Israel blocks flotilla with water cannons and stun grenades: activists facing expulsion

Today's headlines: Death toll from earthquake in the Philippines rises to 72, while Indonesia races against time to rescue dozens of students trapped under the rubble of an Islamic college; On the 10th anniversary of Laudato Si', Pope Leo XIV renews his call for an “ecological conversion”; Beijing and Kuala Lumpur study a joint project for the exploitation of rare earths; Tens of thousands of families affected by the earthquake in Afghanistan are still without shelter, with fears for the approaching winter.

ISRAEL - GAZA

The Israeli navy intercepted dozens of boats belonging to the Global Sumud Flotilla, using water cannons and stun grenades before storming on board and arresting the activists, who describe the operation as “illegal” and not “an act of defence” but a “brazen act of desperation”. Turkey, one of the most critical voices of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, speaks of an “act of terror” that endangered the lives of innocent civilians. Kuala Lumpur also condemns what it calls Israel's “illegal act”; there were also 12 Malaysian citizens on the boats. The detained boats are being diverted to Ashdod, from where the activists are expected to be deported in the coming days.

PHILIPPINES - INDONESIA

The death toll from the 6.9 magnitude earthquake that struck central Philippines on the evening of 30 September has risen to 72, with another 294 people injured. The last three were recorded in the Visayas region. In Indonesia, rescuers are racing against time in an attempt to save about 84 teenagers still trapped under the rubble of the Al Khoziny Islamic boarding school, which collapsed earlier this week due to a failure of its foundations, causing at least five deaths. Hopes are fading, as there are no longer any signs of life.

VATICAN

‘The cry of the earth should not be a passing fad; we must move towards ecological conversion.’ This was stated by Pope Leo XIV yesterday at the Mariapolis Centre of the Focolare Movement in Castel Gandolfo, at the conference ‘Raising Hope on Climate Change’, 10 years after the encyclical ‘Laudato sì’ by his predecessor Pope Francis. The pontiff also encourages society and individual citizens to ‘put pressure’ on governments to develop regulations to combat environmental damage.

CHINA - MALAYSIA

Beijing and Kuala Lumpur have begun negotiations on a project aimed at the joint exploitation of rare earths. The sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional is expected to enter into a partnership with a Chinese state-owned company to build a refinery in Malaysia, marking a turning point in Chinese policy - the world's leading supplier and refiner - which has so far banned the export of processing technology to protect its dominance in the sector.

AFGHANISTAN

Tens of thousands of families left homeless after the earthquake that struck Afghanistan between 31 August and 1 September are in urgent need of assistance and shelter, especially now with the arrival of winter. The alarm was raised by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), which says that to date, more than 11,000 displaced people are living in temporary centres in Kunar, receiving tents, hot meals, drinking water and other basic necessities.

INDIA

Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, 59, has joined the billionaire club for the first time, becoming one of the richest actors in the world. According to the Hurun India Rich List 2025, an annual ranking of the country's wealthiest people, his net worth is estimated at .4 billion. Other Bollywood personalities on the list include actress Juhi Chawla, actors Hrithik Roshan and Amitabh Bachchan, and director Karan Johar.

RUSSIA

The Russian archival office Rosarkhiv has ruled that documents concerning the victims of Stalinist repression will only be accessible to their relatives and will no longer be available for consultation by researchers, despite this right being enshrined in Russian law. To date, only a quarter of the actual victims are known, according to the now-interrupted investigations by historians.

ARMENIA - TURKEY

The opposition party Armenia has proposed a bill in Parliament to prosecute as criminals those who justify the Armenian genocide, along with other internationally recognised genocides. This is a clear move against Prime Minister Nikol Pašinyan, who proposes to end the controversy over last century's genocide in order to restore relations with Turkey.

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