Global Pulse

分类： society

  • ‘The fish is in the right’ says man bitten by blue shark while angling

    ‘The fish is in the right’ says man bitten by blue shark while angling

    A shark bite incident off Ireland’s southern coast has left a member of a marine research tagging crew with serious injuries, requiring urgent surgery this week. The encounter unfolded Tuesday near Ram Head, Ardmore, County Waterford, when 38-year-old Sebastian Achim pulled a blue shark onto his vessel after hooking it as part of a research catch-and-tag project.

    The crew on board the boat were all experienced fishermen carrying out work for Ireland’s Marine Sportfishing Tagging Programme, a long-running initiative that collects ecological data on shark populations around the Irish coast. Achim told Ireland’s national broadcaster RTÉ that after successfully removing the hook from the animal and stepping roughly half a meter back from its tail to maintain a safe buffer zone, he paused to observe the shark before the sudden attack.

    “I was just admiring the fish itself, when he just jumped in a millisecond and grabbed into my calf,” Achim recalled in an interview with RTÉ Radio One’s *Morning Ireland*. Refusing to blame the animal for the incident, he noted that the shark was acting on natural survival instincts after being pulled from its open-water habitat. “I cannot say if it was a deliberate attack or it was not a deliberate attack, but the fish is in the right anyway, we took it out of the water,” he said. The crew immediately released the untagged shark back into the ocean to avoid causing it further stress.

    In the moments after the bite, Achim acted quickly to stem blood flow by tying a tourniquet above the deep leg wound, while his crew contacted emergency responders. At the time of the incident, the vessel was roughly three hours from the nearest shore, leaving Achim fighting to stay conscious as he waited for rescue. “I lost a lot of blood and kept passing out,” he said. “I didn’t think I was going to make it.”

    Multiple emergency agencies launched a coordinated response to the incident, including Ballycotton RNLI, Youghal RNLI, and the Irish Coast Guard’s Rescue 117 helicopter. A rescue winch team extracted Achim from the boat and airlifted him to Cork University Hospital for urgent care.

    Once he arrived at the hospital, the adrenaline from the incident faded, and Achim began to experience constant severe pain. Medical teams informed him that the bite had torn away significant amounts of tissue and skin, requiring reconstructive surgery with skin grafts to repair the wound. Despite the gravity of his injury, Achim said his primary concern during the rescue was avoiding panic among his crew and reassuring his partner, rather than his own condition. “I was trying to keep myself awake so I didn’t make anyone panic,” he said. “It doesn’t matter the gravity of the problem, it matters for me that the people around do not suffer because of my actions.”

    Blue sharks, the species involved in the incident, are common seasonal visitors to Irish and British coastal waters, arriving between June and October each year to feed. These long-distance migratory sharks can grow to more than three meters in length, preying on open-water fish, squid, smaller sharks, and seabirds. They are also one of the most targeted species for recreational catch-and-release angling in Ireland, and are considered a valuable marine sport fish.

    Jack Kelly, a Galway-based marine biologist and underwater cinematographer, explained that blue sharks’ famous curiosity often leads them to interact with humans and human objects. Unlike many animals, sharks do not have limbs to investigate unfamiliar items, so they often use bumping or close approaches to explore new objects in their environment. “If a shark approaches anything, really, it’s not like they have fingers to be able to investigate to see what it is,” Kelly told BBC Radio Ulster’s *Good Morning Ulster*. “For me, when I’m underwater they might give the camera a bump just to see what it is, so their curiosity for me is definitely something that stands out.”

    Ecological data from Inland Fisheries Ireland shows that blue sharks are classified as Near Threatened on both the IUCN Red List and Ireland’s national Red List for cartilaginous fish. The Marine Sportfishing Tagging Programme, which has operated off Ireland’s coast since 1970, has tagged more than 19,300 blue sharks as of 2013, accounting for 45% of all fish tagged through the initiative.

    This week’s incident is not the first recorded shark bite off the Irish coast. In 2018, a recreational angler from Belfast suffered serious lower arm injuries after a blue shark bit him while he was pulling the animal onto his boat off Cork, requiring a rescue from Crosshaven RNLI.

