Global Pulse

标签： Oceania

大洋洲

  • Asian allies stress ‘critical cooperation’ as Trump slashes Korea drills

    Asian allies stress ‘critical cooperation’ as Trump slashes Korea drills

    A sudden policy shift from US President Donald Trump to scale back joint military exercises with South Korea has sent ripples across Northeast Asia, prompting key Asian allies to emphasize the urgent need for strengthened trilateral security cooperation this week.

    Trump made the unexpected announcement Sunday, ordering the Pentagon to reduce the scope of what he called “inappropriate and hostile” drills with Seoul. The following day, he defended the move during Oval Office remarks, arguing that his personal diplomatic ties with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un have made the entire region far safer. The two leaders met three times during Trump’s first presidential term, though no in-person encounter has occurred since Trump returned to the White House. When pressed on whether Kim has responded to recent outreach from him, Trump confirmed Kim had replied and described ongoing talks as “very positive,” but offered no additional details about the content of the exchanges. He doubled down on his positive assessment of his relationship with the North Korean leader, noting “Kim Jong Un has always treated me with great respect. I understand him. He understands me.”
    Alongside his outreach to Pyongyang, Trump issued a sharp rebuke to South Korea, a longstanding core US ally, for refusing to join Washington’s campaign against Iran — a conflict Trump frames as an effort to block Tehran from developing a nuclear weapon. “Wait a minute. We have 39,000 soldiers over there, guarding you from Kim Jong Un, your next-door neighbour, and you’re not going to help us on a very easy military operation in Iran. That’s strange,” Trump told reporters. “We can’t go around and protect all of these countries, especially when they’re not there to help us.”

    The exercises in question, the 11-day Ulchi Freedom Shield drills, are designed to prepare South Korean and US forces for a potential conflict with North Korea, which has long decried the annual drills as invasion rehearsals. Even as Trump moved to scale back the drills, South Korean officials confirmed the exercises had already launched as scheduled, and expressed hope that the positive personal rapport between Trump and Kim would pave the way for a resumption of denuclearization talks. In a statement Tuesday, Seoul’s presidential office stressed the drills carry “no intention to attack North Korea or escalate tensions on the Korean peninsula.” However, South Korea’s unification ministry, which manages cross-border relations, said it could not independently confirm whether the reported communications between Kim and Trump actually took place. “While communication channels between the two sides exist, we cannot verify the specific content of the exchanges,” a ministry spokesperson said.

    During a working visit to Australia this week, Japanese Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi made clear Tokyo’s stance on the value of closer cooperation between the three key Indo-Pacific security partners. “As Japan faces the most severe and complicated security environment in the post-war era, the cooperation among Japan, the United States and South Korea is critical to the peace and stability of the region,” Koizumi told reporters. His Australian counterpart Richard Marles added that Canberra remains deeply worried about Pyongyang’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs, a longstanding position the Australian government has consistently upheld. North Korea has not issued any public response to Trump’s latest announcement or the reported diplomatic exchanges, though the country has repeatedly condemned all joint US-South Korea military drills in the past.

    Trump’s latest move is part of a pattern of repeated criticism of long-standing US alliances that has cast growing uncertainty over Washington’s security commitments across East Asia. The US currently stations roughly 28,500 troops in South Korea, a post-war arrangement dating back to the 1950-1953 Korean War, which ended in an armistice rather than a formal peace treaty. The announcement of scaled-back drills comes at a time of shifting US military deployments in the Indo-Pacific: the USS George Washington, the only US aircraft carrier currently operating in the Pacific, is being redeployed to the Middle East to relieve the USS Lincoln, which has faced well-documented crew mental health and supply challenges after an extended deployment.

    Trump’s administration has also ramped up pressure on regional US partners to increase their own defense spending. Among those partners is Taiwan, a self-governing democracy that Beijing claims as part of its sovereign territory and has repeatedly threatened to seize by force. On Monday, Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te announced a pledge to reach a record high defense budget by 2027, with his administration committing to boosting defense spending to 5 percent of gross domestic product by 2030 to meet growing US defense contribution expectations.

  • NRL team lists: Major Bunnies boost as Latrell Mitchell named on extended bench

    NRL team lists: Major Bunnies boost as Latrell Mitchell named on extended bench

    With the NRL regular season winding down and finals football just weeks away, a flurry of last-minute team announcements has shaken up premiership odds, headlined by long-injured South Sydney Rabbitohs superstar Latrell Mitchell’s surprise inclusion in Saturday’s clash against the New Zealand Warriors.

    Mitchell has not taken the field since South Sydney’s 15 May defeat to the Dolphins, sidelined for almost three months by a complicated injury set that began with a back issue, triggered a nerve complaint, and ultimately developed into a secondary calf problem. The representative star was forced to miss the entire 2024 State of Origin series, but his naming in the 22 on South Sydney’s extended bench has reignited the club’s premiership aspirations, which were flagging during his extended absence.

