Manchester attack leaves three dead, including one suspected assailant

October 3, 2025

Suspect among three dead following Manchester attack — Members of the public react as they gather near the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue

They Came for Prayer: A Yom Kippur Morning That Changed a Manchester Community

It was supposed to be a day of fasting, reflection and quiet at the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation. Instead, a crisp autumn morning in Crumpsall tore open in a way no one could have imagined.

Worshippers gathered to mark Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year — a day when synagogues are full, voices rise in solemn prayer, and communities come together to atone and renew. At 9:31am, Greater Manchester Police (GMP) received the call that would turn that sacred silence into chaos: a car had been driven towards people outside the synagogue, and at least one person had been stabbed.

Within seven minutes of that call, armed police had confronted the assailant. He was shot and later confirmed dead. Two men — both mourned now by family and friends — did not survive. Three others remain in hospital with serious injuries. The attacker has been identified by police as 35-year-old Jihad Al-Shamie, a British citizen of Syrian descent. Authorities said he did not appear in initial security records and was not known to be under investigation.

The Scene, and the Seconds That Mattered

Those initial seven minutes have become the focus of mourning and gratitude. Worshippers and security staff inside the synagogue barricaded doors and kept the assailant out — an action GMP Chief Constable Stephen Watson called an act of “immediate bravery.” “There were a large number of worshippers attending the synagogue at the time of this attack,” he said. “Thanks to the immediate bravery of security staff and the worshippers inside, as well as the fast response of the police, the attacker was prevented from gaining access.”

Bodies, blood, and fear were carried away in ambulances. A bomb disposal team conducted a controlled explosion at the suspect’s vehicle as a precaution after officers found what looked like an explosive vest. Police declared a major incident and invoked “Plato,” the national code-word used for marauding terror attacks — a grim procedural recognition of the scale and nature of what had happened.

Voices from the Ground

Outside the cordon, the neighborhood felt suspended between grief and disbelief. “We come here to pray and to be closer to God,” said Miriam, a regular worshipper who asked that her family name not be used. “Today was supposed to be about making amends. Now we have to make sense of this horror.”

A security guard who helped lock the doors, arms shaking as he spoke, told me, “I heard the screech of brakes and a thud. Then someone shouted. We moved in an instant — closed the door, slid the bolt. Maybe that’s why more people weren’t hurt.”

Community leaders expressed anger and sorrow in equal measure. The Board of Deputies and the Jewish Leadership Council said this was “something we feared was coming,” pointing to a climate of rising antisemitism that has made Jewish institutions more vulnerable across the UK. Dave Rich of the Community Security Trust explained the peculiar gravity of the timing: “Yom Kippur is the holiest day of the Jewish year. Synagogues will be full; tensions sadly can be exploited by those who wish to do harm.”

A National Promise of Protection

Prime Minister Keir Starmer visited a synagogue and used the gravity of the moment to promise a fortified response. Speaking after a Cobra meeting, he condemned the attack as “a terrorist attack that attacked Jews because they are Jews,” calling the act “vile.” He pledged more visible policing and promised, “I will do everything in my power to guarantee you the security that you deserve.”

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said she was “horrified” and urged the public to follow emergency services’ advice. International voices — from the Israeli embassy in London to Irish President Michael D. Higgins — expressed solidarity and condolences. King Charles said he and the queen were “deeply shocked and saddened.”

Hard Questions, Broader Patterns

How does a society protect its most vulnerable moments — holy days, festivals, places of worship — without turning those moments into fortresses? That is the question now being asked in Manchester, across the UK and beyond.

Experts warn that attacks like this do not occur in isolation. Patterns of hate on social media, international conflicts, and local tensions can combine to radicalize individuals. The Community Security Trust and other organizations tracking hate crimes have documented increases in antisemitic incidents in recent years, with sharp spikes whenever international tensions flare. Such data make community security a long-term endeavor, not a short-term fix.

“Security can reduce the risk, but it can’t heal the fear,” said Dr. Hannah Levine, a researcher who studies religious communities and safety. “Communities need both protection and nourishment — visible policing, yes, but also outreach, education, and mental health support for those living in chronic fear.”

What Happened to the Suspect’s Motive?

Authorities have arrested three people — two men in their 30s and a woman in her 60s — on suspicion of planning a terror attack. Police are treating the incident as terrorism, and inquiries are ongoing to uncover networks, motives and any prior indicators that could have prevented this day’s bloodshed. For now, the assailant’s presence did not trigger red flags in initial police or security service searches, raising uncomfortable questions about how isolated actors may fly under the radar.

Local Color: Manchester’s Response and Resilience

Manchester is no stranger to tragedy, but it is also a city that has learned to respond to shock with solidarity. Northern neighborhoods like Crumpsall are woven from many fabrics — families from long-established communities, newer arrivals, shops that know your order before you ask for it.

Outside a closed bakery, an elderly man who has lived in the area for decades said, “We look after one another. That’s what Manchester does. Today we hold the families in our hearts.”

Volunteer groups and charities mobilized quickly: the Community Security Trust offered immediate extra patrols and support for the synagogue; neighbors opened doors to those suddenly displaced by police cordons; and city officials coordinated trauma services for those who had witnessed the attack.

On Memory, Mourning and Moving Forward

There are practical steps to be taken: forensic investigations, court cases, and longer-term security reviews. But there are also quieter tasks — tending to grief, rebuilding a sense of safety, and refusing to let hate define how ordinary life unfolds.

