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Flight paths and fridge magnets: how a fireball hunter tracked down New Zealand’s newest meteorite

Days after a massive fireball flashed through New Zealand’s skies last month, Steve Wyn-Harris spotted a small, black stone on the bare ground. The citizen astronomer was on the hunt for debris from the meteor that had flown over the North Island. He bagged the rock but wasn’t too confident, as he says most finds turn out to be “meteor-wrongs”. But when he held the thumb-sized rock next to a fridge magnet, to detect iron and nickel in meteorites, it clicked. Wyn-Harris did the test on a video call with other citizen scientists and geologists and after the click “we were all yelling”. “I went from doubting Thomas to a convert,” says Wyn-Harris. His discovery marks the 11th confirmed meteorite to be found in New Zealand. Meteorites are the leftover rock that hits the ground after the meteor has burned up entering Earth’s atmosphere. Finding the debris in New Zealand can be difficult, a consequence of the country’s sparsely populated, rugged terrain. Wyn-Harris is the director of Fireballs Aotearoa, an alliance of astronomers, geologists and citizen scientists that now has a network of 200 cameras set up around the country designed to help document meteor showers and recover meteorites. On 28 July, the group and their cameras had tracked a meteor over the North Island, and people had rushed online to describe the dazzling display and a “huge boom”. Footage indicated there was an exciting possibility of many fragments from the meteor on the ground. After crunching data, including wind speed and flight path projections, the group zeroed in on an area where they calculated meteorites could be strewn. They kept the location a secret, worried a public appeal for help could trigger a “meteor rush” – a martian meteorite found in Niger sold for more than $5m last year – though New Zealand law prohibits such sales. Wyn-Harris says he found the meteorite near a riverbank while scouting farmland a day before he and the group were due to search the area. “I wasn’t so excited when I first spotted and bagged it because I’d only been looking around … for 40 minutes,” he says. But on the video call later that night a geologist looked at the rock and noted its crust had a meteorite quality. The next day, a team of 11 people carried out a wider search of the area. Two days after Wyn-Harris’s discovery, which weighed eight grams, Liam McGovern, a geology PhD student, found a second fragment, weighing 39 grams. Over 10 days, the search party discovered four pieces, weighing 75g in total, including a fragment that had crashed on to the driveway of a house. Wyn-Harris says the meteor’s trajectory before it entered the atmosphere indicated it came from the asteroid belt, making it an “ordinary chondrite”. The name is “unfortunate, because they’re not ordinary,” he says. All four fragments will now be analysed further by Dr Marshall Palmer, a geologist who is part of Fireballs Aotearoa. Palmer will give the meteorites an official name and, together, they will become New Zealand’s 11th documented meteorite. Prof James Scott, a geoscientist and the founder of Fireballs Aotearoa, says the pieces are “100%” meteorite, and he believes they likely share origins with New Zealand’s first meteorite discovered in 1863 nearby in Masterton. “Both likely come from the same parent body, which was an asteroid from near the start of the solar system. That blows my mind. We have two rocks, formed elsewhere in space from a smallish asteroid … that has been catastrophically destroyed, and yet they land within 10km of each other.”

At a temple in Thailand, parents mourn a 12-year-old mass shooting victim, and a father pleads for forgiveness