    The star completed light running drills at Rabbitohs training earlier this week, leaving coach Wayne Bennett with two strategic options if Mitchell receives final medical clearance to return. The veteran coach could opt to slowly reintroduce the playmaker from the interchange bench, or throw him straight into a starting spot at left centre as the club chokes a vital win to shore up its finals position.

    For the Warriors, the match-up brings its own selection shifts. The club opted not to hand young playmaker Jett Cleary his NRL debut this week, also naming him to the extended bench. Luke Hanson will step into the starting halves pair alongside Chanel Harris-Tavita, after Luke Metcalf became the latest Warriors playmaker to fall victim to a hamstring injury. The Warriors will also be without suspended centre Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, who was banned after a tackle that ended Brisbane Broncos star Reece Walsh’s season prematurely.

    Elsewhere across the league, the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles have received a much-needed boost with star fullback Tom Trbojevic cleared to return from his latest hamstring injury, a massive lift for a side desperate to force its way into finals contention. However, the club suffered a devastating counter-blow: young halfback Joey Walsh has been ruled out indefinitely after sustaining a hairline jaw fracture during last round’s loss to the Dolphins. Clayton Faulalo will step into Walsh’s spot in the halves for Manly’s clash against the Newcastle Knights.

    Newcastle, for their part, will be without experienced centre Dane Gagai but welcome back starting centre Bradman Best from his own injury layoff. Another elite fullback is also set to return this weekend: Sydney Roosters captain James Tedesco has been named in the squad for his side’s match-up against his former club, the Wests Tigers.

    For the Wests Tigers, the 2024 season of struggle continues to worsen. The club confirmed this week that halfback Adam Doueihi will miss the rest of the season after undergoing season-ending shoulder reconstruction surgery. “New scans on Adam’s shoulder have showed the time has come to have his reconstruction done. This gives him enough time to be ready for the start of the 2027 season,” explained Wests Tigers head of high performance Peter Moussa. The Tigers have also lost young playmaker Latu Fainu to a new hamstring injury, leading to Jock Madden being named to partner Jarome Luai in the starting halves for the round.

    Melbourne Storm have added hooker Harry Grant, one of the league’s top dummy halves, back to their starting line-up for Thursday night’s match against the Penrith Panthers, after Grant missed several weeks with a hamstring injury. Star halfback Jahrome Hughes remains sidelined for the Storm, so Trent Toelau will get the starting spot at halfback. Penrith, the reigning premiers, will welcome young gun Casey McLean back to the starting centre spot, replacing the injured Paul Alamoti who is out with a hamstring injury.

    The Cronulla Sharks, fighting to hold onto a top-four finish, have turned to playmaker Niwhai Puru to fill the void left by Braydon Trindall, the team’s try-assist leader who dislocated his shoulder in last week’s round. The Dolphins will name Max Plath on the edge for their upcoming match, with regular starter Connelly Lemuelu unavailable.

    In Canberra, Raiders legend Josh Papalii will make his final starting appearance at the club’s home ground, in front of a home crowd before his impending retirement from the NRL. The Raiders face the struggling Brisbane Broncos, who have recalled experienced halfback Ben Hunt to the starting line-up, with Hayze Perham stepping into the line-up to replace the injured Reece Walsh.

  • Gold Coast-based eyewear brand worn by celebrities collapses into liquidation, brand facing $600k fire sale

    Gold Coast-based eyewear brand worn by celebrities collapses into liquidation, brand facing $600k fire sale

    Valley Eyewear, the Australian-founded sunglasses brand that counted A-list celebrities including Chris Hemsworth, Margot Robbie, and Kanye West among its high-profile wearers, has been placed into liquidation following a Federal Court order, launching an urgent fire sale of more than AU$600,000 in inventory and business assets.

    Established in 2011 on Australia’s Gold Coast by ex-Quiksilver marketing executive Michael Crawley, his wife Tenielle Crawley, and their long-time friend Matthew Grippo, the brand grew from a local startup to a globally recognized label, with distribution across more than 20 countries. It built a reputation for edgy, stylish designs that resonated with both consumers and famous figures, cementing its status as a popular accessories label both at home in Australia and abroad.

    But behind its public growth, tensions between the three co-founders escalated into a public court battle, ultimately leading to the court order for urgent liquidation and sale of the company. The liquidation order also extends to House of Valley, a sister entity registered earlier this year to open a new brick-and-mortar retail store and on-site optometry clinic in Burleigh Heads, which has now collapsed alongside the original brand.

    Federal Court appointed James Robba and Jason Bettles from insolvency firm Worrells to oversee the liquidation process. The full asset package up for sale includes not only the brand’s large inventory of new sunglasses and optical equipment, but also motor vehicles owned by the business, general plant and equipment, all intellectual property rights, existing customer databases, and the brand’s established digital and social media presence.

