标签: Oceania

大洋洲

  • Mortgage holders hit with third rate rise but the real pain is delayed

    Mortgage holders hit with third rate rise but the real pain is delayed

    Australia’s central bank has extended its streak of monetary policy tightening, delivering a third straight 25-basis-point increase to the official cash rate that has lifted the benchmark to 4.35%. But a leading finance industry analyst is sounding the alarm: the full weight of these successive hikes has yet to hit struggling household budgets, with the most severe mortgage pain still on the horizon.

    Following its two-day policy meeting, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) announced the latest rate increase last Tuesday, with eight of the nine-member governing board supporting the hike and one member pushing to hold rates steady at 4.1%. The move follows matching 25-basis-point hikes in February and March, bringing the cumulative increase this cycle to 75 basis points. This puts rates back exactly where they stood in January 2025, before the RBA delivered three rate cuts through that year. The RBA justified the move by pointing to persistent inflation, which remains at 4.6% – far above the central bank’s 2-3% target range. Officials signaled future hikes remain on the table, noting they will closely monitor incoming economic data and shifting global economic conditions.

    RBA Governor Michele Bullock acknowledged that geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, specifically the disruption to oil supplies through the Strait of Hormuz – which carries roughly 20% of the world’s daily oil consumption – have already strained household budgets through higher fuel costs. Still, she argued that allowing inflation to remain entrenched would create far worse outcomes. “Australians are poorer because of this shock to oil prices. We are poorer and there is no way out of that, but the trade off is much worse,” Bullock said. “Now I understand this is a really difficult time for households who are already facing higher fuel prices and other cost of living pressures, but we must get on top of inflation now so that it doesn’t get away from us.”

    Sally Tindall, director of data insights at finance comparison platform Canstar, explained why the full impact of the three hikes has not yet reached mortgage holders. While banks calculate accrued interest on a daily basis, they do not immediately demand higher repayments from customers. Instead, lenders send formal notifications of changed repayment amounts and give borrowers a grace period to adjust their budgets before the new higher payments take effect. Among Australia’s largest lenders, Tindall noted Commonwealth Bank gives customers a minimum of 20 days from notification to the first higher payment, while the other three major banks require at least 30 days. In practice, this staggered implementation means it takes two to three months for all rate hikes to flow through to borrower repayments. As a result, many households are still only paying the higher rate from the first February hike, and have yet to absorb the increases from March and the latest May move. Tindall added that while the delayed timeline can confuse borrowers, it ultimately works in consumers’ favor by giving them breathing room to adjust their finances.

    To date, more than 40 Australian lenders have confirmed they will pass the full 25-basis-point May hike on to mortgage holders, a group that includes Australia’s four largest banks: Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, NAB and ANZ. All four big banks will implement the higher rates from May 15. It is expected that smaller lenders, many of which do not make public announcements about rate changes, will follow suit. Major bank leaders have acknowledged the added pressure on households and highlighted support available for struggling borrowers, alongside increased rates for savers that can offset some cost-of-living pressures. “We recognise many customers are already managing higher living costs, and further rate increases could add to that pressure,” said Angus Sullivan, group executive of retail banking at Commonwealth Bank. “Our focus is on supporting customers to stay on top of their finances, with practical tools, clear guidance and access to help when it is needed.”

    Westpac chief executive of consumer Carolyn McCann echoed that commitment, noting that ongoing Middle East tensions have amplified global economic uncertainty and inflationary pressures. “Right now our focus is on helping customers through the current economic environment. We encourage customers who are feeling stretched to reach out early. We have a range of support options available and our teams are ready to help,” she said. “We’ve also increased deposit rates which will provide some relief for savers who are navigating higher living costs.”

    Canstar’s analysis puts the tangible cost of the latest hike in perspective: for a borrower holding a $600,000 mortgage with 25 years remaining on their loan, the May increase will add roughly $91 to monthly repayments. When combined with the two prior hikes, the cumulative increase pushes average monthly repayments up by $272 from pre-hike levels. If rates hold steady for the next 12 months, that adds up to an extra $3,265 in annual mortgage costs compared to a scenario with no 2026 hikes.

    Even though rates have only returned to 2025 levels, Tindall warned that today’s economic landscape means the burden is far heavier for households. Cost-of-living pressures have intensified dramatically over the past 16 months: grocery prices have climbed, national electricity rebates have expired, and global oil market disruptions have sent fuel prices soaring. “The pressure is actually higher this time around,” Tindall said. “For some households it will be a mountain that is too high to climb and they won’t have the funds for it.”

