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American Who Snatched a Baby Wombat from Its Mother Leaves Australia 

A wombat walks at a wildlife sanctuary in Bendalong on the South Coast, of Australia, Tuesday, May 26, 2020. (AAP Image via AP)
A wombat walks at a wildlife sanctuary in Bendalong on the South Coast, of Australia, Tuesday, May 26, 2020. (AAP Image via AP)
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American Who Snatched a Baby Wombat from Its Mother Leaves Australia 

A wombat walks at a wildlife sanctuary in Bendalong on the South Coast, of Australia, Tuesday, May 26, 2020. (AAP Image via AP)
A wombat walks at a wildlife sanctuary in Bendalong on the South Coast, of Australia, Tuesday, May 26, 2020. (AAP Image via AP)

An American influencer left Australia on Friday after the government announced it was reviewing her visa over a video she posted of her snatching a baby wombat from its mother.

Sam Jones, who describes herself as an “outdoor enthusiast & hunter,” made her Instagram account private Thursday after she was widely condemned for the video.

“There’s never been a better day to be a baby wombat in Australia,” Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said in a statement after a government official confirmed Jones had flown from the country voluntarily.

In the video, Montana-based Jones lifts the wombat joey by its front legs in darkness from a roadside then runs away from its mother. “I caught a baby wombat,” she said as a man filming her laughs. She returns the wombat to the roadside after several seconds.

Burke had said earlier Friday the conditions of her visa were being reviewed to determine whether immigration law has been breached. “I can’t wait for Australia to see the back of this individual, I don’t expect she will return,” he said in the statement received by The Associated Press.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese added his voice to the criticism. “To take a baby wombat from its mother, and clearly causing distress from the mother, is just an outrage,” Albanese said.

“I suggest to this so-called influencer, maybe she might try some other Australian animals. Take a baby crocodile from its mother and see how you go there. Take another animal that can actually fight back rather than stealing a baby wombat from its mother,” Albanese added.

Jones, who also uses the name Samantha Strable, closed her social media channels to messages and couldn’t be reached for comment Friday.

The wombat appears to be common wombat, also known as a bare-nosed wombat. It is a protected marsupial found only in Australia.

Yolandi Vermaak, founder of the animal care charity Wombat Rescue, said separating the young wombat from its mother created a risk that the mother would reject her offspring.

“My biggest concern is that we didn’t actually see mom and baby getting reunited. When she put it down, it looked disoriented. It was turned away from where the mother was last seen. So we don’t know if mom and baby actually found each other again,” Vermaak said.

Vermaak also called on Jones to say where the wombat was after the video showed the joey had a skin disease. “The baby has mange and it’s a matter of time before it dies of mange, so it’s important for us to find where this happened and to get this baby and its mom treated as soon as possible,” Vermaak said.

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Varieties

Germany Hit by Record Temperatures as Heatwave Moves East

A boy jumps into the Dortmund-Ems Canal in Dortmund, western Germany on June 26, 2026 during a heatwave in Europe. (AFP)
A boy jumps into the Dortmund-Ems Canal in Dortmund, western Germany on June 26, 2026 during a heatwave in Europe. (AFP)
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Germany Hit by Record Temperatures as Heatwave Moves East

A boy jumps into the Dortmund-Ems Canal in Dortmund, western Germany on June 26, 2026 during a heatwave in Europe. (AFP)
A boy jumps into the Dortmund-Ems Canal in Dortmund, western Germany on June 26, 2026 during a heatwave in Europe. (AFP)

Germans braced for sweltering conditions on Saturday as a heatwave linked to dozens of deaths in Western Europe was expected to move east after temperatures broke records above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).

Britain, France, Switzerland and Germany have all experienced record heat in June, and the weather system could test more records as it rolls across Germany towards Poland.

On Friday, a new German record of 41.3 C was reached near the city of Saarbruecken close to the French border, a spokesperson for Germany's National Meteorological Service said, noting ‌the reading was ‌still preliminary.

In France, dozens of people both young and ‌old have ⁠died during the heatwave. ⁠Temperatures above 40 C have disrupted rail travel and power generation, suspended schools and postponed outdoor events.

"The heatwave is going to peak at the weekend, well over 40 degrees in some parts of Germany," said Karsten Brandt, a meteorologist at weather forecasting site Donnerwetter.de.

The Ironman European Championship long-distance triathlon taking place on Sunday in Frankfurt shortened the cycling and running courses due to the heat, organizers said.

Struggling with the prospect of damage to ⁠infrastructure like buckling roads and swelling train tracks, some major public service ‌providers have sought to reduce traffic.

FREE CANCELLATIONS TO ‌REDUCE RAIL TRAVEL

German national rail operator Deutsche Bahn has given customers the option of cancelling ‌long-distance travel bookings into early next week without charge due to the heatwave.

The company ‌said its infrastructure is under particular strain because of sun exposure and additional risk to signals, tracks and overhead wires stemming from thunderstorms and wildfires.

Parts of Germany, mainly in the southwest, have already experienced a much hotter June than usual.

The most extreme heat is forecast to begin fading at ‌the weekend, with heavy thunderstorms expected on Sunday.

Across Europe, cultural landmarks have had to close, farming has suffered, and some hospitals have ⁠struggled to cope.

The ⁠heatwave has pushed temperatures up to 18 C above their seasonal average, according to the Reuters Climate Monitor, and is being driven by a phenomenon known as an Omega block.

