The debris arrives in the rockets’ wake: melted plastics, aluminum and pieces of blue adhesive. It all ends up stranded on the sands of Bagdad beach in northern Tamaulipas, Mexico, home to an endangered species of sea turtle. Just across the border lies Starbase, SpaceX’s launchpad and company town.

Since November, Conibio Global, a small non-governmental organization, has taken on a daunting task: cleaning up trash from SpaceX, one of the most powerful companies in the world.

In May, however, there was another launch, with more debris. This time, the activist claims, millions of particles ended up contaminating the area on the Mexican side. Ibarra said that a few days later, the organization collected more than a ton of waste in an area of 500 meters.

“In half a kilometer out of the 40 kilometers of shoreline, we already collected one ton (of trash),” added Ibarra. “We are a very small group, it’s impossible to clean everything.”

Ibarra said that Conibio Global handed the debris to the Mexican government’s environmental protection agency PROFEPA.

The statement added that the company had performed tests that they claim confirm that there are no chemical, biological or toxicological risks associated with the flotsam and jetsam of a typical SpaceX launch.

Ibarra said that Conibio Global has not had any contact with the company.

“Although a lot of debris is not hazardous, spaceflight-related vehicles can contain hazardous chemicals and materials,” Sorge wrote. “Be aware that it is not worth the risk to touch a piece of debris, and it could interfere with important investigations.”

Some of the objects found during cleanup operations, Ibarra said, are solid and spongy plastics, a type of rubber with a consistency similar to cork, aluminum with SpaceX labels, pieces of plastic bubble wrap, steel tubes, and pieces of a blue-colored adhesive.

Some of this trash, Ibarra predicted, could end up being ingested by Kemp’s ridley turtles, an endangered species of sea turtle that inhabits the area.

On its website, SpaceX says it is committed to minimizing the impact and improving the environment whenever possible, highlighting agreements with various US agencies and the Texas government.

A months-long saga

After the recent explosion of a SpaceX rocket on June 19, the NGO reported that some large fragments appeared in Mexican territory the next morning. It stated that several officials from the Mexican government got in touch so that they could be informed of the situation.

Conibio follows SpaceX’s social media announcements to know when there will be launches and goes to the sites to collect evidence of debris they know will fall. He says this happens in the northern area of Bagdad Beach and on a parcel of communal farming land in nearby Matamoros.

Following persistent public complaints, Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum spoke out at her daily conference on June 25.

Sheinbaum said that her government had found that there is indeed pollution and that the impact of rocket launches in general will be reviewed in order to take action “within the framework of international laws,” including possible legal actions.

Ibarra, who is also a veterinarian and director of the Marine Turtle Program at Conibio Global, said that he believes the vibrations generated by the rockets compact the sand where there are turtle nests and prevent them from emerging. He said that at least 300 hatchlings have died in the compacted nests.

“There is vegetation that the last explosion burned, the entire edge of the Rio Bravo, and the pipes broke many trees, which fell near a small population of people,” said Ibarra. He added that in several border cities between Tamaulipas and Texas it was reported that there was minor damage to houses due to the vibrations from the rockets.

A team of environmental officials and personnel from the Mexican Navy Secretariat went to collect the waste Conibio collected last weekend, and during the visit, Ibarra recounted, they found a tank approximately 4 meters long and a stainless steel pipe weighing about 5 kg.

Dealing with cleaning up the waste has cost the NGO more than US$26,000 in operating expenses and beach monitoring due to vehicle fuel they use and laborers’ wages, as well as cleaning materials, the organization claims.

Ibarra noted that the Mexican government has collaborated with them since they became aware of the situation, especially since it involves a foreign company. He claimed that during one of the visits they were “harassed” by SpaceX drones that were recording them.

In SpaceX’s statement on social media, the company said that the debris is its property and that its recovery attempts have been hindered by individuals who had “trespassed” on private property without authorization.

The Government of Tamaulipas has always expressed that it wants a collaborative relationship with SpaceX. Governor Américo Villarreal visited Starbase in November 2024.

While the bigger rocket pieces have been removed, Ibarra says the trash remains a major problem at Bagdad Beach.

“The debris is still there,” Ibarra said. “It’s no longer as visible as in the photos because the tides have been burying it, but it’s there, and it has to be removed sooner or later.”

Australian airline Qantas says a data hack on Monday exposed the personal information of six million customers and it expects the amount stolen to be “significant.”