  • Explosion at Dutch port of Rotterdam leaves 1 dead, several injured

    Explosion at Dutch port of Rotterdam leaves 1 dead, several injured

    On a Thursday morning in late spring, a sudden explosion rocked the industrial zone of Europe’s largest shipping hub, the Port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands, leaving at least one person dead and multiple others with injuries, local law enforcement confirmed. The blast hit a refinery and fuel storage terminal run by global energy trader Gunvor Energy just after 11 a.m., triggering an immediate large-scale emergency response across the port area.

  • Body of Pakistani climber recovered from Broad Peak 2 weeks after avalanche killed 10

    Body of Pakistani climber recovered from Broad Peak 2 weeks after avalanche killed 10

    Nearly two weeks after one of the deadliest mountaineering disasters in recent Pakistani history, local volunteers have recovered the remains of the last missing Pakistani climber killed in a July 30 avalanche on Pakistan’s Broad Peak, local officials confirmed Thursday.

    Sohail Sakhi, one of the 10 members of an international expedition led by famous high-altitude climber Nirmal Purja, had been unaccounted for since the avalanche cut off all contact between the team and base camp. Authorities confirmed all 10 climbers had died after the incident, and Sakhi’s recovery brings the total number of bodies retrieved to eight.

    The volunteer team hailing from the local Karakoram region located Sakhi’s body before additional rescue teams joined to carry the remains back to the mountain’s base camp. According to the Alpine Club of Pakistan, the body will be airlifted via helicopter to a regional air base as soon as favorable weather conditions allow for safe flight operations.

    This recovery comes just 48 hours after a moving candlelight vigil was held in Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital. Mountaineers, diplomatic representatives, and civil society activists gathered to honor the lives of the 10 lost climbers, who came from six nations across the globe: Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, China, Britain and the United States.

    Standing at 8,051 meters (26,414 feet) above sea level, Broad Peak ranks as the 12th highest mountain on Earth, located in Pakistan’s Karakoram mountain range just adjacent to K2, the world’s second-tallest peak. Northern Pakistan, which hosts five of the world’s 14 highest mountains, has long been a destination for experienced mountaineers from around the world, but the region’s unpredictable glacial conditions and harsh weather make climbing-related accidents a regular and tragic occurrence.

  • Australian jury convicts former Catholic bishop of sexually abusing 2 men

    Australian jury convicts former Catholic bishop of sexually abusing 2 men

    PERTH, Australia — In a landmark ruling that marks one of the most high-profile convictions to emerge from Australia’s decades-long clergy sexual abuse crisis, a Western Australian District Court jury delivered guilty verdicts Thursday against 76-year-old former Catholic bishop Christopher Saunders. Saunders, who once led the vast remote Broome Diocese in Australia’s tropical northwest, was found guilty of 13 of the 19 sexual abuse charges brought against him, for offenses committed between 2008 and 2019.

    Prosecutors laid out a disturbing pattern of predation during the three-week trial: Saunders allegedly used church funds to buy free alcohol and cigarettes as bait to lure young Indigenous men to his church-owned residence, where he enforced a rule that all male guests remove their shirts for his alcohol-fueled house parties. The guilty convictions include one count of non-consensual sexual penetration and 12 counts of indecent assault. Jurors acquitted Saunders on six remaining charges, which involved a third alleged victim and an accusation of indecent dealing with a minor over 16. Under Western Australian law, while the general age of consent is 16, the threshold rises to 18 for people in positions of trust, authority or responsibility — a category that explicitly includes clergy.

    Four additional charges of sexual penetration against a child under 13 were dismissed on the opening day of the trial. Saunders’ conviction carries significant weight in the global reckoning with clerical abuse that has shaken the Vatican for decades. He is among the most senior Australian Catholic leaders to be found guilty in the scandal, a crisis that has already ensnared other high-ranking Australian clerics — though previous high-profile convictions of Cardinal George Pell, convicted of abusing choirboys, and Archbishop Philip Wilson, convicted of covering up child sexual abuse, were both overturned on appeal.

