Independent music distro platform Too Lost has struck up a new commercial partnership with music financing company Xposure Music.
Under the agreement, Too Lost will distribute and co-fundcatalog acquisitions sourced and underwritten by Xposure.
Xposure Music, founded in Montreal in 2021, uses machine learning to evaluate music catalogs and provide financing to artists. The company says it has invested “over eight figures” (between $10 million and $99 million) in music rights investments to date.
According to the announcement, Xposure plans to deploy “tens of millions of dollars in upcoming catalog acquisitions”.
Xposure Music said it will handle deal sourcing and financial underwriting using its underwriting and valuation technology that analyzes recorded music and publishing rights to identify and execute music investments.
Once deals close, Too Lost will handle global distribution, rights administration and royalty processing.
“This partnership enables us to help artists and investors realize the true long-term value of music rights.”
GregoryHirschhorn, Too Lost
The companies have already committed “millions of dollars” across several deals including select catalogs from Tskinz, Fukkit, Fly Rich Double, FLVME, Secret! and more. Those deals signal their focus on “emerging and established independent creators.”
GregoryHirschhorn, Co-Founder and CEO of Too Lost, said: “Too Lost and Xposure share a vision of modernizing the music economy by combining data, infrastructure and intelligent financing. This partnership enables us to help artists and investors realize the true long-term value of music rights.”
“By pairing our valuation platform with Too Lost’s global infrastructure, we’re creating a more efficient and scalable way to help artists get funding and manage our growing repertoire of music rights.”
GregoryWalfish, Xposure Music
GregoryWalfish, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Xposure Music, added: “By pairing our valuation platform with Too Lost’s global infrastructure, we’re creating a more efficient and scalable way to help artists get funding and manage our growing repertoire of music rights.”
“We’re entering a new era of music investment – one that’s transparent, data-driven, and creator-first.”
RyanGarber, Xposure Music
RyanGarber, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Xposure Music, said: “We’re entering a new era of music investment – one that’s transparent, data-driven, and creator-first.
“Too Lost shares that same DNA, and together we’re building an ecosystem that truly serves the independent music community.”
For New York headquartered Too Lost, which was recognized on the 2025 Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing private companies in America, the partnership follows a year (2024) in which the company reports to have paid out over $50 million in royalties and distributed more than 2 million new songs, which it claims, “represent[s] 5% of all global releases”.
The company’s CEO and Co-Founder Gregory Hirschhorn noted in a New Year letter earlier this year that Too Lost achieved over 130% revenue growth in 2024 and is on track to surpass $100 million in annual revenue in 2025.
The deal marks the latest for Too Lost. About two weeks ago, the company made a “seven-figure” investment inAntiFragile Equity Partners, a startup founded in 2024 that acquires and monetizes ‘undervalued’ music rights catalogs.
The AntiFragile investment followed Too Lost’s recent “seven-figure” investment in Rebellion Records, an independent label founded in 2023.
Elsewhere, last month, Too Lost partnered with direct-to-fan platform EVEN, integrating the latter company’s commerce infrastructure directly into Too Lost’s dashboard, allowing artists to sell music, content, merchandise, tickets, and exclusive experiences directly to superfans.
Aerial footage from Elgeyo-Marakwet County shows massive mudslides and flash flooding stretching over vast distances.
Published On 2 Nov 20252 Nov 2025
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Heavy rains have triggered landslides in Kenya’s western Rift Valley region, killing at least 21 people and destroying more than 1,000 homes, according to officials.
Kenyan Cabinet Secretary for the Interior Kipchumba Murkomen, in a statement on X on Saturday, said at least 25 people with “serious injuries” have been airlifted from Elgeyo-Marakwet County to the city of Eldoret for medical attention, while at least 30 remain missing.
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He said that rescue efforts would resume on Sunday, with help from the military and the police.
“Preparation to supply more food and non-food relief items to the victims is underway. Military and police choppers are on standby to transport the items,” he added.
The landslide occurred overnight in Elgeyo-Marakwet County’s hilly area of Chesongoch in western Kenya, which has been battered by heavy rains amid the country’s ongoing short rainy season.
