Global Pulse

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  • A titanic throwback tour: The All Blacks’ 6-week South Africa trek with a Baltimore finale

    A titanic throwback tour: The All Blacks’ 6-week South Africa trek with a Baltimore finale

    For over a century, the question of global rugby supremacy has almost always come down to a clash between two titans: South Africa’s Springboks and New Zealand’s All Blacks. Both nations, former outposts of the British Empire, took the game invented in England, redefined it, and used the sport as a foundation to build their national identities and carve out respected standing on the world’s sporting stage.

    The first formal meeting between the two sides came in 1921, when the Springboks crossed the world by steamship to face the All Blacks on their home turf. From that moment until the dawn of professional rugby 75 years later, cross-hemisphere tours between the two nations were legendary events: drawn out in length, fiercely competitive, steeped in fan fervor, and often mired in high-stakes controversy.

    This year marks three decades since the last traditional long-format tour between the two rivals, and the All Blacks have returned to South African soil to kick off an eight-match, six-week tour, opening the campaign this Friday in Cape Town. In a departure from tradition, the fourth and final test match will be played across the Atlantic at M&T Bank Stadium, the home of the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens, a move organized for global marketing and outreach purposes.

    When the tour was first announced, Springboks captain Siya Kolisi noted that this format of cross-border tour is something most current players only ever heard about from older generations of the sport. “To experience this for the first time … is unbelievable for us as a group,” Kolisi said. That inexperience is no coincidence: two-thirds of the total 88 players across both national squads were not even born when the last traditional tour took place in 1996. Kolisi was just five years old at the time, while All Blacks captain Ardie Savea was only two. Still, every member of both squads understands the heavy weight of history behind this rivalry.

    From their earliest matchups, Springbok-All Black contests have set the global standard for on-pitch intensity and tactical tension, balanced by deep mutual respect and reverence between the teams off the field. Historically, the Springboks dominated early series play, holding an undefeated record in away series against New Zealand between 1903 and 1956, including their only away series win in the country in 1937.

    However, the rivalry carried a painful off-field chapter for decades: New Zealand rugby officials bowed to pressure from South Africa’s apartheid government, barring Māori players from joining All Black tours of South Africa until 1970. For many All Black players, the chance to claim a series win in South Africa was the pinnacle of the sport, outweighing every other consideration. Colin Meads, widely hailed as the greatest All Black of the 20th century, got two shots at the prize in 1960 and 1970, and even played two full test matches in 1970 with a broken arm to pursue the win. In his autobiography, Meads summed up the allure of the rivalry: “If you’re ever going to play good rugby, you’ll play it in South Africa. There is always that feeling inside you, as an All Black, that THIS is what it has all been about, that THIS is South Africa and THESE are the players you most want to beat.”

    While the matches themselves were uncompromising during the apartheid era, widespread international and domestic protests against the tours from the 1970s onward sparked unprecedented division and social disruption across the sport. When apartheid was formally abolished in 1991, and South Africa was readmitted to international sporting competition, the first opponent the Springboks sought out was New Zealand.

    After apartheid ended, the All Blacks initially enjoyed overwhelming support from Black South African fans, but that backing shifted after Nelson Mandela publicly backed the Springboks during South Africa’s iconic 1995 World Cup hosting run, which ended with the Springboks lifting the trophy in an extra-time win over the All Blacks. The following year, the All Blacks returned to South Africa and finally secured their first ever series win on Springbok home soil. The enduring image from that 1996 tour remains captain Sean Fitzpatrick collapsing to the Pretoria turf in elation after the final whistle. Last week, Fitzpatrick and the rest of the 1996 squad met the current All Blacks team, passing the legacy forward, telling the current group this tour will be their greatest adventure, and success will come if they stay united.

    Heading into the 2026 tour, the history between the two sides remains perfectly deadlocked: each nation has hosted six tours, claimed four home series wins, and one away series win apiece. But the odds favor the Springboks heading into this year’s series, with the All Blacks entering the tournament as clear underdogs to the world’s top-ranked South African side.

    Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus has had eight years to build his squad for this series, cultivating unprecedented depth while leading the team to two consecutive Rugby Championship titles and an 11-test winning streak – the Springboks’ best run of form in 18 years. For Erasmus, this series is also a critical test to identify which players have the endurance to compete for a third straight World Cup title next year, when the tournament will be hosted in Australia. This week, the Springboks are wrapping up a final warm-up match against Argentina before facing the All Blacks.

