconic career

    One of the National Rugby League’s most iconic coaching figures, Melbourne Storm’s Craig Bellamy, has confirmed he will remain at the helm of the club for the 2026 season, while dropping the strongest hint yet that his legendary NRL career could draw to a close as early as 2027. The 66-year-old coaching great, who has been contracted with the Storm through the end of the 2028 season, shifted to a year-by-year career planning approach after receiving a diagnosis of a neurodegenerative disorder this past April.

    Speaking at a pre-game press conference held in Perth on Friday, Bellamy made his near-term plans official for the franchise he has led for nearly a quarter century. “I’ll be coaching next year, but yeah, I think that might be the end,” Bellamy told assembled reporters. “Anyway, we’ll see what happens.”

    This announcement carries significant roster implications for the Storm, particularly for star player and Queensland Maroons captain Cameron Munster. Munster, who has been with Melbourne since 2014, previously stated he would stay with the club as long as Bellamy remained in charge. Though he had been granted approval to enter contract negotiations with the newly expanded Papua New Guinea Chiefs, a franchise set to join the NRL in 2028, Bellamy’s confirmation makes it far more likely Munster will remain in Melbourne.

    Bellamy opened up about the deep, long-standing bond he shares with the star playmaker, praising Munster’s commitment to the club and his teammates. “We have (a bond), and it’s been a long one, too, you know? We’ve seen ups and downs, ins and outs, and whatever together. Like I say, he’s been just a wonderful clubman, he’s been a wonderful player, too. The care he’s got for his teammates and the care he’s got for our club, I haven’t seen too many players with more care than what Mun has for the Storm.”

    This 2025 season has been a challenging one for Bellamy and the Storm. After 20 matches, the club holds just 8 wins and sits in 12th place on the league ladder, all but certain to miss the 2025 NRL finals series. Despite the underwhelming campaign, Bellamy says his squad remains focused on closing the season with momentum. The Storm is set to face off against the Manly Sea Eagles at Perth’s HBF Park at 3pm Saturday.

    “We still want to try and finish the season on an upward note, you know? So we’ll see what happens,” Bellamy said. “Like I say, as long as we keep preparing well and training well, it gives us a chance to do that. They’re all working hard at the moment, so that’s all we need to do.”

    Bellamy’s tenure with Melbourne is one of the longest and most decorated in modern rugby league. The 2026 season will mark his 25th year with the franchise, and he already hit a major milestone earlier this season when he coached his 600th game for the club.

  • Camels find unlikely home in outback Australia

    Camels find unlikely home in outback Australia

    Thousands of miles from their native Arabian deserts, camels have become an unexpected, multifaceted fixture of life in Australia’s remote outback, evolving from 19th-century transport workhorses to key players in local agriculture, niche tourism, craft brewing and even outback racing.

    First imported by British colonists in the 1800s to help traverse Australia’s harsh, arid interior, camels were released into the wild once motor vehicles rendered their transport services obsolete. Today, population estimates for these introduced animals range widely from 300,000 to one million, most of which roam freely as feral herds. Australian authorities note that unmanaged feral camels create a host of problems: they outcompete domestic livestock for limited food and water resources, destroy boundary fences, contaminate natural waterholes, and cause damage to sacred Indigenous cultural sites across the outback.

    But for a growing cohort of Australian producers and entrepreneurs, domesticated camels have emerged as a valuable niche commodity that generates local income and even export revenue. Trade data from 2024 shows Australian camel meat exports surpassed $3.9 million, and as of 2026, 68 live camels have already been shipped to markets in Malaysia and Indonesia.

    On Humpalicious Farm, located in the coastal South Australian town of Robe, former sea captain turned camel farmer Warwick Hill has built a small business centered on the unique benefits of camel dairy. “They’re very nice to work with. They’re very easily domesticated,” Hill explained in an interview with Agence France-Presse, between sessions cuddling his herd of dromedaries. “If you’re kind and fair with them, they generally reciprocate.”

