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The Independent
3 days ago
- Climate
- The Independent
Massive volcano eruption in Indonesia spews ash 10,000 metres high
Indonedia's Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki volcano erupted on Tuesday (17 June), sending a towering ash plume 10,000 metres into the sky. Authorities raised the eruption alert to the highest level and extended the danger zone to 8km. The eruption followed an intense spike in volcanic activity—50 incidents in two hours, far above the daily average. No casualties were reported. Ash clouds were seen from cities 90 to 150km away. 'This is the first time I have seen an eruption this big,' said local villager Frans Kino. Residents were warned about possible lava flows triggered by rainfall.
Reuters
5 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
Protesters against overtourism take to the streets of southern Europe
BARCELONA/MADRID, June 15 (Reuters) - Thousands of people took to the streets of cities in southern Europe on Sunday to demonstrate against overtourism, firing water pistols at shop windows and setting off smoke in Barcelona, where the main protest took place. "Your holidays, my misery," protesters chanted in the streets of Barcelona while holding up banners emblazoned with slogans such as "mass tourism kills the city" and "their greed brings us ruin". Under the umbrella of the SET alliance - Sud d'Europa contra la Turistització, or Catalan for "Southern Europe against Overtourism" - protesters joined forces with groups in Portugal and Italy, arguing that uncontrolled tourism was sending housing prices soaring and forcing people out of their neighbourhoods. Barcelona, a city of 1.6 million, drew 26 million tourists last year. Authorities in the north eastern Spanish city said around 600 people joined the demonstration there, some firing water pistols or setting off coloured smoke and putting stickers saying 'Neighbourhood self-defence, tourist go home' on shop windows and hotels. Outside one hotel, an agitated worker confronted the protesters saying he was "only working" and was not the venue's owner. There were similar demonstrations in other parts of Spain including Ibiza, Malaga, Palma de Mallorca, San Sebastian and Granada. Protests in Italy took place in cities including Genoa, Naples, Palermo, Milan and Venice, where locals oppose the construction of two hotels that will add around 15,000 new beds to the city, the organisers told Reuters. In Barcelona, the city government said last year it would bar apartment rentals to tourists by 2028 to make the city more liveable for residents. "I'm very tired of being a nuisance in my own city. The solution is to propose a radical decrease in the number of tourists in Barcelona and bet on another economic model that brings prosperity to the city," Eva Vilaseca, 38, told Reuters at Sunday's demonstration in Barcelona, dismissing the common counterargument that tourism brings jobs and prosperity. International travel spending in Europe is expected to rise by 11% to $838 billion this year, with Spain and France among the countries set to receive record numbers of tourists. A protest in Lisbon was scheduled for later on Sunday afternoon.
Times
6 days ago
- Times
The disturbing truth I found at the ‘good craic' Ballymena riots
It was a gorgeous summer evening in Ballymena on Wednesday. The weather was warm, and as dusk fell and a pink moon rose, hundreds came out and mingled on the grassy bank above Bridge Street: there were old couples, young families, groups of girls in their skimpiest tops. There was a carnival feel in the air. They'd all come to watch the riot. This was civil disobedience as a social event. Old friends greeted each other before turning to comment on the action below. 'Ah, he's got a good arm there,' said a middle-aged man next to me as, 50 yards in front of us, one of an eddying mob of masked and hooded lads lobbed a brick towards the line of armoured police Land Rovers. The responding water cannon floated a welcome, cooling mist towards us on the breeze, and the crowd murmured appreciatively. A couple of minutes' walk from the water cannon, over on North Street, another mixed, chummy crowd is milling around outside a terrace which is thought to house immigrants. From somewhere in the middle, cobblestones fly: upper floor windows shatter, to cheers from onlookers. Then one goes through the downstairs window — and the crowd groans. 'Ah no, that's messy,' says the chatty, middle-aged woman next to me, who is live-streaming the event on TikTok for her friends. 'That's not right: there's local people living in there, you know. It's the upstairs windows they want,' she says with a smile. There was something strange and deeply unnerving about the riots in Ballymena. Yes, the spark that ignited them had a ghastly familiarity: on Monday, the charging of two 14-year-old Romanian-speaking boys for the alleged attempted rape of a teenage girl gave rise to a protest, which quickly turned into race-based violence. There were echoes of England's riots last summer in response to the Southport murders: the narrative — that vicious persecution and thuggery were a legitimate response to 'foreign' men attacking 'local' girls — was similar. But here, that spark fell on different ground. Northern Ireland is not northern England. They do riots differently here. They've had a lot more practice. 'This sort of violence has been normalised,' says Sian Mulholland, the local Alliance Party member of the legislative assembly (MLA) for North Antrim. 'Through social media, and emboldened by our political leadership, people feel it's OK.' There's also what she calls 'generational trauma': the long legacy of the Troubles, in which rioting became almost a rite of passage in Northern Ireland. 