Fears over rights violations have overshadowed Ghana’s decision to accept US deportees. Amidst calls to suspend the agreement, analysts fret over the diplomatic implications for the West African nation.
Ghanaian president John Mahama says relations between Accra and Washington are “tightening”Image: Jeenah Moon/REUTERS
Ghana’s decision to accept West African deportees from the United States has put the country in uncharted territory. Eleven of the first 14 deportees sued Ghana’s government for human rights violations over what they say is unlawful detention.
Lawyers for the deportees have confirmed their clients have been “dumped” in neighboring Togo and are now required to fend for themselves, a move sparking more criticism for Ghana.
“The initial 14 were brought to Ghana on September 6. Three were deported that night. 11 were held in military detention. Out of that 11, 10 were deported with the matter in court, and eight of them are in Togo,” one of the lead lawyers for the deportees, Oliver Barker-Vormawor, told DW.
The country’s parliamentary minority has called for the deportee agreement to be suspended, saying it is unconstitutional, a threat to national security, and a departure from Ghana’s long-standing foreign policy principles.
In 2017, Ghana’s Supreme Court ruled that under Article 75 of the 1992 Constitution, international agreements creating binding obligations for Ghana require parliamentary ratification.
“The government’s conduct in operationalizing the agreement with the United States without parliamentary ratification is a direct constitutional violation,” Samuel Jinapor, a minority spokesperson said, accusing President John Mahama’s government of not respecting the rule of law.
Why is Ghana accepting US deportees?
Ghana says it is accepting US deportees not as an endorsement of President Donald Trump’s immigration policies but on humanitarian and pan-African grounds.
Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa told local media: “We didn’t agree to this because we agree with President Trump’s immigration policies. We are not doing the US a favor. We are doing our fellow Africans a favor. We want to position Ghana as that country which has always been the Mecca of Africa.”
The government says it is vetting all deportees before acceptance, indicating its strong disapproval for hardened and convicted criminals, persons associated with terrorism, and persons on Interpol wanted list.
Muhammad Dan Suleiman, founder of the Center for Alternative Politics and Security in West Africa, described Ghana’s decision to accepts deportees as “complex.”
“The move doesn’t make sense to me. Secondly, it raises more questions than answers. My first impression was the United States was outsourcing its problems to a country like Ghana,” he told DW.
Ghanaians question ‘problematic’ agreement
DW spoke to Accra-based citizens who find the agreement inconsistent — both in scope, and in accordance with Ghana’s constitution.
“However I think about this, I struggle to agree with the government’s position. They’ve said they did it on humanitarian and pan-African grounds and yet limited it to only West African nationals. That is not exactly pan-African, is it?” Manuel Koranteng told DW.
Another citizen, Abena Mante, told DW: “It [the agreement] does not speak well of government. It also undermines our democracy, and it undermines our laws. If government is able to side-step the provisions within the law, I do not see it as beneficial to us.”
Both critics, and the government, insist Ghana gains “nothing” from the agreement.
“Given the fact that the Foreign Minister says this wasn’t transactional, so the question is, what are we getting from this? I believe it puts undue pressure on the Ghanaian economy,” analyst Muhammad Dan Suleiman told DW.
However, in late September, Ghanaian Foreign Minister Okudzeto Ablakwa alluded to a development where the US would reverse visa restrictions on Ghanaians traveling there — which has been interpreted as part of a deal where Ghana would accept more deportees.
The minority group in Ghana’s parliament says the deportee agreement raises concerns about “sovereignty, security, and policy.”
Other critics argue the government’s decision breaches several international, continental and country-specific laws. These include: the United Nations’ 1951 Refugee Convention, the African Union’s Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa, and Ghana’s own constitution.
“If Ghana continues, it means it is not ready to take a U-turn and listen to its citizens, because I believe a lot of Ghanaians are calling on the government to reconsider its position. Diplomatically, it may raise a lot of friction between Ghana and Nigeria, especially given that Nigeria has opted to reject these deportees,” Suleiman said.
In recent years, the United States and some European countries have tried to strike deals with African nations where irregular migrants are sent to third-party nations. Notable examples have included the United Kingdom’s attempts to deport migrants to Rwanda, and the Trump administration’s current efforts to deport unwanted people with migration backgrounds to Africa.
Human Rights Watch has called on African nations to reject “opaque” US deportee deals, which the group says sometimes involve millions of dollars in financial assistance, and violate global rights law. Analysts, including Suleiman, say that multilateral organizations like the UN, the African Union, and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), should provide more clarity and guidelines to member countries on how deportees from the US can be received or hosted.
The man, identified only by his surname Hong, was part of a hiking group scaling the 5,588-metre peak on September 25 when he stepped close to a crevasse for pictures.
The hiker was part of a group scaling the 5,588-metre peak on September 25. (Photo: X)
A 31-year-old hiker has died in a tragic fall on Mount Nama in China’s Sichuan province after reportedly untying his safety rope to take photos near the summit.
The man, identified only by his surname Hong, was part of a hiking group scaling the 5,588-metre peak on September 25 when he stepped close to a crevasse for pictures. According to witnesses, he had removed his safety line and wasn’t using an ice axe when he suddenly slipped on the snow-covered slope.
As others watched in horror, Hong lost control and slid nearly 200 metres down the icy mountainside. A video that surfaced online shows the moment he vanished over the edge.
Videos circulating on Chinese social media show the terrifying moment he slipped and disappeared down the mountainside. Rescue teams rushed to the scene but confirmed Hong was already dead when they reached him. His body was later transported to nearby Gongga Mountain Town.
Hong’s cousin told local media it was his first attempt at climbing the mountain. He had reportedly undone his safety rope to help others take pictures, only to trip moments later — possibly over his own crampons, the metal spikes attached to boots for walking on ice.
AUTHORITIES SAY GROUP VIOLATED SAFETY RULES
Local officials said Hong’s group had not obtained the required climbing permits or informed authorities of their expedition plans. The Kangding Municipal Education and Sports Bureau said the group also breached basic safety rules. “If the crampons had not been removed and the rope had not been undone, this might not have happened,” one official told The Sun.
Donald Trump claimed his trade tariffs stopped global wars, including the India-Pakistan crisis, boasting that “seven planes were shot down” before his very effective intervention through tariffs.
The president has repeatedly emphasised that he seeks leaders who embody a tougher, more hard-line ethos. (Photo: Reuters)
US President Donald Trump has once again repeated that the threat of tariffs imposed by the United States helped prevent multiple global wars, including one between India and Pakistan. He claimed that his trade tactics turned America into a peacekeeping nation.
“If I didn’t have the power of tariffs, you would have at least four of the seven wars raging,” Trump said during an address on Monday. “If you look at India and Pakistan, they were ready to go at it. Seven planes were shot down… I don’t want to say exactly what I said, but what I said was very effective.”
Trump said the United States had become rich and powerful again under his watch, adding that his trade leverage helped stop wars worldwide. “Not only did we make hundreds of billions of dollars, but we’re a peacekeeper because of tariffs,” he said.
TRUMP FALSELY CLAIMS CREDIT
Trump has been repeatedly claiming that he ended the India-Pakistan conflict during Operation Sindoor, despite New Delhi having publicly dismissed such assertions multiple times.
Last week, Trump had claimed that he warned India and Pakistan to end the conflict or else he would end trade relations. “India and Pakistan were going at it. I called them both… They had just shot down seven planes… I said, if you do this, there’s not going to be any trade, and I stopped the war. It was raging for four days,” Trump added.
He also said that Chief of Army Staff of Pakistan, Asim Munir, praised his role in brokering a truce with India. Trump also said that he should be honoured with the Nobel Prize for “ending seven wars.”
“We stopped wars between India and Pakistan, Thailand and Cambodia,” he said, before listing other countries such as Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kosovo, Serbia, Israel, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, Rwanda, and the Congo. “Sixty per cent of them were stopped because of trade,” he added.
Trump has issued a slew of new executive order as he designated cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organisations
DONALD Trump is continuing to strike illegal drug boats off Venezuela’s coast and may now be thinking about expanding his crackdown on land.
The US President praised the Navy’s efforts to “blow the cartel terrorists the hell out of the water” on Sunday as he continues to wage war with the cartels.
Trump has now hinted at further action inside Venezuelan territory.
Speaking at Naval Station Norfolk while standing beside the aircraft carrier USS Harry S Truman, he announced: “In recent weeks, the Navy has supported our mission to blow the cartel terrorists the hell out of the water… We did another one last night.”
Trump continued, saying inland cartels would be the new targets – even threatening to strike inside Venezuela.
“They’re not coming in by sea any more, so now we’ll have to start looking about the land because they’ll be forced to go by land,” he said.
Any potential move would be unprecedented as the US military has never directly attacked cartels in Mexico or Venezuela.
Javed Ali, an associate professor at the University of Michigan, said a direct attack on cartels north of the border would give the president the widest opportunity for action inside Mexico.
He said Trump could also put Article II of the US Constitution into play, meaning the president is free to use the military to defend the US.
Ali said the US could also invoke the War Powers Act, which would give Trump 60 days to carry out military operations before having to seek congressional approval.
Trump’s choices come alongside a slew of new executive order where he designated cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organisations.
The order designated eight Latin American cartels, including six from Mexico, as terrorist groups.
The executive order is one of several Trump signed to deal with the problems of drugs, unchecked immigration, and human trafficking.
Regardless of whether Trump followed the domestic legalities of cross-border action, his first option would likely be airstrikes, most likely using powerful Reaper drones.
For this to happen, Mexican authorities would have to approve any military action carried out by the US.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said the executive order would only be applicable if there was close coordination between the two governments.
“We all want to fight the drug cartels,” Sheinbaum said.
“The US in their territory [and] us in our territory.”
Trump would also face other problems, including deciphering which cartels to target first.
It comes as Pete Hegseth, US Defence Secretary, showed off one of the pinpoint strikes on a narcotics boat last week.
The footage shows a boat travelling through international waters before a web of missiles fall around the vessel causing the boat to explode on impact.
Hegseth told Fox News that “all options are on the table if we’re dealing with what are designated to be foreign terrorist organisations”.
He said he had “every authorisation needed” to conduct the attacks.
He did not provide more details on who authorisation came from.
On the social media platform X, he said the vessel had been carrying “substantial amounts of narcotics – headed to America to poison our people”.
“These strikes will continue until the attacks on the American people are over,” he wrote.
Three Gujarati people linked to the motel business were killed last week in Pennsylvania and North Carolina in two separate incidents. In all, seven Gujarat-origin people have been killed in motel crimes across the US this year. Gujaratis own 60% of the motel business in the US. Why is the motel business so risky, and how are Gujaratis coming in harm’s way?
Dhayabhai Patel and Santaben Patel in front of a motel their family once owned in California. Gujarati-owned motels in the US are one of the biggest success stories of the community abroad. (Image: Via Amar Shah and Rahul Rohatgi)
The Gujarati community, the Patels in particular, is known for owning and running profitable businesses across the US. But a pattern of the community’s vulnerability to crime while operating businesses has emerged in recent years. This year alone, there have been at least seven deaths of Gujaratis operating or owning motels in the US. The most recent incident was reported on Monday, from Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, where Rakesh Patel (50), a native of Surat, was shot point-blank in the head. Patel, who was a partner in the motel, worked as the manager there.
Another incident was reported on October 5, when Anil Patel and Pankaj Patel, with roots in Gujarat, were shot dead at a motel in North Carolina. This came months after a Gujarati woman and her father were gunned down in South Carolina during an attempted robbery at a convenience store.
Reports suggest that most attacks on Gujaratis in the US have been linked to robberies or disputes at motels, gas stations, and convenience stores—businesses the community is known to own.
These businesses, especially motels and gas stations, are often tucked along highways, or in isolated towns, according to a New York Times report, making them a hotspot for crimes ranging from drug deals to prostitution, break-ins, and shootings.
On September 10, Chandra Mouli ‘Bob’ Nagamallaiah, a Karnataka native managing the Downtown Suites Dallas Motel, was beheaded on its premises. The motel that Nagamallaiah managed was owned by a person of Gujarat origin.
OVER 60% OF US MOTELS OWNED BY GUJARATIS
Motels and gas stations are very successful businesses, where the cashflow is steady—a reason why Gujarati business owners have grown exponentially in the US since the 1960s.
Motels, like other hospitality sectors, are labour-intensive. Through the decades, the Patels have taken over a motel, used a room or two for their families, and used family members to run the business. Making money from one motel, they generally expanded their “dhandho” (business).
Today, despite comprising just 1% of the US population, Gujaratis control over 60% of the US’ motels, according to Amar Shah, the director of The Patel Motel Story, a short film premiered at New York’s Tribeca Festival and is showing at festivals across the US. The short film explores how Gujarati immigrants, especially Patels, built America’s motel empire—highlighting their grit, family networks, and the struggles behind their success.
But motels and gas stations, especially budget independents in remote or low-income zones, are “magnets for crime”, a 2021 USA Today investigation revealed.
The investigative report revealed that motels receive a disproportionate level of police calls (911 emergency calls). A reason for this is that motels often accommodate guests in transit, which fosters anonymity, and the risk of patrons linked to illicit activities.
There are also reports that suggest that confrontations between motel owners and long-term lodgers over unpaid dues are common and have, in the past, even led to shootings. Botched robberies, which often result in shootouts, also plague motels, gas stations and convenience stores in remote areas.
FACTORS THAT MAKE MOTEL BUSINESS IN THE US RISKY
Drug overdose cases in motels are fairly common, and Gujaratis—who own a majority of these establishments in the US—often bear the burden of dealing with the crime scenes, including overdose deaths, and facing potential lawsuits linked to human trafficking, for which motels are notorious.
Several posts on X have highlighted lax security at Indian-owned motels, citing missing cameras, faulty locks, and chronic understaffing—often a cost-cutting measure. Users also noted that in many such motels, front desks double as living rooms for the owners’ families, exposing them to risks.
Critics say poorly managed motels in high-crime neighbourhoods can turn entire areas into “no-go zones”.
While these businesses have brought success to many, they also come with serious risks tied to how they are run.
HOW PATELS CAME TO RULE AMERICA’S MOTEL INDUSTRY
The grip of Gujarati Patels in the US motel sector began in the mid-1960s itself.
Gujaratis, known for their strong community support in India and abroad, have built a vast business empire in the US over the years—often reinvesting their earnings and supporting fellow community members instead of upgrading their personal lifestyles, a sacrifice they have carried forward for generations.
By the 1990s, their hold on the US’ motel industry grew to 50%. In 1999, the New York Times highlighted this in its article “A Patel Motel Cartel?”
But the foundation of the Gujarati community’s hold in the hospitality sector was laid in the mid-1930s.
Kanji Manchhu Desai, hailed as the “godfather of Indian-owned hotels in the US”, arrived in the US as an illegal immigrant from Trinidad in 1934 and became the first Patel hotelier in the US, according to Mahendra K Doshi, a journalist who has been documenting stories of hotel-owning families in his book, Surat to San Francisco: How the Patels from Gujarat Established the Hotel Business in California, 1942-1960.
During World War II, he looked after a hotel in Sacramento after its Japanese-American owner was moved to an internment camp.
In the post-war US, Desai leased Hotel Goldfield in San Francisco, where he housed arriving Gujarati immigrants, offered handshake loans, and advised: “If you’re a Patel, lease a hotel.”
His mentorship sparked a chain reaction, with families pooling resources to acquire properties, living on-site to cut costs, and reinvesting profits into expansion. A trend that still continues.
By the 1950s and 1960s, as US immigration reforms post-1965 eased entry, Gujaratis flocked to the industry.
The strategy of the Gujaratis emphasised “paying it forward”. Loans weren’t repaid but funnelled to the next relative for another motel purchase.
An Idaho entrepreneur, Nathan Barry, detailed in an X thread, Indian families in the 1950s immigrated with family aid, worked tirelessly, and stockpiled earnings for more acquisitions.
Venture capitalist Sieva Kozinsky noted on X: “The Patels built a $52-billion motel empire in 70 years.”
FROM ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS TO BUSINESS MASTERS
The key to Gujaratis’ dominance in the US was collective buying and family labour, slashing overheads, and undercutting competitors.
Many Gujaratis migrated to the US as illegal immigrants but went on to build an empire.
As one X post explained, three early Patels—Nanalal Patel, Kanji Manchhu Desai, and D Lal—entered illegally via Panama and Trinidad, then pooled resources to buy motels, fire staff, and employ their family, driving down prices and acquiring distressed properties.
Networks like the Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA), with 20,000 members owning 33,000 properties, amplified this through conventions and advocacy. The AAHOA is a Gujarati-dominated body.
Today, Gujarati owners of motels, gas stations, and convenience stores, generate billions in revenue and millions of jobs.
Pop culture references, such as Hasan Minhaj’s Netflix quips in his many comedy specials, show the gritty rise of Gujaratis in the US.
While Gujarati-owned motels and businesses in the US are one of the biggest success stories of the community abroad, their visibility and concentration also make them targets. There is racism, along with resentment against Indians even in the remotest corners of the US, which exposes owners to robberies, shootings, and even deaths.
In recent years, community leaders have pointed to a surge in hate crimes and anti-India sentiment, particularly in smaller American towns. With their visible success in owning motels and gas stations, Gujaratis often face resentment and stereotyping, making them easy targets of racial hostility.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday praised US President Donald Trump’s “efforts” in brokering peace in Gaza, hours after Hamas accepted parts of Trump’s 20-point peace plan.
PM Modi, earlier this week, had backed Trump’s Gaza peace plan.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday praised US President Donald Trump for his peace efforts in Gaza, hours after Hamas accepted parts of Trump’s 20-point peace plan.
“We welcome President Trump’s leadership as peace efforts in Gaza make decisive progress. Indications of the release of hostages mark a significant step forward. India will continue to strongly support all efforts towards a durable and just peace,” PM Modi said in a post on X.
We welcome President Trump’s leadership as peace efforts in Gaza make decisive progress. Indications of the release of hostages mark a significant step forward.
India will continue to strongly support all efforts towards a durable and just peace.@realDonaldTrump@POTUS
PM Modi, earlier this week, had backed Trump’s Gaza peace plan, saying it provides a viable pathway to long-term and sustainable peace for both Palestinian and Israeli people.
“We welcome President Donald J. Trump’s announcement of a comprehensive plan to end the Gaza conflict. It provides a viable pathway to long-term and sustainable peace, security, and development for the Palestinian and Israeli people, as also for the larger West Asian region. We hope that all concerned will come together behind President Trump’s initiative and support this effort to end conflict and secure peace,” he wrote on X.
We welcome President Donald J. Trump’s announcement of a comprehensive plan to end the Gaza conflict. It provides a viable pathway to long term and sustainable peace, security and development for the Palestinian and Israeli people, as also for the larger West Asian region. We…
The PM’s endorsement was later reshared by Trump on his Truth Social platform, without adding any words of his own.
Hamas on Friday night accepted certain parts of Trump’s Gaza peace plan, including ending the war, Israel’s withdrawal, the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian captives, aid and recovery efforts, and opposition to Palestinian expulsion from the territory – hours after the Republican leader had issued an ultimatum to the Palestinian group to accept his peace plan by Sunday, 6 pm (US time) or face “all hell”.
Trump’s response
Trump called on Israel to “immediately stop the bombing of Gaza” and said he believes Hamas is ready for a “lasting peace”.
“Israel must immediately stop the bombing of Gaza, so that we can get the Hostages out safely and quickly! Right now, it’s far too dangerous to do that. We are already in discussions on the details to be worked out. This is not about Gaza alone, this is about long sought PEACE in the Middle East,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
He also posted a video message thanking all the countries that helped broker the ‘peace’ in the Middle East.
“I want to thank the countries for helping me put this together – Qatar, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, and so many others. So many people fought so hard. This is a big day. We’ll see how it all turns out. We have to get the final word down and concrete. Very importantly, I look forward to having the hostages come home to their parents. Some of the hostages – unfortunately, you know the condition they’re in – come home likewise to their parents because their parents wanted them just as much as though that young man or young woman were alive,” he said.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth speaks to senior military leaders at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Quantico, Virginia, U.S., September 30, 2025. Andrew Harnik/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
The United States killed four people in a strike against a vessel allegedly carrying illegal drugs just off the coast of Venezuela, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Friday, at least the fourth such attack in recent weeks.
The strike is the latest example of President Donald Trump’s efforts to use U.S. military power in new, and often legally contentious, ways, from deploying active-duty U.S. troops in Los Angeles, to carrying out counter-terrorism strikes against drug trafficking suspects.
Hegseth said Friday’s strike was carried out in international waters and that all of the people killed were men. He said the vessel was transporting “substantial amounts of narcotics – headed to America to poison our people.”
“These strikes will continue until the attacks on the American people are over!!!!,” Hegseth said in a post on X.
In a nearly 40-second video shared by Hegseth, a vessel can be seen moving through the water before a web of projectiles fall on the boat and the surrounding water, causing the boat to explode on impact.
Hegseth said, without providing evidence, that the intelligence “without a doubt” confirmed that the vessel was carrying drugs and that the people on board were “narco-terrorists.” He did not disclose the amount or type of the alleged drugs on board the vessel.
Trump, also without providing evidence, said the boat had enough drugs to kill 25,000 to 50,000 people.
The Venezuelan communications ministry did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
MILITARY BUILDUP
In the past, counter-drug operations have been generally carried out by the U.S. Coast Guard, the main U.S. maritime law enforcement agency, not the U.S. military.
But earlier this week, the Pentagon disclosed to Congress in a notification reviewed by Reuters that Trump has determined the United States is engaged in “a non-international armed conflict” with drug cartels. The document aimed to explain the Trump administration’s legal rationale for unleashing U.S. military force in the Caribbean.
Some former military lawyers say the legal explanations given by the Trump administration for killing suspected drug traffickers at sea instead of apprehending them fail to satisfy requirements under the law of war.
Trump has said his administration is also considering attacking drug cartels “coming by land”, actions that could raise further legal questions.
A large U.S. military buildup is taking place in the southern Caribbean. In additional to F-35 aircraft in Puerto Rico, there are eight U.S. warships in the region, carrying thousands of sailors and marines, and one nuclear-powered submarine.
President Donald Trump told Israel on Friday to immediately stop bombing Gaza after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a U.S. plan to end the war, but vexing issues like disarmament appeared unresolved.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Israel was preparing for an “immediate implementation” of the first stage of Trump’s Gaza plan for the release of Israeli hostages following Hamas’ response.
Shortly after, Israeli media reported that the country’s political echelon had instructed the military to reduce offensive activity in Gaza.
BOMBING REPORTED AFTER TRUMP ANNOUNCEMENT
The Israeli military chief of staff instructed forces in a statement to advance readiness for the implementation of the first phase of Trump’s plan, without mentioning whether there would be reduction of military activity in Gaza.
Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that controls Gaza, responded to Trump’s 20-point plan after the U.S. president gave the group until Sunday to accept or face grave consequences.
Trump, who has cast himself as the only person capable of achieving peace in Gaza, has invested significant political capital in efforts to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and left U.S. ally Israel increasingly isolated on the world stage.
Trump said he believed Hamas had showed it was “ready for a lasting PEACE” and he put the onus on Netanyahu’s government.
“Israel must immediately stop the bombing of Gaza, so that we can get the Hostages out safely and quickly!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.”We are already in discussions on details to be worked out. This is not about Gaza alone, this is about long sought PEACE in the Middle East.”
Netanyahu’s office said Israel “will continue to work in full cooperation with the President and his team to end the war in accordance with the principles set out by Israel, which align with President Trump’s vision.”
Residents said Israeli tanks bombarded Talateeni Street, a major artery in the heart of Gaza City, after Trump’s message to Israel to stop.
Witnesses said Israeli military planes also intensified bombing in Gaza City in the hour after Hamas issued its statement, hitting several houses in the Remal neighborhood.
There were strikes on Khan Younis but no reports of casualties, residents said.
PRESSURE ON NETANYAHU
Before Israel’s latest announcements, families of those being held by Hamas in Gaza called on Netanyahu “to immediately order negotiations for the return of all hostages.”
Domestically, the prime minister is caught between growing pressure to end the war — from hostage families and a war-weary public — and demands from hardline members of his far-right coalition who insist there must be no let-up in Israel’s campaign in Gaza.
Displaced Palestinians fleeing northern Gaza due to an Israeli military operation in the central Gaza Strip, October 1, 2025. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa Purchase Licensing Rights
Israel began its offensive in Gaza after the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel in which some 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken as hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies. Israel says 48 hostages remain, 20 of whom are alive.
Israel’s military campaign has killed more than 66,000 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to Gaza health authorities. Its assault has destroyed much of the strip while aid restrictions have triggered a famine in parts of Gaza, with conditions dire across the enclave.
A U.N. Commission of Inquiry and multiple human rights experts have concluded that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza. Netanyahu’s government says it has acted in self-defense.
Hamas, in a copy of its response seen by Reuters, did not say whether it would agree to disarm and demilitarize Gaza — something Israel and the U.S. want but Hamas has rejected before.
It also did not agree to an Israeli withdrawal in stages, as opposed to the immediate, full withdrawal Hamas demands.
A senior Hamas official told Al Jazeera that the group would not disarm before Israel’s occupation of the enclave ends, comments that underscored the gap between the parties.
Qatar has begun coordination with mediator Egypt and the United States to continue talks on Trump’s Gaza plan, the Qatari foreign ministry spokesperson said on X.
Trump’s plan specifies an immediate ceasefire, an exchange of all hostages held by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, a staged Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, the disarmament of Hamas and the introduction of a transitional government led by an international body.
THORNY ISSUES REMAIN
In its response to Trump’s plan, Hamas said it “appreciates the Arab, Islamic, and international efforts, as well as the efforts of U.S. President Donald Trump, calling for an end to the war on the Gaza Strip, the exchange of prisoners, (and) the immediate entry of aid,” among other terms.
It said it was announcing its “approval of releasing all occupation prisoners — both living and remains — according to the exchange formula contained in President Trump’s proposal, with the necessary field conditions for implementing the exchange.”
But Hamas added: “In this context, the movement affirms its readiness to immediately enter, through the mediators, into negotiations to discuss the details.”
The group said it was ready “to hand over the administration of the Gaza Strip to a Palestinian body of independents (technocrats) based on Palestinian national consensus and supported by Arab and Islamic backing.”
Hamas did not make clear whether it would agree to Trump’s proposal that it be barred from exercising political power in Gaza. But the group said it should be “included and will contribute” to any Palestinian national discussion on Gaza’s future.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration froze $2.1 billion in Chicago transit funding on Friday, starving another Democratic city of funds as a bid to end the government shutdown failed again in the Senate.
On the shutdown’s third day, Trump ramped up pressure on Democrats to end the standoff and agree to a Republican plan that would restore government funding. But that failed in a 54-44 Senate vote, short of the chamber’s 60-vote standard, ensuring that the shutdown will last until at least Monday.
The administration has now frozen at least $28 billion in funding for Democratic cities and states, escalating Trump’s campaign to use the extraordinary power of the U.S. government to punish political rivals. Budget director Russ Vought said the Chicago money, earmarked for elevated train lines, had been put on hold to ensure it was not “flowing via race-based contracting.”
Trump has made Chicago, the nation’s third-largest city, a regular rhetorical punching bag and has threatened to send in National Guard troops.
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, a high-profile Trump critic seen as a possible 2028 Democratic presidential candidate, said the funding freeze amounted to hostage-taking.
“It’s attempting to score political points but is instead hurting our economy and the hardworking people who rely on public transit,” he said on social media.
The White House said it was also identifying funds that could be withheld from Portland, Oregon, a left-leaning city that was home to high-profile protests during Trump’s first term.
Trump has also threatened to fire more federal workers, beyond the 300,000 he is forcing out this year, and dozens of agencies have submitted workforce reduction plans, according to a White House source speaking on condition of anonymity.
CONCERN ABOUT ‘BAD-FAITH ENVIRONMENT’
Many Republicans say they are not troubled by Trump’s pressure campaign, even though it undercuts Congress’ constitutional authority over spending matters. In addition to cutting funds to Democratic cities, Trump and his allies have taken to posting social media images with cartoon mustaches and sombreros drawn on his Democratic opponents.
“Is he trying to apply pressure?” House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, told reporters. “He probably is, yeah. And I applaud that.”
But others say the cuts are complicating efforts to reach a deal that would allow the government to reopen. “If you do that, you’re going to create a bad-faith environment here,” said Republican Senator Thom Tillis, who is involved in informal talks to end the impasse. Tillis has opted not to seek re-election next year.
A view of the U.S. Capitol dome, following a partial government shutdown in Washington, D.C., U.S., October 2, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard Purchase Licensing Rights
Trump’s funding freeze so far has targeted transit and green-energy projects, two areas that are championed by Democrats. His administration has also tried to cut counterterrorism funding for Democratic states, which is typically a Republican priority. That has been temporarily blocked in court, and Trump restored $187 million in funding for New York on Friday.
NO SIGN OF SWIFT SOLUTION
In Washington, the Senate rejected both the Republican funding plan and a Democratic alternative and then adjourned until Monday. The House of Representatives will be out of town all next week, which means it would not be available to vote on any compromise that emerges from the Senate.
If the shutdown stretches past Monday, it will become the fourth-longest in U.S. history. The longest shutdown lasted 35 days in 2018-2019, during Trump’s first term in office.
Trump’s pressure campaign did not appear to sway Democrats. Only three voted for the Republican plan, which would extend funding through November 21, the same number who backed it in earlier votes.
Democrats say any funding package must also expand pandemic-era healthcare subsidies due to expire at the end of December, while Republicans say that issue should be dealt with separately. Those subsidies were passed as part of a 2021 Democratic COVID relief package and now help 24 million Americans pay for coverage. Nearly 8 in 10 Americans support keeping them in place, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll.
The standoff has frozen about $1.7 trillion in funds for agency operations, which amounts to roughly one-quarter of annual federal spending. Much of the remainder goes to health and retirement programs and interest payments on the growing $37.5 trillion debt.
SERVICES INTERRUPTED
The shutdown, the 15th since 1981, has suspended scientific research, financial regulation, and a wide range of other activities. Pay has been suspended for roughly 2 million federal workers, though troops, airport security screeners, and others deemed “essential” must still report to work.
Sanae Takaichi came out top in a male-dominated race to lead Japan’s ruling party on Saturday, putting her on course to emulate her hero, former British leader Margaret Thatcher, and become her country’s first female prime minister.
The fiscal dove’s surprise victory may jolt investor confidence in one of the world’s most indebted economies, while her nationalistic positions could stoke friction with powerful neighbour China, political analysts say.
Sanae Takaichi, the newly elected leader of Japan’s ruling party, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), holds a press conference after the LDP presidential election in Tokyo, Japan, October 4, 2025. Conservative Sanae Takaichi hailed a “new era” on October 4 after winning the leadership of Japan’s ruling party, putting her on course to become the country’s first woman prime minister. Yuichi… Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab Read more
She has also raised the possibility of redoing an investment deal with the U.S. that reduced President Donald Trump’s punishing tariffs on Japanese goods. NOISEMAKER WITH NATIONALIST BENT
Having lost a run-off against Shigeru Ishiba to lead the Liberal Democratic Party last year, Takaichi, 64, will now seek approval from parliament to replace him as prime minister.
That is expected as the LDP is the largest party in parliament but it is not assured, as the ruling coalition no longer has a majority in either house after losses in elections over the last year under Ishiba.
Hosting Trump in Japan later this month is expected to be one of Takaichi’s first acts as leader.
“Rather than being happy, I feel like the tough work starts here,” Takaichi said in a speech to her fellow LDP lawmakers after her victory.
A former economic security and interior minister, Takaichi has repeatedly referred to Thatcher as a source of inspiration, citing her strong character and convictions coupled with her “womanly warmth”.
She said she met the conservative Thatcher, a divisive figure in British politics known as “the Iron Lady”, at a symposium shortly before Thatcher’s death in 2013.
A drummer and a fan of heavy metal, Takaichi is no stranger to creating noise herself.
She is a regular visitor to the Yasukuni shrine, which honours Japan’s war dead – including some executed war criminals – and is viewed by some Asian neighbours as a symbol of its past militarism.
Takaichi favours revising Japan’s pacifist postwar constitution to recognise the role of its expanding military. She suggested this year that Japan could form a “quasi-security alliance” with Taiwan, the democratically governed island claimed by China.
Hamas officials were in Egypt on Monday ahead of talks with Israel that the U.S. hopes will lead to a halt in fighting and the freeing of hostages in Gaza.
Israeli negotiators were also due to travel to Egypt’s Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh later in the day for talks about freeing hostages, part of U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan to end the war.
However, Israel’s chief negotiator, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, himself was only expected to join later this week, pending developments in the negotiations, according to three Israeli officials. Spokespeople for Dermer and the prime minister did not immediately comment.
“We will know very quickly whether Hamas is serious or not by how these technical talks go in terms of the logistics,” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” on Sunday.
Trump was optimistic. “I am told that the first phase should be completed this week, and I am asking everyone to MOVE FAST,” he said in a social media post.
The first phase deals with the release of hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. There are 48 remaining hostages in Gaza, 20 of whom are alive.
A Hamas delegation, led by the group’s exiled Gaza chief, Khalil Al-Hayya, landed in Egypt late on Sunday to join representatives of the U.S. and Qatar for talks over the implementation of the most advanced effort yet to halt the conflict.
It was the first visit by Hayya to Egypt since he survived an Israeli strike in Doha, the Qatari capital, last month.
Trump has promoted a 20-point plan aimed at ending the fighting in Gaza, securing the release of remaining hostages, and defining the territory’s future. Israel and Hamas have agreed to parts of the plan.
Hamas on Friday accepted the hostage release and several other elements but sidestepped contentious points, including calls for its disarmament — which it has long rejected.
Trump welcomed Hamas’ response and told Israel to stop bombing Gaza, but its attacks have continued. AVOIDING A PHASED APPROACH
An official briefed on the talks in Egypt said negotiators would focus on hammering out a comprehensive deal before a ceasefire can be implemented.
“This differs from earlier rounds of negotiations which followed a phased approach, where the first phase was agreed and then required more negotiations to reach subsequent phases in the ceasefire,” the official told Reuters.
“These subsequent rounds of negotiations is where things broke down previously and there is a conscious effort among mediators to avoid that approach this time around.” STRIKES CONTINUE
The plan has stirred hopes for peace among Palestinians, but there was no let-up of Israeli attacks on Gaza on Sunday. Planes and tanks pounded areas across the enclave, killing at least 19 people, local health authorities said.
Four of those killed were seeking aid in the south of the strip, and five were killed in an airstrike in Gaza City in the early afternoon, they said.
Ahmed Assad, a displaced Palestinian man in central Gaza, said he had been hopeful when news broke of Trump’s plan, but said nothing had changed on the ground.
“We do not see any change to the situation; on the contrary, we don’t know what action to take, what shall we do? Shall we remain in the streets? Shall we leave?” he asked.
DONALD Trump has warned of a “massive bloodshed” if Hamas fails to agree to a peace deal in the coming days.
Trump warned he will “not tolerate delay” from Hamas – and has urged both sides to move quickly towards a deal or else “all bets will be off”.
Trump has warned of a ‘massive bloodshed’ if Hamas fails to agree to a peace deal in the coming daysCredit: Getty
Trump revealed indirect talks between Israel, Hamas and other mediators from the Arab countries have been “very positive” – and that he expects the first phase of his proposed peace deal should be completed “this week”.
Taking to his Truth Social platform, the US president said: “There have been very positive discussions with Hamas, and Countries from all over the World (Arab, Muslim, and everyone else) this weekend.
