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  • Airport seeking public’s help to reunite parrot with owner

    Airport seeking public’s help to reunite parrot with owner

    Dublin Airport has launched a public appeal to track down the owner of a stray parrot discovered on its grounds on Easter Sunday, marking the third unexpected avian visitor the airport has handled in less than a decade.

    The bright-feathered bird was first spotted perched on a public rubbish bin near the airport’s Terminal 1, before airport police were alerted to the unusual sighting. Responding officers used gentle tactics and food to coax the parrot into their care, and the animal quickly warmed to its rescuers, even comfortably perching on the officers’ hands and shoulders, the airport authority explained in an official statement.

    After being safely secured, the parrot was transferred to a nearby airport patrol van, where it settled into the warm interior as officers finished their scheduled patrol rounds. It was then brought back to the airport police station, where staff prepared a cozy temporary enclosure using an existing dog crate and brush handle, and provided the bird with fresh fruit, clean water and engaging toys to keep it comfortable during its unexpected stay. The airport confirmed the parrot received consistent, high-quality care overnight while teams worked to trace its owner.

    So far, airport management has notified Ireland’s national police service An Garda Síochána, a local pet retailer and a nearby animal sanctuary to help connect the parrot with its rightful caretaker. Details of the stray bird have also been widely shared across the airport’s social media channels to broaden the search. While the outreach effort has already drawn dozens of public enquiries, including multiple submissions of leg ring identification numbers, none of the submitted details have matched the markings on the found parrot to date.

    Efforts to reconnect the parrot with its owner remain ongoing, and the airport says it is committed to seeing the operation through to a successful outcome. “We look forward to helping this unexpected visitor get safely home,” the statement added.

    This is far from the first time an unplanned parrot has turned up at Dublin Airport. In 2019, an African grey parrot named Hugo made headlines after she was spotted “taxiing for takeoff” on the airport’s main runway by a firefighter conducting a routine safety check. That stray parrot was ultimately successfully reunited with her owner. Most recently, in August 2025, the airport welcomed another unbooked chatty parrot that turned up on its grounds. The facility has also had lighthearted fun with parrot-related notoriety: after Irish international striker Troy Parrott scored a memorable hat-trick against Portugal, the airport’s social media team jokingly suggested changing its name to “Troy Parrott Airport”, a gag they have revived in posts following more recent Irish national team matches.

  • Savannah Guthrie returns to NBC’s Today show, as search for mother goes on

    Savannah Guthrie returns to NBC’s Today show, as search for mother goes on

    One of the most high-profile figures in American morning television, Savannah Guthrie is set to resume her anchoring role on NBC’s iconic *Today* show this Monday, more than two months after her 84-year-old mother Nancy was first reported missing under suspicious circumstances.

    Guthrie first stepped away from her on-air duties in late January, just two days after her mother disappeared from her home in the outskirts of Tucson, Arizona. She also canceled her planned participation in NBC’s broadcast of the 2026 Winter Olympics to focus on coordinating the search for Nancy. This upcoming Monday marks her first return to the *Today* studio since her 30 January departure.

    The timeline of Nancy’s disappearance leaves few clues for investigators: relatives dropped her off at her residence on the evening of 31 January, but she never arrived at a friend’s home the next morning to join a virtual church service, and she left behind all of her necessary prescription medications. In February, Savannah and her family publicly announced a $1 million reward for any information that leads to Nancy’s safe return, a gesture that has drawn widespread public attention to the case.

    Law enforcement officials have confirmed they believe Nancy was taken against her will from her home, but as of yet, no potential motive has been released to the public, and no suspects have been taken into custody. Savannah has previously opened up about the heavy weight of the case, sharing that she has grappled with the possibility that her own national fame as a leading television journalist could be connected to her mother’s abduction, a thought she described as almost unbearable to process.

