Drone survey reveals secrets of 3000-year-old European ‘mega fortress’

A new drone survey has revealed that a 3000-year-old fortress in the Caucasus mountains is almost “40 times larger” than previously thought, reshaping our understanding of Bronze Age settlements in eastern Europe.

The “mega fortress” called Dmanisis Gora was built sometime between 1500BC and 500BC in the Caucasus region, on the boundary between Europe, the Eurasian Steppe, and the Middle East.

The region has a long history of being at the cultural crossroads of distinctive communities.

“Dmanisis Gora isn’t just a significant find for the southern Caucasus region, it has a broader significance for the diversity in the structure of large-scale settlements,” Nathaniel Erb-Satullo from Cranfield University, who was involved with the survey, said.

Excavations first began in 2023 at a fortified section between two deep gorges in the region, but a subsequent visit in autumn when the summer grasses had died revealed it could be much larger than originally thought.

Researchers then found remains of additional fortifications and other structures outside the area of the inner fortress.

When they found it impossible to get a sense of the site’s enormity from the ground, they used a drone to survey and map the region’s human-made features.

“The drone took nearly 11,000 pictures, which were knitted together using advanced software to produce high-resolution digital elevation models and orthophotos – composite pictures that show every point as if you were looking straight down,” Dr Erb-Satullo said.

“These datasets enabled us to identify subtle topographic features and create accurate maps of all the fortification walls, graves, field systems, and other stone structures within the outer settlement.”

The survey, detailed in the journal Antiquity on Wednesday, revealed that the site was over 40 times larger than previously thought, with a large outer settlement defended by a kilometre-long fortification wall.

Researchers compared the photos with Cold War-era spy satellite images to understand which of the features were recent.

This revealed that sections of the ancient settlement were damaged by modern agriculture.

Researchers suspect the fortress expanded following its interactions with mobile pastoral groups in the region with its large outer settlement likely expanding and contracting seasonally.

They hope for further studies to shed light on the population density, livestock movements and agricultural practices of this crucial region at the crossroads of Asia, Europe and the Middle East.

Future research on settlements in the area could also provide new insights into Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age societies, and how these communities functioned.

Japanese city to subsidise epidurals in bid to tackle low birthrate

Tokyo is considering a subsidy for epidural childbirths in the 2025 fiscal year in an attempt to reverse the city’s declining birthrate.

Japan’s birthrate, which is defined as the average number of children per woman, dropped to a record low of 1.20 in 2023. The fall was the most severe in the capital Tokyo, where the birthrate fell below 1 for the first time.

A birthrate of 2.1 is required to keep the population stable in the long run.

To address the problem, Tokyo mayor Yuriko Koike has pledged to subsidise epidural childbirth “as early as possible” to encourage larger families.

Japan desperately needs more children as its population continues to age, and the country’s alarmed leaders have been promising policy after policy to encourage more people to get married and give birth.

If the current birthrate persists, one forecast predicts, Japan will be left with just one child under the age of 14 in about 695 years.

According to the American Pregnancy Association, epidural anaesthesia is a type of regional anaesthesia that targets pain in a specific area of the body. Epidurals work by blocking nerve impulses from the lower spinal segments, reducing sensation in the lower half of the body.

“I have heard many people say that they had their first child and never want to experience the same pain they felt again,” Ms Koike said during her campaign last June.

“In that sense we must protect the mother’s body and at the same time create an economy and support system where women would want to have a second and third child.”

She said the subsidy could help ease the burden of Tokyo residents who wanted to have children but were hesitant for various reasons, while contributing to reversing the city’s declining birthrate.

If it goes ahead, the subsidy will be the first such initiative at the prefecture level in Japan. A budget proposal for the project is expected to be submitted at the metropolitan government assembly which is scheduled to meet next month, The Japan Times reported.

The cost of epidurals in Japan ranges from 100,000 to 200,000 yen (£500 to 1,015).

