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Trump attorney general pick says has reached deal with senators after standoff

A weeks-long standoff that threatened to derail the confirmation of U.S. President Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general has been resolved, after acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced Sunday he had struck a deal with skeptical Senate lawmakers and formally signed an order terminating the widely contested $1.8 billion anti-weaponization compensation fund.

Blanche’s announcement comes on the heels of the Senate Judiciary Committee delaying a procedural vote to advance his nomination last week, a move that followed mounting opposition from two key Republican senators: John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina. The pair had publicly pledged to block Blanche’s confirmation until the Trump administration fully walked back its plan for the fund, which was created to compensate individuals who claim they were targeted by politically motivated prosecutions.

In a public post on X shared Sunday, Blanche laid out the outcome of weeks of negotiations with committee leaders and rank-and-file senators. “My team and I have met with committee members and Senators over the past several weeks and addressed any concerns or outstanding questions,” Blanche wrote. “We have enjoyed good faith discussions, and as a result issue the following order and update with regard to the May IRS settlement.”

Attached to Blanche’s post was a signed executive order that formally invalidates the previous May 18, 2026 order that established the Anti-Weaponization Fund. “The Attorney General’s May 18, 2026 Order establishing the Anti-Weaponization Fund… is rescinded and shall have no force or effect,” the order reads. “This Order establishes, beyond any doubt, that there is no Fund.”

The controversial fund grew out of an extraordinary legal settlement between Trump and his own administration over the unauthorized disclosure of Trump’s personal tax records several years ago. As part of the original terms, the agreement granted sweeping protection from future tax audits and government legal claims to Trump, his immediate family, and his affiliated business entities. From the moment the fund was unveiled, critics across the political spectrum raised sharp objections, arguing it lacked a clear foundation in U.S. law, included almost no provisions for public oversight, and could be exploited to provide payouts and legal protection to Trump loyalists — even including defendants convicted of crimes connected to the January 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol.

While Blanche had previously offered verbal assurances that the fund would not move forward, Cornyn and Tillis refused to accept informal commitments. The pair insisted on a binding written order that ruled out any future revival of the fund and included specific language to narrow the scope of the broad tax protections granted to Trump and his associates in the original settlement. As of Sunday evening, neither senator had issued a public response to Blanche’s announcement.

The Senate Judiciary Committee is now scheduled to hold its long-delayed vote on Blanche’s nomination on Tuesday. The impasse had grown so tense in recent days that Trump suggested Thursday he could temporarily pull Blanche’s nomination — the former personal lawyer to the president — and re-nominate him after Cornyn and Tillis leave their Senate seats at the end of January, when new members of Congress are sworn in.

2 8 月, 2026
Media bosses slam Labor’s tech reforms, warn they will ‘gut’ news payment scheme

A fierce public debate has erupted over the Albanese government’s newly unveiled revisions to Australia’s landmark media bargaining framework, with the ruling Labor party claiming the changes will force large global technology firms to pay far more for repurposing Australian news content — while leading domestic media executives warn the revisions will eviscerate the core purpose of the original scheme designed to make tech platforms compensate local journalism.

Unveiled on Monday, the revised package amends both the Media Bargaining Incentive and the News Journalism Payment Scheme, marking the second iteration of the policy following a draft proposal released this past April. The most eye-catching adjustment on paper is an increase to the financial penalty for tech and social media giants that refuse to strike voluntary compensation deals with Australian news outlets, raising the levy rate from 2.25% to 2.5%. But the reform narrows the revenue base the levy applies to: instead of being calculated against a company’s total Australian revenue, the penalty will only be charged on digital advertising revenue that can be specifically linked to Australia. Industry analysts broadly agree this base narrowing will result in lower overall penalty amounts for non-compliant firms, undermining the incentive to negotiate.

Michael Miller, executive chairman of News Corp Australia, one of the country’s largest media conglomerates, issued a scathing rebuke of the changes, arguing they “gut the incentive” for tech platforms to negotiate fair compensation agreements at a moment when existing rules need to be strengthened, not weakened. “On an already uneven playing field, getting this wrong won’t just hurt Australian media. It will erode the quality and independence of news every Australian relies on,” Miller said, adding that major tech firms must not be allowed to continue avoiding their regulatory obligations, and that Australia needs full revenue transparency backed by strict, uncompromising penalties for platforms that break local media laws.

Matt Stanton, chief executive of Nine Entertainment, another leading domestic media group, echoed the criticism, noting that foreign-owned tech giants already exercise outsized influence over how Australian audiences access news content from outlets like Nine. “Independent journalism plays a fundamental role in democracy, holding governments, institutions and businesses to account. In this rapidly changing world this is more important than ever,” Stanton said, adding that the last-minute substantive changes to the scheme demand far closer parliamentary scrutiny to ensure the policy retains its core goal: forcing platforms to negotiate fairly for the journalism they profit from.

