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Between June 12 and June 19, a total of five people were left beaten and tied to lamp posts with large amounts of duct tape, with the word “rat” in Spanish written on their foreheads. One person had his pants pulled down, according to images circulating online. In one case, two young men were tied to the same post.

Bright pink banners explaining their alleged wrongdoing were taped above the people’s heads, while the motorcycles they allegedly stole were parked at the scenes.

Minor planet keywords developed by Philip Sedgwick, used with permission http://philipsedgwick.com/

Scientists said a lava overflow from the north vent began shortly before the eruption, with fountain heights growing from about 10 feet to more than 50 feet by the start of the episode.

Kilauea Message 2026-06-27 10:30:27 HST. Episode 50 fountains began at 10:10 am HST and are currently about 100 feet (30 meters) high from the north vent. Fountains are expected to grow to over 600 feet within 1-2 hours. Surface winds from the northeast at this time.

— USGS Volcanoes🌋 (@USGSVolcanoes) June 27, 2026

As of 10:36 a.m., fountains had reached about 100 feet and were continuing to increase.

Ground-level winds are expected to carry volcanic gas emissions and other material toward the southwest, while higher-level winds could push parts of the plume east over surrounding communities.

U.S. Geological Survey reported the north vent fountaining peaked between 11 a.m. and noon, with heights reaching about 700 feet at around 2:20 p.m.

Ground crews also reported light fall of Pele’s hair in Pahala in the Kau district, which began at around 1 p.m. USGS said additional ash and Pele’s hair may be expected to fall within the district and Highway 11 southwest of the volcano.

At around 4:50 p.m., scientists said north vent fountaining heights were around 330 feet, and advised tephra may fall over Kau communities and roads.

Then, 20 minutes later, USGS said the episode ended abruptly after seven hours of fountaining. The last several minutes consisted of gas jetting, which is common at the end of fountain episodes.

Kilauea Message 2026-06-27 17:16:06 HST. Episode 50 ended abruptly at 5:10 p.m. HST after 7 hours of fountaining. The last several minutes consisted of gas jetting, which is common at the end of fountain episodes. Lava covered over 50% of the floor of Halemaʻumaʻu.

— USGS Volcanoes🌋 (@USGSVolcanoes) June 28, 2026

At around 5:30 p.m., scientists said tephra was carried high into the air during episode 50 and may continue to fall on communities and roads in Kau Saturday even after the episode ended.

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Minor planet keywords developed by Philip Sedgwick, used with permission http://philipsedgwick.com/

Minor planet keywords developed by Philip Sedgwick, used with permission http://philipsedgwick.com/

The first tsunami waves reached Severo-Kurilsk in the northern Kuril Islands, washing away a fish processing plant and flooding a local port. A 3-4-meter wave was recorded in Kamchatka’s Elizovsky district, while Russia’s Oceanology Institute said waves near the epicenter in southeastern Kamchatka and the Northern Kurils may have reached 10-15 meters. All coastal areas were evacuated.

In Japan, tsunami waves were observed along the Hokkaido coast. The authorities initially issued evacuation orders for more than 1.9 million people across 21 Pacific coast prefectures but later downgraded several to ‘lower-level advisories’.

The inhabitants arm themselves against the elements: important ocean water desalinization factories to produce drinking water and thus fight against drought; the reintroduction of burning methods practiced by the aborigines in the past; and livestock farmers’ methods’ aiming at being more environmentally friendly.

Faced with urgency, the government sends scientists to converse with the aborigines for a sharing of know-how. They discover some of their secrets.

The co-operative - now called Shri Mahila Griha Udyog Lijjat Papad - was started in 1959 in Mumbai (then Bombay) by seven housewives who made the humble papad or poppadoms, a crispy, savoury snack that is a staple of Indian meals.

Sixty-five years later, the co-operative - headquartered in Mumbai - has spread across India with more than 45,000 women members. It has an annual turnover of 16bn rupees ($186m; £150m) and exports products to countries including the UK and US.

Working mostly from home, the women in this co-operative produce items including detergents, spices and chapatis (flatbreads), but their most-loved product is the Lijjat brand of poppadoms.

"Lijjat is a temple for us. It helps us earn money and feed our families," says Lakshmi, 70, who manages the Delhi centre.

Ms Lakshmi, who uses only one name, joined the co-operative about four decades ago after her husband died, which forced her to look for work.

"I hadn't finished my studies and didn't know what else to do. That's when my neighbour told me about Lijjat," she says.

The decision to join the women's co-operative transformed her life, she says. She now manages 150 women at the centre.

For women like Ms Lakshmi, the co-operative offers a chance to earn a decent income while balancing their work at home.

