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  • Nepali climber alive after six days missing on Everest

    Nepali climber alive after six days missing on Everest

    In an extraordinary story of survival that has stunned the global mountaineering community, a Nepali climbing guide declared lost and presumed dead after six days stranded on Mount Everest has been rescued alive, having crawled nearly the entire distance to Base Camp unaided, officials confirmed to AFP Thursday.

    Fifty-something Dawa Sherpa, a veteran guide widely known by the nickname “Hillary” in honor of legendary Everest pioneer Edmund Hillary, disappeared from the upper slopes of the world’s highest peak amid brutal weather conditions in the early hours of May 30. He was located Thursday morning near Base Camp by personnel from the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee (SPCC), a Nepali organization tasked with maintaining climbing routes and removing discarded waste from the mountain.

    “He was found by an SPCC team this morning close to base camp — he was crawling down,” Pemba Sherpa, a representative from 8K Expeditions, the company that coordinated the search and rescue operation, told reporters. A rescue helicopter airlifted the climber directly to Kathmandu, where an AFP on-site team observed him being carried from the aircraft on a stretcher and transferred to HAMS Hospital for treatment.

    Pemba Sherpa added that after consulting with attending physicians, the guide is conscious and only suffering from minor frostbite, with no other life-threatening injuries. His wife, Damu Sherpa, spoke from the hospital Thursday, describing her family’s overwhelming shock and joy at the miracle outcome. “We had given up all hope, we even began traditional death puja prayers for his soul yesterday,” she shared. “Hearing he was alive was more happiness than we ever dared to imagine.”

    The events that led to Dawa Sherpa being stranded began on the evening of May 29, when he guided former British Royal Marine and climber Chris Thrall to a successful summit of the 8,849-meter peak by approximately 5:00 pm. Before Dawa Sherpa went missing, Thrall had posted an Instagram tribute Wednesday mourning what he believed was his guide’s passing, calling him an “absolute gentle giant of a man and a true ‘tiger of the mountains’”.

    Thrall recounted that the pair began their descent from Camp Four, which sits roughly 7,950 meters above sea level just below the oxygen-starved “death zone,” on May 30. As they climbed down, Dawa Sherpa paused to rest, telling Thrall to continue ahead without him — a common occurrence between guides and clients on large expeditions. As Thrall moved down, he encountered a Polish climber in critical condition: the mountaineer had exhausted his supplementary oxygen, already developed frostbite, and was at high risk of deadly hypothermia.

    This season’s summit conditions were unusually harsh, Thrall explained: what is typically a five-day round trip to the summit stretched to 11 days for his team. Faced with an impossible choice, Thrall opted to assist the imperiled Polish climber, sharing his own oxygen supply as the pair descended. The trip that normally takes just two hours to Camp Three took 11 hours due to severe conditions, leaving Thrall unable to return for Dawa Sherpa.

    Search teams launched efforts to locate the missing guide immediately, but harsh weather and the timing of the expedition — one of the final permitted climbs of the spring season, when few other climbers remain on the mountain — left no trace of him until Thursday’s unexpected discovery. Five other climbers, two Indian mountaineers and three Nepali guides, have already lost their lives on Everest during the 2026 spring climbing season. Initial counts from Nepali authorities show that more than 1,000 climbers have summited the peak this season, making it the busiest climbing season in Everest’s history.

  • SA budget axes 1000 public sector jobs in major recruitment freeze

    SA budget axes 1000 public sector jobs in major recruitment freeze

    South Australia’s newly elected Malinauskas Labor government has tabled its first state budget, introducing a public sector hiring freeze that will eliminate approximately 1,000 non-frontline public service roles over the coming 12 months. The cost-cutting measure is projected to generate annual savings of $120 million, introduced as the state prepares for public debt to surge to a projected $50 billion. Delivered to state parliament on Thursday by Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis, the 2026-27 budget balances austerity measures with a broad suite of policy commitments aimed at addressing pressing community needs across housing, education, healthcare, and Indigenous affairs.