The hack penetrated a third-party customer service platform used by a Qantas contact center, the airline said in a statement on Wednesday. Six million customers have service records on the platform – with data including some of their names, email addresses, phone numbers, birth dates and frequent flyer numbers.

However, the platform does not contain any customer credit card details, financial information or passport details, Qantas said.

After Qantas detected “unusual activity” on the platform, it took action and “contained” the system, it said. The statement said all Qantas systems are now secure, and there is no impact to the company’s operations or safety.

It’s not clear exactly how much data was stolen, “though we expect it to be significant,” the airline said. It is now working to support affected customers, and is cooperating with the Australian Cyber Security Centre, Australian Federal Police and independent cybersecurity experts on the investigation.

“We sincerely apologize to our customers and we recognize the uncertainty this will cause. Our customers trust us with their personal information and we take that responsibility seriously,” said Qantas CEO Vanessa Hudson in the statement.

“We are contacting our customers today and our focus is on providing them with the necessary support.”

Qantas’ share price was down 3.5% in morning trading, against a 0.4% gain in the broader market, according to Reuters.

Australia has seen a series of major cyberattacks and company hacks in recent years. In 2019, a cyberattack targeted Australia’s ruling and opposition parties less than three months before a national election. Two years later, broadcaster Nine News suffered a cyberattack that forced a number of live shows off air – calling it the largest cyberattack on a media company in Australia’s history.

Most recently in 2022, cybercriminals in Russia conducted a ransomware attack on Medibank, one of Australia’s largest private health insurers. Sensitive personal data, including health claims information, was stolen from 9.7 million customers – some of which was then released onto the dark web.

Last year, Australia publicly named and imposed sanctions on a Russian national for his alleged role in the attack. He was an alleged member of the Russian ransomware gang REvil, which had previously launched large attacks on targets in the United States and elsewhere, before Russian authorities cracked down in 2022 and detained multiple people.

Their reunion? It’s smooth like butter. The K-pop septet BTS will return in spring 2026 with a new album and world tour.

Members Jin, RM, V, Jimin, J-Hope, Jung Kook and Suga made the announcement Tuesday during a livestream on Weverse, an online fan platform owned by BTS management company Hybe. It was the first time all seven members have broadcast live together since September 2022.

“We’ll be releasing a new BTS album in the spring of next year. Starting in July, all seven of us will begin working closely together on new music,” the band said in a statement. “Since it will be a group album, it will reflect each member’s thoughts and ideas. We’re approaching the album with the same mindset we had when we first started.”

According to a press release, the band will be in the United States this month to begin working on new music.

The 2026 album will mark their first since 2022’s anthology, “Proof,” their 2021 Japanese compilation album “BTS, the Best,” and their last studio album, “Be,” released in 2020.

They also announced a world tour, their first in nearly four years. The news arrives a few weeks after BTS superstars RM, V, Jimin and Jung Kook were discharged from South Korea’s military after fulfilling their mandatory service.

In South Korea, all able-bodied men aged 18 to 28 are required by law to perform 18-21 months of military service under a conscription system meant to deter aggression from rival North Korea.

Six of the group’s seven members served in the army, while Suga, the last to return, fulfilled his duty as a social service agent, an alternative to military service.

Jin, the oldest BTS member, was discharged in June 2024. J-Hope was discharged in October.

South Korea’s law gives special exemptions to athletes, classical and traditional musicians, and ballet and other dancers if they have obtained top prizes in certain competitions and are assessed to have enhanced national prestige. K-pop stars and other entertainers aren’t subject to such privileges.

However, in 2020, BTS postponed their service after South Korea’s National Assembly revised its Military Service Act, allowing K-pop stars to delay their enlistment until age 30.

The Dalai Lama has announced that he will have a successor after his death, continuing a centuries-old tradition that has become a flashpoint in the struggle with China’s Communist Party over Tibet’s future.

Tibetan Buddhism’s spiritual leader made the declaration on Wednesday in a video message to religious elders gathering in Dharamshala, India, where the Nobel Peace laureate has lived since fleeing Tibet after a failed uprising against Chinese communist rule in 1959.

“I am affirming that the institution of the Dalai Lama will continue,” the Dalai Lama said in the pre-recorded video, citing requests he received over the years from Tibetans and Tibetan Buddhists urging him to do so.