Every morning, the women members take a bus hired by the co-operative to the nearest Lijjat centre. There, they collect their share of pre-mixed dough made with lentils and spices, which they take home to roll into poppadoms.

"I used to go home with this dough and do all my housework, feed my children and sit with my chakla [a flat wooden board] and a belan [rolling pin] in the afternoon to make small round thin papads," says Ms Lakshmi.

Initially, it took her four-five hours to make 1kg of dried lentil papad, but she says she can now produce that amount in just half an hour.

The head office in Mumbai buys raw materials like lentils, spices and oil in bulk, mixes the flour and sends it to Lijjat offices around the country.

Once the women make and dry the poppadoms at home, they deliver them back to the centre for packaging. Lijjat's distributor network then transports the products to retail shops.

The enterprise has come a long way since it was founded.

In the 1950s, a newly independent India was focusing on rebuilding itself, trying to strike a balance between promoting small-scale, rural industries and pushing for large urban factories.

It was also a time when the government owned most of the factories in the country. Life for women was especially challenging as they had to negotiate a deeply conservative and patriarchal society to get educated and work.

The group of women who founded Lijjat - Jaswantiben Jamnadas Poppat, Parvatiben Ramdas Thodani, Ujamben Narandas Kundalia, Banuben N Tanna, Laguben Amritlal Gokani, Jayaben V Vithalani and Diwaliben Lukka - were in their 20s and 30s, living in a crowded tenement in Mumbai and looking for ways to support their families.

Their idea was simple - work from home and earn money by using the cooking skills passed down to them through generations of women.

But they did not have money to buy ingredients and sought financial assistance from Chhaganlal Karamshi Parekh, a social worker.

He offered them a loan of 80 rupees ($0.93; £0.75 at today's rates), which was enough to get started at the time.

But the women soon realised that there were no takers for their poppadoms. Narrating the story, Swati Paradkar, the current president of the co-operative, says that the women had to return to Parekh for help.

He again lent them 80 rupees, but this time with the condition that they would repay 200 rupees to him. Parekh - whom the women called Bappa (meaning father) - and other social workers took the poppadoms to local shopkeepers, who agreed to stock them only if they could pay after the products were sold.

Only one shopkeeper agreed to pay the women immediately. "He began purchasing four to six packets daily and gradually the poppadoms became quite popular," Ms Paradkar says.

As the business grew, more women joined the co-operative - not as employees, but as co-owners with a say in decision-making. The women call each other ben or sister in Gujarati.

"We are like a co-operative and not a company. Even though I am the president, I am not the owner. We are all co-owners and have equal rights. We all share profits and even losses," Ms Paradkar says. "I think that's the secret of our success."

For decades, the co-operative produced its poppadoms without the iconic Lijjat brand name.

In 1966, the Khadi Development And Village Industries Commission, a government organisation to promote small rural industries, suggested that they come up with a brand name.

The co-operative placed an advertisement in newspapers asking for suggestions. "We received a lot of entries but one of our own sisters suggested Lajjat. We tweaked it to Lijjat, which means taste in Gujarati", Ms Paradkar says.

Over the decades, the co-operative has allowed generations of women to attain financial independence.

"Today I have put my children through school, built a house and got them married," says Ms Lakshmi.

"Working here, I have found not just an income but respect."

Minor planet keywords developed by Philip Sedgwick, used with permission http://philipsedgwick.com/

The Volgoneft 212 and Volgoneft 239 tankers, each reportedly carrying over 4,000 tonnes of oil, ran aground in the Kerch Strait, which runs between Russian-occupied Crimea and Russia proper, on 15 December.

The oil washed ashore soon thereafter, stretching for at least 54 kilometres across the Russian Black Sea coastline in the Krasnodar region, state-affiliated news agency Interfax estimated on Wednesday, adding that up to 23,500 tonnes of contaminated sand had been collected in the region so far.

Volunteers collect sand drenched in oil, Anapa, Russia, 21 December 2024. Photo: Alexey Maishev / SNA / Scanpix / LETA

Still, local ecologist Georgy Kavanosyan, who was on site to help the volunteers late last week, says “the authorities reacted quite well”, at least in Anapa, setting up command centres on the beaches and deploying up to 100 pieces of machinery, more than they had done in similar clean-up efforts he was involved in.

Kavanosyan also said that local businesses and environmental organisations were actively involved in the clean-up effort, too, bringing volunteers protective gear and detergent to wash the birds, hundreds of which had become covered in oil after the spill. “Society is working in harmony, like an orchestra,” he said.