Sally Eagle, chief executive of Are Media, added her voice to the concerns, stressing that the levy must deliver on its founding purpose of pushing major digital platforms to the negotiation table. She called on the Australian parliament, which is set to vote on the final legislation in the coming months, to ensure the final draft is transparent and free of loopholes that would allow platforms to dodge their responsibility to strike long-term sustainable deals with local media.

Tim Duggan, chair of the Digital Publishers Alliance, described the revised reforms as “a pretty mixed bag”, noting that the biggest problem is that the total potential penalty pool has been reduced too dramatically to drive compliance. “I struggle to see how it will incentivise the outcome desired by the government once the platforms start using accounting trickery to minimise their obligations,” Duggan said.

The revised framework comes after major Australian media outlets including the ABC, Australian Community Media, Network 10, and The Guardian previously praised the April draft as a critical step forward for protecting local journalism. In a joint statement earlier this year that included Miller and Stanton, the groups urged all Australian parliamentarians to back measures that safeguard Australian journalism and its vital democratic role for all citizens.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Assistant Treasurer Daniel Mulino defended the reforms, arguing that tech platforms will still end up paying “substantially more” if they refuse to negotiate commercial deals with local media firms. “Under the previous arrangements that we inherited under the News Media Bargaining Code, big tech platforms could walk away without any consequences,” Mulino said. “Now, they will end up paying substantially more than if they enter into commercial agreements. There is a substantial financial incentive on big tech platforms to enter into agreements.”

The opposition Liberal-National Coalition has also blasted the reforms, with communications spokesperson Sarah Henderson — a former journalist — arguing Labor has failed to deliver on the original News Media Bargaining Code first introduced by the former Coalition government, which was fiercely opposed by major tech firms including Meta, the parent company of Facebook that shut down its Facebook News tab in Australia in 2021. “Labor’s dithering and delay on a promised replacement scheme has left tech giants unaccountable for their use of Australian copyrighted news content, while newsrooms and regional newspapers face uncertainty about their future,” Henderson said, adding that “it’s clear Labor is more concerned about giving the tech giants a free kick than distributing monies fairly to Australian news organisations. Not only will Labor’s scheme mean less money for Australian journalism, the government is now doing even less to encourage commercial deals with big tech which is extremely disappointing.”

The Coalition did welcome minor adjustments to the scheme, including the elimination of a carve-out for professional networking platforms, which means services like LinkedIn will now be required to comply with the payment rules. But Shadow Assistant Treasurer Kevin Hogan warned the scheme will only work if digital platforms report their Australian revenue accurately. Additional changes introduced by Labor include raising the minimum number of deals a tech platform must strike with local media outlets to avoid penalties from four to six, grandfathering existing valid deals from previous bargaining rounds, and mandating a full independent review of the scheme after three years of implementation. Major tech companies that already pushed back against Labor’s initial draft proposal earlier this year are widely expected to oppose the revised measures as well.

2 8 月, 2026
Semenyo hails Maresca style of play as ‘music to my ears’

In his first public comments since Enzo Maresca took the helm at Manchester City, attacking winger Antoine Semenyo has praised the new manager’s tactical approach, calling its focus on aggressive wide play exactly what he thrives on as an explosive one-on-one threat.

Maresca’s first match in charge of the Premier League giants ended in a penalty shootout defeat to Inter Milan during a pre-season friendly in Hong Kong, but the club clearly displayed the new head coach’s signature attacking ambitions, which Semenyo says align perfectly with his playing strengths. The 24-year-old started the first half against Inter, where his blistering pace and direct running tormented Inter full-back Andy Diouf, and he created the build-up that led to Divin Mubama’s equalizer for City. Young substitute Ryan McAidoo also turned in an eye-catching performance, prompting Maresca to note after the match that both Semenyo and McAidoo fit exactly the profile of winger he prefers: aggressive, direct, and unafraid to take on defenders in one-on-one duels.

Semenyo explained that he already knew Maresca’s tactical philosophy from the Italian’s time at Chelsea, where Maresca regularly deployed his wide players high up the pitch with creative freedom. That long-stated approach is what made Maresca’s appointment so exciting for him. “When he got appointed, that was the first thing I thought about because when you’ve played Chelsea previously when he was there, his wide men were always high and quite free,” Semenyo said. “So that was one of the things that excited me the most when he got appointed and it’s exciting for me as a winger. I get to have one-v-one situations most of the game and I am looking forward to it.”

The winger added that he has already held one-on-one tactical meetings with Maresca to clarify exactly how the manager wants his wide players to operate, and says the new boss’s ideas share core similarities with the approach of former City manager Pep Guardiola, while leaning even more into direct wide attacking. “I think his ideas are great, quite similar to Pep, but if you watched the [Inter] game, you would have seen a couple of his ideas play out and it was good. Enzo just [tells us to] stay out wide and when you get the ball, just create opportunities. So it is music to my ears.”