“These talks have been very successful and are proceeding rapidly. The technical teams will again meet on Monday, in Egypt, to work through and clarify the final details.
“I am told that the first phase should be completed this week, and I am asking everyone to MOVE FAST.
“Time is of the essence, or massive bloodshed will follow – something that nobody wants to see.”
It comes after Hamas agreed to some parts of the 20-point US peace plan, including releasing hostages and handing over Gaza governance to Palestinian technocrats.
Though it said it was seeking negotiations on other issues.
Negotiators from both sides will now gather at the Egyptian resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressing hope that the hostages could be released within days.
The White House said Trump had also sent two envoys to Egypt – his son-in-law, Jared Kushner and Middle East negotiator Steve Witkoff.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday urged Israel to stop bombing Gaza ahead of the discussions in Egypt.
“You can’t release hostages in the middle of strikes, so the strikes will have to stop,” Rubio told CBS News talk show “Face the Nation”.
“There can’t be a war going on in the middle of it.”
The radical Islamist fanatics seized 251 hostages during their October 7 attack, 47 of whom are still in Gaza.
Of those, the Israeli military says 25 are dead.
Israel, meanwhile, has continued to carry out strikes.
Gaza’s civil defence agency, a rescue force operating under Hamas authority, said Israeli attacks killed at least 20 people across the territory on Sunday, 13 of them in Gaza City.
Trump said a ceasefire and release of hostages will take place “immediately” after Hamas agrees to Israeli forces’ partial withdrawal from Gaza.
He revealed that Tel Aviv agreed to the initial withdrawal line presented to Hamas – and that a peace process will begin as soon as the terror group accepts the proposal.
Hamas has previously rejected a phased Israeli withdrawal, insisting instead on an immediate and full pullout.
Over the weekend, the terror group called for a swift start to a hostage-prisoner exchange with Israel, as negotiators from both sides prepared to meet in Egypt for crucial talks.
However, there is so much that could still go wrong.
Indonesian rescuers search for missing students after school collapse kills 49
Indonesian rescuers searching for missing students after a prayer hall at an Islamic boarding school collapsed last week recovered the bodies of dozens of students over the weekend, bringing the confirmed death toll to 49.
Using heavy excavators equipped with jackhammers, circular saws and sometimes their bare hands, rescue teams diligently removed tons of rubble in an attempt to find the 14 students reportedly still missing. Rescuers found 35 bodies over the weekend alone, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency said.
The structure fell on top of hundreds of students, mostly boys between the ages of 12 and 19, on Sept. 29 at the century-old Al Khoziny school in Sidoarjo on the eastern side of Indonesia’s Java island. Only one student escaped unscathed, authorities said, while 97 were treated for various injuries and released. Six others suffered serious injuries and remained hospitalized Sunday.
Police said two levels were being added to the two-story building without a permit, leading to structural failure. This has triggered widespread anger over illegal construction in Indonesia.
“The construction couldn’t support the load while the concrete was pouring (to build) the third floor because it didn’t meet standards and the whole 800 square meters (8,600 square feet) construction collapsed,” said Mudji Irmawan, a construction expert from Tenth November Institute of Technology.
Irmawan also said students shouldn’t have been allowed inside a building under construction.
Sidoarjo district chief, Subandi, confirmed what the police had announced: The school’s management had not applied for the required permit before starting construction.
“Many buildings, including traditional boarding school extensions, in non-urban areas were built without a permit,” Subandi, who goes by a single name, told The Associated Press on Sunday.
Jensen Huang, the boss of Silicon Valley-based Nvidia, has warned China is “nanoseconds behind” the US in chips
The US has dominated the global technology market for decades. But China wants to change that.
The world’s second largest economy is pouring huge amounts of money into artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics. Crucially, Beijing is also investing heavily to produce the high-end chips that power these cutting-edge technologies.
Last month, Jensen Huang – the boss of Silicon Valley-based AI chip giant Nvidia – warned that China was just “nanoseconds behind” the US in chip development.
So can Beijing match American technology and break its reliance on imported high-end chips?
After DeepSeek
China’s DeepSeek sent shockwaves through the tech world in 2024 when it launched a rival to OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
The announcement by a relatively unknown startup was impressive for a number of reasons, not least because the company said it cost much less to train than leading AI models.
It was said to have been created using far fewer high-end chips than its rivals, and its launch temporarily sank Silicon Valley-based Nvidia’s market value.
And momentum in China’s tech sector has continued. This year, some of the country’s big tech firms have made it clear that they aim to take on Nvidia and become the main advanced chip suppliers for local companies.
In September, Chinese state media said a new chip announced by Alibaba can match the performance of Nvidia’s H20 semiconductors while using less energy. H20s are scaled-down processors made for the Chinese market under US export rules.
Huawei also unveiled what it said were its most powerful chips ever, along with a three-year plan to challenge Nvidia’s dominance of the AI market.
The Chinese tech giant also said it would make its designs and computer programs available to the public in China in an effort to draw firms away from their reliance on US products.
Other Chinese chip developers have also secured major contracts with big businesses in the country. MetaX is supplying advanced chips for the likes of state-owned telecoms operator, China Unicom.
Another hotly-tipped potential challenger to Nvidia is Beijing-based Cambricon Technologies.
Its Shanghai-listed shares have more than doubled in value over the last three months as investors bet that it will benefit from Beijing’s push for Chinese firms to use locally produced high-end chips.
Tencent, which owns the super app WeChat, is another notable tech giant that has heeded the government’s call to use Chinese chips.
There has also been no shortage of state-backed trade shows, promoting Chinese technology companies in a bid to attract investors.
“The competition has undeniably arrived,” a spokesperson for Nvidia told the BBC in response to queries about the recent progress made by Chinese chip firms.
“Customers will choose the best technology stack for running the world’s most popular commercial applications and open-source models. We’ll continue to work to earn the trust and support of mainstream developers everywhere.”
Yet some experts have cautioned that claims made by Chinese chipmakers should be taken with a pinch of salt due to a lack of publicly available data and consistent testing benchmarks.
China’s semiconductors perform similarly to the US in predictive AI but fall short in complex analytics, said computer scientist Jawad Haj-Yahya, who has tested both American and Chinese chips.
“The gap is clear and it is surely shrinking. But I don’t think it’s something they will catch up on in the short-term.”
Where China leads – and lags
On the BG2 technology and business podcast in September, Nvidia’s Jensen Huang highlighted the strengths of China’s tech sector, crediting its hardworking and vast talent pool, intense domestic competition and progress in chipmaking.
“This is a vibrant entrepreneurial, high-tech, modern industry,” he said, urging the US to compete “for its survival”.
His assessment is likely to be welcomed by officials in Beijing.
The country has long vied to become a global leader in tech, partly to reduce its reliance on the West.
For years, China has invested heavily in what President Xi Jinping calls “high-quality development”, which covers industries from renewables to AI.
Even before US President Donald Trump’s return to the White House, China had spent tens of billions of dollars as part of its efforts to transform its vast economy from the “world’s factory” for basic products to a home of cutting-edge industries.
An ongoing tariffs war with Trump’s America has only made that mission more urgent.
Xi has vowed to make his country more self-reliant and not depend on “anyone’s gifts”.
House Speaker Mike Johnson speaks to the media next to US Vice President JD Vance, Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought and Senate Majority Leader John Thune at the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Sep 29, 2025. (Photo: Reuters/Jonathan Ernst)
The Trump administration will begin mass layoffs of federal employees if President Donald Trump determines that negotiations with congressional Democrats to end the partial government shutdown are “absolutely going nowhere”, a senior White House official said on Sunday (Oct 5).
As the shutdown entered its fifth day, White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett told CNN that the administration still hoped for a deal to avert layoffs threatened by budget director Russell Vought.
“President Trump and Russ Vought are lining things up and getting ready to act if they have to, but hoping that they don’t,” Hassett said. “If the president decides that the negotiations are absolutely going nowhere, then there will start to be layoffs.”
Trump described the potential job cuts as “Democrat layoffs”, telling reporters: “Anybody laid off, that’s because of the Democrats.”
NO SIGN OF TALKS
There have been no visible signs of progress since Trump met congressional leaders last week. The shutdown began on Oct 1, the first day of the 2026 fiscal year, after Senate Democrats rejected a short-term funding bill that would have kept agencies open through Nov 21.
“They’ve refused to talk with us,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said on CBS’ Face the Nation, calling for renewed negotiations between Trump and congressional leaders.
Democrats are demanding a permanent extension of tax credits under the Affordable Care Act and assurances that the White House will not cancel spending agreed to in any eventual deal.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he was open to addressing Democrats’ concerns but that they must first agree to reopen the government.
US President Donald Trump shakes hand with Russian President Vladimir Putin, as they meet to negotiate for an end to the war in Ukraine, at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, US, August 15, 2025. (Photo: Reuters/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo)
US President Donald Trump on Sunday (Oct 5) said Russian President Vladimir Putin’s offer to voluntarily maintain limits on deployed strategic nuclear weapons “sounds like a good idea”.
Putin last month proposed keeping voluntary caps on the size of the world’s two largest nuclear arsenals, as set by the 2010 New START treaty, if Washington agreed to do the same. The pact is due to expire in February.
“Sounds like a good idea to me,” Trump told reporters as he departed the White House when asked about Putin’s proposal.
RUSSIA AWAITING RESPONSE
Russia’s UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said last week that Moscow was still waiting for a formal response from Washington to Putin’s offer to maintain the voluntary limits on deployed strategic weapons once the treaty lapses.
Any new understanding would mark a rare moment of cooperation amid mounting strains between the two countries since Trump and Putin met in Alaska in mid-August, as reports surfaced of Russian drones straying into NATO airspace.
PUTIN WARNS AGAINST MISSILE SUPPLIES
In a video released Sunday, Putin warned that any US decision to supply long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine for deep strikes inside Russia would “destroy” relations between Moscow and Washington.
US Vice President JD Vance said last month that the US was considering Kyiv’s request for such missiles, but no final decision had been made.
“This will lead to the destruction of our relations, or at least the positive trends that have emerged,” Putin said in remarks carried by Russian state television.
One US official and three other sources told Reuters that the Trump administration’s desire to send Tomahawks to Ukraine may not be viable because most are already allocated for naval use.
Trump, who has expressed frustration that Putin has not moved to end the war in Ukraine, was not asked on Sunday about possible missile deliveries.
Fresh Israeli strikes were reported in Gaza as negotiators from Israel, the US and Hamas head to Egypt for talks. Meanwhile, Syria is holding its first elections since the ouster of Bashar Assad.
Many Palestinians have already been displaced multiple times during Israel’s campaign in the Gaza StripImage: Eyad Baba/AFP/Getty Images
US President Donald Trump has praised discussions between Hamas negotiators and mediating countries ahead of talks in Egypt on Monday.
The meetings in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh will focus on Trump’s 20-point peace plan for Gaza, which he unveiled last week alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Trump suggested the first phase of the plan could be completed in the coming week.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump said, “There have been very positive discussions with Hamas, and Countries from all over the World (Arab, Muslim, and everyone else) this weekend, to release the Hostages, end the War in Gaza but, more importantly, finally have long sought PEACE in the Middle East.”
The US president said the talks have been “very successful” and were “proceeding rapidly.”
He said the “technical teams” meeting in Egypt on Monday would “work through and clarify the final details” of his peace plan.
“I am told that the first phase should be completed this week, and I am asking everyone to MOVE FAST,” Trump said, adding that he would “continue to monitor this Centuries old ‘conflict.'”
Trump signed off with another all caps warning seemingly to Hamas. “TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE OR, MASSIVE BLOODSHED WILL FOLLOW — SOMETHING THAT NOBODY WANTS TO SEE!”
TWO teenage girls including a 13-year-old have been found dead in a suspected subway-surfing tragedy in New York.
The young pair were found on top of a train at Marcy Avenue-Broadway station in Brooklyn in the early hours of Saturday.
TRAIN TRAGEDY Two teenage girls killed in horror ‘subway surfing’ stunt in New York as bodies found on train roof
Local cops rushed to the station in Williamsburg at 3:10am, before pronouncing the two girls dead at the scene.
The subway-surfing trend involves passengers climbing on top of trains and riding on them, rather than getting inside the carriages.
The latest deaths bring the total number of subway-surfing victims this year to five, according to police.
Authorities confirmed the two girls were found on top of the Brooklyn-bound J train.
One of the girls was 13 years old, while the other is believed to be between the ages of 13 and 18.
NYC Transit President Demetrius Crichlow said: “It’s heartbreaking that two young girls are gone because they somehow thought riding outside a subway train was an acceptable game.
“Parents, teachers, and friends need to be clear with loved ones: getting on top of a subway car isn’t ‘surfing’— it’s suicide.”
He continued: “I’m thinking of both the grieving families, and transit workers who discovered these children, all of whom have been horribly shaken by this tragedy.”
Officers were also seen speaking to three teen boys inside the station, before driving two of the them away in a car.
Witnesses also reported seeing cops carrying plastic bags and a skateboard out of the station, but it is unclear if any of the items belonged to the victims.
The tragic girls were with a group of some 15 teens running around inside the train before they were found dead on the roof, witnesses told cops.
In 2024, six people died after subway surfing, while in 2023 five deaths related to the trend were reported.
In July this year, a 15-year-old boy was killed when he fell off a southbound 7 train around 2:45 a.m. as it pulled into the Queensboro Plaza station.
The tragic death made Carlos Oliver, from the Bronx, the latest suspected victim of the deadly trend.
And on March 14, 12-year-old Gustavo Guaman-Quizhpilema from Queens was critically injured while involved in another example of subway-surfing.
The young boy was riding on top of a 7 train at the 111th Street station in Corona around 8:15 a.m.
He tragically died four days after plunging from the train.
Customers with outstanding tickets have been left in the dark
AMERICAN Airlines has abruptly canceled flights as it confirms it is scrapping an entire route.
The airline says is has made the “difficult decision” as it works to improve its services.
After four years, the carrier is scrapping a domestic route between to US cities with refunds being offered to customers.
American Airlines will no longer run flights between Dallas, Texas, and Eugene, Oregon, it confirmed.
“As part of a continuous evaluation of our network, American has made the difficult decision to discontinue service between Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) and Eugene, Oregon (EUG),” the airline told The Street.
All airlines continually assess their flight schedules and readjust them based on customer demand and other factors.
The route was first launched in 2021 but had already been scaled back earlier this year.
American Airlines put the route on a seasonal schedule, only running it during peak travel times.
This ended on August 5, 2025, and there will be no more flights on this route, seasonal or not.
The move has left some customers who have already booked flights for next year in the dark.
“We’re proactively reaching out to impacted customers and apologize for any inconvenience,” a company spokesperson said.
Affected customers will be offered either a full refund or an adjusted itinerary.
American will still be running flights to Eugene, but not from Dallas.
Instead, passengers will have to travel from Phoenix to Eugene.
It is not the only change that American has rolled out.
The carrier has also announced that there will be a baggage change affecting all passengers from Monday.
The airline will no longer be assessing carry-on baggage at the gate in the same way, with more customers likely being asked to check their oversized carry-on baggage before security.
Meanwhile, rival Delta is modernizing its planes and Southwest Airlines has scrapped its open-seating policy.
Plus, major airlines have grouped together to fight new rules regarding a ‘hidden fees’ law saving passengers from surcharges.
Three people are in a life-threatening condition, including children
Gunfire broke out near Bibb Street late on Saturday night, cops saidCredit: Google Maps
AT LEAST two people have died and 12 have been injured in a horrific shooting in Alabama.
Gunfire broke out in downtown Montgomery overnight on Saturday with emergency services still on scene at 1:30 am this morning.
Cops declared a “mass casualty incident” with a total of 14 people suffering from gunshot wounds.
An adult woman is among those killed, Montgomery Police Department Lt. Tina McGriff said.
“In total, three victims remain in life-threatening condition, and nine sustained non-life threatening injuries,” she added.
At least two of the injured are children.
It is believed that two parties started shooting at each other in the busy tourist area near the Rosa Parks Museum around 11:30pm.
Crowds had gathered in the tourist area following the end of the Tuskegee University vs Morehouse College football game.
The city had also set up attractions for those going to the game including a Ferris wheel.
A police cordon remains in place at the scene with the public urged to stay away.
An investigation into what happened is ongoing as detectives ask anyone with information to come forward.
At the scene, Montgomery Police Chief Jim Graboys told the press that officers were already interviewing “a number of people” in relation to the incident.
He slammed it as a “senseless act of violence” and vowedc to “use every resource” to catch those responsible.
“We will stay up all night, we will do whatever we need to do and use every resource to charge and hold the people responsible who were involved in this offence,” the Police Chief said.
“We are using every technological resource we have, we are using every detective we have and every bit of evidence that we are collecting now to sort out what has been a tragic and chaotic event that took place earlier tonight.
“My heart is weeping for the families and I am incredibly angry because this was not a typical mass shooting that people read about.
“This was two parties that were involved that were shooting at each other in a crowd.
“The people who did what they did, who are responsible for opening fire on each other like that, did not care about the people around them when they did it.
“Now we have 14 people wounded shot, two of them deceased. We will not rest until we get you.”
In eastern Nepal, over 52 fatalities have been reported due to landslides and floods triggered by heavy rainfall. The hardest-hit area is Ilam district, where 37 deaths occurred.
Nepalese army personnel transport survivors after a flood in Jhapa district east of Nepal, Sunday, Oct. 5, 2025. (Nepal Army via AP)
At least 52 people have been killed in landslides, floods, and rain-related incidents across eastern Nepal in the past 24 hours, officials said Sunday. Most deaths occurred in Koshi Province, where torrential rainfall triggered widespread destruction, blocked roads, and swept away homes.
Kalidas Dhaubaji, spokesperson for the Armed Police Force (APF), said majority of the deaths — from Saturday morning 10 am till Sunday 10 am — were from the worst hit Koshi province that saw floods, landslides, lightning and road accidents. The toll at 37 in this province. The monsoon remained active across five of Nepal’s seven provinces – Koshi, Madhes, Bagmati, Gandaki, and Lumbini. Rivers Overflow, Red Alerts Issued
Heavy downpours since Friday pushed eight major rivers above danger levels, according to the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, as quoted by local media. Authorities issued red alerts for the Bagmati and East Rapti river basins.
Domestic flights from Kathmandu resumed on Sunday morning after improved weather conditions. Flights to several provinces had been grounded since Saturday due to poor visibility.
Rescue and Relief Efforts Underway
Rescue teams from the Nepal Army, Nepal Police, and APF were deployed across affected areas. Four people, including a pregnant woman, were airlifted from Ilam district to a hospital in Dharan for treatment.
The government announced immediate relief of NPR 2,00,000 to the families of those who died and promised free medical treatment for the injured.
Apart from the monetary compensation for the next of kin of the deceased, the injured will be provided with free treatment, a statement by the National Disaster and Risk Reduction Management Authority (NDRRMA) said. PM Modi Offers India’s Assistance
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed grief over the loss of lives and offered support to Nepal.
“The loss of lives and damage caused by heavy rains in Nepal is distressing. India stands with the people and government of Nepal in this difficult time,” Modi posted on X.
“As a friendly neighbour and first responder, India remains committed to providing any assistance required,” he added. Widespread Damage and Trekkers Missing
According to the NDRRMA, eight people died each in Deumai and Maijogmai municipalities, six each in Ilam and Sandakpur, five in Suryodaya, and several others across Panchthar, Udayapur, and Khotang districts.
At least four people were swept away by the swollen river in Langtang Conservation Area of Rasuwa district, and one each remained missing due to floods in Ilam, Bara and Kathmandu.
Those who were swept away in Langtang were part of a group of 16, who were on a trekking expedition in that area, Dhaubaji said.
Landslides also blocked trekking routes in the Everest region, prompting authorities to urge tourists to use alternative trails.
Rakesh Ehagaban, 50, stepped outside to check the situation after the accused shot a female companion outside the motel following an argument.
The shooter was also reportedly injured in an encounter with the police. (Unsplash/Representational image).
An Indian-origin motel manager in Pittsburgh, was reportedly shot dead after he stepped outside to check on an argument that was going on in the parking lot of a Robinson Township motel. Fifty-year-old Rakesh Ehagaban was shot in the head at point-blank range and died at the scene on Friday.
The accused has been identified as 37-year-old Stanley Eugene West and has been charged with criminal homicide, attempted homicide, and recklessly endangering another person.
Police said West fired at Ehagaban when he asked, “Are you alright, bud?” Officers also said that surveillance footage showed West walking towards him and, as he got within a feet of Ehagaban, he raised his gun and shot him in the head.
Meanwhile, West was also reportedly injured in an encounter with the police on Friday. As the police tracked and approached his vehicle, officers said the suspect opened fire and hit a Pittsburgh detective in the leg. The officers then returned fire, hitting West several times, police told CBS News.
Notably, Ehagaban stepped outside to check the situation after West shot a female companion outside the motel following an argument. When the motel manager arrived, the suspect shot him in the head and killed him, Allegheny County Superintendent Christopher Kearns said.
The woman was rushed to the hospital and was listed in critical condition as per the last update.
What happened during the shooting?
Police said that West had been staying at the motel for nearly two weeks with the woman as well as a child. He also listed a residence on Page Street in Pittsburgh’s North Side.
Officers said that the woman was sitting in a black sedan with the child when the shooter approached the driver’s side door and shot at the sedan, shattering the window.
However, she was still able to drive the car to Dick Kernick Tire & Auto Service Centre at about 1 pm (local time) before the police found her.
Police said that the child, who was in the back seat, was not injured in the incident. The attack on the woman was what led Ehagaban to step outside the motel and confront West.
After the shooting, the suspect “nonchalantly walks to the U-Haul and drives away,” the complaint said.
In a statement, Martin Devine, Acting Chief of the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police, said, “The Pittsburgh Bureau of Police detective injured by gunfire during the critical incident in East Hills on Friday is resting comfortably at home with his family and with the full support of his fellow officers and the Bureau. The family asks for privacy at this time.”
Elon Musk has called for his social media followers to boycott streaming giant Netflix (Picture: AFP)
Elon Musk has called on his X followers to cancel their Netflix subscriptions over a Transformers cartoon.
Earlier this week, the Tesla boss and X owner became the world’s first ever person to reach a net worth of more than $500 billion (£372.5billion).
The 54-year-old saw the value of his businesses rise to £370.9 billion, the Forbes’ billionaires index reported.
This further cemented his status as the world’s richest person, with most of his wealth tied closely to his 12% stake in Tesla.
Now, however, the 54-year-old Tesla and SpaceX business owner has taken aim at a new Netflix cartoon.
Taking to social media, Musk claimed that Transformers Earthspeak is ‘pushing a woke gender identity propaganda’.
Musk responded to a clip posted by the account ‘Libs of TikTok’ showing a robot speaking to a non-binary child about people who ‘aren’t female or male’.
The robot replies: ‘What a wonderful word for a wonderful experience.’
In another clip, the robot – named Nightshade – can be seen being referred to as ‘they/them’ by the child and saying: ‘He/she. just doesn’t fit who I am.’
In addition, Optimus Prime – the main Transformers character – apologises for referring to another character by their wrong pronouns.
Commenting on X, Musk re-shared a post by Father Ted creator Graham Linehan, who said he had cancelled his Netflix account, writing ‘Cancel Netflix’.
This comes after Lineham arrived at court last month after being accused of harassing a transgender woman just days after his arrest over social media posts, relating to a separate incident.
The 57-year-old comedy writer, behind major shows such as Father Ted and IT Crowd, was met by police after he arrived at Heathrow where he was arrested on ‘suspicion of inciting violence’ for multiple posts made on X earlier this year taking aim at the transgender community.
Pakistan has proposed to the US the development of a civilian port in Pasni, Balochistan, to enhance bilateral relations amidst shifting dynamics.
US President Donald Trump during a meeting with Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir at the White House, in Washington.
Pakistan has reportedly approached US President Donald Trump with an offer to build and run a port on the Arabian Sea as it seeks to warm up to America amid a reset in ties. The proposed civilian port in Pasni, a town in Balochistan’s Gwadar district, is strategically close to the Chabahar port, being developed by India in Iran.
Interestingly, Pasni is located just 100 km from Gwadar, where China operates the port facility.
According to the Financial Times, the advisers to Pakistani army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir have approached top US officials with the offer to transform the fishing town of Pasni into a hub for transporting Pakistan’s critical minerals, including copper and antimony, essential for batteries, fire-retardant materials, and missile production. The development of the deep-water port is expected to cost $1.2 billion.
DEEP-WATER PORT IN PASNI
As per the blueprint, the US would build and operate a terminal at the port, giving it access to Pakistan’s critical minerals in Pasni. The town in the restive Balochistan province borders Afghanistan and Iran.
The development comes days after Pakistan army chief Asim Munir and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif held a closed-door meeting with Trump at the White House in September.
In the meeting, Sharif sought investment from American companies in the mining sector. Later, the White House shared a photograph showing Munir handing over a wooden box filled with rare earth minerals to Donald Trump in the Oval Office.
Previously, Pakistan offered the US its vast untapped oil, gas, and mineral resources, mostly in the troubled Balochistan region.
However, it is not known if Munir discussed the port deal offer with Trump.
The blueprint, however, rules out the use of the port for US military purposes or setting up of a military base. Is Pakistan playing both China and US?
Pakistan’s “sweet offer” to the US comes as its “all-weather” ally China grows increasingly frustrated with Islamabad.
According to Pakistan’s Planning Commission, only 32 of the 95 projects announced under CPEC have been completed to date despite billions pouring in from Beijing.
Critics argue that Islamabad has overpromised and under-delivered, allowing corruption, bureaucratic red tape, and insurgency to hollow out what was once marketed as a “game-changer.”
Pakistan is facing mounting security failures, an economic crisis that has gutted investor confidence, and growing frustration in Beijing over Islamabad’s inability to protect Chinese nationals.
At least 10 people were killed in anti-government protests in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Similar clashes last year also turned deadly.
Protesters in Pakistan-ruled Kashmir were opposing perks and privileges enjoyed by government functionaries [FILE: October 2, 2025]Image: picture alliance / ASSOCIATED PRESSA civil rights alliance on Saturday called off protests in Pakistan-administered Kashmir after reaching a deal with Pakistani authorities.
The announcement brings an end to days of violent protests that left at least 10 people dead.
Under the deal, the regional government led by Prime Minister Chaudhry Anwarul Haq agreed to accept the alliance’s demands, including cheaper wheat and reduced electricity tariffs.
It also pledged to improve health, education, and other public sectors, as well as to reduce the size of the Cabinet.
Shaukat Nawaz Mir, the alliance’s leader, called on the protesters to disperse in Muzaffarabad, the region’s capital.
“I am grateful to the Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and the whole of Pakistan for understanding our problems and agreeing to resolve them,” he told reporters.
What happened in Pakistan-administered Kashmir?
On Monday, thousands of protesters from nearby towns first converged on Muzaffarabad.
The protests were led by Awami Action Committee (AAC), a civil rights organization formed to fight for local rights.
Demonstrators were demanding an end to lucrative benefits for the political class, such as free electricity and expensive cars.
The protests triggered clashes with security forces. Seven civilians and three police officers were killed, according to Khawaja Amiruddin, a local police officer.
The breakthrough came two days after Sharif had sent a high-level delegation to Muzaffarabad for talks with AAC leaders.
“Public interest and peace are our priorities, and we will continue to serve Azad Kashmir,” Sharif said in a statement.
MEGHAN Markle surprised fans as she stepped out at Paris Fashion Week during her solo Europe trip.
The Duchess of Sussex, 44, jetted away from her Montecito haven without Prince Harry to support a friend at the glitzy event.
The Duchess paired wide-leg trousers with a blazer from the collection for the show on SaturdayCredit: Splash
Meg made the appearance to honour fashion designer Pierpaolo Piccioli at Paris Fashion Week.
This also marks the first time the Duchess has ever appeared at the prestigious affair.
Although she used to attend New York and Toronto Fashion Weeks when she was an actress on hit legal drama Suits.
Industry giant Piccioli left Valentino in 2024 after 25 years, having been sole creative director since 2016.
A spokesman for the Duchess said: “Meghan, Duchess of Sussex attended the Balenciaga show in Paris on Saturday night in support of Pierpaolo Piccioli, who recently assumed the role of creative director for the house.
“This marks her first time back to the shows in over a decade.
“Over the years, the duchess has worn a number of designs by Pierpaolo.
“They have worked closely together collaborating on design for key moments on the world stage.
“She has long admired his craftsmanship and modern elegance, and tonight was no different.
“This evening reflects the culmination of many years of artistry and friendship, reflected in her support for his new creative chapter at Balenciaga.”
Meghan, who showed off her arrival in Paris with an Instagram story, donned an all-white outfit.
She paired wide-leg trousers with a blazer from the collection for the show on Saturday.
The Duchess has worn Valentino to several events over the years.
In April 2022, Meghan opened the Invictus Games wearing a white suit from the designer, with matching Aquazzura shoes and Valentino bag.
And in February 2019 she wore a red Valentino dress when she arrived with Harry for a three-day tour of Morocco.
Meghan’s Paris Fashion Week appearance comes just days after it was reported her dad was trapped in his 19th floor apartment in the Philippines.
His daughter Samantha made the shocking claim after the country was rocked by a deadly earthquake.
Thomas Markle, 81, has since revealed he is “fine” and urged people not to worry after fears swept social media that he was unable to leave his home.
“Please don’t worry about me, everything is okay,” he said – before thanking “everyone” for their concern.
The reassurance came after Meghan’s half-sister Samantha Markle sparked alarm by posting online that their father was unable to walk and had been left stranded following the 6.9-magnitude quake.
Samantha had written on X: “My father is stuck on the 19th floor of a building in the Philippines after a massive earthquake and he can’t walk and he is trapped.”
She gave no details about why Thomas was supposedly trapped – or whether the earthquake inflicted any damage to his apartment.
Thomas has been living in an apartment in the building on Cebu with his son Thomas Markle Jnr, 58, in recent months.
Police in Georgia have clashed with anti-government protesters trying to storm the presidential palace in the capital, Tbilisi.
Security forces used water cannons and pepper spray to disperse demonstrators.
The Caucasus country has been in crisis since the ruling Georgian Dream party claimed victory in last year’s parliamentary election, which the pro-European Union opposition says was stolen. Since then the government has paused talks on joining the EU.
The protest took place on the same day as local elections, which the opposition is largely boycotting following a government crackdown. One organiser had earlier called for leaders of the Georgian Dream party to be arrested.
Waving Georgian and EU flags, tens of thousands of protesters marched in central Tbilisi on Saturday.
EPA
One of the organisers, opera singer Paata Burchuladze, read out a declaration urging the employees of the ministry of internal affairs to obey the will of the people and to immediately arrest six senior figures from the Georgian Dream party.
Demonstrators then marched on the presidential palace and tried to enter the compound, prompting riot police to fire pepper spray.
The demonstration follows a crackdown on activists, independent media and political opposition in recent months, with most of the leaders of the pro-Western opposition now behind bars.
Twenty-one-year-old Ia and her friends came to the Saturday rally prepared, dressed all in black, wearing helmets and gas masks.
“If we wear something colourful it will be easier to identify us, and if they identify us we are going to jail,” she said, referring to the AI surveillance cameras installed on the main Rustaveli Avenue – the focal point for the ongoing protests.
Hundreds of protesters have been penalised with massive 5,000 Georgian lari ($1,835; £1,362) fines for what the authorities consider an illegal act of “blocking the streets”.
“I want Georgian Dream to go. I want my country back. I want to be able to live peacefully and for my friends who are in jail, illegally imprisoned, to be free.”
Ia sarcastically referred to the ruling party as “Russian Dream”. This sentiment is shared by many of the anti-government protesters.
In the regions the Georgian Dream party enjoys support with its message that it can keep the peace, while in urban centres many Georgians believe their government is acting in Russia’s interests.
The protest took place on the day of the municipal elections boycotted by most mainstream opposition parties, whose leaders are in jail.
Japan’s ruling conservative party has elected Sanae Takaichi as its new leader, positioning the 64-year-old to be Japan’s first female prime minister.
Takaichi is among the more conservative candidates leaning to the ruling party’s right. A former government minister, TV host and avid heavy metal drummer, she is one of the best known figures in Japanese politics – and a controversial one at that.
She faces many challenges, including contending with a sluggish economy and households struggling with relentless inflation and stagnant wages.
She will also have to navigate a rocky US-Japan relationship and see through a tariff deal with the Trump administration agreed by the previous government.
If confirmed as prime minister, one of Takaichi’s key challenges will be uniting the party after a turbulent few years which saw it rocked by scandals and internal conflicts.
Last month, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, whose term lasted just over a year, announced he would step down after a series of election defeats that saw the Liberal Democratic Party’s (LDP) governing coalition lose its majority in both chambers of parliament.
Prof Jeff Kingston, director of Asian Studies at Temple University in Tokyo, told the BBC that Takaichi was unlikely to have “much success at healing the internal party rift”.
Takaichi belongs to the “hardline” faction of the LDP, which believed that “the reason the LDP support has imploded is because it lost touch with its right-wing DNA”, he added.
“I think she’s in a good position to regain the right wing voters, but at the expense of wider popular appeal, if they go into a national election.”
Takaichi has been a long-time admirer of Britain’s first female prime minister, Margaret Thatcher. She is now ever closer to fulfilling her Iron Lady ambition.
But many women voters don’t see her as an advocate for progress.
“She calls herself Japan’s Margaret Thatcher. In terms of fiscal discipline, she’s anything but Thatcher,” Prof Kingston said.
“But like Thatcher she’s not much of a healer. I don’t think she’s done much to empower women.”
Takaichi is a staunch conservative who’s long opposed legislation allowing women to keep their maiden names after marriage, saying it is against tradition. She is also against same sex marriage.
A protégé of the late former leader Shinzo Abe, Takaichi has vowed to bring back his economic vision, known as Abenomics – which involves high fiscal spending and cheap borrowing.
The LDP veteran is hawkish on security and aims to revise Japan’s pacifist constitution.
U.S. Border Patrol personnel shot an armed woman in Chicago on Saturday, the Department of Homeland Security said, as scores of protesters faced off against federal immigration agents on the city’s southwest side.
No law enforcement officers were seriously injured in the incident in which a group that included the woman rammed cars into vehicles used by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a DHS spokesperson said in a statement. The woman, a U.S. citizen who was not identified, drove herself to the hospital, according to the statement.
No additional information was immediately available about the woman’s condition.ICE agents fired pepper spray and loaded rubber bullets as part of heated exchanges with protesters on Saturday.
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said in a post on X that she was sending additional “special operations” to control the scene in Chicago’s Brighton Park neighborhood. The woman was armed with a semi-automatic gun, assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, a Democrat, said on Saturday that he was given an ultimatum by Republican President Donald Trump to deploy the state’s National Guard.
Tear gas rises during a standoff with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and federal officers in the Little Village neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois, U.S., October 4, 2025. REUTERS/Jim Vondruska TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY Purchase Licensing Rights
“It is absolutely outrageous and unAmerican to demand a Governor send military troops within our own borders and against our will,” Pritzker said in a statement.
Trump authorized 300 National Guard troops to protect federal officers and assets, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told Reuters in a statement.
People in the Chicago area have staged repeated protests condemning the stepped-up federal presence. On Friday, police scuffled with hundreds of protesters outside an ICE facility in the Chicago suburb of Broadview.
On multiple occasions, demonstrators sitting on the ground attempting to block ICE vehicles from carrying detainees into the facility have been repelled by heavily armed ICE agents using physical force, chemical munitions, and rubber bullets, evoking combat scenes.