When the mother and father of the youngest victim of last week’s school mass shooting arrived at the temple north of Bangkok, teary-eyed parents came up to quietly offer condolences before the prayers began in front of the 12-year-old girl’s casket. Then, in a moment, the tone changed. A man arrived and dropped to his knees in supplication, sobbing and bowing his head in the traditional “wai” gesture before the couple who had lost their daughter, Naphat Chaimar. It was Nithi Yimruang, the father of the 14-year-old boy who had carried out the shooting, pleading for their forgiveness. Naphat’s father, Pongthon Chaimar, helped raise the man up by his arms, but his head remained hung in shame, even as Pongthon accepted the apology. The girl’s parents told Nithi they understood he too was going through a difficult time. His son, Patchat Yimruang, had shot his grandfather and grandmother dead before killing six people and injuring more than 30 at the prestigious Debsirin Nonthaburi school north-west of Bangkok. The teenager had then turned the gun on himself. The father told the Guardian before the funeral service: “I’m experiencing so many emotions all at once. I feel guilty and heartbroken because I’ve suffered a loss too. I’ve lost my child, as well as my parents. And seeing the little girl’s father being so kind and understanding toward me makes me feel even more guilty.” He still does not understand why his son did what he did, but he is left to reckon with the violence his own flesh and blood had committed. He leaves the temple of Wat Lat Pla Duk in Nonthaburi province before Monday’s funeral service begins. Grief, and a royal wreath The teenage boy had used his grandfather’s gun to carry out the attack. He had lived with his grandparents ever since his parents separated when he was two years old. But his father visited him every weekend, and took him to extra tutoring classes. “For me, he was number one. But he was a quiet, reserved child. He didn’t talk much and usually kept things to himself. Toward the end, though, he became even quieter than before. “I used to ask him quite often how things were at school, and he would just say, ‘so-so’. I’d ask him how his classes were going, and he’d just say ‘so-so’. “But now, there’s no way for me to find out or ask him any more.” The shooting has resonated across the country, with the king and prime minister leading an outpouring of grief. Inside the temple’s pavilion in Nonthaburi province, Naphat’s coffin is flanked by a yellow wreath from King Maha Vajiralongkorn and a violet and pink tribute from Queen Suthida. They are joined by wreaths from the prime minister, Anutin Charnvirakul, and several other cabinet ministers. The palace announced on Sunday the king had granted royal patronage for the victims, their family and relatives. The move means all the injured would be treated as patients under royal care, and royal sponsorship would be awarded for the funeral rites and cremations of those killed. ‘What I miss most about her … are her dreams’ At the temple on Monday, hundreds of mourners – including the deputy prime minister, teachers, parents and friends – fill the room where Naphat’s casket lies as monks chant prayers. The wreaths and chairs are so numerous they spill out into the undercover area outside. Mourners burn incense next to the images on display that trace her transition from a baby to a confident young girl on the brink of adolescence, playing guitar and performing on stage. Naphat had been at the school only three months, as part of its newest cohort of grade 7 pupils. Father Pongthon says: “What I miss most about her, and what her mother and I miss the most, are her dreams.” “After the new school term began, she took part in a dance competition and a Thai traditional costume competition. And toward the end of this month, she was supposed to compete in a cheerleading competition as well. “She took on all these activities, and she was able to do them all. She really enjoyed expressing herself.” When Naphat’s parents heard the news of the shooting at the school, they kept calling their daughter’s phone. Later, an officer called to say she was at Phranangklao hospital in a critical condition. Naphat died on Saturday, bringing the total death toll to nine, including the attacker. Naphat’s teacher, who did not wish to be named, remembered her as an entertainer. He told the Guardian, she would not normally have been in the building where the shooting occurred but had gone to get a vaccination along with some other students. She was walking out of the room where she received the vaccination when she was struck. Her father, Pongthon, says he does not blame the school. “To put it simply, I think something like this can happen anywhere. Anywhere in the world.” • International helplines can be found at befrienders.org. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123. In the US, you can call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14.

Native birds in captivity to be vaccinated against H5 bird flu as Australia prepares for more mass mortalities

Vaccinations against H5 bird flu will be rolled out for Australian native bird species in captivity as the deadly virus continues to spread across the country. The federal agriculture minister, Julie Collins, said on Tuesday that target native species in captivity would be prioritised with the first vaccinations to commence “in the coming days and weeks”. Collins said state governments would manage the program and announce the target species soon. “We’ve been very clear that we cannot stop the H5 bird flu from spreading among wild birds, but we can take action to protect the species most at risk,” the minister said. “Vaccination is now part of that response.” Collins warned Australians they would continue to see “more spread and larger numbers – particularly of dead birds and mass mortalities around the country”. The vaccination program would focus on captive species such as endangered birds that were part of conservation breeding programs in zoos and other facilities. The federal environment minister, Murray Watt, said it was difficult to vaccinate wild birds because a full course required two doses. But the commonwealth did plan to vaccinate wild birds where possible, he said. “It does take two vaccination doses to vaccinate birds, and it is difficult enough to catch wild birds once, let alone twice. [But] where it’s possible to vaccinate wild birds, we will do so.” Endangered birds in captivity include the orange-bellied parrot, regent honeyeater and Western Australia’s black cockatoos. Australia’s chief veterinary officer, Beth Cookson, said the vaccination rollout followed trials examining its safety and efficacy over the past 18 months. The government did not say which species or facilities had participated in the pilot program. “The trials and pilots that we’ve undertaken so far have provided us with some safety data across a range of different species,” Cookson said. She said because the vaccines already in use had been developed for poultry, the government needed to gather safety data across a range of native bird species. “As you can appreciate, birds come in all different sizes, and the vaccines that we’ve got are made for poultry,” she said. “So it was really important as part of the preparedness that we had that safety information. We’ll continue to gather that information and to prioritise vaccination in those species where we’ve got sufficient evidence.” The federal government said it would move from daily updates of H5 case numbers to a focus on major events such as mass mortalities as the number of infected species continued to rise. The first mass mortalities occurred in South Australia and Victoria last week as H5 bird flu spread to new species, including silver gulls. The South Australian government said on Tuesday that a peregrine falcon was among 33 new suspect cases in that state. Last week, cases were detected in the Murray-Darling region of SA and New South Wales for the first time. Prof John Woinarski of Charles Darwin University said the plan to vaccinate priority captive species was welcomed, but more work was needed, including for mammals at risk from bird flu. “Trials with mammals is important,” he said on Tuesday. “It’s doable, in terms of the practicality of it, with seals and seal lions that come ashore.” Woinarski called on governments to reveal which captive bird species would be vaccinated or subject to trials. “We also need to know if they have any adverse reactions,” he said. The conservation biologist said it should be possible to vaccinate less mobile wild bird populations, such as the little penguin population on Phillip Island in Victoria. Cookson said on Tuesday there were “no commercially available vaccines suitable for mammals” but the federal government was working closely with other countries “to follow some of the trials that are being undertaken, including in the US”.