Semenyo joined Manchester City from Bournemouth in the January 2025 transfer window for a £65 million fee, with Guardiola beating off reported interest from major rivals including Manchester United, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea to secure his signature. The player recalled that initial transfer contact came in early December, with extensive negotiations over the following month before he finalized his decision to move to the Etihad Stadium. He also expressed deep gratitude to his former club Bournemouth for nurturing his career in the top flight. “I owe them everything to be honest,” Semenyo said. “They helped my Premier League career flourish and obviously the management, the staff behind the scenes, they were all amazing, they made everything so smooth.”

Last season, Semenyo notched an impressive 21 goals across all competitions for both club and country. That tally included the winning goal in Manchester City’s FA Cup final victory over Chelsea, a moment he calls a “dream come true”, and he also lifted the Carabao Cup with the club during his first six months at the club. He explained that Guardiola’s personal pitch to him, which promised to develop his game, was a major factor in his decision to join City. “I think for me, I just wanted the next step to be the big one and Manchester City was the option. Pep spoke to me beforehand and he said, ‘look, when you come, I am going to make you a better player’.” He added that Guardiola delivered on that promise in his first five months at the club, and that he regrets seeing the long-serving manager depart the club.

Beyond his football career, Semenyo also opened up about his devout Christian faith, which he says is the foundation of his success as a player. The winger has multiple faith-focused tattoos across his body, and he was baptized by a local pastor last December — a step he says he had wanted to take for many years, but could not schedule until last winter due to his packed football calendar. “I know that I am obviously walking with God at the moment, and I want to maximise my faith as much as I can, so practising gives me the opportunity to do that,” he said. “When I got the opportunity, I made sure I took it. I am so happy I have done it and I am in the walk of faith now and it’s been amazing.”

Semenyo says he makes a habit of praying before every match, alongside fellow faith-focused teammates Jeremy Doku and Marc Guehi the night before games at the team hotel, a routine that he says gives all three players “maximum strength”. When asked if his faith comes before his football career, he answered without hesitation: “Yeah, 100%. I wouldn’t be here without him [God], so there is always going to be faith and football after. I think God gave me the talent to be a footballer, he gave me all the skills, he gave the mindset and the mentality, so I owe it to him to perform and maximise his words to the world.”

2 8 月, 2026
Number of people missing unknown after Indonesian ferry fire that killed 5, rescuers say

On Sunday, a devastating fire broke out aboard an Indonesian inter-island ferry traveling off the coast of East Java, leaving at least five people dead and triggering an urgent search operation for unaccounted passengers that stretched into Monday, national rescue officials confirmed.

The blaze erupted on the Mutiara Sentosa 2, a 160-meter passenger and cargo ferry operating on the high-traffic route between Surabaya, Indonesia’s second-largest city located on East Java, and Makassar, the capital of South Sulawesi. According to initial details from the vessel’s official manifest, the ferry was slated to carry 232 passengers and 39 crew members when the fire broke out between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. in waters administered by Indonesia’s Sumenep regency, roughly 35 kilometers north of Buruan Sapudi Island. The ferry was also transporting 180 vehicles, mostly commercial trucks, along with a heavy construction excavator.

By Monday morning, search and rescue teams had pulled 229 survivors from the burning vessel and recovered five bodies of deceased victims. However, officials confirmed that the actual number of people on board far exceeded the count listed on the official ship manifest, leaving the exact number of missing passengers unclear. Rescue teams are currently cross-referencing accounts from survivors and statements from families of potential missing people to pin down an accurate count of unaccounted individuals.

Ahmad Abdul Karim, one of the passengers who escaped the fire, shared his firsthand account of the disaster. He told reporters the fire appeared to originate from a truck parked on the ferry’s lower vehicle deck, before strong winds fanned the flames across the ship at an alarming speed. Karim said that within 30 minutes of the fire being spotted, all passengers and crew were ordered to evacuate to the ferry’s bow to avoid the spreading blaze.

Discrepancies between official passenger manifests and actual on-board counts are a widespread issue in Indonesia’s domestic ferry industry, according to Nanang Sigit, head of the Surabaya Search and Rescue Office. Sigit explained that these gaps are most often caused by unrecorded overcrowding, a common practice that creates major complications for search and rescue teams working to identify missing people after a disaster.

Multiple assets have been deployed to the incident site to support the search effort. A dedicated rescue vessel was dispatched from Surabaya, with additional support from Indonesian Navy ships and several commercial vessels that were passing through the area near the time of the fire. The investigation into the root cause of the blaze is still ongoing, and no official conclusions have been released as of Monday.

Built in Japan in 1992, the Mutiara Sentosa 2 operated in Japanese waters before being sold to an Indonesian ferry operator in 2015. The vessel is rated to carry up to 689 passengers and 49 crew members, along with a maximum cargo of 181 vehicles. The 40-hour Surabaya-Makassar route is a critical transport link for domestic travelers and cargo moving between Java and Sulawesi, two of Indonesia’s most populous major islands.

