More than 50 trapped under collapsed Indonesian school building


Rescuers in Indonesia raced against time to reach dozens of students and staff trapped under the rubble of a collapsed multi-storey boarding school on Java Thursday. Authorities say at least five people have died and around 59 remain missing following Monday’s disaster, as families wait anxiously for news and emergency teams attempt a complex tunnel rescue amid unstable debris.


Issued on: 02/10/2025 
By: FRANCE 24

Family members and relatives wait for updates on the search operation of at least 61 people who were missing after a ferry sank off the popular Indonesian resort island of Bali. © أ ف ب.


Rescuers searching for people trapped under a collapsed school in Indonesia on Thursday are hoping to dig a tunnel, at the risk of destabilising the rubble, to reach an estimated 59 still missing.

Part of the multi-storey boarding school on the main island of Java suddenly gave way on Monday as students gathered for afternoon prayers.

School records showed 91 people were buried under the rubble, according to the National Disaster and Mitigation Agency, and at least five people have been confirmed dead.

Around 59 people remained trapped as of Wednesday night, agency spokesman Abdul Muhari said in a statement on Thursday, cautioning that the data was "dynamic and changing" as some survivors had not yet come forward.


Distraught and tearful families waited anxiously near the site for news of their loved ones. Local residents near the school offered families a place to stay as they waited, AFP reported.

"I've been here since day one. I am hoping for the best news, that my brother survives. I am still hopeful," said Maulana Bayu Rizky Pratama, whose 17-year-old brother is missing.

"It's been four days. I hope my brother will be found soon. I feel sad thinking of him being down there for four days," the 28-year-old added.

Rescuers pulled five survivors from the rubble on Wednesday as frantic parents demanded searchers speed up efforts to find dozens of children believed to still be trapped.

Abdul Hanan, whose 14-year-old son is missing, said children under the rubble had been crying for help.

"The rescue operation must be accelerated," he urged.

Investigations into the cause of the collapse in the town of Sidoarjo are ongoing, but initial signs point to substandard construction, experts have said.
Complex operation

The rescue operation is complex, as vibrations in one place can affect other areas, said Mohammad Syafii, head of the National Search and Rescue Agency.

"So now, to reach the spot where the victims are, we have to dig an underground tunnel," he told reporters.

But digging itself poses challenges, including possible landslides. Any tunnel will only provide an access route about 60 centimetres (23 inches) wide due to the structure's concrete columns.

Thermal-sensing drones are being used to locate survivors and the deceased as the 72-hour "golden period" for the best survival chances comes to an end.

The operation could last longer than seven days if people are still missing, a search and rescue agency official told AFP.

The school collapse was so violent it sent tremors across the neighbourhood, said local resident Ani.

"I felt a vibration and then I heard a noise. I immediately ran to save myself. I didn't realise at first it was a building collapse," the grocery stall owner told AFP.

AFP saw rescuers in orange uniforms appearing to snake cameras under the rubble to search for traces of survivors.

Signs of life have been detected in several areas, said rescue official Emi Freezer of the National Search and Rescue Agency.

Water and food were being sent in, but access was limited to a single point, he said.

"The main structure has totally collapsed," he added.

The operation was complicated by an earthquake offshore overnight Tuesday to Wednesday, briefly halting the search.

Local charitable organisations have set up posts offering families food and drink around the ruins.

The building folded after its foundation pillars failed to support the weight of new construction on the fourth floor, said the national disaster management agency spokesman.

Lax construction standards have raised widespread concerns about building safety in Indonesia, where it is common to leave structures—particularly houses—partially completed, allowing owners to add extra floors later when their budgets permit.

This month, at least three people were killed and dozens injured when a building hosting a prayer recital collapsed in West Java province.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

‘Cruelty is the point’: Trump uses shutdown as a lever for mass firings, cuts to social programmes

US President Donald Trump has threatened to use the first government shutdown since 2019 to push through mass firings and slash social programmes unless Democrats give up their demands for health care funding. “The cruelty is the point,” House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said.


Issued on: 02/10/2025
By: FRANCE 24

US President Donald Trump has seized on the government shutdown as an opportunity to reshape the government and punish detractors by threatening to fire more federal workers en masse and hinting at “irreversible” cuts to social programmes.