    Tindall noted that Australian households are currently split along sharply different financial lines: some borrowers have built equity buffers and are ahead on their mortgage repayments, while others are already teetering under the weight of soaring living costs. For borrowers struggling to meet new repayment requirements, she advised reaching out to their lender directly or contacting the free, independent national debt hotline to access support.

  • Militia kill at least 69 in NE DR Congo: local, security sources

    Militia kill at least 69 in NE DR Congo: local, security sources

    A brutal militia assault in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s restless northeastern province of Ituri has claimed the lives of at least 69 people, according to local and security sources who spoke to Agence France-Presse on Saturday. The massacre marks just the latest in a prolonged string of violent incidents that have rocked the gold-rich border region, which has grappled with years of destabilizing armed conflict.

    The attack, carried out by gunmen aligned with the Cooperative for the Development of Congo (Codeco) militia, was actually carried out at the end of April, sources confirmed. Ongoing instability driven by the persistent presence of Codeco fighters in the area prevented recovery teams from reaching the site to retrieve victims’ remains for multiple days, delaying the announcement of the full death toll.

    While security sources have confirmed a confirmed death toll of 69, Dieudonne Losa, a local civil protection official, told AFP the actual number of fatalities exceeds 70. A full accounting of victims is still ongoing as access to the area remains restricted.

    Codeco frames itself as a defender of the rights of the Lendu community, a population primarily made up of agricultural farmers, in long-running tensions with the Hema community, whose members largely work as pastoral herders. A second armed faction, the Convention for the Popular Revolution (CRP), operates in the province and says it advocates for the Hema community.

    The two groups are only among several armed actors active in the region. One of the most prominent is the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a faction formed by exiled Ugandan rebels that has sworn loyalty to the Islamic State group. Just two days before Saturday’s announcement of the Codeco attack, local and security sources reported that ADF fighters had killed at least 36 people across two days of assaults in Ituri and neighboring North Kivu province.

    Since 2021, the Ugandan People’s Defence Force has operated alongside the Congolese national military in northern North Kivu and across Ituri to coordinate counter-insurgency operations against the ADF. A notable complicating dynamic in the conflict is that the Congolese army has occasionally deployed Codeco fighters as auxiliary forces in its operations against other armed groups.

    Earlier on Saturday, the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO) issued a public warning of an accelerating “deadly” wave of attacks targeting civilian populations across the country’s unstable eastern borderlands. “Dozens of civilians have been killed in recent days” across Ituri, North Kivu, and South Kivu, the UN mission said, declining to share further details on the incidents at the time of the statement.

    Eastern DRC, a region teeming with valuable untapped mineral reserves, has been engulfed in overlapping cycles of armed conflict for nearly 30 years, involving dozens of militias, rebel factions, and national military forces. Civilians have consistently borne the brunt of the violence, with thousands displaced annually and hundreds killed in targeted attacks across the region.

  • Sinner opens Italian Open account, Sabalenka suffers shock early exit

    Sinner opens Italian Open account, Sabalenka suffers shock early exit

    The 2024 Italian Open in Rome delivered its first slate of dramatic upsets and statement wins on Saturday, as men’s world No. 1 Jannik Sinner lived up to massive home crowd expectations to launch his bid for a historic title, while two of the women’s top seeds suffered stunning early exits.

    Sinner, the 24-year-old Italian carrying the hopes of a nation that has not seen an Italian men’s champion at the Foro Italico since Adriano Panatta lifted the trophy 50 years ago, got his campaign off to a flawless start with a 6-3, 6-4 straight-sets victory over Austria’s Sebastian Ofner. The world No. 1 extended his incredible winning streak to 24 consecutive matches, wrapping up the contest in just 100 minutes in breezy Rome conditions, barely tested against his outmatched opponent. Even two brief stoppages in the second set to treat ill spectators did not disrupt his rhythm, with Sinner even finding reason to smile through the interruptions.

    The victory pushes Sinner into the third round, where he will face either Australia’s Alexei Popyrin or Czech teen Jakub Mensik. Buoyed by Sinner’s win, other Italian men also delivered strong results on home soil Saturday: 2023 Davis Cup winner Flavio Cobolli defeated France’s Terence Atmane 7-6(7/1), 6-3, while world No. 64 Mattia Bellucci upset 24th seed Tomas Martin Etcheverry 5-7, 6-2, 6-3 to book his spot in the fourth round. With last year’s champion Carlos Alcaraz sidelined from the tournament, Sinner enters the event as the heavy favorite to go one step further than his 2023 run, where he fell to Alcaraz in the final, and notch a record-extending fifth straight Masters 1000 title.