Ukraine war briefing: Russia bans voting against the war

Russia has banned voting against the war in September’s elections. The supreme court upheld a suit brought by a small pro-Kremlin nationalist party, Roblina, and stripped voters opposed to the war of their last option on the ballot: Yabloko, the country’s only remaining anti-war party. The court banned Yabloko’s entire list of federal election candidates from standing for the State Duma of Russia’s parliament. With most of Vladimir Putin’s opponents jailed, exiled or dead, Yabloko is the only liberal party still operating in Russia. Voting options other than Putin’s de facto party, the ruling United Russia, are only tolerated if they are too weak to win; give their backing to the Kremlin; or serve as “spoilers” that draw votes away from anyone who might pose a threat to the regime. About a hundred supporters, mostly young people, gathered outside the courthouse chanting “Shame! Shame!” after the ruling was delivered. Like the Duma, the supreme court routinely rubber-stamps the Kremlin’s wishes. Addressing protesters, Yabloko leader Nikolay Rybakov said the party would appeal against the decision. In an interview with Agence France-Presse on the weekend, Rybakov said about 40 party activists were facing prosecution for opposing the war. The party’s deputy leader, Maxim Kruglov, was jailed for seven years in June over social media posts, while Rybakov was fined and barred from elections for posting a photo of Alexei Navalny. Independent polls show most Russians favour peace negotiations with Kyiv. Russian ⁠missiles and ⁠aerial bombs killed five people and injured about 20 others in the ⁠south-eastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia ⁠early ‌on ‌Tuesday, said the ‌regional governor, Ivan Fedorov. At the same time, the military administration in Kyiv said warehouses in a central district ‌of the capital were ablaze after missile strikes. ‌One person was reported ‌injured. A Ukrainian MiG-29 fighter ⁠jet caught fire and crashed during ⁠a combat ⁠mission when a missile misfired, with the pilot ejecting safely. Ukraine’s air force said the ‌pilot – who had been targeting ‌Russian positions in ‌the southern region of Odesa – was taken ‌to hospital. Russia’s rollout of a Starlink alternative to counteract its banning from the US-based system is taking place faster than predicted, with 16 satellites in orbit so far, top Ukrainian intelligence official Maj Gen ‌Vadym Skibitskyi has warned. Russia’s Rassvet system remains a far cry from Starlink, which had more than 10,000 satellites as of June and has given Kyiv a major advantage in drone operations and battlefield communications. Speaking to RBC-Ukraine, Skibitskyi, head of the Ukrainian GUR, said Rassvet has “begun launching ‌it much faster than originally planned”. Russia planned to have 292 satellites by 2027 and ‌924 by 2035. “Once Russia deploys a full satellite constellation, the system will operate like Starlink. Discussions are already under way on how to counter it.” Analysts have noted that while Russia has been slow to produce innovations in the war, it is quick to adapt to and copy Ukraine’s actions, introducing corresponding systems that it produces and adopts rapidly. As Russia pounds Ukraine with supersonic missiles that Ukrainians have no interceptors for, Skibitskyi said Moscow had already met its annual ⁠production targets for Zircon and Oniks missiles in the first seven months of 2026 and was exceeding its 2026 missile production goals by 10% to 20%. At the same time, Ukraine’s emerging ballistic missile industry, and drone production facilities, had become a priority target for Russia’s missile campaign. Russia’s stockpile of Iskander-M ballistic missiles, the mainstay of its supersonic strikes, was estimated at about 130, with 65 new ones made in July alone. On Tuesday, there were unconfirmed reports that Russian ballistic missile launcher systems were destroyed inside Russia, not far from the border. A Ukrainian drone strike set fire to the Taneco refinery in the Russian city of Nizhnekamsk, about 750 miles (1,200km) from the Ukrainian border, Luke Harding writes. Ukraine’s general staff said it was part of a campaign to reduce the “military potential of the Russian aggressor”. Russian authorities said at least 13 people were killed. Taneco is one of Russia’s biggest and most technologically advanced oil refineries, and part of it produces rubber and petrochemical products. Overnight into Monday, Ukraine’s armed forces hit equipment depots and a repair unit in the occupied Donetsk and Luhansk parts of eastern Ukraine, while ⁠Russian-installed local authorities said the ⁠Zaporizhzhia region in south-east Ukraine was largely without ⁠electricity on Monday ⁠after Ukrainian attacks destroyed key power facilities. Reuters reports that Ukraine is considering shipping grain by rail through Moldova as a more ⁠secure export option than by ⁠sea as its ports are battered by Russian attacks. Sources in Ukraine and Moldova said Kyiv wants a 50% discount on freight through Moldova to the Romanian port of Constanța. A source at Moldovan Railways said Moldova wants guarantees about the volume to be transported. The Ukrainians estimate a working corridor could provide for 10% of Ukraine’s exports. Moldovan and Ukrainian ministers met in Odesa on Monday for discussions.