As the world’s largest archipelagic nation, Indonesia is made up of more than 17,000 separate islands, making ferries the primary mode of inter-island transport for millions of residents. However, ferry disasters are a regular occurrence across the country, with transportation safety experts and officials repeatedly citing weak regulatory enforcement of safety standards as a leading contributing factor to these incidents.

This report was compiled with contributions from Associated Press journalists Niniek Karmini and Edna Tarigan based in Jakarta, Indonesia.

2 8 月, 2026
Water-dropping aircraft take off to tackle major Greek wildfire, after 2 killed in crash

As Europe confronts one of its most severe summer wildfire emergencies in recent memory, multiple countries are facing expanding blazes, tragic loss of life, and stretched emergency response capacity, with high temperatures and shifting wind patterns keeping authorities on high alert.

On the Greek front, the crisis took a devastating turn Sunday when two firefighting helicopters collided midair while battling a large wildfire burning west of Athens, the nation’s capital. The crash killed two crew members: one Greek national and one Danish firefighter who had been deployed to support Greece’s wildfire response. Two other crew members on the second helicopter — a Greek and a British national — survived with minor injuries and were transported to a local hospital for treatment. The collision occurred near the coastal community of Psatha, where the fire had been raging since Friday morning.

By first light Monday, authorities dispatched 10 additional air assets — five water-dropping planes and five helicopters — to support nearly 500 ground firefighters working to contain the blaze. The collision highlighted the extreme risks facing first responders on the most volatile front of Europe’s wildfire crisis, even as new evacuation orders were issued for three additional communities near Athens in the early hours of Monday as flames pushed deeper into the Attica region. More than 1,000 people have been displaced by the fire so far, including over 250 residents and visitors who were rescued by boat from local beaches as flames reached the coastline.

Greek firefighting authorities announced Sunday that the blaze has been traced to an electrical fault: sparks from a faulty power line connecting a private wind generator facility to the national grid triggered the fire. Two people have already been arrested in connection with the incident, including an electrical engineer who oversaw the project’s design and a contractor who worked on the transmission line. Both face felony arson charges, and an arrest warrant has also been issued for the owner of the wind generator company.

For Greece, large summer wildfires are a recurring annual disaster. Hot, dry conditions combined with frequent strong winds create ideal conditions for small sparks to escalate into major infernos. Officials note that more than 90% of the hundreds of wildfires the country fights each year stem from human negligence, as common risk mitigation measures such as bans on open-air barbecues, welding, and the use of power saws in dry forest areas are regularly ignored. In a separate incident Sunday, authorities on the Greek island of Kefalonia arrested a man on suspicion of deliberately starting a wildfire that forced the evacuation of multiple nearby villages.

A shift in conditions on Monday brought a small measure of hope: the gale-force winds that had fanned the flames and grounded water-dropping aircraft through the weekend began to die down, allowing crews to resume aerial attacks on the blaze and create new firebreaks to slow its advance. But officials warn that the entire Attica region remains at extreme wildfire risk, with forecasts calling for a new round of rising temperatures later this week.

The wildfire crisis is not limited to Greece. Across Western Europe, France is grappling with the largest wildfire in its modern history, which has already forced what officials describe as the largest peacetime civilian evacuation in the country’s history. Some 224,000 people have been displaced by the Gironde megablaze in southwestern France, which has already burned through 420 square kilometers of land — an area roughly four times the size of the city of Paris. While firefighters managed to contain the blaze within its existing perimeter by Sunday night, dozens of hotspots continue to burn inside the fire zone, and thousands of displaced residents remain unable to return to their homes. Nearly 3,000 French firefighters are deployed to battle this blaze and a second major wildfire burning in the Provence region.

When combined with large-scale blazes in Spain, wildfires across Western and Southern Europe have displaced roughly 350,000 people from their homes and summer vacation sites, emptying communities during the peak tourism season and stretching emergency response services across multiple simultaneous disasters.

2 8 月, 2026
‘Your legacy will live forever’: Nepal mourns climber Nirmal Purja

The global mountaineering sphere and the nation of Nepal are reeling from an unthinkable tragedy: an unexpected avalanche on Pakistan’s 8,047-meter Broad Peak has claimed the lives of all 10 members of an expedition, six of whom were Nepali climbers, including trailblazing British-Nepali mountaineer Nirmal “Nims” Purja. The entire team went missing last Thursday after being caught in the deadly snow slide, and rescue efforts have now confirmed no survivors.

Purja, who catapulted to global fame after his record-breaking feat of summiting all 14 of the world’s tallest peaks in just over six months, was a beloved figure in Nepal, where he spent decades elevating the profile of unsung Nepali climbing guides. The 40-something climber leaves behind a wife and three-year-old daughter in Hampshire, southern England. Before turning to full-time high-altitude mountaineering, Purja served 16 years in the British military, 10 of those in the special forces, and was awarded an MBE by the late Queen Elizabeth II in 2018 for his mountaineering achievements. He made history as the first Gurkha to summit Everest while still serving in the British military, and his unprecedented 14-peak expedition was documented in the 2021 Netflix documentary that introduced him to audiences worldwide. In 2024, he faced unproven sexual misconduct allegations from two women, which he vehemently denied through his legal representation.

