Global Pulse

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  • What we know about the Trump press gala shooting

    What we know about the Trump press gala shooting

    A high-profile annual media gathering in Washington descended into chaos Saturday night when a gunman attempted to breach security checkpoints leading to the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, leaving one law enforcement officer injured and triggering a full evacuation of hundreds of attendees, including sitting U.S. President Donald Trump. No members of the presidential party or gala guests suffered harm in the incident, which has now launched a full federal investigation into how the attacker was able to bring multiple weapons into the venue.

    According to initial official briefings and witness accounts, the incident unfolded shortly after 8:30 p.m. local time, just after opening remarks had concluded at the dinner, held at the iconic Washington Hilton Hotel. Shots rang out near the entrance to the main ballroom, where Trump was seated alongside first lady Melania Trump, Vice President JD Vance and other senior U.S. government officials. Tactical security teams immediately moved to secure the presidential party, rushing all high-level attendees out of the ballroom to a safe location. Hundreds of formally dressed guests, many of whom had gathered for the black-tie industry tradition, took cover under banquet tables before being guided out of the event space one by one, eventually moving outside the hotel as organizers postponed the annual gathering indefinitely.

    Law enforcement officials confirmed the incident involved a single suspect, who attempted to charge through a security checkpoint positioned just outside the ballroom. Metropolitan Police Department Interim Chief Jeffery Carroll confirmed the attacker was carrying a fully loaded shotgun, a handgun, and multiple edged weapons when he rushed the checkpoint. Footage shared by Trump on his Truth Social platform shows the suspect moving aggressively toward the checkpoint before uniformed officers swarm and subdue him. Law enforcement exchanged gunfire with the suspect during the confrontation, and one uniformed Secret Service officer was struck in his ballistic vest by gunfire. The officer was transported to a local hospital for evaluation; Chief Carroll confirmed the officer is in stable condition and expected to make a full recovery. The suspect was not hit by any gunfire during the incident, but was also taken to a hospital for mental evaluation before being placed into official custody. He is scheduled to be arraigned on federal charges Monday morning.

    FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed that investigators recovered a long gun and multiple spent shell casings from the scene, and agents have already begun interviewing dozens of witnesses to map out the suspect’s movements before the attack. While authorities have not yet formally released the suspect’s public identity, multiple U.S. media outlets have identified the man as 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen, a resident of Torrance, California. Chief Carroll added that preliminary investigation indicates Allen was registered as a guest at the Washington Hilton, the venue hosting the dinner. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro confirmed that the suspect currently faces two federal charges: use of a firearm during a violent felony, and assault of a federal officer with a dangerous weapon, with additional charges expected as the probe progresses. President Trump told reporters he believes the attacker acted alone, describing the suspect as “sick” and noting that investigators have not yet determined a clear motive for the attack.

    The incident has sparked immediate questions about potential gaps in event security, particularly how the suspect was able to bring multiple weapons into the hotel property. Multiple attendees noted that while magnetometers were in place outside the dinner ballroom, no weapons screening was conducted at the main entrance to the hotel itself. Initially, Trump acknowledged that the venue was “not a particularly secure building,” but later walked back the comment, confirming that the gunman never actually breached the ballroom space, which he described as “very, very secure.” Authorities emphasized that the outermost checkpoint outside the ballroom functioned as intended to stop the attack, noting that no guests or dignitaries were harmed as a result. Investigators have said they will review all hotel security footage to trace how the weapons were brought into the building and down to the event space. In a comparison to a previous 2024 assassination attempt against him at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, Trump praised the response of law enforcement in Washington, saying security teams performed a “much better job than Butler.”

  • How the Irish novelty song that ‘toppled’ Céline Dion is making a comeback

    How the Irish novelty song that ‘toppled’ Céline Dion is making a comeback

    Three decades after upsetting global superstars to claim the top spot on Ireland’s music charts, beloved Irish comedic singer-songwriter Richie Kavanagh’s iconic hit *Aon Focal Eile* has captured a whole new generation of fans, going viral across social media platforms. To mark the 30th anniversary of the track’s historic 1996 chart run, Kavanagh has teamed up with his grandson CJ to re-release the cheeky hit, which leans into playful wordplay around a vulgar Irish four-letter term. A collaborative TikTok clip of the pair performing the track side-by-side has already racked up more than 500,000 views, catapulting the 77-year-old entertainer back into the spotlight. “I’m probably more popular now than I was when we had the number one hit,” Kavanagh shared in a recent interview.

