A British woman whose body was found inside a suitcase in an abandoned building in Athens sent a final text to her family telling them that she wanted to be alone, it emerged today.

Police in Greece believe that the people who killed Elisabeth Jane Ross used her phone to cover up her death by sending a string of misleading messages to her family in a bid to buy time and escape.

Elisabeth, 38, from Scotland, was found dead inside somebody else’s suitcase by a homeless man in the Kypseli district of the Greek capital on Saturday, July 18.

But detectives say that from July 15, three days before her body was discovered, somebody sent messages to her family pretending to be her.

The texts claimed that she ‘needed some time to herself’ and that she ‘wanted to be alone for a while’.

Investigators say the phone, which remains missing, was active in the Athens area until around 24 hours ago, when Elisabeth was formally identified.

A police source told Greek media: ‘The suitcase did not belong to the victim, as she did not have any large luggage with her. This means that it is possible that genetic material or fingerprints will be found in the suitcase that will help the authorities find the perpetrator or perpetrators.’

Officers are poring over CCTV footage from around the building where Elisabeth was found. Due to the weight of the suitcase containing her body, they believe the killers are likely to have been staying nearby.

Pictured: The abandoned building where Ms Ross was discovered 

The alarm was raised around 1pm on Saturday after a homeless man notified the police that he had spotted a suitcase and something coming out of it, which ‘looked like a human limb’. 

The body was later identified as 38-year-old Ms Ross, who had flown from Cyprus to Athens where she was staying with friends. 

She had flown from America to Europe on June 29.

Ms Ross was last seen just before the alleged murder on July 15, and around the time that forensic scientists believe the crime took place.

It has also been claimed that the British woman’s phone was being used up until the point she was identified by media. 

One Greek officer said: ‘The phone was being used. Text messages were even sent obviously with a view to making people believe she was still alive. 

‘We are treating the building as a crime scene.’ 

Authorities are waiting for the result of toxicological tests saying they are likely to uncover how Ms Ross died. 

The initial examination of the body showed no obvious injuries or signs of struggle, while no identification was found on her. 

Greek authorities then took fingerprints but found no match in the national database. They then discovered they were registered in American databases.

According to police, the victim was around 5ft 4in with reddish hair tied in a bun, wearing black shorts and a T-shirt. 

Her shorts bore the name of a French university, prompting Interpol to be alerted.

Her identity was then confirmed by the Interpol office in America, which informed the Hellenic Police that the body belongs to a British woman with the initials E.R, born in February 1988. 

Greek news outlets released photos of the 38-year-old woman on Wednesday.

Investigators have established that the woman flew to Greece on June 29 from the United States after travelling via Cyprus.

Local outlets released a photo of the 38-year-old, as investigations are ongoing to determine her cause of death

The initial examination of the body showed no obvious injuries or signs of struggle, while no identification was found on her

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Police have requested passenger information from the airline she travelled with to determine if she was with anyone, and are checking local accommodation registries for reservations under her name. 

Officers estimated that her death occurred between five and seven days before the body was found.

Elisabeth arrived in Greece from Cyprus around three weeks before she was found dead

One Greek police officer told The Sun that authorities were shocked at the discovery.

He said: ‘To find a foreign national dead in a suitcase here in the heart of Athens is a first. In the history of Greek-British relations, it is unprecedented.’

Greek authorities will be working closely with the Cyprus Police on this investigation, while an autopsy is expected to be carried out to determine the cause of death. 

The British Embassy in Greece and the woman’s father have been notified of her death. 

Police wish to speak to her father to gather information about her recent activities.

An FCDO spokesman told the Daily Mail: ‘Our thoughts are with Elisabeth’s family during this difficult time. We are providing consular support and are in contact with the local authorities.’

A Police Scotland spokesman said: ‘We are aware of the death of a Scottish woman in Athens and are liaising with authorities in Greece. Officers are providing support to her family in Scotland.’

Few things say British summer quite like a cold pint in a sun-soaked beer garden – and from clifftop terraces to remote countryside pubs, some spots offer views and experiences that are hard to beat.