Local Stephen Kittony told the Citizen Television station that he heard a deafening sound and, together with his children, rushed out of his house and ran in different directions.
The Kenyan Red Cross shared aerial images from the region that showed massive mudslides and flash flooding stretching over vast distances.
It said it was coordinating rescue efforts with the government, including air evacuations for the injured.
“Access to some of the affected areas remains extremely difficult due to flooding and blocked routes,” it said in a statement on X.
Aerial views show the extent of destruction in Chesongoch after heavy overnight rains triggered a landslide and flash floods.
Kenya Red Cross teams, working with the National and County Governments, are coordinating rescue and relief efforts, including air evacuations for the… pic.twitter.com/SrVmFYF5fr
The hilly area of Chesongoch is prone to landslides, which left dozens of people dead in separate incidents in 2010 and 2012. A shopping centre was washed away in 2020 by raging floods.
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Floods have swept across Pakistan, hitting urban and rural areas, including the capital of Punjab, Lahore
Rescuers and relatives searched knee-deep in water for the body of one-year-old Zara. She’d been swept away by flash floods; the bodies of her parents and three siblings had already been found days earlier.
“We suddenly saw a lot of water. I climbed up to the roof and urged them to join me,” Arshad, Zara’s grandfather, said, showing the BBC the dirt road where they were taken from him in the village of Sambrial in northern Punjab in August.
His family tried to join him, but too late. The powerful current washed away all six of them.
Every year, monsoon season brings deadly floods in Pakistan.
This year it began in late June, and within three months, floods had killed more than 1,000 people. At least 6.9 million were affected, according to the United Nations agency for humanitarian affairs, OCHA.
The South Asian nation is struggling with the devastating consequences of climate change, despite emitting just 1% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
To witness its effects, the BBC travelled from the mountains of the north to the plains of the south for three months. In every province, climate change was having a different impact.
There was one element in common, though. The poorest suffer most.
We met people who’d lost their homes, livelihoods and loved ones – and they were resigned to going through it all again in the next monsoon.
Lakebursts and flash floods
There are more than 7,000 glaciers in the high peaks of the Himalayas, Karakoram and Hindu Kush
Monsoon floods started in the north, with global warming playing out in its most familiar form in Pakistan-administered Gilgit-Baltistan.
Amid the high peaks of the Himalayas, Karakoram and Hindu Kush, there are more than 7,000 glaciers. But due to rising temperatures, they are melting.
The result can be catastrophic: meltwater turns into glacial lakes which can suddenly burst. Thousands of villages are at risk.
This summer hundreds of homes were destroyed and roads damaged by landslides and flash floods.
These “glacial lake outbursts” are hard to warn against. The area is remote and mobile service poor. Pakistan and the World Bank are trying to improve an early warning system, which often doesn’t work because of the mountainous terrain.
Community is a powerful asset. When shepherd Wasit Khan woke up to rushing waters, with trailing chunks of ice and debris, he ran to an area with a better signal. He began warning as many villagers as he could.
“I told everyone to leave their belongings, leave the house, take their wives, children and elderly people and get away,” he told BBC Urdu’s Muhammad Zubair.
Thanks to him, dozens were saved.
The danger took a different form in the north-western province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
In Gadoon, the BBC found hundreds of villagers digging through piles of rocks with their bare hands.
A cloudburst had caused a flash flood early in the morning, a local official said. That happens when a sudden updraft in humid, moist air leads to a heavy and localised burst of rain. The current washed away several homes and triggered a landslide.
Men from neighbouring villages rushed over to help, which was invaluable – but not enough. The excavators the villagers desperately needed were trapped in flooded roads, some blocked by massive rocks.
“Nothing will happen until the machines arrive,” one man told the BBC.
Then a silence suddenly blanketed the area. Dozens of men stood still in one corner. The bodies of two children, soaked in dark mud, were pulled from under the rubble, and carried away.
Rescuers and villagers search for survivors, after a flash flood swept away several houses in the village of Gadoon, in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Scenes like this played out across the province, with rescuers delayed due to uprooted trees and major infrastructure being destroyed. A helicopter carrying aid crashed in the bad weather, claiming the lives of all crew on board.