    Alongside the public sector hiring restrictions, the budget includes a series of targeted investments and relief measures designed to deliver on election promises. To boost the state’s struggling housing market, the government has committed $50 million to develop a 400-unit housing estate in Munno Para, north of Adelaide, exclusively for first-time home buyers. It has also expanded stamp duty relief, extending exemptions to domestic abuse survivors and homeowners over the age of 60 downsizing to properties valued up to $2 million.

    Major education investments feature prominently in the budget. Over the next four years, $174 million will be allocated to eliminate all fees for public school attendance, while $210 million across six years will fund the redevelopment and upgrades of 37 public school campuses. The government is also expanding access to early childhood education, funding new long daycare spots to enable universal access for three-year-olds to attend preschool. Seniors will also see expanded support, with the seniors card scheme opening to all residents aged 60 and over, and to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander residents aged 50 and over.

    In healthcare, the government has pledged $250 million in loan funding to cut persistent ambulance ramping at public hospitals and create 650 new aged care beds, alongside a $28 million investment in a new dedicated mental health assessment unit at the Royal Adelaide Hospital. In a historic step for Indigenous reconciliation, the budget allocates $8.5 million over four years to establish a new treaty commission led entirely by Aboriginal leaders, tasked with advancing improvements to health, education, and economic outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities across the state.

    Treasurer Koutsantonis framed the budget as fiscally responsible, emphasizing that the document “lives within its means” with genuine surpluses and lower debt-to-revenue ratios than previously projected. He noted that the framework delivers certainty for businesses and entrepreneurs while delivering on election commitments for core public services and cost-of-living relief.

    Premier Peter Malinauskas echoed this framing, describing the budget as restrained and modest, pointing out that the government has fulfilled its pledge not to introduce any new taxes to fund expenditure, thanks to disciplined spending limits. “We are honouring our commitment to not create new taxes to justify expenditure because we’ve been restrained in our expenditure,” he said.

    However, the budget has drawn sharp criticism from opposition figures. Cory Bernardi, leader of One Nation’s South Australian branch, dismissed the package as a “bread and circuses” distraction from the state’s growing debt crisis. He argued that the targeted handouts and spending initiatives come at the expense of future generations, noting that the budget adds $4 billion in new debt annually and called for an end to what he labeled reckless government spending.

  • Reserve Bank governor warns cost-of-living pain to last two more years.

    Reserve Bank governor warns cost-of-living pain to last two more years.

    Australia’s battle against persistent inflation has entered a critical phase, with Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Governor Michele Bullock confirming that while aggressive interest rate increases are starting to deliver results, financially stretched households will have to weather nearly two more years of elevated cost-of-living strain. Speaking at a senate budget estimates committee hearing on Thursday, alongside RBA assistant governors Christopher Kent and Sarah Hunter, Bullock laid out the central bank’s policy trajectory, acknowledging the widespread hardship rate hikes have imposed even as she defended the measures as necessary to bring runaway prices under control.

    So far in 2024, the RBA’s monetary policy board has lifted the benchmark cash rate by a cumulative 75 basis points, with a 25-basis-point increase at each of its three consecutive policy meetings this year. These consecutive hikes are designed to tighten domestic financial conditions and cool aggregate demand across the Australian economy, the core mechanism through which central banks combat sustained inflation. Bullock emphasized that early indicators already point to these adjustments having an effect, but warned the full impact of monetary policy changes always operates with a significant lag. “It will take one to two years for the full effects to flow through the economy,” she told the committee.

    The policy moves are targeted at reining in domestic inflationary momentum and offsetting secondary spillover effects from global commodity and oil price shocks, Bullock explained. She admitted that the current period is deeply challenging for Australian households already grappling with steep price increases for essential goods and services, but stressed that taming inflation remains the RBA’s non-negotiable priority. “High inflation hurts everyone, it reduces the purchasing power of all Australians and it disproportionately affects vulnerable people in the community,” she said, framing continued interest rate adjustments as the “least worst option” to avoid longer-term, more widespread economic harm from entrenched high inflation.

    Bullock reaffirmed the RBA board’s commitment to taking all necessary action to resolve the country’s inflation challenge, noting that after three consecutive hikes this year, monetary policy is well positioned to adapt to evolving economic conditions. “Inflation is too high and the board will do what it considers necessary to achieve our mandate of price stability and full employment,” she said. She also added a critical caveat: RBA policy cannot neutralize the impact of global inflationary drivers, including the recent run-up in global fuel prices driven by escalating geopolitical tensions between the U.S., Israel and Iran.