    Several other men’s story lines unfolded Saturday: former US Open champion Daniil Medvedev received a walkover into the third round after his scheduled opponent Tomas Machac withdrew from the tournament due to an unspecified illness, pushing back Medvedev’s opening match. Fourth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime suffered a shock second-round exit, falling to world No. 44 Mariano Navone of Argentina in straight sets 7-6(7/4), 7-6(7/5).

    The biggest story of the day, however, came on the women’s side, where world No. 1 and pre-tournament favorite Aryna Sabalenka was ousted in a stunning third-round upset by Romania’s Sorana Cirstea, 2-6, 6-3, 7-5. The result marks Sabalenka’s earliest tournament exit since the 2023 Qatar Open, and ends her bid for a first Italian Open title in Rome. Sabalenka started the match with a blistering first set, but dropped her level dramatically as the match went on, visibly frustrated by her performance and hampered by physical discomfort that forced her to call a medical timeout for lower back and left hip issues. The injury concern casts uncertainty over her fitness ahead of the French Open, scheduled to start later this month in Paris.

    For Cirstea, the upset marks the first win over a reigning world No. 1 in her 18-year professional career. She will advance to face Linda Noskova in the fourth round.

    Sabalenka’s early exit was followed by another upset of a home favorite: defending women’s champion Jasmine Paolini saw her title defense end in the third round at the hands of Belgium’s Elise Mertens, who claimed a 4-6, 7-6(7/5), 6-3 come-from-behind win. Paolini, who came into the match holding three match points on Mertens’ serve in the second set, failed to convert any of her chances, dropped the tiebreak, and could not recover her momentum in the decider. The result will push Paolini out of the women’s top 10 world rankings, extending her current slump that has seen her fail to reach the fourth round in four consecutive tournaments.

    Not all top seeds fell Saturday: reigning French Open champion Coco Gauff battled past Argentina’s qualifier Solana Sierra in a three-set thriller, 5-7, 6-0, 6-4, to advance to the next round and keep her Italian Open title bid alive.

  • Man City beat Brentford to close gap on leaders Arsenal

    Man City beat Brentford to close gap on leaders Arsenal

    The 2023-2024 Premier League title race remains unresolved after a tense Saturday clash at the Etihad Stadium, where Manchester City secured a critical 3-0 victory over Brentford to cut the gap to league leaders Arsenal to just two points. For long stretches of the match, it looked like Pep Guardiola’s side would drop crucial points in their bid for a fourth consecutive league crown, as Brentford’s organized defense held firm for almost an hour and City’s attackers looked sluggish and out of sync.

    The match opened with a series of close calls that foreshadowed the drama to come. City winger Jeremy Doku forced an early save from Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher, but it was City’s own keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma who nearly handed Brentford a shock opener. The Italian miskicked a clearance from Michael Kayode’s long throw, and the ball was only scrambled off the goal line at the last second. That near-disaster summed up City’s labored first half: star striker Erling Haaland sent a header high and wide from just six yards out after a pinpoint Doku cross, and later saw a close-range blast blocked by Kelleher, with Nathan Ake firing the rebound into the stands to the frustration of the home crowd. Midfielder Bernardo Silva also avoided a red card, picking up only a booking after lashing out at Brentford’s Nathan Collins.

    Brentford continued to push after halftime, with Donnarumma forced to make a solid save from Igor Thiago’s low drive to keep the score level. Recognizing his side needed a spark, Guardiola made a double substitution, bringing on Omar Marmoush and Phil Foden to inject energy into the attack. The tactical change paid off almost immediately, unlocking Brentford’s stubborn defense just 15 minutes later.

    In the 60th minute, Doku – who had scored two sensational curling goals against Everton earlier in the week – repeated his magic to break the deadlock. After his first attempt was blocked by a Brentford defender, the Belgian winger collected the rebound on the left edge of the penalty area and whipped a stunning strike into the top corner, marking his fourth goal in three matches. The goal lifted City, and Foden nearly doubled the lead minutes later, but Kelleher made another sharp close-range save to keep the match within reach for Brentford.

    Brentford still had chances to equalize: forward Kevin Schade had a late penalty appeal turned down after a challenge from Matheus Nunes, leaving the Bees empty-handed. In the 75th minute, Haaland settled any lingering nerves for City, scoring his 26th league goal of the season with a clever close-range backheel after his first attempt was blocked. Then, in stoppage time, Marmoush put the final polish on the result with a composed finish inside the box, boosting City’s goal difference to just one goal behind Arsenal’s.

    The result keeps Guardiola’s side firmly in the title hunt, putting immediate pressure on Arsenal, who face third-bottom West Ham United on Sunday. Following a 3-3 draw at Everton last Monday that had put the title firmly in Arsenal’s hands, City have done everything they can to force the leaders to drop points. If Mikel Arteta’s Gunners win their three remaining matches against West Ham, Burnley and Crystal Palace, they will claim their first top-flight title in 22 years, regardless of City’s results. City, however, hold a game in hand over Arsenal heading into this weekend’s action, and will return to league action against Crystal Palace at the Etihad on Wednesday before turning their focus to the FA Cup final against Chelsea on May 16.