Building on Pakistan’s floodplains
In villages and cities, millions have settled around rivers and streams, areas prone to flooding. Pakistan’s River Protection Act – which prohibits building within 200 ft (61m) of a river or its tributaries – was meant to solve that issue. But for many it’s simply too costly to settle elsewhere.
Illegal construction makes matters worse.
Climate scientist Fahad Saeed blames this on local corruption and believes officials are failing to enforce the law. He spoke to the BBC in Islamabad, next to a half-built, four-storey concrete building as big as a car park – and right by a stream that he saw flood this summer, killing a child.
Pakistan has laws in place banning building near rivers, hoping to avoid homes like these being flooded in future
“Just a few kilometres from parliament and still such things happen in Pakistan,” he says, visibly frustrated. “It’s because of misgovernance, the role of the government is to be a watchdog.”
Former climate minister Senator Sherry Rehman, who chairs the climate committee in Pakistan’s Senate, calls it ”graft”, or simply “looking the other way” when permissions are given for construction in vulnerable areas.
The country’s breadbasket submerged
By late August, further south in the province of Punjab, floods had submerged 4,500 villages, overwhelming “Pakistan’s breadbasket”, in a country that can’t always afford to import enough food.
For the first time, three rivers – the Sutlej, Ravi and Chenab – flooded simultaneously, triggering the largest rescue operation in decades.
“It was the most important anomaly,” said Syed Muhammad Tayyab Shah, the chief risk officer for the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).
In Punjab’s capital, Lahore, the impact on wealthier and poorer communities was stark. The gated community of Park View City was inundated by the Ravi river, making its prized streets impossible to navigate. Residents of luxury homes were forced to evacuate.
Surveying the damage, two local men, Abdullah and his father Gulraiz, were convinced water would be drained soon, thanks to the area’s property developer Aleem Khan, a federal minister.
“No problem, Aleem Khan will do it,” Gulraiz told the BBC.
But for residents in the poorer neighbourhood of Theme Park, the floods were crushing. One officer told the BBC they kept having to rescue people who swam back to their homes when the water levels dropped, desperate to salvage whatever they could. But then the water would rise, leaving them stranded.
We saw one man returning from his house, an inflatable donut resting on his hip.
Sumera’s home in Lahore’s Theme Park neighbourhood was flooded. Weeks away from giving birth, she is living in a tent with her son Arsh
Some residents were moved to tents provided by the Alkhidmat Foundation Pakistan. Sitting outside in the summer heat, Sumera was weeks away from giving birth. She was extremely thin.
“My doctor says I need two blood transfusions this week,” she said as she tried to keep hold of her toddler, Arsh.
Nearby, Ali Ahmad was balancing a small kitten he rescued from the floods on his shoulder. The boy was one of the few who had a mattress to sleep on.
By the end of monsoon season, the floods had displaced more than 2.7 million people in Punjab, the UN said, and damaged more than one million hectares of farmland.
Further south in Multan district, always hit hard by floods, the scale of the humanitarian crisis became even clearer, with tents lining dirt roads and highways.
Access to healthcare was already a challenge in rural areas of Pakistan, but once the floods hit, the challenge was unbearable for many women we met.
BBC Urdu’s Tarhub Asghar met two sisters-in-law, both nine months pregnant. A doctor had warned them they weren’t drinking enough water. They raised a bottle to explain. The water was completely brown.
The search for solutions
Yasmeen Lari has built homes she says are “climate-resilient” and made of natural materials such as bamboo and lime cement
Some are trying different solutions.
Architect Yasmeen Lari has designed what she calls “climate-resilient houses” in dozens of villages. In Pono, near Hyderabad, women showed the BBC huts they’d built themselves – a large circular building on wooden stilts. Dr Lari calls it their training centre and says families can move their belongings there and shelter.
But Dr Lari argues building an entire village on stilts would be unfeasible and too expensive. Instead, she says her designs ensure the roofs don’t collapse, and that by using natural materials such as bamboo and lime concrete, the homes can be rebuilt quickly by the villagers themselves.
Pakistan has reached a point where “it’s not about saving buildings; it’s about saving lives,” she says.