  • Rebuilding closed refineries ‘not realistic’, says minister

    Rebuilding closed refineries ‘not realistic’, says minister

    Australia’s national approach to long-term fuel security has received a clear policy update, with Climate and Energy Minister Chris Bowen definitively ruling out efforts to restore the country’s four retired oil refineries in comments made at a Sunday press conference. Between 2013 and 2022, Australia shut down four of its once-operational domestic refineries, leaving just two facilities still in production. In recent months, calls have grown from some quarters to reconstruct the shuttered sites as a way to boost domestic energy independence and insulate the country from global fuel market volatility. But Bowen has pushed back on these proposals, emphasizing that the economic and practical barriers to restarting closed facilities are far too high to justify the investment.

    Once a refinery ceases operations, it is almost always fully dismantled rather than kept in a idle, restorable state, Bowen explained. There is no quick, low-cost path to reverse the closure process. “You can’t just rustle them back, magic them back,” Bowen told reporters. “Rebuilding it is not that easy or cheap undertaking; the time to save a refinery is when it’s existing.”

    Instead of pouring billions of dollars into reconstructing closed sites, Bowen said the Labor government is prioritizing supporting the two remaining domestic refineries to keep them operational. To that end, the government has already expanded access to financial support for these facilities, helping them remain competitive against larger, lower-cost international refining operations that dominate regional fuel markets. Bowen also made a key guarantee amid ongoing market uncertainty: under his government’s term, no additional domestic refineries will be shuttered. “No refineries closed, and none will close, under our time in office,” he stated.

    The government is currently developing both short-term and long-term strategies to strengthen national fuel security, with further policy measures expected to be announced in the upcoming national budget. Bowen added that any proposals to expand domestic crude oil extraction will receive careful, pragmatic review, with an eye toward cutting Australia’s reliance on fuel imports. In addition to supporting existing refining capacity, Bowen said Australia is building long-term energy resilience by diversifying its energy mix toward renewable sources – resources that carry far less risk of supply disruption from geopolitical conflict or international sanctions than imported fossil fuels. “We’re building energy security through diversifying our energy, including renewable energy – including the sun that can’t be interrupted in its flow to Australia and the wind that can’t be interrupted by sanctions,” he said.

    Bowen also used the press conference to announce an immediate short-term measure to boost domestic fuel supply: an additional 939 million litres of crude oil will be delivered to Australia over the next four weeks, which will be processed at the country’s two active refineries to produce finished fuel for domestic markets. Addressing calls for reconstruction again, Bowen stressed the need for realistic expectations. All four shuttered refineries were closed during previous Liberal government administrations, and Bowen argued that reviving them at massive public expense is simply not a realistic policy option for Australia today.

  • Iran diplomat leaves Islamabad, Trump cancels US delegation trip

    Iran diplomat leaves Islamabad, Trump cancels US delegation trip

    On a Saturday marked by already tense diplomatic posturing around the ongoing U.S. war on Iran, former President Donald Trump made an abrupt last-minute call to scrap a scheduled diplomatic trip by two of his top administration negotiators to Pakistan’s capital Islamabad. The sudden cancellation, justified by Trump as a response to the excursion being “too much work”, came just moments after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had departed the Pakistani capital following his own diplomatic outreach.

    Araghchi, who had shared Iran’s formal position on a viable long-term framework to end the U.S.-led war with Pakistani authorities, left open a key question that has underscored months of stalled diplomacy: whether the U.S. is genuinely committed to negotiated resolution, rather than just performative diplomatic posturing. This breakdown in planned talks was far from unexpected. For days leading up to the scheduled meeting, Iranian officials had repeatedly made clear they would refuse to participate in direct negotiations with the Trump administration as long as the U.S. naval blockade on Iranian territory remained in effect.

    Despite these explicit public refusals from Iran’s top leadership, the Trump White House doubled down on its plans, pushing forward with preparations for a new round of direct talks between special envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff and Iranian representatives. This pattern of misalignment between U.S. claims and Iranian reality has become a recurring feature of the war’s diplomatic phase, according to investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill of Drop Site.