    Recent official inflation data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) paints a mixed picture of the current price environment. Yearly headline inflation edged down from 4.6 percent in March to 4.2 percent in April, a decline partially driven by temporary government policy interventions: a temporary cut to the national fuel excise and a GST rebate that have both helped ease near-term inflationary pressure. However, the RBA’s closely watched trimmed mean inflation rate – a measure that strips out volatile, price swings to track underlying domestic price pressures – rose to 3.4 percent for the 12 months ending in April. Both headline and core inflation remain above the RBA’s official 2 to 3 percent target range for sustainable price stability. In its most recent economic forecasts, the RBA projects inflation will not return to this target range until mid-2027.

  • Australians paying almost as much for passports as government’s gas revenue, David Pocock says

    Australians paying almost as much for passports as government’s gas revenue, David Pocock says

    A fiery new exchange at a recent Australian Senate hearing has reignited debate over the federal government’s tax and public service pricing policies, with independent Senator David Pocock doubling down on criticism of the imbalance between petroleum tax revenue and sky-high passport fees.

    At Thursday’s hearing, Pocock highlighted a striking comparison that underscores what he calls the government’s lopsided policy framework: by the end of the current decade, total annual revenue collected from Australian passport fees will only be a few hundred million dollars lower than the total annual take from the Petroleum Resources Rent Tax (PRRT)—the levy designed to deliver public returns from the country’s massive offshore liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports.

    As one of the world’s top LNG exporters, Australia’s PRRT system has faced sustained scrutiny from Pocock, who has repeatedly called out the low revenue it generates for public coffers. The latest data he cited shows that by the 2029-30 financial year, annual revenue from passport services is projected to hit as much as AUD 1.2 billion, up from more than AUD 1 billion forecast for the 2024-25 financial year. By comparison, the PRRT is on track to bring in just a few hundred million more than that figure annually by the end of the decade.

    When it comes to passport pricing, Australia already holds the unenviable title of having some of the most expensive passport fees in the developed world. Starting in 2026, an adult renewing a 10-year passport will pay AUD 422, while seniors and children will pay AUD 213 for a five-year document. Volume projections from government officials show the government is expected to issue up to 2.2 million passports in the current financial year, rising to 2.5 million annually by next financial year.

    Pocock argued that the gap between these two revenue streams is indefensible. “As one of the biggest gas exporters in the world, those two things just don’t seem to square … that’s an absurd comparison,” he told the committee. He also noted that Australian passport costs far outpace prices in comparable nations: a Canadian 10-year passport costs roughly AUD 170, a British equivalent is AUD 195, a New Zealand passport comes in at AUD 225, and a U.S. passport is AUD 250—all less than 60% of the cost of an Australian adult passport. In some cases, Australians pay nearly double what citizens of other wealthy nations pay for the same official document.

    Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong defended the federal Labor government’s policies on both fronts, pushing back against Pocock’s criticism. Wong acknowledged understanding Pocock’s perspective but argued the government has crafted a balanced approach that serves the national interest when it comes to gas policy.

    On the topic of passports, Wong noted that the current government has invested heavily in upgrading the Australian passport system, producing a high-security, advanced travel document that grants Australian citizens visa-free access to more than 120 countries around the world—a key benefit that justifies current pricing. She added that the government has no plans to adjust passport pricing outside of pre-approved inflation indexation, which is already baked into the projected revenue increases.

    When asked why other high-income nations charge far less for passports, Wong responded that she could not speak to the pricing policies of other governments, as she is not responsible for their operations.

    This latest exchange is part of a long-running campaign by Pocock to overhaul the PRRT system, which he argues fails to deliver adequate public returns from Australia’s non-renewable natural resources. In an earlier Senate hearing, Pocock drew similar criticism by pointing out that mid-year financial projections for 2025-26 showed the PRRT would generate only around AUD 1.5 billion in annual revenue—less than the AUD 2.7 billion the government collects annually in beer taxes. “How do we live in a country that exports — one of the biggest gas exporters in the world — and we’re getting more tax from beer than PRRT,” he asked at the time.

