Researchers deconstruct chikungunya outbreaks to improve prediction and vaccine development

University of Notre Dame

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An Aedes aegypti mosquito with red powder used to mark the animal in a behavior test.

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Credit: (Photo by Matt Cashore/University of Notre Dame)

The symptoms come on quickly — acute fever, followed by debilitating joint pain that can last for months. Though rarely fatal, the chikungunya virus, a mosquito-borne illness, can be particularly severe for high-risk individuals, including newborns and older adults.

While the virus is common in tropical and subtropical regions, including Asia, Africa and South America, public health officials have been tracking reported infections in Europe and, in September, a confirmed case in Long Island, New York.

Outbreaks of chikungunya have prompted the Centers for Disease Control to issue health notices to travelers bound for Bangladesh; Cuba; Guangdong Province, China; Kenya; Madagascar; Somalia; and Sri Lanka.

In Guangdong Province, an “unprecedented” outbreak recently prompted government officials in China to mandate quarantines for anyone suspected of being infected by the virus, spraying individuals with mosquito repellent and spraying impacted buildings and other areas with insecticide.

In a new study, published in Science Advances, researchers at the University of Notre Dame analyzed more than 80 outbreaks of chikungunya virus to improve prediction of future outbreaks and inform vaccine trial development.

“Chikungunya outbreaks are unpredictable in both size and severity,” said Alex Perkins, the Ann and Daniel Monahan Collegiate Professor of infectious disease epidemiology in the Department of Biological Sciences, and co-author of the study. “You can have one outbreak that infects just a few people, and another in a similar setting that infects tens of thousands. That unpredictability is what makes public health planning — and vaccine development — so difficult.”

For the study, Alexander Meyer, a postdoctoral researcher in Perkins’ lab and lead author of the study, and a team of researchers reconstructed and analyzed 86 chikungunya outbreaks, creating the largest comparative dataset of its kind.

“Instead of looking at outbreaks in isolation, looking at many, all of which varied in size and severity, allowed us to search for patterns among them,” Meyer said.

Chikungunya was first identified in the 1950s. Outbreaks have become increasingly frequent and widespread, but they’re also sporadic and difficult to predict, posing a challenge to public health officials when it comes to planning for and preventing infections.

Changes in outbreaks of chikungunya, transmitted by bites from infected mosquitoes — Aedes aegypti or Aedes albopictus are the primary vectors — and other mosquito-borne illnesses are often considered in relation to climate change, as warmer, more humid conditions can promote mosquito activity.

But Perkins said this study showed that climate isn’t necessarily the most important factor when trying to predict the severity of an outbreak of disease caused by a virus like chikungunya.

“Climate factors like temperature and rainfall can tell us where outbreaks are possible, but this study shows that they don’t help very much in predicting how severe they will be,” he said. “Local conditions matter — things like housing quality, mosquito density and how communities respond. Some variation is simply due to chance. That randomness is part of the story, too.”

Currently, only two vaccines for chikungunya have received regulatory approval — but they are not widely available in regions where the virus is most common.

That is why having such a large, comprehensive dataset is so helpful when it comes to vaccine development, Perkins said.

To test for efficacy, vaccine makers need accurate predictions of where an outbreak might occur before it happens, to conduct trials and monitor whether candidate vaccines are effective.

The study demonstrates how a more comprehensive analysis of past outbreaks can help public health officials prepare for future outbreaks, thereby protecting vulnerable populations and aiding vaccine development.

Additional co-authors include Kathryn B. Anderson at the State University of New York, Natalie Dean at Emory University, and Sandra Mendoza Guerrero and Steven T. Stoddard at Bavarian Nordic Inc., which provided funding for the study. This work was additionally supported by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs.

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Journal

Science Advances

DOI

10.1126/sciadv.adt5419 

Article Title

Predictability of infectious disease outbreak severity: Chikungunya as a case study

Article Publication Date

3-Oct-2025

 

Research unearths origins of Ancient Egypt’s Karnak Temple

Most complete study of the temple complex and its landscape establishes earliest occupation and hints at link to creation myth

University of Southampton

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Karnak Temple, Luxor, Egypt.

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Credit: Dr Ben Pennington

Researchers have carried out the most comprehensive geoarchaeological survey of Egypt’s Karnak Temple near Luxor – one of the ancient world’s largest temple complexes and a UNESCO World Heritage site welcoming millions of tourists every year.

The study, published in Antiquity today [6 October] reveals new evidence on the age of the temple, tantalising links to ancient Egyptian mythology, and new insights about the interplay between the temple’s riverine landscape and the people who occupied and developed the site over its 3,000 years of use.

“This new research provides unprecedented detail on the evolution of Karnak Temple, from a small island to one of the defining institutions of Ancient Egypt,” says Dr Ben Pennington, lead author of the paper and a Visiting Fellow in Geoarchaeology at the University of Southampton.

Karnak temple is located 500 meters east of the present-day River Nile near Luxor, at the Ancient Egyptian religious capital of Thebes.

An international research team, led by Dr Angus Graham (Uppsala University) and involving several academics from the University of Southampton, analysed 61 sediment cores from within and around the temple site. The team also studied tens of thousands of ceramic fragments to help date their findings.