    Scahill, who published a pre-cancellation analysis of the diplomatic standoff, noted: “This has happened repeatedly: Trump claims the Iranians are begging for talks, Iran says it is false. The U.S. says Iran is lying, and then it becomes clear Iran meant what it said.” His assessment confirmed that it is the United States, not Iran, that is actively pursuing direct negotiations at this juncture. Scahill also warned that Iranian leadership remains deeply skeptical that the U.S. and Israel will uphold any ceasefire long-term, and has used the current lull in fighting to accelerate military preparations for renewed conflict. Tehran has not only prepped new retaliatory strike capabilities, including targeted actions in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, but has also upgraded its core weapons systems while the U.S. has reinforced its own regional military footprint during the ceasefire.

    Trump has pushed back against narratives of stalled diplomacy, claiming Saturday his administration “holds all the cards” and that Iranian leadership is facing internal unrest. But Sina Toossi, a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy, pushed back on that framing, arguing that Trump’s actions reveal clear desperation to secure any sort of deal ahead of upcoming political milestones. “So he invents ‘fractures’ in Tehran to explain being repeatedly stood up,” Toossi noted, adding that Iran’s negotiating position has remained entirely consistent: it demands an end to the blockade and refuses to back down from its core red lines, while Trump relies on spin to mask repeated diplomatic setbacks.

    The cancellation of the Kushner-Witkoff trip also came on the heels of a bombshell NBC News report that revealed extensive damage to U.S. military bases and equipment across the Persian Gulf from recent Iranian strikes, damage far more severe than the administration has publicly acknowledged, with repair costs projected to reach billions of dollars. Toossi called the entire Iran conflict a tactical and strategic disaster for the U.S., noting that despite aggressive efforts to control public narrative, the full scale of U.S. losses is now coming into view. “The war backfired and inflicted far more damage than its proponents want to admit,” he said.

    The chaos around diplomatic efforts has been matched by escalating rhetoric and controversial actions from Pentagon leadership. On Friday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth used a press briefing to issue fresh threats against journalists who publish classified information from anonymous sources, doubling down on the aggressive, violent language that has become a hallmark of his public comments. Most notably, Hegseth threatened that the U.S. military would “shoot and kill” any Iranian boats found attempting to disrupt shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, which has remained closed despite a recent extension of the bilateral ceasefire.

    Hegseth equated the potential action to the U.S.’s controversial Caribbean drug boat operation, which has killed at least 180 people accused of drug trafficking and been widely condemned as a campaign of extrajudicial killing. “The War Department stands ready for what comes next, locked and loaded,” Hegseth said, adding that he has repeatedly criticized longstanding rules of engagement designed to protect civilian lives as “stupid.” “We’ll use up to and including lethal force if necessary,” he added.

    Hegseth’s efforts to control media coverage of the Pentagon have also escalated in recent days: on Thursday, the department fired the ombudsman for independent military newspaper Stars and Stripes, and Hegseth has demanded journalists adhere to a policy that prohibits any coverage not pre-approved by the department. It was in this charged environment that a new Capitol Hill presence, celebrity gossip outlet TMZ, which recently expanded into political reporting, got the chance to question Hegseth in the briefing room.

    TMZ correspondent Jacob Wasserman asked a question that cut through the usual talking points, pressing the Defense Secretary on the mental and physical impact of ordering lethal strikes across multiple regions. “I’ve heard you talk a lot about bombing people and places,” Wasserman said. “And when you give these orders to carry out this extreme level of violence, what’s going through your mind and your body? Do you have, like, an adrenaline rush? Are you scared? Do you feel like you’re on a power trip?”

    Hegseth appeared caught off guard, smirking and dismissing the question as a “very TMZ question” before denying that any pursuit of power informs his strike decisions. He refused to engage with the question’s core, instead repeating that his “only thought process is to ensure that our war fighters have everything they need to be successful, defeat and destroy the enemy”, before returning to his familiar call for “maximum violence to the enemy.”

    Wasserman’s colleague Charlie Cotton followed up with a second provocative question, referencing Hegseth’s repeated comments about renaming the Department of Defense to the Department of War (a change that would require congressional approval). Cotton asked if Hegseth would instead consider renaming the agency the Department of Peace, given that is the stated end goal of all U.S. military action. In response, just moments after calling for “maximum violence”, Hegseth claimed the U.S. military deserves the Nobel Peace Prize every year, framing it as the primary guarantor of global security and safety for people around the world.