“We will come back to the synagogue,” Miriam told me, voice steady and luminous with a kind of stubborn hope. “We will listen, we will pray, and we will remember the lives lost here. But we will not let fear write our story.”

As readers across the globe reflect on this attack, a few questions linger: How do we protect religious freedom in a world where violence can touch even the holiest of days? How do communities balance vigilance with openness? And how do nations respond to hate in ways that are immediate, effective and lasting?

Manchester’s morning was changed forever. But in the rows of the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation, in the steady hands that locked the doors, and in the city’s pledge to protect, there remains a clear, human answer: togetherness. That, perhaps, is the first defense against the darkness.

Time of call to police: 9:31am
Armed police engagement: within seven minutes
Declared major incident: 9:37am; suspect shot at 9:38am
Fatalities: two men
Injured: three men in hospital with serious injuries
Arrests: three people arrested on suspicion of planning a terror attack

If you live near places of worship, or care about communities that feel under threat, consider reaching out to local groups doing security and mental health work. Ask your local representatives what they will do beyond immediate policing to guard against hate. And ask yourself: how would you show up if it were your neighbor’s synagogue, mosque, church, temple or community center under threat?

EU leaders endorse drone-shield plan to deter Russian aggression

hanad

October 3, 2025

EU leaders back plan for 'drone wall' to counter Russia — A Danish vessel patrols the water and airspace at Copenhagen Airport after recent drone incursions

Copenhagen at the Edge: Drones, Diplomacy and the Shape of European Defence

The light over Copenhagen that morning had a brittle clarity—pale sun sliding off the Baltic, gulls arguing above the harbour, and a low hum of conversation as leaders poured into the glass-and-steel conference venue. Beneath the ritual of handshakes and translators, something else was stirring: a palpable unease about how Europe’s wars are changing, and who will pick up the bill.

France’s seizure of a Benin-flagged oil tanker in French waters a few hours before the summit felt like a scene from a spy thriller. French troops, acting at sea, boarded the vessel suspected of being a launch point for the small, winged machines that had recently forced the closure of airports—including Copenhagen’s—and sent ripples of alarm from the Baltic to the Black Sea.

“We arrested two crew members,” France’s Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu told journalists later, his voice dry with the kind of understatement that belies urgency. “They failed to provide proof of nationality and did not comply with orders.” On the quay, a dockworker who had watched the boarding unfold all morning shook his head. “You never think you’ll see soldiers on a tanker here,” he said. “It makes the world feel smaller and meaner at the same time.”

A new kind of wall

Out of those tensions came a single phrase that dominated the conversations: “drone wall.” The idea is as straightforward as it is ambitious—an EU-wide network for sensing, tracking and, if necessary, neutralising hostile drones that cross European airspace. Detection nodes, shared radar data, common rules of engagement: think of it as an aerial neighborhood watch, but one with teeth.

Leaders at the summit expressed support for the blueprint in principle. But as with every complex defence initiative, support leaves room for squabbles, budgets and legal knotwork. The proposal will be debated further in the coming weeks, and diplomats cautioned it would face tough negotiations before any formal adoption.

“They’re threatening us, and they are testing us, and they will not stop,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said bluntly, capturing the mood. Her words echoed around the chamber and outside it: a police drone hovered above the venue like a mechanical gull, recording the assembly below.

What would a “drone wall” look like?

Experts sketch a layered system.

Distributed sensors around borders and key infrastructure (radar, radio-frequency detectors, optical systems).
A centralised data-sharing hub to merge streams in real time, so one country’s sensors protect many.
Rules and mechanisms for identifying and neutralising threats—jamming, capture, or kinetic removal—while respecting civil liberties and international law.

“Technically it’s feasible. Politically it’s the hard part,” said Anna Petrovic, a security analyst who has worked on airspace integration projects. “You need interoperability, shared intelligence, and a common legal framework that lets one country act in another’s airspace without turning every incident into a diplomatic crisis.”

From hybrid skirmishes to headline arrests

These drone incidents are not isolated curiosities. Estonia and Poland have reported high-profile aerial incursions. There is a growing narrative—one voiced repeatedly in Copenhagen—that Russia’s assault on Ukraine is bleeding into neighbouring skies, ports and communications networks in a form of hybrid warfare. Sabotage, disinformation, and these aerial probes together blur the line between battlefield and everyday life.

In the marketplace near Christianshavn, a teacher named Lukas tapped his phone and said, “We used to worry about big things—tanks, sanctions. Now it’s the little things that keep you up: a drone at night, an airport closed on a whim. It’s subtle and it’s terrifying.” His neighbour, a pastry chef, added wryly, “We never thought our croissants would be delivered with air-defence advisories.”

Money on the table—and the politics that block it

Beyond the immediate threat of drones, the summit also wrestled with one of the trickier questions of the moment: how to sustain Ukraine financially in a long war. A plan floated openly in Copenhagen would transform frozen Russian assets into a €140 billion loan to underwrite Kyiv’s defence and budget shortfalls.

“It is only fair that Russia pays for its violation and destruction,” Prime Minister Frederiksen told the room. “Our support to Ukraine is a direct investment in our own security, and therefore we have to deliver long term financing of Ukraine’s armed forces.”

That sounds tidy on paper, but the plan bumps against two major realities. First, the legal architecture of asset freezes is complex; the majority of these frozen assets—large swathes of which are housed in Belgian banks and registries—are subject to national and EU rules. Second, political appetite is uneven. Belgium, which holds a substantial portion of the freeze, has been hesitant; other capitals worry about the precedent of repurposing seized assets into loans.