  • Iran keeps US waiting for response on peace plan

    Iran keeps US waiting for response on peace plan

    Renewed naval hostilities in the Persian Gulf have thrown US-Iranian peace diplomacy into uncertainty, with Tehran leaving Washington waiting for a formal response to a US-backed truce proposal as both sides trade accusations of ceasefire violations. The unfolding crisis, which entered its 10th week following the opening US-Israeli strikes on Iran, has put fragile diplomatic efforts at risk and raised new concerns over global energy security and regional stability.

    On Friday, US President Donald Trump publicly stated he expected Tehran to deliver its answer to the latest negotiating proposal, shared via Pakistani mediators, by the end of the day. As of Saturday, no official public response had been announced, with Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson confirming only that the plan remained “under review”. In a call with his Turkish counterpart, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi cast serious doubt on Washington’s commitment to diplomacy, pointing to repeated US violations of the existing fragile ceasefire.

    “The recent escalation of tensions by American forces in the Persian Gulf and their numerous actions in violating the ceasefire have added to suspicions about the motivation and seriousness of the American side in the path of diplomacy,” Araghchi said, according to an account of the conversation published by Iran’s ISNA news agency. Trump nonetheless told French broadcaster LCI reporter Margot Haddad in a brief interview Saturday that he still anticipated receiving Iran’s response “very soon”.

    The latest escalation came Friday, when a US fighter jet attacked and disabled two Iranian-flagged tankers that Washington accused of violating its blockade of Iranian ports. A senior Iranian military official told local media that the Iranian navy had retaliated with defensive strikes against US assets. The incident followed a separate flare-up just one day earlier in the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most critical chokepoint for global oil shipments.

    Iran has long sought greater control over the strategic waterway as a tool to exert economic leverage against the US and its Western and regional allies, a goal Washington has repeatedly described as unacceptable. The US proposal delivered via Pakistan would extend the current fragile truce across the Gulf to create space for negotiations on a permanent end to the conflict, which began 10 weeks ago with joint US-Israeli military strikes on Iranian targets.

    Beyond the direct military clashes, the conflict has already created new environmental and economic risks. Satellite imagery collected by global monitoring firm Orbital EOS shows an oil slick spreading across more than 20 square miles off the west coast of Iran’s Kharg Island, the linchpin of the country’s oil export industry and a core asset for its war-battered economy. By Saturday, the UK-based Conflict and Environment Observatory reported the slick had shrunk significantly, adding that the leak likely stemmed from damaged or neglected oil infrastructure affected by ongoing conflict. Iran shut down most traffic through the Strait of Hormuz immediately after the war began on February 28, sending shockwaves through global energy markets and pushing oil prices sharply upward. The US responded with a full blockade of Iranian ports, and earlier this week Trump announced he was ending a short-lived US naval mission aimed at reopening the strait to commercial shipping.

    On Saturday, Britain announced it would deploy HMS Dragon, a Royal Navy destroyer, to the region as part of a joint British-French coalition planning to support commercial shipping and mine clearance once a durable ceasefire is reached. UK defence officials said the deployment is part of “prudent planning” intended to boost confidence among commercial vessel operators navigating the strategic waterway.

    Diplomatic efforts to de-escalate received support from Qatar, whose Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani met with US Vice President JD Vance in Washington DC Friday to discuss Pakistan’s brokered peace initiative. Qatar has nonetheless been drawn into the conflict: Iran has launched multiple attacks on Qatari territory in recent weeks, citing the country’s hosting of a major US military air base.

    Tensions are also running high on the conflict’s secondary front in Lebanon, where a parallel ceasefire between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah is also teetering amid daily cross-border exchanges of fire. Eight people were killed in Israeli air strikes across southern Lebanon Saturday, according to Lebanese authorities, while state media reported additional raids on a highway south of Beirut, an area outside Hezbollah’s traditional southern strongholds. An AFP correspondent on the scene documented two destroyed vehicles and emergency response teams working roughly 12 miles outside the Lebanese capital.

    Hezbollah retaliated Saturday by launching an armed drone attack targeting Israeli soldiers in northern Israel. The Israeli military confirmed multiple explosive drones crossed into its territory, reporting one army reservist suffered severe wounds and two other service members sustained moderate injuries in the attack. The fresh escalation comes just days before Lebanon and Israel — which have been officially at war since 1948 — are set to hold direct peace negotiations in Washington next week, a process Hezbollah has publicly and vehemently opposed.