Trump demands Iran pay compensation for decades of US soldier deaths

Donald Trump has said he will demand that Iran pay compensation for the deaths of thousands of US soldiers and Iran’s own civilians killed in recent decades in the latest sign his negotiations to end the war and reopen the strait of Hormuz have reached an impasse. The US president is trying to end conflicts in Iran, Gaza and Lebanon, and his additional demands of Iran are likely to provoke anger in Tehran at the same time as Israel has rejected Trump’s terms for a 15-point roadmap to end the war in Gaza. In a post on Truth Social, Trump said he was issuing the demand for war reparations in response to Iranian negotiators making similar claims for damages for the five-month war that has killed thousands and devastated Iran’s military and economy. “Now I am likewise demanding compensation from Iran, for all of the people that they have killed and gravely wounded with their roadside bombs and many conflicts, for which they are famous, as led initially by Gen Soleimani, including the families of those killed on the USS Cole, and thousands of others killed in combat,” he wrote on Truth Social. “Additionally, compensation should be paid to the families of the hundreds of thousands of innocent protesters that Iran has killed over the last 50 years, not to mention the 52,000 that have been killed in the last five months.” The demands are likely to be a nonstarter for Iran’s leaders in the careful peace negotiations aimed at reopening the strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of global oil trade flowed before the US and Israel launched joint strikes on Iran in late February. Trump and other senior negotiators have claimed many times that a deal is imminent, although none has materialised. The remarks followed a series of setbacks for Trump’s efforts to end several Middle East conflicts before the midterm elections in November, in which high oil prices and inflation will probably hurt fellow Republicans at the polls. On Sunday, the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said he rejected the Trump-backed Board of Peace’s 15-point plan to end Israel’s war in Gaza. Netanyahu had said Hamas must fully disarm before Israel would consider pulling out of Gaza, rather than the phased withdrawal proposed by the Board of Peace. Netanyahu framed the decision as a rejection of US pressure on Israel to make peace in several wars in the Middle East. “Unlike all those who lecture us, we do what needs to be done for Israel’s security, and we can and know how to stand our ground, even against our best friends when necessary,” Netanyahu said. Trump has not replied to Netanyahu’s statement, which was a remarkably public break between the leaders of the US and its closest ally in the Middle East. But in response to a shouted question in the Oval Office on Monday, he said his relationship with Netanyahu was “very good”. Trump has sought to increase pressure on Iran. An hour after his first post demanding war reparations from Tehran, he broadened their scope to include the victims of recent wars throughout the region. “Also, with respect to the Iran negotiations, Iran should be responsible for the damages and death caused to the people of Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and Gaza!” he wrote.