This is the reality for Pakistan. All the climate scientists and politicians the BBC spoke to warn of an increasingly worrying future.
“Every year the monsoon will become more and more aggressive,” Syed Muhammad Tayyab Shah at the NDMA said. “Every year, there will be a new surprise for us.”
As the country faces the growing and ever-changing challenges posed by climate change, in which the poorest are often the worst affected, there is one refrain from people returning to homes likely to flood next year: “I have nowhere else to go.”
Nigerian government denies US president’s claim of not stemming ‘horrible atrocities’ against Christians.
Published On 1 Nov 20251 Nov 2025
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US President Donald Trump has threatened to carry out attacks in Nigeria in response to purported anti-Christian violence, saying he instructed the recently renamed Department of War to “prepare for possible action”.
In a social media post on Saturday, Trump said the United States would immediately cut off all assistance to the African country “if the Nigerian Government continues to allow the killing of Christians”.
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The US “may very well go into that now disgraced country, ‘guns-a-blazing,’ to completely wipe out the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities”, Trump added, without specifying which groups or alleged “atrocities” he was referring to.
“I am hereby instructing our Department of War to prepare for possible action. If we attack, it will be fast, vicious, and sweet, just like the terrorist thugs attack our CHERISHED Christians! WARNING: THE NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT BETTER MOVE FAST!” he wrote.
The Nigerian government did not immediately respond to Trump’s threat.
The social media post comes a day after the US president announced that Nigeria would be added to the Department of State’s list of “Countries of Particular Concern”, which is set up to monitor religious persecution around the world.
In recent months, right-wing lawmakers and other prominent figures in the US have claimed that violent disputes in Nigeria are part of a campaign of “Christian genocide”.
While human rights groups have urged the Nigerian government to do more to address unrest in the country, which has experienced deadly attacks by Boko Haram and other armed groups, experts say claims of a “Christian genocide” are false and simplistic.
A few hours before Trump’s threat, Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu released a statement stressing that his government “continues to address security challenges which affect citizens across faiths and regions”.
“The characterisation of Nigeria as religiously intolerant does not reflect our national reality, nor does it take into consideration the consistent and sincere efforts of the government to safeguard freedom of religion and beliefs for all Nigerians,” Tinubu said on Saturday.
“Nigeria opposes religious persecution and does not encourage it. Nigeria is a country with constitutional guarantees to protect citizens of all faiths,” the statement continued.
“Our administration is committed to working with the United States government and the international community to deepen understanding and cooperation on protection of communities of all faiths.”
Kimiebi Ebienfa, a spokesperson for Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stressed his country’s commitment to protecting all of its citizens.
“The Federal Government of Nigeria will continue to defend all citizens, irrespective of race, creed, or religion,” Ebienfa wrote in a statement on Saturday.
“Like America, Nigeria has no option but to celebrate the diversity that is our greatest strength.”
China will effectively suspend implementation of additional export controls on rare earth metals and terminate investigations targeting US companies in the semiconductor supply chain, the White House announced.
The White House issued a fact sheet on Saturday outlining some details of the trade pact agreed to earlier this week by President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping that aimed to ease tensions between the world’s largest economies.
Under the deal, China will issue general licenses valid for exports of rare earths, gallium, germanium, antimony and graphite “for the benefit of U.S. end users and their suppliers around the world,” the White House said, meaning the effective removal of controls China imposed in April 2025 and October 2022. The US and China previously said Beijing would suspend more restrictive controls announced in October 2025 for one year.
Washington will also pause some of Trump’s so-called reciprocal tariffs on China for an additional year and is halting plans to implement a 100% tariff on Chinese exports to the US that was threatened for November. The White House also said that the US will further extend the expiration of certain Section 301 tariff exclusions, currently due to expire on Nov. 29, 2025, until Nov. 10, 2026.
The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Saturday.
The landmark summit between Trump and Xi, their first face-to-face meeting of the US president’s second term, saw the leaders stabilize relations in the short term after an escalating trade fight that had roiled markets and sparked fears of a global downturn.