“We can’t let any single country carry the political or legal risk alone,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned, promising intensified talks. Observers note that even if the numbers add up, the optics will be delicate: is Europe seizing assets, or genuinely making Russia incur the costs of its aggression? Both positions have powerful emotional resonance for voters across the continent.

The elephant in the room: enlargement and energy

At the heart of the summit’s friction was a persistent thorn: Hungary. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, a long-time skeptic of rapid enlargement, reiterated his opposition to changing the EU’s accession rules, a move Kyiv says is necessary to prevent a single state from vetoing progress at every step.

“It would mean, first, that war would come into the European Union,” Mr Orbán said. “Second, money from the European Union would go to Ukraine.” His blunt “no” to the prospect of a near-term EU membership was a reminder that solidarity is often a feeling rather than a policy—easy in rhetoric, much harder in practice.

Energy politics hovered over these debates. Hungary—and to a lesser extent Slovakia—still receives Russian oil via pipeline, a fact that complicates any push to cut ties. Former US President Donald Trump has publicly urged NATO allies to stop buying Moscow’s fossil fuels, aligning with a strand of Western policy that sees economic pressure as central. But for landlocked countries with constrained choices, disentanglement is not a simple flip of a switch.

What this all adds up to

There is no neat resolution coming out of Copenhagen. The leaders agreed on principles: better protection of airspace, more support for Ukraine, and grimmer appreciation that Europe’s security patchwork needs mending. But agreement on principles is not the same as agreement on price, legal tools, or the timeline for action.

So we are left with a few hard questions: What level of intrusion will a continent accept before it acts decisively? Who pays when politics and war collide? And how do democracies build the technical, legal and moral infrastructure to repel threats that don’t announce themselves at the borders?

Walking back from the summit hall as dusk thickened, a Slovak journalist summed it up: “We can paper over differences for a day. But these are tests, and tests reveal your wiring. The real job is to fix the circuits so the lights don’t go out when the next storm hits.”

Whether Europe’s new “drone wall” becomes reality will depend on that wiring—on whether leaders can translate urgency into solidarity, and whether the EU can turn a brittle consensus into durable defense. For now, Copenhagen was less an ending than a waypoint: a charged reminder that the rules of the game have changed, and that every corner of the continent—harbours, airports, parliamentary chambers—may soon feel the consequences.

Drone sightings prompt 17 flight cancellations at Munich Airport

hanad

October 3, 2025

Drone sightings lead to 17 flight cancellations in Munich — Passengers at Munich International Airport (file image)

A city in limbo: drones, beer tents and the night Munich’s airport paused

Munich at night is a city of lights and motion: trams humming, beer tents spilling laughter, and the steady pulse of flights taking off toward a thousand small private emergencies and grand adventures. Last night that pulse stuttered.

Shortly after 8.30pm Irish time, multiple people around the airport reported bluish pinpricks moving across the sky. Within an hour both runways at Munich Airport were closed, 17 departing flights were cancelled and nearly 3,000 passengers were left waiting in the terminal. Fifteen incoming flights were rerouted to Stuttgart, Nuremberg, Vienna and Frankfurt while police helicopters—part of a rapidly mobilised search—swept the perimeter. By morning the airport had reopened, but what happened in those empty hours left the city asking questions it hasn’t fully answered.

Inside the terminal: small kindnesses amid confusion

Inside the terminal, the scene was oddly domestic. Rows of camp beds were rolled out under the neon signage. Blankets and bottled water were handed around. “I wasn’t upset—just tired and hungry,” said Anna Mayer, a teacher bound for Vienna whose flight was cancelled. “But the staff were kind. They gave out blankets, and a man who sells pretzels at the kiosk shared his stock.” Her voice threaded relief and fatigue, the kind that comes from missing sleep rather than being stranded.

Another passenger, Elias Moreau, spoke with a different edge. “We were told there were drones. No one could tell us how many, or whether they were a threat or just kids testing toys. That’s the worst part—uncertainty.” He folded his arms and watched airport workers reset departure boards.

What officials said — and what still isn’t clear

The airport issued a calm statement: 17 departures cancelled, about 3,000 affected, 15 diversions, and facilities opened to care for passengers. A police spokesperson confirmed that drones had been sighted at roughly 8.30pm and again about an hour later. “Both runways were temporarily closed,” the spokesperson said, but added that information on the type and number of drones was not yet available.

Helicopters were deployed; search teams swept fields and nearby industrial areas. Investigators say they are trying to determine the origin of the devices. For the passengers and residents who watched those helicopters circle, the not-knowing felt more alarming than the presence itself.

A festival in the shadow

The drone sightings came at a sensitive moment: Munich is entering the final weekend of Oktoberfest, an event that historically draws millions—roughly 6 million visitors over its 16-day run in typical years—with hundreds of thousands flooding the city every day. The festival lights make the sky a patchwork; the crowds, dense and jubilant, make any security misstep riskier.

“You have thousands of people in bright dirndls and lederhosen, steins clinking, and a sky that suddenly feels unsafe,” said Dieter Schilling, who runs a sausage stand near Theresienwiese. “We don’t want panic—just to keep our guests safe while they enjoy the festival.” His hands kept moving, forming the familiar gestures that sell comfort food to wide-eyed visitors.

Not an isolated incident: a Europe-wide pattern

Last night’s disruption joins a worrying string of similar events across Europe. Airports in Copenhagen, Oslo and Warsaw have been forced to halt operations in recent weeks after drone sightings—an increasingly familiar headline that has pushed governments to ask whether something more organised is afoot. Poland and Denmark have publicly suggested that Russian actors may be linked to these disruptions, a claim that has fed political anxieties already swelling across the continent.