Tributes have poured in from across the globe, starting with Nepal’s highest office. Prime Minister Balendra Shah honored Purja’s memory, saying, “His history of courage, dedication and contribution will always remain inspiring.” For Purja’s older brother Kamal, the loss is unfathomable. “I feel as though I have lost my whole world,” he wrote in an emotional Facebook post. “My brother was not only my younger brother – he was my heart. Although our hearts are broken, we are incredibly proud of you. Your legacy will live forever.”

At Purja’s alma mater, Small Heaven School in Nepal’s Chitwan district near Kathmandu, students and staff gathered to hold a candlelight vigil, mourning the loss of their most famous graduate. “Purja’s bravery has set a great example for our school,” said student Sarbagya Paudel. “Not only has he made our school proud, but he has also brought pride to Nepal.” Longtime staff who knew Purja as a child recalled his unshakable drive even at a young age. “As a young boy Purja was fearless and committed to achieving something,” said former hostel supervisor Shailendra Baral in an interview with AFP. “He was honest and an obedient student, which made us happy. We found courage in him even when he was a child.” Childhood friend Bahadur Panta, who joined dozens of mourners at the school vigil, shared that he and countless others spent days praying for a miracle after news of the avalanche broke. “It was not only me and my friends. I think people all over the world who knew him prayed for him. But it was his fate, no one could avoid it,” Panta said.

While Purja is the most internationally recognizable name lost in the tragedy, the expedition included several other legendary figures from Nepal’s tight-knit climbing community. Among them was Pur Bahadur Gurung, widely known as Yukta, who had summited Everest an extraordinary 10 times. In 2024, he was part of the team that discovered a century-old climbing shoe on Everest, believed to have belonged to Andrew Irvine, the British climber who disappeared alongside George Mallory during their 1924 expedition. Fellow mountaineer Uttam Lapraki paid tribute to Gurung on social media, writing, “Standing with you on the summit of Mount Everest is a memory I will cherish forever. The Himalayas have lost one of their finest sons, but your courage, kindness, and legacy will continue to inspire generations of climbers.”

Another fallen climber, Kili Pemba Sherpa, made history as part of the first all-Nepali winter expedition to summit K2, the world’s second-highest peak, in 2021 – an expedition that also included Purja. Imagine Nepal, the expedition company where Sherpa worked as a guide, shared a moving tribute on Instagram: “He stood with us from the very beginning, from the days we first started climbing together. He was humble in every way and never tired of helping climbers when they needed him. He was a foundation of our team and a part of every summit we have ever celebrated.”

The remaining four climbers killed in the avalanche hailed from the United States, China, Oman, and Pakistan. Broad Peak, first successfully summited by an Austrian expedition in 1957, has long been regarded as one of the most challenging and dangerous high-altitude peaks in the world, with dozens of climbers having lost their lives on its slopes since the first ascent. Social media platforms have been flooded with tributes to all 10 climbers, with many noting Nepal is in national mourning for the six fallen local mountaineers. “We have lost a legend and many great climbers,” one comment read. “Their legacy will live on.”

2 8 月, 2026
Estonia’s Seto people bolster their centuries-old culture and language with a kingdom for a day

Beneath the open sky in the tiny Estonian village of Mikitamäe, the cheerful trill of an accordion drifts across a lush grass field. Eighty-year-old Maime Kapten twirls across the green, her hand-embroidered traditional skirt flaring out around her, while the silver chains and antique coins strung around her neck jingle in rhythm with her steps. For Kapten, this dance is far more than a festive performance—it is an act of cultural reclamation, part of a one-day annual celebration that turns this quiet southeastern Estonian village into the symbolic “Kingdom of Setos.”

This unique celebration, launched in 1994, was born out of necessity. For centuries, the Seto ethnic community has called the borderlands between modern Estonia and Russia home. When the Soviet Union collapsed, the newly drawn Estonian-Russian border split the Seto people apart, cutting off families from one another and from their ancestral lands. What began as a small gathering to lift up the community’s distinct identity and protect their endangered language has grown into a beloved annual tradition, complete with ceremonial entry visas instead of event tickets, custom printed mock currency, and a lighthearted symbolic military parade.

Today, the Seto community is scattered across Estonia and beyond. Estonia’s 2021 national census recorded roughly 25,000 people who reported some ability to speak Seto—a tongue closely related to Estonian, but regarded by the Seto themselves as a fully separate language with unique pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary. Linguists warn, however, that only a few thousand people still use Seto in daily life. Fewer than 3,000 people remain in Setomaa, the Seto’s traditional ancestral parish, and after the border split, less than 200 Seto stayed on the Russian side of the divide. For dispersed community members, the annual Kingdom Day is the most important chance to reconnect. “This is an important cultural day for us,” Kapten explained. “We get to meet people we know, we get to talk, exchange a few words, give each other a hug.”

