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Indonesian rescuers hunt 38 missing after Islamic school collapse

Rescue personnel carry an injured student during a search operation after a building collapsed at an Islamic boarding school in Sidoarjo, East Java province on September 29, 2025, injuring a number of students and trapping several others under the rubble. (AFP)
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Rescue personnel carry an injured student during a search operation after a building collapsed at an Islamic boarding school in Sidoarjo, East Java province on September 29, 2025, injuring a number of students and trapping several others under the rubble. (AFP)
Medical personnel wait beside an ambulance as rescue personnel search for survivors after a building collapsed at an Islamic boarding school in Sidoarjo, East Java province on September 29, 2025. (AFP)
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Medical personnel wait beside an ambulance as rescue personnel search for survivors after a building collapsed at an Islamic boarding school in Sidoarjo, East Java province on September 29, 2025. (AFP)
Indonesian rescuers hunt 38 missing after Islamic school collapse
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A relative of a victim of a collapsed building reacts, after a hall collapsed while students were praying at the Al-Khoziny Islamic boarding school in Sidoarjo, East Java, Indonesia, September 30, 2025. (Reuters)
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Updated 30 September 2025

Indonesian rescuers hunt 38 missing after Islamic school collapse

Rescue personnel carry an injured student during a search operation after a building collapsed at an Islamic boarding school.
  • Police, soldiers and rescue workers dug into the debris through the night in attempts to locate at least three additional students believed trapped alive

JAKARTA: Indonesian rescuers were scrambling on Tuesday to locate 38 people feared trapped under rubble after an Islamic boarding school collapsed in the province of East Java while dozens were at afternoon prayer, disaster mitigation authorities said.
One person was killed and 102 evacuated in Monday’s incident at the Al Khoziny school in the town of Sidoarjo when the unstable building collapsed during construction, the disaster mitigation agency said in a statement.
“This sudden occurrence caused building material to fall on dozens of students and workers,” agency spokesperson Abdul Muhari said.
A bulldozer was among the heavy equipment he said searchers were using to shift the rubble, while nearly 80 injured were taken to hospital.
Video images from news channel KompasTV showed families of students clustered around a whiteboard looking at a list of survivors.
The agency said the building’s foundations allegedly could not support the weight of construction on its fourth floor. 


Police confirm 134 arrested for supporting Palestine Action in London

Police confirm 134 arrested for supporting Palestine Action in London
Updated 9 sec ago

Police confirm 134 arrested for supporting Palestine Action in London

Police confirm 134 arrested for supporting Palestine Action in London
  • ‘Biggest ever mass action yet’ in support of banned group to take place this weekend
  • Further 66 people arrested at demo outside Labour Party conference in Liverpool

LONDON: The Metropolitan Police in London have said 134 people have been charged with allegedly supporting Palestine Action in the UK capital, The Independent reported.

It comes after 20 people became the latest to be charged under section 13 of the UK’s Terrorism Act for their part in demonstrations backing the proscribed group, which can carry a sentence of up to six months in prison.

The 20 were arrested on Aug. 9, and are due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Nov. 24.

Palestine Action was banned in the UK after several high-profile incidents, including a break-in at a Royal Air Force base that saw damage done to two military aircraft.

Protests in support of the group have subsequently been held across the country, with campaigners seeking to overwhelm police stations and courts through the number of people arrested and charged under the Terrorism Act, which forbids showing support for a banned group.

Defend Our Juries, the group organizing demonstrations for supporters of Palestine Action, said more than 1,500 people are set to take part in another protest in London this weekend. It said it will be “the biggest ever mass action yet defying the ban on Palestine Action.”

Earlier this week, 66 people were arrested for taking part in a protest outside the governing Labour Party’s annual conference in Liverpool.

Two were subsequently released, but the remaining 64 were taken into custody on suspicion of terrorism-related offenses.

A spokesperson for Defend Our Juries said: “If they can’t enforce the ban on their own doorstep, how do they expect to stop the biggest act of mass civil disobedience in Trafalgar Square this weekend?

“It’s nothing short of a scandal that thousands of people are being arrested — from vicars and priests to students and retired healthcare workers — as our fundamental rights to free speech and protest have been stripped away, not to keep us safe, but to protect weapons manufacturers’ interests and enable Israel to continue to slaughter Palestinian people.”