    In response to ongoing criticism, the government has defended the PRRT and broader national gas arrangements as part of a balanced policy framework. Since the outbreak of conflict in the Middle East, officials have emphasized that Australia has a responsibility to act as a reliable global energy partner, and the current tax structure accounts for both public revenue needs and broader energy security commitments, alongside additional corporate tax contributions from gas producers.

  • Nepali climber alive after six days missing on Everest

    Nepali climber alive after six days missing on Everest

    In a remarkable story of survival against the harshest conditions on Earth, an experienced Nepali climbing guide who went missing for six days on Mount Everest and was widely presumed dead has crawled back to Base Camp alive, expedition officials confirmed to AFP in an interview on Thursday.

    Hillary Dawa Sherpa, a seasoned high-altitude climber familiar with Everest’s most dangerous terrain, disappeared in the upper reaches of the 8,849-meter world’s highest peak in the early hours of May 30. His unexpected return ended days of fruitless search efforts, when teams had already begun to prepare for the worst outcome.

    Workers from the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee (SPCC), a local Nepali organization responsible for maintaining climbing routes and clearing accumulated waste from the mountain, made the surprise discovery of Sherpa on Thursday morning just a short distance from Base Camp. “He was crawling down when we found him,” explained Pemba Sherpa of 8K Expeditions, the firm that coordinated the official search and rescue operation for the missing guide. A rescue helicopter has already been deployed to airlift Sherpa to a specialized hospital in Nepal’s capital Kathmandu for urgent medical evaluation.

    British climber Chris Thrall, a former Royal Marine who summited Everest with Sherpa around 5 p.m. on May 29, had shared a heartfelt tribute to the guide on Instagram just one day before his rescue, writing in a post mourning what he believed was Sherpa’s passing. He described Sherpa as an “absolute gentle giant of a man and a true ‘tiger of the mountains’”, echoing the widespread high regard Sherpa holds among the global climbing community.

    Thrall recounted the sequence of events that led to Sherpa going missing as the two climbers began their descent from Camp Four, which sits at roughly 7,950 meters, just below the oxygen-starved zone known to climbers as the “death zone” where the human body cannot sustain itself for long periods. As the pair descended, Sherpa stopped to catch his breath. “He sat down for a rest with his backpack — these guides carry huge loads up and down the mountain,” Thrall recalled. “I turned and I said, ‘Hillary, are you okay, brother?’ He said, ‘Yes, yes, fine Chris, please go, go!’ This is nothing new on the mountain; sometimes climbers pull ahead at their own pace.”

    As Thrall continued downward, he encountered a Polish climber in critical condition: the mountaineer had exhausted his supply of supplementary oxygen, suffered severe frostbite, and was at immediate risk of hypothermia. Thrall faced an agonizing choice, one familiar to climbers who navigate life-or-death decisions high on Everest. The 11-day summit push had already stretched far longer than the typical five-day itinerary, a sign of just how brutal conditions were this season. “Do I go back for Sherpa, who’s probably going to rock up and be fine, as he has done hundreds of times before? Or do I help my fellow climber, who’s got no oxygen, frostbite in his fingers, and obviously you’re never far off hypothermia up there?” he said.

    Thrall chose to stay with the Polish climber, sharing his own oxygen supply as the pair descended slowly to Camp Three. What would normally take just two hours to cover took 11 exhausting hours, a testament to the severe conditions and the strain of the rescue. By the time they reached safety, Thrall knew they had escaped a catastrophic outcome.

    Despite multiple search teams launching missions to locate Sherpa in the days after he disappeared, no trace of him was found until Thursday morning, when he emerged after days of slow, solitary descent down the mountain. This climb was one of the final expeditions of the 2026 spring climbing season, which meant very few other climbers were still on the peak to offer assistance.

    This year’s Everest season has already been marked by tragedy: at least five people — two Indian climbers and three Nepali climbing staff involved in pre-season preparations — have died on the mountain. At the same time, initial counts from Nepali tourism officials show that more than 1,000 climbers have successfully reached the summit this season, making 2026 the busiest climbing season in Everest’s recorded history.

