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.

Widespread disruption across the UK rail and road network during last week’s snow and Storm Goretti has triggered renewed demands for higher design and operational resilience to low‑temperature events. Experts are pointing to points and overhead line failures, blocked rural A‑roads and motorway closures on key corridors as evidence that current winter maintenance regimes and drainage, de‑icing and snow‑clearance standards are inadequate. For civil and geotechnical engineers, the debate centres on upgrading asset design criteria, improving slope and pavement drainage, and strengthening contingency planning for more frequent intense snowstorms.

A massive slope failure at the privately operated Binaliw landfill in Cebu City has triggered continuous rescue operations, with dozens of waste-pickers and site workers reported missing beneath tens of metres of municipal solid waste. The collapse occurred during active tipping and compaction, raising immediate questions over waste slope geometry, leachate control and adherence to stability criteria for high fills in a high-rainfall, seismically active region. Local authorities are now reviewing permits and operational controls for large waste embankments across Metro Cebu.