With thousands of pubs across the UK, choosing where to enjoy your next drink can be tricky. But travel site Locals Insider has revealed its ultimate beer garden ‘bucket list’ for 2026, highlighting the standout spots worth visiting this summer.

The ranking looked at pubs across England, Scotland and Wales, scoring each beer garden on its scenery, uniqueness, atmosphere, reputation and overall experience.

‘The UK has an incredible pub culture, and this list highlights some of the beer gardens that deserve a place on every pub lover’s bucket list,’ Locals Insider spokesman Martin Danemaq said.

1. Anchor Inn, Devon

The pub overlooks the Jurassic Coast and Lyme Bay

Set in the aptly named village of Beer is the Anchor Inn which has been crowned the top beer garden to head to. 

The cliffside establishment looks out over the Jurassic Coast and Lyme Bay.

It earned the number one spot for its incredible sea views and traditional fishing village charm. 

The judges also felt it had one of the country’s most impressive pub backdrops. 

2. Tŷ Coch Inn, North Wales

Tŷ Coch Inn, in North Wales, ranked second and is a beachfront establishment

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The beachfront pub Tŷ Coch Inn ranked second overall with its stunning views of Cardigan Bay. 

Situated in Porthdinllaen, the beer garden can be reached via a coastal walk or by boat. 

Locals Insider said the pub narrowly missed out on the top spot. 

3. The Old Forge, Scottish Highlands 

The Old Forge, in the Scottish Highlands, placed third and is surrounded by mountains and lochs

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Known as the most remote pub on the mainland, The Old Forge placed third. It can be found in the small village of Inverie in the Scottish Highlands. 

The pub is surrounded by jaw-dropping landscapes from mountains and lochs to raw wilderness. 

It has been community-owned since 2022 and with little road access, it’s best to reach the pub by foot or ferry.

4. The Gurnard’s Head, Cornwall

The Gurnard’s Head in Cornwall ranked fourth, it’s located between St. Ives and St. Just 

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Located near Zennor, Cornwall, The Gurnard’s Head placed fourth with its Atlantic-facing terrace.

Painted a bright mustard yellow, the pub is hard to miss and is surrounded by Cornish countryside and coastal views. 

It can be found between St. Ives and St. Just.

5. The Perch, Oxford

The Perch, located in Oxford, has a riverside pub garden and placed fifth

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The Perch, in Oxford, is a charming establishment and one of the oldest pubs in the historic city.  

Visitors can enjoy its riverside pub garden beside Port Meadow, which offers a peaceful spot to relax away from the hustle and bustle.

The pub’s website reads: ‘In the summer, our garden is the envy of the whole city.’ 

6. The Ship Inn, Fife

The Ship Inn, in Fife, placed sixth and offers views of Elie Harbour and the Firth of Forth

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Scotland’s second entry – The Ship Inn in Fife – ranked sixth overall. 

The beachfront pub boasts scenic views of Elie Harbour and the Firth of Forth, making it the perfect spot for summer evenings by the sea. 

7. The Pandy Inn, Herefordshire

The Pandy Inn, Herefordshire, ranked seventh and overlooks the Golden Valley and Black Mountains

The oldest pub in Herefordshire, The Pandy Inn, ranked seventh and parts of the building date back to the 12th century. 

It has been serving customers as an inn since the 17th century and boasts a rural pub garden. 

Pub goers can sip a pint as they soak in sweeping views across the Golden Valley and Black Mountains.

8. The Tan Hill Inn, Yorkshire Dales

The Tan Hill Inn, situated in the Yorkshire Dales, ranked eighth and is the tallest pub in the UK

Britain’s highest pub, The Tan Hill Inn, sits 1,732ft above sea level on the Pennine Moors.

It ranks eighth with its beer garden overlooking Swaledale, in the Yorkshire Dales.

The inn dates back to the 17th century and is packed with character, from exposed beams to a stone-flagged floor. 

9. The Stag on the River, Surrey

The Stag on the River, in Surrey, placed ninth overall

Just over an hour from London, The Stag on the River ranked ninth. 

Located in Surrey, visitors can enjoy a pint in its charming beer garden overlooking the River Wey. 