Japan has one of the lowest rates of births using epidurals among developed nations, at just 8.6 per cent according to a 2020 survey.

According to an August 2023 report in NHK Japan, the country was facing a nationwide shortage of anaesthesiologists, which contributed to the low use of epidurals for pain relief during childbirth.

Concertgoers in this Malaysian state may have to undergo urine tests

A Malaysian state has proposed that concertgoers take urine tests as a standard operating procedure after four people, suspected to have taken the drug ecstasy, died at a New Year’s Eve show.

Seven people fell unconscious at a Pinkfish concert in Subang Jaya city of Selangor state on New Year’s Eve, and four of them died. Selangor police chief Hussein Omar Khan said an investigation found all of them had taken ecstasy pills at the event, reported The Straits Times.

“We believe there were individuals who sold the drug at the concert,” he said. “We are in the midst of identifying the drug pushers.”

Police are investigating the concert organisers and trying to ascertain whether the drugs were bought before the event or at the venue itself.

To prevent such incidents in the future, the Selangor government said it would be recommending that attendees undertake urine tests at concert venues to deter drug use.

“We want to tighten the SOP, and look at what cooperation can be conducted with the police and the local authorities, because when licences or permits are granted, we want to ensure the organisers thoroughly check, especially for drugs,” Datuk Ng Suee Lim, chairman of the Local Government and Tourism Committee, said.

“So, from now on, we might need to conduct urine tests as part of the SOP for visitors.”

The proposal has drawn derision from concertgoers and organisers who claim it is impractical as well as financially prohibitive.

“It’s better for authorities to address the main issue, which is how the drugs got into the country,” said Shirazdeen Abdul Karim, executive producer of Shiraz Projects, which has hosted acts like Simple Plan and Bruno Major.

He pointed out that it would take hours to screen thousands of concert attendees.

Livescape Group CEO Iqbal Ameer told The Straits Times that conducting urine tests would only burden organisers.

“Who is going to bear the cost of these screenings? Is it the police or the organisers?” he asked.

“I think the current security checks at concerts are sufficient; in fact, they are already causing long wait times for attendees. Adding more layers isn’t going to solve the drug issue.”

Selangor police have temporarily suspended all concert permits in the state.

“For concerts with approved permits, organisers must ensure no prohibited items, such as drugs and alcohol, are brought in, and visitor capacity remains under control,” Mr Khan was quoted as saying by Malay Mail.

Organisers of the Pinkfish concert, which saw about 16,000 attendees, issued a statement saying proper security measures had been implemented at the venue, including deployment of 100 police officers, K9 units and trained security personnel at all entry points.

Police said they were reassessing existing security protocols to prevent similar incidents happening in the future.

Cambodian opposition figure shot dead in brazen Bangkok attack

Thai police are searching for a gunman who shot dead Cambodia‘s former opposition leader at a popular tourist spot in Bangkok.

Lim Kimya, 74, a former senior member of the now-dissolved Cambodia National Rescue Party, was killed near Khaosan Road on Tuesday evening, just hours after arriving in Thailand with his wife.

The gunman, who was apparently waiting for the politician, fired three shots at him.

Siam Boonsom, chief of the Bangkok police, said on Wednesday that initial investigations indicated the shooter was a hired gun who had relied on another person to identify Kimya.

Security camera footage of the incident released to Thai media showed the suspected gunman arriving at and leaving the scene on a motorbike. He did not cover his face.

“We have gathered evidence and know who the perpetrator is. Right now, we are working to arrest him,” Mr Boonsom told the media.

Kimya was a member of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party that was dissolved by a court order ahead of the 2018 election over an alleged treason plot.

The party said in a statement that it was “deeply shocked and appalled by the brutal and inhumane assassination” of Kimya and urged Thai authorities to bring the perpetrators to justice.