  • Conflict inflames tensions at Venice Biennale of Art

    Conflict inflames tensions at Venice Biennale of Art

    The world’s most prestigious contemporary art gathering, the Venice Biennale, opens its doors to the public this Saturday against a backdrop of searing global geopolitical tension, as competing representations of warring nations have turned the iconic event into a flashpoint for international conflict. The proximity of participating pavilions for Russia, Ukraine, Israel, and Palestinian artistic collectives has sparked heated debate, with one key stakeholder comparing the arrangement to hosting a violent offender at a private gathering of friends. Just meters from Russia’s exhibition space in the Biennale’s central gardens sits a deer sculpture recovered from active front lines in Ukraine, a quiet but visceral symbol of the war that has split the artistic community since Moscow’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. Russia’s return to the Biennale, after a two-year absence following the invasion, triggered widespread international condemnation when the participation was announced in early March. Speaking on the ground in Venice Thursday, Ukrainian Culture Minister Tetiana Berejna delivered a scathing rebuke of the decision to allow Russia to participate. “Having them here in the Biennale is like inviting a serial killer to a dinner with your friends,” Berejna said, rejecting arguments that art should remain a space separate from geopolitics and welcome all participants regardless of state actions. She added that more than 340 Ukrainian artists have been killed by Russian forces since the start of the full-scale invasion, and that Russian forces have deliberately targeted Ukrainian cultural infrastructure. “When Russia comes to our country, they destroy our libraries, they burn our books, they destroy our museums,” she said. “Culture is targeted during this war.” The friction extends far beyond the ongoing war in Ukraine, as multiple other regions in active conflict have a presence at this year’s event. The United States and Israel, which launched a targeted strike on Iranian territory in late February, both maintain official pavilions; Iran, which was originally slated to participate, ultimately pulled out of the exhibition. Israel’s pavilion at the Arsenale, the Biennale’s sprawling secondary exhibition space housed in a former 19th-century shipyard, sits just a short walk from Ukraine’s national pavilion. While Palestine does not hold official state recognition from Italy and thus cannot host its own official national pavilion, a dedicated group exhibition focused on Gaza is being held at Venice’s Palazzo Mora, titled “Gaza – No Words – See the Exhibit”. Curator Faisal Saleh, founder of the Palestine Museum based in Connecticut, United States, said the exhibition was created to amplify Palestinian experiences amid ongoing military operations in Gaza. “There’s really no way to describe the horror that was inflicted upon the Palestinians in Gaza, and I don’t think we would want to be in the same place as the people who did that,” Saleh said. The heightened tensions have forced Italian authorities to deploy a permanent police presence near the Russian, Israeli, and U.S. pavilions, a visible reminder that the rifts from global war have the potential to spill over into the art event. According to Italian national news agency Ansa, roughly 2,000 protesters gathered in Venice Friday for a pro-Palestinian demonstration calling for the removal of Israel’s official pavilion from the Biennale. Earlier in the week, Russia’s pavilion became the site of a high-profile joint protest by members of Russian dissident group Pussy Riot and Ukrainian feminist collective Femen, where demonstrators marched with covered faces and bare chests to oppose Moscow’s participation. Biennale President Pietrangelo Buttafuoco defended the decision to include all participating entities, arguing that barring artists based on their nationality would undermine the event’s core purpose. “If the Biennale were to start selecting not works but affiliations, not visions but passports, it would cease to be what it has always been: the place where the world comes together, and all the more so when the world is torn apart,” Buttafuoco said Wednesday. That view is shared by many artists and Italian political leaders who argue art should not be reduced to a tool of political division. Israeli sculptor Belu-Simion Fainaru, whose installation “The Rose of Nothingness” features a water basin fed by a slow drip irrigation system, said the growing political rifts are eroding art’s fundamental mission. “The divisions at the Biennale were destroying the meaning of art… to unite people,” Fainalu told AFP. “I don’t think we should reduce the art world to a political arena.” Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini echoed that sentiment during a visit to the Biennale Friday, noting that individual artists should not be treated as official spokespeople for their governments’ military or political actions. “I don’t think American, Chinese, Israeli, or Russian artists are spokespeople for ongoing conflicts,” Salvini said. At the Palazzo Mora Gaza exhibition, around 100 hand-embroidered works created by Palestinian women living in refugee camps bring to life the experiences of people in Gaza over the past two years, with Saleh noting the pieces carry a raw power that outstrips even journalistic photography. In a bid to de-escalate tensions and center the theme of coexistence, event organizers scheduled three evenings of reflection focused on the theme of peace during the pre-opening week, featuring appearances by exiled Russian filmmaker Alexander Sokurov and prominent Palestinian writer and architect Suad Amiry.

