Mother bear with 2 cubs is shot dead, sparking outrage in Italy_我的网站
A |
Photo: Courtesy of AG.ALThe 2026 Esports World Cup (EWC) concluded in Paris on Sunday local time, with Chinese esports club AG.AL (under Chengdu AG Esports Club) claiming the overall club championship. It became the first Chinese club to win the title since the tournament's launch, with French President Emmanuel Macron presenting the championship trophy. AG.AL's victory was not decided until the final stage of the competition. In the last event, Trackmania, French player Gwen held his nerve under pressure to claim the title, helping AG.AL overtake Saudi Arabian club Team Falcons in the standings and secure the overall championship. This victory reflects a new trend in global esports competition: competition among top clubs is no longer determined solely by one popular game or a single star player, but by a club's overall capabilities in multi-title strategy, talent development and global operations. For AG, the title was not just a last-minute breakthrough, but the result of a global strategy that had been developed over years. "Although the tournament itself lasted only around two months, we had been preparing for it for more than two years," Chen Longsheng (EDDY), AG.AL VP&COO, told the Global Times on Monday. He said AG began expanding its overseas esports operations around the EWC in 2024, selecting promising players from around the world and now covering more than 20 esports titles. This multi-title strategy is also closely linked to EWC's unique competition format. Unlike traditional esports tournaments that often focus on a single major game, EWC adopts a club-based ranking system covering multiple titles, including Honor of Kings, CrossFire, and Trackmania. AG.AL competed in more than 10 events, accumulating points across different competitions before completing its comeback in the final stage, according to AG. Chen said the format has also changed how clubs evaluate the value of different esports titles. "From our perspective, there is no absolute distinction between major and minor titles. As long as players in a game have the ability and passion, they can help the club earn valuable points," he said. He noted that titles such as Tekken and Trackmania may have smaller audiences compared with some mainstream esports games, but outstanding players in these fields can still become important contributors to a club's championship ambitions because they offer the same opportunity to earn crucial points. Under this new competitive environment, esports clubs are also shifting from building teams around a single title toward developing more diverse talent systems. However, for an esports club competing on the global stage, finding the right players is only the first step. Building a stable team among players from different countries and regions, while ensuring smooth operations at international tournaments, also tests a club's management capabilities. "Cross-border operations involve challenges including language communication, contract arrangements, legal regulations, and player support," Chen said. "Different countries have different legal environments and salary systems, and coordinating all of these issues is actually very complicated." According to AG, during this year's EWC, staff members followed the teams throughout the process, from players' arrival in Paris, to training arrangements, communication with tournament organizers, post-match interviews and their departure. "Fans see the players on stage, but behind them there are many operations staff ensuring that the entire team runs smoothly," Chen said. AG's own development journey also reflects the changes that have taken place in China's esports industry over the past two decades. In 2001, AG's predecessor won the StarCraft title at the World Cyber Games (WCG) Grand Finals, earning China's first world-level esports gold medal. Twenty-five years later, AG once again reached the top of an international competition. But the way esports is contested has changed dramatically - from battles centered around individual games to competition among global clubs based on talent, operations, and broader ecosystems. "Over the past two decades, Chinese esports have gradually moved beyond the era when success depended mainly on individual players or a single game title, and developed into a more mature ecosystem involving clubs, professional leagues, content creation, commercial partnerships, and international exchanges," Shanghai-based esports commentator Natto told the Global Times on Monday. According to Natto, the growing international presence of Chinese esports clubs also reflects a broader change in how the industry views overseas markets. "Going global is not only about sending teams abroad to compete," Natto said. "It also means understanding different audiences, building communication channels and allowing more people to see the diversity of Chinese esports." 。
B | The slaying of an endangered brown bear near an Italian national park left her two young cubs motherless and sparked outrage in Italy on Friday.Italy's environment minister and animal rights advocates voiced anger and dismay over the killing of the bear in the mountainous Abruzzo region. Local residents, including families with small children, had often stopped to watch the bear and her cubs during the animal family's frequent evening excursions through streets near the park.A bear named Amarena crosses a street with her cubs in front of a group of people, in San Sebastiano Dei Marsi, Abruzzo, Italy, August 26, 2023 in this still image from video obtained from social media. Gemma Di Pietro/via REUTERS The National Park of Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise described the slain animal, nicknamed Amarena — or Black Cherry in Italian — as one of its most prolific brown bears. Residents coined the name because cherries and black cherries were among the bear's favorite foods, the Corriere della Sera newspaper said. The park posted a graphic image of the bear lying dead on the ground.The man who shot the bear with a rifle Thursday night in the town of San Benedetto dei Marsi told police the animal was on his property and he felt in danger, the Italian news agency ANSA said.
"I shot out of fear, but I didn't want to kill. I found her inside my property and it was an impulsive, instinctive act," he was quoted as saying by ANSA, the BBC reported.Park director Luciano Sammarone told ANSA that the bear had crossed a private fence. "However, I'm struggling to believe this was a matter of self-defense," Sammarone told the news agency, adding that he would reserve judgment until the investigation is complete.Prosecutors were looking into a possible charge of animal killing, and police took the rifle, which was legally owned by the 56-year-old man, as part of their investigation, the LaPresse news agency said.
The marsican brown bear, endemic to central Italy, is considered at an elevated risk of extinction. The park says about 60 bears live within the park or in its surrounding areas."The killing of a marsican female bear is a grave episode, on which it's dutiful to shed light as quickly as possible,'' Environment Minister Gilberto Pichetto said."Our commitment is aimed also at the protection of the bear's cubs, doing everything possible so that they can remain free,'' he said in a statement.Drones were being used in the search for the cubs, LaPresse said.The head of World Wildlife Fund's Italy office, Luciano Di Tizio, called the bear's slaying a "very grave, unjustifiable crime of nature" and the result of a "constant campaign against wildlife."The motherless cubs aren't yet self-sufficient and thus are at high risk, triggering the search for them in the parklands, he added."A self-assured, but completely peaceful bear, Amarena was part of the collective imagination and was the subject of pride in a land that has, in the bear, a symbol" of local nature, Di Tizio said.
The theme of bear vs. humans has taken on political connotations in Italy and landed in the courts. Earlier this year, an administrative court's ruling spared, for now, the life of a brown bear that fatally attacked a runner on a mountain trail in Italy's Alpine region.Local political authorities had issued an order to have the 17-year-old female bear, known as Jj4, euthanized. A court hearing on the bear's fate is expected in December. Animal rights groups have challenged the order to put down the bear.The brown marsican bear which was killed on Thursday is a subspecies that is genetically different from alpine bears.Italian state TV said Friday that Amarena was the mother of another one of the park's bears that met a violent end. That bear, which was fatally struck by a car earlier this year, earned national fame when it broke into a bakery and munched on cookies.