10. The Stackpole Inn, Pembrokeshire 

Rounding off the top 10, The Stackpole Inn in Pembrokeshire makes the list

The Stackpole Inn, in Pembrokeshire, south-west Wales, rounded off the top ten beer gardens. 

Located in a picturesque spot surrounded by national park scenery, it offers a lovely spot for a drink outside. 

The pub is near Barafundle Bay, one of Wales’ most beautiful beaches. 

Hundreds of holidaymakers have been evacuated as firefighters battle large wildfires in London and Suffolk. 

The blaze on Dunwich Heath, which began at around 5.30pm yesterday, is spreading rapidly in the direction of Sizewell B nuclear power station, which is about 2.5 miles away. 

Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service said it was working hard to protect holiday homes – with around 200 caravans at the Cliff House Holiday Park evacuated overnight. 

Meanwhile, in Romford, east London, around 30 acres of grassland were destroyed in a large fire yesterday.

Around 100 firefighters were also called to another blaze in Rainham, where around four acres of land were damaged. 

Britain is at risk of ‘exceptionally severe’ wildfires, experts warned yesterday – with parts of England left bone-dry after weeks of hot weather.

Around half of the country has been placed under exceptionally serious’ drought, with temperatures reaching as high as 35C yesterday.

Amber heat-health alerts have also been issued for the East Midlands, the east, south-east and London as the mercury rises once again this summer. 

People have been urged to avoid the area and to keep their windows and doors closed due to the smoke.

Suffolk Fire and Rescue has declared the blaze a major incident ‘due to the size and complexity’.

It began in heathland near the Coastguard Cottages, which are properties on the Suffolk coastline.

Fire crews tackle a blaze in London yesterday after temperatures reached 34C

Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service said it was working hard to protect holiday homes – with around 200 caravans at the Cliff House Holiday Park evacuated overnight

Although the fire is heading in the direction of Sizewell B – Britain’s largest nuclear power station – it is not believed to be a threat to the site. .

Station manager Dan Davis said: ‘Crews from Leiston attended the scene and were met with what is a large-scale, wind- driven forestry fire.’

‘The incident has subsequently been upgraded to a major incident.

‘We currently have approximately 90 firefighters on scene working incredibly hard in arduous conditions to bring this fire under control.’

Mr Davis added: ‘I’d like to provide reassurance that we are going to remain on scene until we bring this fire under control.’

It comes amid UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) issuing an amber heat-health alert for the east midlands, the east, south east and London.

The alert remains in place until 9am on Thursday, with the agency previously warning that rising temperatures may increase health risks, particularly for vulnerable groups.

The increased heat has led to fears and warnings that wildfires could ‘spread rapidly’ with southern and eastern parts of England’s already bone-dry landscapes particularly at risk.

Helen Wakeham, director of water at the Environment Agency and chair of the National Drought Group, said: ‘The hot and dry weather means we are currently using water faster than nature can replenish it.

Grass in Blackheath, south-east London, has turned entirely brown

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Weeks of minimal rain and the second hottest month on record in the UK has left the fields severely parched

‘A second consecutive summer drought is an exceptionally serious situation and one that will have long-lasting impacts on our environment, wildlife and the economy.’

The Met Office assessment showed any fires could be ‘exceptionally severe’ by Wednesday if they start in parts of London, the South East and eastern England.

Fire services in England and Wales have so far responded to 706 wildfires in 2026, with more than 200 recorded in the last two weeks, the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) said.

Eight wildfires are currently burning and ‘being monitored’ across the UK, with fire chiefs warning that there remains an ‘elevated risk’ of more igniting.

Separately, in Scotland, crews said they were making ‘significant progress’ tackling a wildfire in the Cairngorms that broke out two weeks ago.

A number of homes in the remote region were evacuated as plumes of smoke billowed into the sky, and vast swathes of trees, heather and grasslands have been left charred and blackened.

Speaking on the track on Wednesday, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) deputy assistant chief officer Michael Humphreys told the Press Association that fire crews are making progress in tackling the blaze.