Rather than simply furlough employees, as is usually done during any lapse in funds, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said layoffs were “imminent”. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) announced it was putting on hold roughly $18 billion in infrastructure funds slated for subway and Hudson Tunnel projects in New York – the hometown of the Democratic leaders of both the House and the US Senate.

Trump has marveled over his budget director.

“He can trim the budget to a level that you couldn’t do any other way,” the president said at the start of the week of OMB Director Russ Vought, who was also a chief architect of the far-right Project 2025 "wish list", which Trump has disavowed but which has seemingly informed many of his policy choices since his return to power.

“So they’re taking a risk by having a shutdown,” Trump said of Democrats during an event at the White House.

750,000 federal workers could be furloughed

The aggressive approach coming from the Trump administration is what certain lawmakers and budget observers feared if Congress, which has the responsibility to pass legislation to fund the government, failed to do its work and relinquished control to the White House.

In a private conference call with House GOP lawmakers Wednesday afternoon, Vought told them of layoffs starting in the next day or two, an extension of the imprudent slashing of government workers and programmes undertaken by the self-proclaimed "Department of Government Efficiency" under Elon Musk at the start of the year.

“These are all things that the Trump administration has been doing since January 20th,” said House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, referring to the president’s first day in office.

“The cruelty is the point.”

With no easy endgame at hand, the stand-off risks dragging into October, when federal workers who remain on the job will begin missing paychecks.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has estimated that roughly 750,000 federal workers would be furloughed on any given day during the shutdown, a loss of $400 million daily in wages.

‘Pain will be inflicted’

The economic effects could spill over into the broader economy. Past shutdowns saw “reduced aggregate demand in the private sector for goods and services, pushing down GDP”, the CBO said.

“Stalled federal spending on goods and services led to a loss of private-sector income that further reduced demand for other goods and services in the economy,” it said.

Overall, CBO said there was a “dampening of economic output” but that reversed once people returned to work.

“The longer this goes on, the more pain will be inflicted,” said Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana, “because it is inevitable when the government shuts down”.

Trump and the congressional leaders are not expected to meet again soon. Congress has no action scheduled Thursday in observance of the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur, with senators due back on Friday.

The House is set to resume session next week.

Healthcare funding at heart of conflict

The Democrats are holding fast to their demands to preserve healthcare funding and refusing to back any budget bill that fails to do so, warning of an untenable rise in prices for millions of Americans nationwide. The Kaiser Family Foundation estimates insurance premiums will more than double for people who buy policies on the Affordable Care Act exchanges, also known as Obamacare.

The Republicans have opened a door to negotiating the healthcare issue, but GOP leaders say it can wait, since the subsidies that help people purchase private insurance don’t expire until year’s end.

“We’re willing to have a conversation about ensuring that Americans continue to have access to health care,” Vice President JD Vance said Wednesday at the White House.
ICE agents still at work

With Congress as a standstill, the Trump administration has taken advantage of new levers to determine how to shape the federal government.

The Trump administration can tap into funds to pay workers at the Defense Department and Homeland Security from what’s commonly called the “One Big Beautiful Bill” that was signed into law this summer, according to CBO.

That would ensure Trump’s immigration enforcement and mass deportation agenda is uninterrupted. But employees who remain on the job at many other agencies will have to wait for government to reopen before they get a paycheck.

Read more ‘I couldn’t breathe’: ICE agents fire tear gas at peaceful protesters in Chicago suburb

Already Vought, from the budget office, has challenged the authority of Congress this year by trying to claw back and rescind funds lawmakers had already approved – for Head Start, clean energy infrastructure projects, overseas aid, and public radio and television.

The Government Accountability Office has issued a series of rare notices of instances where the administration’s actions have violated the law.

But the Supreme Court in a ruling late last week allowed the administration’s so-called “pocket rescission” of nearly $5 billion in foreign aid to stand.

(FRANCE 24 with AP)

US Government In Gridlock: Healthcare Battle Triggers Nationwide Shutdown – Analysis

 October 2, 2025 

By Girish Linganna

The US government shut down on October 1, 2025, at 12:01 AM (9:31 AM IST) because Republicans and Democrats could not agree on a funding deal. With no budget approved, most government work has stopped.