    Hill sells his camel milk for Aus$20 (roughly $14) per liter, and argues it offers far more health benefits than conventional cow’s milk, particularly for consumers with dairy allergies. “It’s one of the closest milks to human milk, and we haven’t met anybody that can’t have camel milk,” he said, positioning his product as a more natural alternative to “overprocessed” mainstream dairy options. While Hill believes the market for camel milk has massive untapped potential, high production costs have kept it out of reach for most consumers. Low milk output per animal and high labor costs push the retail price up, meaning the farm relies on complementary revenue from camel-focused tourism and homestay accommodation to stay afloat. Still, Hill remains optimistic: “Everybody would, once they tasted camel milk, prefer to drink it over anything else.”

    Just down the road from Humpalicious, Robe Town Brewery has turned to camels for a truly one-of-a-kind craft beer collaboration. The brewery’s leftover brewing grain is used to feed Hill’s camels, and in turn, the camels’ dried dung is repurposed to smoke the malt that goes into the brewery’s signature porter, “Holy Smokes.” Bottled in dark brown glass adorned with a illustration of a camel dressed as the Virgin Mary, the 8.2% ABV brew is marketed as a “rich, dark and very smokey” beverage. Brewery head Maris Biezaitis is quick to address any potential customer hesitation about the unusual production method: “It doesn’t really taste like dung. In fact, it tastes and smells a bit more like a peat-smoked malt. Smoky beer.”

    Further north in the remote outback town of Maree, roughly 370 miles north of Adelaide, camels take on another popular role: competitive racing. Each year, hundreds of spectators travel to the tiny town to attend the annual Marree Camel Cup, where the animals that once hauled freight across the desert now compete for the winner’s trophy. This year’s title went to Young Gun, ridden by jockey Patrick Dennis. For first-time competitor Joanne Bell, 55, who fell in love with camels while working at a petting zoo, camel racing fulfilled a long-held dream. “Always wanted to be a jockey but never had the opportunity to ride horses,” she said. “So camels was the next thing and a jockey’s a jockey, whether it’s a camel or a horse.” Fellow competitor Kyrraley Woodhouse said she loves the sport for its one-of-a-kind character. She explained the secret to picking a winning camel is all about personality: “You would want a little bit of temper, a little bit of fire in them. Something that’s got a heart, that’s going to run.”

    Camel racing in Maree also carries deep historical roots: the first cameleers brought to Australia in the 1860s to open up the arid interior were mostly Muslim men from Afghanistan and other Central and South Asian regions, and many of their descendants still call the town home today. “It all revolved around the camels. The reason the camels were brought here was because they were so resilient,” said Greg Burk, whose great-grandfather migrated to Australia in the 1880s to work as a cameleer. “Camels are still dear to my heart.”

    Back in Robe, Hill says he hopes his work showcasing well-tended domesticated camels will help change public perception of the animals that have become such an enduring part of outback history. “People come here and they see 50 well-behaved, very nice, cuddly, smoochy camels,” he said. “They’re quite a pleasant animal.”

  • Drone warnings and sheltering in airports as South Korea battles historic heatwave

    Drone warnings and sheltering in airports as South Korea battles historic heatwave

    South Korea is grappling with one of the most severe heatwaves in its recorded history, a crisis that has already claimed at least 23 lives, spurred emergency responses across public and private sectors, and pushed authorities to deploy cutting-edge tools to protect at-risk communities. This week, temperatures in the country’s southern region surged to an all-time high of 42.5°C (108.5°F), marking a new threshold for extreme heat in a nation that has long viewed such blistering conditions as a problem confined to other regions of the world.

    By early August, official data confirms that 23 people have died from heat-related illnesses since the start of the year, and nearly 2,500 people have sought emergency medical care for heat-induced conditions since mid-May. Speaking to the public on Thursday, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung framed the crisis as a wake-up call, noting that “Heatwave conditions once seen only in foreign news reports have now become our reality.” He has ordered all public agencies to mobilize every available resource to combat the emergency, formally labeling the persistent extreme heat a “national disaster.”