    On the All Blacks side, head coach Dave Rennie has only been in charge since June, and has led the team through just three matches so far. He has already turned around domestic morale by shifting the team’s playing style to a more direct, high-tempo attack. Rennie has rested captain Ardie Savea for the opening tour matches, saving him for the test series, and is preparing his squad for matchups against four of South Africa’s top provincial sides: the Stormers, Sharks, Bulls, and Lions. Though these provincial sides have not played a competitive match in at least two months, and are missing their top players who are with the Springbok national squad, they still carry a traditional role on these tours: to wear down the visiting All Blacks and expose weaknesses before the test matches.

    True to the playful but fierce spirit of the rivalry, Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis summed up the welcome for the All Blacks when the team landed last Friday: “Off the field we will be the perfect hosts and treat you like royalty, but on the field you can expect no mercy.”

  • Heavy rain, back-to-back cold fronts to hit Perth in end to Western Australia’s long dry spell

    Heavy rain, back-to-back cold fronts to hit Perth in end to Western Australia’s long dry spell

    After marking its second driest July in recorded history, Western Australia’s prolonged dry period is on the cusp of ending, as successive cold fronts carrying heavy downpours and thunderstorms are predicted to sweep across the state over the coming week.

    Data from Weatherzone confirms that the southwest region of WA recorded just 42.05 millimeters of average rainfall across July 2024, a figure that falls just 2.07 millimeters above the all-time low set in 2012, when the regional average hit only 39.98 millimeters. Climate scientists have long documented that the southwest corner of Western Australia has faced a consistent, decades-long decline in annual rainfall, a trend widely attributed to the impacts of human-caused climate change.

    For communities parched by weeks of below-average precipitation, the latest meteorological forecasts bring a long-awaited shift: multiple cold fronts are expected to roll through the state over the next seven days, bringing accumulated rainfall that will finally snap the dry stretch. Between Friday and Saturday, the heaviest widespread totals, ranging from 5 to 15 millimeters, are expected to fall along the corridor stretching from Perth in the west to Albany in the south. Some isolated coastal areas could see even more intense downpours, and Bureau of Meteorology meteorologist Caroline Crow warned that small hail is also a possibility across southern coastal districts.

    Right now, a broad cloud band stretches from the Western Pilbara region down through the state’s central and southeastern districts, Crow explained, bringing scattered, patchy rain across that swathe of land. That system is forecast to gradually weaken through Wednesday evening, with lingering patchy precipitation expected to persist across parts of the state for the rest of the week. A second cold front is already on track to reach the southwest division of WA early next week, bringing additional wet conditions across Monday and Tuesday to wrap up the period of rain that will end the state’s prolonged dry spell.

  • Deadly landslide hits Ethiopia mountain monastery during prayer service

    Deadly landslide hits Ethiopia mountain monastery during prayer service

    A deadly landslide that struck an ancient Orthodox Christian monastery in Ethiopia’s northern Amhara region has claimed 14 lives, leaving communities in mourning after authorities called off search operations for people still trapped beneath collapsed hillside debris. The disaster unfolded in the early hours of Monday morning, when a saturated slope above the Tsadqane Debre Mitmaq St Mary Monastery gave way following a full night of unrelenting heavy rain, according to senior local administrator Dagnachew Azbite.

    The monastery’s sacred prayer chamber, carved directly into the side of the mountain, had become a gathering place for worshippers taking part in an overnight prayer retreat centered on a popular holy water cleansing ritual. The ritual draws Orthodox Christian pilgrims from across the region seeking spiritual healing for chronic health conditions, making the gathering a meaningful spiritual event for those in attendance. In addition to the 14 fatalities, seven people were pulled alive from the debris with injuries, five of whom were categorized as serious, Azbite confirmed.

    As of this week, 11 of the deceased have been laid to rest in ceremonies held at the monastery itself, while the remains of the remaining three victims have been transported back to their home communities for private funerals. Megabe Hadis Neka Tibeb Ababu, general manager of the local North Shewa Diocese, told reporters that identifying a number of the victims remains a significant challenge for authorities and church leaders. The head of the diocese, Archbishop Abune Klementos of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, traveled to the disaster site to lead funeral prayers for the deceased, offer blessings for the injured, and extend condolences to families who lost loved ones in the tragedy.