    Despite the ongoing uncertainty and grief of the past two months, Guthrie has framed her return to work as a necessary step. Last month, she told *Today* that returning to the show is part of her current purpose, even as she acknowledged she was unsure how she would navigate returning to her professional role. “I can’t not come back. This is my family,” she said of her colleagues at NBC.

    Most recently, on Easter Sunday, Guthrie made a public appearance at New York’s Good Shepherd Church, where she reaffirmed her unshakable Christian faith in a closing video address to the congregation. “I still believe. And so I say with conviction, ‘Happy Easter,’” she stated, offering a message of quiet resilience amid the ongoing search that has gripped national attention.

  • MRC: Luke Laulilii charged and faces a ban for the tackle that could end Bailey Simonsson’s season due to sickening injury

    MRC: Luke Laulilii charged and faces a ban for the tackle that could end Bailey Simonsson’s season due to sickening injury

    An NRL round clash between the Wests Tigers and Parramatta Eels has been overshadowed by a dangerous tackle that has left a star Eels winger facing a season-ending injury and sparked debate over on-field judiciary decisions. The thrilling golden-point 22-20 win for Wests Tigers has turned into a post-match controversy, with young winger Luke Laulilii slapped with a Grade 2 dangerous contact charge stemming from a mid-air tackle on Parramatta’s Bailey Simonsson that left Simonsson with a suspected dislocated ankle.

    The incident occurred in the second half of the match, where Laulilii was immediately sin-binned for the contact. Wests Tigers head coach Benji Marshall has publicly rejected the penalty decision, opening the door for the club to challenge the charge at the NRL judiciary. If they opt to contest the charge and lose, they risk increasing Laulilii’s proposed one-match ban to a two-game suspension.

    Marshall made his stance clear immediately after the game, saying: “Didn’t agree, simple as that. It must have been [because of the injury]. Because if he didn’t get injured would it have been the same result? I don’t agree, but whatever, we just have to deal with it.” Alongside Laulilii’s charge, Tigers skipper Api Koroisau received a $3000 fine for a separate hip-drop tackle in the match.

    For the Eels, Simonsson’s injury marks the latest in a string of long-term absences caused by on-field foul play, devastating the club’s depth ahead of a critical stretch of the season. The club already lost forward J’maine Hopgood for the entire season to an injury suffered in a hip-drop tackle, while young fullback Isaiah Iongi is not expected to return to the side until Round 13 after sustaining a syndesmosis injury from another dangerous contact incident.

    Eels head coach Jason Ryles acknowledged that such dangerous plays are rarely intentional, but argued that the string of injuries highlights exactly why these actions are banned from the competition. “Those contests happen every week, same with the hip drop. The players don’t actually mean to do it. We understand that, but there’s a reason those actions are outlawed because of what we’re going through now,” Ryles told reporters post-match. “As disappointing as it is, it’s another opportunity for our next player in.”

    The injury crisis does not end for the Eels with Simonsson. Centre Sean Russell was ruled out of the match after a sickening accidental head clash with Tigers teenager Heamasi Makasini, and while Russell avoided a ban after receiving a Grade 1 dangerous contact charge, he will miss the club’s upcoming clash against the Gold Coast Titans. Five-eighth Jonah Pezet also picked up a low-grade hamstring injury that is expected to keep him sidelined for at least two weeks.

    In a bright spot for the Eels, young debutant Apa Twidle turned heads with a standout performance off the bench, scoring a try with his first touch in the NRL before adding a second just moments later to drag Parramatta back into the contest. Though Twidle left the field with his right arm in a sling, the injury is believed to be a minor AC joint issue, and he is expected to be named in the club’s next round squad when teams are announced Tuesday.

    Facing the loss of multiple key playmakers to long-term injury, Ryles confirmed the Eels are considering seeking salary cap dispensation to bring in new reinforcement, calling for the league to apply common sense to the request. “I said it earlier in the week, that’s above my pay grade. I just need to deal with what’s in front of us right now,” Ryles said. “Surely I think it’d be something worth considering. Foul play, season-ending injury, there should possibly be something where common sense would prevail.”