S.Africa calls for ‘immediate release’ of Gaza flotilla activists

S.Africa calls for ‘immediate release’ of Gaza flotilla activists
Updated 1 min 55 sec ago

S.Africa calls for ‘immediate release’ of Gaza flotilla activists

S.Africa calls for ‘immediate release’ of Gaza flotilla activists
  • The Israeli navy began intercepting vessels on Wednesday after warning the activists against entering waters it says fall under its blockade
  • Mandla Mandela and at least five other South Africans were onboard the Global Sumud Flotilla of around 45 vessels aiming to break Israel’s siege of the Palestinian territory and deliver aid to Gaza, where the United Nations says famine has set in

JOHANNESBURG: South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday called on Israel to “immediately release” pro-Palestinian activists, including Nelson Mandela’s grandson, intercepted on an aid flotilla headed toward Gaza.
Mandla Mandela and at least five other South Africans were onboard the Global Sumud Flotilla of around 45 vessels aiming to break Israel’s siege of the Palestinian territory and deliver aid to Gaza, where the United Nations says famine has set in.
The Israeli navy began intercepting vessels on Wednesday after warning the activists against entering waters it says fall under its blockade.
“I call on Israel to immediately release the South Africans abducted in international waters, and to release other nationals who have tried to reach Gaza with humanitarian aid,” Ramaphosa said in a statement.
“The interception of the flotilla in international waters is contrary to international law and violates the sovereignty of every nation whose flag was flown on the dozens of vessels in the flotilla,” he said.
By Thursday, of the roughly 45 ships, more than 30 had been intercepted or were assumed to have been intercepted, according to the flotilla’s tracking system.
Flotilla spokesman Saif Abukeshek said the vessels that had not been intercepted were determined to continue.
Pretoria has been a leading critic of Israel’s actions in Gaza, bringing a case before the UN’s top court in December 2023 that argues Israel’s war in the Palestinian territory — which followed Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack — amounts to genocide, a charge Israel has denied.
Israel’s interception of the flotilla “also violates an International Court of Justice injunction that humanitarian aid must be allowed to flow unimpeded,” Ramaphosa said.
Israel’s foreign ministry said the intercepted activists, who also include Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, were being transferred to an Israeli port and would be deported to Europe.


Police: 4 people wounded in Manchester stabbing outside synagogue

Police: 4 people wounded in Manchester stabbing outside synagogue
Updated 14 min 16 sec ago

Police: 4 people wounded in Manchester stabbing outside synagogue

Police: 4 people wounded in Manchester stabbing outside synagogue

 Police say they believe they have shot a person suspected of stabbing a person at a synagogue in the north of Manchester.
In a series of posts on X, Greater Manchester Police said they were called to the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue in Crumpsall shortly after 9:30 a.m. by a member of the public. The caller said he had witnessed a car being driven towards members of the public and that one man had been stabbed.
It said that minutes later shots were fired by firearms officers.
“One man has been shot, believed to be the offender,” it added.
Andy Burnham, the mayor of the Greater Manchester area, told BBC Radio the “immediate danger appears to be over.”


Philippines ends quake rescue efforts, priority now on helping the 20,000 displaced

Philippines ends quake rescue efforts, priority now on helping the 20,000 displaced
Updated 45 min 59 sec ago

Philippines ends quake rescue efforts, priority now on helping the 20,000 displaced

Philippines ends quake rescue efforts, priority now on helping the 20,000 displaced
  • Attention has now turned to delivering aid to survivors of the 6.9-magnitude quake
  • The Philippines sits on the Pacific “Ring of Fire” – an earthquake-prone belt of volcanoes stretching from South America to the Russian Far East

BOGO, Philippines: Philippine authorities said on Thursday that search and rescue operations in quake-hit Cebu province have ended, as the current death toll of 72 was not expected to go much higher and missing people had been accounted for.

Attention has now turned to delivering aid to survivors of the 6.9-magnitude quake that has become the country’s deadliest in more than a decade.

Striking waters off Cebu’s central island late Tuesday, the quake has caused more than 20,000 people to be displaced, while over 300 have been injured.

On Thursday, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr visited Bogo, a city of some 90,000 that was the worst-affected, seeking to reassure evacuees and noting that relief operations have been complicated due to widespread damage to infrastructure.

“We are having some difficulty because we have nowhere to put the displaced families because we’re unsure of the integrity of the evacuation centers,” he told reporters.

“We will make sure there is food supply, water supply and electricity – a generation set if needed. Whatever the people need, we will make sure we can provide.”

Many of the victims were killed when buildings and homes collapsed – either due to the quake itself or landslides that followed after. Heavy rain and the absence of power also hampered rescue efforts.

The Philippines sits on the Pacific “Ring of Fire” – an earthquake-prone belt of volcanoes stretching from South America to the Russian Far East. It experiences more than 800 quakes each year.


French PM: Two crew members of detained Russian tanker have been arrested

French PM: Two crew members of detained Russian tanker have been arrested
Updated 02 October 2025

French PM: Two crew members of detained Russian tanker have been arrested

French PM: Two crew members of detained Russian tanker have been arrested
  • The two crew members were arrested at the request of the Brest prosecutor

PARIS: French police have arrested two crew members of a tanker suspected of belonging to the Russian shadow fleet after the French navy boarded the vessel over the weekend, Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said in a post on X on Thursday.
The two crew members were arrested at the request of the Brest prosecutor, whose office is handling the investigation into the boat, currently anchored off western France. Its crew is accused of failing to provide proof of the vessel's nationality and failing to comply with orders.