Protesters have decried what they call similar heavy-handed policing in other Democratic-run cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and Portland, Oregon. A federal judge on Saturday temporarily blocked Trump from deploying 200 Oregon National Guard troops to Portland.
A federal judge in Oregon temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s administration from deploying the National Guard in Portland, ruling Saturday in a lawsuit brought by the state and city.
U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut issued the order pending further arguments in the suit. She said the relatively small protests the city has seen did not justify the use of federalized forces and allowing the deployment could harm Oregon’s state sovereignty.
“This country has a longstanding and foundational tradition of resistance to government overreach, especially in the form of military intrusion into civil affairs,” Immergut wrote. She later continued, “This historical tradition boils down to a simple proposition: this is a nation of Constitutional law, not martial law.”
State and city officials sued to stop the deployment last week, one day after the Trump administration announced that 200 Oregon National Guard troops would be federalized to protect federal buildings. The president called the city “war-ravaged.”
Oregon officials said that characterization was ludicrous. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in the city has been the site of nightly protests that typically drew a couple dozen people in recent weeks before the deployment was announced.
Judge: The federal response didn’t match the facts
Generally speaking the president is allowed “a great level of deference” to federalize National Guard troops in situations where regular law enforcement forces are not able to execute the laws of the United States, the judge said, but that has not been the case in Portland.
Plaintiffs were able to show that the demonstrations at the immigration building were not significantly violent or disruptive ahead of the president’s order, the judge wrote, and “overall, the protests were small and uneventful.”
“The President’s determination was simply untethered to the facts,” Immergut wrote.
Demonstrators standoff against Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents outside an ICE facility on Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)
White House suggests an appeal is coming
Following the ruling, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said that “President Trump exercised his lawful authority to protect federal assets and personnel in Portland following violent riots and attacks on law enforcement — we expect to be vindicated by a higher court.”
Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield called the ruling “a healthy check on the president.”
“It reaffirms what we already knew: Portland is not the president’s war-torn fantasy. Our city is not ravaged, and there is no rebellion,” Rayfield said in a statement. He added: “Members of the Oregon National Guard are not a tool for him to use in his political theater.”
Trump has deployed or threatened to deploy troops in several U.S. cities, particularly ones led by Democrats, including Los Angeles, Washington, Chicago and Memphis. Speaking Tuesday to U.S. military leaders in Virginia, he proposed using cities as training grounds for the armed forces.
Last month a federal judge ruled that the president’s deployment of some 4,700 National Guard soldiers and Marines in Los Angeles this year was illegal, but he allowed the 300 who remain in the city to stay as long as they do not enforce civilian laws. The Trump administration appealed, and an appellate panel has put the lower court’s block on hold while it moves forward.
Portland protests were small, but grew after deployment was announced
The Portland protests have been limited to a one-block area in a city that covers about 145 square miles (375 square km) and has about 636,000 residents.
They grew somewhat following the Sept. 28 announcement of the guard deployment. The Portland Police Bureau, which has said it does not participate in immigration enforcement and only intervenes in the protests if there is vandalism or criminal activity, arrested two people on assault charges. A peaceful march earlier that day drew thousands to downtown and saw no arrests, police said.
1 of 10 | Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he hopes to announce the release of all hostages from Gaza “in the coming days” as indirect talks with Hamas continue in Egypt on Monday on a new U.S. plan to end the war.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he hopes to announce the release of all hostages from Gaza “in the coming days,” as Israel and Hamas prepare for indirect talks in Egypt on Monday on a new U.S. plan to end the war.
In a brief statement late Saturday, Netanyahu said he has sent a delegation to Egypt “to finalize technical details,” adding that “our goal is to contain these negotiations to a time frame of a few days.”
But Netanyahu signaled there would not be a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, something Hamas has long demanded. He said Israel’s military will continue to hold territories it controls in Gaza, and that Hamas will be disarmed in the plan’s second phase, diplomatically “or through a military path by us.”
The prime minister spoke after Hamas said it has accepted some elements of the U.S. plan. President Donald Trump welcomed the militant group’s statement but on Saturday warned that “Hamas must move quickly, or else all bets will be off.”
Trump later said the ceasefire would begin immediately once Hamas confirms the “initial withdrawal line” in Gaza. A map with his social media post appeared to show much of Gaza still open to Israeli forces.
Trump has also ordered Israel to stop bombing Gaza. Some in Gaza City reported a notable easing of Israeli strikes Saturday, though hospital officials said at least 22 people were killed, including women and children.
Israel’s army said leaders instructed it to prepare for the U.S. plan’s first phase. Israel has moved to a defensive-only position in Gaza and will not actively strike, said an official who was not authorized to speak to the media on the record.
Still, an Israeli strike on Gaza City’s Tuffah neighborhood killed at least 17 and injured 25 others, said Al-Ahli hospital director Fadel Naim. “The strikes are still ongoing,” Naim said. Israel’s military said it struck a Hamas member and “regrets any harm caused to uninvolved civilians.”
Shifa Hospital director Mohamed Abu Selmiyah earlier Saturday said Israeli strikes killed five Palestinians across Gaza City.
Momentum ahead of war’s anniversary
Trump appears determined to deliver on pledges to end the war and return all hostages ahead of Tuesday’s second anniversary of the Hamas attack that sparked it on Oct. 7, 2023. His proposal has widespread international support. On Friday, Netanyahu’s office said Israel was committed to ending the war.
Monday’s indirect talks are meant to prepare the way for the release of hostages from Gaza and Palestinians from Israeli detention, mediator Egypt said.
A senior Egyptian official said U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff will travel to Egypt to head the U.S. negotiating team. The talks also will discuss maps showing the expected withdrawal of Israeli forces from certain areas in Gaza, said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to brief the media.
The official also said Arab mediators are preparing for a comprehensive dialogue among Palestinians aimed at unifying their position toward Gaza’s future. The Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Gaza’s second most powerful militant group, said it accepted Hamas’ response after rejecting the plan days earlier.
Progress, but uncertainty ahead
Under the plan, Hamas would release the remaining 48 hostages — around 20 of them believed to be alive — within three days. It would give up power and disarm.
In return, Israel would halt its offensive and withdraw from much of Gaza, release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and allow an influx of humanitarian aid and eventual reconstruction.
Hamas said it was willing to release the hostages and hand over power to other Palestinians, but that other aspects of the plan require further consultations among Palestinians. It didn’t address the issue of Hamas demilitarizing.
Amir Avivi, a retired Israeli general and chairman of Israel’s Defense and Security Forum, said while Israel can afford to stop firing for a few days in Gaza so the hostages can be released, it will resume its offensive if Hamas doesn’t lay down its arms.
Others said that Hamas’ position fundamentally remains unchanged. Its rhetoric “simply repackages old demands in softer language,” said Oded Ailam, a researcher at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs.
Still, two vocal members of the right-wing bloc of Netanyahu’s coalition, Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, criticized the plan’s progress but didn’t threaten to immediately leave the government.
And some speakers at the large weekly rally in Tel Aviv over the war expressed a cautious hope not heard for months.
A group representing some hostages’ families said the prospect of seeing loved ones return “has never been closer.” They appealed to Trump to keep pushing “with full force” and warned that “extremists on both sides” will try to sabotage the plan.
Meanwhile, protests have erupted across Europe calling for the war’s end.
Day-to-day communications from the agency have gone silent, with social media channels dormant and updates on ongoing missions delayed. Critical operations, however, remain active.
The development comes as the United States entered a government shutdown on October 1. (Photo: generative AI by India Today)
Nasa has announced that its operations are currently halted due to a lapse in government funding, with a notice on its website stating the agency is “closed” until further notice.
The development comes as the United States entered a government shutdown on October 1, 2025, after Congress failed to pass a budget or temporary funding measure.
The shutdown, the first in nearly six years, has forced thousands of federal workers to be furloughed across government agencies, including Nasa. According to official guidelines, only essential staff required for the protection of life and property are continuing work, meaning most Nasa projects — from space science research to public outreach — have been paused.
Day-to-day communications from the agency have gone silent, with social media channels dormant and updates on ongoing missions delayed. Critical operations, however, remain active. This includes monitoring astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS), spacecraft currently in operation across the solar system, and planetary defense activities like asteroid tracking.
These efforts are considered vital to safety and are continuing with a limited workforce.
The shutdown could have wide-reaching consequences for Nasa’s programs and future missions. Preparatory work for upcoming launches, such as the Artemis program’s next steps toward returning humans to the Moon, may face delays.
Research projects supported by Nasa funding have been suspended, interrupting scientific studies and university collaborations that rely heavily on the agency’s resources. Contractors working with Nasa could also experience disruptions if prolonged gaps in government funding continue.
This is not the first time Nasa has faced such challenges. Previous shutdowns, including a significant one in 2018–2019, stalled progress on projects and created uncertainty for the agency’s scientists and engineers.
The longer the standoff persists in Washington, the more difficult it becomes for Nasa to maintain momentum on ambitious goals like lunar exploration and Mars missions.
Iran’s ongoing retaliatory attacks with ballistic missiles towards Israel are seen from Tel Aviv, Israel on June 17, 2025. [Mostafa Alkharouf – Anadolu Agency]Three months after a hastily brokered ceasefire ended 12 days of confrontation between Iran and Israel, a false calm settles over the Middle East. But behind the facades, both armies are studying the unprecedented exchange of fire in June that would make any round two conflict apocalyptically worse than round one.
The fear is not academic. Iran demonstrated skills that astonished even combat-seasoned intelligence professionals, and Israel’s formerly celebrated air defence system demonstrated flaws that Tehran will certainly exploit in the next round. Meanwhile, Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities have fallen short of conclusively crippling Tehran’s nuclear program. June’s war was a teaser, not the main course. Both now have an appreciation of the other’s power that they did not have before. That information cuts both ways—it may deter or inspire.
The hypersonic challenge
The worst news for Israel was the Iranians’ launching of their Fattah-1 and Fattah-2 hypersonic missiles, which performed much better than anticipated. In the war’s most fiercely contested 24 hours, Israel’s intercept rate of these missiles declined from its normal 90 per cent to as low as 65 per cent. The mathematics are sobering. Iran fired over 400 missiles during the 12-day conflict, with more than 40 causing damage or casualties despite Israel’s layered defense system. In a prolonged engagement, those numbers could multiply exponentially.
“The hypersonic threat remakes the math entirely,” said Dr Tal Kalisky, a missile defence expert from Israel. Even as he highlighted that Israel had successfully shot down more than 95 per cent of ordinary missiles, he acknowledged the unprecedented challenge posed by missiles descending from beyond the atmosphere at speeds a decade faster than the speed of sound, splitting their warheads in flight.
Only Arrow 3 and David’s Sling are capable of mid-air adjustment to pursue such threats, and both are dependent upon interceptor reserves that dipped perilously low during June’s action. An early-July Israeli Defence Ministry evaluation reported a general success rate of 86 per cent against ballistic missiles in the conflict. But here lies the key question: What if Iran fires not 400 missiles over 12 days, but 400 missiles in 24 hours?
The nuclear question mark
While the White House proclaimed Iranian nuclear sites “obliterated” in a late June announcement, independent analysts paint a more nuanced picture that should trouble both camps.
David Albright’s Institute for Science and International Security, analyzing satellite images taken on 14 June, reported surface damage to Iran’s Fordow enrichment plant but identified the difficulty in assessing internal damage to deeply buried complexes. CNN’s analysis, using Albright verbatim, suggested “a considerable amount of damage might have been inflicted on the enrichment hall and adjacent halls that service enrichment.”
But “substantial damage” is not the same as destruction. More concerning, recent satellite photos examined by The Wall Street Journal show Iran has moved to expand construction at the Fordow buried plant, “with active work” featuring excavators and personnel positioned at entrance shafts to the plant.
The leadership vulnerability factor
Israel’s June campaign introduced a dangerous new variable that will make any future war that much more unstable: deliberate targeting of Iranian leadership. The campaign, which assassinated senior military, political, and at least nine nuclear scientists, has not gone unnoticed by Tehran’s ruling elite.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian publicly admitted to being on Israel’s hit list, yet secretly assured advisors that any attempt on top leaders’ lives would be met with a region-shaking military response. Iran’s leadership succession crisis only increases the stakes. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 85, has signaled three possible successors but has not directly appointed any. Israeli intelligence officials believe that such a power vacuum would either radicalise or moderate Tehran’s response, depending on the individuals who ultimately come to power. Decapitation tactics cut both ways. Israel showed that it can reach deep into Iran’s command hierarchy. However, that capability may actually accelerate rather than decelerate conflict if Tehran’s leadership concludes that it needs to act before it becomes a target itself.
Lessons learned, strategies revised
Israel demonstrated its ability to strike deep within Iranian borders, hitting nuclear facilities that Tehran believed were secure. The strategic arithmetic is also made more complex by what didn’t happen in June. Hezbollah in Lebanon and other Iranian-backed militias in Syria and Iraq mainly waited out of the immediate fighting, choosing to save their strength rather than open up several fronts against Israel. Round two could be multi-front. Iran learned that trying it alone wasn’t a successful move. Israel knew that its deterrents could be overwhelmed. Both indications lead to an even worse scenario the next time around.
The Russian and Chinese roles
Russia and China won’t intervene directly in a renewed Israel-Iran war but will both defend Tehran and introduce a dangerous element of complexity. Russia, particularly, owes a debt to Iran for providing drones that have been crucially effective in Ukraine. That debt is now being repaid with the provision of intelligence, ammunition, and electronic warfare gear, which could be used to counteract some of the disadvantages Iran experienced in June. The Russians won’t send in troops, but will outfit Tehran appropriately. With what Iran has done for Russia in Ukraine, they see such help as a strategic investment.
China’s interest is less noisy but arguably more important. Beijing aims to prevent a wider Middle East conflict that could threaten to destabilize oil supplies and complicate its broader great power rivalry with Washington. Even in the face of rivalry, China will strive to prevent Iran from disintegrating under Western pressure. China views Tehran as a valuable counterweight to American influence in the region.
Sean “Diddy” Combs sits beside Brian Steel as he listens as lawyer Alexandra Shapiro argues during a hearing over his bid to overturn his conviction on charges of transportation to engage in prostitution, at a courtroom in New York, U.S., September 25, 2025 in this courtroom sketch. REUTERS/Jane Rosenberg
Sean “Diddy” Combs was sentenced on Friday (Oct 3) to more than four years in prison over the hip-hop mogul’s Jul 2 conviction on prostitution-related charges.
Combs, 55, was convicted on two counts of arranging for paid male escorts to travel across state lines to take part in drug-fueled sexual performances – sometimes known as “Freak Offs” – with Combs’ girlfriends while he recorded video and masturbated.
The jury acquitted him on the more serious charges of racketeering and sex trafficking, which could have earned him a life sentence.
Combs pleaded not guilty and is expected to appeal his conviction.
Combs, the founder of Bad Boy Records, is credited with elevating hip-hop’s stature in American culture.
The New York-born entrepreneur is one of the most prominent men in the entertainment industry to have faced trial on sex crimes charges.
The sentence was imposed by US District Judge Arun Subramanian at a hearing in Manhattan federal court.
Prosecutors had pushed for Combs to spend 11 – 14 years in prison, while defence lawyers pushed for his swift release.
Combs has been behind bars at a Brooklyn jail since his Sep 16, 2024, arrest.
TRIAL CENTERED ON “FREAK OFFS”
Over the course of a two-month trial earlier this year, prosecutors with the Manhattan US Attorney’s office argued Combs coerced two of his former girlfriends – the rhythm and blues singer Casandra Ventura and a woman known in court by the pseudonym Jane – into partaking in the performances through violence and threats to withhold financial support.
Jurors saw surveillance footage of Combs kicking and dragging Ventura in a hotel hallway in 2016, an incident she testified took place after a Freak Off. Jane testified that Combs last year attacked her and told her to perform oral sex on a male escort after she said she did not want to.
Combs’ lawyers acknowledged he had physically abused his girlfriends, but argued they willingly took part in the sexual performances. Both Ventura and Jane testified that they at times took part consensually because they loved Combs and wanted to please him.
COMBS TAUGHT JAIL COURSE
Defence lawyers had pushed for a 14-month sentence.
In urging leniency, Combs’ lawyers said he helped his fellow inmates at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center by teaching a six-week course on business management and personal development called “Free Game with Diddy.” As part of the class, inmates were required to write an essay about “lessons learned from Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ journey,” court filings show.
A prominent Bangladeshi business leader from Queens is turning his back on Zohran Mamdani after repeatedly backing the socialist lawmaker — and urging his community to now block the prostitution-boosting pol from becoming mayor.
“Supporting prostitution means supporting human trafficking,” said Fahad Solaiman, who lives near the infamously sex-worker-riddled Roosevelt Avenue.
Solaiman, who plans to vote for former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, urged members of his mosque to also reject the progressive Democratic nominee in an exclusive interview with The Post Friday.
“Come over here in the evening, after 8 o’clock, after the sun sets, you will see that you cannot walk Roosevelt Avenue [without seeing] many prostitutes,” Solaiman said at the Darul Hidaya Mosque after a service Friday.
The influential businessman, who is general secretary at the Jackson Heights Bangladeshi Business Association, spoke alongside Cuomo at the service, urging others in his community to back the former gov instead of Mamdani.
The community leader claimed he used to support Mamdani primarily because of his position on Palestine — but as the race has progressed, Solaiman has had a change of heart.
“The more he moves forward, the more we are seeing it; he’s a hypocrite. That’s the reason we took ourselves out,” Solaiman said.
Mamdani, who is Muslim, co-sponsored an bill in the state Assembly to “decriminalize” prostitution between consenting adults, meaning there would be no arrests for sex workers or johns — but he’s been vague about his support of it in recent months.
Standing side-by-side, the leaders of the mosque, along with Solaiman, passionately called for the congregation to get out and support Cuomo, who is running on an independent line for mayor and trailing Mamdani by at least 20 point in the latest polls.
“I am proud to endorse Andrew Cuomo for mayor, and will work hand in hand with him to unite our city, rather than divide us,” said Imam Qazi Qayyoon.
The key issue that all of the Cuomo backers raised about the Queens assemblyman was his plan to reinstate former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s policy of not arresting or prosecuting sex workers.
Since taking office in 2021, the lawmaker has co-sponsored multiple versions of statewide legislation to decriminalize sex work — bills that remain stalled. He continues to support the proposals annually and has consistently spoken out in favor of changing the law.
A hiring sign is displayed at a post office in Schaumburg, Ill., Thursday, Sept. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
From Wall Street trading floors to the Federal Reserve to economists sipping coffee in their home offices, the first Friday morning of the month typically brings a quiet hush around 8:30 a.m. eastern as everyone awaits the Labor Department’s crucial monthly jobs report.
But with the government shut down, no information was released Friday about hiring in September.
The interruption in the data has occurred at a particularly uncertain time, when policymakers at the Federal Reserve and Wall Street investors would need more data on the economy, rather than less. Hiring has ground nearly to a halt, threatening to drag down the broader economy. Yet at the same time, consumers — particularly higher-income earners — are still spending and some businesses are ramping up investments in data centers developing artificial intelligence models. Whether that is enough to revive hiring remains to be seen.
It’s the first time since a government shutdown in 2013 that the jobs report has been delayed. During the 2018-2019 partial government closure, the Labor Department was one of several agencies that remained open because Congress had agreed to fund them. September’s jobs figures will be released eventually, once the shutdown ends.
If the shutdown continues for another week or more, it could also postpone the release of other high-profile data, including the next inflation report, set for Oct. 15.
The Trump administration has blamed Senate Democrats for the shutdown, while Democrats levy similar charges against the White House.
“Businesses, families, policymakers, markets, and even the Federal Reserve are flying blind at a key juncture in America’s economic resurgence because the Democrats’ government shutdown has halted the release of key economic data,” said White House spokesman Kush Desai.
Yet President Donald Trump himself has often trashed government jobs data when it has painted an unflattering picture of the economy. In August, he fired the then-head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics after the agency reported that job gains in May and June had been sharply lower than previously reported.
For now, economists are turning to alternative measures of the job market provided by nonprofits and private-sector companies. Those measures mostly show a job market with little hiring, but not many layoffs, either. Those who have jobs appear to be mostly secure, while those looking for work are having a tougher time.
Payroll processor ADP, for example, said Wednesday that its estimate showed the economy had lost a surprising 32,000 private-sector jobs last month. Companies in the construction, manufacturing, and financial services industries all cut jobs, ADP found. Restaurants and hotels, and professional services such as accounting and engineering, also shed workers.
Businesses in health care, private education, and information technology were the only sectors to add workers, ADP said.
“We’ve seen a significant decline in hiring momentum throughout the year,” said Nela Richardson, ADP’s chief economist. “This is consistent with a low hire — even a no-hire — and low fire economy.”
Austan Goolsbee, before becoming president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago in January 2023, was one of those busy economists on the first Friday morning of the month, often dissecting the data for the financial news network CNBC. Now he still checks the data Friday mornings and has a team of research economists that analyze the report.
“It’s still the best data — the BLS numbers are the best labor market numbers in the world,” Goolsbee said in an interview with The Associated Press. “And when we don’t have them, we suffer.”
Just last month, however, the Chicago Fed began issuing its own estimates of the unemployment rate and other job-market indicators, using a combination of public and private-sector data, which it updates every two weeks. On Thursday, its latest figures put the unemployment rate in September at 4.3%, the same as in August and still low historically.
Cans of beer sit on a shelf at a supermarket in Yokohama, near Tokyo Friday, Oct. 3, 2025. (Daiki Katagiri/Kyodo News via AP)
A major Japanese beverage producer says it has been hit by a cyberattack that left its operations disrupted for the fifth day on Friday, and Japanese media are reporting that stocks of the company’s popular beer and other beverages are running low in some stores.
Asahi Group Holdings said its computer systems were hit by a cyberattack on Monday, creating glitches that have affected orders, shipments and a customer call center in Japan. Overseas systems were not affected.
A company spokeswoman told The Associated Press on Friday that the problem had still not been fixed, though some emergency shipments were made on Wednesday, with employees entering information into computer systems manually.
The cause and motive of the attacks were still under investigation, the spokeswoman said. She requested anonymity, which is customary for Japanese companies.
Japanese media said some convenience stores weren’t getting their deliveries and that stocks were low and the products were even being sold out in some places.
A 7-Eleven convenience store in Tokyo visited by an AP reporter on Friday evening still stocked plenty of Asahi beer, though the saleswoman said she expected the stocks to start running low soon.
It’s unclear when the system will be back up and running, Asahi said. The company has canceled events and is delaying the launch of products. Some Japanese media reports said the attacks may be ransomware, but Asahi declined to comment.
Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang, left, and Fujitsu Chief Executive Takahito Tokita shake hands during an announcement in Tokyo Friday, Oct. 3, 2025. (Kyodo News via AP)
U.S. technology company Nvidia and Fujitsu, a Japanese telecommunications and computer maker, agreed Friday to work together on artificial intelligence to deliver smart robots and a variety of other innovations using Nvidia’s computer chips.
“The AI industrial revolution has already begun. Building the infrastructure to power it is essential in Japan and around the world,” Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang said, hugging his Fujitsu counterpart Takahito Tokita on stage.
“Japan can lead the world in AI and robotics,” Huang told reporters at a Tokyo hotel.
The companies will work together on building what they called “an AI infrastructure,” or the system on which the various futuristic AI uses will be based, including health care, manufacturing, the environment, next-generation computing and customer services. The hope is to establish that AI infrastructure for Japan by 2030.
It initially will be tailored for the Japanese market, leveraging Fujitsu’s decades-long experience here, but may later expand globally, and will utilize Nvidia’s GPUs, or graphics processing units, which are essential for AI, according to both sides.
The two executives did not outline specific projects or give a monetary figure for planned investments. But exploring a collaboration in AI for robots with Yaskawa Electric Corp., a Japanese machinery and robot maker, was noted as a possible example. AI will be constantly evolving and learning, they said.
Fujitsu and Nvidia have been working together on AI, speeding up manufacturing with digital twins and robotics to tackle aging Japan’s labor shortages.
The ocean has always been a big part of Glen Butler’s life.
He’s been a surfer for 50 years and, in that time, he says he rarely thought about sharks.
“You’re aware you’re stepping into their environment, so you’re cautious,” the 61-year-old told the BBC.
But Mr Butler’s confidence on the water was shattered last month.
He’d gone for a surf with his friends one Saturday morning at Long Reef in Sydney’s northern beaches. A few minutes after Mr Butler got out of the water, fellow surfer Mercury Psillakis was killed by a great white shark.
“It’s shaken us up a bit,” Mr Butler admits. Mercury and his twin brother Mike were well-known in the local community, he adds: “You’d always say g’day.”
The killing has revived a long-running and delicate debate about how to keep beachgoers safe in Australia’s waters, and turned the spotlight on the state of New South Wales (NSW).
Authorities here have a range of measures in their arsenal to mitigate the risk of shark attacks, but the most famous – and most controversial – are nets which are rolled out each summer at many beaches.
Conservationists say the nets do more harm than good – doing little to stop sharks reaching popular breaks and causing massive harm to other marine life – but many scared beachgoers remain attached to them as another layer of protection.
Australia deadliest place for shark attacks
Australia is home to some of the world’s best beaches. More than 80% of the population lives on the coast, so an early morning swim or surf is standard for thousands of people every day.
But there are people who feel that daily ritual is becoming increasingly risky.
Mirek Craney is one of them.
The 66-year-old Sydneysider remembers gawking at enormous great white sharks hauled in by fishermen as a kid, back in the days the now-protected species could still be legally hunted.
Seeing these dead beasts suspended by their tails elicited a “gallows-like” feeling, he recounts, but not fear. Sharks were creatures of the deep ocean, he reasoned, and he surfed in the shallower bays.
But five years ago, his daughter Anika was bitten by a pig eye shark while free-diving on the Great Barrier Reef. Though she survived, it made Mr Craney anxious about the creatures – something that grows with each splashy headline about an attack.
“These things trigger me… I’m freaked out,” he admits.
Though ‘Merc’ was only the second person killed by a shark attack in Sydney over the past six decades – the other being British diver Simon Nellist in 2022 – it’s little comfort to those who regularly use the city’s beaches.
Great white sharks are responsible for most of Australia’s fatal attacks Getty Images
Every surfer the BBC spoke to in the weeks after Psillakis’ death said they feel shark sightings closer to shore are becoming more frequent.
“We occasionally might have seen a dark shadow, but it could have been a dolphin,” says Mr Craney. “Now, I see them all the time.”
Some fear that shark numbers are exploding, after several types – including the world’s two deadliest shark species, great whites and tigers – were given varying degrees of protection in Australian waters.
There’s little research on shark numbers to definitively tell either way – but experts argue an increase in sightings doesn’t necessarily mean there are more sharks.
Environmental experts suggest that warming oceans are changing the swimming and feeding patterns of sharks. But researchers say any increase in sightings is largely down to more and more people entering the water, and they are magnified by social media.
The likelihood of being bitten by a shark here in Australia is still minute. You’re several thousand times more likely to drown. It is true, however, that the country is a shark attack hotspot.
Shark incidents in Australia over the past five years
Source: Taronga Conservation Society
It is second only to the US – a country with 13 times the people – for shark bites, and it leads the world for fatal attacks, according to the International Shark Attack File.
That database only tracks “unprovoked” incidents – excluding those potentially encouraged by humans through activities such as spear fishing – but a fuller database of all recorded shark interactions in Australia is maintained by Taronga Conservation Society.
It shows that shark attacks have broadly been increasing over recent decades. Already this year there have been four fatal attacks – all unprovoked.
Nets ‘like a napkin in a pool’
An endangered scalloped hammerhead shark killed by the nets
NSW had been about to trial scaling back its use of shark nets – its oldest shark safety method – when the latest fatal attack happened.
Shark nets have been used in NSW since 1937 and these days are usually installed on 51 beaches from September through to March. Aside from Queensland, it is the only state that still uses them.
It’s impossible to cordon off entire beaches – ocean conditions are too strong and would simply wash the nets away.
Instead, the shark nets are about 150m (492ft) long and sit a few metres below the water’s surface. Though anchored to the sea floor at points, they don’t reach the bottom. So sharks can go over, under and around them.
“It’s like throwing a napkin into the pool,” University of Sydney Professor Chris Pepin-Neff told the BBC.
The state government says shark nets are “not designed to create a total barrier between bathers and sharks” but rather aim to “intercept target sharks” during any hunts which bring them close to the shore.
But researchers like Prof Pepin-Neff say the nets aren’t very effective, and give the illusion of safety rather than delivering a real reduction in risk.
They note that 40% of sharks caught in the nets are actually found on the beach side trying to get out.
Morocco is currently building what will be the globe’s largest football stadium in preparation for co-hosting the 2030 World Cup.
But for the demonstrators who have taken to the streets each night across the country since last Saturday, this 115,000-capacity showpiece and all the other football infrastructure in development, costing a reported $5bn (£3.7bn), are an affront – an example of a government that has got its priorities wrong.
“I am protesting because I want my country to be better. I don’t want to leave Morocco, and I don’t want to resent my country for choosing to stay,” says Hajar Belhassan, a 25-year-old communications manager from Settat, 80km (50 miles) south of Casablanca.
A group called Gen Z 212 – the number is a reference to the country’s international dialling code – has been coordinating the demonstrations through the gaming and streaming platform Discord, as well as TikTok and Instagram.
Apparently taking inspiration from Nepal’s recent Gen Z protests, the young Moroccans want the authorities to act with the same urgency and passion when it comes to addressing these issues as with hosting one of the world’s premier sporting events.
Starting on 27 September with protests across 10 cities, the crowds have been building through the week, chanting slogans such as: “No World Cup, health comes first” and “We want hospitals not football stadiums”.
The police have responded with seemingly arbitrary mass arrests and in certain places things have turned violent, leading to the death of three protesters.
Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch said on Thursday that he was open to dialogue, but the leaderless movement has vowed to keep going until there is concrete change.
A list of their demands has been shared on social media. They include:
Free and quality education for all
Accessible public healthcare for everyone
Decent and affordable housing
Better public transport
Lower prices and subsidise basic goods
Improve wages and pensions
Provide job opportunities for youth and reduce unemployment
Adopt English as the second language instead of French (after Arabic)
Anger had been growing, but what galvanised the movement was the death over a number of days in mid-September of eight women in a maternity ward of a hospital in the southern city of Agadir. There were some reports that the deaths could have been prevented if there had been better care, proper equipment and enough medical staff.
In 2023, it was estimated that there were 7.8 doctors per 10,000 Moroccans, way below the World Health Organization recommendation of 23 per 10,000.
Having read about the protests on social media and inspired by a friend, Ms Belhassan decided to join on Monday.
The day before, that friend had been sending her videos from a demonstration in Casablanca that she was taking part in and Ms Belhassan was immediately uploading them onto her social media accounts.
Then, her friend called to say her brother had been arrested. He was not released until the early hours of the following morning. This, Ms Belhassan says, is what pushed her to go out on to the streets.
“We are making reasonable, basic demands. Health and education are necessities that should already be prioritised,” she tells the BBC in a passionate voice.
“It breaks my heart to see young, educated and peaceful people faced with arbitrary arrests.”
When Ms Belhassan went out she noticed that the police were trying to stop people gathering and were making arrests.
She says she was scared of making eye contact with officers in case she attracted their attention.
“I was afraid for my safety but I still went out,” she says.
On Wednesday, interior ministry spokesman Rachid El Khalfi said that 409 people had been detained up to that point.
He also announced in a press release that 260 police officers and 20 protesters had been injured and 40 police vehicles and 20 private cars were torched in violent clashes.
Twenty-three-year-old Hakim (not his real name) was one of those arrested.
He says he went out onto the streets of Casablanca to protest peacefully but ended up in a police cell with around 40 people.
“This government has been abusing their power too much,” Hakim says. “My father had a stroke a little while ago. If we didn’t have some savings to get him treated in a private hospital he would’ve died. What am I gaining from a country that is not providing healthcare for my ageing parents or educating me?”
He describes the state-funded education system as being “far behind” what is available in the private sector.
“We deserve a dignified life,” says Hakim. “We want to host the Fifa World Cup, but we want to do that with our heads up high, not while hiding behind a façade.”
The police response has been heavily criticised by several Moroccan human rights organisations, protesters and the opposition.
The Gen Z 212 protests are not the first time that young Moroccans have taken to the streets.
Many commenters online have been drawing parallels with the country’s violent 1981 riots, where those who died became known as the Bread Martyrs as they were protesting against the soaring price of basic foods. A 2004 commission appointed by the king to investigate the country’s past human rights abuses verified 114 deaths but did not disclose how exactly they died. Reparations were then made to victims of human rights abuses and families of deceased ones.
The country has seen other youth-led movements, notably in 2011 and 2016.
The events of 2011 were part of the larger Arab Spring and led to reform of the constitution through a national referendum called by King Mohamed VI.
For the first time in Moroccan history, the monarch strengthened the role of the government by ceding executive power to the prime minister and parliament. The king remains the legitimate head of state, military and religious affairs, holding the power to appoint and remove ministers if necessary.
What makes Gen Z 212 different is that those demonstrating say they are not tied to a political party and do not appear to have a formal structure.
“We are not a political movement. We have no leader,” Ms Belhassan says.
“Maybe that’s why the police were arresting people, and why the government kept silent – because, in their eyes, we didn’t follow the traditional path of organisations and political parties.”
But there is some disquiet about the violence.
On the night of 1 October, three protesters died in the town of Lqliaa after people attempted to storm a police station. The local authorities said security forces opened fire after protesters tried to start a fire and steal weapons from the station, then subsequently released supporting CCTV footage to disprove emerging false narratives online.
Protesters have condemned the rioting and looting that have happened in certain areas and have organised clean-up groups. They have also repeatedly called for peace and dialogue, but it seems they are not convinced by the prime minister’s apparent willingness to talk.
As multinationals stampede for the exits, Pakistan has discovered it can’t sell itself as a market anymore. Only its soil is worth buying, and Trump just became the biggest landlord of all.
Pak PM Shehbaz Sharif and army chief Asim Munir meet US president trump ( file)
Pakistan is for sale, but nobody wants what it’s offering. Procter & Gamble has shut its doors after three decades. Microsoft closed after 25 years. Shell sold out. Telenor, Uber, Careem and pharmaceutical giants like Pfizer, Bayer and Sanofi have all walked away. The exodus is unprecedented, and the message is brutal: Pakistan is not worth the trouble.
Yet whilst multinationals flee the collapsing market, Pakistan is hawking its land like a desperate landlord. Over 2,000 acres of Balochistan, including Gwadar Port, have been leased to China for more than 40 years under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor deal. Tax exemptions and operational control have been handed over wholesale. Sovereignty traded for survival.
Now Donald Trump has entered the game. In 2025, Pakistan courted Trump with samples of rare earth minerals from Balochistan. A 500 million dollar memorandum was signed between Pakistan’s military controlled Frontier Works Organisation and Missouri based US Strategic Metals. Trump walked in with a pen, and Pakistan handed him the keys to its mineral wealth. He has outplayed China, becoming the biggest land grabber of them all.
The reasons for the corporate exodus are chronic. Political instability rewrites the rulebook with every government change. Currency controls trap profits in depreciating rupees. Thirty different corporate taxes create bureaucratic nightmares. Energy crises, security risks and infrastructure decay pile on the misery. But the killer blow is shrinking consumer demand. With 42 per cent of the population below the poverty line, Pakistan has become a market that simply cannot consume.