    With multiple key spots left empty by injury, Ryles admitted he has not yet finalized how his team’s right edge will line up for Sunday’s clash against the Titans, with only halfback Mitchell Moses confirmed in his usual spot. “The right edge, what would it look like? Moses will be the halfback. That’s a good question. Let me have a think about that,” Ryles said.

  • Emergency jabs after 100 children die of suspected measles in a month in Bangladesh

    Emergency jabs after 100 children die of suspected measles in a month in Bangladesh

    A devastating measles outbreak sweeping across Bangladesh has claimed more than 100 lives, the vast majority of them young children, since mid-March, prompting public health authorities to roll out an urgent mass vaccination campaign targeting the nation’s most vulnerable youth. Officials fear this outbreak could become the deadliest wave of the highly contagious airborne disease the country has seen in recent decades.

    Official data from Bangladesh’s Ministry of Health confirms that more than 7,500 suspected measles cases have been recorded since 15 March, with over 900 of those cases already laboratory-confirmed. Local media reports highlight just how dramatic this surge is: in all of 2025, Bangladesh recorded only 125 total confirmed measles cases.

    For decades, Bangladesh has run routine childhood immunization programs to protect against measles, but this sudden outbreak has laid bare critical gaps in the country’s vaccination infrastructure that have sparked widespread alarm among global and local public health experts.

    “Vaccines are foundational to child survival,” Rana Flowers, UNICEF’s representative in Bangladesh, said in an official statement released Sunday. “The current measles outbreak is putting thousands of children, especially the youngest and most vulnerable, at serious risk.”

    Under Bangladesh’s standard public health protocols, routine measles vaccination is administered to infants at nine months of age. But Shahriar Sajjad, deputy director of Bangladesh’s Health Department, told BBC Bangla that roughly one-third of all infected patients in the current outbreak are younger than nine months old – putting them outside the age eligibility for standard immunization before they were exposed.

    Flowers noted that infections among these too-young infants are “especially alarming” given their weaker immune systems and higher risk of life-threatening complications.

    Beyond routine annual vaccinations, Bangladesh has historically held targeted mass measles vaccination campaigns every four years to boost coverage and close immunity gaps. But those scheduled campaigns have been derailed by successive crises since 2020. Sajjad told BBC Bangla that the first disruption came from the global COVID-19 pandemic, followed by widespread domestic political unrest that delayed planning and execution.

    Bangladesh saw major political upheaval in 2024, when large-scale anti-government protests led to the ousting of long-serving prime minister Sheikh Hasina. An interim caretaker government governed the country until a new administration was elected in February 2026, creating months of political and administrative uncertainty that disrupted public health programming. A planned mass vaccination campaign that was scheduled for April 2026 never launched, Sajjad confirmed.

    The English-language Bangladeshi newspaper *Daily Star* also reported that procurement challenges have led to widespread shortages of routine vaccines, including measles doses, across the country. Many political observers and local stakeholders have blamed the former interim government, which oversaw the rollout of a new vaccine procurement system, for the current supply shortfalls. But UNICEF pushed back on framing the crisis as the result of a single failure, noting that measles resurgences almost always stem from accumulated gaps in immunization coverage over time, rather than one isolated error.

    “Bangladesh has a strong history of high immunisation coverage, but even small disruptions can lead to the gradual accumulation of immunity gaps over time,” the organization explained in its statement.

    Working alongside global health partners UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO), Bangladesh’s new government has now launched an emergency vaccination campaign targeting both measles and rubella – a milder disease that shares similar symptomatic traits with measles. The campaign launched Sunday, and will roll out across 30 high-risk sub-districts (called upazilas) nationwide, aiming to reach more than 1.2 million children between the ages of six months and five years.