“The Gaden Phodrang Trust has sole authority to recognize the future reincarnation; no one else has any such authority to interfere in this matter,” he added, using the formal name for the office of the Dalai Lama.

The office should carry out the procedures of search and recognition of the future dalai lama “in accordance with past tradition,” he said, without revealing further details on the process.

The Dalai Lama has previously stated that when he is about 90 years old, he will consult the high lamas of Tibetan Buddhism and the Tibetan public to re-evaluate whether the institution of the dalai lama should continue.

Wednesday’s announcement – delivered days before his 90th birthday this Sunday – sets the stage for a high-stakes battle over his succession, between Tibetan leaders in exile and China’s atheist Communist Party, which insists it alone holds the authority to approve the next dalai lama.

In a memoir published in March, the Dalai Lama states that his successor will be born in the “free world” outside China, urging his followers to reject any candidate selected by Beijing.

That could lead to the emergence of two rival dalai lamas: one chosen by his predecessor, the other by the Chinese Communist Party, experts say.

“Both the Tibetan exile community and the Chinese government want to influence the future of Tibet, and they see the next Dalai Lama as the key to do so,” said Ruth Gamble, an expert in Tibetan history at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia.

Samdhong Rinpoche, a senior official at the Dalai Lama’s office, told reporters on Wednesday that any further information about the procedures or methods of the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation would not be revealed to the public until the succession takes place.

Struggle over succession

Over a lifetime in exile, the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, has become synonymous with Tibet and its quest for genuine autonomy under Beijing’s tightening grip on the Himalayan region.

From his adopted hometown of Dharamshala, where he established a government-in-exile, the spiritual leader has unified Tibetans at home and in exile and elevated their plight onto the global stage.

That has made the Dalai Lama a persistent thorn in the side of Beijing, which denounces him as a dangerous “separatist” and a “wolf in monk’s robes.”

Since the 1970s, the Dalai Lama has maintained that he no longer seeks full independence for Tibet, but “meaningful” autonomy that would allow Tibetans to preserve their distinct culture, religion and identity. His commitment to the nonviolent “middle way” approach has earned him international support and the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989.

The Dalai Lama has long been wary of Beijing’s attempt to meddle with the reincarnation system of Tibetan Buddhism.

Tibetan Buddhists believe in the circle of rebirth, and that when an enlightened spiritual master like the Dalai Lama dies, he will be able to choose the place and time of his rebirth through the force of compassion and prayer.

But the religious tradition has increasingly become a battleground for the control of Tibetan hearts and minds, especially since the contested reincarnation of the Panchen Lama, the second-highest figure in the religion.

In 1995, years after the death of the 10th Panchen Lama, Beijing installed its own panchen lama in defiance of the Dalai Lama, whose pick for the role – a six-year-old boy – has since vanished from public view.

Under Tibetan tradition, the dalai lamas and the panchen lamas have long played key roles in recognizing each other’s reincarnations. Experts believe Beijing will seek to interfere in the current Dalai Lama’s succession in a similar way.

“There’s a whole series of high-level reincarnated lamas cultivated by the Chinese government to work with it inside Tibet. (Beijing) will call on all of those to help establish the Dalai Lama that they pick inside Tibet,” Gamble said. “There’s been a long-term plan to work toward this.”

Beijing has repeatedly said that the reincarnation of all Living Buddhas – or high-ranking lamas in Tibetan Buddhism – must comply with Chinese laws and regulations, with search and identification conducted in China and approved by the central government.

A “resolution of gratitude” statement released by Tibetan Buddhist religious leaders gathering in Dharamshala on Wednesday said they “strongly condemn the People’s Republic of China’s usage of reincarnation subject for their political gain” and “will never accept it.”

For his part, the current Dalai Lama has made clear that any candidate appointed by Beijing will hold no legitimacy in the eyes of Tibetans or followers of Tibetan Buddhism.

“It is totally inappropriate for Chinese Communists, who explicitly reject religion, including the idea of past and future lives, to meddle in the system of reincarnation of lamas, let alone that of the Dalai Lama,” he writes in his latest memoir, “Voice for the Voiceless.”

North Korea is set to triple the number of its troops fighting for Russia along the front lines with Ukraine, sending an additional 25,000 to 30,000 soldiers to assist Moscow, according to an intelligence assessment from Ukrainian officials.