  • Overtaken by Hong Kong in global wealth management, Swiss keep cool

    Overtaken by Hong Kong in global wealth management, Swiss keep cool

    In a landmark shift for the global wealth management industry, new data has confirmed Hong Kong has edged past Switzerland to claim the number one ranking in cross-border assets under management – a development that has sparked little panic among Swiss banking leaders, who are instead leveraging the milestone to argue against looming domestic regulatory tightening.

    The 2026 Global Wealth Report published last week by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) lays out the new market dynamic: by the end of 2025, Hong Kong held $2.95 trillion in cross-border assets under management, compared to Switzerland’s $2.946 trillion. BCG analysts attribute Hong Kong’s ascent to three core drivers: massive capital inflows from mainland China, robust initial public offering activity, and strong gains across local equity markets.

    Paul Chan, Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, framed the milestone as a sign of the sector’s ongoing momentum. He noted that rapid innovation in technology and artificial intelligence is expected to unlock even greater growth opportunities for Hong Kong’s asset and wealth management industry. BCG’s report adds that more than 60% of Hong Kong’s cross-border capital originates from mainland China, cementing the city’s long-held role as a strategic gateway connecting China to global financial markets.

    Gary Ng, senior economist at Natixis Corporate and Investment Banking, told AFP that shifting geopolitical realities have also fueled capital flows into Hong Kong. Uncertainties surrounding US-China tensions are a primary factor driving investors to park and manage their capital in the city, he explained. However, the region’s cross-border landscape faces growing regulatory uncertainty: in May, Chinese market regulators launched a sweeping two-year crackdown on unauthorized outbound investment targeting cross-border trading brokers. Earlier this week, China’s State Council unveiled new rules set to take effect in July that restrict unapproved outbound investments and deals that could transfer restricted technology, services, or data outside of mainland China. “Investors engaging in foreign investment and related activities… shall not endanger China’s national security or harm national interests,” official statements read. Ng added that if Beijing seeks to accelerate the internationalization of the yuan, it will ultimately need to accept more flexible cross-border capital movement to support that goal.

    Across the industry in Switzerland, the new ranking has not triggered alarm – instead, it has become a talking point in ongoing debates over proposed regulatory reforms. The Swiss Bankers Association acknowledged that Hong Kong has directly benefited from the extraordinary pace of asset growth across China, but emphasized that Swiss banks already hold a strong, successful footprint in Asia’s high-growth markets. The association argued that competitive regulatory frameworks are critical to Switzerland’s future success, noting that rules must remain targeted and internationally coordinated to boost both financial stability and industry competitiveness.

    The debate over regulation comes amid ongoing fallout from the 2023 collapse of Credit Suisse, when the Swiss government pressured UBS, the country’s largest bank, to complete an emergency takeover of its long-time domestic rival to prevent catastrophic damage to Switzerland’s financial reputation. Today, the merged megabank holds a size that vastly outpaces the overall size of the Swiss domestic economy, prompting the federal government in Bern to push for stricter regulatory safeguards to mitigate future systemic risk. UBS has been openly at odds with the government over the proposed changes.

    The Association of Swiss Private Banks, which represents the country’s core wealth management sector, told AFP that Hong Kong’s rise to the top makes clear that international competitiveness must remain a central priority in regulatory negotiations. “During debates on the government’s proposals, parliament will have to keep this in mind,” the group added.

    Industry analysts broadly agree that Hong Kong’s ascent was predictable, driven by broader macroeconomic trends across Asia. Andreas Venditti, an analyst with Swiss investment management firm Vontobel, noted that Asian economies have posted far stronger growth rates than European markets for years, setting the stage for this shift. He added that far from being harmed by the change, Swiss banks stand to gain from Asian growth: UBS alone held $781 billion in assets under management across the Asia-Pacific region as of the end of March 2026, making it the largest wealth manager in the region by a significant margin. BCG data backs this up, showing cross-border wealth grew 10.7% in Hong Kong in 2025, compared to 7.6% growth in Switzerland over the same period.