However, he warned the risk of flare-ups remains high.

‘It’s been an absolutely devastating fire for wildlife and for the local community who have come out in force to really support us, which we really do appreciate,’ he said.

‘To control this fire, what we’ve had to put in place is a significant number of fire breaks.’

The incident happened outside York Mosque and Islamic Centre on Bull Lane at 2.19am this morning.

A 44-year-old man from York, described by police as a white UK national, was arrested following the incident.

A police guard is behind a cordon at the entrance to the York Mosque and Islamic Centre this morning (Thursday, July 30) (Image: Kevin Glenton)

No one was injured, and police said the weapon is alleged to have been an air rifle.

Police said the man left the scene in a silver vehicle, which was traced by officers, leading to his arrest.

He remains in custody for questioning.

A cordon has been raised at the entrance to the mosque and is under police guard this morning.

A North Yorkshire Police spokesperson said: “It is too early to say what may have been the motivation behind this disturbing incident, but our Muslim community in York can be reassured that we are doing everything we can to establish the full circumstances.

“We are also providing high-visibility patrols in the vicinity of York Mosque as people attend for prayer.

“Our officers are due to meet with the Imam regarding the incident.”

Bull Lane is off Lawrence Street in York (Image: Kevin Glenton)

Police are appealing for witnesses or anyone with relevant CCTV or dashcam footage to contact them.

Anyone with information is asked to call North Yorkshire Police on 101, quoting reference number 12260145924.

LEGE-CAP FERRET, France (AP) — Higher humidity, cooler temperatures and a forecast for rain raised hopes of relief Thursday for a parched portion of southwestern France engulfed by wildfires that have charred an area four times the size of Paris in recent weeks.

With moisture moving in from the Atlantic Ocean coast, national weather service Meteo France forecast light rain in the town of Lège-Cap-Ferret, on a peninsula that’s been a leading edge of the devastated region.

Local officials reported a “rather calm” night, with a fire that has not grown beyond the 42,000 hectares (about 162 sq. miles) already affected. Fire crews remained at “total mobilization” with 2,200 firefighters and over 20 aircraft.

Humidity that reached 80% overnight was expected to drop by midday, authorities said, though some rainfall was expected along the coast that “could reach the fire zone.”

Temperatures that peaked around 40 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) a day earlier were set to drop Thursday, topping out at 27 C (80 F) along the coast. An “orange” heat wave alert — the second-highest level after “red” — was lifted shortly before dawn.

The fires in the Bordeaux wine-growing, forested and tourism-heavy region are among the blazes that have swept across pockets of southern Europe in recent weeks, including Spain and Greece.

On Wednesday, authorities said three firefighters had died on the Greek island on Crete, as the wildfire emergency stretched from the Atlantic coast to the eastern Mediterranean.

At the peak of the evacuations, a third of a million people were driven from homes and vacation sites in France and Spain.

A man has been applauded for his ‘petty revenge’ on an entitled neighbour who kept parking their drive in his driveway – and it inspired others to use similar tactics

A homeowner finally got his own back on a neighbour who kept parking in his driveway – and people are calling it the perfect dose of “petty revenge”. He explained how his neighbour had been using his driveway for months, despite being asked several times to stop. Every time he confronted him, the neighbour would brush it off with the excuse: “It’s just for a sec.”

Fed up with being ignored, the homeowner decided enough was enough. Sharing his story on Reddit, he explained that he arrived home one Friday to find his neighbour’s car parked on his driveway yet again. Normally, he’d wait for him to move it or ask to shift it. But on this occasion, the timing couldn’t have been better. The man was just about to leave town for the weekend.

Instead of arguing, he quietly pulled his own car in behind the neighbour’s vehicle, completely blocking it in.

He then locked up his house, grabbed his bags and headed off, leaving the neighbour with no way of getting his car out. A few hours later, his phone started ringing.

The man said he was met with several missed calls, followed by a text message reading: “Dude, WTF??”

Rather than replying, he ignored every message and enjoyed the rest of his weekend away.

Looking back on it, he joked: “Hope he had a relaxing weekend to think things through.”