    Robba confirmed that the business will continue normal day-to-day operations while the urgent sale campaign progresses, noting that the insolvency team is working closely with company directors, employees, and other key stakeholders to facilitate a smooth process. “Our objective is to give interested parties the opportunity to acquire the business of the companies, while seeking to maximise the outcome for all stakeholders,” Robba told local outlet The Courier Mail.

    In a surprising development just two days before the liquidation order was issued, Tenielle Crawley registered a new entity named Valley Eyewear Group, with herself and Robert Fullagar listed as co-directors. On the same day, the Crawleys launched a second new firm, Crawley Family Holdings, which now holds a majority stake in the newly registered Valley Eyewear Group. Details on the future plans for the new entity have not been released to the public.

    While the full internal circumstances leading to the brand’s collapse have not been made public, this is not the first time the company has faced significant controversy. In 2018, Valley Eyewear drew widespread global backlash after it used the Spomenik Holocaust memorial in Croatia, a site honoring 70,000 people executed during World War II, as a backdrop for an advertising campaign for its “Black Zero” sunglasses collection. The brand quickly issued a public apology, removed all campaign content, and claimed it had been completely unaware of the historical sensitivity of the location at the time of shooting.

  • Bendigo Bank hit with new conditions over ‘longstanding’ management weaknesses

    Bendigo Bank hit with new conditions over ‘longstanding’ management weaknesses

    Australia’s top banking regulator has taken stiff enforcement action against one of the country’s major regional lenders, forcing it to commit an additional $70 million to fix widespread, long-standing failures in anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorism financing (CTF) controls that slipped through years of internal remediation work.

    The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) announced the new binding licence conditions for Bendigo and Adelaide Bank on Tuesday, capping off a 12-month industry probe that was triggered after the bank itself commissioned global consulting firm Deloitte to investigate suspicious activity at a single branch in late 2025. What investigators initially expected to be an isolated issue quickly expanded into a company-wide audit that uncovered systemic gaps in how the bank manages financial crime risk, spanning every core layer of its AML/CTF framework.

    Deloitte’s final root-cause analysis confirmed widespread failures across multiple critical functions: the bank’s approach to AML/CTF risk mapping, enhanced customer due diligence protocols, enterprise-wide risk oversight, automated transaction monitoring systems, and customer risk rating processes all fell short of regulatory requirements. The review also confirmed that the gaps left the bank vulnerable to potential compliance breaches between August 1, 2019 and August 1, 2025.

    APRA’s formal order lays out four distinct categories of material weaknesses that prompted the new regulatory action. First, deficiencies in non-financial risk management are embedded across the entire organization, not limited to a single division or branch. Second, the bank lacks a clear, comprehensive and accurate understanding of its own regulatory obligations, material risk exposures, and key internal controls. Third, there are significant gaps in governance structures, accountability frameworks, compliance management systems, and overall risk management capacity across the bank. Finally, these core weaknesses have persisted for years, even as the bank carried out a multi-year enterprise-wide risk transformation initiative known as BEN+.

    To address these failures, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank will invest $70 million over the next three years to overhaul its risk management systems, with the full cost already allocated to the bank’s 2026 financial year results. APRA is also retaining an existing $50 million financial penalty that it imposed on the bank in a previous enforcement action related to the same issues, bringing the total cost of the failures to $120 million for the lender.

    Therese McCarthy Hockey, APRA’s Deputy Chair, emphasized in a statement that the new licence conditions reflect the severity of the unaddressed risk gaps uncovered by the probe. “The weaknesses identified by the root cause analysis are significant, longstanding and require decisive action,” she said. McCarthy Hockey added that the regulator acknowledges the cooperative approach the bank has taken so far, and that APRA is encouraged by the board’s public commitment to resolving all identified concerns fully, promptly and effectively. She also confirmed that despite the risk management failures, the bank remains financially sound with no threat to its current operations or customer deposits.

    Richard Fennell, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank’s Chief Executive, acknowledged the severity of the gaps in an official response on Tuesday. “Our current non-financial risk management capabilities are clearly not where they need to be, and our risk rectification plan will be designed to drive a fundamental shift in our management of non-financial risk,” Fennell said. He added that the three-year remediation plan will deliver wholesale improvements to the bank’s risk governance and compliance infrastructure to bring the bank back into full alignment with Australian regulatory requirements.

  • WA Police apologise for failings in investigation into Aussie mum’s 2014 death, initially treated as suicide

    WA Police apologise for failings in investigation into Aussie mum’s 2014 death, initially treated as suicide

    It has been more than 10 years since 24-year-old mother Amy Wensley was found dead from a gunshot wound to the head at her home in Serpentine, southern Perth, Australia. What has been a source of unrelenting heartache for her family is that from the earliest hours of the case, the investigation was derailed by critical missteps that left the circumstances of her death a permanent unanswered question.