    Saunders led the Broome Diocese, an Outback jurisdiction spanning an area larger than France that is home to just 50,000 people, the majority of whom are Indigenous Catholics, from 1996 until his resignation in 2021. His exit from the role came after police initially announced they had dropped a criminal investigation into the abuse allegations against him. He had already stepped back from diocesan governance a year prior, after Australian news outlets first published reports of the accusations. The Vatican launched its own internal inquiry into Saunders in 2022, and transferred a 200-page report of its findings to Western Australia Police in 2023. That documentation prompted police to reopen the criminal probe, leading to Saunders being formally charged in 2024.

    While the full findings of the Vatican’s inquiry have never been officially released, excerpts were leaked to Australia’s Seven Network, which reported that the investigation found Saunders likely sexually assaulted four Indigenous youths and may have groomed an additional 67 Indigenous young men and boys. This conviction comes amid a broader national reckoning in Australia: a landmark national inquiry into institutional responses to child abuse, focused in large part on the Catholic Church, found that roughly 7% of all Australian Catholic priests faced accusations of child sexual abuse between 1950 and 2010.

  • Indian actor’s video with endangered gibbon sparks investigation

    Indian actor’s video with endangered gibbon sparks investigation

    A viral social media incident involving one of Tamil cinema’s biggest stars has sparked a formal investigation by Indian wildlife authorities, shining a new spotlight on the country’s ongoing challenges with exotic wildlife regulation and illegal trafficking.

    Last Monday, award-winning actor Vikram — whose real name is Kennedy John Victor and boasts a three-decade career of acclaimed, physically demanding roles — shared an Instagram clip showing himself hugging and playing with a lar gibbon, a small endangered ape native to Southeast Asia. The footage spread rapidly across digital platforms, with many outlets reporting the animal as the star’s new pet, before it was removed from his account within hours.

    Officials from Tamil Nadu’s forest department confirmed this week they have launched a probe into how the primate ended up at a private Chennai home belonging to one of Vikram’s relatives. The investigation is focused on tracing the gibbon’s journey through multiple Indian states and verifying whether all legal requirements for possession, transfer, and import were followed at every step. Authorities have not yet made any accusations of trafficking, nor have they claimed Vikram owns the animal or was involved in smuggling it into the country. As of this reporting, the actor has not issued any public comment on the controversy; his public relations representative Yuvaraj told BBC Tamil that any statement from Vikram will be shared with media outlets once it is prepared.

    Lar gibbons, recognizable by their light or dark brown fur and distinct white facial ring, live in small family groups in Southeast Asian tropical forests across Thailand, Myanmar, and Malaysia. The species is formally listed as endangered by global conservation bodies, with wild populations decimated by habitat destruction, hunting, and the unregulated illegal pet trade. The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists the species as endangered, and international trade in lar gibbons is strictly restricted under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), an international agreement that India has integrated into its national wildlife protection laws.

    Under Indian law, individuals may legally keep CITES-listed exotic species only if they obtain all required permits and register the animal with national wildlife authorities. Rakesh Kumar Dogra, Tamil Nadu’s Chief Wildlife Warden, explained to BBC Tamil that importing protected exotic animals into India requires approval from the Directorate General of Foreign Trade, a no-objection certificate, and final clearance from a senior wildlife conservator. “An investigation is under way into where the lar gibbon came from. Only then can we say whether it was brought illegally,” Dogra said.

    The probe has already uncovered a paper trail that stretches more than 2,000 kilometers from Chennai to the northeastern Indian state of Manipur. A senior Tamil Nadu forest official, speaking anonymously to BBC Tamil, said investigators have linked the gibbon in Vikram’s video to a group of eight lar gibbons — four males and four females — declared by a Manipur-based individual on India’s PARIVESH portal in 2020. PARIVESH is the federal government’s official platform for registering exotic animals and securing environment, forestry, and wildlife-related permits; government records list Malaysia as the origin of this group of primates.

    According to portal records, three of the gibbons — one male and two females — were transferred from Manipur to an individual in Perundurai, located in Tamil Nadu’s Erode district, for the stated purpose of adoption this past June. Investigators have so far not found documentation proving that required approval from Tamil Nadu’s Chief Wildlife Warden was obtained to bring the primates into the state. Two months after that initial transfer, on August 5, one male and one female gibbon were moved again from Perundurai to Vikram’s relative in Chennai, forest department investigators confirmed.