    Across the country, local governments have rolled out a range of emergency cooling measures tailored to both urban and rural communities. In cities, chilled bottled water is being distributed for free at crowded parks, open-air markets, and major bus stops via dedicated distribution trucks. In Yangsan, the southern city that recorded the national record high of 42.5°C last Sunday, fleets of sprinkler trucks cruise sun-scorched city streets, spraying water to lower surface temperatures and bring temporary relief to pedestrians.

    In rural agricultural areas, where many working farmers are elderly and particularly vulnerable to heat exhaustion, authorities have turned to drone technology to monitor and warn at-risk workers. Local administrations in North Gyeongsang province have deployed specially modified drones fitted with loudspeakers and thermal imaging cameras that hover over farmland to track working farmers. When workers stay in the heat too long, the drones broadcast direct warnings such as “it’s hot, you need to go inside” to prompt them to take scheduled breaks in cool shelter.

    The extreme conditions have forced the cancellation of dozens of public events and professional sports matches, following a life-threatening incident earlier this week that saw a 23-year-old spectator collapse at a professional baseball game in Incheon, felled by heat-induced dehydration and low blood pressure. The national baseball organization has canceled all scheduled matches for the week, and the iconic daily changing-of-the-guard ceremony at Seoul’s Gyeongbokgung Palace has been suspended on the advice of the national weather agency, which has urged all non-essential outdoor activities to be called off.

    For vulnerable South Koreans without access to reliable home air conditioning, including unhoused people and low-income elderly residents, the country’s large, air-conditioned public airports have emerged as informal cooling refuges. Photographs from local media show hundreds of people resting on terminal benches and concourse platforms, using towels as makeshift cushions and blankets. One regular visitor to Seoul’s Gimpo Airport told The Korea Times that the facility fills a critical gap for low-income people seeking relief: “it is a perfect place to rest without spending any money. I come here from time to time with my friends whenever the weather gets too hot.”

    Amid the official response, a grassroots tech innovation has also gained massive popularity among South Koreans navigating the heat. A mobile app called Geuneulro, which translates to “shaded road” in Korean, was developed by 23-year-old undergraduate Yu Min-jun to help commuters and pedestrians find the coolest walking routes through urban areas. The app pulls in real-time data on the sun’s position, and calculates shadow coverage from buildings and trees to recommend the most shaded paths between two points.

    Yu told BBC Korean he built the app after struggling to complete his own daily commute through the scorching summer heat, saying “This summer has become so hot that I feel like meat on a grill.” The app’s rapid surge in downloads shows how widespread heat distress is across the country: “The fact that it has resonated with so many people shows that many are struggling. That makes me worry because they say it will only get hotter in the future. I hope this prompts more to pay attention to climate change,” Yu added.

    Climate forecasters say mild relief may be on the horizon starting this weekend, when daytime high temperatures are expected to drop to around 36°C. However, long-term forecasts remain concerning: Seoul’s meteorological administration has projected a 50% probability that above-average temperatures will persist through September and October, extending the crisis for weeks to come.

  • American flown to a New Zealand hospital in a rare midwinter Antarctic rescue mission

    American flown to a New Zealand hospital in a rare midwinter Antarctic rescue mission

    A rare and high-stakes midwinter medical rescue has successfully extracted a seriously ill American researcher from a remote U.S. Antarctic base, delivering the patient to a New Zealand hospital in a mission that pushed aircraft and crew to their operational limits.

    Melbourne-based aviation firm Skytraders, which holds a contract with the Australian Antarctic Program, confirmed that its Airbus A319 Long Range jet, operating under the call sign Snowbird 1, departed the southern Australian city of Hobart on July 31 to answer an urgent request for medical assistance from the U.S. National Science Foundation, which manages McMurdo Station, the largest research base on the southern continent.

