Tuesday, September 30, 2025
Palestinian statehood: Recognition amidst erasure?
Six In The Morning Tuesday 30 September 2025
Summary
US President Donald Trump says his Gaza peace plan is "an amazing thing" as he sets a "three to four day" deadline for Hamas to respond
"It's going to be a very sad end" if Hamas rejects the deal, he says, adding: "If it works out it would be an A+"
The plan includes an end to fighting, the return of the hostages and the creation of an international "Board of Peace" to help run Gaza - here's an overview
Qatar's foreign ministry says Hamas is studying the White House proposal "responsibly" - our Middle East correspondent says it could take days for them to respond
Even if a deal were agreed it would have to last and not unravel in the weeds of as yet unagreed details, writes our diplomatic correspondent
The plan also includes a "credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood" if certain conditions are met, but Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu insists Israel will "forcibly resist" the idea
Israeli military drops leaflets warning Gaza City residents to leave
Dozens of white paper leaflets have been dropped from the sky over Gaza City today by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cites the leaflets as evidence against accusations that Israel targets civilians in the Gaza Strip.
Addressing the UN last week, he said that Israel has dropped "millions of leaflets and sent millions of texts" to persuade people in Gaza City to evacuate.
Indonesia school collapse: three dead and over 90 missing as rescue effort continues
Instability of building in East Java town hampers search but 99 boys and school staff known to have survived
Tue 30 Sep 2025 15.08 BST
Indonesia school collapse: three dead and over 90 missing as rescue effort continues
Instability of building in East Java town hampers search but 99 boys and school staff known to have survived
Parents were desperately searching for scores of missing teenage boys feared trapped under huge piles of concrete on Tuesday after a building at an Islamic boarding school collapsed in Indonesia.
Authorities said 91 people were listed as missing at Al Khoziny school after the collapse as pupils held late-afternoon prayers in a mosque housed on a lower floor of a building whose upper floors were under construction.
The boarding school is in the East Java town of Sidoarjo, about 780km (480 miles) east of Jakarta.
Morocco: Police detain dozens in Gen Z protests
Kate Hairsine AFP, Reuters
The youth-led demonstrations come amid public discontent over Morocco's social inequalities, which protesters say disproportionately affect young people and women.
Police detained dozens of people on Monday in Morocco, according to a local rights group and news agencies, as they sought to quash a third day of protests calling for education and health reforms.
A heavy security presence was seen in cities such as the capital Rabat and Morocco's largest city Casablanca as well as in Agadir, Tangier and Oujda.
Authorities have been trying to prevent groups of young people from gathering since online calls circulated for protests over the weekend.
From prison to the Palme d'Or: Iran's Jafar Panahi on why every film is worth the risk
Takaichi open to policy talks with right-wingers Sanseito, CPJ
By KOHEI MORIOKA/ Staff Writer
September 30, 2025 at 14:53 JST
Days before the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's presidential election, candidate Sanae Takaichi said she won't rule out policy discussions with rising right-wing parties, including Sanseito and the Conservative Party of Japan.
Speaking on a YouTube program hosted by journalist Osamu Sorimachi, Takaichi emphasized the importance of cross-party collaboration in the legislative process.
“If there are policies we can agree on, it’s only natural to work together,” she said in a video released on Sept. 28. “That’s part of our collective responsibility in the Diet.”
Afghanistan imposes internet blackout: What has the effect been so far?
Telecommunications down after Taliban authorities cut fibre-optic connections in several provinces to prevent ‘vice’.
A nationwide telecoms shutdown has been imposed in Afghanistan, as part of a Taliban crackdown on “immoral activities”.
Netblocks, a global internet watchdog, said on Monday that multiple networks in Afghanistan had been disconnected. Telephone services had also been limited, resulting in what Netblocks described as a “total internet blackout” in the nation of 43 million people.
Connectivity was cut in phases on Monday, with the final stage affecting telephone services. In the past, the Taliban have voiced concern about online pornography. And earlier this month, authorities cut fibre-optic links to some provinces, with officials citing morality concerns.
Monday, September 29, 2025
Six In The Morning Monday 29 September 2025
Postwar Gaza authority potentially led by Tony Blair ‘would sideline Palestinians’
Draft plan’s critics say it hands power to international figures and splits Gaza from Palestinian Authority in West Bank
Mon 29 Sep 2025 15.03 BST
A plan for a postwar Gaza governing authority potentially headed by the former UK prime minister Tony Blair would sideline key Palestinian political figures, while giving significant authority to its chair on most key issues, according to a leaked confidential proposal.
The 21-page draft document, seen by the Guardian and Haaretz in Israel, envisions the governance and reconstruction of postwar Gaza being led by international officials, with Palestinians relegated to subsidiary roles. It also proposes a Gaza investment promotion and economic development authority involving “public-private partnerships and blended finance instruments” aimed at delivering “commercially viable returns” for investors.
Asia Cup 2025: India, Pakistan cricket teams spar
Richard Connor with AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters
India's cricket team won cricket's Asia Cup on Sunday with a victory over archrival Pakistan in a contest overshadowed by national political rivalry.
The Indian players refused to accept the trophy from Asian Cricket Council president Mohsin Naqvi, who is also Pakistan's interior minister. It was the latest in a series of unusual incidents during the Twenty20 tournament.
‘They couldn't see who they were shooting at’: Police target protesters in Madagascar
Demonstrators in Madagascar's capital Antananarivo flouted a ban from authorities to protest against the nation's water and electricity outages on September 25. Our Observers who attended the protests described the security forces' response as violent and disproportionate: tear gas being deployed at close proximity and vehicles ploughing into the crowd, resulting in multiple injuries and generalised chaos. At least five people died in the unrest, a hospital source reported.