The party had been expected to present a strong challenge to the ruling Cambodian People’s Party of former prime minister Hun Sen in the 2018 general election. But as part of a sweeping crackdown on opposition before the election, the high court dissolved the party, and the ruling party subsequently won every seat in the National Assembly.

Kimya, a dual Cambodian and French citizen, continued to live in Cambodia even as many opposition politicians fled in the face of threats from the Sen government.

His shooting took place the same day that Sen, now head of the Cambodian senate, called for the government to enact a law that would label certain dissident actions as terrorism.

Phil Robertson, the director of the Asia Human Rights and Labour Advocates, said the shooting had “all the hallmarks of a political assassination and looks to be a significant escalation in the use of transnational repression in Bangkok” to intimidate opponents of Cambodia’s ruling party.

Additional reporting by agencies.

HMPV latest: Bali monitors flights from China and Malaysia

The US is monitoring cases of human metapneumovirus (HMPV) infections after a reported surge in cases across China.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it was currently looking at reports of increasing cases in the US but played down any concern.

It comes as Indonesia has started monitoring flights from China and Malaysia amid concern over rising HMPV infections across the region.

Those travelling to Bali will have to fill out a form three days before their arrival to the island providing a record of passengers’ health, according to local health authorities.

Singapore said on Wednesday it had witnessed a spike in HMPV infections at the end of 2024 but added that it was consistent with expectations due to increased social gatherings and holiday travel.

Dr Sanjaya Senanayake, infectious disease expert associate professor of medicine at The Australian National University, said it was “vital” for China to share information in a “timely manner”.

The virus, which causes flu or cold-like symptoms, has seen cases spiking across northern Chinese provinces this winter, particularly among children.

Three killed as seaplane crashes off Australian tourist island

At least three people were killed after a small seaplane crashed during take-off from an Australian tourist island.

The Cessna 208 Caravan plane crashed on Tuesday while leaving Rottnest Island, which is famous for its friendly marsupials called quokkas.

The victims were identified as the 34-year-old pilot, a 65-year-old woman from Switzerland and a 60-year-old man from Denmark.

Three passengers were taken to hospital with wounds while one of the seven people onboard escaped unharmed.

The plane, owned by Swan River Seaplanes, was returning to its base in Perth, 30km east of the island, Western Australia premier Roger Cook said.

Mr Cook confirmed the deaths on Wednesday as search teams fished wreckage of the plane from the sea. The survivors included an Australian couple, a 63-year-old man and 65-year-old woman.

Police divers recovered the bodies on Tuesday night from a depth of 8m, authorities said.

Mr Cook said the cause of the crash was not immediately known but there were unconfirmed reports that the plane had struck a rock at the entrance of a bay on the west side of the island.

“Every Western Australian knows that Rottnest is our premier tourism destination,” Mr Cook said. “For something so tragic to happen in front of so many people, at a place that provides so much joy, especially at this time of the year, is deeply upsetting.”

Rottnest Island is renowned for its sandy beaches and quokkas, which are rare on the Australian mainland. The island’s tourist accommodation is fully booked during the Southern Hemisphere summer months.

Police said they received several calls from the public at around 4pm local time on Tuesday alerting them to the plane crash, which prompted a multi-agency response.

“Importantly, members of the public were already present, immediately jumped to save lives,” police commissioner Col Blanch said.

Greg Quin, a tourist vacationing on Rottnest, said he saw the plane crash. “We were watching the seaplane take off and just as it was beginning to get off the water, it just tipped over and it crashed,” he told Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio in Perth.

“A lot of people in the water on their boats rushed to the scene and I think got there really, really quickly.”

Australian Transport Safety Bureau, the aviation crash investigator, said specialist investigators were being sent to the scene.

“As reported to the ATSB, during take-off the floatplane collided with the water, before coming to rest partially submerged,” the bureau’s chief commissioner, Angus Mitchell, said in a statement.

Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese described the crash as “terrible news”. “The pictures would have been seen by all Australians as they woke up this morning,” he said. “My heart goes out to all those involved.