    Dean Frankle, BCG managing director and global financial institutions specialist, summed up the shift as a natural outcome of “the rise of Asia.” For high-net-worth Asian clients, he argued, there is little incentive to travel to Europe for wealth management services when a leading global hub is located in their own region. That reality makes it essential for Swiss banks to maintain a strong competitive presence in Asia to succeed long-term. “If you’re not serving both markets, you’re only playing half the game,” Frankle said.

  • ‘Our pool is bigger than skyscrapers’: Amid war, Trump touts Washington projects

    ‘Our pool is bigger than skyscrapers’: Amid war, Trump touts Washington projects

    Against a tense backdrop of a faltering ceasefire with Iran and mounting political peril for his Republican Party over the conflict’s mounting costs, former President Donald Trump used a high-profile Oval Office gathering with press corps this Wednesday to shift focus to a decidedly domestic topic: the ongoing renovation of the iconic Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

    This public appearance marked Trump’s first in several days, and the 79-year-old ex-real estate developer opened the executive order signing ceremony not with discussion of the escalating Middle East crisis, but with a deep dive into the decades-long problems plaguing the 102-year-old reflecting pool, one of Washington D.C.’s most visited tourist landmarks that is currently closed to the public for the makeover.

    “It was opened in 1922 and it always leaked,” Trump told assembled reporters, leaning into his background in property development as he spoke with unusual energy about the construction project. He highlighted what he called a “very special material” engineered for the refurbishment, noting the pool is on track to welcome visitors again ahead of the upcoming July 4 holiday — a date that also doubles as the 250th anniversary of American independence.

    The project has already drawn bipartisan scrutiny for its inflated price tag and questions surrounding the competitive bidding process that awarded the construction contract. In a striking display of showmanship, Trump brought out a custom-made graphic titled “Our Pool is Bigger than Skyscrapers”, on which he compared the 2,029-foot linear length of the reflecting pool to the vertical heights of three of the nation’s most famous skyscrapers, including New York City’s legendary Empire State Building.

    The conversation soon turned to the site’s place in American civil rights history: the reflecting pool sits on the National Mall, where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his landmark 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech to hundreds of thousands of civil rights supporters. In an unprompted comparison, Trump drew a parallel between King’s historic crowd and the rally he held on the same stretch of the Mall on January 6, 2021, shortly before his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

    “That’s where Martin Luther King made his great speech. The million people, I had the same amount of people,” Trump claimed, adding “You put the picture side by side, which we have, and they said I had 25,000 (people), he had a million… my crowd was tighter.” Independent fact-checkers have long pushed back on these claims: the National Constitution Center estimates King’s 1963 gathering drew roughly 250,000 attendees, while no official credible crowd estimate exists for the January 6 rally. This is not the first time Trump has faced backlash for inflating attendance numbers; he famously claimed his 2017 inauguration drew a larger crowd than Barack Obama’s 2009 inauguration, despite clear photographic and statistical evidence to the contrary.

    After an extended tangent on the reflecting pool project that lasted far longer than his opening remarks on the scheduled policy topics, Trump moved forward with signing two executive orders focused on U.S. customs policy and new protections for federal civil servants. Only when pressed by reporters did he address the ongoing conflict with Iran, telling reporters that he expected potential breakthroughs in negotiations “over the weekend” but offering no further details on the framework for any potential diplomatic deal.

  • Favourites keep apart in lead up to Tour de France

    Favourites keep apart in lead up to Tour de France

    One month out from the 2025 Tour de France, the cycling world is already buzzing for what is set to be one of the most compelling yellow jersey battles in modern cycling history. The race’s starting line in Barcelona will welcome a stacked field of elite contenders, headlined by Slovenian four-time champion Tadej Pogacar, who is chasing a record-tying fifth Grand Boucle title. Hot on his heels will be rejuvenated Danish two-time winner Jonas Vingegaard and breakout French teenage talent Paul Seixas. But unlike typical pre-Tour seasons, fans will have to wait until the opening stage of the race itself to see these three top favorites go head-to-head, after all three opted for drastically different training and warm-up schedules that have kept them apart.