    In June 2014, when Wensley’s death was first discovered, investigating detectives made an immediate, premature call that the incident was a suicide. That hasty conclusion set the course for a deeply flawed investigation: key forensic opportunities were missed, critical evidence was never properly collected, and alternative lines of inquiry were never explored. Years later, a formal coronial inquest into the case confirmed that gaps from the initial probe left insufficient evidence to officially rule on how Wensley died.

    Following the inquest’s findings, the case was referred to Western Australia’s Department of Public Prosecutions and the state police Cold Case Unit for formal review. Over the past two years, a team of dedicated investigators has been re-examining every scrap of available evidence and witness testimony related to Wensley’s death.

    In January 2024, WA Police Commissioner Col Blanche took the unprecedented step of meeting face-to-face with Wensley’s mother Nancy Kirk and other members of her family. During that meeting, the state’s top police official publicly acknowledged the significant shortcomings of the initial investigation and issued a formal apology to the grieving family.

    “Amy’s death has had a profound impact on those who loved her, and questions surrounding the circumstances of her death have remained unanswered for more than a decade,” a WA Police Force spokesperson shared in a formal statement.

    Wensley, a young mother of two small daughters at the time of her death, has been the focus of her family’s relentless fight for answers for more than a decade. In a major shift to advance the stalled investigation, WA Police have now offered a $1 million reward for any information that leads to the identification and conviction of any person or persons responsible for Wensley’s death.

    The reward marks a clear signal of law enforcement’s renewed commitment to closing the case. “The reward reflects the WA Police Force’s ongoing commitment to resolving the unanswered circumstances surrounding Amy’s death,” the spokesperson said. “Investigators believe there may be people who hold information about Amy’s death who have not yet come forward, or who may now be prepared to speak with police. Even information that may appear insignificant could assist the investigation.”

    Acknowledging the extraordinary persistence Wensley’s family has shown in their decade-long search for justice, the spokesperson reiterated that the force remains committed to exhausting every possible investigative avenue to get answers. Anyone with any details related to the 2014 death is urged to contact Crime Stoppers to share information.

  • Leading candidates emerge as Roosters legends receive support for coaching roles

    Leading candidates emerge as Roosters legends receive support for coaching roles

    The Sydney Roosters, one of the National Rugby League’s (NRL) most dominant powerhouse clubs, is bracing for major changes to its senior coaching staff ahead of the 2027 season, with two key assistant positions set to open up by the end of the current calendar year. While much of the recent rugby league media focus has centered on Sam Walker’s future with the club, the impending departures of two top assistants have flown under the radar — and the club already has strong internal candidates ready to step into the gaps.

    Current assistant coach Matt King will depart the Roosters at the end of the year to take on the head coaching role for the NSW Blues, the state’s representative side in the annual State of Origin series. Fellow assistant Michael Cheika is also expected to leave the club to return to his rugby union roots, where he will take the helm of the NSW Waratahs. Their exits will leave two critical vacancies on head coach Trent Robinson’s staff, but the Roosters do not need to conduct a far-reaching external search to find qualified replacements.

    Three former club legends already embedded in the Roosters’ development pathways and youth coaching systems are top contenders for the roles, joining current staff member Tait Barnes on the senior coaching team.

    Boyd Cordner, the Roosters’ former premiership-winning captain, has already claimed back-to-back titles leading the club’s SG Ball under-19 side since retiring from playing. Jake Friend, the club’s veteran former hooker, has spent his post-playing career working closely with the Roosters’ first-grade forward pack and developing young talent through the club’s pathway programs. Brett Morris, a legendary club winger, has also built up extensive coaching experience with the first-grade squad since hanging up his playing boots.

    Current Roosters forward Nat Butcher, speaking to reporters on a sunny Tuesday at Sydney’s Bondi Beach, offered high praise for the three former stars, highlighting how their legacy at the club already commands respect from the current playing group.

    “As a leader, the biggest thing was ‘Boydo’ always led through his actions and not his words. As a player, that’s probably what I remember the most,” Butcher said. “Obviously as a coach, you can’t lead by your actions on the field. But when Boyd speaks, everyone listens and we do what he says because he’s a man that’s done it before. You believe what he says, and if you back that up, you’ll get the result that you’re after.”

    Butcher also emphasized Friend’s deep institutional knowledge of the Roosters’ long-standing playing system, built over decades of working under head coach Trent Robinson. “Jake Friend has lived and breathed Roosters footy and knows our system like the back of his hand,” he said. “Whether they step up into that role as well, that would be great to see. But if not, then I’m sure there’ll be someone else.”

