Better Believe It......Because They Actually Happen(ed) Collection 74 |
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Ukraine’s children start school year in underground classrooms to avoid Russian bombs A mother and daughter walk into the basement of a municipal building during the first day in school in Bobryk, Ukraine, on Sept. 1, 2025. (Evgeniy Maloletka / Associated Press)
By Hanna Arhirova BOBRYK, Ukraine — Pupils returned to schools in Ukraine on Monday for the start of the new academic year in the hope of being able to study safely under the shadow of Russia’s invasion. Since the start of the war in February 2022, schools have found different ways to keep lessons going. In Bobryk, a village in the northern region of Sumy — not far from the front line — one school moved its classrooms entirely into a basement so students, whose education had already been affected due to COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, could learn in person. “We must do everything so this generation is not lost,” principal Oleksii Korenivskyi said. “Time is the only thing you cannot make up. This is our future, and we must give it everything we have.” The school was moved underground two years ago when air-raid alerts sometimes lasted 20 hours, paralyzing classes. The only option was to take cover and, while hiding from possible explosions, to keep studying. Now, in a basement of an administrative building never meant to be a school, classrooms line the narrow space, some divided only by sheets of heavy plastic. There are no windows or doors. During lessons, the children’s voices blend together in a chorus. On Monday, many arrived in traditional embroidered shirts, called vyshyvanka. Teachers’ desks were loaded with fresh flowers that children brought for them as a traditional gift for the start of the year. “Unfortunately, this ‘neighbor’ isn’t going anywhere,” the principal said, referring to Russia, when describing how much had to be done to make the space work for students. Full story at Los Angeles Times (September 2025) |
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Conservative activist Charlie Kirk assassinated at Utah university By Hannah Schoenbaum, Alanna Durkin Richer, Mark Sherman And Eric Tucker  The FBI have released photos of a potential suspect in the shooting of Charlie Kirk. The individual was captured by security cameras in the area wearing sunglasses, a black hat and black long-sleeve shirt. OREM, Utah (AP) — Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist and close ally of President Donald Trump who played an influential role in rallying young Republican voters, was shot and killed Wednesday at a Utah college event in what the governor called a political assassination carried out from a rooftop. “This is a dark day for our state. It’s a tragic day for our nation,” said Utah Gov. Spencer Cox. “I want to be very clear this is a political assassination.”  Gov. Spencer Cox speaks at a press conference at Utah Valley University after Charlie Kirk, CEO and co-founder of Turning Point USA, was shot and killed during a visit at the university in Orem, Utah, on Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025. (Tess Crowley/The Deseret News via AP) No suspect was in custody late Wednesday, though authorities were searching for a new person of interest, according to a law enforcement official familiar with the matter who was not authorized to discuss the situation by name and spoke on condition of anonymity. Two people were detained earlier in the day but neither was determined to have had any connection to the shooting and both have been released, Utah public safety officials said. Authorities did not immediately identify a motive but the circumstances of the shooting drew renewed attention to an escalating threat of political violence in the United States that in the last several years has cut across the ideological spectrum. The assassination drew bipartisan condemnation, but a national reckoning over ways to prevent political grievances from manifesting as deadly violence seemed elusive. Videos posted to social media from Utah Valley University show Kirk speaking into a handheld microphone while sitting under a white tent emblazoned with the slogans “The American Comeback” and “Prove Me Wrong.” A single shot rings out and Kirk can be seen reaching up with his right hand as a large volume of blood gushes from the left side of his neck. Stunned spectators are heard gasping and screaming before people start to run away. The Associated Press was able to confirm the videos were taken at Sorensen Center courtyard on the Utah Valley University campus.  People were seen exiting a building on Utah Valley University after Charlie Kirk, the CEO and co-founder of the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA, was shot Wednesday at an event on campus. Kirk was speaking at a debate hosted by his nonprofit political organization. Immediately before the shooting, Kirk was taking questions from an audience member about mass shootings and gun violence. “Do you know how many transgender Americans have been mass shooters over the last 10 years?” the person asked. Kirk responded, “Too many.” The questioner followed up: “Do you know how many mass shooters there have been in America over the last 10 years?” “Counting or not counting gang violence?” Kirk asked.  Source: FBI and Utah law enforcement officials; Utah Valley University; Aerial imagery by Google Earth. Graphic by: Phil Holm and Chris Keller Then a single shot rang out. The shooter, who Cox pledged would be held accountable in a state with the death penalty, wore dark clothing and fired from a building roof some distance away to the courtyard where the event took place. Full story at The Associated Press (September 2025) |