    The 5.5-hour flight to Phoenix Airfield, located just 3 kilometers from McMurdo on the Ross Ice Shelf, ended with a challenging landing in complete polar winter darkness, where temperatures plummeted to minus 43 degrees Celsius (minus 45.4 degrees Fahrenheit). With conditions at the remote airstrip deteriorating rapidly after landing, the medical evacuation team immediately loaded the patient onto the jet and departed for Christchurch, New Zealand the same day.

    The U.S. National Science Foundation confirmed to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that the patient was admitted to Christchurch Hospital in serious condition. New Zealand’s Ministry of Health declined repeated requests for comment Friday, refusing to confirm the patient’s current status or whether they remain in care.

    Speaking after the mission, copilot Louise Robertson described the operation as one of the most demanding of her career, noting that conditions pushed the aircraft to the edge of its certified operating capabilities. “We had what’s called nautical twilight, which is barely any light at all — it’s essentially pitch blackness, paired with extreme cold that put us right on the verge of the aircraft’s temperature limits,” Robertson told ABC. “It got down to minus 43 Celsius, which is the coldest environment I’ve ever operated in. With 8 knots of wind, the wind chill made it even more brutal.”

    Robertson added that an initial attempt to launch the rescue a day earlier had to be scrapped entirely due to a severe blizzard that closed the airfield, leaving only a tiny window of acceptable weather to complete the mission. “There was such a narrow window of opportunity to get this done,” she said. “To carry out a landing here in complete darkness at these extreme temperatures is extremely rare — I don’t believe it’s ever been done before.”

    Midwinter operations in Antarctica are exceptionally uncommon due to the months-long polar night. The sun set at the geographic South Pole on March 23 this year, and will not rise above the horizon again until September 21. Most overwintering research teams stay at their bases with limited emergency support, and evacuations are only attempted for life-threatening medical cases.

    Prior medical evacuations from McMurdo during the Antarctic winter have relied on larger four-engine C-130 Hercules turboprop transport aircraft. In April, which falls in the Southern Hemisphere’s autumn, the New Zealand Air Force used a C-130 to evacuate a New Zealand citizen working with the U.S. Antarctic Program from Phoenix Airfield. A similar mission in August last year, the final month of Southern Hemisphere winter, evacuated three people from McMurdo for urgent medical care using the same aircraft type. This rescue marked the first time a civilian long-range jet has completed a midwinter landing and evacuation at McMurdo’s Phoenix Airfield, setting a new precedent for emergency response in the world’s harshest climate.

  • Anguish and hope: why a Tibetan set himself on fire in New York

    Anguish and hope: why a Tibetan set himself on fire in New York

    On a quiet July evening in midtown Manhattan, while much of New York City and the global public were fixated on pop icon Taylor Swift’s star-studded wedding at Madison Square Garden, a shocking act of political protest unfolded on the steps of the United Nations headquarters that went largely unremarked in mainstream U.S. media.

    Fifty-two-year-old Lobga Rangzen, a lifelong Tibetan independence activist and long-time U.S. resident, died after setting himself on fire outside the UN building, becoming the first Tibetan to carry out such an act of self-sacrifice on American soil. None of his closest confidants, including a 30-year monk friend and his niece who lived with him in Queens, had any inkling of his plan that day. His niece, 21-year-old Tenzin Choekyi, was watching the World Cup at her home when a friend called with news that her uncle had been burned. Initially assuming it was a minor accident, the full realization of what had happened hit her with overwhelming terror.

    In the hours after his death, fellow exiled Tibetans gathered at the protest site to build a makeshift memorial, piled high with fresh flowers and traditional ceremonial white khata scarves. What began as a space for mourning quickly transformed into a gathering point for Tibetan activists, who have spent decades pushing for global attention to their cause opposing Chinese rule over Tibet. For the exile community, Rangzen’s death carried both deep anguish and profound respect, with many saying his act has reignited their commitment to political action. “His passing has left many of us Tibetans with the fervor to act,” explained Jampa Choedup, a Tibetan monk who first met Rangzen in 1997 and saw him just one day before his death.