  • Ukraine strike kills 3 in Russian-occupied Crimea

    Ukraine strike kills 3 in Russian-occupied Crimea

    A fresh wave of cross-border strikes has ratcheted up tensions in the 28-month-old Ukraine conflict, after a Ukrainian attack on Russian-occupied Crimea left three people dead and seven injured, just one day after Kyiv launched coordinated strikes on energy and military infrastructure in Saint Petersburg, coinciding with the opening of Russia’s flagship international economic forum.

    Sergey Aksyonov, the Moscow-appointed head of Crimea’s occupied administration, confirmed the casualties in a Thursday Telegram post, noting that emergency response teams had been deployed to the site of the strike on non-residential structures in Simferopol, the region’s administrative capital.

    The Saint Petersburg strikes, which hit a local oil terminal and the Kronstadt military base, unfolded Wednesday as 20,000 delegates from more than 130 countries gathered for the start of the three-day Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), an event long referred to as “Russia’s Davos.” Thick plumes of black smoke from the burning terminal were clearly visible from the forum’s conference venue as opening sessions got underway. For many attendees, the attack did not come as a shock: 32-year-old Moscow-based businesswoman Valeria, who is attending the forum, told Agence France-Presse that residents across Russia have grown accustomed to persistent attack threats after years of war. “We have been living under such attacks for many years now,” she noted.

    Ukrainian officials have framed the coordinated strikes as legitimate retaliation for a recent surge in Russian bombardment across Ukrainian territory. Sergiy Sternenko, an advisor to Ukraine’s defense minister, said the attack was intentionally timed to disrupt the high-profile economic gathering, noting that “The Petersburg forum is opening with a nice plume of black smoke in the background after Ukrainian strikes.”

    In a press conference alongside NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reaffirmed his country’s right to respond proportionally to Russian attacks, warning that Kyiv would continue to ramp up the intensity of its deep strikes into Russian territory. “It’s just a matter of time before we can scale up the intensity of our responses,” Zelenskyy said.

    The latest exchange of fire has already caused casualties across multiple frontline and rear areas. On Wednesday, Moscow-appointed officials reported that a drone strike on a passenger bus in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine killed seven people, with two additional fatalities recorded in the border region of Bryansk and Russian-occupied parts of Kharkiv Oblast. Separate statements from Ukrainian local officials confirmed that at least 10 civilians were killed in a wave of Russian retaliatory strikes across Ukraine on the same day.

    Top Western officials have warned that Ukraine’s growing success in launching long-range strikes deep inside Russian territory has created a tangible risk of the conflict spilling beyond existing borders and escalating into a wider confrontation. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told a U.S. Senate appropriations panel Wednesday that the risk of escalation is now “more real than it was two years ago,” as Kyiv’s long-range strike capabilities have improved dramatically. “Ukraine has become increasingly effective at conducting long-range strikes deep into Russia,” Rubio said. “It’s one of the things that reminds us of why it’s important to try to bring this war to an end, if we can, because the risk of escalation is real.”

    Speaking earlier to the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rubio noted that little progress has been made toward peace negotiations since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022. “To this point, neither side has been willing to make concessions, particularly on the Russian side, necessary in order to bring peace about,” he said, adding that the U.S. has invested significant diplomatic time and resources into advancing peace talks over the past year.

    EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas said the recent Ukrainian strikes have sowed chaos within the Kremlin. She told AFP that increased Russian attacks on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure reflect panic on the part of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is facing mounting losses on the battlefield. “It clearly shows also panic on the Russian side — why they are increasing the terrorist attacks that they are doing in Ukraine is because they don’t know what to do with these things,” Kallas said. “Putin is losing money, men, and momentum, and that’s why he’s increasing attacks on civilians.”

    Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has already promised a coordinated, systemic Russian response to the strikes on Saint Petersburg, while Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to deliver his keynote address to the SPIEF forum on Friday, where the conflict and its economic implications are expected to top the agenda.

  • Golden generation: The seven premiership graduates who prove the Storm’s new system is working

    Golden generation: The seven premiership graduates who prove the Storm’s new system is working

    For years, the Melbourne Storm has focused on one strategic mission: unearthing homegrown rugby league talent across Victoria and nurturing it locally, rather than watching promising young athletes leave the state for opportunities elsewhere. Now, the club’s years of investment in grassroots development are beginning to deliver a new golden generation of players that could reshape the club’s future for decades to come.