    Wildlife conservation activists have raised additional questions about how the original group of eight gibbons entered India in the first place. Manipur shares a long border with Myanmar, and India’s northeastern region has long been identified as a major transit route for illegal exotic wildlife trafficking into the country. Still, authorities stress they have not reached a final conclusion that the gibbons in this case were trafficked. India’s federal Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB), which specializes in investigating organized wildlife crime, has also joined the probe. Thenmozhi, Deputy Director of the WCCB’s Southern Zone, told BBC Tamil the agency has requested Chennai wildlife officials to verify all existing documentation and take appropriate action based on their findings. “The lar gibbon is classified as a protected species under this agreement. They should only be handled as protected animals,” Thenmozhi said, referencing CITES regulations.

    This investigation comes amid growing national concern over rising illegal imports of exotic animals into India. In recent years, Indian customs officials have repeatedly intercepted smuggling attempts, with passengers arriving from Southeast Asia often hiding live reptiles, birds, and primates in their luggage. Just in July 2025, authorities seized more than 350 exotic animals originating from Bangkok at Mumbai and Pune airports over a two-month period. Gibbons have been targeted by traffickers before: last November, Bengaluru customs officials recovered a lar gibbon among a shipment of exotic animals brought in by a Bangkok-bound passenger. Chennai has also seen its share of high-profile seizures; this past February, customs officials intercepted 31 exotic animals — including tortoises, iguanas, and snakes — from a passenger arriving from Bangkok.

    As the investigation progresses, authorities continue to work to trace the full origins of the gibbon, verify permits for every stage of its transfer, and determine whether any individuals violated India’s strict wildlife protection laws.

  • Ballarat tradie Lachlan Young pleads not guilty to raping teenage girl, jury told

    Ballarat tradie Lachlan Young pleads not guilty to raping teenage girl, jury told

    A seven-day rape trial got underway this week at Melbourne’s County Court, where a 24-year-old tradesperson from Ballarat has formally pleaded not guilty to charges of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old visitor to the regional Victorian city.

    Prosecutor Andrew Buckland laid out the Crown’s case to the seated jury on Monday, outlining the sequence of events that unfolded in February 2024, when the defendant, Lachlan Young, first met the teenage complainant, who was visiting Ballarat from another part of the state, at a mutual friend’s home. Over the course of an evening spent socializing and drinking, the pair exchanged small talk and connected on the social messaging platform Snapchat, Buckland told the court.

    During their conversation, Buckland claimed Young made an advance toward the teen, asking if she wanted to engage in sexual activity, a proposal the complainant immediately rejected. The girl later retreated inside the friend’s home to rest, but the two continued to exchange messages over Snapchat, eventually agreeing to meet in the backyard of the property around 3 a.m. on February 5, according to the prosecution’s account.

    Buckland told jurors that once in the backyard, the pair engaged in consensual sexual touching, but the teen explicitly told Young she did not consent to penetrative sex. Despite this clear refusal, Young went on to rape the girl for two to three minutes, Buckland alleged, during which the complainant was so shocked and frightened she froze, unable to act. After the alleged assault, Young told the teen she should return inside before other partygoers started looking for her, the prosecution added.

    The following morning, the girl told a close friend what had happened, Buckland said. Shortly after, Young contacted her over Snapchat asking if she had disclosed the incident to her friend, which she initially denied. Young reportedly responded by saying “Well, we didn’t do much anyway.” Six days after the alleged incident, the complainant messaged Young asking if he had told his friend “about the night you f*cked me?” When Young replied “What are you on about?”, the teen responded by accusing him of ignoring her refusal, writing “You’re pathetic Lachie you literally f*cked me even though I said no.”

    It was not until March 2024 that the complainant reported the alleged assault to a school wellbeing counsellor, who subsequently alerted Victoria Police, triggering the official investigation and subsequent charges.

    Glenn Casement, the defence barrister representing Young, pushed back against the prosecution’s claims in his opening address to the jury, noting that Young does not dispute that the pair engaged in consensual sexual touching in the backyard that night, but outright denies any non-consensual penetrative sexual activity took place.

    Casement pointed to Young’s Snapchat reply of “What are you on about?” as evidence of his client’s confusion at the sudden accusation, arguing that the core question for the jury to decide is not whether any interaction happened, but whether penetrative sex ever occurred. “Whatever else went on, sexual penetration of that kind is denied in the brief time they were in the backyard,” Casement told the court.