  • Police: Correspondents’ dinner suspect charged checkpoint, had multiple weapons

    Police: Correspondents’ dinner suspect charged checkpoint, had multiple weapons

    A suspect accused of attempting to breach a security checkpoint ahead of the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner has been formally charged, law enforcement officials have confirmed. The individual was found to be in possession of multiple firearms after the alarming incident that triggered an immediate security lockdown in the area.

    Surveillance footage, later publicly released by former U.S. President Donald Trump, captures the moment the suspect sprinted past stationary metal detectors as responding security agents quickly drew their weapons in response to the breach. The incident unfolded just hours before hundreds of high-profile journalists, political leaders, and media personalities were set to gather for the traditional dinner, an event that has long served as a centerpiece of Washington D.C.’s media and political calendar.

    Local law enforcement agencies have not yet released additional details about the suspect’s identity, motive, or background, but confirmed that ongoing investigations are underway to determine whether the incident was connected to any broader plot. Security officials have reiterated that the situation was quickly contained, and no injuries were reported during the confrontation or subsequent apprehension of the suspect. The breach has sparked renewed conversations about the adequacy of security protocols for major political events in the nation’s capital, amid ongoing concerns over violence targeting political gatherings.

  • What it was like in the room as shots rang out at correspondents’ dinner

    What it was like in the room as shots rang out at correspondents’ dinner

    It was a routine Saturday night at the Washington Hilton’s ballroom for the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner, until the moment veteran reporter Gary O’Donoghue set down his knife and fork. A low, booming rumble rolling from the direction of the main entrance caught his attention — a sound that would instantly trigger familiar dread for a journalist who has covered multiple mass shooting incidents and assassination attempts.

    As a blind reporter, O’Donoghue relies heavily on audio cues to parse his surroundings, and the noise immediately struck him as the distinct thud of semi-automatic gunfire. Moments later, he heard glass shatter across the room, before feeling the head of his colleague Daniel brush past him as the man dove for cover under the table. Without hesitation, O’Donoghue followed, dropping to his knees beneath the tablecloth as fear raced through his mind.

    This was not the first time O’Donoghue had found himself in the middle of an assassination attempt against a sitting U.S. president. Just 21 months earlier, he was on the ground in Butler, Pennsylvania, when a shooter opened fire on then-candidate Donald Trump, coming inches away from taking the former president’s life. As panic erupted across the ballroom that night in D.C., with hundreds of attendees screaming and scrambling for safety, this experience left O’Donoghue bracing for the worst.

    Unlike the chaotic aftermath of the Butler attempt, the ballroom quickly settled into a terrified hush, with thousands of attendees dropping under tables within seconds of the first shots. For five to ten long minutes, those hiding waited in breathless silence, uncertain whether the gunman had breached the ballroom and was preparing to open fire on the crowd of 2,500 political leaders, journalists, and public figures gathered for the event.

    Multiple witnesses confirmed that Secret Service agents immediately moved to evacuate former president and current 2026 officeholder Donald Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, and Vice President JD Vance from the stage moments after the incident. Other agents, clad in full tactical gear including helmets and bulletproof vests, took positions across the room with weapons drawn, scanning the crowd for any additional potential threats.

    O’Donoghue shared small, human details that put the chaos in perspective: just minutes before the shooting, he had run into Health Secretary RFK Jr. in a small anteroom off the ballroom, where the secretary told him he was simply hungry and ready for the dinner to begin. Kennedy was seated just a few tables behind O’Donoghue when the shots rang out. Roughly 30 meters closer to the main entrance, FBI Director Kash Patel also took cover on the floor alongside other attendees, shielding his girlfriend from potential harm as a Secret Service agent rushed across the ballroom to secure his position.

    In the aftermath of the incident, O’Donoghue says one question weighed more heavily on his mind than any other: How could a potential shooter get this close to the president, for the second time in less than two years? In the hours leading up to the dinner, all roads surrounding the Washington Hilton had been fully closed and secured by local law enforcement, but venue security itself felt surprisingly lax. O’Donoghue recalls that the ticket checker at the entrance only glanced at his credential from a distance of roughly six feet, with no closer inspection. When he went through screening to enter the ballroom, an agent waved a wand over his person but did not investigate the device that triggered the alarm from items in his inner jacket pocket, nor did they ask him to empty his pockets for a closer search.