    UNICEF confirmed that the emergency drive will prioritize children who have previously missed routine immunization doses, who face the highest risk of severe illness and life-threatening complications from the virus. Special focus is being placed on two high-risk, densely populated areas: Dhaka, the overcrowded national capital, and Cox’s Bazar, which hosts massive, crowded camps for Rohingya refugees fleeing violence in neighboring Myanmar.

    Beyond the vaccination push, national health authorities are also launching public education campaigns, distributing informative infographics to teach communities how to identify early measles symptoms and prevent further spread. Measles spreads easily through airborne respiratory particles, and can cause severe neurological complications, organ damage, and death even in previously healthy children. Common early symptoms include high fever, red watery eyes, sore throat, cough, and sneezing.

    Global public health data underscores the ongoing threat of measles worldwide. According to the WHO, an estimated 95,000 people died from measles globally in 2024, more than 90% of whom were children under five years old. The disease is entirely preventable through safe, effective vaccination, but herd immunity requires a 95% population vaccination rate to stop sustained community transmission.

    Over the past 20 years, global public health efforts drove a dramatic decline in global measles cases and deaths: total annual cases fell from 38 million in 2000 to 11 million in 2024, a 71% drop. But the WHO has repeatedly warned of a growing global resurgence as routine vaccination coverage dropped following the COVID-19 pandemic. A 2026 report in the medical journal *The Lancet* found that 2024 and 2025 saw the highest number of national measles outbreaks recorded worldwide in more than 20 years.

    Outbreaks have surged across parts of Asia, Africa, Europe, the United States, and the United Kingdom in recent years. In many Western nations, growing anti-vaccine skepticism that expanded during the COVID-19 pandemic has driven down vaccination rates below the herd immunity threshold. In February 2026, for example, a measles outbreak at multiple schools in north London prompted UK public health officials to issue an urgent reminder to parents to ensure their children are fully vaccinated.

  • ROK president expresses regret to DPRK over drone incident

    ROK president expresses regret to DPRK over drone incident

    In a landmark address to his cabinet on Monday, Republic of Korea (ROK) President Lee Jae-myung became the first South Korean head of state to formally express regret to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) following an incident involving unauthorized civilian drone flights into DPRK territory that sparked unneeded military friction on the Korean Peninsula.

    Lee emphasized that while the South Korean government bore no direct intention for the incident, the irresponsible and reckless actions of a small number of private actors had generated avoidable military tension between the two Koreas. In his capacity as the nation’s president, Lee extended his official regret to the DPRK over the episode.

    Beyond the expression of regret, the president ordered South Korea’s relevant government ministries to immediately overhaul existing regulatory and security systems, rolling out concrete, enforceable measures to prevent similar unauthorized incidents from occurring in the future. He also offered his deepest consolation to residents living along the inter-Korean border, who have faced elevated anxiety and uncertainty in the wake of the incident.

    This public address marks the first time the South Korean president has issued a formal statement of regret since the drone incident was brought to light. Earlier in February, South Korea’s Unification Minister Chung Dong-young had already conveyed an official government-level expression of regret to the DPRK regarding the unauthorized civilian drone incursions.

    Lee reinforced that South Korea’s constitution and national laws explicitly prohibit private citizens from carrying out independent provocative acts against the DPRK, noting that the occurrence of such private provocations remains a source of deep regret for his administration. The president added that all South Korean people must clearly recognize that peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula are the most critical priorities for the region, and that this shared stability must be safeguarded collectively by all parties.