    The defence lawyer stressed that the credibility and reliability of the complainant’s account is the most critical factor in the case, urging jurors to carefully examine any inconsistencies in her statements to different people over the course of the investigation. He questioned whether jurors would find the complainant has altered her version of events depending on who she has spoken to, and whether major discrepancies in her account would leave them with deep concerns over the reliability of her evidence.

    The trial, overseen by Judge Caitlin English, is scheduled to continue over the coming week, with both sides set to present all evidence and witness testimony before jurors retire to deliberate on a verdict.

  • Megan Solomon: Woman accused of murdering partner Leon Strickland released on bail

    Megan Solomon: Woman accused of murdering partner Leon Strickland released on bail

    A 33-year-old former Aboriginal community board member who stands accused of fatally stabbing her long-term partner has been granted bail by Victoria’s highest court, in a ruling that cited highly unusual personal and procedural circumstances as justification for the decision.

    Megan Solomon is charged with the murder of 43-year-old Leon Strickland, who died following a single stab wound to the heart during an altercation at the couple’s shared home in the small eastern Victorian country town of Orbost in December 2024. Police allege the romantic pairing, which began in 2011, had long been a volatile, mutually abusive dynamic, with both parties telling loved ones they had been on the receiving end of family violence from the other.

    Court documents outline that the fatal confrontation unfolded on the evening of December 11, when an argument escalated after Strickland allegedly attempted to headbutt Solomon in their kitchen. Prosecutors allege that after Strickland laughed at the small paring knife Solomon had picked up during the clash, she stabbed him once through the chest, piercing his aorta and causing a fatal 5-centimeter wound. Following the stabbing, Solomon immediately contacted emergency services and began administering CPR to Strickland as he lost consciousness, court documents confirm.

    Solomon applied for bail ahead of her scheduled murder trial, which is not set to begin until February 2027. After a two-day hearing, Supreme Court Justice Amanda Fox granted the bail application on Thursday, ruling that Solomon’s unique circumstances qualified as extraordinary grounds for release ahead of trial.

    Key factors that swayed the court’s decision included the comprehensive support network already arranged for Solomon: she has secured pre-approved housing and dedicated mental health counselling, and has received an offer to return to her role at the Victorian Aboriginal Education Association. The court also noted Solomon had no prior criminal convictions, an extensive, well-regarded professional history working in Aboriginal community health and education, and a record of significant contributions to Indigenous communities across the state through her service on the boards of multiple Aboriginal and Koori community organizations.

    Justice Fox further found there was no credible evidence to support claims that Solomon would pose a risk of interfering with witnesses if released, and the court heard that her physical and mental health had declined sharply during her time in pre-trial custody.

    During the hearing, Homicide Squad Detective Senior Constable Cassandra Syddall told the court that hundreds of audio recordings recovered from Solomon’s phone document the couple’s “extremely toxic” relationship. Syddall highlighted two particularly aggressive recorded statements from Solomon, including one where she said “I wish someone would punch your head in so you can understand better” and another where she urged “you should just kill yourself, no one would miss you.”

    Justice Fox confirmed in her ruling that Solomon’s legal team will mount a self-defence argument at trial, noting that the question of whether prosecutors can prove the necessary murderous intent will ultimately be decided by a jury. Solomon will next appear in court for a case management hearing in October 2025.

    Strict bail conditions have been imposed to govern her release: she is barred from leaving Victoria, must report to local police twice weekly, and is prohibited from entering Orbost except for visits to her father’s residence.

  • Outflanked by AI, stars fade for South Korea’s blind fortune-tellers

    Outflanked by AI, stars fade for South Korea’s blind fortune-tellers

    Nestled in the quiet alleys of Mia Village on the northern outskirts of Seoul, 86-year-old Song Oh-soon sits in her cramped studio — which doubles as both her home and consultation space — waiting for clients who rarely come. Song is one of the fewer than 20 remaining visually impaired fortune-tellers in a community that once hosted 70 to 80 practitioners, a centuries-old tradition that is now being rapidly outcompeted by the artificial intelligence tools that define modern South Korean life.