  • Indonesia rescuers retrieve hiker’s body after volcanic eruption

    Indonesia rescuers retrieve hiker’s body after volcanic eruption

    Three hikers are dead after a sudden eruption of one of Indonesia’s most active volcanoes, and rescuers have recovered the first of the victims’ remains as hazardous conditions forced a temporary pause in search operations, Indonesian disaster management officials confirmed this weekend.

    Mount Dukono, located on Indonesia’s Halmahera Island in North Maluku, erupted Friday, blasting a dense ash plume 10 kilometers (6 miles) into the atmosphere. The eruption did not threaten populated areas nearby, with no towns or villages located close enough to face immediate danger, according to geological officials. However, the blast hit a group of 20 hikers who had entered the closed exclusion zone surrounding the volcano’s crater.

    Local police chief Erlichson Pasaribu confirmed Friday that three hikers were killed: two citizens of Singapore and one Indonesian national. The remaining 17 members of the hiking group, including seven other Singaporeans, were evacuated from the dangerous area unharmed, authorities said.

    On Saturday, a joint team of search and rescue personnel recovered the body of one victim, found alongside the hiker’s backpack at approximately 2:30 p.m. local time (0530 GMT), said Iwan Ramdani, head of the local search and rescue agency. Ramdani did not release the victim’s nationality prior to formal identification. The remains were transferred to a nearby local hospital for official identification processing. Photos released by the rescue agency show the recovery team carrying the victim, sealed in a black body bag, down the volcanic slope on a hand-built stretcher.

    Search operations for the two remaining victims have been temporarily suspended due to heavy rainfall and persistent volcanic ash in the area, Ramdani added. Teams are scheduled to resume their search on Sunday, weather conditions permitting.

    Indonesia’s national Centre for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation reported that Mount Dukono continued to experience fresh eruptions through Saturday, including one blast that sent an ash column 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) into the sky. Abdul Muhari, spokesman for Indonesia’s national disaster mitigation agency, said preliminary positioning data places the two remaining Singaporean victims roughly 20 to 30 meters (65 to 100 feet) from the volcano’s crater rim.

    Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed it is coordinating with the country’s embassy in Jakarta to provide consular support to affected citizens and their families, according to local Singaporean media reports.

    Mount Dukono has been classified at level two on Indonesia’s four-tiered volcanic alert system since 2008, marking it as an active, potentially dangerous volcano. In December 2024, Indonesian geological authorities expanded and enforced a 4-kilometer (2.5-mile) exclusion zone around the volcano’s crater, restricting all public access to the dangerous area, confirmed Lana Saria, head of the national Geology Agency.

    Despite repeated warnings, the group of hikers intentionally ignored both official warning signs posted at the trail entrance and public appeals shared on social media to stay out of the restricted zone, police chief Pasaribu said Friday.

    As a sprawling archipelagic nation located along the Pacific Ring of Fire, the geologically active boundary where multiple tectonic plates collide, Indonesia experiences hundreds of seismic and volcanic events every year. The country is home to roughly 130 active volcanoes, making it one of the most volcanically active regions on Earth.

  • Liverpool frustrated by Chelsea draw, Man Utd held at Sunderland

    Liverpool frustrated by Chelsea draw, Man Utd held at Sunderland

    The penultimate stretch of the English Premier League season delivered a raft of dramatic results that shook up the race for European spots and the title fight on Saturday.

    At Anfield, defending champions Liverpool saw a golden opportunity to move to the brink of next season’s Champions League qualification slip through their fingers, forced to share the points in a 1-1 draw with Chelsea. The hosts got off to a flying start just six minutes into the contest, as Ryan Gravenberch curled a perfectly placed strike past Chelsea’s goalkeeper to open the scoring. But the Blues responded before half time: Enzo Fernandez’s 35th-minute long-range free kick evaded every Liverpool player in the box and nestled into the bottom corner of the net, leveling the score.

    By full time, boos rang out around Anfield, a reflection of fan frustration with another underwhelming performance from the side. The result still moves fourth-placed Liverpool closer to securing Champions League football, holding a four-point advantage over sixth-place Bournemouth. Addressing fan discontent after the match, Liverpool manager Arne Slot said he remains confident he can win back supporter backing — but not during the current campaign. “Not this season by the way. This season they will have their opinion and it will not change,” Slot explained. “If we can have the summer that we are planning to have, then I’m 100 percent convinced that we will be a different team next season than we are now.”

