A sinkhole roughly 8–10 m wide and several metres deep has opened on the AJ Burkitt Reserve sporting oval in Heidelberg, directly adjacent to the North East Link tunnel alignment in Melbourne’s northeast. Victorian Infrastructure Delivery Authority has confirmed the “surface hole” is in the vicinity of active tunnelling operations, leading to a work pause while engineers and emergency crews carry out geotechnical investigations and monitoring. No injuries or structural damage have been reported, but the area remains fully cordoned off pending cause determination and stability assessment.

Two shallow earthquakes of magnitude 7.1 and 6.8 struck near Caracas and La Guaira within hours, collapsing mid‑rise reinforced concrete apartment blocks and older unreinforced masonry in hillside barrios, with hundreds confirmed dead and thousands displaced. Liquefaction, lateral spreading and rockfalls have damaged key transport links, including sections of the Caracas–La Guaira motorway and port access roads, complicating access for rescue equipment and temporary shoring. Geotechnical teams are racing to assess slope stability on steep, weathered tropical soils and to prioritise demolition versus retrofit of heavily cracked shear‑wall structures.

Calls are growing for the UK Government to consult coastal erosion communities more regularly when updating Shoreline Management Plans (SMPs), which guide long-term decisions on hold-the-line, managed realignment and no-active-intervention policies. Local authorities and residents argue that current SMP review cycles and engagement processes do not adequately reflect rapid cliff retreat, increased storm surge impacts and changing sediment transport patterns on vulnerable frontages. More frequent, structured consultation could influence choices on hard defences versus nature-based solutions, funding priorities and property loss compensation frameworks.