It’s hard to guess exactly how many birds have been affected by the spill, but experts estimate that at least 180 birds have died — they were either found dead or died of disease due to their weakened condition — and 925 were saved. Birds land along the polluted shoreline and get stuck on the oil, so it’s important to get it off them as quickly as possible.

Volunteers clean birds after the Black Sea oil spill, Anapa, Russia, 21 December 2024. Photo: Sergey Pivovarov / Reuters / Scanpix / LETA

“That’s how my grandmother and mother brought me up. When something like this happens, we get up, roll up our sleeves and go and help. So when we saw in the news that there had been an oil spill, we bought shovels, gloves and buckets and went to the beach where people had been asked to help.”

But Katalini argues there is not enough machinery on the beaches. The bags of contaminated sand should be sent for disposal, she says, but the system is backed up to the point where “there are not enough bin lorries or tractors to at least drag the bags back from the coastline to stop them washing back out to sea”.

Now, all the volunteers have respirators, suits and special boots so that their entire body is protected from ingesting oil or its fumes. “On those first days, you worked in whatever you had, so people had headaches and other symptoms,” says Kavanosyan.

Volunteers have been advised to work for two hours and then take a one-hour break away from the oil spill, he adds. “Not everyone listens to the guidelines, of course, but it’s better organised every day,” Kavanosyan continues.

Troubled waters

The flooding of old uranium wells in the Russian Urals is putting local residents at risk of radiation poisoning

The main difficulty, he notes, is when volunteers have cleaned a section of the beach, only for more oil to wash ashore, meaning they need to go and clean the same spot again, which tends to deflate people.

Volunteers often suffer severe sleep deprivation and poisoning, Katalini notes. “Your liver hurts, you vomit, your head spins, you get digestive disorders,” she explains. She also feels guilt at her lack of time and inability to do more.

While there are enough volunteers in Anapa itself, the situation is more complicated on the Kerch Peninsula in annexed Crimea, where oil has also come ashore. According to satellite images, the oil has appeared in both large puddles and small droplets, over a vast area. Affected animals are already being washed on the spot, but there is still a need for more machinery and people.

Environmentalists expressed concern at a storm in the early hours of Tuesday bringing the oil to Taman Bay and the Taman-Zaporozhye reserve, where about half a million birds spend the winter.

Volunteers collect sand drenched in oil after the Black Sea oil spill, Anapa, Russia, 21 December 2024. Photo: Sergey Pivovarov / Reuters / Scanpix / LETA

“We’ll help, of course, but there is no infrastructure there,” he says, which is likely to slow down the clean-up. Kavanosyan notes that speed is of the essence when cleaning the oil off the birds. “We’ll have three, five days at most to collect, wash and nurse them back to health. Any longer and the bird will probably die, whatever you do.”

Katalini says authorities had promised to install floating barriers to protect the reserve from the spill. “But they haven’t yet. If they don’t, a huge number of birds that have migrated there will die. It will be impossible to catch and wash them because of the vast area of water involved,” she says.

Over 20 dolphins were found dead along the Black Sea coastline in the Krasnodar region, the Delfa Dolphin Rescue and Research Centre reported on Wednesday. While the centre said that it looks like a mass beaching unrelated to the oil spill, it added that it would need to examine the bodies for traces of oil, which would take time.

The clean-up operation on a beach in Anapa, Russia. Photo: Krasnodar region authorities, social media

“They die for different reasons. It can be due to infection, but in 70% of cases it’s from them getting caught in fishing nets. Sadly, there is a lot of fishing in the Black Sea. Dolphins try to pluck the fish out of the nets and get caught up in them themselves,” he says, after which fishermen throw them back into the water.

Kavanosyan agrees that the dolphin’s deaths are likely unrelated to the spill. “In that sense, we’ve been lucky, if I can say that at the time of such a tragedy. The fish had already migrated by the time the oil spill occurred,” he says.

While local authorities have scrambled to scale up their involvement in the clean up after Russia’s chief investigator Alexander Bastrykin ordered a criminal case to be opened into its poor organisation on Tuesday, opening headquarters in Anapa for catching and rescuing birds, and building facilities to safely store the contaminated sand, there is still a mountain to climb.

“I probably don’t see the results yet, because there is still a lot of work to be done. The beach is all pain and sadness,” Katalini says, adding that volunteers can’t work for more than two hours before feeling the adverse effects of the oil. In one day, she says, they collected “only about 30 bags. A drop in the ocean.”

Volunteers cleaning up the coastline after an oil spill in the Black Sea speak out https://novayagazeta.eu/articles/2024/12/28/a-drop-in-the-ocean-en

Minor planet keywords developed by Philip Sedgwick, used with permission http://philipsedgwick.com/