    In the end, O’Donoghue notes, the security detail matched that of a typical White House Correspondents’ Dinner where no sitting president is in attendance — a fatal oversight that left thousands of people vulnerable. For the duration of the post-incident lockdown, attendees struggled to get cellular service to report on the incident or gather updates on what had unfolded outside the ballroom. Even as O’Donoghue tried to push thoughts of worst-case scenarios out of his mind, he couldn’t shake the emotional weight of the moment. As a reporter covering U.S. politics, he wondered, how many more close calls must the country endure before a catastrophic tragedy occurs that ends the pattern of near-misses that have become a grim new normal for political events.

  • What we know about the shooting incident at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner

    What we know about the shooting incident at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner

    On Saturday night, an unfolding security crisis disrupted one of Washington D.C.’s most enduring political press traditions, as US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump were hurriedly evacuated from the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner at the Washington Hilton following reports of active gunfire on the venue’s premises.

    The US Secret Service quickly issued an official confirmation that no civilians or government officials had been injured in what law enforcement describes as a targeted shooting incident, and that a single suspect had been taken into custody within minutes of the first shots being fired. In a public address delivered shortly after returning to the secured White House compound, Trump reflected on the incident, noting “it was always shocking when this happens, that never changes.”

    Shortly after the situation was contained, the president posted multiple updates to his Truth Social platform. In his first post, he confirmed that the suspect had been apprehended, and stated that he had personally pushed to “LET THE SHOW GO ON”, adding that he would defer fully to law enforcement guidance on next steps. A follow-up post clarified that law enforcement officials had formally requested the president and first lady evacuate the venue out of an abundance of caution.

    Speaking to reporters roughly an hour after the incident, Trump provided additional details: the suspect had charged security barriers at the hotel while armed with what the president described as a “powerful” weapon, before being taken into custody. The president went on to say that one Secret Service agent was struck by gunfire at close range, but survived unharmed thanks to his bulletproof vest. “I just spoke to the officer, and he’s doing great,” Trump told reporters. “He has very high spirits, and we told him we love him and respect him, he’s a very proud guy.”

    Trump also highlighted the response of dinner attendees, describing the ballroom as “totally unified” in the wake of the gunfire, with a “tremendous amount of love and coming together” as the situation unfolded. The president emphasized that he had pushed for the dinner to resume immediately after the suspect was detained, but formal security protocol prevented the event from continuing. He added that the dinner would be rescheduled, and vowed the new event would be “bigger and better and even nicer” than the original.

    The incident marked the third known threat to Trump’s life since he took office, and the president referenced two prior attempts: an assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and another incident at his golf course in Palm Beach, Florida. He added that the first lady had been left “rather traumatised” by the sudden disruption and violence. In a rare show of praise for the press, Trump thanked media attendees for their responsible coverage of the unfolding emergency.

    Shortly before addressing the press, the president authorized the release of surveillance images and a video clip of the alleged suspect to the public. A still close-up image shows a shirtless man in handcuffs on the hotel floor, surrounded by Secret Service personnel, while grainy surveillance footage captures the suspect rushing past uniformed security officers, who immediately pursued and detained him.

    CBS News, the North American partner of the BBC, has identified the suspect as 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen, a resident of Torrance, California. Washington D.C. Interim Police Chief Jeffery Carroll confirmed that Allen was a registered guest at the Washington Hilton, the venue hosting the dinner, and stated that there was no credible information suggesting any additional accomplices or ongoing public danger. While law enforcement has confirmed that an exchange of gunfire occurred between the suspect and security personnel, the exact number of shots fired has not yet been released.

    Carroll added that the suspect was found to be carrying a shotgun, a handgun, and multiple knives at the time of his arrest. US Attorney for Washington Jeanine Pirro announced that Allen faces two initial federal charges: use of a firearm during a crime of violence, and assault on federal officers with a dangerous weapon. A formal arraignment to officially file the charges is scheduled for Monday. As of Saturday evening, the suspect’s motivation for the attack remains unclear, though Trump stated he expects to release additional updates on the investigation on Sunday.

    The White House Correspondents’ Dinner, a tradition that dates back to 1921, is almost always attended by the sitting US president, and Saturday’s event marked Trump’s first appearance at the dinner since he began his second term as president. His last attendance at the event was in 2011, when he appeared as a private citizen. Multiple BBC correspondents who were in attendance during the incident reported scenes of widespread confusion immediately after gunshots were heard near the main ballroom. In addition to the Trumps, senior cabinet officials including Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth were also hurriedly evacuated by their personal security details. Other guests remained locked down in the ballroom for roughly an hour, with many working journalists filing initial reports of the incident from inside the secured room.