  • Nigerian army rescues 31 held hostage in Easter church attack

    Nigerian army rescues 31 held hostage in Easter church attack

    On a Sunday morning ahead of the Easter holiday, armed attackers targeted a church in the northwestern Nigerian community of Ariko, Kaduna State, leaving multiple civilians dead and dozens held captive in a brazen act of violence that has underscored the persistent security crisis plaguing the region. In the aftermath of the assault, Nigerian military forces announced they have successfully recovered all 31 civilian hostages taken during the attack, though discrepancies have already emerged over the final civilian death toll. Official security force statements confirm five civilians were killed when gunmen opened fire during Easter worship celebrations, but a local church leader initially placed the confirmed death count at seven. According to the Nigerian army’s official account, responding military personnel engaged the attacking gunmen in an intense close-quarters firefight that eventually forced the assailants to retreat from the area, abandoning their hostages and the remains of those they had killed. Military officials added that the fleeing attackers sustained heavy losses during the clash, with visible blood trails along their escape routes confirming significant casualties among the insurgents. Despite the military’s claims of a rapid, effective response to the attack, local media reports quoting area residents tell a different story, claiming the gunmen were able to carry out their assault and operate in the area for an extended period before security forces arrived to confront them. In the wake of the rescue operation, additional military troops have been deployed to the region to track down the surviving attackers and bolster local security protections for civilian communities. Military authorities have also called on local residents to share any intelligence that can help advance counter-insurgency operations targeting the armed groups driving widespread insecurity across northern Nigeria. This church attack is not an isolated incident: kidnappings for ransom and targeted attacks on civilian communities are endemic across northern Nigeria, where the national government has struggled for years to contain overlapping security threats from jihadist insurgent networks and criminal armed gangs known locally as bandits. In a separate, coordinated counter-offensive announced just days after a mass abduction of village residents in Zamfara State, Nigeria’s military confirmed it had killed 65 bandits during a major operation in the state, per reporting from the Agence France-Presse news agency. Police had already confirmed earlier that dozens of local residents were abducted from multiple villages in Zamfara earlier that same week, and a regional manhunt had been launched immediately after the kidnapping was reported. The persistent targeting of religious communities in Nigeria, including Christian congregations celebrating major holidays, has drawn international scrutiny in recent years. During the final year of former U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration, the White House raised formal concerns over the treatment of Christian communities in Nigeria and called on the Nigerian national government to take more aggressive action to improve security and protect Christian populations. Trump went as far as to publicly claim that a “Christian genocide” was ongoing in the country, an accusation that Nigerian government officials firmly rejected, noting that Muslims, Christians, and people of no religious affiliation have all been killed in widespread attacks across the country’s northern regions. In a show of international support for Nigeria’s counter-insurgency efforts, U.S. military personnel were deployed to Nigeria earlier this year in February to provide specialized training for local security forces and share intelligence support to aid the fight against Islamist militants and other armed criminal groups.

  • Unearthing 13 dynasties and the souls of emperors

    Unearthing 13 dynasties and the souls of emperors

    For 31-year-old Beijing-based state-owned enterprise worker Zhong Jing, 2024 marked the start of a new, intentional hobby: becoming a “weekend historian,” trading routine city weekends for cross-country road trips with friends to hunt for lesser-known historical sites scattered across China’s countryside. After each excursion, Zhong documents his observations and reflections, turning casual travel into a deeply personal journey of cultural discovery that has reshaped how he engages with the past and broadened his perspective.

    It was during an October trip to Luoyang, Henan province, that this passion clicked into place for Zhong. Long celebrated as the capital of 13 ancient Chinese dynasties, Luoyang retains few visible above-ground traces of its imperial golden ages. Most of its layered history lies buried beneath the soil, so Zhong and his travel companions mapped out an itinerary connecting remote imperial tombs spread across the region’s rolling landscape.

    Of all the sites he has explored on these trips, none left a more lasting mark than Changling Mausoleum, the final resting place of Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty (386–534), tucked into the slopes of Luoyang’s Mangshan Mountain. When Zhong arrived at the site, he encountered a playful, memorable moment: a group of local high school students had brought a tongue-in-cheek certificate reading “Luoyang Real Estate Annual Sales Champion Award” to present to the long-dead emperor. The joke carried quiet weight: Emperor Xiaowen relocated his dynasty’s capital to Luoyang 1,500 years ago, breathing new life into the city that endures to this day.