Under their agreement, according to the White House, China agreed to pause sweeping controls on rare-earth magnets in exchange for a US agreement to roll back an expansion of curbs on Chinese companies. China had used its dominance in the processing of rare-earth minerals as leverage, threatening to restrict their flow to the US and allies countries.
The US also agreed to halve a fentanyl-related tariff to 10% from 20%, while Beijing will resume purchases of American soybeans and other agricultural products. The US has said China will buy 12 million metric tons of soybeans during the current season, and a minimum of 25 million metric tons a year for the next three years. Trump on Friday indicated he would like to remove all of the fentanyl-related tariffs if China continued to crack down on exports of the drug and precursor chemicals used to make it.
“As soon as we see that, we’ll get rid of the other 10%,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Friday.
The US also said on Saturday that Beijing will take steps to allow the Chinese facilities of Dutch chipmaker Nexperia BV to resume shipments, confirming a Bloomberg report from a day earlier. This move will likely ease worries about chip shipments that had threatened auto production as a trade fight between China and the US escalated.
But while the agreement has calmed tensions, the pact may be a short-term truce in an extended trade fight with the measures just meant to last one year. And despite addressing some key issues — and with both sides winning key concessions — the agreement fails to comprehensively address all of the issues at the heart of the US-China trade fight and other geopolitical flashpoints such as Taiwan and Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Trump has signed off on a plan that would see an American consortium buy the US operations of ByteDance Ltd.’s TikTok app, but Beijing has yet to formally approve that sale. The US president has also said there would be cooperation on energy, saying that China had agreed to purchases oil and gas from Alaska.
New communication system launches in two phases starting Saturday
For the first time in league history, NBA referees will wear headsets during regular-season games. The change begins Saturday as part of a two-phase rollout aimed at improving communication and efficiency during officiating.
Phase One: Limited Use During Reviews
The NBA announced Friday that referees will start using earpieces clipped to their uniforms. In this initial phase, the devices will only be active during instant replay reviews and other stoppages in play, not while the game is live.
This first stage is expected to last through January. Officials will use the technology to streamline replay decisions and improve coordination with the NBA’s replay center. The league hopes the added communication will make rulings faster and more consistent.
Phase Two: Full-Time Communication
Pending the success of the initial testing, the second phase will expand headset use to live play. Referees will be able to communicate directly with one another and the replay center throughout entire games. That phase will continue at least through the All-Star break in February, allowing the NBA to collect data and feedback before deciding on permanent implementation.
The league emphasized that the change aims to enhance real-time collaboration between officials, reduce confusion, and create a smoother viewing experience for fans.
Tested in Multiple NBA Events
While this marks the debut of headsets in the regular season, the NBA has already tested the system in several events since 2022. Trials took place at the G League Winter Showcase, the NBA Summer League, and preseason games.
Leagues around the world have used similar communication tools for years, especially in soccer and rugby, where real-time dialogue between referees helps with accuracy and consistency. The NBA’s move mirrors those standards as part of its continued effort to modernize officiating.
The introduction of headset communication represents another step in the league’s growing investment in technology. With implementation beginning Saturday, fans will see referees equipped with a new tool designed to improve the game’s flow and fairness.
I stood in the windy desert of Nevada watching one vehicle after the next launch out of the inflatable arch and into the sand ahead. Cheers and engine blips marked each exit from the Rebelle Rally base camp. These women were heading out into the unknown with nothing more than a map and a pencil to guide them. It was pretty badass.
The Rebelle Rally takes place every fall. Unlike most rallies, it’s not about catching epic air in the sand or screaming past crowds of fans at breakneck speeds. The Rebelle is all about navigation and time management. Getting from one point to the next as accurately as possible without missing any points in between. Based purely on a compass and map. No GPS, no apps. All while traversing some of the most unforgiving terrain in the western United States.
I went to see the 2025 Rebelle Rally launch to find out what goes on behind the scenes to make this competition happen. The logistics are unfathomable. Unless your name is Emily Miller. She has a firm grip on it and she’s the one who started the Rebelle 10 years ago. She’s the one who has assembled a team to figure it all out. Emily juggles a thousand different things to make this competition one of the greatest rallies in the world.