    For Chelsea, the draw comes at a point where the club can no longer mathematically clinch a top-five finish, leaving them stuck in ninth place in the table. The Blues had entered the match on Merseyside having dropped six straight Premier League results, which ended their own European qualification hopes. Still, a far more organized, resolute performance offered interim head coach Calum McFarlane a much-needed boost heading into next weekend’s FA Cup final against Manchester City.

    Elsewhere, third-place Manchester United, who had already locked in their own Champions League spot for next season after beating Liverpool a week prior, were held to a dour goalless draw at Sunderland’s Stadium of Light. The lackluster showing came as no surprise, with United with little left to fight for in the remaining league fixtures. The stalemate marked the first time the Red Devils had failed to score a league goal since November.

    The biggest drama of the day unfolded in west London, where Bournemouth kept their stunning dream of Champions League qualification alive with a 1-0 away win over Fulham. The match was turned on its head before half time, with VAR intervention forcing two red cards: Bournemouth’s Ryan Christie saw an initial yellow card for a dangerous foul on Timothy Castagne upgraded to a red, while Fulham defender Joachim Andersen also walked after a similar VAR review upgraded his booking for a foul on Adrien Truffert. Reduced to 10 men apiece, it was 19-year-old Brazilian winger Rayan who claimed the winning goal for the Cherries in the 53rd minute, curling a clinical finish from the edge of the penalty area past Fulham’s keeper. Unbeaten in their last 16 consecutive league matches, Bournemouth is chasing a first-ever European qualification in the club’s history.

    Brighton & Hove Albion also boosted their own European bid with a comprehensive 3-0 demolition of already-relegated Wolverhampton Wanderers at the Amex Stadium. Jack Hinshelwood put the Seagulls ahead just 37 seconds into the match with a headed finish, before captain Lewis Dunk doubled the lead with another header just five minutes later. Yankuba Minteh put the icing on the cake with a thunderous long-range strike in the 86th minute to complete the rout. With two matches remaining, Brighton sit just two points behind Bournemouth in seventh place.

    The permutations for European spots remain tight this season: a sixth-place finish could deliver either Champions League or Europa League football, depending on the outcome of the Europa League final. If current fifth-place Aston Villa beats Freiburg in next month’s final, the sixth-placed side will earn a Champions League berth.

    In the title race, second-place Manchester City were set to host Brentford in Saturday’s late kickoff, looking to chip into leaders Arsenal’s advantage. Pep Guardiola’s side sit five points behind Arsenal, who travel to take on 18th-place West Ham United on Sunday. City hold one game in hand over the leaders, but a damaging 3-3 draw at Everton earlier this week means the destiny of the title is no longer in City’s hands. Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal, who have also reached the Champions League final against Paris Saint-Germain, will secure their first top-flight English title in 22 years if they win all three of their remaining matches.

  • AFL 2026: Collingwood coach Craig McRae confirms Scott Pendlebury’s milestone game

    AFL 2026: Collingwood coach Craig McRae confirms Scott Pendlebury’s milestone game

    AFL side Collingwood is standing firm on its controversial pre-planned strategy to rest veteran star Scott Pendlebury for an upcoming clash against ladder-topping Sydney, doubling down on its commitment to stage his historic record-breaking match in front of a home crowd at the iconic MCG the following week.

    Head coach Craig McRae made the stance clear in the aftermath of the Magpies’ lopsided 54-point defeat at the hands of Geelong on Saturday night, a result that has left Collingwood’s 2024 season prospects hanging by a thread. Even with a critical matchup against competition leaders Sydney looming next round, McRae says the club will not waver from its long-held plan to hold Pendlebury out to set up his milestone game against West Coast on home turf.

    “No, Scott won’t play next week, we’re unashamed in our plans to play him the week after all going to plan with his body,” McRae told reporters post-match. Over the weekend, Pendlebury tied the all-time VFL/AFL record of 432 career games, jointly held by retired Kangaroos star Brent Harvey, in the round clash against Geelong.

    The veteran leader was captured sharing an emotional embrace with former Collingwood captain and coach Nathan Buckley after the final siren, a moment that underscored his standing as one of the club’s greatest ever products. McRae argued that prioritizing a home celebration for this once-in-a-career milestone is a fitting call for one of the sport’s modern greats, even amid a tight run of fixtures and a rocky season for the club.

    “This is a plan we stick to, high-performance but also rewarding and celebrating one of the greats of our game,” McRae said. “We’re excited for what that looks like in a couple of weeks time, we’ll sit in this now and have a shallow loss, dust ourselves off quickly and get up to Sydney, put on a good performance for our fans because it wasn’t good enough tonight.”

    McRae added that the club will name a full 22 plus interchange to face the Swans, and is fully focused on putting up a competitive performance that the club’s supporter base can be proud of, even without their veteran playmaker.