What it means?: Federal funding means the money collected from taxes that the government uses to pay salaries, run offices, build infrastructure, and support programs like healthcare, education, and defense. Without approval, the government cannot legally spend this money.

As a result of the shutdown, many government offices close, federal workers may not get paid on time, and public services such as visas, national parks, and research projects either slow down or stop. Only essential services like the military, hospitals, and air traffic control continue to function. This is the first shutdown in seven years.

Both parties blamed each other. Republicans, led by President Donald Trump, said the Democrats were responsible.

According to Indian Express, Senator John Thune said the Democrats’ far-left members pushed for a fight with the President, and their leaders agreed. He added that now the American people will suffer because of it.

The US government has shut down 14 times since 1980, and three times during Trump’s first term (2017–2021). Here’s what you need to know.

To begin with, what does a government shutdown mean?

Every year, before October 1, the US Congress must pass around 12 funding bills that decide how money will be given to different government agencies. After that, the President must approve them for the government to keep running.

The US Congress is America’s law-making body. It has two parts—Senate and House of Representatives—which include both Republicans and Democrats. They make laws, approve budgets, and keep a check on the President’s powers.

These bills are sometimes combined into one big “omnibus” bill to quickly pass them at the last minute.

An “omnibus” bill means a single large bill that combines many smaller funding bills into one. Instead of passing each bill separately, Congress passes them together to save time and avoid delay.

A shutdown happens when Congress fails to approve money before the funding deadline ends.

Based on how much funding is approved and which agencies receive money, the government may fully shut down or only partially shut down.

What caused the current shutdown?

This shutdown happened because the Democrats wanted to extend healthcare subsidies and bring back the Medicaid cuts removed under Trump’s Big, Beautiful Bill.

Medicaid is a government program in the US that provides free or low-cost healthcare to poor and low-income people, including children, pregnant women, elderly, and disabled individuals.

Three months ago, the Republicans passed a bill that gave rich people big tax cuts, spent more money on the military, and cut programs like Medicaid (healthcare for poor people). This bill also planned to send out more immigrants. Because of it, some offices like the Department of Defense and Homeland Security will still get money and keep working, even during the shutdown.

When the Republicans said the government should keep running with the same money currently being used until November 21, it also meant continuing under the same conditions as the earlier bill — including Medicaid cuts, tax breaks for the wealthy, and higher defence spending.

But the Democrats said no. They wanted the money to last only till October, because they planned to ask again later for healthcare benefits and to reduce Trump’s control over funds.

Since the two sides could not agree, the government had to shut down.

How does a shutdown affect people?

For federal employees (people who work for the US government, like park rangers, scientists, or clerks): During a shutdown, all non-essential government work stops until Congress approves funding, except for programs that are paid through other sources like fees.

Non-essential employees example: Workers at national parks or museum staff may be asked to stop working during a shutdown.

Funded through fees example: Passport services may still run because people pay fees for them.

The Antideficiency Act decides how the government works during a shutdown. It allows only essential services to continue, while non-essential work must stop.

Examples of essential work: Air traffic control, border security, water supply, electricity, and hospitals keep running because they are critical for safety and daily life.

Examples of non-essential work: Museums, tourist sites, and national parks may close since they are not urgent for people’s safety.

The Act says government workers cannot work for free or do extra work beyond what the law allows, except in emergencies that involve saving lives or protecting property.

Example: A firefighter or doctor in a government hospital can still work during a shutdown because their job protects human life and property. But a museum guide cannot, since it is not an emergency service.

In the last shutdown (Dec 2018–Jan 2019), about 800,000 government workers were sent home. This time, the CBO (Congressional Budget Office) says around 750,000 workers may be sent home, costing about $400 million (₹3,520 crore) each day in back pay.

The Antideficiency Act allows money for only essential services that protect life and property, and for important officials like the President, White House staff, military on duty, and federal police.

For the public: Programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security will keep working because their benefit payments are funded permanently and do not need Congress approval every year. However, since Medicaid was cut earlier under the bill, it will continue but at a reduced level.

So, people already getting benefits will keep receiving them, but adding new people may be hard because many workers are on leave during the shutdown.

Civilians may face problems in travel and transport if airport staff or air traffic controllers refuse to work without pay. Also, public attractions and landmarks may close because of staff leave without pay.

On the economy: The effect of a shutdown depends on how long it lasts. The CBO said if it goes on for weeks, some private businesses may never recover the money lost.