In Copenhagen, EU member states convened to discuss a coordinated response, floating the idea of a “drone wall”—a layered defence system combining detection, jamming and, in extreme cases, kinetic neutralisation. “We are dealing with a hybrid threat,” said Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt in public remarks. “We must find new responses, including options that some consider drastic, like shooting down drones in certain circumstances.”

What a ‘drone wall’ might look like

Talk of walls—digital and physical—brings technical and ethical questions into sharp relief. Detection systems can be effective at identifying foreign objects up to several kilometres out; jamming technologies can disrupt control signals; interceptor drones and even trained birds have been trialled as means of neutralisation. But each tool has trade-offs: jamming can interfere with legitimate communications; shooting down a drone risks debris falling on inhabited areas; interceptor drones require split-second decisions and advanced logistics.

“No single solution will do,” said Dr. Lena Fischer, a security analyst who has studied counter-drone systems. “We need layered defences, better airspace coordination, and investment in non-kinetic measures. But we also need legal clarity: who is allowed to respond, and how do we protect civil liberties while keeping people safe?”

Beyond borders: drones and a shifting security landscape

The concerns go beyond airport delays. Drones are cheap, increasingly sophisticated, and dual-use by nature: the same technology that allows farmers to monitor fields or filmmakers to capture stunning panoramas can be weaponised or used to disrupt. In recent months, Germany reported drones flying over military sites and industrial facilities—a trend that underlines the potential for asymmetric tactics to disrupt critical infrastructure.

That tension—between innovation and vulnerability—is part of a broader global story. Cities and airports have long been nodes of connection and commerce; now they are frontlines in an arms race of accessibility versus security. How do we preserve the openness that makes air travel possible while preventing a few small, hard-to-trace devices from wreaking outsized havoc?

Human stories, policy puzzles

Back in Munich, a band of travellers compared notes and traded snacks on a long, plastic bench. An older woman from Bavaria joked about how Oktoberfest will be a little quieter now. A student from Spain checked the status of a delayed flight on his phone but kept glancing at the sky.

“I keep thinking about how fragile our systems are,” said Henrik, a cargo pilot who volunteers with a local emergency response team. “It takes so little—a small quadcopter, a cheap radio—to freeze a massive hub. The response needs to be proportionate, fast, and above all, coordinated.”

Questions to carry with you

As flights resume and festival-goers return to their tents, the night’s events leave us with stubborn questions. How should democracies defend themselves against tools that are widely available and versatile? What balances should we strike between civil liberties and public safety? And how do local communities—vendors, commuters, families—cope when global tensions ripple into their streets?

These are not just airport problems. They are questions about governance, technology, and trust. They ask us to imagine a future where the sky above a city can be both theatre and threat—and to choose how we will respond.

As you read this, consider the small, ordinary details: a blanket handed to a stranger, the whirr of a helicopter, the way a tent fills with song. Those moments are where policy meets people. They are why the answers we seek must be practical, humane, and honest.

Rescuers find no signs of life after Indonesian school collapse

hanad

October 3, 2025

'No more signs of life' after Indonesia school collapse — The rescue operation is complex as vibrations happening in one place can impact other areas

When a School Became a Rubble of Questions: Sidoarjo’s Silent Afternoon

The afternoon felt ordinary in Sidoarjo — a town of clogged motorways, steaming street food stalls, and the steady hum of Java life — until a sound that no one expects from a place of learning tore the afternoon apart.

Students had gathered for prayers when part of a multi-storey boarding school suddenly folded inward. Concrete groaned, pillars gave way, dust billowed like a gray wave. In the hours that followed, the schoolyard was transformed into a labyrinth of tarpaulins, orange-uniformed rescuers, and the low, persistent keening of people who had rushed here with nothing but hope and the names of their children on their lips.

“We used thermal drones and other high-tech equipment,” Suharyanto, head of the national disaster mitigation agency, told reporters. “Scientifically, there are no more signs of life.” The words landed like another strike: officials now say 59 people remain unaccounted for and at least five bodies have been recovered.

Faces at the Edge of the Site: Waiting, Worry, and Small Mercies

Right at the perimeter of the wreckage, makeshift corners were carved out for families — fold-out mats by neighbors’ houses, flasks of tea, and people offering spare rooms for those who could not go home. The scene felt both intimate and unbearably public.

“I’ve been here since day one,” said Maulana Bayu Rizky Pratama, eyes raw, clutching a crumpled photograph. “I keep thinking my brother will be called out. I cannot stop hoping.” His brother is 17, a shadow among the names, a voice that might be found beneath the concrete.

“They were crying for help when the rescue teams first arrived,” said Abdul Hanan, whose 14-year-old son is missing. “The rescuers must move faster.”

People passed bowls of rice and cups of water to the hands that needed them. Local charities set up hot meals and prayer areas; an elderly stall owner named Ani told me she had run from her grocery when she heard the “strange vibration.” “I thought it was an earthquake at first,” she said. “When I saw the dust, I ran.”

Survivors, the Golden Hour, and the Slow Work of Rescue

In the first frantic days rescuers pulled five people from the rubble — miracles amid chaos. But the clock that rescuers always know about — the 72-hour “golden period” — was slipping away, and with it, the physics of hope.

Search teams deployed thermal-sensing drones and snaked tiny cameras into crevices. “We have to be careful,” Mohammad Syafii, head of the National Search and Rescue Agency, told journalists. “Vibrations in one place can destabilize another. To reach those we believe to be trapped, we will have to dig tunnels under the debris.”