    In the immediate aftermath of the collapse, a multi-agency response effort brought together emergency search teams, local security personnel, medical workers, and scores of volunteer residents from nearby communities to comb through the debris for survivors. That effort has now been formally wrapped up, with no further searches planned for those still unaccounted for.

    Landslides are a recurring, deadly hazard across Ethiopia during the country’s annual main rainy season, which runs from June through August each year. This recent disaster marks one of multiple weather-related mass casualty events to strike the East African nation in recent years. In March of this year, more than 100 people were killed in floods and landslides set off by heavy rainfall in southern Ethiopia’s Gamo Zone. Just last year, in July 2024, a massive landslide in the adjacent Geze Gofa Zone killed more than 229 people, including active rescue personnel responding to an initial weather event, making it one of the deadliest climate-related disasters in the country’s recent history.

    Climate researchers have documented a clear long-term trend across East Africa over the past 20 years: both extreme, prolonged wet spells and extended dry periods are becoming more common across the region. Scientific consensus repeatedly confirms that anthropogenic climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of severe weather events, including the long, heavy downpours that create the saturated soil conditions that lead to deadly landslides across hilly regions of Ethiopia.

  • What is Trump Media’s Truth API and why is it controversial?

    What is Trump Media’s Truth API and why is it controversial?

    When former (and current presidential candidate) Donald Trump releases a public statement, financial market traders do not just pay attention—they act within seconds. Every word Trump utters, from trade policy announcements to geopolitical rhetoric, has the proven power to swing asset prices, shifting billions of dollars in market value in minutes. It is little wonder then that teams of human analysts and automated algorithmic trading systems have long monitored his communications nonstop to capitalize on market-moving news before rivals can react. Now, Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), the company behind Trump’s own social media platform Truth Social, is looking to turn this high-stakes information demand into a new steady revenue stream—by charging Wall Street firms and institutional investors for the fastest possible access to posts from the platform’s most high-profile accounts.

    Dubbed Truth API, the newly launched service provides a real-time data feed that delivers posts from Truth Social’s top accounts to paying subscribers in milliseconds. TMTG has not explicitly confirmed that the service includes early access to Donald Trump’s personal Truth Social account, which boasts more than 13 million followers—making it by far the most followed and influential account on the platform. Industry analysts widely agree that Trump’s posts will be the primary selling point for the premium service, which was scheduled to roll out to institutional customers on August 1. According to reporting from the Financial Times, the highest tier of high-speed access could cost subscribing firms as much as $100,000 per month, a figure TMTG has not publicly confirmed or denied.

    For the loss-making TMTG, the new service is framed as a much-needed new source of recurring revenue. While the offering is open to any paying customer, it is explicitly tailored to high-frequency and algorithmic trading firms—entities that TMTG acknowledges are hit hardest by delays to market-moving information. As financial services firm Charles Schwab explains, high-frequency trading (HFT) relies on automated algorithmic systems that execute trades far faster and at far larger volumes than any human trader could manage, turning a tiny per-transaction profit into massive aggregate returns through sheer speed and transaction volume. In this sector, even a millisecond delay can cost a firm millions in lost profits.

    To date, TMTG has remained completely silent on how many firms have pre-registered or signed up for the service. Multiple major U.S. investment banks and HFT firms contacted by the BBC, including Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Citadel Securities, and Jane Street, all declined to comment on whether they planned to subscribe, a silence that industry insiders say is expected. Joe Saluzzi, co-founder of independent trading firm Themis Trading, argues that the service is effectively worthless for any trading firm that does not already maintain a complex, multi-million-dollar infrastructure built for nanosecond-speed transaction execution. For HFTs that do have that infrastructure in place, Saluzzi notes the incentive to subscribe is high not just for potential profits, but out of competitive pressure: “if I don’t do it, somebody else will.” Saluzzi emphasizes that the offering is not targeted at retail investors or even most traditional institutional investors—it is built exclusively for the small cohort of ultra-fast trading firms with the existing systems to capitalize on the early access.