Mahjong Boom Comes for Japanese School Kids, as Game Sheds Its Gambling Image Students of the mahjong club at Kishine High School play the tile-based game in Yokohama on July 15. Photo Credit: The Yomiuri Shimbun By Susumu Saito Mahjong once had a reputation for being a “pastime for adults” and a form of gambling, but the tile-based game is now growing in popularity among junior high and high school students. The first national High School Mahjong Championship was held this summer, and classes for young players are hives of activity as enthusiastic attendees pit their skills against each other. The mahjong craze has been fueled by the game’s portrayal in manga and anime, as well as by a belief that playing can make one smarter. In a classroom at prefectural Kishine High School in Yokohama after school one day in mid-July, students from the school’s mahjong club sat around several tables. “Let’s draw … I have Big Three Dragons,” one boy declared, revealing that he had a rare “yakuman” hand that automatically scores the maximum possible points. The other students rushed over to the table and looked on enviously at the tiles in front of the boy. This mahjong club was established in 2024 and has 18 members, both boys and girls, from first-year to third-year students. They meet twice a week to polish their mahjong skills and are aiming to take the top spots at the championship. High schoolers compete in teams of two at the tournament, which determines Japan’s top mahjong players for the age group. A total of 286 teams from 180 schools across Japan, including Kishine High School, took part in the first championship. “Of course, I want to win my games, but I also really like that, by playing mahjong, I become friends with teachers and students in other grades that I’d never spoken to before,” said 17-year-old Takeru Sasaki, the club’s president. Full story at The Japan News (September 2025) |
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Over 1,000 West Java students sick from school meals in food poisoning outbreak Questions have been raised about standards and oversight of the scheme, which has expanded rapidly to reach over 20 million recipients, with an ambitious goal of feeding 83 million of Indonesia's 280 million people by year-end.  Meals go wrong: Students affected by food poisoning after consuming the free nutritious meal undergo medical treatment on Sept. 23 at Cipongkor District Office, West Bandung Regency, West Java. According to official data, a total of 352 students and parents experienced food poisoning, suspected to have been caused by the free meals program on Sept. 22. (Antara/Abdan Syakura) More than 1,000 children in West Java have suffered food poisoning this week from school lunches, authorities said, the latest in a series of outbreaks and another setback for the President Prabowo-Subianto's multi-billion-dollar free meals program. The mass poisoning was reported in four areas of West Java province, Governor Dedi Mulyadi told Reuters on Thursday, which came as non-governmental organizations issued calls to suspend the program due to health concerns. The latest cases follow the poisoning of 800 students who ate school lunches last week in West Java and Central Sulawesi provinces, which were supplied under President Prabowo's signature free nutritious meals program. Questions have been raised about standards and oversight of the scheme, which has expanded rapidly to reach over 20 million recipients, with an ambitious goal of feeding 83 million of Indonesia's 280 million people by year-end. The program's Rp 171 trillion ($10.22 billion) budget will double next year. Governor Dedi said more than 470 students fell sick in West Bandung on Monday after eating the free lunches and three more outbreaks took place there on Wednesday and in the Sukabumi region, affecting at least 580 children. "We must evaluate those running the program... And the most important thing is how to deal with the students' trauma after eating the food," Dedi said, adding small hospitals in West Bandung were overwhelmed by sick students. Prabowo's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the latest cases. Dadan Hindayana, head of The National Nutrition Agency that oversees the free meals program, said kitchens with poisoning cases had been suspended. Full story at The Jakarta Post (September 2025) |