Those tunnels, he explained, will be narrow — maybe 60cm wide in places — and slow to make. Every centimetre of effort is fraught with the risk of collapse; every minute is heavy with the possibility of lives found, or lives not found.

Engineering Failure, or Something Worse?

Preliminary investigations point to a structural failure: foundation pillars buckled under the weight of added construction on the fourth floor, officials say. For many in Indonesia, this reads as an all-too-familiar script.

Lax enforcement of building standards and a cultural practice of “build-as-you-go” contribute to a patchwork of structures across the archipelago, where houses — and sometimes public buildings — are left partially finished so owners can add floors later when money permits. The result: buildings that look complete but are, under the skin, vulnerable.

“We have codes, but enforcement is uneven,” said Dr. Lina Putri, a structural engineer who studies construction safety across Java. “When foundations and load-bearing columns are under-engineered, any addition — another floor, heavier roofing — changes the whole balance. In a worst-case scenario, that’s what we saw here.”

Technology, Tradition, and the Human Cost

Thermal drones, fiber-optic cameras, sniffer dogs — these are now standard tools in big rescue efforts, and their presence here is testament to the high stakes. Yet technology can only do so much where buildings have become tombs of concrete and human error.

“There’s a difference between cutting-edge tools and cutting corners in construction,” Rizal Hamdi, a volunteer with a Jakarta-based safety NGO, told me. “Technology helps us locate people, but the underlying problem is older: systemic underinvestment in oversight, training, and materials.”

Other complications have driven the rescue timeline even longer. An offshore earthquake briefly paused operations; vibrations that might otherwise be routine can be lethal against unstable debris. Families have agreed to allow heavy machinery in, but officials say they will proceed with “extreme caution.”

What This Means Beyond Sidoarjo

Indonesia sits on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” a volatile seam of tectonic plates that already makes it prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Add to that rapid urban growth, uneven regulation, and financial incentives to expand vertically rather than laterally, and you get an environment where tragedy can unfold with breath-stopping speed.

How many more Sidoarjos must there be before policy shifts from reactive rescue to preventive care? How many more times will communities knit themselves back together with charity meals and neighborly beds while the systemic causes remain unaddressed?

59 people remain missing, officials say;
At least 5 confirmed dead and 5 survivors rescued so far;
Thermal drones and cameras are in use; searches may continue beyond seven days if people remain unaccounted for;
Authorities indicate initial signs point to substandard construction and overloading of the building’s structure.

Voices — and a Call to Action

At the edge of the site, between the tents and the twisting metal, a teacher in a faded batik shirt told me, “Every school should be a safe place. We teach children to dream but sometimes we forget to make the ground safe for those dreams.”

Where do responsibility and accountability lie? With contractors, with local permitting officers, with budgets stretched thin by growth and austerity? All of the above, it seems — and each has a role to play if we want fewer afternoons like this one.

For the families waiting in Sidoarjo, statistics are cold comfort. They want names. They want hands to pull out their children. For the nation, there is a quieter, longer-term grief: the knowledge that in a place so alive with human enterprise, structures meant to protect can sometimes do the opposite.

So I ask you, reader: when we hear of collapses like this, do we only feel shock for a day? Or do we let the feeling harden into policy, into inspections, into community funds for safer construction? Grief can be a catalyst — if we allow it to be.

The recovery here will take days, possibly weeks. It will take machines and delicacy, science and prayer. For now, families wait, neighbors give what they can, and rescuers move with the terrible patience of those who must balance hope against reality.

In the dust and murmurs of Sidoarjo, the city remembers that buildings are more than concrete and steel. They are promises — of shelter, education, and safety. And when those promises break, it reveals the work that remains undone.

Patterson seeks to overturn murder conviction in mushroom-linked case

hanad

October 3, 2025

Patterson to appeal murder conviction in mushroom case — Erin Patterson was sentenced to life in prison

A quiet Gippsland town, a sumptuous lunch and a lethal secret

On a late summer afternoon in Leongatha, a small town in Victoria’s lush Gippsland region, the scent of butter and pastry once filled a family home. A beef Wellington — glossy pastry, pink centre, a rich mushroom duxelles tucked beneath the crust — sat on a polished table as if it were any other Sunday roast. The meal should have been ordinary, familiar, safe.

Instead it became the centrepiece of an Australian courtroom drama that captured global attention: three people dead, a fourth grievously ill, and a 51-year-old woman, Erin Patterson, convicted of deliberately lacing that dish with poisonous fungi. Last month a judge handed Patterson a life sentence with parole eligibility after 33 years, and now her lawyer has told Victoria’s Supreme Court she will seek to appeal the guilty verdict.

From grief to legal manoeuvres

“We will be filing an appeal,” Richard Edney, Patterson’s barrister, told an administrative hearing, according to court reports. He did not expand on grounds for the challenge. Under court rules, Patterson’s legal team has 28 days to lodge formal papers asking a higher court to reconsider the conviction — a familiar legal pause that both reassures and prolongs pain for those left behind.

For the families and friends of the victims, there is no neat ending. Don and Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson — members of the same extended family — were the dead. Ian Wilkinson, Heather’s husband, survived but carried the aftermath like a physical wound. “I feel half alive,” he told the court during victim-impact statements. “The silence in our home is a daily reminder.”