    The launch of Truth API has ignited a firestorm of legal criticism and ethical debate, centered on one core conflict: TMTG is majority-owned by the Trump family trust, which means Donald Trump himself (who holds roughly a 41% stake in the company) stands to personally profit from selling access to his own public statements, which often relate to U.S. government policy and official business. Two of Trump’s most prominent political critics, Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren and Adam Schiff, have sent an official letter to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) calling for a formal investigation into whether the service violates federal securities law. The SEC has confirmed it received the letter but has declined to comment on whether it will open an investigation.

    A core point of contention is the risk of improper insider trading, the illegal practice of executing market trades based on information that is not available to the general public. In their letter, Warren and Schiff called the plan “an outrageous abuse of the President’s office for his personal benefit that undermines everyday investors and the integrity of our markets, while enriching Wall Street and other wealthy insiders.”

    TMTG has pushed back aggressively against these criticisms, arguing that Senate Democrats have mischaracterized the service. A company spokesperson claimed the critics either misunderstand the difference between public and non-public information out of ideological opposition to free markets, or both. TMTG argues that all content distributed via Truth API is already public information, so framing the service as enabling insider trading is a misrepresentation of the offering.

    However, former White House ethics lawyer Richard Painter, who served in the George W. Bush administration, told the BBC that selling access to official U.S. government-related statements from the president before they are available to the general public could legally qualify as insider trading. “If I were commissioner of the SEC, I would threaten to resign unless they put a stop to this plan or promise that no posts that have to do with US government business will be included,” Painter said.

    Industry analyst Saluzzi acknowledges that similar premium early-access data services are already common across the financial industry, operated by major news organizations, stock exchanges, and third-party data providers, creating a legal precedent for TMTG’s model. But even he admits that the ethical calculus is very different in this case, given that the president himself stands to profit directly from selling early access to his own official public statements.

  • Cargo ship hit after Trump insists Iran talks could reopen Hormuz today

    Cargo ship hit after Trump insists Iran talks could reopen Hormuz today

    Tensions flared again in the strategically critical Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, after an unidentified projectile hit an unspecified cargo ship just hours after US President Donald Trump claimed ongoing negotiations with Iran could see the vital global energy chokepoint reopened within 24 hours. The incident comes amid a bitter five-month conflict between Washington and Tehran, marked by shifting diplomatic overtures, repeated threats of violence, and public disagreement over whether talks are even taking place.

    The current confrontation between the US, backed by Israel, and Iran erupted on February 28 with a surprise joint attack. While a ceasefire and preliminary agreement were reached in the months that followed, diplomatic efforts have failed to reach a lasting settlement to end the hostilities. The Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly a fifth of the world’s daily oil supplies pass, has repeatedly emerged as the flashpoint that reignites violence.

    The core dispute over the waterway centers on new demands from Iran: Tehran now claims full control over the strait and seeks to impose tolls on transiting vessels, powers it did not exercise before the outbreak of war. The US has fiercely rejected these demands, setting the two sides at an impasse.

    President Trump has followed a familiar pattern of shifting rhetoric in recent weeks. Last week, he issued a stark warning that the US would strike Iran “very hard”, even floating the possibility of targeting civilian infrastructure, before pulling back on Saturday to announce that the basic framework of a deal had already been outlined. On Monday, speaking from the White House, he blended unshakable optimism about a diplomatic breakthrough with new bellicose threats, calling this Iran’s “last chance before decapitation”.

    Trump told reporters he had agreed to continue negotiations at the request of key Gulf nations including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. He insisted that talks were active “right now” focused on two key priorities: reopening the Strait of Hormuz, which he claimed could happen “literally by tomorrow”, and the denuclearization of Iran, a process he acknowledged would “take a little while”. “I expect we’ll know one way or the other how these talks go by Tuesday,” he said, adding “it’s not very complex.”

    Hours before that statement, Trump took to social media to accuse Iran of being duplicitous for denying talks were underway. “Whether Iran wants to admit it or not, we are, in fact, talking of a solution to a problem that they have caused, for decades,” he wrote. He also highlighted the US-led counter-blockade of Iranian ports, saying “Nothing gets through to Iran, unless we want it to, and nothing will get through, unless a Deal, or Total Surrender, is accomplished.”

    Iran has flatly contradicted Trump’s claims of active negotiations. Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei confirmed that Tehran is in discussions with Omani authorities in Muscat over a new southern shipping route through the strait, but emphasized these talks are not related to a broader deal to reopen Hormuz. Tehran has long maintained that its nuclear program, a key US demand for dismantling, is strictly for civilian energy and research purposes, despite repeated claims from Western nations that it is aimed at developing nuclear weapons.