Example: A catering company that supplies food to government offices or a travel agency handling official trips may lose income they cannot get back.

The 2018–19 shutdown was the costliest, cutting economic output by $11 billion (₹9.68 lakh crore), and about $3 billion (₹2.64 lakh crore) was never regained by the US economy, said the CBO.

The shutdown will also delay the September jobs report because the Bureau of Labor Statistics will be closed. This report is very important as it shows the health of the US economy. It also helps the Federal Reserve decide on changes to the repo rate.

The repo rate is the interest rate at which the central bank (Federal Reserve) lends money to banks. If the repo rate goes up, loans become costlier for people and businesses. If it goes down, loans become cheaper, which can boost spending and growth.

Officials will have to use other data sources, like information from the 12 regional central banks, to understand the condition of the US job market. This is possible because these banks regularly collect regional employment and business data, which can give a rough picture of the overall economy when national data is delayed.

How this shutdown could be different

This shutdown may be different from earlier ones because of Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a semi-government agency.  The department, created to cut wasteful spending and reduce the size of government, suggested firing federal employees instead of just sending them on unpaid leave.

The Office of Management and Budget told federal agencies in a memo last week to “use this chance to consider permanent job cuts” instead of temporary leave.

The memo said, according to Indian Express, that programs which do not get automatic funding will be hit the hardest during a shutdown. It also told officials to keep planning ahead, in case the Democrats let the shutdown continue.

With both sides digging in, the long-term impact of this shutdown—and the threat of permanent job cuts—leaves the nation in a state of uncertainty.”

Girish Linganna

Girish Linganna is a Defence, Aerospace & Political Analyst based in Bengaluru. He is also Director of ADD Engineering Components, India, Pvt. Ltd, a subsidiary of ADD Engineering GmbH, Germany. You can reach him at: girishlinganna@gmail.com

America’s Scale Problem – Analysis

U.S. Soldiers assigned to 1st Platoon, Charlie Battery, 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, conduct a live-fire exercise with the M777 towed 155mm howitzer at Al Asad Air Base, Iraq, March 2, 2020. (Photo Credit: U.S. Army photo by Spc. Derek Mustard)

 October 2, 2025  

By Published by the Foreign Policy Research Institute

By Mohammed Soliman

(FPRI) — There is a peculiar irony in watching the world’s most technologically advanced military struggle with something as basic as making enough bullets. Yet this is precisely where America finds itself as it attempts to be able to supply two major conflicts simultaneously. The United States, which revolutionized warfare through precision and technological supremacy, has discovered that modern wars still hinge on an ancient principle: The side with more ammunition often wins.

The revelation is both stark and measurable. Ukraine consumes artillery shells at rates that would have seemed fantastical to Pentagon planners just four years ago. A single Ukrainian battery can fire more 155mm rounds in a day than some American units used in months during the Iraq War. Meanwhile, Israel’s sophisticated air defense networks devour interceptor missiles by the dozen during each Iranian strike, each costing millions and taking months to replace.

It’s not simply a supply issue. This is a profound intellectual failure in American strategic thought. For three decades, the United States optimized its defense-industrial base around the assumption that future wars would be brief, technology-dependent affairs. The Pentagon’s planners, intoxicated by the precision strikes of the Gulf War and the technological dominance displayed in Iraq, designed a military for wars that would be decided by superior sensors, communications, and targeted strikes rather than sustained barrages.

The numbers expose this miscalculation with uncomfortable clarity. America currently produces roughly 40,000 artillery shells per month—a rate that represents a 178 percent increase from pre-war levels, yet still falls short of Ukrainian consumption. The Army’s goal of reaching 100,000 shells monthly by mid-2026 sounds impressive until one considers that Ukraine’s forces can fire that quantity in a matter of weeks during intensive operations.

The missile shortage presents some even more sobering arithmetic. Patriot interceptors, essential for defending both Ukraine and Israel, are manufactured at a rate of approximately 740 units annually, with plans to increase production to 1,100 by 2027. Yet Iran’s recent coordinated assault on Israel consumed an estimated $800 million worth of interceptors in 11 days, depleting 15 to 20 percent of America’s global Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile stockpile. When President Volodymyr Zelensky recently disclosed that promised anti-drone weapons were diverted from Ukraine to the Middle East, he inadvertently highlighted the zero-sum nature of America’s current predicament.