“We’ve found the right people,” Miller told me. “They came just at the right time and exactly when they were needed. Most of us have been here since this started 10 years ago.”
This year’s Rebelle started on Mammoth Mountain in California and then went into the Nevada desert, turning south. It’s over 2,500 km (1,553 miles) of don’t-turn-there-or-you’ll-get-stuck driving as teams compete for points. The points come from hitting checkpoints: some with flags, some with small markers, and some with nothing at all. There are even some fakes just to play mind games with competitors.
Over the eight-day competition, Rebelle teams climb and descend dunes, mountains, scrubland, rocks, and dry lakes, all while plotting their route with just map and compass, using navigation techniques that haven’t changed much since horse and wagon were the fastest modes of transport. The rally, which is a women’s-only competition, draws manufacturers and independents in large numbers. This year, 67 teams of two took the field, most in unmodified vehicles.
67 vehicles for the 2025 Rebelle Rally competition stage outside of a ski lodge on Mammoth Mountain to kick off the competition
Aaron Turpen / New Atlas
Ford Broncos, Jeeps, and Land Rover models were the most common, but a smattering of Honda, Subaru, and other makes were also present. The competition has three categories, with two four-wheel drive and one all-wheel drive set. The 4WD sets are divided by team experience and past event scoring, with those with a stronger history in the Rebelle getting the tougher checkpoints of the two.
Behind the scenes, though, technology is everywhere. While competitors are out there with pencils and paper maps, those putting on the rally are behind computer screens and utilizing satellites and advanced communications. It’s best pictured as a movie-style military field tent with screens and digital maps and people calling out random-sounding numbers to one another. Except this isn’t Hollywood.
“We had to figure out how to score it,” Miller said. “We couldn’t do it manually. We wanted to make sure that there was not a human bias that would impact the score.” This eventually led to sponsorship from Iridium, whose satellites and communications are key to the rally’s scoring and tracking.
Iridium’s team showed me how this works. Tracking happens on several levels, with redundancy. Each vehicle has two ways to be tracked and are pinged roughly every two minutes to get location readings. This is primarily for safety and is passive from the competitors’ perspective. Each team also has a satellite phone for emergency use to call the Rebelle organizers. Using those two things allows emergency response to pinpoint the vehicle’s location and send responders immediately. This can range from medical to mechanical. These GPS locators send three to four thousand data points daily during the competition. According to Iridium, the Rebelle uses more types of satellite equipment than even the U.S. military.
Competitors use hand-held tracking devices to send in checkpoints. When the team thinks it’s on the right checkpoint, they click a button on their satellite communicator. It immediately pinpoints their exact coordinates and sends that to the scoring system. The team receives a notification on the device that their transmission was received and then continues on. The whole process takes seconds.
Once out on the course, teams must find their checkpoints and then mark them officially with this handheld satellite GPS to score points
Paolo Baraldi / Rebelle Rally
The mapping data from team check-ins is collated in a database and scored based on how close to the actual checkpoint the team was. The closer the check-in to the actual GPS coordinates, the higher the score. Some checkpoints, usually the ones with large green flags, are easy to find and may also include information for the teams regarding things to look for on the upcoming portion of the course – such as changes in terrain due to weather.
Courses are different each year, so although the Rebelle Rally is often in the same areas of California and Nevada, where competitors go is not repetitive. This is thanks to the oddly map-focused brain of course director Jimmy Lewis, affectionately called the JPS or Jimmy Positioning System. He designs the course each year using an uncanny ability to recall every track and hidden route across California and Nevada. Miller works with him to refine the routes, placing checkpoints that are both fair and fiendish.
“Some of them are easy because they need to be,” Miller said, pointing to a nearby green flag. “Those are usually green ones. But sometimes, those green flags, like this one aren’t really checkpoints. If the teams are paying attention, they’ll know that and keep driving. If they’re lazy, though, they might click on this and receive a negative score. The real one is over there,” she says pointing to a rock with just a tip of a green flag showing over it.