Compare this to the neighbours. Vietnam attracts 23 billion dollars in foreign direct investment. India pulls in 70 billion. Bangladesh secures 3.4 billion. Pakistan manages a humiliating 683 million dollars. With 216 million people, it should be an investment magnet. Instead, it’s a cautionary tale.
The death toll after violent clashes between security forces and demonstrators in Pakistan-administered Kashmir rose to nine on Thursday as Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif sent a delegation to the region’s capital for talks with the protest leaders, officials said.
In a statement, Sharif appealed for calm and asked the police to exercise restraint. He also said his government was committed to addressing public grievances in Kashmir.
Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, a minister in Sharif’s Cabinet, wrote on X that talks with representatives of the Awami Action Committee were underway in Muzaffarabad.
At the same time local authorities reported a convoy of buses and cars was seen moving toward Muzaffarabad, the regional capital, for another mass protest.
The developments came a day after thousands of demonstrators armed with sticks and guns attacked police officers deployed in various parts of the region to keep roads open and guard government buildings.
Video footage posted online showed violent clashes between protesters belonging to the Awami Action Committee and the police.
The violence began earlier this week after an alliance of several groups launched protests demanding subsidies on food, electricity and other services.
Chaudhry Anwarul Haq, the region’s prime minister, said Wednesday that his administration had agreed to accept 36 of the alliance’s 38 demands — including cheaper wheat, reduced electricity tariffs, and local governance reforms — but he said the group had refused to call off its agitation and instead continued violent demonstrations.
According to a government statement, at least nine people, including three police officers, have been killed in the clashes. More than 150, mostly policemen, have also been injured, it said, as authorities transported some of the critically wounded officers to Islamabad hospitals.
Russia’s sustained bombardment of Ukraine’s power grid is deepening concerns about the safety of the country’s nuclear facilities after a drone knocked out power for more than three hours to the site of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster in northern Ukraine, officials said Thursday.
The drone strike adds to concerns raised more than a week ago when the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine became disconnected from the power grid following attacks that each side has blamed on the other.
Both Chernobyl and Zaporizhzhia are not currently operational, but they require a constant power supply to run crucial cooling systems for spent fuel rods in order to avoid a potential nuclear incident.
A blackout also could blind radiation monitoring systems installed to boost security at Chernobyl and operated by the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency.
“Russia is deliberately creating the threat of radiation incidents,” Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said late Wednesday, criticizing the U.N. nuclear watchdog and its chief Rafael Mariano Grossi for what he described as weak responses to the danger.
“Every day of Russia’s war, every strike on our energy facilities, including those connected to nuclear safety, is a global threat,” he said. “Weak and half-measures will not work. Strong action is needed.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin rejected Ukrainian claims that Russia has been shelling the power lines around the Zaporizhzhia plant as “nonsense” and blamed Ukraine for attacking the Moscow-controlled plant, warning that Russia could respond in kind.
The war that followed Russia’s all-out invasion of its neighbor more than three years ago appears no closer to ending, despite months of U.S.-led peace efforts.
Drones overwhelm air defenses
Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address that Russia launched over 20 Shahed drones against energy infrastructure in Slavutych, the city whose power supply services Chernobyl, the site of the world’s worst nuclear accident.
A wave of drones overwhelmed defenses and caused a blackout Wednesday, he said, affecting the sarcophagus that prevents radioactive dust from escaping the destroyed fourth reactor and storage housing more than 3,000 tons of spent fuel. He did not provide details of how it was affected.
“The Russians could not have been unaware that a strike on Slavutych would have such consequences for Chernobyl,” Zelenskyy said.
Last February, a drone armed with a warhead hit Chernobyl’s protective outer shell, briefly starting a fire. Radiation levels there did not increase, officials said.
Europe’s biggest nuclear plant using diesel generators
The Zaporizhzhia plant, which is Europe’s biggest and one of the 10 biggest nuclear facilities in the world, has been disconnected from the grid for over a week.
It has repeatedly been caught in the crossfire during the war. Zelenskyy blamed Russian artillery for cutting the power line to the plant, but Putin mocked the claim, saying: “are we striking ourselves?”
He accused Ukraine of “playing a dangerous game” by attacking the plant, adding ominously: “People on the other side must understand that if they continue this dangerous game, they also have functioning nuclear power plants.”
“What would prevent us from responding in kind?” he added. “Let them think about it.”
The facility is using emergency diesel generators to run cooling systems for its six shutdown reactors and spent fuel.
The IAEA says the plant is not in immediate danger but wants it swiftly reconnected to the grid.
Ukraine’s Energy Ministry said the situation is unprecedented. “No nuclear power plant in the world has ever operated under such conditions, and it is impossible to make any reliable forecasts,” it said in a statement to The Associated Press.
Edwin Lyman, director of nuclear power safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists, an American nonprofit organization, said no nuclear plant was designed to be able to function safely for an extended period without access to stable off-site power.
“The situation at Zaporizhzhia is indeed extremely fragile and increasingly dire,” he told AP.
A set of early draft designs for a commemorative $1 coin has stirred debate in Washington. The coin, prepared by the United States Mint for America’s 250th Independence anniversary in 2026, shows former President Donald Trump’s portrait — something federal law may not allow.
Images of the proposed coin designs were sha
red online this week and later confirmed by the US Treasury.
Image shared on X by US Treasurer Brandon Beach
US Treasurer Brandon Beach wrote on X, “No fake news here. These first drafts honouring America’s 250th Birthday and @POTUS are real. Looking forward to sharing more soon, once the obstructionist shutdown of the United States government is over.”
The drafts reveal Trump’s profile on the coin’s front, with the word “Liberty” placed above, “In God We Trust” below, and the dates “1776″ and “2026″ flanking the sides. The reverse side carries a more dramatic image: Trump raising his fist after the Butler, Pennsylvania, assassination attempt earlier this year, with an American flag behind him and the words “FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT” printed across the top.
No fake news here. These first drafts honoring America’s 250th Birthday and @POTUS are real.
Looking forward to sharing more soon, once the obstructionist shutdown of the United States government is over. https://t.co/c6HChM6ijG
— U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach (@TreasurerBeach) October 3, 2025
However, placing Trump on the coin could violate long-standing US law. Federal code clearly states: “No coin issued under this subsection may bear the image of a living former or current President, or of any deceased former President during the 2-year period following the date of the death of that President.”
Congress had earlier passed the Circulating Collectible Coin Redesign Act, which allows the Treasury to issue special $1 coins during 2026 to mark the semiquincentennial. The law also bars the use of portraits or busts of living people on the reverse side of coins.
The draft design technically avoids that restriction on the obverse by showing Trump’s profile, but the Butler image on the reverse leaves the legality unclear.
When asked about the controversy, a Treasury spokesperson told CNN that the design is not final. “While a final $1 dollar coin design has not yet been selected to commemorate the United States’ semiquincentennial, this first draft reflects well the enduring spirit of our country and democracy, even in the face of immense obstacles,” the spokesperson said.
It has been reported that Pakistan will honour Mohsin Naqvi for his firm and proud stance during the Asia Cup 2025 final.
Pakistan to honour Mohsin Naqvi with Shaheed Bhutto Performance Gold Medal. (Picture Credit: AP)
Mohsin Naqvi made headlines for stealing the Asia Cup 2025 Trophy in Dubai on Sunday, September 28. The Asian Cricket Council (ACC) president left the Dubai International Cricket Stadium with the Asia Cup trophy after India refused to take the trophy from him following their 5-wicket win over Pakistan in the final. Amid drama over the Asia Cup 2025 final, Pakistan is reportedly set to honour Naqvi.
It has been reported that Naqvi will be given a special gold medal for his strong stance during the trophy handover controversy with India.
As per the available information, Naqvi is all set to be awarded the Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Excellence Gold Medal in Karachi. The award is being given to him for his “firm and principled stance” against Indian demands during the Asia Cup final.
As per The Nation, Karachi Basketball Association president Advocate Ghulam Abbas Jamal has announced the award for Naqvi. According to The Nation, the medal will be presented to Naqvi at a grand ceremony in Karachi, where PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is expected to be the chief guest.
‘Welcome to collect trophy’
Asian Cricket Council (ACC) Chairman Naqvi on Wednesday said the Indian team is “welcome” to collect the Asia Cup trophy from him at the continental body’s head office in Dubai.
In a post on X, Naqvi rejected reports claiming that he, at the ACC AGM on Tuesday, apologised to BCCI officials for his actions at the presentation ceremony on Sunday when he walked away with the trophy after the Indians refused to accept it from him.
“As ACC President, I was ready to hand over the trophy that very day and I am still ready now. If they truly want it, they are welcome to come to the ACC office and collect it from me,” he wrote.
“Let me make it absolutely clear: I have done nothing wrong and I have never apologised to the BCCI nor will I ever do so,” he added.
The lawsuit filed by a coalition of unions, employers and religious groups, seeks to block Trump’s order imposing a visa fee of $100,000 on H-1B applications.
Trump’s order imposes a one-time visa fee of $100,000 on H-1B applications(REUTERS)
United States President Donald Trump-led administration’s new H-1B visa plan was challenged in a federal court in San Francisco on Friday. The lawsuit was filed by a coalition of unions, employers and religious groups, and seeks to block Trump’s order imposing a one-time visa fee of $100,000 on H-1B applications, Reuters reported.
This is the first lawsuit to challenge the proclamation issued by Trump on the hiked visa fee, even as the US President moves to restrict immigration to the country.
The H-1B visa program allows employers in the US to hire foreign workers in specialty fields, with the technology companies relying heavily on workers who receive these visas.
These employers who sponsor H-1B used to typically pay between $2,000 and $5,000 in fees, but Trump’s order bars new visa recipients from entering US unless the employer sponsoring their visa makes a payment of $100,000.
What does the lawsuit say about Trump’s order?
The plaintiffs have argued that Trump’s move is unlawful and that he has changed the H-1B program. They say that the changes force employers to either “pay to play” or seek a “national interest” exemption, which further “opens the door to selective enforcement and corruption”, Bloomberg reported.
In the lawsuit, the groups said that the US President “has no authority” to impose fees, taxes or other mechanisms unilaterally to generate revenue for America. They further added that he could not “dictate how those funds are spent.”
The lawsuit said that Trump had “disregarded” limitations and “asserted power he does not have” while issuing the proclamation. “The Constitution assigns the ‘power of the purse’ to Congress, as one of its most fundamental premises,” the suit says, according to Bloomberg.
It adds that Trump “displaced a complex, Congressionally specified system for evaluating petitions and granting H-1B visas.”
The plaintiffs in the case are the United Auto Workers union, the American Association of University Professors, the Justice Action Center and the Democracy Forward Foundation on behalf the Global Nurse Force, and several religious organisations.
Pope Leo XIV greets people on the day he holds a Jubilee audience on the occasion of the Jubilee of Catechists in St.Peter’s Square at the Vatican, September 27, 2025. REUTERS/Francesco Fotia /File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
Pope Leo initially impressed conservative Catholics after his election in May as he embraced traditions shunned by his predecessor Pope Francis and steered clear of hot button social issues that divided the 1.4 billion-member Church.
But his honeymoon with conservatives appears over after he unexpectedly took aim at U.S. President Donald Trump’s hard-line immigration policies, questioning whether they were in line with the Church’s pro-life teachings.
“Someone who says I am against abortion but I am in agreement with the inhuman treatment of immigrants in the United States, I don’t know if that’s pro-life,” Leo, the first U.S. pope, told reporters on Tuesday.
Some critics, who had praised the pope for his early reserve, expressed shock that Leo criticized the current champion of global conservatives.
Former Texas Bishop Joseph Strickland, a fierce Francis critic who was relieved from duty by the late pope but has praised Leo, criticized the new pope on social media for causing “much confusion … regarding the sanctity of human life and the moral clarity of the Church’s teaching.”
“So tired of papal interviews. He should return to his previous silence,” opined the Rorate Caeli blog, which had previously criticised Francis and praised Leo.
The Trump administration, which was sharply critical of Francis but has rarely commented about Leo, also pushed back.
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said she rejected the characterisation of inhumane treatment of immigrants.
POPE LIKELY UNDETERRED BY CRITICISM
Vatican officials and papal associates said Leo cares especially deeply about the treatment of immigrants and is unlikely to be deterred by criticism.
But it could detract from his mission, expressed during his inaugural papal mass, to work for unity across a global Church that has become more divided and polarized in recent decades.
While the naturally cautious Leo will look to avoid repeated clashes with conservatives that could harden opposition to his agenda, he will not renounce his own set of values.
“Is he going to ruffle the feathers of American conservatives at some points? Yes,” said Elise Allen, author of a biography of Leo for Penguin Peru and the only journalist to interview the pope since his election.
“They shouldn’t be surprised that he does that,” she told Reuters.
Cardinal Michael Czerny, a senior adviser to both Francis and Leo, said the new pope was following an instruction given by St. Paul, a 1st century leader of Christianity: “Preach the word, be urgent in season and out of season.”
“(Leo) encourages and challenges each local Church and each Christian, faced with complex and urgent issues, to live the Gospel,” the cardinal told Reuters.
Leo was a relative unknown on the global stage before his election in May. He spent most of his career as a missionary in Peru, where Allen said he developed a desire to care for immigrants and speak up for social causes.
“He understands the priority of the abortion issue, but he’s not going to be somebody that says that’s far more important than immigration,” she said.
Francis drew conservative Catholic ire throughout his 12-year papacy. He spurned much of the pomp of papacy, repeatedly clamped down on the traditional Latin Mass, and allowed priests to bless same-sex couples on a case-by-case basis.
LEO DISTINCT FROM FRANCIS
Leo earned conservative praise immediately in the hours after his election by wearing a traditional red papal garment called a mozzetta, which Francis never wore, in his first public appearance.
Leo has since held separate private meetings with U.S. Cardinal Raymond Burke and Guinean Cardinal Robert Sarah, two prominent Francis critics who lost Vatican jobs under the late pope. Burke once famously compared the Church under Francis to “a ship without a rudder”.
Leo also let Burke celebrate a Latin Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica later this month, something Francis had refused.
This will be the first high-level visit from Kabul to New Delhi since the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021, marking a new chapter in India-Taliban engagement.
A Taliban security personnel stands guard next to the sacks of food aid donated by India in Kabul
In a landmark development that could reshape regional geopolitics, Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi of the Taliban government is all set to visit India on October 9. This will be the first high-level visit from Kabul to New Delhi since the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021, marking a new chapter in India-Taliban engagement.
The United Nations Security Council has confirmed that Muttaqi has been granted a temporary exemption from international travel restrictions, allowing him to visit New Delhi between October 9 and 16. The exemption underlines the significance attached to the visit, both by the Taliban administration and by regional powers seeking to recalibrate ties.
Indian diplomatic circles have been preparing for this moment for months. Since January, Indian officials, including Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri and senior IFS officer J.P. Singh, have held multiple rounds of dialogue with Muttaqi and other Taliban leaders, often meeting in neutral venues like Dubai. India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri met Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi in Dubai, where discussions centred on New Delhi’s ongoing humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan, particularly in strengthening the health sector and supporting refugee rehabilitation.
The turning point came on May 15 immediately after India’s successful Operation Sindoor against Pakistan, when External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar held a phone conversation with Muttaqi – the first ministerial-level contact since 2021. During that discussion, Jaishankar expressed appreciation for the Taliban’s condemnation of the Pahalgam terror attack and reaffirmed India’s “traditional friendship with the Afghan people”.
Earlier in April, the Taliban had condemned the Pahalgam terror attack in India’s Kashmir during a high-level meeting with Indian officials in Kabul, where India shared specific details of the terror attack. This significant statement indicated how India and Afghanistan were on the same page on Pakistan-sponsored terrorism in the region.
India has since expanded direct humanitarian aid to Afghanistan, providing food grains, medical supplies, and development assistance. Sources say the Taliban administration has also formally conveyed several requirements to India, ranging from energy support to infrastructure cooperation.
Following the devastating earthquake in September, India emerged as one of the first responders, swiftly dispatching 1,000 family tents and 15 tonnes of food supplies to the worst-affected provinces. This was soon followed by an additional 21 tonnes of relief material, including essential medicines, hygiene kits, blankets, and generators, underscoring India’s commitment to aiding the Afghan people in times of crisis.
Since the Taliban’s takeover in August 2021, India has supplied Afghanistan with nearly 50,000 tonnes of wheat, more than 330 tonnes of medicines and vaccines, and 40,000 litres of pesticides, along with a range of other essential items. These sustained efforts have provided critical help to millions of Afghans grappling with food insecurity, health challenges, and humanitarian distress.
The visit is being widely interpreted as a setback for Pakistan, which has long sought to maintain influence over Kabul. Islamabad’s decision earlier this year to repatriate more than 80,000 Afghan refugees strained ties with the Taliban, opening diplomatic space for India to step in more assertively. Analysts note that Muttaqi’s presence in New Delhi signals Kabul’s willingness to diversify its foreign relations and reduce dependency on Pakistan.
Putin referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi as his friend, calling him a “balanced, wise” and “nationally oriented” leader, and said he feels comfortable in their trustworthy interactions.
Putin was speaking at the plenary session of the Valdai Discussion Club in Sochi
Russian President Vladimir Putin has hit out at the United States over its efforts to pressure India to stop its Russian crude trade, saying New Delhi would never bow to such demands and let itself get humiliated in front of anyone. Speaking at the plenary session of the Valdai Discussion Club in Sochi, the Russian President praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a “balanced and wise leader”, as he stressed that Moscow and New Delhi share a “special” relationship.
He said India’s import of Russian crude oil is “purely an economic calculation”. “There is no political aspect here… If India refuses our energy supplies, it will suffer certain losses. Estimates vary; some say it could be around $9-10 billion. But if it doesn’t refuse, sanctions will be imposed, and the loss will be the same. So why refuse if it also carries domestic political costs?” Putin asked.
“Of course, the people of a country like India, believe me, will closely monitor the decisions made by the political leadership and will never allow any humiliation in front of anyone. And then, I know Prime Minister Modi; he himself would never take any steps of this kind… The losses faced by India due to punitive US tariffs would be balanced by crude imports from Russia, plus it will gain prestige as a sovereign nation.”
The Russian leader’s remarks come two weeks after US President Donald Trump, during his address in the United Nations General Assembly, called China and India the “primary funders” of the Ukraine war, accusing them of financing it by continuing to buy Russian oil. The US has imposed an additional 25 per cent tariff on India as a punishment for buying Russian oil, raising the total tax on Indian exports to 50 per cent in August.
Putin noted that higher tariffs on trading partners could drive up global prices and force the US Federal Reserve to keep interest rates high.
He then highlighted the “special” nature of Russia-India relations since the days of the Soviet Union, when India was fighting for its independence. “In India, they remember this, they know it, and they value it. We appreciate that India has not forgotten it… We have never had any problems or interstate tensions with India. Never,” he stressed.
He referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi as his friend, noting that he feels comfortable in their trustworthy interactions, and called PM Modi a “balanced, wise” and “nationally oriented” leader.
Putin acknowledged the trade imbalance between New Delhi and Moscow and said that to reduce it, Russia may buy more agricultural products and medicines from India.
Lori Loughlin was seen grabbing dinner with Anne Heche’s ex James Tupper one day before news of her split from Mossimo Giannulli broke.
The “Full House” alum was pictured in deep conversation with Tupper after dining together at The Bird Streets Club in West Hollywood on Wednesday evening. At one point, the pair leaned in for an affectionate hug while waiting for their vehicles at the valet.
Loughlin, 61, rocked a casual-chic vibe in a pair of wide-legged jeans with a classic black blazer and pointy-toed pumps. She accessorized with a matching black handbag and wore her light brown hair straight around her shoulders.
Lori Loughlin was spotted embracing actor James Tupper just hours before news of her split from Mossimo Giannulli broke. The Hollywood JR / BACKGRID
Tupper, 60, donned a pair of dark jeans with a matching jacket and a white button down shirt, and was seen walking Loughlin to the door of a vehicle before she stepped in.
“Lori and James have worked together and are old friends,” a rep for Loughlin told Page Six of the sighting. A rep for Tupper did not immediately return Page Six’s request for comment.
Loughlin and Tupper recently co-starred in the 2023 movies “A Christmas Blessing” and “Fall Into Winter.”
Their outing came hours before it was confirmed that the sitcom actress and her husband of nearly 28 years had parted ways.
“Lori and Mossimo are living apart now,” a rep for Loughlin confirmed to Page Six Thursday. “There are no legal proceedings underway.”
The former couple shares daughters Isabella Rose, 27, and Olivia Jade, 26 — whose own high-profile romance with “Euphoria” star Jacob Elordi reportedly ended in August.
A notice calls the people the U.S. military recently killed on suspicion of drug smuggling in the Caribbean Sea “unlawful combatants.”
The Trump administration had called those strikes self-defense, asserting that the targets were smuggling drugs for cartels that the administration has designated as terrorists.Credit…Pete Marovich for The New York Times
President Trump has decided that the United States is engaged in a formal “armed conflict” with drug cartels his team has labeled terrorist organizations and that suspected smugglers for such groups are “unlawful combatants,” the administration said in a confidential notice to Congress this week.
The notice was sent to several congressional committees and obtained by The New York Times. It adds new detail to the administration’s thinly articulated legal rationale for why three U.S. military strikes the president ordered on boats in the Caribbean Sea last month, killing all 17 people aboard them, should be seen as lawful rather than murder.
Mr. Trump’s move to formally deem his campaign against drug cartels as an active armed conflict means he is cementing his claim to extraordinary wartime powers, legal specialists said. In an armed conflict, as defined by international law, a country can lawfully kill enemy fighters even when they pose no threat, detain them indefinitely without trials and prosecute them in military courts.
Geoffrey S. Corn, a retired judge advocate general lawyer who was formerly the Army’s senior adviser for law-of-war issues, said drug cartels were not engaged in “hostilities” — the standard for when there is an armed conflict for legal purposes — against the United States because selling a dangerous product is different from an armed attack.
Noting that it is illegal for the military to deliberately target civilians who are not directly participating in hostilities — even suspected criminals — Mr. Corn called the president’s move an “abuse” that crossed a major legal line.
“This is not stretching the envelope,” he said. “This is shredding it. This is tearing it apart.”
Anna Kelly, a White House spokeswoman, said in an email that “the president acted in line with the law of armed conflict to protect our country from those trying to bring deadly poison to our shores, and he is delivering on his promise to take on the cartels and eliminate these national security threats from murdering more Americans.”
The Trump administration has called the strikes “self-defense” and asserted that the laws of war permitted it to kill, rather than arrest, the people on the boats because it said the targets were smuggling drugs for cartels it has designated as terrorists. The administration has also stressed that tens of thousands of Americans die annually from overdoses.
However, the focus of the administration’s attacks has been boats from Venezuela. The surge of overdose deaths in recent years has been driven by fentanyl, which drug trafficking experts say comes from Mexico, not South America. Beyond factual issues, the bare-bones argument has been broadly criticized on legal grounds by specialists in armed-conflict law.
The notice to Congress, which was deemed controlled but unclassified information, cites a statute requiring reports to lawmakers about hostilities involving U.S. armed forces. It repeats the administration’s earlier arguments but also goes further with new claims, including portraying the U.S. military’s attacks on boats to be part of a sustained, active conflict rather than isolated acts of claimed self-defense.
Specifically, it says that Mr. Trump has “determined” that cartels engaged in smuggling drugs are “nonstate armed groups” whose actions “constitute an armed attack against the United States.” And it cites a term from international law — a “noninternational armed conflict” — that refers to a war with a nonstate actor.
“Based upon the cumulative effects of these hostile acts against the citizens and interests of the United States and friendly foreign nations, the president determined that the United States is in a noninternational armed conflict with these designated terrorist organizations,” the notice said.
There are different kinds of wars, and the concept of a “noninternational armed conflict” developed in 20th-century law to mean a civil war in one country, as opposed to a war between two or more nation-states.
After the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, when the United States went to war against Al Qaeda — a nonstate actor operating across multiple countries — some legal scholars objected that the Bush administration was stretching the rules to justify using wartime powers against a group they likened more to a criminal band of pirates.
But the Supreme Court found that the conflict with Al Qaeda was a real war. It blessed as lawful the Bush administration’s use of the wartime power to hold captured Qaeda members in indefinite detention without trial, while also saying the government was bound by the Geneva Conventions to treat such prisoners humanely and not torture them.
The court’s reasoning, however, turned on the fact that Al Qaeda had attacked the United States using hijacked airplanes as weapons to intentionally kill people, and that Congress had authorized the use of armed force against it. Indeed, in a 2006 ruling, the court also rejected the Bush administration’s first attempt to use military commissions, saying that lawmakers needed to explicitly authorize them.
In this case, the Trump administration is conflating the trafficking of an illicit consumer product and associated crime with an armed attack, asserting in the notice that cartels “illegally and directly cause the deaths of tens of thousands of American citizens each year.” But it has not explained how selling a dangerous substance constitutes a use of force, and Congress has not authorized the use of any type of military force against cartels.
The U.S. government has routinely said it is engaged in a metaphorical “war on drugs,” meaning aggressive law enforcement. Mr. Trump’s claim that he can and has put the country into a literal state of war against drug cartels is important for legal reasons. Police arrest suspected drug dealers; it would be a crime to instead summarily gun them down. But in an armed conflict, it is lawful to kill combatants for the opposing force on sight.
The notice to Congress also justified the most recent publicly disclosed attack on a boat — in which U.S. Special Operations forces killed all three people about the vessel on Sept. 15 — by calling the crew “unlawful combatants,” as if they were soldiers on a battlefield.
“The vessel was assessed by the U.S. intelligence community to be affiliated with a designated terrorist organization and, at the time, engaged in trafficking illicit drugs, which could ultimately be used to kill Americans,” the notice said. “This strike resulted in the destruction of the vessel, the illicit narcotics, and the death of approximately three unlawful combatants.”
The notice to Congress did not specifically name any of the drug cartels with which Mr. Trump claims the United States is engaged in an armed conflict. It also did not specify any standards the administration is using to determine whether particular suspects have sufficient links to such groups for the military to kill them.
Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, accused Mr. Trump of deciding that he could wage “secret wars against anyone he calls an enemy.” The president “offered no credible legal justification, evidence or intelligence” for the strikes, Mr. Reed said.
“Drug cartels are despicable and must be dealt with by law enforcement,” he said. “But now, by the president’s own words, the U.S. military is engaged in armed conflict with undefined enemies he has unilaterally labeled ‘unlawful combatants,’ and he has deployed thousands of troops, ships and aircraft against them. Yet he has refused to inform Congress or the public.”
But Sean Parnell, the chief Pentagon spokesman, said the Defense Department was “successfully prosecuting this critical mission in compliance with both domestic and international law, and in accordance with the law of armed conflict. The department has provided the required notifications to Congress.”
After almost a week of regular demonstrations, protests in Morocco turned violent, resulting in hundreds injured and two deaths. Who’s behind the protests, what are they demanding, and where might this end?
Thousands of young Moroccans have been demonstrating for better healthcare and education almost dailyImage: Abdel Majid Bziouat/AFP/Getty Images
Since last week, the streets of the Moroccan capital Rabat have been unusually quiet. This is because in the early evening, the city center turns into an arena for demonstrations led by an anonymous collective known as GenZ 212.
The name Gen Z indicates the age of the protesters, who are mostly in their teens or twenties, and the numbers 212 are Morocco’s dialing prefix.
The protests started small on September 27, but gradually grew to include working-class neighborhoods throughout Rabat. It then spread to Morocco’s biggest cities, including Casablanca and Agadir, and then to smaller towns, too.
Recently, they have become violent. Morocco’s Interior Ministry reported that as a result of violence earlier this week, over 400 people had been arrested, 263 security officers injured, and 142 of their vehicles damaged. A further 20 privately-owned cars were also damaged and 23 civilians injured, the ministry said.
Two people were killed on October 1, after police fired at protesters in the southern town of Lqliaa, reportedly in self-defense, Morocco’s state news agency reported.
How did protests start?
The group GenZ 212 first called for protests around a month ago, on its eponymous server on the social platform Discord. It called for young people to protest on September 27 and 28, to demand their right to better health services and education, and to denounce what have been described as misplaced political priorities.
Huge amounts of public money have been invested into football stadiums in Morocco that will be used for various tournaments, including the 2026 Africa Cup of Nations in December and the FIFA World Cup in 2030. But at the same time, local schools and hospitals remain underfunded.
In mid-September, around the time as the original GenZ 212 group founded its Discord server, rights groups and locals staged protests in front of a regional hospital in Agadir following the deaths of up to eight women — including several who were pregnant — under questionable circumstances.
At first it wasn’t clear whether GenZ 212’s calls to demonstrate would be heeded. But small demonstrations did occur on September 27, and then continued to grow. The group then decided to organize daily protests. This has resulted in some of the largest anti-government protests in Morocco in years.
Moroccans aged between 15 and 34 make up around 30% of the whole population. Although GenZ 212 has not made jobs a major demand, the Gen Z age group is overrepresented in unemployment statistics, with around 37% of Moroccans aged between 15 and 24 currently without a job. In cities, the unemployment rate for this age group goes up to around 48%.
On Tuesday, October 1, the protests became violent for the first time, with demonstrators seen confronting Moroccan security services, setting cars and shops on fire, smashing windows, and throwing rocks.
Who are GenZ 212?
The group is “purely a product of the internet,” Moroccan political analyst Rachid Belghiti told DW Arabic. “It has no traditional organizational structure, and no known leadership.”
That makes it different from previous anti-government protests in Morocco, Belghiti noted, including the so-called February 20 Movement, a pro-democrary protest movement that was part of the Arab Spring demonstrations of 2011. The breakout of those protests in 2011 led Morocco’s King Mohammed VI to announce a referendum on a new constitution.
“The February 20 movement had a primary political demand: reform of state structures, a complete separation of powers, and the establishment of a parliament that would exercise real powers,” Belghiti explained. “Whereas the current demands of the Gen Z movement are more general and are characterized by a kind of political romanticism.”
How has the Moroccan government responded?
At first, government-affiliated media outlets didn’t pay the youth protests much attention. Some officials uploaded messages to Facebook or YouTube in which they defended the government, criticized the protesters — there were even suggestions that the protests were driven by “foreign actors” — or urged restraint.
However, since then, official statements have become much more conciliatory.
On Tuesday, September 30, the government issued a statement: “After reviewing various developments related to youthful expressions in electronic and public spaces, the government emphasizes it is listening and it understands these social demands,” the statement said, before emphasizing that the way forward must be based on dialogue.
The statement also said that the government was aware of problems within the local health system, and that it was working on other reforms that would empower local youth.
Fatima-Zahra Mansouri, Morocco’s housing minister and the mayor of Marrakesh, described the protests as a form of “democratic vitality.”
“We are not afraid of our youth,” she said at a meeting earlier this week. “Protesting is legitimate, but we want it to remain within the law so that dialogue is possible.”
During a live broadcast from inside parliament, Morocco’s health minister, Amin Tehraoui, acknowledged chronic shortages within the national health system. He had previously dismissed the director of the Agadir hospital that had been the subject of protests earlier in September.
Opposition parties have also said that the government should respond to the protesters’ demands. Some members of opposition parties even suggested that the government should step down over this.
One notable absence among official sources responding to the protests is the country’s billionaire Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch. As a result, Akhannouch has been the subject of much ridicule and criticism on social media platforms.
On social media, there are increasing calls for Morocco’s King Mohammed VI to intervene in the face of what is perceived as the government’s inefficacy.
Morocco has an elected parliament and is a constitutional monarchy. But in reality, it is the king, who’s been on the throne for over 22 years now, who wields most political and economic power.
The GenZ 212 activists insist they’re not targeting this system. “Our problem does not extend beyond the current government and its policies,” one statement said. “Do not confuse criticism of the situation with rejection of the nation.”
TAYLOR Swift looks stunning ahead of her The Life of A Showgirl album release as she films for the Graham Norton Show.
The stunning star, 35, is gearing up for the launch of her new album in style.
The episode will air on Friday night – with fans already excited for the interviewCredit: PA
She was simply dazzling as she sat on the famous red couch for the Graham Norton show taping, which will air on Friday night at 10:40pm on BBC One in the UK.
Sitting down with a host of famous faces, Taylor looked stunning as she donned a black minidress with silver detailing.
She could be seen beaming beside the likes of Cillian Murphy, Greta Lee, Jodie Turner-Smith, Domhnall Gleeson and Lewis Capaldi during filming for the hit talk show.
Taylor was glowing as she smiled on the sofa, with her blonde locks cascading over her shoulder.
The dress that the hitmaker wore was a sleek black minidress which had a halterneck-style neckline.
Bejewelled and glimmering beneath the studio lights, the neck of the dress was adorned in huge gems, reminiscent of her engagement ring given to her by husband-to-be Travis Kelce.
Fans have been quick to react to the snaps of the future Mrs Kelce.
“STUNNING AS ALWAYS,” swooned one person on X.
“SHE LOOKS GORGEOUSSSS. AND HER RING AHHHHHHHHH,” said a second.
A third person wrote: “OUR SHOWGIRL.”
While a fourth said: “SOOOO PRETTYYYY.”
But some others thought she looked a little different from how she usually does.
“Wait why does she look different?” asked one.
While another questioned her muted look, writing: “Why isn’t she dressed like a showgirl????
“Something like this would’ve made more sense right???”
These photos have dropped just mere hours before the world is graced with Taylor’s 12th studio album.
The Life Of A Showgirl was announced back in the summer on her then-boyfriend’s podcast, New Heights.
The album announcement came shortly before Taylor revealed she was engaged to be married to hunky NFL player Travis Kelce.
Frank Heemskerk, a top executive at the Dutch semiconductor giant ASML, made the remarks at a business event in Brussels when he was asked if his company had easy access to European leaders.
PM Modi interacted with the Dutch chip company CEO for over two hours. (pics: PTI/X)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s candid and business-friendly approach drew praise from Dutch semiconductor giant ASML, after its CEO Christophe Fouquet met him for two hours. According to ASML executive Frank Heemskerk, PM Modi not only listened but urged the company to offer feedback, saying: “You’re too friendly, tell me what we can do better.”
Heemskerk made the remarks at a business summit in Brussels when he was asked if his company had easy access to top leaders of the European Union.
“It’s not always easy. It’s easier to get a meeting in the White House with a senior official than to get a meeting with a commissioner,” he quipped.
He added that European policymakers should take a cue from PM Modi’s approach, noting that “political leaders should sit down with the companies that are making the investments.”
Commenting on ASML’s recent 1.3 billion euro deal with French AI firm Mistral, he said, “Of course, it’s easier since it’s a European company, we understand each other better.”
He, however, emphasised that the real reason for the partnership is Mistral’s strong focus on industrial AI, not geopolitics.
The Dutch tech giant’s praise for PM Modi comes as India is on the brink of a semiconductor revolution, making bold strides in developing semiconductor chips.
In August, the Prime Minister was presented with the first made-in-India chip called Vikram, which was developed by ISRO’s Semiconductor Laboratory.
Israel ordered all Palestinians to evacuate Gaza City, warning holdouts would face its offensive. The order comes as Hamas weighs US President Trump’s peace plan, which has drawn skepticism from Egypt and Qatar.
Displaced Palestinians fleeing northern Gaza carry their belongings along the coastal road toward southern Gaza (Photo: AP)
Israel’s defense minister issued a stark ultimatum on Wednesday: All remaining Palestinians must leave Gaza City immediately or face the “full force” of Israel’s expanding offensive.
In a statement posted on X, Defence Minister Israel Katz called the evacuation the residents’ “last opportunity” to move south before the military escalates operations. “Those who remain in Gaza will be considered terrorists and terror supporters,” Katz declared, framing the order as a final step to isolate Hamas fighters.