On the day of this year’s celebration, Mikitamäe’s normally quiet streets overflowed with attendees clad in vibrant, handcrafted traditional folk dress. A centuries-old local proverb says “you hear a Seto woman before you see her,” a nod to the jangling silver adornments that are a staple of traditional women’s dress. What was everyday wear 100 years ago is now reserved for special occasions, but these garments still carry deep cultural meaning. “Seto clothes say a lot about the person who wears them,” noted 62-year-old Seto cultural activist Piret Torm-Kriis. “If you look at a Seto woman, you can understand whether she is married or single, whether she is going to the church or to the market, to a party or to work.”

A core tradition of Kingdom Day is the annual election of the Ülemsootska, the Seto community’s symbolic leader who serves as the messenger for Peko—the ancient Seto folk deity of fertility and the legendary mythic king of the Setos. The Seto’s unique cultural heritage blends pre-Christian pagan mythology with Eastern Orthodox religious traditions, a fusion that has shaped their identity for hundreds of years. For the election, candidates stand atop aged tree stumps to lay out their agendas for the coming year, and supporters form long lines holding threads that stretch hundreds of meters to their chosen candidate. This year, folk costume maker Ingrit Kala won the role by drawing the longest line of supporters.

Kala’s top priority is straightforward: expanding outreach for Seto culture and securing the future of the Seto language. “We have so many different things, so many skilled craftspeople, to show what a rich culture we have and to really introduce it,” she said.

The celebration’s centerpiece this year, as always, was leelo—the Seto’s centuries-old traditional polyphonic singing, a practice dating back more than 1,000 years that is listed on UNESCO’s Register of Intangible Cultural Heritage. The distinctive style features a solo singer opening each verse, with a full choir joining in on the final syllables before the voices blend into a unified harmony. For millennia, leelo lyrics, which draw heavily from Seto mythology, have been passed down orally between generations, and the songs once accompanied every part of daily life, from farm work to religious rituals to holiday feasts. “Leelo singing contains a lot of information about the world and people at the time of its origins, how were they thinking, what was important, what did they believe in,” explained Mari Palolill, a researcher and teacher of the tradition who performed with her choir at this year’s event.

Despite growing recognition of Seto culture, the community faces steep challenges to preserve their language and traditions. Most Seto traditions have been preserved through oral transmission, and while small wins have been made—including a Seto-language kindergarten group, a regional Seto newspaper, and even translations of popular books like *The Little Prince* into Seto—the language still relies heavily on being spoken at home to survive. “If Seto isn’t spoken at home, then what children learn at school doesn’t help much,” Kala acknowledged.

Still, young Seto community members are stepping up to carry the tradition forward. Twenty-three-year-old Maria Grünberg learned Seto as a child by singing along to traditional leelo songs, and she now leads the youth leelo choir. Her goal is to reframe Seto culture as a living, relevant tradition for all ages, not just a relic of the past. “We all together try to preserve the songs, the language, and show also other young people that Seto songs and Seto language is not only for old people,” said Grünberg, who performed in a customized traditional Seto dress paired with her grandparents’ antique silver jewelry. “We want to show that this is for everyone.”

2 8 月, 2026
More pregnant women are dying in Congo as they avoid hospitals over Ebola

In the eastern Congolese city of Bunia, the epicenter of the Ebola outbreak declared in mid-May, 26-year-old expectant mother Esther Lutula made a fateful decision not long after public health authorities announced the crisis: she halted all her routine prenatal checkups. Like many residents across Ituri province, Lutula clung to a widespread dangerous misconception—she believed any visit to a health facility that resulted in a fever reading would lead to immediate involuntary isolation. That fear has kept her away from care, with Lutula telling the Associated Press she will only resume checkups once the virus is no longer circulating widely.

But public health experts warn this choice is far from harmless; it can be deadly. New data from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) reveals that maternal mortality across Ituri has doubled in the months since the outbreak began, a devastating secondary crisis unfolding alongside the rapidly spreading Ebola epidemic. Before the outbreak was declared in May, the province recorded an average of 3.1 maternal deaths per week. From May 25 to July 19, that average surged to 5.8 deaths weekly. Most alarmingly, the share of maternal deaths that occur outside of formal health facilities has nearly doubled too, jumping from 9.1% to 17.4% over the same period.

This public health catastrophe is unfolding against a grim global backdrop: sub-Saharan Africa already bears 70% of the world’s maternal deaths, with roughly 180,000 preventable pregnancy-related deaths recorded across the continent each year. Congo, for its part, ranks among the most dangerous countries in the world to give birth. The latest United Nations data shows 19,000 Congolese women died from pregnancy complications in 2023, putting the country second only to Nigeria globally, tied with India.