Hundreds took to the streets on September 25 in Madagascar's capital Antananarivo after an appeal was launched on social media to protest against the nation's crippling water and electricity outages. The protest had been prohibited by the prefect of Antananarivo, who cited the risk of public disorder as the reason for the ban.
Residents of the capital attempted to gather at the city's usual protest spots but were pushed back by security forces. Videos and photos shared by the Malagasy diaspora and demonstrators show scenes of police violence. A hospital source said that five people died in the unrest. Separately, the homes of a Malagasy deputy and a senator were torched.
Permanent residency visa revocation law gets guidelines
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
September 29, 2025 at 18:36 JST
The Immigration Services Agency has unveiled guidelines for enforcing a revised immigration law's provision that allows to rescind a foreign national's permanent residency status if they dodge taxes or social insurance contributions.
The details, released on Sept. 29, clarify the scenarios where these strict measures will apply after the law takes effect in April 2027.
The ability to revoke permanent residency was introduced in last year’s revision of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Law.
Afghanistan’s Bagram airbase: Why is Trump desperate to take it back?
It would allow the US to again project power in the region, with China close by. But taking it back won’t be easy.
By Ruchi Kumar
United States President Donald Trump has demanded that Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban hand the country’s Bagram airbase over to Washington, five years after he signed a deal with the group that paved the way for the US withdrawal from Kabul.
At a news conference with United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer on September 18, Trump told reporters that the US government was “trying to get [Bagram] back”.
China sentences 11 members of mafia family to death
A Chinese court has sentenced to death 11 members of a notorious family that ran scam centres in Myanmar, according to Chinese state media.
Dozens of members of the Ming family were found guilty of conducting criminal activities, with many receiving lengthy jail sentences.
The Ming family worked for one of the four clans that ran Myanmar's sleepy backwater town of Laukkai, close to the border with China, and turned it into a hub for gambling, drugs and scam centres.
Sunday, September 28, 2025
Six In The Morning Sunday 28 September 2025
Zelensky condemns 'vile' Russian strikes lasting 12 hours
A Russian aerial bombardment that lasted more than 12 hours has killed at least four people and injured at least 70 others in Ukraine.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said the deaths all occurred in the capital, Kyiv, where many of the projectiles were aimed, and the victims included a 12-year-old girl.
The barrage - involving nearly 600 drones and several dozen missiles aimed at seven regions of Ukraine - is one of the heaviest in recent months.
Leaders of Mexican megachurch led a sprawling sex-trafficking enterprise, US prosecutors allege
The family behind La Luz del Mundo Church allegedly facilitated sexual abuse of children and women for decades
Sun 28 Sep 2025 13.00 BST
Since its inception nearly 100 years ago, La Luz del Mundo Church has been a family affair even as it spread from Mexico to the US and around the world.
Eusebio “Aaron” JoaquÃn Gonzalez, who founded the Guadalajara-based Christian church, was succeeded by his son, Samuel JoaquÃn Flores, upon his death in 1964.
When Samuel died in 2014, his son, Naasón JoaquÃn GarcÃa, assumed power. La Luz del Mundo now reportedly operates in all 50 US states and approximately the same number of countries, boasting 5 million members worldwide.
Expedition to the North PolePolar Researchers Fear an Ecological Collapse in the Arctic
The research ship Polarstern spent two months in the ice of the Arctic this summer. What they found could be evidence of an ecological collapse.
On the day the research station on Floe 1 was lost, the Polarstern was moored in the pack ice some 600 kilometers to the west. The team on the research ship says they were sitting together in the red salon and following along on the screen as the station’s GPS position kept drifting further and further to the east.
That evening, the point on the screen crossed over the magic line, across which Russia’s territorial waters begin. The 150,000-euro device had drifted out of reach of the researchers – along with its valuable climate, current and weather data.
Young woman who rallied for liberties in Iran is now 'looking for freedom' from ICE detention
Melika Mohammadi Gazvar Olya fled Tehran after participating in the “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests following the September 2022 death of Mahsa Amini in custody. After a dangerous journey across Central America, she was detained upon arrival in the US. The young Iranian asylum-seeker has been incarcerated for nearly three years in an ICE detention center near the Mexican border.
In the fall of 2022, Melika Mohammadi Gazvar Olya, like hundreds of young Iranian women, took to the streets of Tehran to protest against the Islamic regime’s mandatory hijab laws.
The September 16, 2022, death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a student who was arrested for “inappropriate clothing”, had sparked the “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests across the country that were rattling the regime.
Argentina: Thousands march for women murdered on livestream
Emmy Sasipornkarn with AFP, EFE
The murder of three young women who were tortured live on social media has shocked Argentina. Five suspects have been detained but the alleged mastermind behind the killings is still at large.
Thousands of protesters gathered in Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires, on Saturday to call for justice for three young women whose torture and murders were broadcast live on social media.
Some demonstrators held placards with the names and pictures of the victims — Morena Verdi and Brenda Del Castillo, cousins aged 20, and 15-year-old Lara Gutierrez. One sign read "It was a narco-feminicide!"
"Women must be protected more than ever," said Del Castillo's father, Leonel, at the protest.
Why is the divisive Tony Blair now touted for post-Gaza war interim role?
The US plan ousts Hamas and forms an administration that will later be handed over to a reformed Palestinian Authority.
Tony Blair, who was British prime minister during the 2003 United States-led invasion and occupation of Iraq based on false claims about weapons of mass destruction, and is regarded by many in the Arab world and in the United Kingdom as a “war criminal”, has helped develop “day after” plans for Israel’s war on Gaza.
The highly divisive figure is envisaged in United States President Donald Trump’s 21-point plan presented to Arab and Muslim leaders to become the de facto governor-general of the besieged and bombarded enclave after Hamas is pushed out, according to Israeli and Western media reports.