    The US Secret Service and FBI have launched a joint investigation into the incident, with law enforcement executing search warrants at Allen’s last known address in California as of Saturday night.

  • ‘You just didn’t know’: Gary O’Donoghue describes confusion and fears at correspondents’ dinner

    ‘You just didn’t know’: Gary O’Donoghue describes confusion and fears at correspondents’ dinner

    The annual correspondents’ dinner, a longstanding tradition that brings together journalists, media figures, and other public figures for an evening of conversation and celebration, was suddenly upended by a shocking act of violence that left attendees shaken and confused. In the wake of the incident, veteran BBC correspondent Gary O’Donoghue has opened up about the disorientation and deep-seated fear that spread through the venue the moment the disturbance unfolded.

  • Getting the most out of barrier-free tours for yourself or someone with a disability

    Getting the most out of barrier-free tours for yourself or someone with a disability

    For millions of people living with disabilities around the world, tourism has long been marked by preventable obstacles. These barriers range from highly visible infrastructure gaps — such as a broken elevator at a popular attraction — to invisible challenges that are often overlooked: an overly long walking itinerary that causes exhaustion, or a crowded, loud environment that triggers sensory overload.

    As the large baby boomer generation continues to age, the global travel industry has begun to shift toward catering to older adults, who typically have both disposable income and flexible time for international sightseeing, and many of whom require some form of travel assistance. But industry advocates note that true inclusive accessibility extends far beyond just aging travelers, needing to accommodate a far broader range of visitors: from people living with permanent physical disabilities, to neurodivergent travelers on the autism spectrum, to those living with dementia.

    To better serve both travelers with visible and invisible disabilities, museums, cultural institutions and tourism organizations across the globe are rolling out specialized programming and barrier-free tour options, many enabled by modern technological innovation. These customized offerings include sign-language guided tours for Deaf and hard-of-hearing visitors, tactile exhibit experiences for guests who are blind or have low vision, and structured outings designed specifically to meet the needs of neurodivergent travelers. Dedicated travel agencies focused exclusively on serving disabled travelers have also emerged in regions across the world to fill gaps in mainstream offerings.

    Ashley Grady, an accessibility program specialist at the Office of Visitor Accessibility at Washington D.C.’s Smithsonian Institution, explains that offering intentional barrier-free services sends a clear message that disabled travelers are valued guests in public cultural spaces. “These services are a way of saying, ‘we’ve thought of you,’” Grady said. “We want you to come to our museums. We want you to see yourselves reflected in our staff and our collections. And we want to make these programs as accessible as possible for you, your family, your loved ones, your friends.”

    Despite this progress, significant gaps in accessible tourism remain industry-wide. Ivor Ambrose, managing director of the nonprofit European Network for Accessible Tourism, points out that there is still a widespread lack of awareness about the wide spectrum of accessibility needs that different disabled travelers require. “This is actually a really big market and an opportunity, which is still not fulfilled by the operators in all these different areas of tourism,” Ambrose noted.

    To help disabled travelers navigate existing options and advocate for themselves, accessibility experts share three key pieces of advice for planning an enjoyable, accessible trip.

    First, prioritize detailed research and advance planning. Josh Grisdale, founder of Accessible Japan — a resource platform for disabled travelers visiting Japan — has cerebral palsy and uses a power wheelchair. When planning trips to new destinations, he cross-references information from multiple public sources: browsing travel discussions on Reddit, watching user-generated travel videos on YouTube, and using Google Street View to scout for potential barriers like stairs that would block wheelchair access. Grisdale also recommends contacting a destination’s concierge or visitor services ahead of time to confirm accessibility details, as most cultural institutions now publish their barrier-free offerings online. To address the global lack of centralized, lived-experience accessibility information, Grisdale launched *tabifolk*, a crowdsourced platform where disabled travelers can share on-the-ground knowledge about accessible destinations worldwide. “Even though I’m in a wheelchair and I’ve had a disability my whole life, there’s things that I don’t know about other disabilities,” he explained.