Blue checkpoints are harder to find, but are still marked. They have small blue stakes in the ground where they’re located. Most aren’t visible until the competitors are very close. And then there are the Black Diamond checkpoints. These have nothing marking them or indicating their existence. They exist purely on the maps of the competitors, who received coordinates for them and must rely on their skills to find them. These Black Diamond spots are worth a lot of points, but take the most time to locate.
“This competition is mostly about time management,” said Becky Brophy of Toyota, who has competed in the Rebelle and was there this year as support. “There are only so many hours in the day to complete your run. Most of the time out there [for the teams] is spent figuring out how much time they have and whether it’s worth trying to get those few extra points and run the risk of coming in late.”
Teams launch in the mornings based on their scores the day before. Higher scores mean an earlier start, which means a higher chance of a higher score again. A later return time means a lower score for the final checkpoint. Most days consist of around 150 miles (241 km) of roads and trails. Often at speeds of less than 13 mph (20 km/h). Toyota, one of the more active manufacturers sponsoring teams this year, includes its own teams that consist of engineers and race team members who combine to make “dream teams” in the rally. Brophy was one of those. Teams this year included vehicles like the 4Runner, Sequoia, and more.
Factory sponsored teams, like Team KaiZen of Toyota, are a chance for manufacturers to dive deep into stock vehicle capabilities
Aaron Turpen / New Atlas
Micaela (Mica) Rionda, of Toyota’s Team KaiZen, summed up the reason the manufacturer sponsors so heavily in the event: “I’m an executive at Toyota and we’ve been advocating for our women to join this activity as a leadership-building activity. And personally, I’ve seen the women come back [from the Rebelle], and they are more confident, they are more articulate. They are able to express their work-related concerns and presentations in a more confident manner after coming back from an event like this.”
This sentiment was echoed by other manufacturers at the event, like Ineos, Jeep, and Ford.
One of the Ford teams was in their fourth year together as a Rebelle duo and their second year as a Ford-sponsored team. Karisa Haydon and Trista Smith, together known as Team Velocity, entered their first year of the Rebelle in Karisa’s Ford Bronco Sport. After being named Rookies of the Year, the team returned for another go. Then Ford approached about a sponsorship and moving them into the 4×4 category. The team agreed. In this 2025 Rebelle Rally, they were in a Ford Ranger Raptor.
“The course is much … it’s gnarlier if you’re in the 4×4 category,” said Haydon. “So I remember seeing these ridge lines and things that we didn’t have to go to.”
Some Ford factory teams, like Team Velocity (#131), were previously independents. Trista Smith (left) and Karisa Haydon started out in Karisa’s personal vehicle for their first Rebelle
Aaron Turpen / New Atlas
Much of the Rebelle competition boils down to the team, not the vehicle. I asked several teams about the relationship in the cab and that eight grueling days of maybe getting on each other’s nerves.
“So as far as, like, getting on each other’s nerves,” Smith said, “there’s not really.. there’s never been an issue, which is good. I think that’s why we’re still so strong four years in a row.”
Hayden agreed. “You know, when we get the chance to talk to rookie teams or people who are thinking about this, and we’re like, oh, your team selection is so important. Your vehicle’s likely going to be fine and make it. It’s likely not your vehicle that’s going to be problematic. It’s most likely the relationship in the car that’s going to be problematic.”
Factory teams also get the chance to see the vehicles up close and personal in a less controlled environment. “As an engineer, sometimes you get in the old vehicle, and you’re looking at the layout and maybe making proposals for the next one,” said Rionda. “But again, you’re in it for a few hours, maybe. You drive it around a test track somewhere. It’s always very controlled, because that’s how you test, right? But this environment, you have no idea what you’re going to run into. So the results of how the vehicle performs in these unknown situations, I think, is a really unique experience. It’s great that these engineers are able to explain” things not noticed on a shorter drive.
The morning of Day 1 for the Rebelle 2025 as competitors receive their lists of checkpoint coordinates and begin mapping
Aaron Turpen / New Atlas
Behind the scenes, organized chaos is the norm at the Rebelle Rally. While the competitors are pitching tents, mapping, and checking gear, team members for the Rebelle are cooking food, setting up and tearing down base camps, and driving a semi-truck-load of water. Every evening, after the Rebelles enter camp for the night, technicians and coordinators are analyzing data and verifying scores. During dinner, competitors eagerly await the score postings to see where they’ll be starting the next day. And many unpack their phones which have been locked away all day to check messages and send “Did well today!” messages to family.