The announcement followed Israel’s claim that its forces had captured the Netzarim axis, a strategic corridor stretching to the Mediterranean that effectively splits the enclave in two and tightens the encirclement of Gaza City. The Israel Defense Forces said Palestinians fleeing south must pass through checkpoints as the fighting intensifies.
Katz insisted the campaign would continue until “all hostages are returned and Hamas is disarmed, on the path to ending the war.”
The evacuation order came as Hamas leaders weighed a new peace proposal put forward by US President Donald Trump. The 20-point plan, announced with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, calls for Hamas to release all hostages, give up power in Gaza, and disarm in exchange for Palestinian prisoner releases, the end of fighting, and large-scale reconstruction under international governance.
The plan has received broad international support but drew reservations from key mediators. Egypt’s Foreign Minister Bader Abdelatty said on Wednesday that more negotiations were needed, echoing Qatar’s concerns a day earlier.
A senior Hamas official, speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, said some provisions were “unacceptable” and would need amendments. He stressed that a formal response would come only after consultations with other Palestinian factions.
Nearly two years after Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack that killed 1,200 Israelis and triggered the war, 48 hostages remain in Gaza. Israel believes about 20 are still alive. Most of the others were released during earlier ceasefire agreements.
HUMAN TOLL
At least 21 more were killed Wednesday, local hospitals said. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of civilians remain trapped in Gaza City despite mass evacuations, many too weak or too poor to flee.
A new regulation issued in June aims to legalise these wells so long that they meet “good engineering practices” within four years.
Hundreds of community-run oil wells in Wonocolo village, East Java. (Photo: CNA/Wisnu Agung Prasetyo)
From a distance, the rolling hills and valleys of Wonocolo resemble the backdrop of a post-apocalyptic film.
As far as the eye can see, the trees that once blanketed these slopes have been replaced by three-legged towers – wooden logs lashed together with hemp rope, like skeletal sentinels jutting out of the ground.
Up close, the scene is even more surreal in this small East Javan village. The ground is dark and slick, streams are choked with iridescent oil and the air is thick with the smell of petroleum, the fossil fuel that is both Wonocolo’s economic lifeline and its undoing.
Oil wells have been a feature in the village for more than a century, first operated by Dutch colonial rulers followed by a succession of private and state-owned companies. Since the 1970s, they have been operated by locals with little training and rudimentary equipment.
Wonocolo is far from unique. Indonesia’s Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources estimates there are at least 30,000 of these so-called community-run oil wells scattered across the country.
“They conduct drilling activities with little to no safety precautions or regard for the environment,” said Putra Adhiguna, managing director of the think tank Energy Shift Institute. “As a result, blowouts and oil spills are rampant.”
These wells operate without permits, he added, but the government has long turned a blind eye because of their role in sustaining local economies.
That stance is now shifting. On Jun 3, the Energy Ministry issued a regulation allowing artisanal oil wells to operate legally provided that they meet yet-to-be-determined safety and environmental standards in four years’ time.
“(The Indonesian government) is trying to find a middle ground. By legalising the activity, the government hopes these wells can be better monitored and regulated,” Putra said.
“But oil extraction is not like other forms of mining. Even licensed oil and gas operations run by official companies … carry major risks. If such operations are run by ordinary people without sufficient resources, it’s bound to become chaotic.”
In August, a fire at an oil well in Central Java’s Blora regency killed four people, injured two and forced the evacuation of about 800 people.
Firefighters struggled to put it out for seven days. The burning well was “unusually wide” and it was difficult to “shut off the source of the fire”, Blora’s disaster mitigation agency head Muhammad Chomsul reportedly said.
OIL RUSH GOING STRONG
Oil was first discovered in the area in 1870 by Dutch engineers, who found oil about 10km southwest of Wonocolo, in the village of Ledok in Blora regency.
By the early 20th century, dozens of oil wells had been set up in what is now known as the Cepu oil block, which straddles the border of Central and East Java.
“If the Dutch found oil on your property, they would certainly grab your land and leave you homeless. If you keep the oil for yourself, you will be accused of stealing, sent to jail or shot,” said 64-year-old Ledok resident Tarmadi, recalling tales from the colonial era he had heard from his late father.
When Japan invaded Indonesia in 1942, the wells were plugged, ransacked or set on fire by retreating Dutch troops who did not want them to fall into enemy hands.
After Indonesia gained independence, several private companies and state-owned enterprises tried to manage a number of these wells.
“Not all (wells) were profitable enough for big companies,” Tarmadi told CNA, adding that the wells ignored by corporations ended up in the hands of locals.
Villagers with some experience in the oil industry began restoring these abandoned wells. Rusted pipes were replaced with new ones while wooden towers were raised over the shafts.
At the top of each tower, a pulley was hung to lower and raise a steel plunger that collects the oil. In the early days, these pulleys were powered by sheer muscle. Later, villagers repurposed old truck engines to do the heavy lifting.
Wonocolo resident and oil driller Laman told CNA that at first, there were only a handful of community-run operations in his village. But the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis changed everything.
As factories shut down and millions lost their jobs, many returned to their hometowns to try their luck in the oil fields.
“People weren’t just restoring old dormant wells, they were digging new ones too,” said Laman, 72, as he watched his workers scramble to fix a leak in his well’s ageing shaft pipes.
Today, there are 425 wells in Wonocolo, a village of just 2,000 people spread over 11 square kilometres. Each well produces around 500 litres of crude oil a day, according to Laman.
Most of the crude is sold to a refinery operated by state oil company Pertamina, which buys at about 30 per cent below market price.
Even so, well owners can earn between 2 million and 4 million rupiah (US$130 to US$260) in revenue per day, a huge sum in a regency where the minimum salary is 2.5 million rupiah per month.
“But you spend a lot of money to keep these wells running. The older they get, the more expensive to maintain them,” Laman said.
From as low as a few hundred dollars, the cost of running the wells can balloon to tens of thousands of dollars if there is a major leak which requires entire shaft pipes to be replaced.
Meanwhile in Blora, a regency of 2,000 square kilometres, there are some 4,000 wells spread across dozens of villages.
“These wells are providing our residents with jobs and economic growth. Every year, our economy grows by upwards of 7 per cent,” Blora regent Arief Rohman told CNA.
By comparison, Indonesia’s economy expanded by 5.12 per cent year-on-year in the second quarter of 2025.
NEW POLICY AIMS TO RAISE SAFETY STANDARDS
The new regulation provides a legal umbrella for communities to operate their own oil wells.
The rules, however, specify that only existing wells – those originally drilled by large corporations but later left idle or abandoned – qualify. In addition, well owners must join a cooperative or register as a small or medium-sized enterprise.
Communities are also required to follow what the government calls “good engineering practices”.
“For years, there have been many accidents. They carried out drilling activities without regard for the environment. What the Minister (Bahlil Lahadalia) wants is to regulate these practices so such incidents can be avoided,” energy ministry spokeswoman Dwi Anggia told CNA.
Statistics on community-run oil well accidents are hard to come by because they existed in a legal grey area and often operated in secret. The latest blowout occurred on Sep 12 in Banyuasin regency, South Sumatra, killing five people. Police are still investigating the cause of the blowout.
The worst incident occurred on Apr 25, 2018 when a well in Aceh exploded as dozens of workers were extracting oil from it. Twenty-eight people were killed and dozens more suffered severe burns.
Legalising the practice, Dwi said, will allow major oil contractors and companies to formally work with traditional miners – training them in safety procedures, environmental protection, and introducing modern technology to support their operations.
The regulation comes as Indonesia seeks to boost its oil production to one million barrels per day by 2030.
Oil output peaked in the 1990s at about 1.6 million barrels per day. Since then, production has declined so sharply that Indonesia became a net oil importer in 2003. The current national output is about 580,000 barrels per day.
Dwi said the government is still defining what “good engineering practices” will entail, while also formulating programmes to help communities meet them.
“There will certainly be technical guidelines issued to regulate all of this,” she said, adding that the government is giving artisanal oil miners four years to comply.
“If during those four years they fail to comply with good engineering practices, then their wells will be shut down. And if there is evidence of criminal violations, law enforcement action will be taken.”
Some miners welcomed the new regulation. “We no longer have to worry about breaking the law. It puts us in a better position to negotiate prices with refineries, and we can even apply for loans. Everything will finally be above board,” said Wonocolo resident Laman.
But others remain cautious as many questions remain unanswered.
“What exactly will the requirements be? Will they be realistic for small miners like us, or only accessible to those with huge capital?” asked Tarmadi of Ledok, Blora.
NEW WELLS BEING DUG IN HOPES THEY WILL BE ALLOWED
Regional governments across Indonesia are currently racing to catalogue old and idle wells – no simple task in a landscape where some lie hidden deep in forests or perched on remote hills, reachable only by miles of bumpy dirt tracks.
But as officials vet these old wells, new ones are being dug in the hope they, too, will be recognised as “existing”.
The deadly inferno that broke out in Blora’s Gandu village on Aug 17, Indonesia’s Independence Day, was reportedly drilled earlier this year and had been operating for only a week.
“It was like a bomb went off,” recalled 44-year-old Supriyati, a mother of two who lived just metres from the site.
At the time, she could feel the ground shaking beneath her feet. Shockwaves ripped through her home, collapsing walls and leaving half the house in ruins.
She vividly remembers neighbours screaming and running in every direction as flames clawed at the sky.
Government officials have since plugged the well and ordered all villagers to return to their homes. But Supriyati still refuses to sleep in what remains of her house, choosing instead to live with relatives more than a kilometre away.
“I’m still worried … it could erupt again without warning,” she said.
Energy ministry spokeswoman Dwi Anggia said the regulation only applies to existing wells drilled in the past, before the new rules came into effect.
“If there are new wells dug after this regulation was issued in June 2025, then law enforcement action will be taken,” she told CNA.
Blora regent Arief Rohman said there are at least three more wells in Gandu that officials suspect were dug after the regulation was enacted.
Like the one which blew up, these wells were dangerously close to people’s homes and authorities have since shut them and arrested those operating them.
Chances are you know someone coughing and spluttering – hopefully not directly on you – right now.
There are lots of coughs and colds doing the rounds as autumn draws in.
But why now, how do you know if it’s more than just a cold and how can you avoid the worst.
Medical doctor Dr Oscar Duke, who is also a regular TV presenter including on the BBC’s Morning Live, shares his top tips.
Does colder weather cause colds?
Research on the extent to which cold weather impacts our immune systems remains unclear.
But darker days mean we typically make a beeline for warm, cosy, indoor spaces.
And this environment is perfect for viruses.
It’s also when young children get back together at school after the summer holidays.
School and nursery can be like a petri dish with lots of viruses circulating and they may well bring these germs home with them.
The same applies to freshers in university halls – where mixing together spreads germs, while heavy drinking and partying further weaken the immune system.
Is it a cold, flu or Covid?
Many of the symptoms between cold, flu and more serious viruses like Covid, overlap.
But there are some clues that might help you identify the exact culprit.
If a cold’s coming on, then it often does so gradually.
It’s going to affect your nose and the back of your throat, while some will get a tickling at the back of the mouth.
Another early warning sign can be a build-up of pressure in the ear.
If the virus spreads further, it can reach your lungs and cause a pesky cough.
Mostly however, these symptoms don’t stop us from carrying on as normal.
The same can’t be said for flu, which typically adds aches, fevers and muscle weakness into the mix.
Flu doesn’t mean you have to go to bed, but it might make you feel that way.
Since the pandemic, Covid has complicated things further, with similar symptons to flu.
But one key Covid-specific identifier can be a loss of smell or taste. Another, as new variants Stratus and Nimbus spike this winter, is a “razor-sharp” sore throat. Diarrhoea is also common.
The recommendation is to stay home and rest and recover.
However, if you have underlying conditions, experience breathlessness or find symptoms don’t ease after three weeks, then you shouldn’t hesitate to seek medical advice.
Can I help make myself better?
Our bodies naturally fight viruses and infection, but we can also give it a helping hand with the right medication.
Paracetamol: Provided you’re okay to take it, this or ibuprofen is the first port of call. Both are really good for helping to bring the fever down and softening any pain that you might have. But remember that lots of cough and cold mixtures include traces of paracetamol, so make sure you’re not accidentally taking too much
Vitamin C: This is often thought to help defend against colds. But there’s not a huge amount of evidence for this. Unless you’re deficient, focusing on a healthy, balanced diet is far more important
Vitamin D: A top-up of vitamin D in colder months is recommended by the NHS, because let’s face it, we don’t usually get much sunlight at this time of year in the UK
Decongestant spray: Sure, they feel great and provide instant relief, but using sprays too often can cause rebound congestion- when your nose becomes dependent and swells without a fix. I suggest using them for no more than four of five days
Chicken soup: There’s little evidence of the dish fighting viruses directly, but its heat can help warm the back of your throat and soothe some of those symptoms. It’s also a good way to take on extra fluids, with hydration vital as you battle infection.
The school district superintendent arrested by ICE this week lied about attending MIT and was the subject of two sex discrimination lawsuits, The Post has learned.
Snappy-dresser Ian Andre Roberts, 51, was fired by Des Moines Public Schools after it emerged he was working illegally and had been avoiding a deportation order.
Roberts spent over twenty years bouncing around the nation’s education system, holding top posts from coast-to-coast, but also proved controversial.
“He ruined our district for three years,” a former colleague in the state told The Post. “He was very smooth, affable, but the overarching feeling you got from him was smoke and mirrors, mystique.”
Des Moines schools superintendent Ian Andre Roberts, a 51-year-old illegal alien from Guyana, was arrested on Sept. 26 after he attempted to flee officers and was found hiding in brush. The Des Moines Register-USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
He is also rumored to have been caught having sex with a female coworker on school property at his previous role as a superintendent in rural Pennsylvania, a post he held from 2020 to 2023.
Former colleagues claimed to The Post Roberts was a sketchy figure and pathological liar. They said they felt he was hired because of his Diversity, Equity and Inclusion bona fides — and claimed once on the job he did little work.
“He was a player. He liked the women,” a source who knew Roberts, who asked not to be named, told The Post.
Another source expressed concern to the school board in Pennsylvania Roberts might not be a legal resident based on casual comments he had made — but their concern was ignored, they said.
Reports indicate Roberts has not been legally allowed to work in the US since at least 2020, when his employment authorization expired.
Originally from Guyana, Roberts had been ordered to be deported during the Biden administration. He was arrested by ICE on Sept. 26 after attempting to flee officers and was found hiding in brush. The school-owned vehicle he was driving contained a fixed-blade hunting knife, a loaded Glock 19 firearm, and $3,000 in cash.
Since then it has emerged he has faked many of his credentials.
According to the Des Moines School District website, the slick supervisor earned an MBA at MIT’s Sloan School of Management. However, a spokesperson for the elite school told The Post they have no record of it.
He also claimed to have attended Harvard and Georgetown. Those schools did not respond to requests for verification from The Post.
For years, Roberts also falsely claimed he had a doctorate degree from Baltimore’s Morgan State University. A school official told the Des Moines Register he did not obtain a degree from that school, either.
Roberts was superintendent of Millcreek Township schools near Erie, Penn., for three years.
During that time the school district was inundated by lawsuits — and forced to pay out over $400,000 in sex discrimination settlements — claiming Roberts promoted less qualified women over more deserving men.
Town gossip claimed Roberts ran out of Millcreek after he was caught having sex with a female coworker on school property — although this could not be verified by The Post.
“There were rumors flying around about his, let’s say, extracurricular activities,” a former colleague in that district said.
A lawyer for Roberts did not immediately return The Post’s request for comment.
At the time of Roberts’ abrupt resignation, however, Millcreek schools was also in the process of negotiating a $250,000 a settlement with former HR chief Melody Ellington. She was threatening to sue the district for “constructive discharge” following her own resignation in 2022 after only one year on the job.
“Constructive discharge,” according to the Labor Dept., applies to situations when a resignation is involuntary due to a hostile or intolerable work environment.
Other than Ellington, Roberts is the only school district official identified by name in the settlement, according to the Erie Times-News.
One source told The Post that Ellington was Roberts’ girlfriend, but this could not be confirmed. Ellington, moved out of state after her resignation, and did not return calls for comment.
According to Ellington’s LinkedIn profile, she worked at St. Louis public schools as Director of Budget from 2015-2020, the same time Roberts was superintendent of St. Louis public schools.
A former colleague told The Post that Roberts “brought Ellington with him” to Millcreek when he accepted the job.
Former colleagues and Millcreek community members said some members of the school board were very “attracted to” notions of DEI and equity, which drew them toward Roberts as a candidate despite his “glaring red flags.”
Among those red flags, a 2020 firearms violation, which is at the root of him now being detained for removal.
Once he started the job, coworkers, parents, and members of the community noticed something was off.
“It seemed like he was more about the persona of being the superintendent and not necessarily fulfilling all the responsibilities to the district and parents and students,” a former colleague, who didn’t want to be named, told The Post.
“But those in the community who were pleased with his hire, from a DEI perspective, were reluctant to address it, or didn’t see it.”
Others noticed Roberts seemed more preoccupied with running a side-hustle, giving speeches about racial equity and tending to various BLM-themed projects, than doing the work of a school superintendent.
Former colleagues also said he was a pathological deceiver, telling lies about ordinary, conversational things that weren’t consistent from person to person — such as how many children he had.
Even still, while Roberts publicly claims to have a wife, his former co-worker told The Post they had never met or seen her and wouldn’t be surprised if she didn’t exist. Another person who knew Roberts said Roberts didn’t hide the fact he was actively on the wife-hunt for immigration reasons.
In his role at Des Moines schools, the largest district in the state, Roberts raked in a fat $287,000 annual base salary. He officially resigned on Wednesday, while detained.
The district insists it didn’t break any laws and received all the appropriate paperwork to verify his employment eligibility.
Millcreek hired him following a vetting and search process by Minneapolis-based recruitment firm Ray and Associates, a representative for Millcreek told The Post. The recruitment company did not respond to a request for comment.
“The School District received all required clearances, including an FBI background check, prior to Roberts serving as Superintendent. No disqualifying events were identified,” the school district said in a statement.
More shocking, it was revealed this week Roberts has an active Democrat voter registration in Maryland, prompting congressional Republicans to demand answers from the Maryland State Board of Elections about “gaping holes” in the state’s election integrity systems, according to Fox News.
The protestors marched in the French capital on Tuesday afternoon from Place d’Italie in protest against the spending cuts and demanding higher taxes on rich.
This photograph shows a view of a placard reading “Due to a strike the Eiffel Tower is closed, we apologize” with the Eiffel Tower in the background, amid a nation-wide day of strike in Paris. (Photo by Alain JOCARD / AFP)(AFP)
The protests in France resumed on Thursday as thousands of people took to the streets against the government’s sharp spending cuts in over 200 towns and cities, and leading to the closure of Eiffel Tower in Paris.
The protestors, including workers, retirees and students, marched in the French capital on Tuesday afternoon from Place d’Italie in protest against the spending cuts and demanding higher taxes on rich. The Eiffel Tower issued a statement informing visitors that it was closed due to the strikes.
The strikes are the latest of a series of protests that started in France last month amid a political turmoil and heated budget talks, Associated Press reported.
The French Interior Ministry said that 195,000 protesters have taken to the street across the country, including 24,000 in Paris.
The protests have affected regional train services and healthcare. While the metro traffic was functioning close to normal in Paris, but the trains were running at reduced capacity. Several teachers and health care workers also joined the strikes.
All about the French strikes
Several thousand protesters have marched across France demanding action against the government’s plans for sharp spending cuts in next year’s budget.
The trade unions are trying to keep the pressure on President Emmanuel Macron and his new prime minister, Sebastien Lecornu, who is trying to break an impasse in budget negotiations with political rivals.
Lecornu, who was appointed last month, has not yet unveiled the details of his budget plans and has yet to appoint his government ministers. The deeply divided parliament is to debate the budget bill by the end of the year.
The union leaders have been demanding more spending on public services, reversal of government’s decision to increase the retirement age and higher taxes on wealthy.
Vladimir Putin’s remarks followed JD Vance’s statement that Ukraine was seeking the Tomahawk missiles and that Washington was considering the request.
Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin shake hands during a press conference(REUTERS/File)
Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that the country’s relationship with the US would take a hit if Tomahawk missiles are supplied to Ukraine, adding that the situation on the battleground would still not change.
Pointing out that the use of Tomahawk missiles would be dangerous and would pose a risk, Putin said, “This will mean a completely new, qualitatively new stage of escalation, including in relations between Russia and the United States.” He also said that it would be “impossible” to use such arms without the direct deployment of American military personnel.
The Russian President’s remarks followed US Vice President JD Vance’s statement that Ukraine was seeking the long-range Tomahawk missiles and that Washington was considering the request.
However, the supply of these missiles may not be viable as most of the stock is already reserved for the US Navy and other needs, news agency Reuters reported, quoting sources.
It was also reported earlier that the US will provide Ukraine with intel on long-range energy infrastructure targets in Russia. According to Wall Street Journal, this would make it easier for Ukraine to hit key infrastructure in Russia, depriving the country of revenue and oil.
Reacting to questions on the US’s potential plans for Ukraine, Putin asserted that while the Tomahawk missiles will inflict damage on Russia, the Kremlin’s air defences would soon adapt to the threat. “It will certainly not change the balance of force on the battlefield,” he added.
Putin made these remarks even as he heaped praise on his last meeting with Donald Trump in Alaska, where the leaders met to negotiate peace talks amid the Russia-Ukraine war. “It was good that we made an attempt to search for and find possible ways to settle the Ukrainian crisis,” Putin said, adding that he felt “comfortable” talking to Trump.
Erika Kirk, the new CEO of Turning Point USA, has come under scrutiny over her handling of late husband Charlie Kirk’s death, with US commentator Nick Fuentes calling her “very fake”.
Erika Kirk at Charlie Kirk’s memorial service
Erika Kirk, who recently took over as CEO of Turning Point USA following the assassination of her husband Charlie Kirk on September 10, is already facing criticism. Far-right commentator Nick Fuentes on Wednesday openly questioned her actions and the organisation’s handling of Charlie’s death.
“I really don’t like how (Turning Point USA) has been handling his death. It’s gratuitous,” Fuentes said during a stream on Rumble.
Fuentes added that he ‘got a really bad feeling’ about Erika and the organisation since the shooting at Utah Valley University.
“I am getting this vibe from her that she’s very fake,” he said on Saturday. Speaking about Erika’s public displays of grief, he remarked ‘something’s not right there’. “She looks like she’s over the moon. She’s happy as a clam,” he added.
Erika’s appearances after Charlie’s death have sparked debate, including her dramatic entry with fireworks at a memorial event.
“Everyone says ‘Oh everybody grieves differently.’ I don’t know how much mileage we can get out of that one,” Fuentes said. “I think they were pushing it when she filmed his dead body. I think they were pushing it when she took control of the organization 72 hours later. I think they were pushing it with the fireworks and the WWE Batista entrance when she gave the eulogy at his funeral.”
Investigations into the cause of the collapse are ongoing, but initial signs point to substandard construction, said experts.
This aerial shot taken with a drone shows the rubble of a building that collapsed at the compound of an Islamic boarding school in Sidoarjo, East Java, Indonesia, Sep 30, 2025. (Photo: AP/Trisnadi)
About 59 people remain trapped under the ruins of a collapsed school on Indonesia’s main island of Java, a rescue service official said Thursday (Oct 2).
“Data updated Wednesday at 11pm indicates that 59 people are still trapped under the rubble,” Abdul Muhari, spokesman for the National Disaster and Mitigation Agency, said in a statement, adding that the data was evolving as some people who survived the incident have not yet come forward.
Muhari said the figure was based on an attendance list released by the multi-storey boarding school, which gave way suddenly on Monday as students gathered for afternoon prayers, killing at least five people.
Rescuers pulled five survivors from the rubble on Wednesday as frantic parents demanded stronger efforts to find dozens of children believed to still be trapped.
Investigations into the cause of the collapse are ongoing, but initial signs point to substandard construction, experts have said.
THE RESCUE OPERATION
The rescue operation is complex, said Mohammad Syafii, head of the National Search and Rescue Agency on Wednesday.
“If vibration happens in one spot, it could affect other places. So now, to reach the spot where the victims are, we have to dig an underground tunnel,” he told reporters.
Digging itself poses challenges, including possible landslides. And any tunnel will only provide an access route around 60cm wide because of the structure’s concrete columns.
Technology including thermal-sensing drones is being used to locate survivors and the deceased as the 72-hour “golden period” for best survival chances nears its end.
So far, signs of life have been detected in seven areas, said rescue official Emi Freezer of the National Search and Rescue Agency.
Water and food was being sent in, but access was through a single point, he said. “The main structure has totally collapsed.”
Complicating the operation, an earthquake struck offshore overnight, briefly halting the search.
Authorities said two Germans and one Lebanese national had procured weapons to be used in violent acts targeting Israeli or Jewish institutions in Germany.
Anti-terrorism investigators monitored the men as they made a weapons exchangeImage: A. Friedrichs/IMAGO
Prosecutors in Berlin said they have arrested three suspected Hamas operatives. The suspects were preparing attacks on Israeli and Jewish institutions in Germany, authorities said.
Hamas has been designated a a terrorist organization by Germany, the EU, the US and several governments.
The three men, two Germans and one Lebanese national, were identified by authorities as Abed Al G., Wael F. M. and Ahmad I. Their last names were not disclosed, in line with German privacy rules.
The men are suspected of being involved in gathering firearms and ammunition to be used for acts of violence.
“The weapons were to be used by Hamas for assassinations targeting Israeli or Jewish institutions in Germany,” according to the Office of the Federal Public Prosecutor General.
Security forces found various weapons during the arrest, “including an AK-47 assault rifle, several pistols and a considerable amount of ammunition.”
Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said in a statement that the incident represented “a threat of terrorism” and that the suspects had been under authorities’ surveillance.
Federal Minister of Justice Stefanie Hubig said it was clear that “Jewish life in Germany is under threat.”
Hubig said the state must act against these threats: “We all have a duty to protect Jewish life. That also means zero tolerance for antisemitism, under any circumstances.”
How were they caught?
Interior Minister Dobrindt said they had been monitoring the threat all along.
“A few months ago, a terrorist suspect known to us with Hamas contacts entered Germany,” Dobrindt said, adding that since then, authorities began monitoring him. Dobrindt said the suspects were apprehended “at the right time.”
The Federal Prosecutor’s Office said the men were intercepted by anti-terrorism investigators, who monitored the suspects during a meeting in Berlin for a weapons exchange.
As operational forces intervened, they discovered functional weapons, including a Glock pistol.
An Afghan man in the border town of Spin Boldak looked at his phone on Wednesday after internet service was restored
Afghans have taken to the streets to rejoice in the restoration of internet and telecom services after the Taliban government shut them down, provoking widespread condemnation.
Local reporters said communications were resuming, while internet monitor Netblocks said network data showed a “partial restoration” of connectivity.
A source close to the government confirmed to BBC Afghan that the internet was back by order of the Taliban prime minister.
The 48-hour blackout disrupted businesses and flights, limited access to emergency services and raised fears about further isolating women and girls whose rights have been severely eroded since the hardline Islamist group swept back to power in 2021.
On Wednesday evening hundreds of Afghans took the streets in the capital city Kabul to spread the word that the internet was back.
One man told BBC Afghan: “Everyone is happy, holding their cell phones and talking to their relatives.
“From women, to men and Talibs [a member of the Taliban], each was talking on phones after services were restored. There are more crowds now in the city.”
Suhail Shaheen, a senior Taliban spokesman in Qatar, said “all communications” were restored by Wednesday afternoon.
The Taliban government has not given an official explanation for the shutdown.
However, last month, a spokesperson for the Taliban governor in the northern province of Balkh said internet access was being blocked “for the prevention of vices”.
Since returning to power, the Taliban have imposed numerous restrictions in accordance with their interpretation of Islamic Sharia law.
Afghan women have told the BBC that the internet was a lifeline to the outside world since the Taliban banned girls over the age of 12 from receiving an education.
Women’s job options have also been severely restricted and in September, books written by women were removed from universities.
Following the internet shutdown on Monday, the UN said it left Afghanistan almost completely cut off from the outside world.
It added that the blackout risked “inflicting significant harm on the Afghan people, including by threatening economic stability and exacerbating one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises”.
During the blackout, the BBC was told that the centre of Kabul was noticeably quieter, with banks closed and shopping centres near empty.
In the money exchange market, all international transfers had been stopped – meaning vital money, often from family members abroad, could not enter Afghanistan.
Afghans living outside the country phoned in to a BBC Afghan radio show in the hopes their messages reached family members still there.
Travel agents were either closed or only partially open to provide customers with information. Flights in and out of the country were cancelled.
“This is the gradual death,” one shopkeeper told us. “When there is no hope, no chances of progress, no freedom of speech, no optimism for the future of your child, no stability for your business, where you can’t benefit from your studies.”
But on Wednesday, the mood lifted when people could use the internet and call each other again.
Delivery driver Sohrab Ahmadi said: “It’s like Eid al-Adha; it’s like preparing to go for prayer.
Conservationist Dame Jane Goodall, a world-leading expert on chimpanzees, has died aged 91.
Former US president Barack Obama was among those who paid tribute to Dr Goodall, who he said, “opened doors for generations of women in science”.
Actor and environmental campaigner Leonardo DiCaprio said that she “inspired millions to care, to act, and to hope”, and called her a “a true hero for the planet”.
Dr Goodall died of natural causes while in California on a speaking tour of the US, according to a statement from the Jane Goodall Institute.
It said her discoveries “revolutionised science” and that she was “a tireless advocate for the protection and restoration of our natural world”.
The United Nations said it mourned the loss of Dr Goodall, saying that she “worked tirelessly for our planet and all its inhabitants, leaving an extraordinary legacy for humanity and nature”.
Greenpeace said it was “heartbroken” by her death, calling her “one of the true conservation giants of our time”.
Its co-executive director in the UK, Will McCallum, said: “Dr Goodall’s legacy is not only in science but in the global movement she helped spark to protect nature and give hope for a better world.”
Naturalist Chris Packham told the BBC that he counted her among his heroes, calling her “revolutionary” and “remarkable”.
“To have lost a hero at a time when we need all of them on the frontline fighting for life on earth is a tragedy.”
Dr Jane Goodall observing a chimpanzee in Tanzania in 1987
Born in 1934 and raised in London, Dr Goodall said she became fascinated by animals after reading books like The Story of Dr Doolittle and Tarzan.
She met leading primatologist Prof Louis Leakey while staying on a friend’s farm in Kenya in her mid-twenties. Although she had no qualifications, Mr Leakey saw her potential and helped arrange her first research trip to the jungles of Tanzania in 1960.
That year, she became the first person to record witnessing an animal using a tool – a large male chimpanzee, who she had named David Greybeard, digging termites out of a mound with a stick.
Until then, it was thought only humans were intelligent enough to do so. Her observations challenged years of conventional scientific thinking and shaped the future of evolutionary science.
Her work was published in leading journals, and in 1965 she made the front cover of National Geographic, introducing the world to the emotional and social lives of the primates.
She revealed that the animals form strong family bonds and even engage in warfare over territory. She featured in a television documentary narrated by Orson Welles, which saw her playing and wrestling with baby chimps.
Her approach – associating so closely with the animals she studied, naming them and even referring to them as “my friends” – was scoffed at by some, mostly male, scientists at the time. She undertook a PhD based on her findings, despite not having an undergraduate degree or any prior scientific training.
After her experiences in the field she became an activist, working to free chimpanzees kept in zoos or in captivity for medical research, and later urged action on climate change in the face of widespread habitat devastation.
She told the BBC in 2024: “We’re in the midst of the sixth great extinction… the more we can do to restore nature and protect existing forests, the better.”
Asked what kept her motivated late in life, she said: “Surely people want a future for their children.”
Her Jane Goodall Institute, founded in 1977, works to protect chimpanzees and supports projects aimed at benefiting animals and the environment.
Dr Goodall was appointed a Dame in 2003 and received the US Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2025.
She was known for travelling constantly for her work, telling the Times newspaper in 2022 that she had not slept in the same bed for more than three weeks since 1986.
Dr Goodall worked right up until her death, being interviewed on stage in New York a week ago. She was due to speak again at a sold-out event on 3 October in California.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex joined the many honouring the legacy of Dr Goodall, describing her as a “tireless advocate” for the protection of nature.
Female US Army veterans say standards for combat positions in the military were always the same, regardless of gender
Women who served in the US military are pushing back against Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth’s announcement that the requirements for combat roles will “return to the highest male standard”, saying the standards have always been the same for men and women.
“None of us have ever asked for special treatment,” Elisa Cardnell, who served in the US Navy for eleven years, told the BBC.
Speaking to hundreds of generals on Tuesday, Hegseth reiterated his beliefs that the military had lowered standards to accommodate women and put service members at risk. His new directives would bring them back to a higher level, he said.
“If it means no women qualify for combat jobs, then so be it,” he said.
He maintained that women would not be excluded from the armed forces outright.
In January, the former Fox News commentator barely won approval in the Senate to head the Pentagon. Vice-President JD Vance had to break the tie vote, as many lawmakers struggled with his views about women in the military and about diversity.
On Tuesday he told the generals that he had emailed them 10 directives that included the “male standard”.
Some female veterans were outraged.
“I am sick and tired of Pete Hegseth lying about women in the military and standards,” former US Marine fighter pilot Amy McGarth said in a video on Instagram.
“There has always been one standard for those jobs,” she said. “There was never a man’s standard or a woman’s standard for flying a jet.”
Ms Cardnell, too, said gender and age were not part of assessments given for combat roles.
Combat standards are set differently depending on the unit a person is serving in, whether they are in special operations, infantry, armour or pararescue, she said. But all personnel in those roles have to pass the same test.
“These standards have always been gender neutral, and they have always been set at a high standard,” she said. “Of course, not all women are going to make those, but not all men do either.”
This is not the same for the annual physical tests given to all service members, which include routine exercises like push-ups. There, the standards and scores differ based on age and gender, and the tests vary by unit.
Ms Cardnell said it remains unclear if Hegseth will actually bring sweeping changes to how military personnel are assessed. The BBC asked the Pentagon for clarification on Hegseth’s plans.
In his speech, Hegseth said: “Any place where tried-and-true physical standards were altered, especially since 2015, when combat arms standards were changed to ensure females could qualify, must be returned to their original standard.”
He appeared to refer to a directive in 2015 by then-Defence Secretary Ash Carter that all military jobs be open to women and that any person, regardless of gender, who meets the standards should be able to serve.
“When it comes to any job that requires physical power to perform in combat, those physical standards must be high and gender neutral,” Hegseth said. “If women can make it, excellent. If not, it is what it is.”
Broadly, Hegseth said he was changing requirements throughout the military to “fix decades of decay” and that the armed forces have “promoted too many uniformed leaders for the wrong reasons,” like race, gender and “historic so-called firsts”.
Senator Tammy Duckworth, an Army veteran who was severely injured while serving as a combat pilot in Iraq, told the BBC after the speech: “For a guy who’s not qualified for his own job, it’s pretty discriminatory to talk about women who are qualified to do their jobs.”
She added that his remarks could hurt recruitment.
Women in the US military were first allowed to fly combat aircraft in the Navy and Air Force in 1993, although they were excluded from ground combat. That changed in 2013 when the Combat Exclusion Policy was lifted and by 2016 combat roles were open to all.
Because of how recently women were included in all ranks, many are now still in the middle of their careers, Ms Cardnell said.
“It takes time to see those women break that brass ceiling, and we haven’t had a chance to see that,” she said.