    Beyond the Pendlebury plan, Collingwood is also facing fresh injury concerns: starting captain Darcy Moore was forced out of the Geelong clash before halftime after sustaining a concussion in a heavy collision with Geelong midfielder Oisin Mullin, ruling him out of contention for the Sydney matchup as well.

    McRae conceded that the absence of both Moore and Pendlebury will exacerbate a long-running problem for the Magpies: poor performance in winning and defending centre clearances, an issue that was brutally exposed by Geelong on Saturday night. The Cats kicked six goals directly from centre bounce possessions, a stat McRae admitted is well below the standard his side needs to compete against top opposition.

    “Six goals tonight (from centre bounce) is just not at a level against teams like Geelong, we can’t afford to have that,” he said. “The numbers balance around, it was pretty even, I think it was 13-apiece but it’s a little bit of inability to stop scoring out of that source.”

    McRae also acknowledged that Geelong’s dominant performance exposed uncharacteristic flaws in Collingwood’s usually solid defensive system, marking the first time this season the club’s defensive structures have been tested so severely. Geelong recorded more than 20 marks inside Collingwood’s 50-metre arc, a sign that the Magpies’ defensive pressure was not up to its usual standard for the full 80 minutes.

  • Canary Islands brace for arrival of hantavirus-hit cruise ship

    Canary Islands brace for arrival of hantavirus-hit cruise ship

    A cruise ship grappling with a deadly hantavirus outbreak is making its way to Spain’s Canary Islands, where authorities are preparing to evacuate nearly 150 passengers and fly them back to their home countries after weeks of isolation at sea. Three fatalities have already been linked to the outbreak on the Dutch-flagged MV Hondius, and multiple other passengers have fallen ill with the rare pathogen, which is most commonly carried and spread by rodent populations.

    The vessel, which departed Cape Verde after three infected people were evacuated earlier this week, is projected to reach offshore waters near Tenerife by early Sunday dawn, between 03:00 and 05:00 GMT. World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is personally assisting with coordination of the complicated evacuation operation, after meeting with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez in Madrid Saturday ahead of traveling to the archipelago with the country’s health and interior ministers.

    Confirmed cases on the ship have been identified as Andes virus, the only strain of hantavirus capable of spreading between human beings — a detail that has sparked widespread international concern over potential secondary transmission. To mitigate this risk, regional Canary Islands authorities have rejected requests to allow the ship to dock at a local port. Instead, the MV Hondius will remain anchored offshore during the evacuation, which is scheduled to take place between Sunday and Monday, the only window health officials say weather conditions will permit for the complex operation.

    On the quay at Granadilla de Abona port, AFP reporters observed emergency response teams have already erected white screening tents, but daily life across the island has continued largely unchanged. Local lottery vendor David Parada noted that while there is underlying worry about potential community risk, most residents have not panicked over the situation. Tedros sought to further calm public fears in an open letter to Tenerife residents Saturday, stressing that “this is not another Covid” and that the population-wide risk of transmission from the ship remains “low”.

    Spanish officials have echoed these assurances, outlining strict protocols to prevent any contact between passengers from the ship and local communities. After completing medical screenings on board the MV Hondius, passengers will be transferred via small boats to shore, then bussed directly to the airport along fully sealed routes. A maritime exclusion zone will be enforced around the anchored vessel, and all areas passengers transit through on shore will be closed off to the public. Evacuations will proceed in groups organized by nationality, with the 14 Spanish citizens on board set to leave first, according to Spanish Health Minister Monica Garcia Gomez. A portion of the crew will remain on the ship to sail it onward to the Netherlands after the evacuation is complete.

    As of Friday, the WHO confirmed six positive hantavirus cases out of eight earlier suspected cases on the vessel, and no new suspected cases remain on board. Global health authorities are now conducting extensive contact tracing for passengers who disembarked the MV Hondius earlier in its voyage, which began on April 1 when it departed Ushuaia, Argentina for a transatlantic cruise to Cape Verde. Argentine health officials have concluded that the initial infected Dutch passenger almost certainly did not contract the virus in Ushuaia, based on the pathogen’s incubation period.

    Multiple secondary testing and monitoring efforts are underway across the globe: A KLM flight attendant who developed mild symptoms after coming into contact with an infected passenger tested negative for the virus, though a Spanish woman who sat two rows away from one of the fatal cases on a Johannesburg-Amsterdam flight has been isolated in a Spanish hospital for testing, with officials noting her infection remains highly unlikely. Two former passengers in Singapore tested negative but will remain in quarantine as a precaution, and British health authorities are investigating a suspected case on the remote South Atlantic outpost of Tristan da Cunha, which is home to just 220 permanent residents.