    Cordner, who currently also serves as an assistant coach for the Blues, is widely regarded as one of the greatest modern-era leaders for the Roosters, NSW Blues, and Australian Kangaroos national side. Butcher admitted he never expected Cordner or Friend to transition into full-time senior coaching after their retirements, but said their decades of experience at the club make them ideal candidates. “No I didn’t, just because I was in awe of them so much as a player,” Butcher said. “But like I said, they know our system better than anyone, and being coached under Robbo for so many years, I know they understand what he’s about and would be able to do a great job if they got that gig.”

    Roosters outside back Billy Smith echoed Butcher’s confidence, pointing to the club’s successful track record of developing homegrown coaches who go on to lead top NRL sides, including Craig Fitzgibbon, Jason Ryles and Adam O’Brien, all of whom started as Roosters assistants before taking head coaching roles at rival clubs. Smith said he has observed Cordner and the other candidates’ coaching work over the past several years, and is confident they are prepared to handle the added responsibility of promotion to the NRL first-grade coaching staff.

    “I’m confident that we have an amazing group of young coaches,” Smith said. “I’m sure whoever they put in internally or externally will be the right fit for the job. I think as players, it’s nice to have those guys around the club because they’ve lived it, they’ve walked it. You respect those guys a lot because you’ve seen them do it, and not too long ago either. It’s really nice to have those guys still around the club. If they do that, great. If not, then we’ll respect them equally as well.”

  • Trump threatens to bomb Oman if it gets in way of Iran deal

    Trump threatens to bomb Oman if it gets in way of Iran deal

    In a provocative new escalation of tensions surrounding the six-month-long conflict over the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. President Donald Trump issued an explicit threat Monday to bomb U.S. Gulf ally Oman if the nation interferes with ongoing American efforts to strike a new agreement with Iran over control of the critical global energy chokepoint. The threat, delivered during an interview with Fox News correspondent Trey Yingst, comes as growing political pressure mounts on Trump to end the military stalemate that has sent global fuel prices soaring and sparked widespread public opposition ahead of November’s critical U.S. midterm elections, where Republicans are fighting to retain control of Congress.

    The narrow Strait of Hormuz, which connects major Persian Gulf oil and gas producers to global shipping markets, has been effectively closed to most commercial traffic by Iranian forces since the outbreak of conflict on February 28. The waterway, which carries roughly 20 percent of the world’s daily oil supplies, remains the core sticking point in the deadlocked standoff between Washington and Tehran. Iran controls the strait’s northern coastline, while Oman occupies its southern bank, and Muscat has been engaged in weeks of bilateral negotiations with Tehran to hammer out new navigation arrangements for the passage. As of Monday, Iran’s foreign ministry confirmed the two nations were finalizing a joint declaration outlining their proposed framework – a development that triggered Trump’s aggressive rhetoric.

    “If Oman gets in the way, we’ll bomb the shit out of them,” Trump told Yingst, referencing the ongoing Omani-Iranian talks. As of Tuesday, Omani officials had not issued any public response to the U.S. president’s remarks. The negotiations between Muscat and Tehran follow the collapse of an earlier Pakistan-mediated interim deal between the U.S. and Iran designed to reopen the strait to commercial traffic. Renewed fighting over the waterway immediately derailed that agreement, spreading the conflict to other Gulf nations and disrupting commercial shipping routes across the entire Middle East.

    In addition to threatening Oman, Trump repeated his demand that Iran surrender unconditionally to end the conflict, according to Yingst’s account of the interview posted to the social platform X. The president has repeatedly claimed the U.S. already controls the strait, despite public data showing commercial traffic through the passage remains severely restricted. Just days earlier, Trump sparked a sharp new retaliation from Tehran when he announced he would claim the entire Strait of Hormuz as U.S. territory, a move Iran dismissed by reaffirming the chokepoint “will remain Iranian.”

    The conflict has emerged as a major political liability for Trump and congressional Republicans, with volatile fuel prices and broad public disapproval of the war dragging down poll numbers ahead of the midterm elections. Despite this pressure, Trump insisted Monday he is in no rush to finalize a new agreement, confirming that his administration maintains a direct back-channel communication link with leaders of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. “They’re good poker players, but they’re dying,” Trump was quoted as saying of the Iranian leadership.

    Tehran has leveraged its control of the strait to push back against U.S.-led efforts to destroy its military capacity and force the country to abandon its contested nuclear power program. Iran’s current demands include formal recognition of its right to control access to the waterway and collect transit fees from passing ships – terms the U.S. has repeatedly rejected outright. Parallel to Iran’s closure of Hormuz, Iran-aligned Houthi forces in Yemen have implemented a separate maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea ports, the only alternative export route for the kingdom’s oil, amplifying the global supply crunch.