    Five months into the conflict, which has already cost the US billions of dollars, Iran still retains the capability to launch missile and drone strikes against US and allied targets across the Middle East, and continues to hold stockpiles of enriched uranium.

    Early Tuesday, the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency confirmed the latest incident: a cargo ship was hit by an “unknown projectile” in the Strait of Hormuz, off the Omani coast. The agency declined to name the vessel, and gave no details on damage or casualties, only noting that authorities were launching an investigation into the attack.

    Currently, Iran enforces an effective blockade of the strait, requiring all transiting ships to coordinate passage with Iranian authorities and use a route close to the Iranian coast. In response, many commercial vessels have opted to reroute through the southern corridor of the strait, closer to Omani territorial waters.

  • Arson arrest made over largest of Washington state’s wildfires

    Arson arrest made over largest of Washington state’s wildfires

    In what Washington Governor Bob Ferguson has called the worst natural disaster in Spokane’s recorded history, a series of fast-moving wildfires burning across Washington state’s second-largest city have displaced more than 60,000 residents, destroyed hundreds of structures, and led to the arrest of a local man on suspicion of arson for the largest blaze.

    Three major wildfires — named Old Trails, Fairview and Autumn Lane — ignited around Spokane over the weekend, part of a total 16 active wildfires burning across the northwestern U.S. state, according to the Washington State Department of Natural Resources. As of Tuesday, firefighters continued working to contain the spread, after making incremental progress on two of the three main blazes. While forecast lighter winds and cooler temperatures were expected to bring brief relief on Tuesday, officials warn rising temperatures later in the week will likely reintroduce dangerous fire conditions.

    Thirty-seven-year-old Aaron Farinacci, a Spokane resident with a prior manslaughter conviction, has been charged with first-degree arson in connection with the Old Trails fire, the largest of the three blazes. Spokane County Sheriff John Nowels told reporters witnesses saw Farinacci kneeling near dry grass at the fire’s starting point, and responding law enforcement later found him in possession of matches and a lighter. He is currently being held on a $1 million bond.

    The damage to Spokane communities has been catastrophic. Before-and-after imagery of the burn zone confirms widespread destruction: hundreds of homes and vehicles have been reduced to ash, with more than 700 buildings confirmed destroyed and another 400 structures still awaiting damage assessment. Thousands of acres of dry, brush-covered land have also been consumed by the flames.

    As of Tuesday morning, no deaths or injuries have been officially confirmed, though 14 people remain unaccounted for via mobile phone. Authorities emphasize that the 14 people have not been classified as missing, noting most may have evacuated successfully but lost cellular connectivity or drained their phone batteries during escape. Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown warned that the risk of fatalities remains high, and it is still too early to estimate when evacuated residents will be able to return to their homes.

    Local residents who escaped the flames shared harrowing accounts of the destruction. Anna Andreachi, who lost her entire home in the fire, told reporters that all her personal belongings — including mementos of her recently deceased father, still stored at the property — were gone. Another resident, Joe Cvancara, managed to save his home by digging a defensive fire line around the property, but he described feeling intense survivor’s guilt after his neighbor’s home burned to the ground. Cvancara added that he and his family are opening their home to displaced neighbors, noting that the long process of rebuilding will take months, if not years. Photographs from the disaster zone show residents recovering small, intact personal items — including a stone angel statue salvaged from the wreckage of a burned-out home.

    In response to the crisis, Governor Ferguson has issued a statewide ban on all open outdoor fires to prevent new ignitions. More than 900 firefighters are already assigned to the state’s active wildfires, with additional reinforcements scheduled to arrive from neighboring states in the coming days. Commissioner of Public Lands Dave Upthegrove emphasized that firefighting resources are already stretched beyond capacity across the state, warning that the tinder-dry landscape leaves the entire region vulnerable to new blazes. “Our firefighters are already stretched thin across the state, and with more heat and wind expected this weekend and for the rest of the summer, any new spark on our tinder dry landscapes can lead to another devastating wildfire. I’m urging all Washingtonians to not be that spark,” Upthegrove said.