    The encounter sparked deep reflection for Zhong. Growing up, traditional historical education framed the Northern Wei as just one of many competing dynasties during a chaotic period of division, overshadowed by the grand unification of the Qin Dynasty (221–206 BC) and the military prowess of the Han Dynasty (206 BC–AD 220). That context left little room to appreciate the dynasty’s transformative legacy — a gap that visiting the emperor’s tomb in person filled.

    What strikes Zhong most deeply through his on-the-ground explorations is the core truth of Chinese civilization: it is a diverse, deeply unified whole, sustained by its long history of openness and cultural integration. Emperor Xiaowen, a ruler of ethnic Xianbei heritage, championed mass cultural and ethnic fusion by embracing Han traditions, a policy of openness that Zhong argues laid groundwork for the later strength and cosmopolitanism of the Tang Dynasty (618–907). This willingness to welcome new influences, he says, is what keeps civilizations vibrant; without it, cultures stagnate, trapped in closed cycles of repetition.

    Today, the slopes of Mangshan Mountain are dotted with imperial burials, and small pavilions near the tombs hang with an eclectic mix of banners: some honor the historical contributions of the figures buried below, while others carry the same kind of playful, irreverent humor that the high school students brought to Changling Mausoleum. A short distance from Emperor Xiaowen’s tomb, Zhong also visited the resting place widely believed to belong to Li Yu, the last ruler of the Southern Tang during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period (907–960). Remembered by history as a fallen king, Li Yu is celebrated across the centuries as one of China’s most gifted poets, whose work captures universal human emotions that transcend his royal status.

    “We do not worship victors; we treasure the hearts that have given the purest voice to human feeling,” Zhong observes. More than a thousand years after Li Yu lived, his emotions still draw modern visitors to stand quietly before his tomb. While few people today know what it means to lose an entire kingdom, everyone knows the weight of regret; though most have not watched dynasties rise and fall, all have tasted life’s quiet helplessness. The poetic sighs Li Yu wrote centuries ago still echo through time, finding a home in every heart that can understand them.

    This firsthand feature was reported by China Daily’s Li Hongyang, updated on April 6, 2026.

  • A Russian attack kills 3 in Odesa while Ukraine targets Russian oil infrastructure, officials say

    A Russian attack kills 3 in Odesa while Ukraine targets Russian oil infrastructure, officials say

    Fresh large-scale drone exchanges between Russia and Ukraine have escalated civilian casualties and infrastructure damage, marking another dangerous turn in the four-year full-scale invasion that continues to defy international peace efforts. The latest wave of violence unfolded overnight Monday, with Russian strike teams launching a coordinated aerial assault on Odesa, Ukraine’s strategically critical southern Black Sea port city.

    The attack on Odesa left a devastating civilian toll: local officials confirmed the deaths of two adult women and a two-year-old toddler, who were killed when a drone slammed into a residential apartment building, leaving the structure heavily damaged. Working through the night under bright floodlights, emergency rescue teams pulled four surviving people trapped in the rubble of the damaged building. Eleven additional people, including a pregnant woman and two children under one year of age, were admitted to local hospitals for treatment, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed in an official post on social media platform X.

    This strike is part of a sustained, widespread Russian assault across multiple Ukrainian regions, targeting both civilian residential areas and critical energy infrastructure. Since launching its full-scale invasion in February 2022, Russian forces have consistently targeted civilian population centers across Ukraine, with United Nations data confirming the deaths of more than 15,000 Ukrainian civilians to date. In Monday’s overnight barrages, in addition to Odesa, Russian strikes hit energy assets in four northern and eastern regions: Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv and Dnipro. The damage to transmission and distribution facilities in Chernihiv left more than 300,000 households without power, according to the region’s public utility operator.