Throughout dinner, the term “badass” was used constantly to describe participants and organizers. It’s basically everyone involved’s nickname. And it fits. This is especially apparent in the mornings when teams receive their checkpoint coordinates and begin mapping.
As navigators pore over maps and plot points, drivers tear down tents and pack their vehicles. Most of the modifications made to vehicles, Brophy told me, center on storage. Teams carry everything they need, and sometimes camp unsupported for days.
The vehicles themselves are mostly factory stock. Tires and safety equipment change, of course, but for the most part, the manufacturers and independents fielding vehicles are not making major changes to them. The majority of competitors are independent, fielding personal vehicles and finding their own sponsorships. One such team is Beyond the Pavement, made up of Lynn Kliem and Toni Crites in a 2021 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon. Retired nurses, the team is purely in it for the challenge.
“Lynn and I have been friends for over 30 years,” said Crites. “We saw the EPCOT presentation featuring the Gazelle Rally in Morocco. Lynn said she thought that would be fun. Then Google led us to the Rebelle Rally website.”
Throughout the eight days, competitors are allowed to help one another, but outsiders must remain hands off. Rebelles often help one another get out of sticky situations, hold down tents in the wind as stakes are driven in, and so on. Rebelle organizers and staff are only allowed to intervene for safety reasons or when specifically requested. In the latter case, that will usually cost the team points or time. Out on the course, teams are responsible for tire changes and most other mechanical issues. Unlike speed-based competitions, however, most flat tires or broken equipment in the Rebelle Rally are due to environmental hazards rather than harsh punishment.
“For most Rebelles,” Miller said, “their shovels are their most-used tool while they’re out there.”
Navigators plot carefully and must be both accurate and quick. Time is limited for Rebelles, as this practice session for Prologue Day demonstrated
Aaron Turpen / New Atlas
So where’s the speed in the Rebelle? It’s all in the brains of its participants. The women who compete in this rally must make rapid decisions, relying on their skills, and be confident in their choices once made. Miller said that it’s easy to second-guess a checkpoint’s location if you’re overthinking. “The best competitors are confident,” she says. “They don’t question whether their plot points are accurate. They know they are.”
That’s how Nena Barlow and Teralin Petereit (title photo) once again took first place this year. And why Haydon and Smith took second. Most of the top 10 Rebelle Rally scores for 2025 were in unmodified vehicles from the Stock class. The Rebelle had a whole roster of badasses.
The Kenyan government has confirmed that 21 people have died following a landslide in the western part of the country after heavy rainfall.
Interior Minister Kipchumba Murkomen said the bodies had been transferred to a nearby airstrip after the landslide in Marakwet East late on Friday night.
He said on X that more than 30 people were still unaccounted for after being reported missing by their families while 25 people with serious injuries had been airlifted to receive further medical attention.
The Kenyan Red Cross, which is helping to coordinate rescue efforts, said that the most affected areas are still not accessible by road due to mudslides and flash flooding.
The Kenyan government paused the search and rescue operation on Saturday evening but said it would resume on Sunday.
“Preparation to supply more food and non-food relief items to the victims is underway,” said Murkomen, adding: “Military and police choppers are on standby to transport the items.”
Kenya is in its second rainy season when it usually experiences a few weeks of wet weather compared to a heavier, more prolonged period earlier in the year.
The government has urged people living near seasonal rivers as well as areas that experienced landslides on Friday to move to safer ground.
Meanwhile, flash flooding and landslides in Uganda, near the border with Kenya, have killed a number of people since last Wednesday.
On Saturday, the Uganda Red Cross said another mudslide had occurred in Kapsomo village in the east of the country, destroying a house and killing four people inside.
The Red Cross said floods had severely affected most villages near riverbanks in the Bulambuli District.
It said continuous heavy rainfall had caused the River Astiri and the River Sipi “to overflow, resulting in widespread destruction of homes, crop fields, and community infrastructure”.