    Rangzen’s act was not without precedent. He followed in the footsteps of more than 170 Tibetan activists, mostly based inside Chinese-controlled Tibet but also some in Nepal and India, who carried out self-immolations between 2009 and 2022. These acts of last-resort protest began after a bloody Chinese government crackdown on widespread pro-independence demonstrations across Tibet in 2008. Since that time, Beijing has only tightened its political and social control over the region, which China claims as an inalienable part of its sovereign territory. Just one day before Rangzen’s death, Beijing passed a new national “ethnic unity” law that critics warn will further erode basic human and cultural rights for China’s Tibetan and Uyghur minority populations.

    Unlike many of his contacts assumed, Rangzen’s act was not a spontaneous impulse, but a carefully planned action rooted in a lifetime of activism. Jigme Ugen, president of the exile Tibetan National Congress, where Rangzen led the New York and New Jersey chapter and was a core organizer of regular protests outside the UN and the Chinese consulate, noted that the activist had spent decades preparing for this step. Footage broadcast live by Rangzen during his protest captures the heavy-set man walking across the street outside the UN wearing a traditional Tibetan chuba robe, planting a Tibetan independence flag in the ground, before bursting into flames that rose twice his height, with thick black smoke billowing into the sky. A UN security guard rushed to intervene with a fire extinguisher, but it was too late. Rangzen was pronounced dead around an hour later at a nearby Manhattan hospital. New York police have confirmed they are still conducting an investigation into the death.

    Rangzen was born Lobsang Palden in Tibet, and fled the region as a young man, spending 14 years living as a monk in southern India before resettling in the United States in 2006. He settled in Queens, New York, home to a large community of exiled Tibetans, and changed his name to Rangzen – the Tibetan word for “independence” – to reflect his core political goal. Fluent in Tibetan but not in English, he worked a series of casual jobs before becoming an Uber driver to support himself. Those who knew him remembered him as a joyful, warm person who loved joining weekly traditional Tibetan circle dances called gorshey. He often told friends he was “married to the movement”, and his activism was rooted in family history: two of his uncles fought for Chushi Gangdruk, an anti-China guerrilla force founded in 1958 with CIA backing, with one dying in combat and the other dying in a Chinese prison after being captured. “He grew up with these stories,” Ugen explained.

    In a six-minute pre-recorded farewell video released after his death, Rangzen expanded on his motivation, sitting cross-legged as sweat dripped from his brow. “Today, if I engage in alarming activism, it is not because I do not have food, or clothes or out of sadness. I do it for the Tibetan nation,” he said in Tibetan. The day before his death, he had spoken at length with Choedup about the individual responsibility all Tibetans share to work for freedom.

    Rangzen’s death has sparked a complex, divided reaction across the global Tibetan exile community. Self-immolation as a protest tactic has placed the Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, who has lived in exile in India since 1959 and counts most of the 25,000 Tibetans living in the U.S. as his followers, in a deeply difficult position. Beijing, which argues that Chinese rule has brought dramatic economic and social development to the Tibetan plateau, has long accused the Dalai Lama of glorifying these acts of self-sacrifice. While the Dalai Lama has repeatedly expressed sorrow over self-immolations and questioned whether they advance the Tibetan cause, some scholars have criticized him for failing to take stronger action to discourage the practice.

    Following Rangzen’s death, Penpa Tsering, the head of the internationally recognized Tibetan government-in-exile, issued a statement urging all Tibetans to “cherish” their own lives. “While we honor his devotion, human life is precious and must be preserved to serve the long-term struggle for Tibet,” Tsering said. In his own farewell message, Rangzen echoed a similar call, urging exiled Tibetans to continue working to build a free future for their people, adding, “There is no need to mourn for me.”