    Zelenskyy released updated figures Monday showing the extreme intensity of Russian aerial assaults over the past seven days: Russia has launched more than 2,800 attack drones, nearly 1,350 heavy glide bombs, and over 40 assorted missiles at Ukrainian targets in just one week. In a recent interview with The Associated Press, the Ukrainian leader warned that ongoing conflicts in other global regions, particularly the standoff between Iran and Israel, are depleting global stockpiles of the air defense systems Ukraine relies on to fend off these attacks — most notably the U.S.-manufactured Patriot systems designed to intercept incoming cruise and ballistic missiles. On Monday, Zelenskyy reiterated his call for international partners to ramp up support for Ukraine’s air defense networks, saying, “Russia has no intention of stopping” its offensive as U.S.-led peace negotiations remain completely stalled. “We need to strengthen air defense together so that the interception rate of drones and missiles continues to increase,” he added.

    In response to the ongoing Russian assaults, Ukraine has launched counter-strikes deep inside Russian territory using domestically developed long-range drones, which now have an operational range of up to 1,500 kilometers (930 miles). Kyiv has increasingly targeted Russian oil and energy export infrastructure in these strikes, as Russia works to expand crude oil exports following a temporary sanctions waiver granted during the previous Trump administration to ease global energy supply constraints. Ukrainian officials have repeatedly stated that all expanded energy export revenue generated by Russia flows directly into its military budget to fund new weapons and attacks on Ukraine.

    Monday’s Ukrainian counter-strike targeted Novorossiisk, one of Russia’s largest and most economically critical Black Sea oil export ports located in the Krasnodar Krai region. The Russian Defense Ministry claimed that its air defense systems intercepted and downed a total of 50 Ukrainian drones launched in the overnight attack. Regional governor Veniamin Kondratyev confirmed that the attack still caused damage and civilian casualties: eight people, including two children, were injured, and six apartment buildings plus two private residential homes suffered damage. Unconfirmed independent media reports suggest the primary target of the strike was Novorossiisk’s Sheskharis oil terminal, a major hub for Russian Black Sea oil exports. This attack follows a similar strike last week that hit multiple Russian oil facilities on the Gulf of Finland in northwest Russia.

    The Associated Press continues to provide ongoing full coverage of the Russia-Ukraine war at its dedicated online hub.

  • Last train market keeps tradition alive

    Last train market keeps tradition alive

    Tucked away in the mountainous terrain of Southwest China’s Yunnan Province, in the rural town of Baihe, Pingbian Miao Autonomous County, a unique century-old way of life continues to unfold every Monday along the tracks of the historic Yunnan-Vietnam Railway. This is the famous ‘Train Market’ of Baiheqiao Station, a living relic of industrial and cultural history that has now earned the title of China’s ‘last train market’, drawing curious visitors and keeping generations-old trading traditions alive.

    The market’s origins stretch back to the construction of the narrow-gauge Yunnan-Vietnam Railway more than 100 years ago, a line that once connected inland China to global trade routes through Vietnam. Long before modern highways and large commercial hubs transformed regional commerce, local communities leaned on the railway as both a transportation link and a natural gathering place for trade. Every week, villagers from surrounding mountain valleys would travel to the station, where access was easiest for communities spread across the rugged landscape, to buy and sell goods.

    Today, the centuries-old line has undergone massive changes. It no longer functions as a primary transport artery for passenger travel, but the Kaiyuan-Hekou section still maintains limited freight operations, with one or two cargo trains rolling through Baiheqiao Station on an average day. The rhythm of the market has adapted perfectly to this schedule: when the train’s whistle echoes through the valley and the locomotive rumbles into view, vendors step back from their stall spaces that line both sides of the tracks, pausing their haggling and transactions. As soon as the train passes and the tracks clear, trade resumes just as quickly as it paused.