    The disaster aligns with longstanding warnings from climate scientists, who have documented that human-caused climate change amplifies the warm, dry conditions that create ideal wildfire fuel, while also increasing the frequency and intensity of summer heatwaves and droughts across the Western United States.

  • Russian and Ukrainian drone strikes kill at least 5 in each country

    Russian and Ukrainian drone strikes kill at least 5 in each country

    In a new spike of deadly cross-border violence between Russia and Ukraine, both nations have reported dozens of civilian casualties from coordinated drone and aerial attacks, escalating a conflict that has stretched into its fifth year since Russia’s full-scale invasion.

  • Soldier kills four in gun rampage in Russian-occupied Crimea

    Soldier kills four in gun rampage in Russian-occupied Crimea

    A violent shooting spree carried out by an active member of Russia’s armed forces has left four people dead and multiple others injured in the Crimean Peninsula, the Ukrainian territory illegally annexed by Moscow in 2014, regional authorities confirmed.

    According to Mikhail Razvozhayev, the regional governor installed by the Kremlin, the violence unfolded when the gunman turned his weapon on fellow service members first. This initial attack killed one soldier and left a second service member with critical injuries. After attacking his colleagues, the shooter fled to the nearby village of Khmelnytske, where he targeted unarmed civilians.

    Three local residents lost their lives in the civilian attack: a 71-year-old man, a 59-year-old man, and a 64-year-old woman. Three additional civilians were also wounded in the rampage, with medical teams working around the clock to stabilize their conditions. Razvozhayev stated that clinical teams are deploying every available resource to save the lives of those injured, though it remains unclear whether the overall death toll will climb as the injured receive treatment.

    The attacker has already been taken into custody by authorities, who have launched a formal investigation to uncover the motive for the mass shooting. As of the latest updates, the suspect has not been publicly named, and regional officials have not released any details about which branch of the Russian armed forces he was serving in at the time of the attack. In a public statement following the incident, Razvozhayev urged local residents and media outlets to only share information from official government sources, warning against the spread of unsubstantiated rumors about the shooter’s identity or potential motivations.

    Crimea has remained one of the most contentious flashpoints in tensions between Russia and Ukraine since 2014, when Moscow invaded and annexed the peninsula from Ukraine. The overwhelming majority of the international community refuses to recognize Russia’s annexation, classifying Crimea as illegally occupied Ukrainian territory. Russia has since maintained a heavy, permanent military presence across the peninsula, which has increasingly come under attack from Ukrainian drone and missile strikes as the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine stretches into its third year.

  • Moment pilot caught with 70,000 ecstasy pills at Indonesian airport

    Moment pilot caught with 70,000 ecstasy pills at Indonesian airport

    In a major drug bust that has drawn regional attention to aviation security gaps, Indonesian customs officials have arrested a Malaysian commercial pilot at Jakarta’s main international airport after seizing roughly 26 kilograms (equivalent to four stone) of ecstasy concealed in the pilot’s checked luggage.

    The seizure, which totals 70,000 individual ecstasy pills, marks one of the larger drug intercepts involving a licensed aviation professional in Southeast Asia in recent years. Law enforcement sources confirmed that officers detected the illicit substances during routine baggage screening following the pilot’s arrival on an international inbound flight. Authorities have not yet publicly released details on the pilot’s intended route for the narcotics or whether additional co-conspirators are being sought in connection with the smuggling operation.

    The incident has reignited debates across Southeast Asia over vulnerabilities in global aviation supply chains and crew screening procedures. The region remains a key transit corridor for international drug trafficking networks, which have increasingly attempted to exploit the trusted status of aviation workers to move illicit substances across borders. Indonesian anti-narcotics officials have announced they will launch a full investigation into how the drugs were able to be brought through initial security checks before the pilot departed for Jakarta, and are working with Malaysian law enforcement to trace the origin of the seizure.

  • What will happen when a SpaceX rocket collides with the Moon?

    What will happen when a SpaceX rocket collides with the Moon?

    For millions of years, Earth’s only natural satellite has endured a constant barrage of interstellar impacts. Asteroids and meteors have carved its iconic pockmarked landscape, leaving a sprawling network of craters that tell the story of our solar system’s violent history. In modern decades, human space exploration has added a new type of impact to the Moon’s surface, from intentional probe crashes to accidental collisions from discarded launch hardware. On August 5, the Moon is set to receive yet another human-made visitor: an abandoned upper stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, drifting through space at 2.43 kilometers per second (roughly 5,400 miles per hour), is on track to collide with the lunar surface.