  • Farmers in Kenya dispute that cyanide poisoning could have killed 15 elephants

    Farmers in Kenya dispute that cyanide poisoning could have killed 15 elephants

    In the sunbaked Kimana region bordering Kenya’s iconic Amboseli National Park, grim signs of a wildlife tragedy stretch across the landscape: the bloated carcass of one elephant abandoned on a dirt track, and little more than a sun-bleached skull left of another, picked clean by scavengers. These are two of 15 elephants that have died in the Amboseli ecosystem over the course of one month, with preliminary investigations pointing to cyanide poisoning contracted from eating tomatoes grown on adjacent smallholder farms.

    The sudden, mass mortality event has reignited long-simmering tensions between conservation authorities and local farming communities, while throwing a harsh spotlight on the accelerating human-wildlife conflict that has emerged as one of the biggest threats to Kenya’s recovering elephant population.

    Preliminary postmortem examinations carried out by the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) found tomato residues in the elephants’ stomachs, and initial lab testing detected traces of cyanide in the animals’ systems. Dr. Isaac Lekolool, head of veterinary services at KWS, reported that the elephants displayed clear symptoms of cyanide toxicity before death: progressive paralysis and severe respiratory distress. While follow-up testing is still underway to confirm cyanide concentration and pinpoint the source of the toxin, Lekolool noted that the elephants also consumed watermelons from nearby farmland, and has called for stricter oversight of pesticide handling and use in agricultural areas bordering the park.

    Contrary to early speculation that the cyanide originated from unregulated illegal mining operations within the ecosystem, Lekolool has publicly dismissed that theory. Currently, samples taken from the elephants’ stomach contents are undergoing further toxicology analysis, with blood testing still ongoing to confirm initial findings.

    Local farmers, however, have pushed back hard against claims that cyanide from their crops killed the 15 animals, arguing the toxin is not used in local agriculture and is not available to regional growers. Elvis Muchai, a tomato farmer who has worked on the edge of Amboseli for 20 years, says he has never encountered cyanide among the regulated agricultural chemicals sold to farmers in the area, and notes that local communities have coexisted with migrating elephants for generations, even amid repeated crop raids.

    “Even when elephants destroy our crops, we have never turned to poisoning them,” Muchai explained. In the last growing season alone, elephants raided and destroyed half an acre of his tomato crop, costing him an estimated $3,800 in lost income — losses he says he has never received compensation for, despite years of living with the risk. Another local farmer, Rymondy Mrosso, added a key question to the debate: if contaminated crops were the source of the poisoning, why have only elephants died? Goats, cows, and wild species like gazelles also graze and feed on farm produce in the area, he noted, and none have reported similar mass deaths.

    The tragedy comes as Kenya has been widely lauded for its successful elephant conservation work over the past two decades. After decades of poaching pushed the national elephant population to historic lows, aggressive anti-poaching policies and habitat protection have grown the population to more than 36,000 elephants today. But even as poaching has declined, expanding agriculture along park borders has pushed human-wildlife conflict to become the second leading cause of elephant deaths in the country, according to Kenya’s National Elephant Plan. Between 2000 and 2020, at least 1,160 elephants were killed in retaliatory or self-defense incidents as communities sought to protect their crops, property, and lives from invading animals. Even so, KWS communications director Duncan Juma argues that retaliation is not a factor in this case, saying “the community loves these animals.”
    Kimana, the region at the center of the investigation, is one of Kenya’s most productive high-value agricultural zones, growing tomatoes, onions, and French beans for distribution to markets in Nairobi and beyond. As demand for agricultural land has grown, farms have steadily expanded closer to Amboseli’s park boundaries, shrinking the buffer between wildlife habitats and cultivated land and increasing the frequency of elephant incursions, particularly during dry seasons when wild forage is scarce.