    Trump’s aggressive new rhetoric comes as international allies continue to press for a diplomatic resolution to the crisis. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke with Trump by phone Monday, according to Turkey’s state-run Anadolu News Agency, and stressed the urgent need to “fully utilize diplomacy” to de-escalate tensions between Washington and Tehran. Erdogan reaffirmed that Ankara would continue supporting all regional and international efforts to secure a peaceful negotiated settlement to the conflict. Major oil-importing nations have repeatedly warned that the ongoing closure of the strait risks long-term global energy market instability and widespread economic damage.

  • Make it rain: Indonesia chases clouds to stem El Nino fires

    Make it rain: Indonesia chases clouds to stem El Nino fires

    On the tarmac of Tjilik Riwit Airport in Palangka Raya, Central Kalimantan, technicians from Indonesia’s National Disaster Management Agency carefully load canisters of sodium chloride into a waiting aircraft. This routine pre-flight preparation is part of a high-stakes gambit: the Southeast Asian nation is turning to cloud seeding to curb an unprecedented wildfire crisis amplified by one of the strongest El Niño events in recent decades.

    Indonesia’s biodiverse Borneo island, a region home to old-growth pristine rainforest and globally protected endangered species, is ablaze this dry season. Official government data confirms more than 100,000 hectares of land have already burned in the first six months of 2024. But independent analysis from deforestation monitoring project Nusantara Atlas paints a far grimmer picture, putting the total burned area through July at over 285,000 hectares—an expanse more than four times the geographic size of Indonesia’s capital Jakarta.

    Cloud seeding, a weather modification technique that disperses silver iodide, salt particles and other nucleating agents into existing clouds to stimulate rain formation, is not a common tool for wildfire suppression across the globe. But for Indonesia, the strategy carries urgent weight: the country is still recovering from the devastating 2015 wildfire season, which was also driven by a strong El Niño, burned millions of hectares of forest and peatland, and sparked a transboundary toxic haze crisis that disrupted daily life across Malaysia, Singapore and southern Thailand.

    Unlike popular misconception, cloud seeding does not create new clouds, explained meteorologist Safillah Anggie Wahyuni, who has accumulated more than 300 flight hours on cloud seeding missions since she carried out her first operation three years ago. Instead, the technique works by maximizing the rainfall potential of existing cloud formations. “Weather modification will only be effective if the conditions are right,” Safillah told AFP during an overflight of fire-stricken Central Kalimantan.

    Data from Indonesia’s national meteorological agency BMKG shows the country has dramatically scaled up cloud seeding operations in recent years: between 2021 and August 2024, crews carried out 252 missions, compared to just 85 operations across the entire preceding decade. While many of these missions have targeted flood reduction by drawing rain away from vulnerable populated areas, a growing share is now focused on dousing active wildfire hotspots and wetting down parched, highly flammable peatland ecosystems. Currently, dozens of helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft are on standby across the country to deploy cloud seeding at short notice, with security officials maintaining round-the-clock monitoring for any formation of rain-bearing clouds.

    Still, the technique remains controversial, and the vast majority of Indonesia’s firefighting work still happens on the ground, where nearly 50,000 frontline firefighters are currently deployed across fire-prone regions. Critics point out that during the peak dry season, when wildfires are most intense and El Niño brings prolonged drought, clouds are often too scarce for cloud seeding to deliver meaningful results.

    “Its effectiveness will be very low because of the lack of clouds,” said I Putu Santikayasa, a hydroclimatology lecturer at IPB University, located south of Jakarta. Beyond the issue of limited cloud cover, researchers have also noted that measuring the actual efficacy of cloud seeding remains methodologically challenging, while concerns have been raised about potential environmental harm from widespread silver iodide use and the high cost of sustained operations.

    BMKG’s weather modification director Budi Harsoyo acknowledged that cloud seeding is only a temporary mitigation measure, not a long-term solution to Indonesia’s wildfire crisis. He also pushed back on safety concerns, noting there is no peer-reviewed evidence of harm from the levels of silver iodide used in current operations. A 2023 study authored by Harsoyo found that a 12-day cloud seeding operation in Central Kalimantan doubled expected rainfall and eliminated all mapped active fire hotspots during the operation period.

    Environmental activists go further, arguing that technical fixes like cloud seeding distract from the root causes of Indonesia’s recurring wildfire crises. A large share of the country’s fire-prone land is made up of tropical peatlands: carbon-dense ecosystems that are highly water-retentive and fire-resistant when intact, but turn extremely flammable when drained for agricultural development, with underground fires that can smolder for months and reignite suddenly when conditions are dry.

    Uli Arta Siagian, campaign coordinator for local environmental advocacy group WALHI, argues the core solution is protecting these vulnerable ecosystems from unsustainable development, rather than relying on emergency interventions after fires break out. “The responsibility for protection lies with the state by not issuing permits in areas that are vulnerable to fire,” she told AFP.