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Hanoi middle schooler assaults teacher in class A video showing a middle school student in Hanoi pulling a teacher’s hair and throwing her to the ground in class has triggered controversy, as other classmates look on without intervening.  This image was captured from a video of the incident at Dai Kim Middle School in Thanh Xuan District, Hanoi. The two-minute clip, filmed last week at Dai Kim Middle School, captures the moment a teacher confiscated a sharp toy from one student. Another student, identified as 'B', stood up demanding the item back. When the teacher refused, the boy grabbed her hair in an attempt to wrestle the toy back. The teacher fell after the student forcefully pulled her hair, as dozens of classmates looked on. Some stared but did not intervene, while others carried on with their work. According to the school's report, the class monitor even instructed the students to close the curtains so people outside would not see what was happening. The incident occurred on the afternoon of September 16. The principal later required the boy to apologize to the teacher in front of the class. Full story at Tuổi Trẻ News (September 2025) |
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Relatives weep for scores of missing children after deadly Indonesia school collapse By Prasto Wardoyo SIDOARJO, Indonesia, Sept 30 (Reuters) - Parents were desperately searching for scores of missing teenage boys feared trapped under huge piles of concrete on Tuesday, after an Islamic boarding school collapsed in Indonesia as pupils were praying inside. Authorities said 91 people were listed as missing, after the Al Khoziny school building collapsed while 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 780 km (480 miles) east of Jakarta. By late evening on Tuesday, three bodies had been recovered, with the vast majority of presumed victims still trapped under huge slabs of concrete. Ninety-nine children and workers at the school survived. Holy Abdullah Arif, 49, wept as he held up a picture on his mobile phone of his nephew Rosi, still listed among the missing. He described his frantic search for the boy in the ruins.  Search and rescue officers search for victims amidst the rubble of a collapsed building after a hall collapsed while students were praying at the Al-Khoziny Islamic boarding school in Sidoarjo, East Java, Indonesia, September 29, 2025. "I ran around screaming, 'Rosi! Rosi! If you can hear me and can move, get out!' And then a child was screaming back from the rubble, he was stuck. I thought that was Rosi, so I asked, 'Are you Rosi?' and the child said, 'God, no, help me!'" Families clustered around a whiteboard with a list of the known survivors, searching for names of their children. An excavator and a crane had been deployed to help rescuers shift the rubble, but Nanang Sigit, a local search and rescue official, said authorities would not use heavy equipment for fear of causing the remaining structure to collapse. Full story at Reuters (September 2025) |
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A perfect thesis for PhD By Mohd Farhaan Shah JOHOR BARU: Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM) medical lecturer Dr Hanis Hidayu Kasim completed her doctorate at the University of Cambridge with zero corrections – a rare distinction in the academic world. She described the feat as “surreal”. Hanis, a pioneer in research on metabolism in preterm infants, said she was initially unsure which university to pursue her doctorate, but her passion for child health led her to Cambridge. “I wanted to do research in paediatric groups, focusing on how early life shapes health. My search pointed straight to Cambridge, whose global reputation and pioneering work stood out,” she said. Her PhD focused on lipidomics, a cutting-edge method of analysing fat molecules, to study how prematurity affects infant metabolism and glucose regulation from birth to one year. “This research provides the first detailed map of how prematurity shapes fat metabolism and glucose regulation throughout infancy. “It opens the door to tailored nutritional interventions and targeted health markers for preterm infants, ultimately improving their long-term outcomes,” she added. The 39-year-old said when she was told her thesis required no corrections, she was dumbfounded. “It’s rare, possibly unheard of. When I saw the Degree Committee’s report, I had to read it several times to understand this. I even asked my husband to read the report,” she said.  Prestigious place: Hanis posing in front of her faculty in Cambridge. She said it became a reality after her supervisor congratulated her on the rare achievement. Hanis attributed her success to careful preparation, transparency in acknowledging limitations and openness to feedback. “I had 110 drafts overall. I made sure every point was supported by evidence and that my writing was clear. “The support from my supervisors, mentors and collaborators at Cambridge was crucial,” she added. Her journey was not without challenges as she began her PhD during the Covid-19 lockdown, moving to Cambridge with her husband and four-year-old daughter Hannah. “Everything was remote for a year. Then, my supervisor passed away just seven months into the programme, and I had to revise my study plans. Later, when recruiting parents of preterm babies, I approached over 400 families, but only 73 agreed to participate,” she said. She also faced personal loss when her father passed away while she was writing her final chapter. “Through each struggle, I held tightly to my purpose, leaned on mentors and stayed close to family. Humility and perseverance kept me going,” she said. Full story at The Star Online (September 2025) |