    For generations, this enclave of blind fortune-tellers drew crowds of South Koreans from all walks of life, who traveled here seeking guidance on everything from chronic illness and financial struggles to romantic troubles and existential questions about fate. Today, however, most people opt for the convenience of AI-powered divination chatbots and mobile fortune-telling apps, leaving the village’s narrow lanes quiet and its traditional shopfronts dark behind faded, weathered signs.

    Unlike the automated algorithms that have captured most of the modern fortune-telling market, Song has remained deliberately offline. She still relies on braille copies of the ancient “Four Pillars of Destiny” astrology text and the empathetic, attentive listening she has honed over 40 years of practice — a human touch she argues no AI can replicate. Over her decades of work, she has talked suicidal visitors through their darkest moments, even drawing on her own experience: after losing her sight to childhood illness before the Korean War, Song once contemplated ending her own life before finding purpose in fortune-telling. “I persuaded them to keep living,” she told AFP. “I also once wanted to die, but I found this work and survived.”

    Contrary to common assumptions, interest in fortune-telling has not declined in South Korea — it has simply shifted online. Data from startup analysis firm InnoForest shows the national fortune-telling industry is actually growing, reaching a total value of 1.4 trillion won (approximately $986 million) in 2024. A 2024 survey from market researcher Embrain confirms that most modern consumers now turn to popular AI tools including ChatGPT and Gemini for fortune readings, rather than seeking out in-person consultations.

    Occasionally, though, people still seek out the human connection that only a traditional practitioner can offer. Oh Ji-hye, a 44-year-old university professor, relied on AI fortune-telling during her daily commute for years before she reached out to Song for a phone consultation amid rising anxiety about her career. “It felt good that someone rather than AI was concentrating on and listening to my story,” Oh explained.

    Mia Village’s story of fortune-telling by visually impaired practitioners dates back to 1966, when the first blind fortune-teller settled in the neighborhood. When Song arrived in 1984, the area was booming alongside Seoul’s rapid post-war economic growth: low rent and steady foot traffic created a thriving hub for the trade, which for decades was one of the only viable career paths open to visually impaired people in South Korea, particularly women facing systemic discrimination. “Back when I lost my sight, there was nothing else I could do besides this job,” Song recalled. “Nowadays, if a visually impaired person is musically talented, they can pursue a career in music.”

    Song’s lifetime has tracked South Korea’s extraordinary transformation: from the devastation of the 1950–1953 Korean War and decades of military rule to the 1990s Asian financial crisis, and finally its rise as a global economic powerhouse and leading producer of AI microchips. Rising prosperity has changed client needs too: people who once came to fortune-tellers for guidance on untreatable illnesses now rely on modern hospitals instead. But the biggest shift has come from technology itself: AI offers free or low-cost readings that undercut Song’s 50,000-won sessions, and most remaining traditional practitioners have no online presence, making them invisible to users searching for services on major search platforms.

    “I don’t think people are less interested in fortune-telling,” Song observed. “But these days, they look online, so they do not come all the way to us.” For now, despite the loneliness of declining clientele, Song holds to her core belief that fate is not predetermined. “If you put in the effort and make wise judgements, good fortune will come your way three times in your life,” she said.

  • Colombia enters ‘final phase’ of quake search as toll hits 265

    Colombia enters ‘final phase’ of quake search as toll hits 265

    Three days after Colombia’s strongest earthquake in a century struck, rescue teams entered what national officials have termed the “final phase” of search operations on Wednesday, racing against the critical 72-hour window that experts identify as the period with the highest odds of pulling trapped survivors alive from collapsed infrastructure.

    The 7.4-magnitude seismic event, which hit central and western Colombia on Monday, has already left 265 people dead, more than 3,500 injured, and nearly 500 unaccounted for, according to updated local government data. Official assessments confirm over 11,000 residential structures have been completely destroyed, leaving thousands of families homeless, with many forced to sleep outdoors amid ongoing aftershock fears and persistent power outages.