Now active and veteran female soldiers are concerned that Hegseth is building a military culture where women will be undermined and unable to advance, she said.
“Leadership sets the tone,” she said.
Not all female soldiers opposed Hegseth’s comments.
Republican House Representative Sheri Biggs, who served as a lieutenant colonel in the Air National Guard, said that she supported the defence secretary’s efforts to end “woke” policies from the military.
TWO sick church leaders have been arrested for allegedly running a de facto slavery empire out of their Florida mansion.
For 11 years, the leaders abused dozens of people, including children, forcing them to work for free in squalid conditions under the constant threat of violence, police say.
Dozens of churchgoers were found in a Florida mansionCredit: WFLA
Church leaders Michelle Brannon, 56, and David Taylor, 53, are suspected of being the leaders of the operation that enslaved 57 people.
Taylor, who refers to himself as an “apostle,” founded the church, formerly known as Joshua Media Ministries, and Brannon served as the executive director, according to the Department of Justice.
The dozens of laborers were forced to operate the church’s call center for free in nightmare conditions.
Newly released court documents give an inside look at the shocking operation they allegedly conducted in the basement of a Tampa mansion.
The victims were subjected to food and sleep deprivation, threats, and physical abuse, Fox affiliate WTVT reported.
They slept on floors and lived in either the garage or small rooms with barely any access to bathrooms, court documents state.
During the workday, victims were required to solicit donations for the church, resulting in a total of $50 million in donations, according to court documents.
The duo was arrested on August 27 after the FBI raided the mansion.
The FBI did not state whether they are looking at any additional suspects.
HORROR WITNESS ACCOUNTS
Former church employees have come out to describe the alleged abuse the workers suffered under the reign of Brannon and Taylor.
“I did see David Taylor get aggressive with the staff,” said Leslie Portillo, who lived at the church ministry in Detroit, told WTVT.
“They’re not using the money for good; they’re using it to fund their very lavish lifestyle.”
Portillo separated from the church after she claimed to see other disturbing sights, but her friend continued to work for Taylor.
“They’re not getting paid for anything,” Portillo added.
The former church employee claimed that her friend died of cancer and never got to see her family, as she was restricted from talking to the outside world.
“The family members have been waiting for so many years for their family member, for their loved one to come back,” Portillo said.
“Unfortunately, too many people were hurt in the midst of all of this.
“I know it’s going to be a process, but I know we are going to find out the truth.”
DAMNING EVIDENCE
Court documents reported that an “estimated $500,000 in gold bars; $60,000 in cash; valuable jewelry from a locked safe in a closet; designer clothing and purses; and foreign currency” were found in Brannon’s bedroom.
Investigators also found multiple stone statues and decorative pillars on the ground.
Several expensive cars, including seven Mercedes-Benz and two Bentley sedans, were also found on the property, authorities reported.
Investigators also found a text allegedly sent by Brannon to church employees in which she ordered harsh consequences for those who don’t meet call quotas.
“Did you rebuke him for this,” she allegedly wrote.
“He needs to be raked over the coals for this?? He can die for this.”
Taylor and Brannon now face a 10-count indictment on forced labor and money laundering charges in Michigan, where the church’s headquarters is located.
The duo faces decades in prison and over $1 million in fines if convicted.
Speaking in Pakistan’s Parliament, Aimal Wali Khan accused Asim Munir of behaving “like a salesman” while Shehbaz Sharif looked on “like a manager”.
Pakistani senator Aimal Wali Khan equated Asim Munir presenting rare earth minerals to Donald Trump to an “elite designer shop”, (@AimalWali/X)
Pakistani senator Aimal Wali Khan has lashed out at Army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir for allegedly presenting rare earth minerals to former US President Donald Trump during Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s Washington visit, calling it a “mockery” and questioning under what authority the military chief was showcasing the country’s strategic resources.
Speaking in Pakistan’s Parliament, Aimal Wali Khan accused Asim Munir of behaving “like a salesman” while Shehbaz Sharif looked on “like a manager watching the drama”.
Last week, Shehbaz Sharif and Asim Munir met Donald Trump in the White House.
“Our chief of army staff is roaming around with a briefcase containing rare earth minerals. What a joke! It was absolute mockery. Whoever saw that photo thought, ‘Which chief of the army staff would go around carrying a briefcase with rare earth minerals?’ To me, it looked like a big, branded store – a manager watched on happily as a shopkeeper tells a customer to purchase a big, glittery thing from him.”
He added, “In what capacity? Under which law? This is dictatorship. I am sorry to say this is not democracy…is this not contempt of parliament?” he added.
Earlier, Khan equated Munir presenting rare earth minerals to Trump to an “elite designer shop”, highlighting his skepticism over the field marshal’s involvement in matters relating to strategic resources.
An elite designer shop ( a newly established). The picture defines the characters. pic.twitter.com/qX9hFg9DkZ
A White House photograph from Pakistan Sharif’s recent US visit showed Munir handing over a wooden box filled with rare earth minerals to Donald Trump in the Oval Office.
The trip marked Munir’s third to Washington since the May Pakistan-India conflict, which Trump has repeatedly claimed to have mediated.
Pakistan has even nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize for his alleged role in brokering peace. India, however, has rejected the claim, insisting the ceasefire talks were strictly bilateral.
Islamabad had sought a truce on May 10, four days after cross-border clashes erupted following India’s Operation Sindoor, launched in retaliation to the April 22 Pahalgam attack that killed 26 people.
On Tuesday, Trump repeated his claim that he ended the “very big” conflict between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan.
Trump said the prime minister of Pakistan “was here along with the field marshal, who’s a very important guy in Pakistan, and he was here three days ago. And I didn’t even realise it, as beautiful as he said it, but he said that to a group of people that were with us, two generals, but a group, he said, ‘This man saved millions of lives because he saved the war from going on, and that war was going to get very bad, very, very bad. President Trump saved millions and millions of lives. That was a bad war’.”
The flotilla had earlier vowed to press on with its bid to deliver aid to the devastated coastal territory despite what it called “intimidation” tactics by the Israeli military.
Israeli military operation was announced by both the flotilla itself and the Israeli foreign ministry.
Israeli naval forces on Wednesday intercepted a flotilla carrying aid to Gaza, ending its latest bid to break an Israeli blockade of the war-battered Palestinian territory.
The Israeli military operation was announced by both the flotilla itself and the Israeli foreign ministry.
The Global Sumud Flotilla — involving around 45 vessels carrying politicians and activists including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg — left Spain last month, aiming to break Israel’s blockade of the Palestinian territory, where the UN says famine has set in.
“Around 8:30 pm Gaza time (1730 GMT), several vessels of the Global Sumud Flotilla, including the Alma, Sirius and Adara, were illegally intercepted and boarded by Israeli occupation forces in international waters,” the flotilla said.
“Beyond the confirmed interceptions, live streams and communications with several other vessels have been lost,” the statement added.
The Israeli foreign ministry posted on X that “several vessels of the… flotilla have been safely stopped and their passengers are being transferred to an Israeli port”.
“Greta and her friends are safe and healthy,” it said, alongside a video of Thunberg retrieving her belongings.
Earlier, the Israeli navy warned the flotilla against entering waters under its blockade.
Spain and Italy, which both sent naval escorts, had urged the ships to halt before entering Israel’s declared exclusion zone off Gaza.
After a 10-day stop in Tunisia, where organisers reported two drone attacks, the flotilla resumed its journey on September 15.
One of its main ships, the Alma, was “aggressively circled by an Israeli warship”, the group said, before another vessel, the Sirius, was subjected to “similar harassing manoeuvres”.
-‘Stop now’-
The flotilla had earlier vowed to press on with its bid to deliver aid to the devastated coastal territory despite what it called “intimidation” tactics by the Israeli military.
It said on X it remained “vigilant as we enter the area where the previous flotillas were intercepted and/or attacked”.
Turkey’s foreign minister said Wednesday’s interception was “an act of terrorism that constitutes the most serious violation of international law and endangers the lives of innocent civilians”.
Israel blocked similar attempts in June and July.
At around 1500 GMT on Wednesday, the flotilla said it was less than 90 nautical miles (about 170 kilometres) from the Gaza Strip.
“We sail on undeterred by Israeli threats and tactics of intimidation,” said the flotilla, which is also carrying Nelson Mandela’s grandson Mandla Mandela and Rima Hassan, a French-Palestinian European Parliament member.
Spain’s digital transformation minister, Oscar Lopez, had urged the flotilla not to cross into Israel’s declared exclusion zone, extending 150 nautical miles off Gaza.
“Our message to the flotilla has been clear: do not enter that zone,” he told Spanish public television, adding that Spain’s naval escort would not cross into the exclusion area.
Italy, too, urged the activists to “stop now” after its frigate also halted at the 150-nautical-mile limit, broadcasting radio messages to the activists’ vessels asking them to abandon their mission.
The activists said Spain and Italy’s decision was an attempt to “sabotage” their endeavours.
South Africa called for “utmost restraint and caution against any unilateral actions that could escalate the situation or endanger human life”.
It said the “safety, security, and physical integrity of all unarmed participants aboard the flotilla, including South African citizens, are of paramount importance”.
In a joint statement, Italy and Greece appealed to the Israeli authorities to “guarantee the safety and integrity of the flotilla’s participants”.
Rome and Athens also urged the flotilla to “refrain from any initiative that could be exploited by those who still reject peace”.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said the activists “do not represent a danger or a threat to Israel”, and hoped that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Netanyahu’s government will not represent a threat to this flotilla either”.
The Gaza peace deal presented to Hamas is significantly different from the one on which the US and Muslim countries agreed on earlier. Israeli President Netanyahu managed to secure “significant 11th-hour changes”. Hamas is seeking changes in clauses, while Qatar wants discussions on the details of the deal amid outrage across the Ummah.
US President Donald Trump and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu discussed the Gaza Peace Plan at the White House, and Qatar negotiated with Hamas in Doha. (Image: File)
The world was enthused by US President Donald Trump’s 20-point Gaza peace plan and that Israel agreed to it. A group of eight Muslim and Arab countries, including Pakistan and Qatar, endorsed it. However, it now seems that an entirely different peace deal has been presented to Palestinian terrorist group Hamas than what was agreed upon. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apparently got the White House to make “11th hour changes” to the agreed-upon deal, and Qatar, which is the key negotiator with Hamas, is demanding discussions on the details of the agreement.
“The deal now before Hamas is significantly different than the one the US and a group of Arab and Muslim countries had previously agreed on, due to Netanyahu’s intervention,” reported the US-based media outlet Axios. The Associated Press too reported that changes had been made in the original proposal that Arab and Muslim countries had worked out with Trump. The text was altered to favour Israel, it said.
The allegations of a change in the text of the Gaza peace plan amid a looming deadline for Hamas with Trump giving the Palestinian outfit “three to four days to respond” to the deal or risk destruction.
Eight Muslim and Arab countries—Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Indonesia, and Pakistan—on September 30 issued a joint statement, endorsing Trump’s Gaza peace plan. However, it came to light a day later that the fine print of the plan that was presented to Hamas had been changed in the meantime.
Hamas now wants changes in clauses in the peace plan, including on disarmament, the AFP reported, quoting a Palestinian source close to the terrorist group’s leadership.
Qatar, which has played a key role in the negotiations, too wants discussions on the details of Trump’s Gaza peace deal. Qatar’s stance appeared to reflect Arab countries’ discontent over the text of the 20-point plan put out by the White House after Trump-Netanyahu talks, according to the Associated Press.
To finalise the deal, discussions were happening on September 29 in two places—Washington DC and Doha—simultaneously. While Trump and Netanyahu discussed the details at the White House, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani was presenting it to Hamas leaders in Doha, Axios quoted a source as saying.
Hours earlier, Trump made Netanyahu call up Thani and apologise to him for the recent strike in Qatar. The strike was aimed at Hamas officials who have been hosted by Qatar for years. The public apology made Qatar resume its efforts as an interlocutor with Hamas.
WHAT ARE THE CHANGES MADE TO THE GAZA PEACE PLAN?
Netanyahu managed to secure “significant 11th-hour changes” to Trump’s proposal regarding the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) withdrawal from Gaza and the disarmament of Hamas, according to The Times of Israel.
There were two sticking points, one on the IDF’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, and the other of Hamas’ disarmament.
Point 3 of Trump’s Gaza peace plan, according to The Times of Israel, stated that “Israeli forces will withdraw to the battle lines as of when the [US special envoy Steve] Witkoff proposal was presented to prepare for hostage release.”
However, the updated version presented by the White House stated that “Israeli forces will withdraw to the agreed-upon line”.
It refers to a new map and presents a scope for the IDF to remain in most of Gaza even after the first pullback, enabling a release of hostages by Hamas.
Even after the International Stabilization Force (ISF) of Arab and Muslim countries is deployed and Hamas is disarmed, the IDF would still be in Gaza, and, finally, ringfence the Palestinian territory with troops.
On disarmament of Hamas too, The Times of Israel reported that Netanyahu got a change in the text, benefiting Israel.
Whereas the version presented to the Muslim nations granted amnesty to “Hamas members who commit to peaceful coexistence”, the new agreement adds that those members also have to “decommission their weapons”.
MUSLIM COUNTRIES FURIOUS OVER CHANGES IN GAZA PEACE PLAN
Officials from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and Turkey were reportedly furious over the changes, according to sources with knowledge.
The Axios report even suggests that Qataris even tried to convince the Trump administration not to release the detailed plan due to those objections.
But the White House released it anyway, pushing the Arab and Muslim countries to support the plan.
Leaders of Arab and Islamic nations are now facing fierce backlash for Trump’s Gaza peace plan and for recognising Israel. Critics, including activists on X, labelled leaders “traitors to the Ummah,” accusing them of trading Palestinian sovereignty for geopolitical favour amid Gaza’s crisis.
“They hoped so much—for the hundredth time—that ‘Trump would turn against Netanyahu’. And they were disappointed again—for the hundredth time—to discover that Trump and Netanyahu are aligned on everything. Predictions: They won’t learn anything, and will continue to hope and be disappointed even for the hundred-and-first time,” wrote entrepreneur and investor Eli David on X.
QATAR, EGYPT, AND TURKEY URGING HAMAS TO ACCEPT TRUMP’S GAZA PEACE PLAN
Meanwhile, Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey, key mediators with ties to Hamas, have been urging the group to accept Trump’s proposal, according to Axios.
On September 29, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and Egyptian intelligence chief Hassan Rashad met Hamas leaders in Doha to present the plan, emphasising its potential to end the war. A follow-up meeting on September 30 included Turkish intelligence director Ebrahim Kalin.
Al-Thani stressed that the plan, despite needing clarification, achieves the goal of halting the conflict. However, Hamas has expressed reservations and is seeking consensus with other Palestinian factions.
Journalist Jeremy Scahill of DropSiteNews, which covers Gaza, West Asia, and US foreign policy, noted, “Important fact that no one mentions: On August 18, Hamas formally agreed to 98% of the Gaza ‘ceasefire’ terms that the US and Israel demanded. Israel then attempted to assassinate the Palestinian negotiators in Doha. And now the Trump admin claims it has a new ‘ceasefire’ plan.”
Qatar has called for further negotiations to refine the plan’s details, while Trump insists there is little room for renegotiation.
The friction is over the changes favouring Israel on disarmament timelines and withdrawal conditions.
At the 34th meeting of the UNHRC’s 60th session in Geneva on Wednesday, Indian diplomat Mohammed Hussain called out Islamabad’s hypocrisy in unusually sharp terms.
UN human rights experts directed Pakistan to take concrete measures to prevent extrajudicial killings. (Photo: X)
India has delivered a stern message to Pakistan at the United Nations Human Rights Council, questioning how a country with its own record of minority persecution can dare to lecture others on human rights.
At the 34th meeting of the UNHRC’s 60th session in Geneva on Wednesday, Indian diplomat Mohammed Hussain called out Islamabad’s hypocrisy in sharp terms. “India finds it deeply ironic that a country like Pakistan seeks to lecture others on human rights,” he said. “Instead of spreading propaganda, Pakistan should confront the persecution of minorities on their own soil.”
Hussain’s intervention was part of India’s broader pushback against Pakistan’s repeated attempts to use international forums to malign New Delhi while ignoring its own domestic failures.
Other attendees also pointed towards Pakistan’s human rights violations in their remarks. Geopolitical researcher Josh Bowes flagged the alleged human rights violations in Balochistan, repeating India’s criticism that Islamabad routinely suppresses its most vulnerable communities while projecting a moralistic stance abroad.
“The USCIRF Religious freedom report for 2025 states that over 700 individuals were in prison for blasphemy charges, with 300 per cent increase from the last year,” he said.
He added that the Baloch National Movement’s human rights wing, Paank, recorded 785 enforced disappearances and 121 killings in just the first six months of 2025. The Pashtun national jirga, he added, reported that around 4,000 Pashtuns remain missing this year.
UKPNP RAISES ALARM OVER HUMANITARIAN CRISIS IN POJK
While Nasir Aziz Khan, spokesperson of the United Kashmir People’s National Party (UKPNP), urged the UN and the international community to intervene against Pakistan’s growing repression in Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK). Speaking in Geneva, Khan warned of a worsening humanitarian crisis in the region.
“Pakistan has deployed Rangers and shut down phone and internet services to suppress a legitimate, non-violent movement demanding ownership of resources, fundamental rights, and justice,” he said.
An earthquake of magnitude 6.9 struck Leyte island in the Philippines on Tuesday, the Philippine seismology agency Phivolcs said.
Magnitude 6.9 quake hits central Philippines Credit: Reuters Photo
The death toll from a magnitude 6.9 earthquake in the central Philippines has risen to 22, DZMM radio reported on Wednesday, citing reports from the Cebu provincial information office.
The U.S. lurched toward a government shutdown on Tuesday as a vote to extend funding past a midnight deadline failed in the U.S. Senate and President Donald Trump threatened to extend his purge of the federal workforce.
The 55-to-45 vote in the Senate, falling short of the 60 votes needed to advance the legislation, all but ensured that U.S. government agencies will have to discontinue all but “essential” activities such as law enforcement starting on Wednesday, potentially disrupting everything from air travel to the monthly jobs report.
A last-minute fix seemed all but impossible, as Republicans and Democrats have shown no sign that they can bridge their divides. Any agreement also would have to be approved by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, which is not in session.
Senate Republican Leader John Thune said the chamber would vote again on the House-passed measure on Wednesday.
U.S. budget stand-offs have become routine as the nation’s politics have grown more dysfunctional. This time around, Democrats have insisted that any spending bill must include additional healthcare subsidies, while Republicans have insisted that the two issues should be dealt with separately.
Trump has added fuel to the fire. Ahead of Tuesday’s vote, he threatened to cancel programs favored by Democrats and fire more federal workers if the government shuts down.
“We’ll be laying off a lot of people,” he told reporters. “They’re going to be Democrats.”
Such layoffs would lead to a further brain drain for the government. More than 150,000 workers are due to leave federal payrolls this week after taking a buyout, the biggest exodus in 80 years. Tens of thousands more have already been fired this year. Trump has also refused to spend billions of dollars approved by Congress, prompting some Democrats to question why they should vote for any spending bills at all.
In memos to soon-to-be-furloughed employees, several agencies, including the Justice Department and the Social Security Administration, blamed Democrats for the impending shutdown, violating long-standing norms that aim to shield government workers from partisan pressure.
Senator Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, who was one of three Democrats to break with her party and vote for the Republican funding bill on Tuesday, said in a statement that the “costly shutdown” would “hand even more power to this reckless administration.”
‘NONESSENTIAL’ WORK TO BE HALTED
Agencies also issued detailed shutdown plans that would close offices conducting scientific research, customer service and other “nonessential” activities and send tens of thousands of workers home without pay. Military troops, border guards and others doing work deemed “essential” would stay on the job, but would not get paid until Congress resolves the standoff.
U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and other Democratic House members hold a press conference on the House Steps a day before a partial government shutdown is set to take effect on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., September 30, 2025. REUTERS/Annabelle Gordon TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY Purchase Licensing Rights
The government last shut down in 2018 and 2019, for 35 days, during Trump’s first term, due to a dispute over immigration. That cost the U.S. economy $3 billion, or 0.02% of gross domestic product, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
At issue now is $1.7 trillion that funds agency operations, which amounts to roughly one-quarter of the government’s total $7 trillion budget. Much of the remainder goes to health and retirement programs and interest payments on the growing $37.5 trillion debt.
Airlines warned that a shutdown could slow flights, while the Labor Department said it would not issue its monthly unemployment report, a closely watched barometer of economic health. The Small Business Administration said it would stop issuing loans, and the Environmental Protection Agency said it would suspend some pollution-cleanup efforts.
Two labor unions representing federal employees filed a lawsuit to block agencies from enacting mass layoffs. Federal appeals courts considering similar lawsuits have allowed Trump to proceed with his firings while the cases play out.
NEXT STEPS?
With no sign of compromise on Capitol Hill, it was unclear how long a shutdown would play out. Congress has shut down the government 15 times since 1981, with most lasting a day or two. The most recent, during Trump’s first term, was also the longest.
This time, health care is the sticking point. Democrats say any spending bill must also make permanent Affordable Care Act subsidies that are due to expire at the end of the year. Without a fix, healthcare costs for 24 million Americans will rise sharply, with a disproportionate impact in Republican-controlled states like Florida and Texas that have refused to enact other aspects of the law that provide coverage to low-income people. Democrats have also sought to ensure that Trump will not be able to undo those changes if they are signed into law.
“Our guarantee is to the American people that we’re going to fight as hard as we can for their healthcare, plain and simple,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said after the vote.
Nicole Kidman is “devastated” by her split from husband Keith Urban after 19 years of marriage, a source told Page Six.
The 58-year-old Oscar winner — who we can confirm filed for divorce from Urban, 57, in Nashville, TN. Tuesday, citing “irreconcilable differences” — tried her best to save the union and protect her family.
“She feels betrayed,” the source told Page Six of the marriage ending. “She feels really upset.”
Nicole Kidman feels “betrayed” over her split from Keith Urban. She joined him at the CMA’s in May. Getty Images for ACM
Kidman shares two teenage daughters with the country music star: Sunday Rose, 17, and Faith Margaret, 14.
And even though she is an award-winning actress, her family has remained her priority, the source told us, pointing out that Kidman had been the epitome of a supportive wife.
She went to the opening night of Urban’s High and Alive World Tour on May 22, 2025, at The Wharf Amphitheater in Orange Beach, Ala.
She also joined her husband at the ACM awards in May in Frisco, Texas, where they held hands and posed together on the red carpet.
“So much fun with my Triple Crown winner!!” she posted after Urban won the honor by scooping the rare feat of three major ACM awards: Top New Male Vocalist (2001), Male Vocalist of the Year (2005, 2006), and Entertainer of the Year (2019).
Kidman, who was also left reeling by the loss of her beloved mom Janelle Kidman in September 2024, worked to bring production to Nashville so that she could stay close to home.
As a producer on her new Amazon Prime show, “Scarpetta,” based on the Patricia Cornwell novels, Kidman asked that shooting could be in her home state.
Her latest thriller movie, “Holland,” was also filmed in Nashville.
“Nicole is a homebody and just wants to be home with her family,” said the same source.
Urban, meanwhile, has been on tour most of the year to promote his album, “High,” which is his lowest performing album in 25 years — only debuting at number 38 in the Billboard 200 chart in October. Forbes reported that he hasn’t seen any of his efforts stall lower than No. 38 in more than two decades,
He also fired his band of 25 years back in January. The group included three longtime members: bass player Jerry Flowers, keyboard player Nathan Barlowe and drummer Terence F. Clark. Fan were upset by the veterans’ departure.
“Nicole’s been holding the family down and looking after the girls and trying to make it work,” said the source, “She has always been there for Keith.”
Urban, however, was not there for her “Babygirl” promo tour last year, nor did he join his wife when she was honored in January at the Palm Springs film awards with the International Star Award. Jamie Lee Curtis, with whom she co-produces and stars in “Scarpetta,” presented the award to her.
“Love is the center of my life,” said Kidman at the ceremony.
Urban also failed to join his wife at Venice Film Festival last year and although he joined her at the Golden Globes in January, when she was nominated for “Babygirl”, he didn’t walk the red carpet with her.
Trump has on and off taken credit for the ceasefire claiming that he should get the noble prize for preventing wars.
US President Donald Trump during a meeting with Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir at the White House, in Washington, DC, USA (PTI)
Reiterating his claim on brokering a truce between India and Pakistan, US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that Pakistan army chief Asim Munir credited him for ending a potential war.
Referring to his recent meeting with the Pak Army chief and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Trump said: “He (Munir) said to a group of people that were with us… that this man (Trump) saved millions of lives because he saved the war from going on. That war was going to get very bad… I loved the way he said it”.
Military conflict escalated between India and Pakistan in May this year after the launch of Operation Sindoor, as part of which India struck terror targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The military action was to avenge the killing of 26 civilians in the Pahalgam terrorist attack on April 22.
At the height of the military conflict, a ceasefire was announced on May 10. Trump has on and off taken credit for the ceasefire claiming that he should get the noble prize for preventing wars.
“India and Pakistan were going at it. I called them both… They had just shot down seven planes… I said, if you do this, there’s not going to be any trade, and I stopped the war. It was raging for four days,” Trump said in his latest claim from the White House.
He further said that the Prime Minister and army chief were in the US, as he termed Munir as “a very important guy in Pakistan”. “I didn’t even realise it was as beautiful as he said it. He said to a group of people that were with us… that this man saved millions of lives because he saved the war from going on. That war was going to get very bad…” he said.
The statement comes as Trump noted his success with the Gaza peace plan. “Yesterday, we might have settled the biggest of them all. Although I’m not sure… Hamas has to agree. If they don’t, it will be very tough on them… All of the Arab nations, Muslim nations, have agreed. Israel has agreed. It’s an amazing thing,” he said.
Earlier on Monday, while announcing the Gaza peace plan with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump said, “The Prime Minister and the Field Marshal of Pakistan were with us right from the beginning. Incredible. In fact, they have just issued a statement affirming their full commitment to this pact… They back this 100%.”
Trump compared the potential peace settlement in Gaza to his previous claims of diplomatic interventions, including India-Pakistan, noting, “I’ve settled so many wars… Pakistan and India were very big. Both nuclear powers. I settled that. But yesterday could be the settlement in the Middle East. That hasn’t happened for 3,000 years.”
Trump’s latest bid for the Peace Prize comes a day after he unveiled the Gaza peace plan, which could become the eighth conflict he claims to have mediated.
US President Donald Trump has made fresh claims on the Nobel Peace Prize.(REUTERS)
US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said it would be an “insult” to his country if he does not receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his self-proclaimed role in ending at least seven international conflicts.
The latest claim to the Nobel Peace Prize comes a day after Trump announced the Gaza peace plan, which, if accepted by Hamas, could be the eighth war the US President has claimed to have mediated.
“Will you get the Nobel Prize? Absolutely not. They’ll give it to some guy that didn’t do a damn thing,” Trump said while addressing top US military officers.
“It’d be a big insult to our country, I will tell you that. I don’t want it, I want the country to get it,” he said, adding, “It should get it, because there’s never been anything like it.”
The President’s latest push for the top award comes ahead of October 10, when this year’s Nobel Prize announcements will be made.
Trump has long been irked by the fact that former President Barack Obama, a Democrat, won the prize in 2009.
Trump’s claim of mediating wars
In his latest speech, Trump repeated his claim to have solved seven wars since he assumed office in January this year.
He further said that if Gaza peace plan, which he unveiled during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the US on Monday, works out, “we’ll have eight, eight in eight months. That’s pretty good.”
Last week, while addressing the United Nations General Assembly, the US President repeated his claim of ending “seven wars in seven months”.
“They said they were unendable, some were going for 31 years, one was 36 years. I ended 7 wars and in all cases they were raging with countless thousands of people being killed,” he said. He said he deserved the peace prize “for each one of them”.
Trump has claimed to have mediated the wars between Israel and Iran, India and Pakistan, Rwanda and Congo, Thailand and Cambodia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, Egypt and Ethiopia and Serbia and Kosovo. However, India has repeatedly denied Trump’s involvement in the ceasefire during Operation Sindoor against Pakistan.
Does Trump have a chance?
Trump’s bid for the Nobel Peace Prize is not just about his mere claims. Several international leaders, including Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Pakistani leader Shehbaz Sharif among others, have nominated the US President for the prize. Other nations—including Rwanda, Gabon, Azerbaijan, and Cambodia—have also backed Trump for the award.
However, experts say that the chances of Trump winning the prize this year is considered to be close to zero. Oeivind Stenersen, a historian who has co-written a book on the Nobel Peace Prize, told AFP that Trump’s chances are “completely unthinkable”.
Over 66,000 people have been killed in Gaza in less than two years, Gaza’s Health Ministry’s saysImage: Ebrahim Hajjaj/REUTERS
Netanyahu ‘trying to maneuver’ in video message, Middle East expert says
US President Donald Trump has told Hamas to sign his peace plan for Gaza or it will “pay in hell.”
A few hours after agreeing to the plan in Washington, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu put out a video in Hebrew that seemed to counter some of the core points of this peace plan, including the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza and the eventual creation of a Palestinian state.
Middle East affairs and international security expert H.A. Hellyer told DW it was worth paying “close attention” to the video.
“When you consider the history of the past two years, at multiple points Netanyahu has sabotaged negotiations and other peace plans and other plans that were meant to lead to a ceasefire,” Hellyer said, pointing to the matter being widely covered in Israeli media.
“So it’s no surprise that he’s trying to maneuver on this occasion as well,” Hellyer said.
He pointed out that the plan put before Arab states last week was “significantly different” to the one announced yesterday. These changes, he said, pertained to the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, anything to do with the Palestinian state and the disarmament of Hamas.
“They didn’t go back to the Arab Muslim states that had put their names and credibility on the line by endorsing. They simply had Netanyahu come to the White House yesterday, discuss with the president, and then the new … plan was announced,” Hellyer said.
On the question of the creation of a Palestinian state, Hellyer said: “I think that Netanyahu has made it abundantly clear he will not see a Palestinian state established in the Palestinian territories.”
Italy’s Meloni calls on Gaza aid flotilla to ‘stop now’
Italy has warned organizers of the Global Sumud Flotilla that Israel would consider their incursion as a “hostile act.”
The Italian Ministry of Defense announced that the Italian Navy frigate Apino, dispatched to the region, could take on board any participants of the flotilla who wished to transfer.
“A final warning will be issued tomorrow, October 1, upon reaching 150 nautical miles from the coast of Gaza, where the military vessel
will stop and remain available for any assistance and rescue operations,” according to a statement from the defense ministry.
The flotilla has been sailing towards Gaza with over 40 civilian boats carrying parliamentarians, lawyers and activists including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, with the goal of breaking Israel’s aid blockade.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called on the flotilla to immediately stop their mission, arguing that a confrontation with Israel could upset the current “fragile balance” that could lead to peace based on the plan proposed by US President Donald Trump.
“Many would be happy to disrupt” that plan, Meloni said in a statement. “I fear that the flotilla’s attempt to breach the Israeli naval blockade could provide a pretext for this. Also for this reason, I believe the flotilla should stop now,” she added.
Italian spokeswoman for the flotilla, Maria Elena Delia, said that activists had been informed about Italy’s instructions for the ship to turn back, but she confirmed that the flotilla had no intention of heeding the warning.
Delia said activists were bracing for another strike in the coming hours. “Israel will probably attack us tonight, because all the signals point to this happening,” she said in a video on Instagram.
Israel has denied claims that it attacked the flotilla last week, but it has vowed to use any means to prevent the boats from reaching Gaza.
‘Majority in Israel want to end the war,’ Israeli political correspondent says
Tal Schneider, political and diplomatic correspondent for Israeli online newspaper The Times of Israel, spoke to DW about the significance of the Gaza peace deal.
“I think it is an impressive plan if it can go through,” Schneider said, adding that the picture is incomplete, but what matters to the Israeli people is the release of the hostages and how the plan would enable that.
“They’re going to be released. All of them. Not in small groups, you know, within 72 hours,” she said of the plan.
Schneider noted that the idea of the Israel Defense Forces withdrawing from Gaza and an international governing body taking over is something that Israelis would worry about. She added that people in Israel are weary of international organizations and their effectiveness.
Moreover, Schneider pointed out that a few hardline Israeli ministers could disrupt the plan.
“Because they disagree totally. They want annexation. They want the war to continue forever. They want, you know, to see the last person of Hamas being killed,” Schneider said, adding that for hardliners in Israel, the war with Hamas is a “never-ending event.”
“But obviously the people do not agree with that. The majority here wants to end the war,” she stressed.
Schneider also said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the hardliners in his cabinet are likely betting on Hamas rejecting the plan, which would enable them to “get more of a free hand.”
Gaza peace plan is ‘foreign interference,’ Palestinian NGO tells DW
Ines Abdel Razek, a co-director of the Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy (PIPD), spoke to DW about what the Gaza peace plan proposed by Donald Trump means for Palestinians.
“I think what what we need to really understand is what this plan is and isn’t,” Abdel Razek said. “It’s not a Palestinian plan. So Palestinians are not deciding for themselves. This is violating the first and foremost right of Palestinians to self-determination and to decide for themselves.”
“It’s an Israeli American plan to continue the violence and the genocide against Palestinians in other forms,” she added, noting that a lot of the conditions in the plan and its proposals “are completely illegal under international law.”
“I think it’s about understanding how this is coercion,” Abdel Razek said, adding that the plan has been formulated after the destruction of the entire strip and the displacement of 2 million Palestinians, after pushing people “towards the brink of death and desperation.”
She said the plan would normalize the very real possibility of an Israeli army occupation and eventual annexation of Gaza.
“This is pure colonization. This is pure foreign interference,” Abdel Razek said, denouncing that the plan seeks to bring foreign interference to Gaza from the very people who are responsible for the suffering of the Palestinian people.
UN not involved in preparing Trump plan, but ready to deliver aid
The United Nations said that although it was not involved in the preparation of Donald Trump’s so-called 20-point peace plan, it remains ready to increase deliveries of food and humanitarian aid to the people of the war-torn Gaza Strip as soon as conditions allow.
The UN, along with the Red Crescent, was namechecked in the proposal presented by Trump on Monday.
The international organization declared a famine in Gaza last month, blaming Israel’s monthslong “systematic obstruction” of food deliveries for the tragic situation.
Point 12 of Trump’s plan states that “full aid will be immediately sent into the Gaza Strip,” adding that it “will proceed without interference.”
Speaking in Geneva, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) spokesman Jens Laerke emphasized that the UN was not involved in drafting the proposal, but said, “Aid is ready and available to move in from various agencies, and has been so for a long time.”
Laerke said UN humanitarian workers would, “do what we always do — try to deliver aid to the people who desperately need it.”
International humanitarian agencies have been largely shut out of Gaza since March, when Israel announced that aid deliveries would instead be carried out by the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
GHF, which has been overwhelmed by the task, will not be allowed to operate further should the plan go into effect, as it is associated with one of the warring parties, Israel.
Trump is ‘waiting for Hamas,’ gives them ‘three or four days’
US President Donald Trump told reporters on Tuesday that the Islamist militant group Hamas needs to quickly decide whether it wants to accept the terms of his Gaza peace plan.
Asked how long the group had to put down its arms and join a ceasefire, Trump said, “We’re going to do about three or four days.”
He then added, “We’re just waiting for Hamas, and Hamas is either going to be doing it or not. And if it’s not, it’s going to be a very sad end.”