    The 2024 wildfire season has already renewed regional concerns about transboundary haze, a recurring diplomatic and public health issue for Indonesia’s neighbors Malaysia and Singapore. In recent weeks, elevated haze from Borneo fires has pushed air pollution levels far past safe limits in the Malaysian portion of the island, forcing authorities to close hundreds of schools to protect children’s health.

    Beyond cloud seeding, the Indonesian government has deployed a suite of additional response measures: ongoing peatland rewetting projects to restore water levels in drained ecosystems, satellite and ground-based monitoring of fire hotspots, and new enforcement directives for local governments. Large-scale plantation operators are banned from using fire to clear land, though the exemption for small-scale smallholders means the practice remains widespread, and is blamed for igniting the majority of annual wildfires. The country’s environment minister has now ordered local authorities to strengthen preventive patrols and pursue full legal penalties, including fines and criminal prosecution, for anyone caught carrying out illegal burning.

    Climate scientists warn that this year’s extreme fire activity has been supercharged by the powerful El Niño event, a naturally occurring climate pattern that alters global wind, pressure and rainfall patterns, typically bringing severe drought to Indonesia. Already, the total burned area in just the first half of 2024 exceeds the total burned across the whole of 2023, the last year El Niño formed. Climate campaign group 350.org warned this week that human-caused climate change is amplifying the risk of extreme El Niño-driven fire seasons, noting that current El Niño conditions are occurring on top of already elevated global average temperatures that make extreme drought and fire far more likely.

  • Transylvania’s fortified churches face fragile future

    Transylvania’s fortified churches face fragile future

    Nestled among the rolling hills of central Romania, Transylvania’s network of medieval fortified churches stands as a lasting monument to the region’s complex multicultural history. But decades of demographic shift, limited funding, and slow decay have left these iconic heritage sites at risk of disappearing entirely — a threat made starkly visible earlier this June, when an outer wall of the 15th-century fortified church in the small village of Mosna collapsed overnight.

    The Mosna church holds deep personal and cultural meaning for the local community: it was visited by Britain’s King Charles III in 1998, draws roughly 4,000 tourists annually, and has been a cornerstone of village life for generations. For 74-year-old Mariana Rempler, the last remaining German-speaking Saxon resident of Mosna, the collapse was a devastating loss. Baptized and married within the church’s stone walls, she described the incident as a personal blow. “I felt a great pain inside me. It was as if I had collapsed at the same time with that wall,” she told AFP, recalling the night of the collapse through tears.

    More than 160 fortified churches dot the Transylvanian landscape, all constructed between the 13th and 16th centuries by ethnic German Saxon settlers who were invited to populate the region’s disputed borderlands. Designed to double as defensive strongholds, the churches allowed local communities to take shelter from invading Tatar and Ottoman forces, becoming central to both the physical protection and cultural identity of the Saxon minority for centuries.

    Today, that demographic foundation has all but vanished. Before World War II, some 300,000 Saxons called Transylvania home. Decades of outmigration, accelerated by mass escapes from the brutal communist dictatorship of Nicolae Ceausescu in the second half of the 20th century, have left that number at just around 10,000. With few original community members remaining to maintain the sites, many churches have fallen into disrepair, joining hundreds of other historic monuments across Romania — one of the poorest countries in the European Union — that have succumbed to neglect.

    Even sites like Mosna, which received partial renovation after the fall of communism in 1989, remain at severe risk, as securing consistent funding for ongoing upkeep and major repairs has grown increasingly difficult. Cristian Cismaru, manager of the non-profit Fortified Churches Foundation, which partners with Romania’s Evangelical Church to preserve the sites using grants and donations (85% of which come from the EU), estimates that only half of the 160-plus fortified churches — around 80 total, including Mosna — have been restored or are scheduled for repairs over the next five years.

    “I don’t think we’ll be able to address the other half of our heritage in our lifetime. That will be left for future generations,” Cismaru told reporters at a recent community outreach event for tourists in Cincsor, a village 40 miles southeast of Mosna.

    To secure the long-term future of the sites, Cismaru and his team are pushing for a radical new approach to heritage stewardship. No longer able to rely on traditional congregational support, the foundation argues the churches need a “new concept for survival” that repurposes them as active cultural hubs rather than purely religious sites. As part of this strategy, the foundation has launched community tourism programs that direct a third of all ticket revenues to local development projects, tying the preservation of the churches to the economic well-being of the surrounding villages. This year, the annual national festival dedicated to Saxon heritage, centered on the fortified churches, drew a record-breaking 10,000 visitors, a sign that public interest in the sites remains strong.

    In Mosna, the wall collapse has actually drawn a small surge of curious tourists to the village’s main attraction, where hundreds of fallen bricks, covered by a plastic tarp, still sit piled at the base of the church’s remaining unsupported tower. The tower was stabilized with wooden beams back in 2017, and Rempler fears it could be next to fall without immediate intervention. She visits the site almost every day to photograph the growing visible cracks, documenting the decay in the hope of spurring authorities and preservation groups to act quickly.