    In Africa, where iconic travel experiences like safaris and Mount Kilimanjaro climbs are often out of reach for disabled travelers without advance planning, advance preparation is equally critical, according to Joanne Ndirangu, founder and director of the Kenyan accessible tourism agency Scout Group Agency. Ndirangu, who advocates for expanding accessible tourism across the continent, urges disabled travelers to partner with local travel experts who have first-hand knowledge of the region’s existing accessible options. Many local experts have worked directly with hotels and restaurants to install accessibility features like ramps and train staff to support neurodivergent guests, and can steer travelers away from inaccessible spots while offering equally compelling alternatives. “Let’s say you want to see giraffes somewhere,” Ndirangu gave as an example. “I can now advise you, ‘That place is not viable if you’re on a wheelchair or on crutches because of the hills and the valleys.’ So I can give you an alternative — and you get to see the giraffes.”

    Second, seek out specialized accessible programming instead of defaulting to general public tours. Mass-market tours are often designed for able-bodied, neurotypical travelers, with features that create barriers — from exhibits placed too high for wheelchair users to view, to loud, crowded environments that trigger sensory distress. The Smithsonian Institution, the world’s largest museum complex, addresses this gap with its popular sensory-friendly “Morning at the Museum” program, which opens participating museums to neurodivergent travelers and their families one morning a month before general public entry. During these events, visitors can explore at their own pace or participate in structured multi-sensory activities, without overwhelming crowds or noise. “We can control the environment, we can reduce the crowds,” Grady said. “It’s a completely judgment-free environment and one that’s really meant to hopefully be that full bridge to inclusion, where they are able to come to a museum, have a great experience, and then maybe come back when we’re open to the public.”

    In Berlin, the Catholic aid organization Malteser Deutschland has stepped in to address another overlooked gap: accessible programming for people living with dementia. The organization developed customized barrier-free tours for this population at top local destinations including Berlin Zoo, the Museum of Natural History, Britzer Garden, and Charlottenburg Palace, with plans to expand to more locations. The Berlin Zoo tour, for example, is limited to a small group of participants and capped at 90 minutes, focusing on just a small selection of animal habitats instead of trying to cover the zoo’s entire collection, to avoid tiring or overwhelming guests.

    Third, don’t hesitate to communicate your needs ahead of time, and share feedback after your visit to help improve options for future travelers. Ndirangu notes that her team proactively asks all guests about required accessibility accommodations upfront, but many travelers don’t disclose their needs, leaving agents unable to adjust plans. For example, most hotels in Kenya only offer one or two fully accessible rooms, which can be fully booked if a guest’s need isn’t communicated in advance. “Give us that opportunity to give you solutions,” Ndirangu said. “We’ve had guests who don’t mention anything.”

    The European Network for Accessible Tourism encourages travel providers to fold the cost of accessibility services into overall trip pricing, rather than charging extra only to disabled guests, a model that many major cultural institutions already follow. Most museums already offer discounted entry for disabled visitors, often with free or reduced admission for travel companions.

    Grady adds that the Smithsonian regularly updates its accessibility offerings based on feedback from visitors and a disabled advisory board, with changes ranging from adjusting app color contrasts for low-vision visitors to working with curators to design new exhibits to be fully accessible from the planning stage. At the end of the day, Grady says, disabled travelers aren’t asking for special treatment: “They’re not asking for anything out of the ordinary,” she said. “They’re literally just trying to experience a visit just like anyone else.”

  • The threat of light pollution puts the world’s darkest skies in the Atacama Desert at risk

    The threat of light pollution puts the world’s darkest skies in the Atacama Desert at risk

    Tucked into northern Chile, the Atacama Desert — widely recognized as the driest terrestrial landscape on the planet — offers one of the clearest unobstructed views of the cosmos available anywhere on Earth. For first-time visitors, the experience of gazing up at its night sky is transformative: eyes adjust slowly to the profound darkness, first picking out faint pinpricks of light, then brighter stars, until entire galaxies stretch out in full view, visible to the naked human eye.

    This extraordinary stargazing environment is the product of a rare confluence of natural conditions: extreme aridity, high elevation, and, most critically, geographic isolation far from the glow of urban light pollution. This combination has turned Atacama into the global gold standard for ground-based astronomy, hosting more of the world’s largest and most advanced astronomical observatories than any other region on Earth.

    “The conditions in the Atacama Desert are unique in the world,” explained Chiara Mazzucchelli, president of the Chilean Astronomical Society. “There are more than 300 clear nights per year, meaning no clouds and no rain.”