Qatar has said it will hold talks with Hamas negotiators as well as representatives from Egypt and Turkey on Tuesday after the militants have reviewed Trump’s proposal.
Many international leaders have voiced approval for the plan, yet demands that Hamas disarm and be excluded from holding power in Gaza in the future would seem difficult for the group to accept.
Trump, however, made it clear that the group must accept the plan, otherwise Israel will have a green light to take whatever actions it deems necessary to pursue its ultimate aim of destroying the group once and for all.
Netanyahu says Israel will ‘forcibly resist’ Palestinian statehood
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday flatly rejected the idea of Palestinian statehood, the prospects of which were left open in US President Trump’s so-called 20-point peace plan.
In a video posted on the messaging app Telegram, Netanyahu said he had “absolutely not” agreed to the creation of a Palestinian state, an idea that he likened to “national suicide” for Israel last week when addressing the United Nations General Assembly.
The Israeli leader made clear that no clause stipulating the creation of such a state was contained in Trump’s plan before vowing to ‘forcibly resist’ any effort to create one.
Divided reactions to Tony Blair’s proposed Gaza role
US President Donald Trump surprised many on Monday by announcing that his plan for peace in Gaza included a “board of peace” to be headed by himself and former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Blair, who was an unapologetic supporter of George W. Bush’s ill-fated 2003 invasion of Iraq on claims that the country possessed weapons of mass destruction, is seen by many in the Middle East with great mistrust.
Moreover, considering Trump’s previous statements, as well as Britain’s highly complicated role in the region for the past century, many fear the board to be nothing more than a vehicle for the neo-colonial takeover of Gaza.
On Monday, Mustafa Barghouti, general secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative political party, told the Washington Post newspaper: “We’ve been under British colonialism already. He [Blair] has a negative reputation here. If you mention Tony Blair. The first thing people mention is the Iraq war.”
Francesca Albanese, the UN’s special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories and herself no stranger to controversy, blasted the idea in a social media post, writing, “Tony Blair? Hell No” and suggesting he should be put on trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC).
More positively, others point to Blair’s previous role leading the so-called Middle East Quartet representing the UN, US, EU and Russia in the region. In that capacity the former statesman was charged with fostering institution building and economic development.
However, critics say he did little to stop illegal Israeli settlements during his tenure, which stretched from 2007 to 2015.
More recently, he has led the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, which claims to advocate for “turning bold ideas into reality.”
Others, such as the current UK Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, say that although Blair’s appointment “will raise some eyebrows,” the former politician’s track record is not all bad, pointing to his role in brokering the 1998 Good Friday Agreement that ended decades of conflict in Northern Ireland.
“If he can bring those considerable skills there,” Streeting told the BBC, “in both diplomacy and statecraft… that can only be a good thing.”
Ambassador Nkosinathi Emmanuel “Nathi” Mthethwa’s body was discovered outside a Paris hotel. His death is being treated as a possible suicide, the local presecutor’s office says.
Before being appointed ambassador, Mthethwa held several high-ranking positions in the South African government [FILE: March 2021]Image: Gavin Barker/Sports Inc/empics/picture allianceSouth Africa’s ambassador to France, Nkosinathi Emmanuel Mthethwa, who was found dead outside a Paris hotel, had left a suicide message for his wife, the Paris prosecutor’s office said.
Mthetwa’s lifeless body was found on Tuesday in the interior courtyard of the upscale Hyatt hotel.
On Monday evening, his wife had reported her husband missing to the police after receiving a message “in which he apologized to her and expressed his intention to end his life,” prosecutor Laure Beccuau said in a statement.
“Initial investigations suggest that this could have been a deliberate act, without the intervention of a third party,” she said.
She emphasized the investigation would seek to collect all the details.
The ambassador, better known as Nathi Mthethwa, had booked a room on the hotel’s 22nd floor.
The safety mechanism of a window in his room had been forced open with scissors, the office had earlier said, but investigators found no signs of a struggle or traces of medication or narcotics.
58-year-old Mthethwa had been serving as ambassador to France since his appointment in December 2023.
‘A moment of deep grief’ — President Ramaphosa
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said Mthethwa’s “untimely passing” was “a moment of deep grief in which government and citizens stand beside the Mthethwa family.”
Ramaphosa said Mthwethwa had served South Africa in a number of capacities “during a lifetime that has ended prematurely and traumatically.”
South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) confirmed Mthethwa’s death in a statement and said he “was a distinguished servant of the nation, whose career was marked by dedicated service in critical ministerial portfolios, including Minister of Police and Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture.”
DIRCO said the circumstances of Mthethwa’s “untimely death” were being investigated by French authorities.
Leading military chiefs have lashed out at Pete Hegseth’s plan to overhaul the country’s defense strategy, according to a report.
Multiple Pentagon leaders, including Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have raised concerns about the proposals set out by the self-styled “secretary of war.” The plans could be confirmed at an unprecedented meeting in Virginia on Tuesday to which former Fox News host Hegseth has summoned hundreds of generals and admirals, according to a report in The Washington Post.
The issue stems from Hegseth’s plans to rewrite the National Defense Strategy (NDS) to list homeland defense as the nation’s top priority—rather than continuing to focus on global security threats from China, as it has for years—and to reduce the U.S. military presence in Europe and Africa.
Sources close to the rewriting of the NDS, which lays out U.S. military planning and strategy, told the Post that there are growing concerns within the military that Hegseth’s proposals are short-sighted and “potentially irrelevant” given Donald Trump’s often unpredictable and sometimes contradictory approach to foreign policy.
Caine has openly raised his objections to the plans with other Pentagon leaders, including policy chief Elbridge Colby, according to unnamed sources.
“He gave Hegseth very frank feedback,” one source told the Post. “I don’t know if Hegseth even understands the magnitude of the NDS, which is why I think Caine tried so hard.”
Caine is said to have wanted the NDS to remain focused on deterring and potentially defeating China in a conflict. Hegseth’s draft strategy does still mention China, but primarily in the context of its aggression toward Taiwan, according to the Post. Colby has also long feared that the U.S. is underprepared if China were to attack the country.
“There’s a concern that it’s just not very well thought out,” one former official told the newspaper about Hegseth’s China strategy.
Hegseth is also signalling that the Pentagon will move U.S. forces out of Europe, a move that could frustrate allies given Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Moscow’s incursions into NATO airspace.
The fallout from the NDS and chaos surrounding the Virginia meeting is the latest headache that Hegseth has caused during his tenure as Pentagon chief.
It was revealed that the former Fox News host is crumbling under the pressure of leading the Department of Defense, with insiders now complaining about his behavior. This includes being “obsessed” with his own security and appearing uncomfortable and fidgety during meetings.
“There’s a manic quality about him. Or let me rephrase, an even more manic quality, which is really saying something,” a source told the Daily Mail. “Dude is crawling out of his skin,” a second insider added.
“Secretary Hegseth has tasked the development of a National Defense Strategy that is laser focused on advancing President Trump’s commonsense America First, Peace Through Strength agenda,” Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell told the Post. “This process is still ongoing.”
The NDS plans are expected to be discussed during an unusual meeting on Tuesday called by Hegseth, which he demanded top officers from American bases around the world attend in person.
A family sets up a tent near a UN school used as a shelter for displaced Palestinians in Khan Younis, Tuesday, Sept 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Qatar said Tuesday that further talks were needed over details of U.S. President Donald Trump’s peace plan aimed at ending the nearly two-year war in Gaza, as Hamas weighed its reply. In Gaza, Israeli forces killed at least 36 Palestinians, local hospitals said.
The comments by Qatar, a key mediator, appeared to reflect Arab countries’ discontent over the text of the 20-point plan that the White House put out after Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced they had agreed on it Monday.
Three Arab officials told The Associated Press that changes had been made in the original proposal that Arab and Muslim countries had worked out with Trump – changes in favor of Israel. The officials, who came from regional powers involved in the talks, spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the behind-the-scenes diplomacy.
The depth of the Arab countries’ discontent was not clear, and they have continued to express broad support for the plan. But Qatar’s comments indicated they could seek further negotiation over some of its terms — even as Trump told reporters Tuesday that Hamas has “three or four days” to respond.
Arab mediators and Turkish officials are to meet with Hamas representatives Tuesday in Doha to discuss the plan, said Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari.
The plan requires Hamas to release hostages, leave power in Gaza and disarm in return for the release of Palestinian prisoners and an end to fighting. The plan guarantees the flow of humanitarian aid and promises reconstruction. But it sets no path to Palestinian statehood. For the foreseeable future, Gaza and its more than 2 million Palestinians would be under international governance through a so-called “Board of Peace,” headed by Trump and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Qatar says more discussion needed
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said the 20 points announced by the U.S. “are principles … that require detailed discussion and how to work through them.”
Speaking to the Qatar-based TV network Al Jazeera, he pointed to the issue of the Israeli troop withdrawal from Gaza, saying it “requires clarification.”
The plan’s text said Israeli troops would withdraw only as a planned international security force is able to replace them. It also indicated Israel would keep control of a band of territory around Gaza’s perimeter.
In a statement Monday night, Qatar, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other countries backing the plan said they wanted to work out a final version that includes a “full Israeli withdrawal,” as well as a clear path to a Palestinian state that integrates the Gaza Strip and West Bank — something Netanyahu’s government fiercely opposes.
The Arab officials who spoke to the AP expressed frustration with the White House’s 20 points. “This is not what we agreed on,” said one. “This is the Netanyahu plan.”
Palestinians are skeptical
Many Palestinians in the decimated coastal enclave are wary of the proposal. To some, the international governance smacked of the colonial British Mandate that ruled Palestine from 1920 to 1948.
“They want to impose their own peace,” Umm Mohammed, a history teacher who sheltered with her family in Gaza City, said. “In fact, this is not a peace plan. It’s a surrender plan. It returns us to times of colonialism.”
Mahmoud Abu Baker, a displaced Palestinian from Rafah, said the proposal favors Israel and implements all its demands without giving concessions.
“(The proposal) tells that we, as Palestinians, as Arabs, are not qualified to rule ourselves and that they, the white people, will rule us,” he said.
Families of Israeli hostages see hope
With the peace proposal, families of Israeli hostages still held by Hamas were torn between heightened hopes and a realism that past signs of progress have fallen apart. Hamas is thought to be holding 48 hostages, 20 of whom are believed by Israel to be alive – and under the plan, they would be freed within 72 hours of both sides’ accepting the deal.
“For two years now, I have been waiting for Elkana, my husband, in endless pain,” said Rivka Bohbot, wife of hostage Elkana Bohbot, in a statement released by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.
“Now I demand that these impressive words be turned into even greater and more impressive actions — actions that bring the hostages home,” she said.
Israelis visiting a memorial for the music festival where 364 people were killed during the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, expressed skepticism.
“Everyone pins their hopes on (Trump),” said Amit Zander, whose daughter, Noa Zander, was killed at the festival. “It’s up to Hamas. Israel wants it, and beyond that, it’s no longer in our hands.”
More than 30 Palestinians killed
In the Gaza Strip, Israeli troops opened fire, killing 17 Palestinians and wounding 33 others while they were attempting to access humanitarian aid in central Gaza, according to nearby Al-Awda Hospital, where the casualties were taken. The Israeli military said troops fired when individuals approached their position “in a manner that endangered them.”
Israeli strikes in central and southern Gaza killed 19 others, according to local hospitals.
One of the strikes hit a tent housing a family that had fled Gaza City earlier this month, killing seven people, including four women and a child. Another killed a man, his 7-months-pregnant wife and their young child, Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis said.
The Israeli military said in a statement that over the past 24 hours, its troops killed several armed militants and struck more than 160 targets of Hamas infrastructure, including weapons storage facilities and observation posts.
As Singapore pushes towards an entirely cleaner-energy vehicle population by 2040, what will happen to petrol stations and will there be enough EV chargers?
Singapore will stop registering new petrol cars by 2030. What will happen to petrol stations and will there be enough EV chargers? (Illustration: CNA/Clara Ho)
Car enthusiast Leong Yi Chong bought an internal combustion engine (ICE) car in February and hopes to extend its Certificate of Entitlement beyond the 10 years, and past 2040.
He thinks that being behind the wheel of an ICE car is a “raw, visceral” experience that driving an electric vehicle (EV) cannot replicate.
But while the 31-year-old is enjoying his ride on his second-hand 2006 Subaru Impreza WRX, he is concerned that his time with the vehicle may be cut short.
This is because plans have been made by the authorities for a total transition to cleaner-energy vehicles, such as EVs and hybrids, and a phasing out of all ICE vehicles, such as Mr Leong’s.
To this end, the commercial recruiter thinks there may be several hurdles standing in the way of these plans, and is hoping against hope that he can still drive his car post-2040.
For one, he thinks that car enthusiasts like himself will be resistant to the push towards EVs.
“Classic and performance cars form part of car culture, and EVs don’t replace that emotional connection,” he said.
And he believes there is good reason ICE cars will still be sought beyond 2030, when all new car registrations will have to be of cleaner-energy models.
He thinks that charging infrastructure may not expand quickly enough, and that certain vehicles – particularly emergency vehicles – may need to remain as ICE variants because of their superior range, faster refuelling and greater durability.
“I feel like there will always be a need for ICE vehicles, even in a cleaner environment with EVs.”
But regardless of the sentiment towards petrol cars, the numbers show that EVs are becoming more popular among Singapore motorists.
The number of EVs in Singapore has grown from 26,200 at the end of last year to 39,800 so far this year – a 52 per cent jump.
So far this year, EVs have made up about 41 per cent of new car registrations.
But amid Singapore’s strong push for a cleaner-energy vehicle population by 2040, some motorists like Mr Leong have questions on how infrastructure will change.
What will happen to petrol stations as ICE vehicles are phased out? Can EV charging infrastructure keep up with the growing demand as the EV population grows?
There is also the existential issue of car mechanics and workshops, most of whom service and repair ICE vehicles. Has this become a sunset industry as well, given the push for electrification?
WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO PETROL STATIONS?
With the shift to a cleaner-energy fleet, petrol stations in Singapore – at least in their current form – will see a decline in the next 15 years, said experts.
Professor Lawrence Loh from the National University of Singapore (NUS) said that the over 180 petrol stations in Singapore are “at a crossroads now”.
According to an article published last year by the Boston Consulting Group, up to one quarter of petrol station sites may become unprofitable and need to close by 2035, in places where “EVs dominate”.
And while enhanced convenience store offerings at petrol stations could draw customers who are not visiting to refuel, the consulting firm still expects total profits for the stations to decline by 30 per cent by 2035 in EV-prevalent places.
“If one day, many (petrol station sites) are given up by the (petrol) companies, there might be certain thinking about putting them to more optimal use, the same way we are looking at converting land like golf courses to better use,” said Prof Loh, who is director at the Centre for Governance and Sustainability of NUS Business School.
But petrol stations are certainly not going to be a thing of the past anytime soon.
CNA previously reported that petrol stations have been evolving over the years to offer a more diverse range of non-fuel retail services to enhance convenience and attract more customers amid Singapore’s EV push.
The next natural question would then be – could the petrol stations be converted to fast-charging stations instead?
The expectation that all of them can be converted is unrealistic, said Prof Loh.
For one, there will be a change in how people charge their vehicles.
“Slowly, we will see a decentralisation of charging (where) progressively more sites are made available in residences, including public and private housing and work places,” he said.
This would, in turn, moderate demand for centralised charging facilities, he said.
Transport economist Walter Theseira said that the fast charging “petrol station” model is unlikely to “ever make much sense in Singapore”.
This is because it is cheaper for users to have the vast majority of their charging done using slow charging, which is supplied at the EV owner’s home car park and malls, among other places.
“Thus, with widespread slow charging, fast charging ‘petrol stations’ will simply be uneconomical for most users,” said Assoc Prof Theseira, who is from the Singapore University of Social Sciences’ School of Business.
Instead, it will be more applicable to commercial operators, such as private-hire drivers, who need to charge during the day because they may drive more than their battery capacity each day.
The conversion of the petrol station sites to other uses will also be challenging, according to one environmental expert.
Conservation ecologist Rachel Oh said that the process of decommissioning a petrol station involves a site assessment and pollution survey, followed by the removal of underground tanks and pipes, excavation of contaminated soil, and the soil’s subsequent treatment.
An incomplete decontamination of the land will eventually have “significantly adverse impacts on our health and economy”, said Dr Oh, who is a research assistant professor at the NUS Department of Geography.
For instance, toxic compounds can leach onto the soil and groundwater or even into the air in vapour form, and long-term exposure can lead to increased risk of chronic health conditions, such as respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.
If residual fuels are not properly managed, they can also become fire or explosion hazards.
“Contaminated sites (can) become costly and time-intensive barriers to redevelopment, as complex remediation is required before land can be safely repurposed for housing, community facilities or other uses,” said Dr Oh.
Responding to queries from CNA, an Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) spokesperson said factors such as the growing adoption of EVs are taken into consideration when studying the adaptation of petrol station sites for alternative use.
“For example, many petrol station operators have proactively responded to EV trends and deployed EV chargers to provide charging services to EVs,” said the spokesperson.
URA added that relevant agencies will provide guidance on the necessary measures to ensure that petrol station sites are fit for their intended use.
CAN THE POWER GRID COPE?
With the target of 60,000 charging points deployed islandwide by 2030, Singapore is nearly halfway there, with 24,000 charging points installed as of September, according to the Land Transport Authority (LTA).
But with the 60,000 target being over two times the latest figure, how will Singapore’s energy grid hold up?
Responding to CNA’s queries, LTA and the Energy Market Authority (EMA) said that studies are currently underway to determine the impact of increased EV adoption and the installation of more chargers on Singapore’s energy infrastructure.
An “infrastructure augmentation” will be phased over the next 20 years and take into account EV charger technology improvements, and insights on charging behaviour gathered through early EV deployment.
Professor Dipti Srinivasan, who heads the Centre for Green Energy Management and Smart Grid at NUS, said that the 60,000 target will likely not be the final target, and there would be even more demand for chargers heading into 2040 as all cars become cleaner-energy variants.
“The full electrification of transportation will inevitably raise electricity demand, with the biggest challenge being the surge in peak load if many EV owners plug in simultaneously after work,” she said.
She added that addressing this issue requires more than just expanding the generation of energy.
“It calls for smart charging technologies that stagger charging rates and times through intelligent algorithms, allowing the grid to safely oversubscribe infrastructure while flattening demand peaks,” said Prof Srinivasan.
To that end, LTA and EMA stated that the possibility of smart charging is also being explored.
Possible solutions include the use of smart controllers, switches and algorithms to vary EV charging schedules, volumes and speeds, which reduces the impact on the power grid.
“Passive and active EV charger provisions” have been mandated for specified building and electrical works, to lower the cost of future retrofits associated with EV charging provision, LTA and EMA said.
Passive provisions refer to installing infrastructure, such as wiring, so chargers can be added later, while active provisions mean installing the EV charging points immediately.
And while the push to deploy more chargers is underway, EV charging companies said that they have an eye on future developments as well.
Charge+ chief executive officer Goh Chee Kiong said the firm takes a “future-ready approach” by continually evaluating new technologies and software innovations, while keeping its infrastructure flexible and scalable.
“This ensures we can integrate emerging solutions such as smart energy management without disruption,” said Mr Goh, whose firm has 4,000 charging points across Singapore.
Likewise, Mr Freddie Chew, general manager of ComfortDelGro ENGIE, said that the firm is “right-sizing” charger deployments to match the current and forecasted demand.
Doing so helps ensure charger efficiency and readiness to adopt the latest technologies as the firm, which currently has over 1,600 charging points in Singapore, scales.
“Over-deployment, on the other hand, can result in idle infrastructure that unnecessarily burdens the power grid,” said Mr Chew.
An LTA spokesperson said that it is “closely monitoring emerging clean energy solutions and remains open to facilitating other forms of charging technologies”.
“As these technologies become more commercially viable, we will work with industry and stakeholders to pilot and evaluate their potential for wider adoption.”
WHAT ABOUT CAR WORKSHOPS?
With the electrification of Singapore’s vehicle population, car workshops – most of which focus on ICE repairs – face the same uncertain future as gas stations.
Even as workshops look to pivot to EV repair, it was previously reported that there has been a shortage of skilled mechanics who understand the basics of EVs.
Associate Professor Raymond Ong said that the repairs for EVs are different from those of ICE vehicles, as each EV model requires a different set of skills to repair.
This means that EV distributors have direct partnerships with car workshops to get their technicians and engineers trained in repairing the specific vehicle models.
“This is going to render current workshop owners obsolete if they do not try to upskill or upgrade themselves or even get into a partnership with EV manufacturers,” said Assoc Prof Ong, who is the deputy head of research in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at NUS.
Echoing these concerns, Mr Joey Lim, president of the Singapore Motor Workshop Association (SMWA), said that work is underway to retrain the workforce to handle EVs.
However, the progress has been slow as there is a skills mismatch.
“Electrical engineering needs a lot more mathematics and physics calculations,” said Mr Lim.
He added that in general, EVs also have about 60 to 70 per cent fewer repair and maintenance tasks than ICE vehicles.
“So, if all the vehicles were to change to EV, then 60 to 70 per cent of the mechanical shops that handle engine, transmission and undercarriage repairs will have to close,” he said.
The upskilling of technicians to cater to the growing EV population is an important step in the technological transition, said the LTA spokesperson.
“We have been encouraging industry partners to prepare and equip a pool of technicians with the necessary skills to maintain this growing population of EVs,” the spokesperson said.
LTA said that existing automotive technicians can tap training programmes such as the National EV Specialist Safety certification that are recognised under the Singapore Workforce Skills Qualifications national credential system to “equip themselves with the fundamental knowledge on EV safety”.
“LTA will continue to work closely with our partners to grow the EV ecosystem and build a forward-looking land transport sector for Singapore.”
Not all workshop operations will be impacted, said Assoc Prof Theseira.
While the system that generates power to the car is new, he noted that mechanical repairs are largely the same between EVs and non-EVs.
“Thus, a significant part of the business, dealing with matters like suspensions, steering, brakes, lights, etc, is repairable with conventional existing skills,” he said.
Nina Kutina, 40, and her minor daughters made global headlines after they were rescued by a police team in July
A Russian woman who made global headlines after being found living in a cave in India with her two young daughters has flown back to her country, an official told the BBC.
Nina Kutina, 40, and her daughters – aged six and five – were rescued on 9 July by policemen on a routine patrol in a forest in the southern state of Karnataka.
The woman, who did not have valid documents to stay in India, had been sent to a foreigners’ detention centre along with her daughters.
Last week, the Karnataka high court asked the federal government to issue documents to Ms Kutina and her daughters to return home.
They left for Russia on 28 September, an official at the Foreigners’ Regional Registration Office (FRRO), who wanted to stay anonymous, told BBC Hindi. Ms Kutina’s minor son from another relationship, who was later found living in Goa state, also went with them.
The high court had been hearing a petition filed by Dror Shlomo Goldstein, an Israeli businessman living in Goa, who said he was the father of the two minor girls. He had asked the court to stop the children from being sent back to Russia and appealed for their custody.
Mr Goldstein hasn’t commented on the court order yet. He has the option to appeal against it, but it’s not clear whether a judgment in his favour could compel the children to be sent back to India.
Mr Goldstein had earlier told a TV channel that Ms Kutina had left Goa without informing him and that he had filed a police complaint. He also said that he had been “providing for their [the woman and the two minor girls] well-being for a long time”.
In the order, the court however said that despite Mr Goldstein’s claims, the mum and the children had “rather inexplicably” been “found in an isolated cave”.
The court also said that Mr Goldstein could not explain why they had been living in the cave “until they were found there and the authorities began [taking] action for their rehabilitation”.
The police team that found the three had earlier said they were on a routine patrol near Ramteertha hills in the Gokarna forest, which borders the tourist paradise of Goa, when they spotted brightly coloured clothes hung near a cave.
When they got closer – the entrance to the cave had been curtained off with brightly coloured saris – they saw a “little blonde girl” running out. When the shocked policemen followed her inside, they found Ms Kutina and the other child.
The three of them had meagre possessions – plastic mats, clothes, packets of instant noodles and some other grocery items – and the cave was leaking.
The police told the BBC in July that they had a tough time convincing the mother that it was dangerous to stay in the isolated location with snakes and wild animals in the forest. The police quoted her as saying: “Animals and snakes are our friends. Humans are dangerous.”
Police said she told them that they had been living in the cave for a week when they were found. She also told the police that she came to Karnataka from Goa where she also claimed to have lived in a cave. She said that her youngest daughter was born in a Goa cave.
Ms Kutina had defended her lifestyle in video interviews to Indian news agency ANI, saying she and her children were happy living like that and that “nature gives good health”.
The police, however, said that they could not take any chances as the area was prone to landslides during the monsoon season.
Ms Kutina and her daughters were taken for a medical examination and then shifted to a detention centre.
Mr Goldstein’s lawyer, Beena PK, argued in court that deportation would not be in the interests of the children, citing India being a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and provisions of the Goa Children Act, 2003.
A sunscreen scandal in Australia is continuing to grow, with 18 products now pulled from shelves in the skin cancer hotspot over safety concerns.
Analysis by a consumer advocacy group in June found several popular and expensive sunscreens did not provide the protection claimed by their makers.
One product, Ultra Violette’s Lean Screen Skinscreen, is supposed to offer a skin protection factor (SPF) of 50+ but instead returned a result of SPF 4 and was voluntarily recalled in August.
An investigation by the medicines regulator has now warned about 20 more sunscreens from other brands, which share the same base formula, and raised “significant concerns” about a testing laboratory.
“The preliminary testing indicates that this base formulation is unlikely to have an SPF greater than 21,” the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) said in an update, adding that for some of the goods the SPF rating may be as low as four.
Of the 21 products it named, eight have been recalled or manufacture stopped completely. The sale of another 10 products have been paused, and two more are being reviewed. One product named by the TGA is made in Australia but is not sold in the country.
Australia has the highest rate of skin cancers in the world – it is estimated that two out of three Australians will have at least one cut out in their lifetime – and it has some of the strictest sunscreen regulations globally.
The scandal has caused a massive backlash from customers in the nation, but experts have warned it may also have global implications. Problems have been identified with both the manufacture of some sunscreens and the integrity of lab testing relied upon to prove their SPF claims.
The manufacturer of the base formula in question, Wild Child Laboratories Pty Ltd, has stopped making it as a result, the TGA said.
In a statement, Wild Child Laboratories boss Tom Curnow said the TGA had found no manufacturing issues at its facility.
“The discrepancies reported in recent testing are part of a broader, industry-wide issue,” he said.
The TGA has previously said it is looking into “reviewing existing SPF testing requirements” which can be “highly subjective”, but in the update on Tuesday said it had significant concerns about testing undertaken by Princeton Consumer Research Corp (PCR Corp), a US lab.
The national Black Lives Matter movement claims $33.4 million of its cash is being withheld by one of its progressive partner organizations, The Post has learned.
In a scathing lawsuit, Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation accuse the Tides foundation — backed by George Soros — of alleged “deceptive business practices” as well as “egregious mismanagement” of its money, while demanding its return.
The lawsuit was filed last year, but the stakes were raised on Monday when the BLMGNF — which oversees its other regional operations — asked the California Attorney General to step in and investigate Tides.
The national chapter of Black Lives Matter says that Tides Foundation has used millions of its contributions to fund their legal defense in the suit brought against them by the civil rights group. Getty Images
Even during the course of the lawsuit, BLMGNF accuses Tides of spending $6 million of their donations, despite promising to freeze any cash belonging to the group during the litigation, according to one of their lawyers.
“My client now has to pay money just to get their own money back, after my client raised 100% of it,” said Lawrence Segal, representing BLMGNF.
Segal claimed the BLM money may even have been used by Tides to fund their defense against them.
“More than $1 million has been spent by Tides out of my client’s money just on attorney’s fees —possibly to pay their own lawyers,” said Segal. “It appears that they are paying themselves from charitable donations in order to pay the legal fees that resulted from this case.”
BLMGNF began its relationship with Tides soon after it set up its movement in 2013.
Because the fledgling group was not a tax exempt charity at the time, it needed a fiscal sponsor to distribute the money it received from anonymous donors to other organizations, and selected Tides to do so.
Things got complicated after huge amounts of money poured in following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020, with BLM taking in some $90 million in donations between 2020 and 2022.
However, that was a drop in the ocean to Tides, which oversees more than $1.4 billion in cash from myriad nonprofits, but commingles all funds, the lawsuit claims. That makes it difficult for groups like BLMGNF to monitor where their cash is going, legal papers say.
“TIDES does not segregate monies,” Segal told The Post. “All of my client’s money is apparently commingled in one giant account. Tides’ fiscal sponsorships are very loosely regulated, at best.”
Tides did not return a request for comment from The Post. The group has previously called the lawsuit “completely false” and defended their actions, saying: “BLMGNF’s lawsuit seeks to circumvent the intent of the Fund’s donors and deprive grassroots Black Lives Matter chapters critical resources, for its own benefit.”
BLMGNF have also been criticized for how they have handled donations. Out of the $90 million windfall in donations following Floyds’ death, it only gave out about $30 million for charitable purposes in the next two years.
Another $22 million went on expenses including salaries and investments.
Patrisse Cullors, a cofounder of the group, went on a real estate spending spree, The Post revealed in April, 2021.
Cullors, who maintained she did not use BLMGNF donations to make the real estate purchases, resigned a month after that story.
One of her brothers, Paul Cullors, is still associated with BLMGNF, taking in more than $200,000 a year as “head of security,” federal filings show.
In addition to the lawsuit, Tides has been under fire by the Congressional Ways and Means Committee for acting as a conduit for contributions for nonprofits that organized anti-Israel protests on Ivy League campuses following the Oct. 7th Hamas terror attacks on Israel.
Last year, Rep. Jason Smith (R-Mo.), chair of the committee, demanded that the IRS revoke Tides’ nonprofit status. The group acted as a conduit for donations from groups such as the People’s Forum, Students for Justice in Palestine and the Adalah Justice Project, he said.
A striking element of the settlement is the allocation of $22 million to the Trust for the National Mall.
US President Donald Trump. (AFP photo)
Google-owned YouTube has agreed to pay $24.5 million to settle a lawsuit brought by US President Donald Trump over the suspension of his account in 2021. The ban was imposed in the aftermath of the Capitol riots, when major social media platforms, citing the risk of incitement, removed Trump from their services. The settlement closes a years-long legal battle that tested the boundaries of political speech, platform accountability, and the rights of private companies to moderate content.
John Coale, Trump’s lawyer in the social media cases, as quoted by Bloomberg, said, “I’m happy, the President is happy to get this resolved.” Google, YouTube’s parent company, declined to comment.
$22 million for White House ballroom project
A particularly striking element of the agreement is that $22 million of the payout will be directed to the Trust for the National Mall. The funds are earmarked for the construction of a new ballroom at the White House, designed in the style of the grand reception halls at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
This echoes earlier settlements where Trump channelled large portions of compensation into legacy projects. In January, Meta Platforms agreed to pay $25 million, of which $22 million went towards a Trump presidential library.
Trump’s past settlements with other social media platforms
Since regaining the presidency last November, Trump has secured favourable outcomes with several major technology and media companies he accused of mistreating him. In February, he ended his legal fight with Twitter, now known as X, with reports suggesting a settlement worth around $10 million.
Trump had originally sued Google, Facebook, and Twitter jointly, seeking damages not only for himself but also to establish legal limits on platforms’ ability to ban or flag users. Though courts consistently ruled that social media companies retain broad First Amendment rights to regulate content, Trump continued to press his claims until settlements were reached.
Google’s legal landscape
The settlement comes at a sensitive moment for Google, which is fighting a series of antitrust cases brought by the US Department of Justice. Regulators have accused the company of monopolising key areas of online advertising and search. Earlier this month, however, a Washington federal judge declined to order Google to divest its Chrome browser, handing the company a significant victory.
One student died and dozens were injured in the building collapse of the school, located in Indonesia’s main island of Java.
Rescue personnel inspect the site after a building collapsed at an Islamic boarding school in Sidoarjo, East Java province on September 29, 2025.(AFP)
At least 65 students were presumed to be buried under rubble after the under-construction building of an Islamic school in Indonesia collapsed. the Associated Press reported.
One student died and dozens were injured in the building collapse of the school, located in Indonesia’s main island of Java, AFP quoted a police official as saying.
The multi-storeyed building of the Al Khoziny Islamic boarding school in the town of Sidoarjo collapsed when more than 100 students had assembled for afternoon prayers, state news agency Antara reported citing a witness.
Following the incident, more than 79 students were evacuated by rescuers, AFP quoted East Java police spokesman Jules Abraham Abast as saying.
The spokesman said that one victim had died, while citing information from the hospital. However, Jules did not disclose further details, saying the authorities were trying to determine how many victims were at the spot of the incident, according to AFP.
Jules said that the police was “actively communicating with relevant parties”, including the school authorities, to establish the exact number of victims “who are still or may still be trapped in the rubble.”
The school, which was under construction, already had three floors. “The plan was to have four floors with a flat roof,” Abdus Salam Mujib, one of the heads of the school, said.
He said that the building had collapsed after workers poured concrete for the third floor. Mujib added that while the upper levels of the school was being used for classrooms and student activities, the lower floor was the prayer room.
The notification is another positive step forward in repairing India-Canada ties after an all-out diplomatic war in the final months of Justin Trudeau’s prime ministership.
Mob boss Lawrence Bishnoi and his gang – linked to murder, extortion, and arms and drugs trafficking in India and abroad – has been declared a ‘terrorist entity’ by Canada under its Criminal Code, Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree said Monday evening.
This means any Bishnoi gang asset in that country, from cash to vehicles and property, can be frozen or seized, giving Canadian law enforcement more (and sharper) teeth to prosecute gang members for various offences, including those related to financing of terrorist activities.
It also means immigration officials can deny suspected gang members entry into Canada.
“Acts of violence and terror have no place in Canada, especially those that target specific communities to create a climate of fear and intimidation,” a government statement said.
Under Canadian law, it is now a criminal offence for a Canadian citizen, and those abroad, to knowingly deal with property owned or controlled by the Bishnoi gang. It is also a criminal offence to directly or indirectly provide property knowing it will be used by or benefit the gang.
The notification – another step forward in repairing India-Canada ties after an all-out diplomatic war in the final months of Justin Trudeau’s prime ministership – comes a month after a Canadian MP, Frank Caputo, urged Anandasangaree to slap the ‘terrorist’ tag on Bishnoi.
Caputo, the shadow Public Safety Minister, wrote to Anandasangaree to highlight Bishnoi’s vast criminal empire and said it was guilty of assassinations and the extortion of Canadian citizens, and engaged in such illegal activities for “political, religious, and ideological reasons”.
“The Bishnoi gang’s activities lay the groundwork for listing it as a terrorist entity. As you know, they have taken credit for vast violence in Canada and abroad,” he said in the letter shared on X.
He also pointed to appeals by four other Canadian politicians, including Patrick Brown, the Mayor of Brampton, which is home to about 20 per cent of Canada’s Sikh population.
British Columbia Premier David Eby and his Alberta counterpart, Danielle Smith, as well as Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke, have also called for the Lawrence Bishnoi gang to be taken down.
The Canadian government has frequently named the Bishnoi gang as one of the more nefarious criminal syndicates in that country, and has also linked it to arms and drugs trafficking.
Lawrence Bishnoi – who split from Goldy Brar, an associate who ran his Canada ops, in June – and his gang of criminals and assassins have been linked to various murders since the headline-grabbing killing of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moose Wala in May 2022.