As Congo battles the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak on record, which has already claimed more than 1,600 confirmed lives, aid and health workers are sounding the alarm about this largely unreported shadow crisis: widespread fear and misinformation have driven thousands of pregnant women to avoid hospital care entirely, pushing an already catastrophic maternal mortality rate even higher. Noemi Dalmonte, UNFPA’s deputy country representative in Congo, explained that while avoidance of health facilities during public health emergencies is not uncommon across the continent due to safety concerns, Ebola’s unique reputation and the flood of misinformation surrounding it have amplified this trend dramatically.

Many residents in the remote, conflict-riven region question whether Ebola even exists, while overstretched health workers struggle to mount an effective response with extremely limited supplies. For pregnant women, this has translated to a drastic reduction in access to life-saving care. Violence targeting outbreak response operations has only deepened fears: multiple Ebola treatment centers have been attacked by local residents fueled by misinformation and anger over strict public health measures, leaving many women afraid to seek care even for life-threatening pregnancy complications.

The impact of this avoidance is visible on the ground at local health facilities. At Bénédicte Clinic in Bunia, Dr. Sonny Mwembo, the clinic’s medical director, reports that the number of women registering for prenatal care has plummeted from an average of 60 per month to just around 10. Even after weeks of targeted outreach to correct misinformation, many residents still cling to false beliefs about the outbreak. Elodie Yabiri, a heavily pregnant Bunia resident, summed up the common fear: “Right now, if you feel sick and go to the hospital, they say it’s Ebola and they put you in quarantine right away. That’s what scares people.” Yabiri added that she is avoiding hospitals as much as possible, relying only on the movement of her unborn child to gauge that her pregnancy is progressing safely.

Compounding the crisis, Congo’s already overburdened, underfunded healthcare system has shifted most of its limited resources to Ebola response operations, leaving even fewer services for pregnant women who are still willing to seek care. Health facilities across the five provinces affected by the outbreak have redirected staff and medical supplies to Ebola containment efforts, cutting access to routine and emergency maternal care. The crisis has also gutted the local health workforce: at least 44 health workers have died from Ebola infection, and many more have walked off the job over unpaid salaries. Since the outbreak was declared in mid-May, at least 12 attacks on health facilities and response teams have been recorded across the region. Dr. Ghislain Maneba, an epidemiologist and community investigator working in Ituri’s Rwampara health zone, described the impossible conditions frontline workers face: “We are doing everything we can to make the public understand how dangerous this disease is. We are working day and night without being paid.”

Pregnant women face uniquely elevated risks throughout this outbreak, on multiple fronts. Ebola is a rare but highly contagious, often fatal virus that spreads through contact with bodily fluids and contaminated materials. Women make up the majority of family caregivers when a loved one falls ill, and many are also serving on the frontlines of the outbreak response—including many pregnant health workers, AP journalists reporting on the outbreak have observed. “It is very important that they know how to protect themselves, that they have the right information,” Dalmonte said.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that pregnant women who contract Ebola face a significantly increased risk of life-threatening complications, including miscarriage. But for many women in eastern Congo, the greatest threat is not the virus itself—it is the lack of access to the care that could save their lives. Dalmonte summed up the dual crisis: “Pregnant women who delay care and avoid health facilities could die not from Ebola itself but because the care that would have saved them was no longer accessible, trusted or safe.”

This reporting is part of an AP series on maternal mortality in sub-Saharan Africa, with financial support for global health and development coverage provided by the Gates Foundation. The AP retains full editorial control over all content.

2 8 月, 2026
Myanmar’s detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi has rare meeting with International Red Cross

BANGKOK, Thailand – Nearly four and a half years after Myanmar’s military seized power and detained the country’s democratically elected former leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate has held a long-awaited meeting with a senior representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the junta-backed civilian administration confirmed this week. The encounter marks one of the only verified instances of contact between Suu Kyi and an independent international representative since her 2021 detention, which has kept her completely out of public view.

In a formal announcement paired with four published photographs, the military-aligned Presidential Press and Information Bureau said the closed-door meeting between Suu Kyi and Arnaud de Baecque, the ICRC’s top envoy to Myanmar, took place on Monday morning. No additional details were released, including the exact location of the meeting or the substance of the pair’s discussion. Two of the released images capture the pair shaking hands and holding talks in a wood-paneled meeting room, while the two additional photos show Suu Kyi cutting a pink birthday cake inscribed with “Happy Birthday Aunty Suu, 19.6.2026” – a reference to her 81st birthday, which fell on June 19 this year.

In all published images, Suu Kyi appears relaxed, smiling, and free of any visible signs of ill health, though independent observers have not been able to conduct a full assessment of her physical condition from the photographs alone. The ICRC’s Myanmar office has not yet issued an official statement confirming or expanding on details of the meeting.