    Today, the desert’s nearly 41,000 square miles of open, high-altitude terrain are home to nearly 30 separate astronomical research sites, most run by international scientific collaborations. Dubbed “Photon Valley,” this concentrated corridor of cutting-edge observation facilities draws thousands of scientists from across the globe annually, all pursuing answers to fundamental questions about the origins of the universe. Even with the region’s popularity, access is highly competitive: Julia Bodensteiner, an assistant professor at the University of Amsterdam and a visiting researcher at the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) Paranal Observatory, the flagship facility in Atacama, notes that only 20 to 30 percent of competing research proposals win observation time.

    While the harsh desert terrain — with altitudes pushing past 10,000 feet, where oxygen is scarce, scorching daytime heat gives way to freezing nighttime temperatures, and rocky ground makes travel difficult — poses challenges for human researchers, it is perfectly suited for astronomical observation. The region is currently host to the most ambitious ground-based telescope project in history: ESO’s $1.5 billion Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), scheduled for completion in 2028 at Paranal. With 798 individual mirrors and a total light-collecting area of nearly 1,000 square meters, the ELT will be 20 times more powerful than any existing leading optical telescope, and capable of producing images 15 times sharper than NASA’s iconic Hubble Space Telescope.

    For astronomers, the ELT promises to unlock breakthroughs that were previously unthinkable. “We should be able to see Earth-like planets in what we call the habitable zone, so basically the planets which are candidates towards life,” explained ESO astronomer Lucas Bordone. Data collected from Atacama’s observatories does not only advance our understanding of deep space; it also delivers critical insights for life on Earth, and research into the future of human exploration beyond our home planet. That makes protecting these sites a global scientific priority.

    But the world’s most valuable window into space is under growing threat. Last year, a proposed green energy complex just 6 miles from Paranal Observatory ignited a global dispute between the energy company developing the project and the international astronomical community. The proposal exposed a critical gap: Chile’s existing regulations designed to protect dark skies for astronomical research are lax, outdated, and unclear, leaving the region’s unique scientific assets vulnerable to unregulated industrial development.

    After widespread outcry from astronomers, physicists, and even Nobel laureates, the energy company canceled the project in January. But the risk of future development remains. The incident sparked a review of Chile’s environmental regulations governing protected astronomical zones, but scientists warn that no meaningful regulatory update has been enacted to prevent similar proposals from moving forward in the future.

    “We are working to ensure the new criteria are strict enough to guarantee that there will be no impact on astronomical areas,” said Daniela González, director of the Cielos de Chile Foundation, a non-profit founded in 2019 dedicated to preserving the quality of Chile’s night skies for research.

    Eduardo Unda-Sanzana, director of the Astronomy Center at the University of Antofagasta and a member of the ministerial advisory commission that delivered regulatory recommendations to the Chilean government after the energy project controversy, recalled how dramatically the Atacama has changed over the past two decades. “Twenty years ago, the Atacama Desert was ‘an ocean of darkness,’” he said. “It was just you and the universe.”

    Today, urban expansion, industrial growth, mining operations, and renewable energy development have turned the remote desert into a highly coveted territory, and balancing competing interests has grown increasingly difficult. Even small amounts of human activity can derail cutting-edge astronomical observation: at Paranal, researchers live in an underground residential facility designed to minimize their impact, with all windows covered, hallways kept dark, and outside movement limited to red-filtered flashlights to avoid even the faintest light pollution interfering with telescope data.

    The proposed energy project near Paranal posed multiple threats beyond light pollution: project construction and operation would have generated constant micro-vibrations, increased dust pollution, and disrupted atmospheric stability, all of which would have rendered high-precision astronomical observation impossible. As Itziar de Gregorio-Monsalvo, ESO’s Chile representative, put it: “If you place the ELT next to a city, it doesn’t matter that its diameter is 40 meters long. It’s just the same as having a tiny telescope.”

    History offers a stark warning of what is at stake. In the early 20th century, the first international heliophysics observatory in Chile — a major solar research station operated by the U.S. Smithsonian Institution — was forced to permanently close in 1955 after expanding mining operations in the area created irreversible pollution that made research impossible.

    “We’ve had 70 years to learn from history and avoid repeating those same mistakes,” Unda-Sanzana said. Despite the high-profile cancellation of last year’s energy project, he warned that without updated, enforceable protections, the Atacama’s irreplaceable astronomical resource remains at risk: “Despite all the media hype in 2025, we find ourselves exactly where we were last year.”