    The prediction of this upcoming crash comes from NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS), which confirmed the trajectory after independent astronomers used public launch data to identify the rogue rocket component. The discarded stage was left in orbit following a January 2025 joint U.S.-Japanese lunar mission, which carried two lunar landers and a suite of scientific instruments to lunar orbit. While SpaceX designs most Falcon 9 components to be reusable and return to Earth for future flights, upper stages are often jettisoned in space after completing their boost mission, left to drift in orbit until gravitational forces pull them toward a collision with a celestial body.

    Weighing in at no less than 4,000 kilograms (8,800 pounds) on Earth and roughly the size of a five-story building, this piece of space hardware is set to impact near the historic Einstein Crater, a location on the Moon’s Earth-facing side that will be bathed in daylight at the time of collision. Astronomer Bill Gray, the researcher who first identified the object’s collision trajectory, estimates the impact will carve a new crater more than 17 meters (56 feet) in diameter into the lunar surface. The collision is scheduled to occur at approximately 02:35 EDT (06:35 GMT) on August 5.

    NASA has stressed that the incoming rocket stage poses zero risk to populations or infrastructure on Earth. In a statement, agency spokesperson Jimi Russell noted that NASA will continue tracking the booster as a training exercise for near-Earth object monitoring, and will later study the fresh impact site to advance lunar science.

    The unplanned collision has drawn excitement from both amateur and professional astronomers around the world, who see it as a rare, free research opportunity that would be impossible to arrange intentionally. Dr. Matt Bothwell, public astronomer at the University of Cambridge, explained that the event will be far more dramatic than any similar impact on Earth, thanks to the Moon’s lack of atmosphere and much weaker gravitational pull. With no atmospheric drag to slow the incoming rocket, the entire 4,000-kilogram mass will hit the surface at full speed, throwing up an enormous plume of lunar dust that could reach 50 kilometers or higher into space, before spreading across the surrounding terrain. An estimated one million kilograms of rock and dust debris will be launched into space following the impact, a spectacle that cannot be replicated in controlled experiments on Earth.

    While the impact flash will not be visible to the naked eye from Earth, observers with access to high-powered professional or advanced amateur telescopes may be able to spot a brief flash of light on the lunar surface immediately after collision. A broad international collaborative effort is already in place to capture as much data as possible from the event: large ground-based telescopes across the Americas will monitor the impact, NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and South Korea’s Danuri lunar probe will capture close-up observations of the flash, dust plume and newly formed crater, and a citizen science project is recruiting amateur astronomy enthusiasts to record the event as well.

    By observing the plume in real time and mapping the new crater after impact, researchers hope to turn this accidental collision into a groundbreaking scientific experiment. Tracking the volume of ejected material, the height of the plume, and how dust falls back to the surface will allow scientists to refine existing models of lunar impact processes. The crash will also expose fresh, unaltered subsurface material at the impact site, giving researchers a rare unplanned look at the composition of lunar rock just below the surface that has never been exposed to space weathering.

    Beyond the scientific gains, astronomers say the event also serves as a stark reminder of the growing problem of human-made space debris. “I think more people should be more worried about space debris,” Bothwell noted. “Every single year we put more stuff in orbit. Sometimes the satellites just collide, and they shatter into more pieces. I think there’s a worry about a runaway cascade, if we put so much stuff in orbit.” Data from the European Space Agency (ESA) underscores this concern: there are currently more than 54,000 human-made objects larger than 10 centimeters drifting in Earth and lunar orbit, and humans have launched a total of roughly 17,000 tonnes of hardware into space since the start of the Space Age in 1957.

    This is not the first time discarded human rocket hardware has impacted the Moon. The most recent prior incident occurred in 2022, when an upper stage of China’s Long March 3C rocket, left over from the 2014 Chang’e 5-T1 mission, crashed into the Moon’s far side, which is permanently turned away from Earth. Decades ago, NASA intentionally crashed multiple objects into the lunar surface to collect test data ahead of the historic Apollo crewed missions, demonstrating that even unplanned or intentional impacts can advance our understanding of Earth’s closest celestial neighbor.