    In the hard-hit city of Pereira, rescue crews have centered their urgent efforts on the rubble of a collapsed bakery, where they hold out hope for street vendor Pablo Loaiza, who has been trapped since the quake struck. Using specialized vibration-detecting equipment, teams detected faint potential signs of life from Loaiza, drawing anxious family members to the site to wait for updates. Relatives reported that Loaiza appeared to respond to rescuers’ instructions to knock twice, then three times from beneath the debris—a small, hopeful development that drew quiet applause from gathered onlookers. “They tell us it could be him,” said Sara Loaiza, Pablo’s 16-year-old niece, her voice breaking. “My heart is about to burst out of my chest.”

    Across affected regions including Cali and Pereira, emergency teams and volunteer rescuers have prepared to work through their third consecutive night, relying on a combination of bare-hand digging, heavy cranes, and sniffer dogs to navigate unstable rubble. Operations pause every half hour to let crews fall silent and listen for any signs of trapped people, a painstaking process that has already yielded three rescued survivors and three recovered bodies in the area, according to volunteer Johana Sanchez.

    Cali Mayor Alejandro Eder clarified that entering the final phase of search operations does not mean efforts to find survivors will end entirely. “That doesn’t mean there won’t be survivors afterwards, but it is more difficult,” he explained Wednesday, acknowledging the grim reality of post-72-hour rescue efforts.

    The disaster has prompted urgent action from Colombia’s newly sworn-in presidential administration, which has declared an “economic emergency” in affected regions and ordered three days of national mourning. “We will do what is necessary,” government spokesperson Abelardo de la Espriella said in a public statement, vowing that the country would “emerge again as a country and as a society.”

    For residents across the impacted zone, the immediate aftermath has been marked by uncertainty and loss. In the mountain town of El Cairo, residents gathered at community-run soup kitchens Tuesday as power outages continued, with most still refusing to return to damaged homes. “People don’t want to go inside their homes, people don’t want to sleep, people don’t know what to do,” local resident Adriana Gonzalez told reporters.

    In nearby Roldanillo, Yuliana Mendez sorted through the rubble of the beauty supply store where she worked, one of hundreds of local businesses destroyed by the quake. “It’s like starting over from scratch,” she said. In Pereira’s Providencia neighborhood, lawyer Ana Paulina Crosthwaite joined other residents hauling salvageable belongings from their condemned apartment block, still reeling from the sudden upheaval. “We’re in a state of shock,” she said. “We’re not prepared to tell our children that we have to pack whatever we can and start a new life.”

    Amid the widespread devastation, a wave of grassroots solidarity has swept across Colombia, with ordinary citizens mobilizing to support affected communities. Thousands of residents have traveled to impacted neighborhoods to deliver bottled water, non-perishable food, and emergency supplies, while long lines of donors formed outside blood banks across the country to contribute to emergency medical efforts. “It’s about wanting to help your community, your city and your country,” said Ferney Cabrera, one of the dozens of donors who turned out to give blood.

  • Why are ‘human fridges’ being sold in Japan?

    Why are ‘human fridges’ being sold in Japan?

    Japan is currently grappling with one of its most oppressive summer heatwaves in recent memory, with record-breaking high temperatures pushing residents to seek out innovative new solutions to beat the sweltering conditions. Among the most unusual trends to emerge from this heat crisis is the growing popularity of so-called “human fridges” — specialized cooling products designed to rapidly lower body temperature for overheated people.

    BBC’s Tokyo-based correspondent Kurumi Mori recently got a first-hand look at this trending product, stepping inside to test its cooling capabilities for herself. As climate change continues to drive more frequent and more intense extreme heat events across East Asia, Japan has seen a steady surge in demand for unconventional cooling tools that go far beyond traditional fans and air conditioning units.

    Unlike standard household refrigerators, human fridges are purpose-built to accommodate a person, offering a controlled, chilled space where users can lower their core body temperature after prolonged exposure to high heat. Public health officials have warned that this year’s extended heatwave carries significant risks of heat exhaustion and heat stroke, particularly for elderly residents and people with pre-existing health conditions, leading many households to invest in new cooling technologies to protect their family members.

    The rise of human fridges highlights how Japan’s ongoing battle with extreme summer heat is pushing both consumers and manufacturers to think creatively about thermal comfort and public health protection. While the product remains a niche offering for now, industry insiders note that demand has jumped sharply in line with rising mercury levels across the country, signaling a growing market for innovative heat adaptation solutions in the coming years.