    Conservation groups say the mass elephant death highlights the urgent need for systemic action to address the root causes of human-wildlife conflict in the region. The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) says the tragedy underscores that as human and elephant ranges increasingly overlap, protecting wildlife and supporting local livelihoods cannot be separated. “As people and elephants increasingly share space, protecting wildlife and safeguarding communities’ livelihoods must go hand in hand,” IFAW said in a statement.

    Ben Wandago, IFAW’s East Africa Director, called for a full, transparent, and urgent investigation into the source of the cyanide, and pushed for the rapid implementation of coexistence strategies that protect both communities and wildlife near Amboseli. He also emphasized the urgent need for stricter regulatory control of highly toxic substances, to prevent the chemicals from leaking into vulnerable wild ecosystems.

    With investigations still ongoing, the tragedy has made clear that the fragile balance between wildlife conservation and smallholder agriculture in one of Africa’s most protected ecosystems is growing increasingly strained, demanding coordinated action to prevent further mass deaths.

  • Student shoots multiple people at a high school in Thailand, authorities say

    Student shoots multiple people at a high school in Thailand, authorities say

    BANGKOK – Law enforcement agencies have deployed to the scene of a Friday shooting at a Thai high school located on the outskirts of Bangkok, with multiple fatalities and injuries confirmed in the early stages of the response. The incident unfolded at Debsirin Nonthaburi School, situated in Nonthaburi province just northwest of Thailand’s capital, according to Royal Thai Police spokesperson Trairong Piwpan, who shared the initial details with The Associated Press.

    Arsit Sampantharat, permanent secretary for Thailand’s Ministry of the Interior, told local broadcaster PPTV that the suspected perpetrator is a current student at the school, who remained inside the building as of the first official updates. As emergency and law enforcement teams worked to secure the site, senior officials have not yet released a full count of casualties or additional context about the possible motivation for the attack.

    Amateur footage and photos captured from the perimeter of the campus show groups of people gathered outside the school, gathering emotional support from one another in the immediate aftermath of the violence. The shooting marks the second serious act of gun violence at a Thai secondary school this year, echoing a February incident in southern Thailand that left one person dead and two others injured. In that earlier attack, a 17-year-old suspect stole a firearm from a police officer before opening fire at a local public high school, then took several civilians hostage during a two-hour standoff with authorities.

  • Man, woman charged after South Australian police allegedly uncover cache of explosives, detonators during raid

    Man, woman charged after South Australian police allegedly uncover cache of explosives, detonators during raid

    A coordinated search operation by South Australia Police (SAPOL) at a coastal South Australian property has led to the arrest of two people and the seizure of an unlicensed stockpile of explosives, in a case that has raised serious public safety concerns in the region.

    The raid was carried out on Thursday at a residential site located south of Kingston SE, a small coastal community roughly 300 kilometers south of the state capital Adelaide. What started as a planned search uncovered an initial stash of gunpowder and bomb detonators, prompting investigators to call in SAPOL’s specialist Bomb Response Unit to support the operation.

    With the assistance of a detection sniffer dog, officers conducted extended searches of the property and uncovered additional hidden explosive materials that were not secured in line with state regulatory requirements and held no valid licenses. In total, authorities seized 18 detonators: 11 naval ordnance laboratory (NOL) devices and seven electrical detonators, alongside the seized gunpowder.

    Following the completion of evidence gathering and initial investigations, SAPOL took two people into custody: a 48-year-old man and a 24-year-old woman, both residents of Mount Gambier.

    The 48-year-old man faces multiple firearms-related charges, including violations of a standing firearms prohibition order that legally bans him from holding or accessing weapons and explosive materials. He did not submit a bail application and is scheduled to appear before the Mount Gambier Magistrates Court on the same day this report was published.

    The 24-year-old female accused faces two separate charges: possession of unlawfully obtained ammunition and obstructing police officers in the course of their official duties. She has been scheduled to appear at the same Mount Gambier court on September 8.

    The case underscores ongoing efforts by South Australian law enforcement to crack down on unregulated weapons and explosive materials, which pose significant latent risks to surrounding communities if left unsecured.