The assessment also says there are signs that Russian military aircraft are being refitted to carry personnel, reflecting the vast undertaking of moving tens of thousands of foreign troops across Russian Siberia, which shares a border with North Korea in its far southwest.

North Korea initially sent 11,000 troops to Russia in the fall of 2024 in great secrecy, with Russian President Vladimir Putin only confirming the deployment in late April.

In October, North Korean soldiers were pictured being handed equipment for the frontlines at the Sergeevka military base in Primorskyi Krai.

A month later, a Ropucha-class Russian ship docked at the Dunai port near Nakhodka, 95 kilometers (59 miles) to the southwest, which could carry up to 400 troops, analysts said.

“Satellite imagery shows a Russian personnel carrier arriving at Dunai in May, and activity at Sunan airport in May and June,” said Joe Byrne, senior analyst at the Open Source Centre. “This appears to indicate the routes previously used to move DPRK troops are active, and could be used in any large-scale future transfer of personnel.”

Jenny Town, senior fellow and director of the Korean program at the Stimson Center, said the Ukrainian assessment of up to 30,000 sounded “high… but they can certainly come up with that number. They won’t be elite soldiers. Kim Jong Un has said he is all in, so it depends on what Russia has asked for.”

Town said 10,000 to 20,000 “sounds more realistic,” and that North Korea might slowly deploy the troops in stages. “There have been rumors that Russian generals have been inside North Korea training troops there already,” she said.

Ukraine’s Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said Thursday that Kyiv suspected further North Korean troops might be deployed but added that the country’s leader, Kim Jong Un, risked putting his own government in peril by exposing so many elite troops to the high casualty rates of the front line. “Russia’s use of elite North Korean troops demonstrates not only a growing reliance on totalitarian regimes but also serious problems with its mobilization reserve,” Umerov said. “Together with our partners, we are monitoring these threats and will respond accordingly.”

On Friday, Ukraine’s military chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said Russia was amassing 110,000 troops near the front-line hotspot town of Pokrovsk, in preparation for a possible offensive on the strategic population center.

Sergei Shoigu, a top adviser to Putin who previously served as his defense minister, visited Pyongyang on June 17 – a trip made on Putin’s orders, and his second visit in a fortnight, the Russian state-run TASS news agency reported. During the visit, Shoigu announced 1,000 North Korean sappers and 5,000 military construction workers would be sent to Russia, to clear mines and “restore infrastructure destroyed by the occupiers” in the Kursk region, according to TASS.

South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) has briefed lawmakers in Seoul that North Korea has begun selecting personnel for overseas deployment which could occur as early as July or August, according to remarks by lawmaker Lee Seong-kweun. He highlighted Russia’s public announcement of another 6,000 North Korean mine clearers and military construction workers being sent. It is unclear if the NIS shares the Ukranian intelligence assessment that the deployment could be as many as 30,000.

The six-minute video shows a Russian military instructor declaring that North Koreans aged 23 to 27 arrive “physically well-prepared.” He added, “As fighters they are not worse than ours. The enemy runs away first.”

The Russian trainer discusses with Kim a translation sheet of basic military Russian terms to Korean. It is unclear if the North Korean trainees are new arrivals or the remnants of the 11,000 sent last year. The reporter also visits a trench network where the North Koreans live with basic comfort items such as red Korean pepper, and handwritten posters declaring in Korean “Revenge for our fallen comrades” above their bunks.

Another two videos posted by TASS imply greater integration of North Korean soldiers into the Russian military than was previously seen. North Korean troops’ first exposure to the front line in Kursk was as a distinct, separate unit, owing to the language barrier with Moscow’s troops, according to assessments by Ukrainian officials.

One TASS video shows North Korean and Russian troops working to clear buildings together in close-combat training, and another shows North Koreans receiving training with shotguns, used to tackle the Ukrainian drone threat.

The manuals have emerged at the same time as increasing numbers of videos of North Korean artillery at the front line have been seen online, and as a report from 11 UN member states last month said that Pyongyang had sent at least 100 ballistic missiles and 9 million artillery shells to Russia in 2024.

The report also echoed statements from the South Korean military in March that another 3,000 North Korean troops had been sent to Russia early this year.

Town, from the Stimson Center, said Pyongyang saw a long-term benefit to Moscow being in its debt. “The more ‘blood debt’ there is between them,” she said, “the more North Korea will benefit in the long run, even if they are making sacrifices in the short term.”