Suu Kyi’s detention began on February 1, 2021, when the Myanmar military ousted her elected civilian government in a coup that triggered widespread international condemnation, sweeping sanctions, and ongoing armed conflict across the country. The former state counselor has not appeared in public since the coup, and the most recent official image of her released prior to this week dates back to April 2024, when junta authorities announced she had been transferred from prison to house arrest and had part of her accumulated prison sentence reduced as part of a mass amnesty tied to a major Buddhist holiday.

This week’s announcement of the ICRC meeting comes amid growing international and regional pressure on Myanmar’s military leadership. Members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and other global actors have repeatedly called for meaningful access to Suu Kyi as a core step toward advancing dialogue to resolve the country’s deepening political and humanitarian crisis. For months, Suu Kyi’s youngest son Kim Aris, who resides in London, and pro-democracy activists have run a high-profile online campaign demanding independent proof that the 81-year-old former leader is still alive and in good health.

Myanmar’s junta has spent the past year moving to frame a return to civilian rule, planning for a national election in 2025 and pursuing deeper diplomatic engagement with regional neighbors to ease its international isolation. Critics of the transition plan, however, note that the proposed nominally civilian government is overwhelmingly made up of former military generals and officials who held power under the previous junta administration, arguing the restructuring will do little to loosen the military’s tight grip on national governance.

Opposition leaders with the National Unity Government, the shadow civilian administration formed by elected lawmakers ousted in the 2021 coup, reject the ICRC meeting as a meaningless gesture that does not address the core injustices of the coup. “Since, from the outset, a country’s leader was wrongfully arrested and imprisoned by finding faults where there were none, she must be released without any conditions,” said Nay Phone Latt, a spokesperson for the opposition group.

2 8 月, 2026
‘We can play better’: Roosters issue terrifying threat to the rest of the NRL after historic win

The Sydney Roosters have delivered one of the most devastating displays in modern National Rugby League (NRL) history, and the powerhouse side is already making it clear that their best football is still ahead of them. Fresh off a record-breaking 82-12 rout of the North Queensland Cowboys in Townsville, the reigning contenders have issued a stark four-word-adjacent warning to every other team in the competition: they have not hit their peak yet.

This lopsided victory marked the Roosters’ sixth consecutive win, and it etched the club’s name into NRL record books: the 82-point haul stands as the highest score posted by any top-flight side since 1935, and the third-highest total in the 110-plus year history of Australian rugby league premiership. Stand-off Sam Walker delivered a career-best masterclass, racking up a personal total of 36 points to guide his side to the dominant win.

The performance was so strong that analysts have already suggested even reigning premiers Penrith Panthers would face a massive test against the Roosters if the side repeats this form on grand final day. But despite the glowing praise and jaw-dropping result, Roosters utility Connor Watson says the squad still has room to grow as they prepare for this Friday’s high-stakes clash against the in-form Canterbury Bulldogs. Speaking to reporters from the team’s pre-match mini-camp in Gosford, Watson outlined the side’s quiet confidence heading into the second half of the season.

“We feel like we’ve got more levels to our footy that we can still ascend to,” Watson said. “The weekend was a good start. Up to this game, we haven’t clicked into our best attacking rhythm yet. Our success so far this year has come from our defence, from the way we pressure opponents and grind out wins by scoring just enough to get across the line. That’s been a huge shift for us — in previous seasons, we dropped a lot of those tight matches, but this year we’ve taken the majority of them. To be in title contention come September, we need to keep winning those close games. But we know we can play better as a group, especially with ball in hand, and the Cowboys game was a really great first step toward that.”

Young fullback Cody Ramsey, who turned in an electrifying second-half performance after coming on as a substitute for captain James Tedesco, echoed Watson’s sentiment. Ramsey said that even a blowout win like the 70-point victory leaves plenty of room for improvement across all areas of the pitch.

“We can still definitely refine our craft in attack, and we also had a few defensive lapses that let the Cowboys through for line breaks,” Ramsey explained. “No matter how good a game looks on the surface, you can always pick out areas to work on. That could be our kicking game, our defensive line speed, our contact work. There’s still so much we can learn, and if we keep refining those small details, we’ll be able to execute even better by the end of the season.”

One key talking point from the weekend was Tedesco’s early exit from the match, with the star fullback coming off the pitch as a precaution after sustaining a minor ankle issue. But the club has moved quickly to ease concerns about his availability for Friday’s game, confirming Tedesco is on track to start against the Bulldogs. Watson said the captain’s resilience has long been a defining feature of his career, and he expects the skipper to be fully fit for the upcoming clash.

“You’d probably have to check with the medical staff for the full update, but he bounced back pretty well from the issue,” Watson said. “He played almost the entire first half with the niggle, and he still played like a beast, just like he always does. That’s one thing that’s been a testament to his career, especially after the early injury scares he’s had — his ability to just be resilient and bounce back quickly from these small injuries is incredible. I think he’ll be sweet to go on Friday.”

2 8 月, 2026