Revenge stories

His story quickly amused social media users, with many praising his response after months of frustration.

One person said: “A lady blocked my driveway the other day and left her flashers on to indicate ‘I’ll just be a minute’.

“I left from another area of my property to go to the store, 30 minutes later she was still parked there with the windows down. I dragged out the hose and sprinkler to water the flowers aimed directly at the open window.”

Another user added: “My old little old lady landlord used to hire a nine year old to throw a rock through the back window of drivers who parked in her spaces in Queens.”

A third user said: “Love it. Same happened to me many years ago. I parked my beat up old pickup truck behind his car. I parked an inch from his bumper. Then took off on a two week holiday.

“This was before smartphones. I knew my truck couldn’t be moved without my permission. I knew the cops would not get involved.

“The guy was so p***ed. He couldn’t understand. When you mess with the bull sometimes you get the horns.”

Anyone wandering down one of the main roads in Pontypridd town centre 10 days ago would have seen a blank wall on the gable end of a popular café called Rhi’s on the corner of Taff Street.

Then seven days ago there would have been scaffolding covering the site, and if they had returned on Wednesday they would have been amazed – the scaffolding is down and the most mesmerising of murals has been revealed.

The site which has been intriguing passers-by for days has been transformed from a boring cream wall into a mural celebrating one of the town’s most prolific, yet little celebrated, music icons – a young woman called Morfydd Owen. Full story here

Summer can be lovely – until a wasp turns up. Whether they present as an irritating picnic visitor or an uninvited loft guest, common social wasps are as much a part of our summer as festivals, sun cream and the growing despair of how to entertain children who’ve forgotten how to be bored.

But summer 2026 is breaking the norm, and there don’t seem to be many wasps about. As a wasp biologist, I’ve noticed it acutely, because my students need wasps for their experiments, and we simply can’t find them.

A second sign that something is wrong is the absence of wasp stories in the media. Wasps tend to be more active in warmer weather. Their colonies grow faster and bigger, and they end up making news headlines by bothering humans. This time last year – also a warm spring and hot summer – the media airwaves were filled with “plagues of wasps” stories. Now, even professional pest-controllers tell me it’s a quiet year with very few requests to remove wasp nests.

Admittedly, these are anecdotes not data: the Big Wasp Survey – the only national
wasp monitoring survey – is yet to start sampling this summer. But the signs are not good.

If data back this up, their absence worries me greatly because – love them or hate them – wasps are important in ecosystems as pest-controllers, pollinators and decomposers.

So what’s happening?

Spring started well for wasps. In the warm, dry spring a glut of glorious foundresses – new queens – emerged from hibernation to start their nests alone, carrying out all the nest building, egg laying, foraging and brood rearing. This nest-founding period is a risky time. If a new queen survives until her first brood emerges as adult workers, though, then the odds are in her favour as she no longer needs to undertake risky foraging.

But spring 2026 was strange: the warm, dry start should have been good. Warm, dry spring weather improves a nest’s chance of survival as it ensures a good nectar supply for the queen to develop her ovaries and good prey populations for her to feed the brood. But we experienced unprecedented heat for the time of year, punctuated by cold, damp days and followed by unexpectedly chilly nights.

Such weather extremes may have caused queens to abandon their nests or die, reducing the initial spring queen bounty to a more modest population.

Temperature tolerance

And then came the heatwave. And another. And another. Some insects may benefit
from this. Wildlife charity Butterfly Conservation is hoping 2026 could be a “bumper summer of butterflies” because warm, dry days mean uninterrupted foraging, mating and egg-laying.

But all insects have a thermal tolerance called critical thermal maximum (CTmax). If their CTmax is exceeded, insects succumb to desiccation, muscle spasms and eventual stupor.

For honeybees, this is around 49°C – which might sound high, yet ground surfaces exceeded 50°C in the UK heatwaves this summer. But the temperature doesn’t need to reach an animal’s CTmax to affect their productivity and behaviour. For example, bumblebee cognition and foraging efficiency are impaired by heatwaves of 32°C.

Bumblebee Conservation Trust raised concerns that 2026 may exacerbate a declining trend in bumblebee populations as flowers wither and bees fail to forage effectively.

