A community project to bring lights to football fields in Samoa has uncovered 14 venues listed as finished in a multi-million-tala grant programme that volunteers say were never built. The Island Sports Grants Office is now facing demands to account for payments worth 4.6 million tala (about €1.5 million).
A visiting comedy production has snapped up nine of Santiago’s 13 soundstages, leaving local film crews scrambling for space and pushing some rental quotes to nearly three times their usual level. Chilean production managers say at least 31 shoots have been delayed or moved since the booking was announced on Sunday.
A second-tier club has sued Italy’s football governing body, alleging that a €76 million stadium-solar fund rewarded projects that could not yet connect to the electricity grid. The case has brought scrutiny to a scheme promoted as a way to cut clubs’ energy bills and modernise their grounds.
A grand opening for a new cross-border rail terminal in western Ukraine ended with passengers being driven the final 3 kilometres by bus. Public records and on-site checks now indicate the track link was unfinished when officials declared the €25 million project operational.
A routine check by a customer has forced a Brazilian computer reseller to quarantine 12,400 refurbished laptops after some were linked to bans imposed on their previous users. The company has set aside R$46 million (about €7.7 million) for refunds and replacements as complaints surge.
A phone video of students calmly negotiating a route through central Wellington has drawn millions of views—and competing claims about who kept the march peaceful. With another demonstration planned for Tuesday, organisers and police officials are trying to stop a viral clip from setting the terms on the street.
An unmanned aircraft carrying 214kg of freight landed in Salalah after vanishing from public radar for 29 minutes over central Oman. Its operator says the 884km journey is the longest commercial cargo flight of its kind in the Middle East; unexplained green lights reported nearby have turned a business trial into a desert mystery.
A court has halted 86 kilometres (53 miles) of planned firebreak work in eastern Germany as blazes send smoke into Berlin and Dresden. Researchers say fires could consume 50,000 hectares (123,600 acres) by 20 October if the region misses the rain it needs.
A new study says falling rainfall and forest loss have pushed a large part of Mexico’s Selva Maya into a self-reinforcing drying cycle. The government disputes the finding, while the authors warn that thousands of square kilometres could change sharply within 14 years.
A mysterious blue glow that lit 11 km (6.8 miles) of Portugal’s Costa da Caparica has helped break a two-year political deadlock over its dunes. Parliament has approved a 420-hectare (1,038-acre) protected zone, shelving three resort proposals and setting aside €38 million (about $44 million) for compensation and restoration.
A 48-hour walkout by health-service staff has brought attention to records showing that dozens of reported break-ins, damaged equipment and threats at Eastern Cape facilities were logged as routine faults. The provincial service counted just 29 security incidents publicly, while its facility records describe 94 over 19 months.
A survey timed to the anniversary of Taiwan’s 1999 earthquake has overturned a long-held picture of two isolated fish populations. Researchers say the tiny minnows have been slipping between streams through an old irrigation pipe.