This weather pattern traps a bulging ball of hot air over regions for extended periods, with cooler air on its fringes.

Demand for electric fans has shot up, and Asian air conditioning makers have reported a European sales boom.

Most of the housing stock in Northern Europe is not built to temper heat but rather to keep it in.

The present heatwave will begin shifting by the end of the month, hitting Central Europe and the Balkans, the World Meteorological Organization said.

Scientists said the heatwave would have been virtually impossible without man-made climate change, which has made this week's night-time temperatures 100 times more likely than they would have been even two decades ago.

Varieties

Farmers Fear Drought as Italy's Longest River Runs Dry

The Po River has never fallen this low so early in the year. Stefano RELLANDINI / AFP
The Po River has never fallen this low so early in the year. Stefano RELLANDINI / AFP
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Farmers Fear Drought as Italy's Longest River Runs Dry

The Po River has never fallen this low so early in the year. Stefano RELLANDINI / AFP
The Po River has never fallen this low so early in the year. Stefano RELLANDINI / AFP

Seawater is seeping into Italy's longest river as the waterway starts to run dry in the heatwave, hitting a farming heartland that produces the milk for Parmesan cheese.

The Po River has never fallen this low so early in the year, raising fears of a devastating drought in July in this corner of northern Italy, AFP said.

On the bank of one of its branches, farmer Federica Vidali looked anxiously at her sunflower field. The first bloom of the season has appeared, but part of the field is already dry and starting to crack.

One of the two canals that irrigate it has been shut because the seawater would enter and damage the crops.

"We're left with the water that others are willing to leave us. But we're not second-division farmers!" Vidali told AFP.

The Po River's flow has collapsed in a matter of days, dropping below 300 cubic meters per second, compared with an average of around 1,500 in June, according to Aipo, the interregional river agency.

"It has never dropped so fast, so early," said Stefano Calderoni of the Italian irrigation association (Anbi).

Sandbanks are multiplying, depths fall to barely one meter in places, and the river's few remaining fishermen swelter in the heat.

"Before, we used to pass on the left; now the passage is to the right of the sandbank, and it's very, very narrow," said Daniela Cuoghi, a surveyor for Aipo.

The many Alpine lakes that feed the Po Valley, Italy's agro-industrial heartland, are still about 60 percent full. But farmers are drawing heavily from the waterways to irrigate fields parched by the heat.

It rained this winter, but the mountain snow that used to replenish the lake has already melted due to climate change.

"We're not in a drought situation yet, but at this rate, there's less than three weeks of water left in reserve," said Damiano Di Simine, an expert with environmental group Legambiente.

Drought last struck the Po Valley in 2022 -- but only at the end of July.

- 'Really big problems' -

Further downstream, at the river's mouth, the situation is already serious: seawater has pushed about 20 kilometers upstream.

Saltwater is beginning to contaminate farmland reclaimed over the past five centuries from the delta marshes.

Barriers have been placed in the river to stop seawater, but they only work if river's flow is strong enough.

"We'd need almost double the current flow for them to work," said Rodolfo Laurenti, the engineer in charge of irrigation in the delta.

Laurenti called for cooperation and solidarity between regions to manage water in the event of a crisis.

Farmers are also considering new dams or water retention basins, but "we're afraid that all these structures will still never be enough," Laurenti said.

A few kilometers closer to the sea, clam fishermen are also struggling with soaring June temperatures. The heat has warmed the lagoons, boosting the growth of algae that cover the shellfish.

They must also clear algae from the nets protecting clams from invasive blue crabs, which arrived from North America in recent years.

"On top of all the problems we already have, we now have this crazy, long, and unexpected heat," said Paolo Mancin, head of the local fishermen's cooperative, standing with in water at 31C.

"Macroalgae are forming, there's a high mortality rate among clams... If it were something that lasted a week, we could get through it.

"But this prolonged heat is now causing really big problems."

Varieties

Heavy Rain Pounds Western Japan as 2 Tropical Storms Approach

People clean mud and debris from a flooded area after heavy rain brought by Tropical Storm Mekkhala in Hsinchu, Taiwan, June 26, 2026. (Reuters)
People clean mud and debris from a flooded area after heavy rain brought by Tropical Storm Mekkhala in Hsinchu, Taiwan, June 26, 2026. (Reuters)
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Heavy Rain Pounds Western Japan as 2 Tropical Storms Approach

People clean mud and debris from a flooded area after heavy rain brought by Tropical Storm Mekkhala in Hsinchu, Taiwan, June 26, 2026. (Reuters)
People clean mud and debris from a flooded area after heavy rain brought by Tropical Storm Mekkhala in Hsinchu, Taiwan, June 26, 2026. (Reuters)

Heavy downpours triggered flooding in parts of western Japan on Friday as two approaching tropical storms added to a seasonal rain front already stuck above the country.

Storm Mekkhala was off the western coast of Japan's southern remote island of Amami as of late afternoon Friday as it headed northeast, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

Another storm, Higos, was traveling nearby and the two storms are expected to reach the Tokyo region Saturday while dumping heavy rain, the JMA said.

Earlier Friday, a man was injured as he fell into a waterway in Nara, according to Japan's NHK public television.

Television footage from Kyoto showed the Kamo River swollen with muddy water. A flooding alert was issued in parts of Kyoto, Osaka and other areas in western Japan.

The Fire and Disaster Management Agency said more than 30 homes were flooded in Nara and Hiroshima on Friday. Heavy rain also disrupted some train operations and flights in the area.