A jury’s verdict, an accused woman’s claim

Across a trial that ran for more than two months, a 12-person jury returned guilty verdicts: three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder. Patterson maintained throughout that the death was an accident — that her beef Wellington had been contaminated unknowingly by death cap mushrooms (Amanita phalloides), toxic fungi long feared by foragers and health officials alike.

Death caps are not an obscure curiosity. They are notorious among mycologists and emergency physicians because their amatoxins target the liver and kidneys, inhibiting RNA polymerase II and causing progressive organ failure. A small bite can be catastrophic. The mushrooms are easily mistaken for edible species and can deceptively taste sweet, luring the unwary.

The science of a quiet killer

“Amatoxin poisoning is a slow-burning disaster,” says Dr. Miriam Santos, a forensic toxicologist who has advised hospital teams on severe mushroom poisonings. “Symptoms may begin with nausea and abdominal pain, then a deceptive period of apparent recovery, and finally fulminant liver failure. In severe cases, a liver transplant is the only lifesaving option.”

Worldwide, death caps are responsible for a majority of fatal mushroom poisonings. Historically, untreated amatoxin ingestion carried mortality rates measured in the tens of percent, though modern intensive care and transplant surgery have reduced those figures in many centres. Still, individual outcomes vary and a single meal can change lives forever.

Leongatha — dairy country, community shaken

Leongatha is a place defined by green fields, dairy trucks and the slow rhythms of country life. Neighbours say the case has been a ripple through the community, leaving people who once gathered in pubs and at footy clubs whispering in doorways.

“You never think something like this would happen here,” said Cathy Reeves, who runs a bakery two blocks from the courthouse. “People come here to get away from the city. We bake scones, we talk about the footy. Now when I slice beef Wellington it feels different.”

Local historians note that the Gippsland hinterland has long been a place where families forage, garden and put up preserves. Wild mushrooms are a seasonal curiosity and a culinary temptation — which is precisely what makes misidentification so dangerous. The death cap’s global spread — introduced into many temperate regions via nursery stock in the 19th and 20th centuries — means that even experienced foragers can be caught out.

Practical realities and broader implications

Death cap (Amanita phalloides): responsible for the majority of fatal mushroom poisonings worldwide; contains amatoxins that can cause liver and kidney failure.
Symptoms: initial gastroenteritis followed by a deceptive remission and late hepatic failure; may require transplant in severe cases.
Legal process: convicted defendants generally have a statutory window (28 days in this case) to file appeals after sentencing; an appeal can challenge trial directions, admissibility of evidence, or legal errors.

Voices from inside and outside the courtroom

The trial featured testimony from medical experts, family members and friends whose lives were shredded by the events of one lunch. “I keep seeing her smile at the table,” said a relative of one of the victims during victim-impact statements. “That plate, that fork — everything becomes a memory.”

Patterson’s defence attorneys argued the notorious nature of the case meant she would likely spend most of any future imprisonment in protective isolation, and asked the judge to consider a slightly shorter non-parole period. The judge ultimately settled on 33 years before parole, a sentence that sits at the intersection of retribution, deterrence and public protection.

“The court must balance the harm caused with principles of fairness,” a legal analyst commented after the hearing. “An appeal is a normal part of that balance, though it does little to speed healing for the bereaved.”

Trust, food and the fractures of domestic life

At a deeper level, the case stirs questions about trust inside our most intimate spaces. A family meal is supposed to be a ritual of belonging; when that ritual turns deadly, it ruptures not just individuals but communal faith in the ordinary. Are we safe in our kitchens? Can the familiar be weaponised?

“We invite others into our homes to share a piece of ourselves,” said social researcher Dr. Leila Hammond. “When something so intimate becomes a forum for alleged violence, the sense of betrayal is profound and long-lasting.”

What happens next — law, healing, community

With an appeal on the horizon, the legal story is not yet complete. But for many in Leongatha and beyond, the human story — of grieving families, a survivor’s daily struggle, and a community trying to find normalcy — will endure long after court transcripts gather dust.

As the town turns toward routine — dairy trucks rumbling at dawn, children weaving to school through gum trees — the question lingers: how do we rebuild trust in the spaces that feel most sacred? It’s a question for families, for the criminal justice system, and for all of us who sit down to share a meal.

What would you do if the food on your table suddenly became the centre of the worst possible suspicion? How does a small town survive the shock of a headline that changes faces and streets forever?

Israel Plans to Expel Flotilla Activists Following Naval Interception

hanad

October 2, 2025

Israel to deport flotilla activists after interception

On the Deck as the Navy Came Into View: A Mediterranean Story of Defiance, Law, and the Human Cost

The sun was a hard, white coin above the water. Salt spray braided the air, gulls cried like an indifferent chorus, and on the deck of a modest ship crammed with banners and people, a kettle boiled as activists argued about the route. Somewhere behind the banners—hand-painted, multilingual, stubborn—sat a cargo of canned food, school supplies, and cameras. Cameras to record what the participants called a test of a blockade they say has made life in Gaza a daily negotiation with scarcity.

That scene was interrupted by the low, authoritative hum of engines: an Israeli navy vessel had cut across the horizon and was closing fast. Within hours, officials announced that the flotilla had been intercepted and that those aboard would be deported. For the people on deck, for the families in Gaza who watch such actions on their phones, and for diplomats watching from capitals, the moment felt like a replay of an older, raw grievance—and like a fresh, urgent question about humanitarian access in the 21st century.

The Interception: What Happened at Sea

According to Israeli officials, naval forces boarded the vessels in international waters, inspected cargo and identities, and detained a number of activists before moving to deport them to their countries of origin. “We enforce a maritime blockade that is essential to our security,” an Israeli naval spokesperson said in a brief statement. “Individuals seeking to breach that blockade will be prevented from doing so and will be returned to their points of departure.”