'People think it's a good craic. You hear them say it on their live-streams.' People do seem to be having a good craic. In fact, riots or not, people here smile a lot. Ballymena, population 31,000, is a strikingly friendly town. Everybody says so — including a woman I'll call Maria, a Romanian resident of Clonavon Road, the centre of last week's riots. 'They are really, really nice here,' she says when we chat on her doorstep on Thursday afternoon. A sales assistant, she has lived here happily for nine years, and says: 'Here is home for me, because I really love the people.' And yet she had spent the previous two nights bedded down at friends' houses to escape the mob, which had rampaged along her street, attacking houses thought to contain immigrants. Doors were smashed off hinges, homes trashed and set alight. One of her neighbours had slept in her car; others had fled back to Romania. 'They begged my husband to drive them to the airport. They were in a bad situation, with small children, and they screamed, 'Please take us, take us from here.' They will not come back.' So will she leave too? 'Tonight I will stay in my home,' she says defiantly, talking through tears. 'But after that, I don't know. I think maybe I will have to change my mind.' Under her feet, the worn doormat reads 'Home is where the heart is.' The unrest comes on the back of what a recent report to the Northern Ireland Assembly called 'an unprecedented wave of international migration', with 293,000 arrivals to the province of 1.9m people since the millennium. Net migration for this period is around 62,000. Across the border, where immigration hit a 17-year high in 2024, the Republic of Ireland has had outbreaks of violence too, with a wave of anti-migrant protests focused on asylum seekers' housing. The mixed martial arts fighter Conor McGregor became a figurehead for the attackers, and his language had a violent, nativist flavour: 'Ireland is on the cusp of losing its Irishness,' he said, describing rural towns as 'being overrun'. Just 100 yards long, Clonavon Road is a picture-perfect street of vintage, stone-built terraced houses: plonk them down in an English city and the hipsters would flood in. Here the area, and neighbouring Harryville, are the cheapest part of town, and low rents have meant a high concentration of poor migrants. Now, though, most intact windows display a Union Jack, or the red hand banner of Ulster, or pictures of the King and Queen, or Glasgow Rangers badges. Ballymena wears its staunch unionism on its sleeve — every lamppost on the long Antrim Road into town flies a Union Jack — and incomers and natives alike have seized on the symbols for protection. They're often displayed alongside a hastily printed sign reading 'Locals live here' or, in one case, 'I work in a care home'. So far, rioters have injured 41 police officers. But their real target is the migrants. Mulholland has a liaison role for a charity that provides interpreters for migrants, and has passed on their desperate pleas for help to the police. 'One family were upstairs and heard the crowd kicking in the door, then coming in the house. They managed to get up to the attic and hid there. They sent us a video which I passed to the police, who eventually got through the crowd and evacuated them. 'There were eight adults and three children up there. A family hiding in an attic. It has a familiar ring to it doesn't it? There was a famous book about that.' By day, most people in Ballymena condemn the rioting. In the quietly prosperous town centre, the most common adjective used by passers-by was 'ridiculous'. But it usually came with a qualifier. 'It's not doing any good,' said an elderly couple 'But, and we're not racist, there's an awful lot of, what do you say now … ethnic people, who hang around and make us feel uncomfortable.' At the Horse 'n' Jockey bar on Bryan Street, there was no equivocation. 'People have had enough and they're doing something about it,' said a man at the bar, to general agreement. 'They've taken over the kids' playpark and used it for prostitution.' When I ask who 'they' are, the answer is again unequivocal: 'It's the gypsies.' The word may be offensive, but it's one I hear a lot on the streets of Ballymena. The men in masks used it, laced with obscenities, as they hurled bricks. Maria used it, keen to stress that while Romanian, she was not a 'gypsy'. Local resentment has focused on the Roma community, relatively recent arrivals in Ballymena. The local MP, Jim Allister of Traditional Unionist Voice, singled them out in a statement: 'The influx of Roma, in particular, into Ballymena in recent years … has driven rapid demographic change,' he said. Mulholland is appalled: 'It's creating a hierarchy of migrants: 'The Poles and Filipinos are OK because they work; it's the Roma that are the problem.' For me, that's not OK.' In any case, the rioters don't seem too concerned about differentiating. In her tiny upstairs flat on Linenhall Street, Yelena Campo Reyes, 27, who came here from the Philippines last year to work in a meat processing factory, has also put a Union Jack across the window in the hope it will stop the stones. 'I saw a big fire outside,' she says. 'I thought it was just a bonfire but then suddenly the riot police came and this group started throwing bottles, stones, petrol at them. Then they attacked the car wash that is next door to us, where Romanians work, and they started throwing bricks at my window too.' She points at a crack in the glass. 'I was very scared. I understand the side of the locals that they don't want rapes. But you can't protect your community by destroying your community.'