Mahout charged after elephant kills Spanish tourist in Thailand

Police in Thailand have charged a mahout with negligence after an elephant under his care gored a Spanish tourist at a sanctuary last week.

Theerayut Inthaphudkij, 38, is the caretaker of the female elephant, called Pgang Somboon, responsible for the fatal injury to the tourist, Phang Nga Tourism and Sports Office said.

Blanca Ojanguren Garcia, 23, a student holidaying with her boyfriend in southern Thailand, was attacked by the animal while she was giving it a bath on 3 January. She died in hospital later.

The mahout faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of 200,000 baht (£4,642).

According to eyewitnesses, the elephant was startled when Garcia moved in front of it and pushed her into the concrete edge of the pond with her tusk.

Animal behaviour experts said the elephant likely got stressed from interacting with visitors outside its ecosystem.

Garcia’s death has put a spotlight on elephant tourism in the southeast Asian country where activists claim elephants are trained using cruel methods to interact with visitors.

Activists say the animals are often kept in isolation, chained and made to perform tricks and other activities. They allege that the trainers often use methods involving hitting and lashing.

García was studying law and international relations at the University of Navarra in Spain, but living in Taiwan under an Erasmus academic exchange programme.

She had travelled to Thailand on 26 December with her partner, an infantry cadet from Oviedo in Spain.

Her body has been sent for an autopsy and authorities have contacted her relatives in Spain.

This is not the first time Thailand has reported such an incident.

In 2017, an elephant killed a Chinese tour guide and injured two visitors in the Thai beach town of Pattaya. The mahout of the elephant and the camp owner were subsequently charged with negligence causing death in that case.

Kim Jong Un says success of new missile cannot be ignored by rivals

Kim Jong Un warned that North Korea’s rivals could not ignore its new hypersonic ballistic missile, which was tested while US secretary of state Antony Blinken was visiting South Korea on Monday.

He said the new missile system would “reliably contain any rivals in the Pacific region” without naming chief rival, America, or neighbours South Korea and Japan.

The missile was fired from a suburb in the capital Pyongyang and flew 1500km at about 12 times the speed of sound, the Korean Central News Agency reported on Tuesday. It attained two different peaks of 99.8km and 42.5km before striking a sea target.

South Korean and Japanese military forces had confirmed the launch soon after the missile splashed down in the Sea of Japan.

The range of the intermediate missile was enough to hit American military bases in Guam, the agency noted.

“The performance of our latest intermediate hypersonic missile system cannot be ignored worldwide, and the system can deal a serious military strike to a rival while effectively breaking any dense defensive barrier,” Mr Kim, who oversaw the test through a monitoring system, said.

“This is a clear achievement and a special event in strengthening the self-defensive capabilities of which we should be proud.”

The missile’s engine reportedly used a new compound of carbon fibre, a significant technological development for Pyongyang if confirmed.

Carbon fibre is lighter and stronger than other aerospace materials such as aluminium, but far more difficult to manufacture.

North Korea’s first missile launch of 2025 coincided with Mr Blinken’s visit to Seoul, where he pledged bilateral and trilateral cooperation, including Japan, to respond to Pyongyang’s growing military threats.

“Today’s launch is just a reminder to all of us of how important our collaborative work is,” the secretary said, condemning the launch.

Following North Korea’s confirmation of the launch, a South Korean military spokesperson raised doubts over the hypersonic missile’s capabilities and suspected Russia’s assistance in developing the weapons system with carbon fibre technology.

Lee Sung Joon, a spokesperson for South Korea‘s Joint Chiefs of Staff, said they believed the North was exaggerating the capabilities of the system. He claimed the missile covered less distance than claimed, and that there was no second peak.

Mr Lee said the test was likely a follow-up to a intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile test last April and claimed that it would be difficult to use such systems in a relatively small territory like the Korean Peninsula.