On the flotilla, people described a different tone. “They came quietly, then the deck felt very small,” said one activist who asked to be identified only as Amir, a teacher from Athens. “The officers were professional, but their presence said clearly: you are not going through. We made noise, we sang, we lit candles—this is what witnesses do.” A Turkish organizer, Leyla, later added, “We carry medicine and children’s books. We came to remind people that there are lives at the other end of this blockade.”

Why This Matters: The Context You Need

The Israeli naval blockade of Gaza was implemented in 2007 and has been a flashpoint ever since. For critics, it has strangled Gaza’s economy and civilian life. For Israel, the blockade is a security measure meant to prevent the smuggling of weapons to militants. Each attempt to challenge that sea barrier—most notoriously the 2010 Mavi Marmara—has produced international uproar. In that incident, clashes on board led to nine deaths and a decades-long diplomatic crisis between Israel and Turkey.

Numbers help make the stakes real. Gaza is home to roughly 2.2–2.4 million people packed into a coastal strip about 40 kilometers long and 6–12 kilometers wide. For years, humanitarian agencies have warned that Gaza faces severe constraints: high unemployment—often reported above 40%—limited electricity, and an economy curtailed by restrictions on imports, exports, and movement. More than a million people in Gaza regularly rely on humanitarian assistance, according to UN agencies’ assessments over recent years.

Quick Facts

Gaza population: roughly 2.2–2.4 million.
Blockade in place since 2007, enforced by sea and regulated at land crossings.
Mavi Marmara (2010): nine activists were killed in an Israeli raid, a landmark and controversial episode.

Voices from the Water and the Shore

Voices on both sides carry the weight of story and grievance. “We are not seeking confrontation,” said Dr. Miriam Ben-Yosef, a policy analyst in Tel Aviv. “This is about balancing humanitarian norms with national security. We do not allow the uncontrolled flow of goods into a territory where weapons could be smuggled.” Her words reflect a widely held view in Israel that security concerns cannot be unmoored from maritime policy.

In Gaza, the reaction was quieter but no less potent. “When boats like this are stopped, it feels like another door closing,” said Khaled, a fisherman from Gaza City. He spoke seated on the edge of a rickety pier, his hands maps of old work. “Every time we hear about aid that could have come by sea, we think of our children and the schoolbooks they need.”

A UN humanitarian official, speaking on background, framed the moment in legal and ethical terms. “International law allows blockades in certain contexts, but it also obliges states to ensure that civilians have access to essential supplies,” the official said. “When activists attempt to deliver aid, they force a spotlight on whether those obligations are being met.”

Beyond the Headlines: What This Flotilla Tells Us

This is larger than a single ship. It is part protest, part humanitarian effort, part performance art—and entirely symbolic of ongoing global tensions between state security and transnational activism. The flotilla is both a literal attempt to deliver goods and a messaging device: a way to make the world look at Gaza’s people and say, in voice and image, we did not forget you.

But symbolism is slippery. Critics ask whether such missions actually help those they claim to assist. “The quantities sent by these boats are tiny compared with the need,” said Professor Elias Haddad, a scholar of humanitarian logistics. “What they do, however, is force conversation. They push questions about policy into public consciousness and make governments explain their choices.”

What Next? Deportation, Diplomacy, or Dialogue?

Israeli authorities say the activists will be deported. That is a routine outcome in many such interceptions—the activists are returned to their countries rather than prosecuted, the ships are released, and the diplomatic ripples—sometimes waves—spread outward. But each episode adds a notch to the ledger of mistrust between publics and states, between citizens and international institutions.

Will another flotilla come? Probably. These missions recur in part because the underlying conditions—restricted access, humanitarian needs, political stalemate—remain. Will they change policy? Sometimes, by forcing scrutiny, they do. Sometimes they harden positions.

Questions for the Reader

What would you do if you were on the deck, looking at a shore you can’t reach? Is it better to stage acts of civil disobedience on the world stage, or to work through diplomatic channels and aid organizations? Can symbolic acts and formal negotiations find a way to reinforce one another, rather than talk past each other?

There are no neat answers. But there is a constant reminder: behind every headline are human lives—families, teachers, fishermen, soldiers, aid workers—making decisions in constrained spaces. The Mediterranean, wide and blue, keeps swallowing headlines and whispering them back as salt-stained stories. This latest interception is another line in that long, uneasy conversation between security, law, morality, and the stubborn human impulse to reach out to people who are far away yet astonishingly near.

As the ships made their way back to port and the activists were processed for deportation, a woman on the flotilla put her hand on a stack of brightly colored schoolbooks and said, simply, “We sailed to remember them. That is everything.” The sea kept its steady rhythm. Somewhere in Gaza, a child turned a page.

Internet and Mobile Phone Services Restored Across Afghanistan After Nationwide Outage

hanad

October 2, 2025

Internet and mobile phone services resume in Afghanistan — Afghan men using their mobile phones in Kabul yesterday. Online learning by teenage girls and women was stopped during the outage

The Day the Network Died: Afghanistan’s Brief Digital Blackout and What It Felt Like

On a gray morning in Kabul, the city woke up in silence—not the silence of dawn, but the odd, modern silence of a world suddenly unplugged. Phones that usually buzz with messages, money transfers and classroom links lay inert. Cafés that streamed cricket highlights and lecture recordings to students were empty of sound. Two days later, the lights came back on. For about 48 hours, Afghanistan’s mobile and internet services vanished, and for a country already living on the edge of humanitarian and political fault lines, the outage felt like a small collapse.