    Every week, vendors arrive before dawn, carrying handwoven baskets stacked high with homegrown produce, free-range poultry, foraged mountain delicacies, and seasonal vegetables. What once was a weekly gathering exclusively for nearby local residents has grown into a popular cultural and tourism attraction in recent years. Each Monday, tourists from across Yunnan and other provinces across China travel to the remote station to experience this one-of-a-kind market. They come not just to purchase authentic local farm products, but to walk in the footsteps of history, exploring a living industrial heritage that has adapted rather than disappeared in the face of modernization.

    As nearby communities have gradually shifted toward more developed urban centers further from the railway line, the Baiheqiao Train Market stands as a persistent anchor for tradition. Unlike many historic market sites that have been relocated or turned into sterile tourist attractions, this market retains its original character, continuing to serve both local traders and modern visitors who seek a connection to China’s rural and industrial past.

  • Website aims to fill funeral info gap

    Website aims to fill funeral info gap

    To mark the 2026 Tomb Sweeping Day, China launched its first centralized national online platform for funeral and interment services on Sunday, a development crafted to tackle longstanding public concerns over opaque pricing and fragmented information in the country’s funeral sector.

    Developed under the official guidance of China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs, the new platform — named China Funeral Network and accessible at https://www.zgbznet.com.cn — is designed to streamline end-of-life planning for grieving families by aggregating authoritative, up-to-date information across every core stage of funeral arrangements, from initial mourning services to final burial and ongoing memorial activities.

    At the heart of the platform is its “one-stop” service model, which integrates national access to official government portals for handling all post-death administrative affairs. A key interactive feature is its map-based interface, which pinpoints the exact locations of funeral homes, columbaria, and cemeteries across every region of China, alongside full details on service offerings, required application procedures, and transparent pricing breakdowns. Users can filter search results by geographic region, proximity to their location, and type of service institution to find resources that match their specific needs.

    Officials confirmed that civil affairs departments from all 31 provincial-level administrative regions across mainland China, plus the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, contributed to the platform’s development and national rollout.

    “The platform will help bereaved families quickly locate nearby funeral service resources and gain a clear understanding of service pricing, which effectively addresses the information asymmetry that often creates additional stress for families during an already difficult time of funeral arrangements,” explained Xu Zesheng, a senior official with the Ministry of Civil Affairs’ national funeral services task force.

    Beyond core service information, the website also hosts dedicated sections covering national and local funeral policies and regulations, updates on industry-wide developments, and public case alerts about unregulated or problematic service providers. These additional resources are designed to serve both the general public and funeral industry professionals seeking authoritative regulatory updates, cultural guidance, and professional training materials.

    Moving forward, authorities plan to expand the platform’s existing functions to further promote the adoption of environmentally friendly burial practices and encourage more civilized, cost-effective forms of memorialization that align with modern public needs.

    In a coordinated move aligned with the platform’s launch, six newly revised or formulated industry standards for funeral services also went into effect on the same day, with a focus on advancing digital transformation and raising overall service quality across the sector.

    One of the new standards outlines technical requirements for communication architecture and interface protocols for funeral internet of things (IoT) systems, establishing clear technical guidelines for digital infrastructure to support more innovative governance and service delivery in the funeral space.

    A second standard formalizes rules for secure data sharing and exchange between civil affairs regulatory bodies and service institutions including funeral homes, cemeteries, and columbaria, strengthening the sector’s overall capacity for secure data transmission and practical data application.

    A revised public satisfaction evaluation standard formalizes core principles, performance indicators, and assessment procedures for measuring funeral service quality, creating a clear framework for service providers to implement targeted improvements to their offerings.

    Additionally, a new set of standards for electronic certification across core funeral services — covering cremation, ash storage, and burial — is designed to streamline digital documentation across key end-of-life processes and build a stronger foundation for data-driven sector management.

    The Ministry of Civil Affairs noted that it will continue refining the national funeral industry standards system and strengthening regulatory oversight to support the healthy, well-regulated development of the sector for all Chinese families.