Flip-flopping Netanyahu rejects Gaza plan but cannot placate all his allies

Benjamin Netanyahu’s public rejection of a US-backed deal for Gaza drew scepticism in Israel, amid reports he was personally hammering out details of a pilot military withdrawal days earlier. The Israeli prime minister is struggling to balance incompatible demands on Gaza policy from his key domestic and international allies. The far-right Israeli politicians who prop up Netanyahu’s coalition government want to intensify Israeli attacks on Gaza and establish settlements inside the territory. Donald Trump, who provides vital diplomatic and military backing for Israel, wants to move toward a permanent settlement and return to Palestinian control in Gaza, brokered by the Board of Peace that he created and chairs. With an Israeli election looming in just over two months, Netanyahu appears to have opted to publicly placate domestic partners who are already on the campaign trail. On Sunday, he rejected a new 15-point plan for Gaza, which included a Hamas commitment to give up its weapons, meeting a key Israeli demand. He also resisted US pressure to end wars in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran without Israel’s buy-in. The remarks blindsided Israeli commanders, who had been discussing the implementation of the plan in meetings with Netanyahu and the IDF’s chief of staff, Eyal Zamir, days earlier, Israel’s Channel 12 television reported. “We learned about it today from the media,” the station quoted a defence official as saying. “At the meetings that were held until now, the prime minister personally gave his consent to this plan and to a withdrawal from the points in Rafah.” The meetings covered precise boundaries of three pilot areas in southern Gaza where a proposed international force – which has yet to be stood up – could take over from the Israeli military, and the interface between the two forces, the report said. Netanyahu’s public attack on the Board of Peace plan seemed like a particularly pointed rejection of US goals because it was released soon after a reported visit by Adm Brad Cooper, who heads US Central Command. He came to deliver in person the message that the Trump administration wants Israel to end its wars in Gaza and Lebanon, Israeli media reported. “The Americans’ message to the IDF was to move in the direction of shutting down all three theatres of operations,” a senior Israeli military officer told Channel 13 Television. Defying Trump, who is notoriously thin-skinned and intolerant of dissent, is risky when Israel is internationally isolated and needs US military supplies. But Netanyahu has a long track record of audacious political manoeuvring, both at home and internationally, undaunted even by ostensible power imbalances. Bill Clinton, after meeting him for the first time in 1996, is reported to have said: “Who’s the fucking superpower here?” In May 2024, the then US president, Joe Biden, announced an Israeli-backed ceasefire and hostage release plan for Gaza, only to have Netanyahu distance himself from the proposal and ultimately reject it. For now the administration in Washington appears to have largely shrugged off Netanyahu’s comments as electioneering, perhaps encouraged by military decisions that indicate a far more attentive regard for Trump’s wishes. Last week, Netanyahu scaled back Israeli airstrikes on Gaza by raising the threshold for authorising attacks. Targeted killings must now be approved by the chief of staff, rather than the regional commander, unless Israeli forces are in “imminent danger”. Nor is this the first time he has bowed to US pressure to rein in wars that have the enthusiastic backing of his far-right allies, recently limiting the offensive in Lebanon, and last year ordering fighter jets heading for Iran to turn back at Trump’s demand. Netanyahu’s combination of fierce domestic rhetoric and some conciliatory steps on the ground in Gaza may have bought him a bit of time but US patience may not last until polling day in late October. Trump is weighing up election concerns of his own, as the US is holding midterms just a week after Israel votes. Netanyahu’s visit to the White House last month was notably low profile for a leader who has repeatedly campaigned on his reputation as an international statesman and close relationship with the US president, Haaretz newspaper noted. It ended without a joint statement, and strains caused by the Israeli prime minister’s competing political priorities have become increasingly evident. “That’s how it is when you try to juggle too many balls; you start dropping them,” the paper said. The top envoy for the Board of Peace, Nickolay Mladenov, declined to comment on Netanyahu’s rejection of a deal that took months to hammer out. In an interview with Israeli media he said only that “discussions continue”. Palestinians in Gaza have endured nearly a year of deadly limbo after Trump brokered a nominal ceasefire last October, that he said would halt fighting and pave the way for reconstruction. Israeli attacks have continued, killing over 1,200 people, and Israel has blocked the entry of equipment, supplies and fuel needed for rebuilding homes, schools and medical infrastructure. The majority of Gaza’s surviving population live in tent camps with little sanitation, and although hunger has diminished food shortages are still widespread, with over 70,000 children projected to need treatment for acute malnutrition to April 2027, food security experts have warned. Netanyahu’s office rejected reports that he had discussed detailed withdrawal plans for Gaza.