“My cousin was teaching an online class for teenage girls,” said Roya, a mother in west Kabul, her voice raw with fatigue. “The lesson froze. We couldn’t reach her. We don’t know if the students thought she abandoned them.”

A sudden blackout, a slow-burning crisis

Late on the afternoon of the second day, users in Kabul and other cities reported that the networks of two major providers—Roshan and Etisalat—were back. Internet service companies also signaled restoration. But the interruption, which began on Monday, had already rippled through the fragile arteries of daily life.

A Taliban information department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told local reporters that technical faults had caused the outage and that services would be “quickly restored.” The ruling movement did not offer a public explanation, and international agencies urged swift action to restore connectivity. A United Nations spokesperson said, “Access to information and communication is a lifeline—especially now. The UN calls for immediate restoration to prevent further humanitarian harm.”

What stopped when the network did

The list of immediate victims was long and quietly devastating.

Education: Girls and women, barred from secondary school and university campuses since 2021, rely heavily on online learning and informal networks to continue their education. Outages cut off classes, homework help, and a fragile promise of continuity.
Finance: Remittances, electronic payments and mobile banking—vital for households across Afghanistan—were disrupted. Small businesses could not transact, and border trade partners faced delays.
Transport and logistics: Flights were cancelled or delayed; travelers were stranded. Banks’ operations were hampered, and the flow of commerce stuttered.

“For many families, the phone is the bank,” said Dr. Samir Halimi, a Kabul-based economist. “When the network stops, liquidity dries up. People can’t receive money from relatives abroad, and small traders can’t pay suppliers. The economic shocks are immediate.”

Human stories behind the headlines

Walk through Kabul’s old bazaar and you’ll hear stories that statistics can’t capture. At a tea stall near the chicken market, men in pakol hats argued about the outage and shared gossip. A fruit seller, his cart piled with pomegranates, said the blackout cost him two days of orders to buyers in neighboring provinces.

“We sell on credit sometimes,” he told me, tapping his phone like a talisman that suddenly refused to work. “If they can’t call, we can’t agree on credit. We lose customers. It’s simple.”

For a generation of Afghan women and girls barred from classrooms, the internet has become a fragile classroom of its own. “An entire ecosystem has grown up online—tutors using WhatsApp groups, grammar lessons shared through voice notes, girls studying for entrance exams on borrowed devices,” said Laila, a volunteer who organizes remote learning circles in Herat. “When you cut that off, you cut hope.”

Why connectivity matters more than you might think

Afghanistan’s internet penetration has long lagged behind global averages. Estimates in recent years placed the share of people with regular internet access at roughly one in five to one in four Afghans, concentrated in urban centers. Mobile subscriptions number in the tens of millions, covering a substantial—though uneven—portion of the population.

That patchwork connectivity is often the only conduit to the outside world: humanitarian updates, job postings, encrypted chats that allow women to study anonymously, and mobile cash that keeps families fed. When the network falters, the fragile coping mechanisms Afghans have built are exposed.

“People think of internet shutdowns as abstract policy tools,” said Maya Singh, a digital rights researcher who has followed Afghanistan for years. “But in practice, these are economic shutdowns, educational shutdowns, rights shutdowns. They hit the most vulnerable first.”

Patterns and precedents

This outage was not an isolated event. Earlier this year, parts of northern Afghanistan experienced an internet ban, and last year the Taliban authorities banned chess in some provinces on the grounds that it could lead to gambling. Each measure chips away at the contours of public life and raises questions about governance, control and the future of civic space in Afghanistan.

International bodies have repeatedly warned that restrictions on communications can worsen humanitarian crises. In contexts where food insecurity and economic collapse are already present, cutting digital lifelines can magnify suffering. The UN’s call to reinstate services was one of several urgent pleas echoed by aid organizations and human rights groups.

The broader picture

Think beyond Afghanistan for a moment: we live in an era where authoritarians and fragile states alike use digital controls as levers of power. From the coordinated internet blackouts during elections in some countries to targeted throttling of social apps in others, access to the web is increasingly a question of political will, not infrastructure.

But global trends don’t mean the same thing everywhere. In Afghanistan, where decades of conflict have hollowed institutions and normalized abrupt policy shifts, the stakes feel intimate to every household.

After the lights came back on

When networks returned, relief was immediate but cautious. Messages flooded in—a mix of mundane updates and urgent pleas. “Thank God, my niece’s class resumed,” Roya told me, her voice lighter. But the return did not erase the damage of the past two days, nor did it answer the deeper question: what happens the next time?

“We can restore a network,” Dr. Halimi said, “but restoring trust is harder. People ask whether their lines of communication can be cut again at any time. Businesses hesitate to invest. Mothers worry about their daughters’ futures.”

Questions that linger

As the city hums back to its usual tempo, ask yourself: how do we balance sovereignty and security with the basic human need to connect? When governments—of whatever stripe—control the wires and the waves, who protects the right to learn, trade, and live with dignity?

For Afghans, the answer is not academic. It is daily, practical, urgent. The brief blackout was a reminder that in a world woven together by cables and data centers, freedom can still be cut with the flick of a switch. And until there are firmer guarantees—legal, technical, and political—every outage will be a small catastrophe for someone somewhere in the country.

“We live between two worlds,” Laila said, looking out over a city that has always known conflict and surprise. “One where the internet opens windows, and one where it can be closed again. I hope for more windows.”

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