On 26 October 2025 a dike holding waste from an ethanol distillery near Bais Bay in the Philippines collapsed and released 255 million liters of wastewater, about 100 Olympic swimming pools, into the sea. The water turned the colour of dark tea. Bacteria feeding on the organic waste multiplied and used up the dissolved oxygen, so fish suffocated and seaweed lines died. The spill reached 17 coastal villages and affected at least 3,000 fishers, fish-pen operators and seaweed growers. Bais Bay opens into the Tañon Strait, an ecologically important channel between Negros and Cebu, so the damage spread beyond one bay. A year later, communities are still fighting to restore it.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.