Wasps are thought to be quite resilient to extreme weather. They are one of the most successful invasive species around the globe. And as a social insect, their thermoregulation behaviour (such as wing fanning to cool the larvae) and nest architecture (which has insulating envelopes surrounding the brood combs) may help buffer any environmental perturbations.

Insects also have waxy molecules called cuticular hydrocarbons that coat their exoskeletons protecting them from desiccation. Social wasp cuticular hydrocarbons change structure in response to heat, better protecting them from desiccation in excessive heat.

Their varied diets should also buffer them from imbalances in prey populations. However, their CTmax may be lower than other social insects – at around 45°C – which may have made them especially vulnerable to the high ground temperatures of the 2026 heatwaves.

Why are the wasps so small?

There’s something else that I’ve noticed: the few wasps I’ve seen are rather small. The adult size of many insects is fixed during their development, depending on the quality and quantity of food they receive as larvae. Wasps don’t get bigger once they’ve pupated.

The first workers to emerge in spring are usually small because the queen is limited in how much food she can provide for them alone. But by early August, the foraging capacity of the colony has increased exponentially, brood are better fed and the emerging workers are substantially larger.

So why are we still seeing “spring-sized” wasps? It’s possible that limited diversity and abundance of prey may mean their nutrition is restricted. The problem may also be more directly linked to heat. Insect larvae reared at higher temperatures will develop faster and reach pupation at a smaller size.

Global warming is thought to explain the trend in social wasps shrinking in size over the last 100 years. We could be seeing this in real-time this year.

How can you help wasps?

Share your alfresco meal with a wasp. When it approaches, don’t flap it away. Watch to see what it wants. In the absence of wild prey, it might be desperate for some protein (your picnic ham) to feed her brood. In the absence of flowers for nectar, it might be in need of something sugary (some jam) for her own nutrition.

My research team would also like you to share your wasp observations with us, so that we can better understand these important insects. Snap a photo of her eating and submit your data to the Wasp Picnic Survey 2026: Ham or Jam?. Keep the observations coming all summer. The wasps (and wasp scientists) will thank you.

WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENT Three friends were making their way home when a misstep caused them to fall into a pit of boiling water

An ordinary evening of fun took a dark twist as it became one of the most tragic accidents in Yellowstone National Park’s history.

Sara Hulpers, 20, and her two 18-year-old friends, Lance Buchi and Tyler Montague, were working as seasonal staff at the park in the summer of 2000 and were walking back home from swimming in the Firehole River with other friends that fateful day.

As they journeyed along their familiar route home, cutting through the Lower Geyser Basin and following a worn path used by locals with no official signage, they jumped into the small streams known to be safe.

Until the three of them misjudged one of the bodies of water. The friends believed they were jumping into a shallow freshet but instead plunged into the crust surrounding Cavern Springs, an off-limits feature known to reach temperatures as high as 87 degrees Celsius.

Lance and Tyler managed to keep their heads out of the water following the fall, and crawled out of the water on their own, while Sara had to be helped by the group of friends that was walking ahead of the trio, who had all returned after hearing their agonising cries.

In later reports, Lance’s family said he remembered feeling the ground beneath them was solid before he fell a second time while trying to escape the boiling water.

The damage was already catastrophic – the young woman had suffered third-degree burns all over her body, and heartbreakingly died the next day in a Salt Lake City burn unit.

The two surviving friends were airlifted to Idaho Falls and then to the University of Utah’s burn centre, both with burns ranging from 95% of their bodies. Their survival rate was low, but not impossible, said doctors, who estimated they had a 30-40% chance of making it through treatment, given the risks of infection since the boys had little uninjured skin left for grafting.

Tyler’s grandfather and former local weatherman, Bob Welti, was at the hospital at the early stages of treatment and called the situation the “saddest” he’d ever witnessed.

Both young men endured months of surgery and skin grafts before eventually being discharged, Tyler in November and Lance in December – the latter having lost 51 pounds during his hospital stay.