    Many tourists who visit the site remain optimistic that repairs will eventually move forward. “The blend of Gothic and defensive elements is always interesting. All in all, the concept of a fortified church is quite intriguing,” said Francois Regis, a 53-year-old French tourist visiting with his wife, who praised the church’s overall condition outside of the damaged northern section.

    Rempler shares that hope, saying she prays the collapse of the outer wall will serve as a critical wake-up call for stakeholders to secure funding and save the site. “It would be a shame for us to let it fall into ruin,” she said.

  • A Viking longship in ‘The Odyssey’? It’s a case of history meets Hollywood

    A Viking longship in ‘The Odyssey’? It’s a case of history meets Hollywood

    More than two millennia separate the Bronze Age era of Homer’s *The Odyssey* from the Viking age that gave rise to iconic Nordic longships. Yet this striking chronological gap did not stop one world-famous modern Viking ship replica from taking a key spot in Christopher Nolan’s highly anticipated new blockbuster — all thanks to the director’s relentless commitment to practical, real-world filmmaking and the craft of a team of Norwegian shipbuilders and sailors.

    The vessel in question is Draken Harald Harfagre, the largest functional replica of a Viking longship built in modern history. Fitted with tar-soaked rigging, a weathered solid oak deck, and 50 hand-carved spruce oars, the ship is normally moored as a cultural landmark in Oslo, Norway’s capital. For Nolan, however, its anachronistic Viking origins were irrelevant: the ship’s overall shape, construction, and open-sea capability perfectly matched his vision of a Bronze Age trading vessel fit for Odysseus’ legendary post-Trojan War journey. To fit the film’s ancient Greek setting, the ship only required one small modification: the removal of its traditional dragon figurehead, a signature feature of actual Viking vessels from the 8th to 11th centuries.

    Nolan, long famous for rejecting overreliance on computer-generated imagery (CGI) in favor of practical effects and real locations, explained the choice in a recent US television interview: “We found a Viking ship that had been built exactly according to those ancient specifications. And it was very much the whole shape and the rig that we needed to do a Bronze Age ship.” Unlike digital props that can be perfectly manipulated on a screen, the real vessel demanded that cast and crew learn the practical work of traditional sailing: Nolan’s team integrated the Draken’s own experienced sailors into the film’s production crew, and lead actors — including A-lister Matt Damon, who plays Odysseus — trained alongside them to master sailing skills from raising the sail to rowing in sync.

    For months, the Draken sailed through filming locations off the coasts of Greece, Italy, and Scotland, with the ship’s permanent crew rubbing shoulders with Hollywood’s biggest names. Trammell Hudson, one of the Draken’s regular sailors, recalled a chaotic on-set moment that embodied the unscripted authenticity of practical filming: “There was one day where one of the actors who was sitting in front of me got seasick and threw up over the rail. It blew back on me. I thought that would be my big scene, because the IMAX camera was very focused on him and me in the background dodging the debris. But I didn’t see that particular scene in the film.”

    Nolan’s adaptation follows Odysseus’ treacherous 10-year voyage back to his home island of Ithaca following the end of the Trojan War, a story rooted in 12th century BCE Greek legend. For the Draken’s expedition director Emanuel Persson, the choice to use a real, functional sailing ship rather than a digital or soundstage replica adds an intangible authenticity that audiences can perceive. “Most of the scenes would be completely different if it wasn’t for us being there, doing the real thing with the real ship and the real crew in the real ocean and real weather,” he said during the ship’s recent return to Oslo. “I think the viewers can actually feel the genuine materials. I don’t know if you can really smell the tar, but you can tell it’s really genuine handicraft instead of being a digital creation.”

    Bjorn Ahlander, captain of the Draken, praised the cast for their grit while working in tough open-sea conditions. “Matt Damon was very nice and very good. Never complained. Every one of the actors was out for a long time and it was very cold and sometimes rough,” he said. “No complaints, nothing, never. So that was fantastic to see.” Coordinating up to 100 rowers on the longship was no small feat, Hudson added: with oars measuring several meters long, perfect synchronization is required to avoid tangling, and rough seas brought unexpected jolts. He recalled one incident where a direct collision with an oncoming wave threw him and his rowing partner nearly 1.5 meters into the air.

    Not all behind-the-scenes stories from the production are positive, however. Like Penelope, Odysseus’ faithful wife who waited a decade for his return, the owners of a second Viking ship from neighboring Sweden that also featured in the film have endured a long wait of their own: after the vessel sustained damage during filming, they have waited more than a year for the promised compensation, a sour note amid the otherwise triumphant collaboration between history and Hollywood.