That list includes the December 2023 murder of Rajput leader Sukhdev Gogamedi and the October 2024 killing of Maharashtra politician Baba Siddique, as well as firing outside the home of Bollywood star Salman Khan – targeted over the 1999 blackbuck case – in April 2025.
But it was the killing of Hardeep Nijjar, a pro-Khalistani figure, in June 2023 that cemented the gang’s international ‘credentials’. Nijjar was a Canadian citizen, and his killing sparked a diplomatic row; Trudeau had claimed – without proof – the Indian government was involved.
The U.S. Capitol is seen as a looming partial government shutdown is a week away if Congress fails to fund the government, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., September 24, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard Purchase Licensing Rights
President Donald Trump’s administration started detailing its plans on Monday for which services it will pause if the federal government shuts down this week, with the U.S. health department slated to furlough 41% of its workforce.
The impending shutdown will be different from past government closures because the administration has threatened mass firings, of federal staff, adding that it could use the lapse in funding to downsize the federal government.
The Office of Personnel Management in a Monday memo said while training and onboarding of new federal employees is not allowed under the law dictating the parameters of a shutdown, the employees who oversee any firings are to continue their work. Unlike in past shutdowns, furloughed federal employees will also be allowed to use their government-issued computers to check for layoff notices in their email, according to OPM.
“This outrageous plan threatens to cause lasting damage to the country and the safety of the American people by mass firing nonpartisan, expert civil servants and potentially even eliminating government agencies,” Senator Gary Peters of Michigan, the top Democrat on the Senate committee that oversees shutdown operations, said in a letter to the administration.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said it will not admit new patients to its clinical research studies and limit health-related communications to the public if the government shuts down. The U.S. Labor Department said, it would suspend economic data releases in a shutdown, including the closely watched monthly employment report for September.
Republicans, who control both chambers of Congress, and the minority Democrats have not reached an agreement on a stopgap funding bill to avert a Wednesday shutdown. Congressional leaders are set to meet with Trump on Monday.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
FIRING ALLOWED, TRAINING PROHIBITED
Shutdown operations are dictated by a 19th-century law that prohibits federal government operations in areas of the government where there is not approved federal funding from Congress. There are certain exceptions, as is the case for national security purposes and to protect life and property.
Crucial government benefits paid for by mandatory spending, like Social Security payments for senior citizens and healthcare access through Medicare and Medicaid, are not hit. Federal student loans and Pell grants for students in financial need also continue.
In previous years, the plans for how federal agencies would respond to a shutdown were made available to the public and to Congress weeks before a lapse of government funding, but many departments this year released their plans within the last 24 hours.
The Department of Labor said in its plan the Bureau of Labor Statistics “will suspend all operations” and that economic data scheduled during a funding lapse will not be released.
Some of the other publicly available plans are similar to previous shutdown plans from other administrations, however, the staffing data included shows the impact of the Trump administration’s layoffs, firings, and early retirement offerings. There are about 12,000 fewer full-time employees at the Health and Human Services Department compared with last year and about 1,700 fewer employees at the Education Department than in 2024, according to the plans.
Mobile internet and satellite TV have been severely disrupted across Afghanistan
The Taliban government in Afghanistan has imposed a nationwide shutdown of telecommunications, weeks after it began severing fibre-optic internet connections.
The country is currently experiencing a “total internet blackout”, internet watchdog Netblocks reports.
International news agencies say they have lost contact with offices in the capital Kabul. Mobile internet and satellite TV have also been severely disrupted across Afghanistan.
The Taliban have yet to give an official reason for the shutdown. Since seizing power in 2021, the Taliban have imposed numerous restrictions in accordance with their interpretation of Islamic Sharia law.
A Taliban official said the telecom shutdown would last until further notice.
Tolo News, a privately owned Afghan news channel, told people to follow its social media pages for updates as it expected disruptions to its television and radio networks.
Flights from Kabul airport have also been disrupted, local media reported.
According to Flight tracking service Flightradar24, at least eight flights scheduled to depart from or arrive at Kabul International Airport on Tuesday have been cancelled.
Diplomatic officials have told the BBC that the internet cuts could affect banking and e-commerce systems nationwide.
Several people in Kabul have told the BBC that their fibre-optic internet stopped working towards the end of the working day, around 17:00 local time (12:30 GMT)
Because of this, it is understood many people will not notice the impact until Tuesday morning, when banking services and other businesses are due to resume.
Fibre-optic cables transfer data super fast, and are used for much of the world’s internet.
The BBC understands that a committee in Kabul has been tasked to examine potentially “filtering” fibre-optic internet in order to “prevent immoralities”. The committee would also determine whether the fibre-optic ban would be enforced across the country, they said.
In a post on social network Mastodon.social, Netblocks said:
“Afghanistan is now in the midst of a total internet blackout as Taliban authorities move to implement morality measures, with multiple networks disconnected through the morning in a stepwise manner; telephone services are currently also impacted”.
For weeks internet users in several Afghan provinces have been complaining about either slow internet access or no connectivity.
Several residents, who requested anonymity, previously told the BBC that their businesses and lives had been seriously affected by the internet cuts.
A man who works as a money changer in Takhar province said that his daughters’ online English classes were disrupted. “Their last opportunity to study and stay engaged is now gone,” he said.
Another woman previously told the BBC that she could not attend online classes since her home internet was cut off. “I had hoped to finish my studies and find an online job, but that dream has also been destroyed,” she said. “Without internet access, I don’t know what will happen next.”
Hamid Haidari, former editor-in-chief of Afghan news channel 1TV, said on Monday that “loneliness enveloped the entire country” after the shutdown.
“Afghanistan has now officially taken first place in the competition with North Korea for [internet] disconnection” he said on X.
“The silence online without Afghan voices from inside Afghanistan is deafening,” Mariam Solaimankhil, a former member of Afghanistan’s parliament now based in the US, wrote in a post tagging X owner Elon Musk.
A spokesperson for the Taliban governor in Balkh wrote on X earlier this month that the ban on fibre-optic internet was meant to curb “evils”. He added that authorities would explore alternatives.
The blackout is the latest in a series of restrictions which the Taliban have enforced since returning to power.
Earlier this month they removed books written by women from the country’s university teaching system as part of a new ban which has also outlawed the teaching of human rights and sexual harassment.
Zhimin Qian, also known as Yadi Zhang, was convicted on Monday
A Chinese national has been convicted following an international fraud investigation which resulted in what’s believed to be the single largest cryptocurrency seizure in the world.
The Metropolitan Police says it recovered 61,000 bitcoin worth more than £5bn ($6.7bn) in current prices.
Zhimin Qian, also known as Yadi Zhang, pleaded guilty on Monday at Southwark Crown Court of illegally acquiring and possessing the cryptocurrency.
Between 2014 and 2017 she led a large-scale scam in China which involved cheating more than 128,000 victims and storing the stolen funds in bitcoin assets, the Met said in a statement.
It said the 47-year-old’s guilty plea followed a seven-year probe into a global money laundering web which began when it got a tipoff about the transfer of criminal assets.
Qian had been “evading justice” for five years up to her arrest, which required a complex investigation involving multiple jurisdictions, said Detective Sergeant Isabella Grotto, who led the Met’s investigation.
She fled China using false documents and entered the UK, where she attempted to launder the stolen money by buying property, said the Met.
“By pleading guilty today, Ms Zhang hopes to bring some comfort to investors who have waited since 2017 for compensation, and to reassure them that the significant rise in cryptocurrency values means there are more than sufficient funds available to repay their losses,” said Qian’s solicitor Roger Sahota, of Berkeley Square Solicitors.
But some reports have suggested the UK government will seek to retain the seized funds.
The BBC has approached the Treasury and the Home Office for a response.
Reforms to crime legislation under the previous Conservative government aimed to make it easier for the UK authorities to seize, freeze and recover crypto assets.
The changes would also allow some victims to apply for the release of their assets held in accounts.
‘The goddess of wealth’
Qian had help from a Chinese takeaway worker named Jian Wen, who was jailed for six years and eight months last year for her part in the criminal operation.
Wen, 44, laundered the proceeds from the scam and moved from living above a restaurant to a “multi-million pound rented house” in north London, said the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) earlier this year.
She also bought two properties in Dubai worth more than £500,000, the CPS said.
The Met said it seized more than £300m worth of bitcoin from Wen.
Chinese media outlet Lifeweek reported in 2024 that investors, mostly between 50 and 75 years old, had poured “hundreds of thousands to tens of millions” of yuan into investments promoted by Qian.
Some of the victims – including business people, bank employees and members of the judiciary – were reportedly urged to invest with Qian’s scheme by friends and family.
The investors reportedly knew little about Qian, who was described as “the goddess of wealth”.
“Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are increasingly being used by organised criminals to disguise and transfer assets, so that fraudsters may enjoy the benefits of their criminal conduct,” said deputy chief Crown prosecutor, Robin Weyell.
Vijay, one of the most bankable stars in Tamil cinema, launched his political party last year
An Indian superstar-turned-politician is at the centre of a massive row after 40 people died in a crush at his party’s rally on Saturday.
Tens of thousands of people turned up at the campaign event held by Vijay in Karur district in Tamil Nadu state. The actor was in the middle of his speech when the crowd surged suddenly.
The tragedy has sparked a blame game, with the opposition accusing government officials of not deploying enough police personnel to control crowds.
Police officials have said that the rally’s organisers, who are from Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) party, underestimated the anticipated crowd size and did not take enough precautions.
Who is Vijay?
With an acting career spanning decades, 51-year-old Vijay is one of the most popular actors in Tamil Nadu.
Over the years, he has worked his way up to becoming one of the most bankable stars, with even films panned by critics becoming massive box-office hits.
Born Joseph Vijay Chandrasekhar to a film director father and singer mother, he acted in several films as a child.
Vijay first played the hero in 1992’s Naalaiya Theerpu, directed by his father. The film, about a group of college students taking on a corrupt businessman, was a flop but as the news website Scroll put it, it sowed the “seeds of Vijay’s carefully crafted screen persona as the man with the solution to Tamil Nadu’s problems”.
He then appeared in several romances and comedies – many of them box-office hits – and became a familiar face for audiences. His smooth dance moves in particular won him many fans.
Over the years, he starred in many superhit action thrillers, including Ghilli (2004), Pokkiri (2007), Thuppakki (2012) and Kaththi (2014) where he displayed easy chemistry with his heroines and cool action mannerisms.
His fans called him Ilaya Thalapathy, or Young Commander – most huge Tamil stars have fan-approved monikers like these.
Whenever a new Vijay film would release, fans would turn out at cinema halls in droves to celebrate and support him.
Over the past few years, even films which got bad critical reviews, such as Beast (2022) and The Greatest of All Time (2024), have become box-office hits.
After the success of Beast, the Indian Express wrote that Vijay’s “stardom has reached a point, where even his most unimaginative, unoriginal and unamusing movie could bring in global box office receipts of upwards of 2bn rupees ($22.5m; £16.7m)”.
Why did he join politics?
There had been speculation around Vijay’s political entry for years – a fan club he launched gave a creditable performance in the 2021 local elections. He had also made several statements over the years that were interpreted as having political undertones.
But his decision to quit acting to enter full-time politics still took fans by surprise. He has said that Jana Nayagan, set to release early next year, will be his last film.
It’s common for film stars in India’s southern states to join politics, as they bank on their popularity and mass appeal to translate into electoral dividends.
The biggest example in Tamil Nadu is MG Ramachandran, popularly known as MGR, who joined the state’s ruling party Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in 1953 at the peak of his stardom.
In 1972, he had a fallout with the DMK and founded his own party, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), and went on to serve as the chief minister from 1977 until his death in 1987.
The late J Jayalalithaa – one of MGR’s most successful co-stars – followed in his footsteps – joining and eventually leading the AIADMK after his death.
She served as the chief minister of Tamil Nadu for six terms.
But not all forays into politics by film stars have translated into electoral success.
Kamal Haasan, a legendary Tamil actor who has done more than 200 films across Indian film industries, launched his party Makkal Needhi Maiam in 2018, declaring his intent to challenge the dominance of the DMK and AIADMK in the state. But his party is yet to win a parliamentary or assembly seat.
Rajinikanth, one of Tamil cinema’s biggest icons, long flirted with the idea of joining politics before finally announcing in 2020 that he wouldn’t do so.
Critics argue that despite their massive popularity, celebrity-led parties often lack grassroots experience, limiting their success.
Since Vijay launched his party last year, his rallies have drawn massive crowds, with tens of thousands of people jostling to see the star and get a selfie with him.
“It’s rare to see thousands of people waiting for more than 10 hours under the scorching sun to get one glimpse of an actor-turned-politician,” says Anbarasan Ethirajan, the BBC’s Global Affairs reporter who follows Tamil Nadu’s politics closely. He adds that the massive crowds at Vijay’s rallies are reminiscent of the MGR years, when fans would jostle to see the superstar.
But Vijay’s rivals have also questioned his lack of political experience and criticised some of his statements as vague.
What will happen now?
Crushes at political rallies are common in India, often leading to blame games between the organisers and authorities.
In Vijay’s case, his fans allege that his party was denied permission to hold the event at a safer venue.
State officials deny this and claim the venue was approved by the party, BBC Tamil reports.
There have been some calls even to arrest Vijay, but given his immense popularity, the DMK-led Tamil Nadu government is treading cautiously.
A one-member commission of inquiry has been set up to investigate the cause of the crush. The state’s Chief Minister MK Stalin has promised action on the commission’s report within two months.
Meanwhile, TVK has approached the Madras High Court, seeking a federal investigation into the incident. The court is scheduled to hear the case on Monday.
Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban may have dropped hints that they were headed toward splitsville before their bombshell separation news broke.
Insiders told Page Six on Monday that the actress attempted to save her and the country singer’s 19-year marriage and didn’t want to separate.
The source shared that the relationship ran its course, while another insider told TMZ that they’ve been living in different homes in Nashville, Tenn., “since the beginning of summer.”
Nicole Kidman and her estranged husband, Keith Urban, may have dropped hints that they were separated before Page Six confirmed the news. Penske Media via Getty Images
Per the outlet, Kidman, 58, has been “holding the family together” by looking after her and Urban’s daughters, Sunday Rose, 17, and Faith Margaret, 14.
Leading up to the shocking news, the exes may have subtly revealed there was trouble in paradise with recent interviews and social media snubs.
No recent public appearances
Kidman and Urban, 57, were last photographed together at a Los Angeles Football Club match in Nashville on June 20.
The “Moulin Rouge” star and the “Let It Roll” singer appeared in good spirits while chatting in a secluded section at GEODIS Park.
Before then, they stepped out at the 2025 Country Music Awards in Frisco, Texas, on May 8.
At the time, Kidman and Urban appeared head-over-heels for each other while giggling and holding hands in the audience.
Social media snubs
Kidman shared an inside look at her summer with her kids via Instagram in August, though Urban was noticeably missing.
Several photos showed the “Babygirl” star vacationing, taking a dive in the ocean and walking around a carnival.
“Summer memories ❤️ Now back to school ✨,” she captioned the snap.
The last time Kidman shared a photo with Urban on social media was for their 19th wedding anniversary in June.
They were seen cozied up together in the black and white snap while the “Fighter” singer’s guitar hung from his neck strap.
“Happy Anniversary Baby ❤️,” the actress captioned the photo.
Urban, meanwhile, hasn’t featured his estranged wife on social media since the Country Music Awards in May.
Urban ends interview over question about Kidman’s sex scenes
In July, Urban abruptly ended a Zoom interview with “Hayley & Max in the Morning” when he was asked about Kidman and Zac Efron’s steamy scene in the 2024 Netflix film “A Family Affair.”
“What does Keith Urban think when he sees his beautiful wife with beautiful younger men like Zac Efron having these beautiful love scenes on TV?” co-host Max Burford asked.
The “We Were” singer, however, didn’t respond, and a producer shared that he had “disconnected from Zoom.”
“I think his team hung up on us because they didn’t want us to ask that question,” the producer said.
“He doesn’t like talking about his wife,” co-host Hayley Peterson chimed in.
Kidman is focusing on new projects
Earlier this month, Kidman shared that she and her bestie Reese Witherspoon have big plans to bring Hollywood to Nashville.
During a Q&A at Nashville’s Film Festival, the “Hours” star said, “There is so much room here for production.”
“The crews are fantastic and the actors, and the people, all of … I feel that it’s taking off and will continue to take off, so off we go,” she added, per People.
Kidman also wrapped up filming “Practical Magic 2” this month.
Kidman speaks about “resilience”
During an interview with Forbes published Monday, Kidman got candid about how succeeding in the movie industry taught her to be resilient.
“I think having a career that has lasted this long is what has taught me about resilience,” she said.
“I’ve been told ‘no’ so many times in my career. It’s very much about being brave, trying things, being willing to be criticized and being willing to not be stopped by that criticism.”
Kidman shared that “anything that hasn’t worked out for [her] has actually led [her] to something else that [she’s] far more grateful [she] got to experience.”
“That is also [a part of] resilience. It’s not setting your sights on what you think you’re meant to have; it’s being willing to explore and [staying] open—particularly as you get older,” the “Big Little Lies” star added.
No interview shoutouts
Kidman notably didn’t mention Urban when she talked to Forbes about her personal life.
The “Dogville” star, however, mentioned how she uses reading as an “escape” and the wellness tradition of “Forest Bathing,” which is the practice of immersing yourself in nature.
She also briefly touched on going to hot yoga classes with her daughters.
Kidman has gushed over the hitmaker in the past and mentioned in her January 2025 W Magazine cover story that the secret to their successful marriage was “a double shower.”
Mel Gibson, Donald Trump’s Hollywood ambassador, will have trouble with his latest movie.
Trump has announced a 100% tariff on all movies made outside the United States.
Gibson is shooting his two part “Passion of the Christ” sequel, and it’s not in Altoona, trust me.
Shooting is set for Rome, other locations in Italy, Morocco, and Israel.
It’s a two part movie that is costing Gibson, a Hollywood pariah, hundreds of millions of dollars.
Trump knows nothing about the movie business, but he likes to make random declarations which have to be walked back later.
I can’t wait to hear how “Passion of the Christ 2” will get some exemption from Trump, who’s obviously forgotten that cronies like Jon Voight and Sylvester Stallone also make movies abroad.
Another movie this will likely affect: Christopher Nolan’s “Odyssey,” shooting in Greece, Morocco, Sicily, and the United Kingdom.
There are plenty more, too. And who will pay for it? Moviegoers. Just like people who like to eat are paying for higher grocery bills!
Donald Trump’s latest insane rant on Truth Social:
“Our movie making business has been stolen from the United States of America, by other Countries, just like stealing “candy from a baby.” California, with its weak and incompetent Governor, has been particularly hard hit! Therefore, in order to solve this long time, never ending problem, I will be imposing a 100% Tariff on any and all movies that are made outside of the United States. Thank you for your attention to this matter. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! President DJT”
A Tomahawk land attack missile (TLAM) is launched from the U.S. Navy Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Gravely against what the U.S. military describe as Houthi military targets in Yemen, February 3, 2024. U.S. Central Command/Handout via REUTERS Purchase Licensing Rights
Russia said on Monday that its military was analysing whether or not the United States would supply Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine for strikes deep into Russia, a step that Russian officials say could trigger a steep escalation.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance said on Sunday that Washington was considering a Ukrainian request to obtain Tomahawks.
President Donald Trump has not made a final decision, and he has been wary of escalating the Ukraine war into a direct confrontation with Russia. But the fact he is now weighing such a move shows the extent of his frustration with President Vladimir Putin’s refusal to agree a ceasefire since he hosted the Russian leader at a summit in Alaska last month.
Tomahawks have a range of 2,500 km (1,550 miles) – easily far enough to hit Moscow and most of European Russia if fired from Ukraine. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy cautioned Kremlin officials last week that they should “know where the bomb shelters are”.
RUSSIA CONDUCTING ‘IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS’ OF SCENARIOS
It was unclear how or through which countries the Tomahawks could be supplied. Zelenskiy has asked Washington to sell them to European nations that would send them to Ukraine.
For the Kremlin, the escalatory risks of U.S. involvement in firing such missiles deep into Russia are clear.
“The question… is this: who can launch these missiles…? Can only Ukrainians launch them, or do American soldiers have to do that?” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters when asked about Vance’s remarks.
“Who is determining the targeting of these missiles? The American side or the Ukrainians themselves?” Peskov added, saying “a very in-depth analysis” was required.
Putin has previously warned that Russia reserves the right to strike at military installations in countries that let Ukraine use their missiles to hit Russia.
Andrei Kartapolov, head of the Russian parliament’s defence committee, told the Mayak news outlet that any U.S. military specialists who helped Ukraine to launch Tomahawks against Russia would become targets for Moscow.
“And no one will protect them. Not Trump, not Kellogg, nor anyone else,” he said.
Keith Kellogg, the U.S. special envoy to Ukraine, said on Sunday that Trump had indicated that Kyiv should now be able to conduct long-range strikes on Russia.
“Use the ability to hit deep. There are no such things as sanctuaries,” Kellogg told Fox News.
Pakistan’s rising star at the White House comes as ties between the US and India continue to nosedive. However, experts agree that India maintains its long-term value as a strategic partner to Washington.
Pakistan’s prime minister and army chief met with Trump while visiting the US for the UN General : White House
Ties between Pakistan and the US continue to build momentum under President Donald Trump as Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif and army chief Asim Munir visited the White House last week, bearing praise for Trump along with plans for more economic and strategic cooperation.
In a statement, Sharif thanked Trump for helping broker a deal in July promising a lower tariff rate for Pakistan in return for US investment in Pakistan’s energy, mining and agriculture sectors.
The White House share photos from the Oval Office meeting, where Munir is seen presenting Trump with a box full of rare earth minerals. This is Munir’s second visit to the US this year.
It remains doubtful whether Pakistan really possesses “massive” oil reserves, as Trump has put it. But Trump notably took a jab at New Delhi when announcing the deal in July, quipping that India may “one day buy Pakistani oil.”
Sharif’ also called Trump a “man of peace” last week and credited the president for helping facilitate a ceasefire between India and Pakistan after a short-lived conflict in May, which was sparked by a deadly militant attack on Indian tourists in India-administered Kashmir.
Munir has said Trump deserves a Nobel Peace Prize, while India denies Trump played any role in the ceasefire.
Pakistan’s rising star at the White House comes as ties between the US and India continue to nosedive. The hopes of Trump continuing the close relationship with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi have faded, as the distance between the two men feels far greater that during Trump’s first term.
On a geopolitical level, the US and India have been building strategic ties for many years, for example, vis a vis China, while maintaining a cooperative trade relationship.
Now, India continues to face a 50% tariff from the US over its continued imports of Russian oil amid the war in Ukraine.
India’s long-term strategy
Closer US–Pakistan ties are now prompting doubts in Indian policy circles about the reliability of the US as a strategic partner.
Harsh Pant, head of the Strategic Studies Programme at Observer Research Foundation (ORF), a New Dehli think tank, told DW that the calculus of Indian foreign policy could change if Pakistan grows to become central to US strategy.
“If India doubts Washington’s commitment as a long-term partner, it will fundamentally alter how India addresses challenges in the Indo-Pacific,” said Pant, who is also a professor of international relations at King’s College in London.
“This would not only reshape India’s approach to the region but also impact America’s broader Indo-Pacific strategy, the Quad partnership, and the many collaborative efforts between India and the US to balance rising Chinese influence,” Pant added. The Quad is a joint forum of four Indo-Pacific powers: India, the US, Australia, and Japan, which Washington hopes will curb China’s influence in the region.
Pakistan plays the field with Saudi Arabia
Further complicating the geopolitical picture is Pakistan’s recent defense pact with Saudi Arabia, an important US ally in the Middle East. The pact includes a mutual defense clause, stating “any aggression against either country shall be considered an aggression against both.”
For India, having its archrival aligned with a major Middle Eastern power is a strategic concern. However, Ajay Bisaria, a former Indian envoy to Pakistan, told DW that Indian policymakers are not yet alarmed.
“Given Pakistan’s economic troubles, it is compelled to adapt its foreign policy to stay relevant to its three main international backers: the US, China, and Saudi Arabia. It tries to monetize its location by leveraging shifting geopolitical circumstances and pushing transactional relationships. India views Pakistan’s actions as part of its ongoing effort to remain globally relevant, ” Bisaria said.
Bisaria added that India’s leadership is confident that time will eventually run out on the US and Pakistan’s current rapprochement.
“India is alert to these maneuvers but not overly concerned given the sustainability of Pakistan’s balancing act and the inevitability of disappointment in US-Pakistan ties in the long run,” he added.
The bronze statue, sculpted by artist Fredda Brilliant, was unveiled in 1968 at the square as a nod to Mahatma Gandhi’s days as a law student at the nearby University College London.
Mahatma Gandhi’s statue in Tavistock Square, London, was defaced on Monday, just days before the annual Gandhi Jayanti celebrations are scheduled to take place at the site on October 2. The High Commission of India has strongly condemned the incident, calling it a “shameful act” and an assault on the legacy of nonviolence.
In a post on X, the Indian mission said the desecration was reported to the local authorities, even as its officials were on site to coordinate the restoration of the monument to its original state.
The plinth of the iconic statue, which depicts the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, in a seated meditative pose, was discovered daubed with disturbing anti-India graffiti.
“The High Commission of India in London is deeply saddened and strongly condemns the shameful act of vandalism of the statue of Mahatma Gandhi at Tavistock Square in London,” the High Commission said in a statement.
@HCI_London is deeply saddened and strongly condemns the shameful act of vandalism of the statue of Mahatma Gandhi at Tavistock Square in London. This is not just vandalism, but a violent attack on the idea of nonviolence, three days before the international day of nonviolence,…
“This is not just vandalism, but a violent attack on the idea of non-violence, three days before the International Day of Non-Violence, and on the legacy of the Mahatma. We have taken this up strongly with local authorities for immediate action, and our team is already on site, coordinating with authorities to restore the statue to its original dignity,” it added.
The Metropolitan Police and the local Camden Council authorities stated that they are investigating reports of vandalism.
Gandhi Jayanti, designated as International Day of Non-Violence by the United Nations, is commemorated with floral tributes and the Father of the Nation’s favourite bhajans at the monument in London annually on October 2.
About The Statue
The bronze statue, sculpted by artist Fredda Brilliant and created with the backing of the India League, was unveiled in 1968 at the square as a nod to Mahatma Gandhi’s days as a law student at the nearby University College London. The inscription on the plinth reads: “Mahatma Gandhi, 1869-1948”.
President Donald Trump secured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s backing on Monday for a U.S.-sponsored peace proposal to end a nearly two-year-old war in Gaza, but questions loomed over whether Hamas would accept the plan.
Speaking at a joint White House press conference following a meeting with Netanyahu, Trump said they were “beyond very close” to an elusive peace deal for the Palestinian enclave. But he warned the Islamist group Hamas that Israel would have full U.S. support to take whatever action it deemed necessary if the militants reject what he has offered.
The White House released a 20-point document that called for an immediate ceasefire, an exchange of hostages held by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, a staged Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, Hamas disarmament and a transitional government led by an international body.
Trump went into Monday’s meeting seeking to overcome Netanyahu’s misgivings over parts of the plan. It was not immediately clear whether the Trump administration and Israel had resolved all their differences, including over the possibility of a future Palestinian State, which Netanyahu has forcefully rejected, and any role for the Palestinian Authority in post-war governance of the enclave.
Trump thanked Netanyahu “for agreeing to the plan and for trusting that if we work together, we can bring an end to the death and destruction that we’ve seen for so many years, decades, even centuries.”
NETANYAHU SAYS PLAN MEETS ISRAEL’S WAR AIMS
Standing next to Trump, Netanyahu responded: “I support your plan to end the war in Gaza, which achieves our war aims.
“It will bring back to Israel all our hostages, dismantle Hamas’ military capabilities, end its political rule, and ensure that Gaza never again poses a threat to Israel,” he said.
It was clear, however, that Hamas remained the key to whether Trump’s peace proposals get off the ground.
The group’s absence from negotiations and its previous repeated refusals to disarm raised doubts about the plan’s viability.
Hamas, which triggered the war with its October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, still holds 48 hostages, 20 of them still alive, Israel says.
“Hamas hasn’t yet received the plan officially, nothing beyond media publication,” a Hamas official told Reuters.
But an official briefed on the talks later said Qatar and Egypt shared the document with Hamas, which told mediators they will review it “in good faith” and then respond.
In Netanyahu’s fourth White House visit since Trump returned to office in January, the right-wing Israeli leader was looking to bolster his country’s most important relationship after a slew of Western leaders formally embraced Palestinian statehood at the United Nations last week in defiance of the U.S. and Israel.
Trump sharply criticized the recognition of statehood as a prize for Hamas.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reach to shake hands at a joint press conference in the State Dining Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., September 29, 2025. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst Purchase Licensing Rights
Monday’s meeting marked a stepped-up diplomatic effort from the president, who vowed during the 2024 presidential campaign to quickly bring the conflict to a close and has since repeatedly claimed that a peace deal was near, only for it to fail to materialize.
Washington outlined its peace plan to Arab and Muslim states on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly last week.
Trump presented his set of proposals in effusive terms on Monday but ended what was billed as a press conference without taking questions.
He has previously hailed international deals that delivered less than promised. He headed into an August summit in Alaska with Russian President Vladimir Putin seeking a ceasefire in the Ukraine war and emerged with no such deal. Nonetheless, he called the meeting “a 10” on a scale of one to 10.
Netanyahu, while praising Trump as a friend of Israel, put some distance between himself and some items in Trump’s plan, including the reforms being demanded of the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority and the prospects for eventual Palestinian statehood.
The Palestinian Authority welcomed Trump’s efforts on Monday and reiterated its commitment to work with the U.S. and partners to reach a comprehensive deal, news agency WAFA reported.
Netanyahu is under mounting pressure from the hostages’ families and, according to public opinion polls, a war-weary Israeli public. But he also risks the collapse of his governing coalition if far-right ministers believe he has made too many concessions for a peace deal.
A woman wearing a raincoat collects a plastic bag near a beach as Typhoon Bualoi nears, in Nghe An province, Vietnam, September 28, 2025. REUTERS/Thinh Nguyen Purchase Licensing Rights
Vietnam closed airports and evacuated thousands of people in areas under storm threat on Sunday, as intensifying Typhoon Bualoi barrelled towards the country, days after causing at least 10 deaths and widespread flooding in the Philippines.
The typhoon was generating winds of up to 133 km/h (83 mph) as of 1000 GMT and is forecast to make landfall in central Vietnam around 0100 on Monday, slowing as it nears the coast, state-run Thanh Nien newspaper reported.
“This is a rapidly moving storm – nearly twice the average speed – with strong intensity and a broad area of impact,” the national weather forecast agency said.
“It is capable of triggering multiple natural disasters simultaneously, including powerful winds, heavy rainfall, flooding, flash floods, landslides, and coastal inundation.”
Northern and central provinces may see up to 600 mm of rain through October 1, with rivers rising by 9 meters and risks of flooding and landslides, it said.
Authorities in the central province of Ha Tinh have started to evacuate more than 15,000 people, the government said, adding thousands of troops were standing ready.
Residents in Vinh, capital of Nghe An province where the typhoon is expected to make landfall, were rushing to secure homes, tie down boats, and stack sandbags or water-filled sacks on rooftops.
“We already suffered from losses from recent Typhoon Kajiki this year and haven’t recovered yet,” said Bui Thi Tuyet, a 41-year-old resident. “Over the last 20 years living here, I have not felt this terrified because of storms.”
Vietnam suspended operations at four coastal airports from Sunday, including Da Nang International Airport, and adjusted the departure time of several flights, the Civil Aviation Authority said.
Schools in the typhoon-affected area will be closed on Monday, with closures potentially extended if necessary, according to news site VnExpress.
U.S. President Donald Trump hopes to finalize a Gaza peace plan proposal in a meeting on Monday with Israel’s Prime Minister, Trump told Reuters on Sunday, as Israeli tanks pushed deeper into Gaza City and the military wing of Hamas said it had lost contact with two hostages held there.
The fate of the two hostages, which has strong domestic resonance in Israel, could cast a shadow over a meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Trump on Monday.
The Hamas military wing, Al-Qassam Brigades, called on Israel on Sunday to pull troops back and suspend air strikes on Gaza City for 24 hours so fighters could retrieve the captives.
Trump told Reuters in a phone interview he had received a “very good response” from Israel and Arab leaders to the Gaza peace plan proposal and that “everybody wants to make a deal.”
Hamas said the group had not yet received any proposal from Trump nor from mediators.
Israel has launched a massive ground assault on Gaza City, flattening whole districts and ordering hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to flee to tented camps, in what Netanyahu says is a bid to destroy Hamas.
Nevertheless, the past few days have seen increasing talk of a diplomatic resolution to the nearly two-year-old Gaza war.
Trump’s 21-point Middle East peace plan to end the Gaza war calls for the return of all Israeli hostages, living and dead, no further Israeli attacks on Qatar and a new dialogue between Israel and Palestinians for “peaceful coexistence.”
HAMAS URGES ISRAELI MILITARY TO PULL BACK
Netanyahu has repeatedly said Hamas must lay down its arms or be defeated. He told Fox News earlier on Sunday it is possible to have amnesty for Hamas leaders under a ceasefire agreement that would include them being escorted out of Gaza.
Hamas has so far said it will never give up its weapons as long as Palestinians are struggling for a state. It refuses any expulsion of its leaders from Gaza.
Al-Qassam Brigades called on the Israeli military to pull troops back from the Sabra and Tel Al-Hawa districts southeast of Gaza City’s centre, and suspend flights over the area for 24 hours from 1500 GMT so it could reach the two trapped hostages.
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, September 28, 2025. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas Purchase Licensing Rights
The Israeli military did not directly comment on the request but made clear it had no plans to halt its advances, issuing a statement ordering all residents of parts of Gaza City including the Sabra district to leave. It said it was about to attack Hamas targets and raze buildings in the area.
Gaza residents and medics said Israeli tanks pushed deeper into Sabra, Tel Al-Hawa and nearby Sheikh Radwan and Al-Naser neighbourhoods, closing in on the heart of the city and western areas where hundreds of thousands of people are sheltering.
RESCUERS UNABLE TO REACH TRAPPED RESIDENTS
The Gaza health ministry said in a statement that at least 77 people had been killed by Israeli fire in the past 24 hours.
Local health authorities said they had been unable to respond to dozens of desperate calls from trapped residents.
Gaza’s Civil Emergency Service said late on Saturday that Israel had denied 73 requests, sent via international organisations, to let it rescue injured Palestinians in Gaza City. The Israeli military had no immediate comment.
The families of the two hostages identified by Hamas have requested that their names not be published by the media.
The war began after Hamas-led militants attacked Israeli territory in October 2023, killing around 1,200 people and capturing 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Forty-eight hostages are still in Gaza, 20 of whom Netanyahu says are still alive.
Israel’s assault has killed more than 66,000 Palestinians, according to medical authorities in the territory. Most homes have been damaged or destroyed and 2.3 million residents are living under a severe humanitarian crisis.
The Israeli military says Hamas, which ruled Gaza for nearly two decades, no longer has governing capacity and that its military force has been reduced to a guerrilla movement.
The military launched its long-threatened ground offensive on Gaza City on September 16 after weeks of intensifying strikes on the urban centre.
Over the past 24 hours, the air force had struck 140 military targets across Gaza, including militants and what it described as military infrastructure, the military said.
![Iran’s ongoing retaliatory attacks with ballistic missiles towards Israel are seen from Tel Aviv, Israel on June 17, 2025. [Mostafa Alkharouf – Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.readselective.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-05-at-9.25.39-AM.png?resize=800%2C517&ssl=1)