Hundreds gathered in Oroville, Washington, to mourn the loss of Sara, an exemplary student at Western Washington University, weeks away from a new scholarship award.

Friends who were by her side in the last days of her life spoke of her dedication while she was alive. Yuvia Storm, 21, was one of her friends from her time at Yellowstone, said: ”She was so happy. She told me I had to be the one to spread the word that she was excited about death. Tell them I had a wonderful life – no regrets.”

During the funeral service, her father sang songs he’d written about her, and friends and family decorated the auditorium with sunflowers.

Investigations followed, but found no evidence of alcohol as a leading factor in the tragedy, and officials added that it was the first Yellowstone hot spring fatality since 1988 – although since the time of this accident (in the year 2000), two further accidents took the lives of a 23-year-old in 2016 and a 70-year-old in 2022.

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australia’s online safety watchdog has filed legal action against messaging app Telegram, saying the platform failed to remove extremist content including videos of white supremacist mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and the New Zealand city of Christchurch as well as Islamic State group beheadings.

The United Arab Emirates-based app, which reports having 1 billion users worldwide, faces a fine of up to 54.6 million Australian dollars ($38 million) if convicted in the Australian Federal Court for “alleged failure to detect and remove pro-terror material,” eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said Thursday.

The civil action is a test of Australia’s 2021 law requiring tech platforms to work to keep illegal and pro-terrorism material off their networks.

Telegram denied the claims. “We reject these allegations and will contest them in court,” a spokesperson said in a written statement sent on Telegram.

Regulator says app must take responsibility

The platform is one of the world’s most popular messaging apps. The Australian regulator is taking issue with what’s shared in group chats of up to 200 people and channels with unlimited reach.

“This case concerns content linked to some of the most notorious acts of known extremist violence in recent history, including material associated with the Christchurch and Buffalo terror attacks,” Inman Grant said in a statement.

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“We allege that this content remained accessible on the service long after Telegram had been put on notice,” she said.

The crimes cited by Inman Grant were ideologically-driven massacres performed for online audiences. Years later, digital artifacts of the massacres are still confounding regulators, who fear the power of videos and so-called manifestos to radicalize others.

In Buffalo in 2022, an American white supremacist livestreamed on Twitch part of a shooting at a supermarket in which he killed 10 Black people. He cited among his motivations the crimes of an Australian white supremacist who in 2019 livestreamed on Facebook a shooting at two Christchurch mosques, where he murdered 51 Muslim worshippers.

Telegram channels established after these and other hate-fueled crimes were populated by users who endorsed the killers and shared videos and other content from the massacres. The Australian watchdog’s claim, filed to the federal court Wednesday, said the unlimited broadcast size of Telegram channels meant the app must take responsibility for culling harmful material.

Telegram says it blocks ‘terrorist-related communities’

The messaging app’s statement said that the platform’s “extensive anti-terrorism efforts are well-documented,” adding a link to its published figures recording blocked content and channels. More than 150,000 “terrorist-related communities” have been blocked from the platform this year, according to the figures.

The Australian official said that changed after France arrested Telegram’s Russian billionaire founder and CEO Pavel Durov in August 2024 over allegations that his platform was being used for illegal activity, including drug trafficking and the distribution of images of child sexual abuse. He was released after four days of questioning on bail of 5 million euros ($5.7 million).

Telegram had “become more compliant initially with us and with other regulators after France took action against the company,” Inman Grant said.

“They’ve still kept a permissive hosting environment for terrorist content,” she added.

The Australian court case also related to IS beheadings and other “horrific material used for propaganda and for radicalization,” she said.

“When platforms are alerted to terrorist content, they must act,” Inman Grant said.

On Wednesday, Russia’s Federal Security Service accused Durov of aiding what it called terrorist activities. The service also said it was adding Durov’s name to international wanted lists.

Telegram said in its statement supplied to The Associated Press on Thursday that it is committed to protecting user privacy and human rights such as freedom of speech and assembly. It said it had played a prominent role in pro-democracy movements around the world, including in Iran, Russia, Belarus, Myanmar and Hong Kong.

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Graham-McLay reported from Wellington, New Zealand.