Daily Mail
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Unbelievable feud breaks out over VERY trivial footpath matter in ritzy suburb
Advertisement-plastered bus stops have caused some of Australia's most well-off residents to melt down. Locals in Sydney 's Rose Bay have exploded at their council for installing more than 30 new bus stop shelters around the suburb. The shelters in themselves don't seem to be the problem, however, rather locals have taken issue with the 'giant advertising screen' featured on the side of each one. The large advertisements detract from the natural beauty of the suburb's promenade, argued Deanna Mastellone on Facebook. 'It is absolutely ridiculous. Woollahra Council placing this giant advertising screen outside the Wintergarden, blocking this very busy footpath which is enjoyed by so many,' she said. But Woollahra Council defended its decision to place the money-spinning ads across every bus shelter in the district. A spokesperson for the council said the revenue it raised from these ads helps pay for vital services that assist the entire community. The eye-sores incited a lively debate online where locals offered various takes on the matter. Ms Mastellone vowed to have the issue 'corrected' and had a particular problem with the fact that nobody in Rose Bay was even consulted prior to the rollout. 'It is an absolute disgrace Woollahra Council has signed up for 39 advertising bus shelters with zero community consultation,' she wrote. 'Such an ugly blight on our magnificent Rose Bay Promenade. 'This will be corrected, this is so very wrong.' Ms Mastellone compared her suburb to others in the city's east like Balmoral Beach, which has no bus shelter ads, and Mosman Council which has 22. Before installing its ads Mosman Council at least 'engaged with the entire community', Ms Mastellone said. The ticked-off local even filed a complaint with Woollahra Council's Audit, Risk and Innovation external committee in her quest to have the shelters' ads removed. 'I am not against bus shelters, we must protect and preserve our streetscape and ensure all the community is engaged in the placement of them,' she wrote. Those who chimed into the debate had mixed opinions with some agreeing, but others claiming Ms Mastellone was making a fuss over nothing. 'Rain protection and advertising revenue to keep your council rates lower. What's the issue?' one said. 'Perhaps think of the seniors waiting for a bus who appreciate having somewhere to sit while they wait,' another wrote. Those who did agree with Ms Mastellone found even more reasons to complain. 'No proper access for wheelchairs and mobility aids to pass by and no alerts for vision-impaired members of the community to safely navigate around,' one said. 'These are disgusting eyesores around Rose Bay, I agree,' a second agreed. But despite all the upraor, Woollahra Council said the shelters were here to stay. 'They provide excellent shelter and shade for commuters,' a spokesperson told Yahoo News. 'Each site was assessed to ensure the shelters were placed safely and appropriately and notifications were issued to nearby residents and businesses, providing opportunity for feedback.'
LBCI
09-06-2025
- Politics
- LBCI
UNIFIL faces local pushback in Lebanon's south amid Israeli calls to end mission — what's next for the force?
Report by Edmond Sassine, English adaptation by Karine Keuchkerian Amid Israeli calls to oppose the renewal of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon's (UNIFIL) mandate in the country's south and end its mission in August, a series of incidents and protests has emerged in southern villages. Local residents have objected to UNIFIL patrols operating in their neighborhoods and on their land without accompaniment by the Lebanese army. Why, then, is UNIFIL conducting patrols and missions without the army? Or, put differently: If the presence of the army helps ease tensions between UNIFIL and the Hezbollah-supportive population, why isn't the army always present? According to Lebanese sources, UNIFIL carries out daily joint operations with the army but also conducts separate patrols and missions on its own. The limited number of army personnel in the south does not allow for the accompaniment of all UNIFIL patrols, and Resolution 1701 grants the U.N. peacekeeping force the right to move independently. Most UNIFIL patrols, whether or not accompanied by the army, do not result in incidents. The sources add that local objections often stem from specific actions UNIFIL carries out — such as entering private property or filming homes — actions that typically do not occur when the army is present. Trust between the local population and UNIFIL remains low, especially as it frequently conducts operations near Hezbollah-affiliated villages and facilities and sometimes brings media crews along. Meanwhile, it is seen as doing little in practice to confront Israeli violations or enforce the ceasefire. The recurrence of incidents involving specific units has led some Lebanese observers to suggest that there may be an internal push within UNIFIL to assert its role and presence, even in the face of local objections. This could serve to build momentum for modifying the mission ahead of its renewal in two months, aligning with Israeli efforts to end or alter the current UNIFIL mandate. According to the same sources, the current Israeli pressure to terminate the mission resembles the kinds of pressure applied in past years as the renewal deadline approached each August. This time, it is being framed as part of a broader push on Lebanon and Hezbollah to accept a change in UNIFIL's role — particularly in light of the new reality following the war, the losses Hezbollah has sustained, its military pullback from south of the Litani River, and the dismantling of its infrastructure in the area. While several sources confirm that Hezbollah has not decided to escalate or intentionally provoke recent incidents with UNIFIL, the group insists that UNIFIL's activities must be carried out in coordination with the Lebanese army.