This techno-industrial shortfall reflects a broader philosophical error in how America has conceptualized post-Cold War warfare. The defense establishment, influenced by theorists who promised a “revolution in military affairs,” pivoted toward what military historians have since described as the cult of technology and the precision weapon. The assumption was elegant in its simplicity: Why produce thousands of dumb bombs when a handful of smart ones could achieve superior effect?

The logic was seductive and, within its narrow parameters, correct. American precision weapons could indeed eliminate targets with unprecedented efficiency. But this approach contained a hidden vulnerability. It is assumed that future adversaries would accommodate American preferences for short, decisive wars. Instead, the wars America faces today are characterized by exactly the opposite: extended, attritional campaigns where the ability to sustain fire over months and years matters more than the ability to strike with surgical precision.

The problem is compounded by the techno-industrial ecosystem that emerged from these strategic choices. Defense contractors, operating rationally within the incentive structures created by Pentagon procurement, consolidated around high-margin, low-volume systems. Factories that once produced artillery shells closed or converted to other purposes. Supply chains for basic explosives and propellants atrophied. The skilled workforce that understood how to manufacture large quantities of conventional munitions aged out of the system.

Consider the case of black powder, an essential component in artillery shells. Domestic production capacity has shrunk to the point where it represents a critical bottleneck in ammunition manufacturing. This is not a problem that can be solved by throwing money at it. Rebuilding techno-industrial capacity requires time, expertise, and sustained commitment that spans electoral cycles.

The strategic implications extend far beyond current conflicts. Should tensions with China escalate over Taiwan, the United States would confront an even more demanding scenario across the vast distances of the Pacific. The consumption rates for anti-ship missiles, air defense interceptors, and precision munitions would dwarf current needs. At present production levels, America’s stockpiles would be insufficient within weeks of major combat operations.

This realization has prompted some course correction. Congress has approved $6 billion to expand shell production and modernize factories, while the Army is investing $742 million to increase High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) production. But these efforts, while necessary, highlight the depth of the problem. The lead times for expanding ammunition production are measured in years, not months. Private companies, scarred by previous boom-bust cycles in defense spending, remain reluctant to make major capital investments without guaranteed long-term contracts.

The fundamental challenge is that America designed its defense-industrial base for the wars it wanted to fight rather than the wars it faces. This reflects a broader American tendency to believe that technological superiority can substitute for material superiority—a dangerous assumption in wars where survival depends on outlasting rather than out-innovating the enemy.

History offers sobering reminders of what happens when technologically advanced militaries underestimate the importance of industrial capacity. German forces in World War II possessed superior tanks and aircraft, but they could not match the production rates of their adversaries. The Soviet Union’s ability to churn out T-34 tanks and artillery pieces ultimately mattered more than German engineering superiority.

The solution requires more than increased funding. It demands a fundamental reconceptualization of what military readiness means in an era of great-power competition. The Pentagon must balance its preference for cutting-edge technology with the unglamorous reality that wars are often won by the side that can sustain higher rates of fire longer. This means building surge capacity into peacetime production, maintaining redundant supply chains, and accepting that stockpiling “dumb” munitions is as strategicallyimportant as developing smart ones.

Ukraine and Israel have provided an expensive education in the mathematics of modern warfare. America’s technological edge is a perishable advantage that is not guaranteed to last, making technology itself meaningless if the supply runs dry. As the international order becomes increasingly contested, the United States must confront an uncomfortable truth that military theorists have long understood: In warfare, quantity has a quality all its own. America’s challenge is learning this lesson before it becomes a catastrophic liability.

• About the author: Mohammed Soliman is a Non-Resident Senior Fellow in the National Security Program at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. He is also the director of the Strategic Technologies and Cyber Security Program at the Middle East Institute and a visiting fellow with the National Security Program at Third Way. He can be found on X at @Thisissoliman.

• Source: This article was published by FPRI

Published by the Foreign Policy Research Institute

Founded in 1955, FPRI (http://www.fpri.org/) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization devoted to bringing the insights of scholarship to bear on the development of policies that advance U.S. national interests and seeks to add perspective to events by fitting them into the larger historical and cultural context of international politics.