    Before the club launched its groundbreaking “Road to AAMI Park” initiative, Melbourne Storm leadership faced a persistent problem: top junior prospects were forced to leave Victoria because there was no clear, supported route to the National Rugby League (NRL) first grade. Only a small handful of local juniors had ever successfully made the jump to the top competition, a gap the club was determined to close. Today, the program’s impact is already clear, with fullback Sua Fa’alogo – a local Victorian product – emerging as one of Melbourne’s standout performers so far this season. Fa’alogo has become the public face of the club’s youth development success, and club leaders say he is just the first of many promising young athletes to rise through the new system.

    Seven players from Melbourne Storm’s 2024 (corrected from 2025 per context) Jersey Flegg under-21 premiership-winning squad have already earned their first NRL call-ups this season, capitalizing on an injury crisis that opened up unexpected first-team opportunities at the club. Hugo Peel, Siulagi Tuimalatu-Brown, Gabriel Satrick, Preston Conn, Angus Hinchey, Cooper Clarke and Stanley Huen all helped defeat Penrith in last year’s under-21 grand final, and all made their NRL debuts in 2025. The long-term goal of the program is to see dozens more local juniors follow this path into the top-tier NRL system.

    Melbourne Storm chief executive Justin Rodski explained the strategy was developed in partnership with the NRL specifically to grow rugby league’s footprint and build a robust development pipeline in Victoria. “There was a rich nursery of young talent across rugby codes in this state, so our priority was to build a genuine pathway with quality coaching and development opportunities that let young players stay close to home in Victoria, rather than forcing them to leave,” Rodski told NewsWire. “Seeing seven of these players, who came through the system together, make their debuts this season has been incredibly rewarding. Even though the opportunity came because of our injury crisis, it has let these young players step up together, which is exactly what we hoped for.”

    Rodski pointed to a proven pattern across the most successful NRL teams of the past 20 years: championship-winning squads are almost always built around a core of players who grew up and developed together from a young age. “We’re really hopeful that this group is that next core for us,” he said. “These young talent coming through the system, play together, develop together, and ultimately become first-grade NRL players together. Get that right, and you have a group that can carry the club into its next golden generation.”

    Among the seven debutants, 20-year-old forward Cooper Clarke has already emerged as the biggest early success story. Early impressions from his first NRL season suggest the young middle forward is on track for a long and impactful top-flight career, and he has already re-signed with the club through to 2029. Clarke says he is proud to have watched his former junior teammates earn their own opportunities alongside him. “It’s really special that the club prioritizes local juniors coming through, and that we can be the example for the next group coming up,” Clarke said. “It proves that if you put in the work, it doesn’t matter where you start – you can be playing NRL in just a year’s time, or in the lower pathways. It might take longer for some, but seeing us do this can inspire the kids coming after us. It’s been an absolute honor to be here with all these guys and watch each of them get their chance.”

    Gabriel Satrick’s journey to the NRL is arguably the most inspiring of the group. The young dummy-half made his debut against the Canterbury Bulldogs last month, and the entire small communities he comes from turned out to celebrate his milestone. Satrick’s maternal family hails from Hope Vale, while his father is from Yam Island in the Torres Strait, which has a total population of just 275 people. He grew up in Yarrabah, a small Queensland community of around 2500 people, and nearly the whole town turned out to watch his debut: more than 50 locals traveled to Melbourne to cheer him on, while hundreds more gathered in the local park with popcorn and a projector to watch the game live.”

    “Everyone in Yarrabah was so proud and excited,” Satrick said. “It was a big deal, everyone knew about it, and everyone turned out to the park to watch. It was really emotional for me, because it’s been such a long journey to get here. I left home when I was young to move to Ipswich, and I’ve been away from my family and community for six years. To see it all pay off like this is just incredible. Satrick added that he has learned a huge amount from Melbourne’s star hooker Harry Grant in his first weeks in the top squad.

    For the Melbourne Storm, this wave of homegrown debutants is more than just a short-term solution to an injury crisis: it is proof that a years-long bet on local youth development is working, and the foundation for a dominant new era of NRL competition.