Using this evidence, researchers have been able to map out how the landscape around the site changed throughout its history.

They found that prior to about 2520 BCE, the site would have been unsuitable for permanent occupation due to being regularly flooded by fast-flowing water from the Nile. This means the earliest occupation at Karnak would have likely been during the Old Kingdom (c.2591–2152 BC). Ceramic fragments found at the site corroborate this finding, with the earliest dating from sometime between c.2305 to 1980 BC.

Dr Kristian Strutt, a co-author of the paper from the University of Southampton, said: “The age of Karnak Temple has been hotly contested in archaeological circles, but our new evidence places a temporal constraint on its earliest occupation and construction.”

The land on which Karnak was founded was formed when river channels cut into their beds to the west and east, creating an island of high ground in what is now the east/south-east of the temple precinct. This emerging island provided the foundation for occupation and early construction of Karnak temple.

Over subsequent centuries and millennia, the river channels either side of the site diverged further, creating more space for the temple complex to develop.

Researchers were surprised to find that the eastern channel – until this study not much more than a supposition – was more well-defined, and perhaps even larger than the channel to the west, which archaeologists had previously focussed on.

Dominic Barker, another co-author also from the University of Southampton added: “The river channels surrounding the site shaped how the temple could develop and where, with new construction taking place on top of old rivers as they silted up.”

 “We also see how Ancient Egyptians shaped the river itself, through the dumping of sands from the desert into channels, possibly to provide new land for building, for example.”

This new understanding of the temple’s landscape has striking similarities to an Ancient Egyptian creation myth, leading the team to believe that the decision to locate the temple here could have been linked to the religious views of its inhabitants.

Ancient Egyptian texts of the Old Kingdom say that the creator god manifested as high ground, emerging from ‘the lake’. The island upon which Karnak was found is the only known such area of high ground surrounded by water in the area.

“It’s tempting to suggest the Theban elites chose Karnak’s location for the dwelling place of a new form of the creator god, ‘Ra-Amun’, as it fitted the cosmogonical scene of high ground emerging from surrounding water,” says Dr Pennington.

“Later texts of the Middle Kingdom (c.1980–1760 BC) develop this idea, with the ‘primeval mound’ rising from the ‘Waters of Chaos’. During this period, the abating of the annual flood would have echoed this scene, with the mound on which Karnak was built appearing to ‘rise’ and grow from the receding floodwaters.”

With a concession to study the whole floodplain of the Luxor region, the team are now planning and carrying out work at other major sites in the area, to further understand the landscapes and waterscapes of the whole Ancient Egyptian religious capital zone.

The Conceptual origins and geomorphic evolution of the temple of Amun-Ra at Karnak (Luxor, Egypt) is published in Antiquity and is available online.

The work was supported by the Knut och Alice Wallenbergs Stiftelse (KAW 2013.0163) and Uppsala Universitet (HUMSAM 2014/17), together with a small grant from M och S Wångstedts Stiftelse. The work was carried out under the auspices of the Egypt Exploration Society (London) with a permit from the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities (Egypt).

Ends

Core samples being extracted at Karnak Temple

Core samples being extracted at Karnak Temple.

Core samples being extracted at Karnak Temple.

Credit

Dr Ben Pennington

Notes for editors

1. The paper Conceptual origins and geomorphic evolution of the temple of Amun-Ra at Karnak (Luxor, Egypt) will be published in Antiquity. An advanced copy of the paper is available upon request.
2. For Interviews with Dr Ben Pennington please contact Steve Williams, Media Manager, University of Southampton press@soton.ac.uk or 023 8059 3212.
3. Images available here: https://safesend.soton.ac.uk/pickup?claimID=2gAWwbjQzvZYges4&claimPasscode=m8RPSX9eZSyosdCZ

Additional information

The University of Southampton drives original thinking, turns knowledge into action and impact, and creates solutions to the world’s challenges. We are among the top 100 institutions globally (QS World University Rankings 2025). Our academics are leaders in their fields, forging links with high-profile international businesses and organisations, and inspiring a 22,000-strong community of exceptional students, from over 135 countries worldwide. Through our high-quality education, the University helps students on a journey of discovery to realise their potential and join our global network of over 200,000 alumni. www.southampton.ac.uk

www.southampton.ac.uk/news/contact-press-team.page

Follow us on X: https://twitter.com/UoSMedia

 

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Journal

Antiquity

DOI

10.15184/aqy.2025.10185 

Article Title

Conceptual origins and geomorphic evolution of the temple of Amun-Ra at Karnak (Luxor, Egypt)

Article Publication Date

6-Oct-2025

COI Statement

The authors declare no competing interests. The views expressed in the article do not necessarily represent the views of the National Park Service or the government of the USA.

UK says it will restrict repeated protests after 500 arrests at pro-Palestinian vigil

SOCIAL DEMOCRATS = SOCIAL FASCISTS

JILL LAWLESS
Sun, October 5, 2025 

Police remove a protester taking part in a demonstration organised by Defend our Juries, in support of Palestine Action in Trafalgar Square, London Saturday Oct. 4, 2025. (Maja Smiejkowska/PA via AP)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Police remove a protester taking part in a demonstration organised by Defend our Juries, in support of Palestine Action in Trafalgar Square, London Saturday Oct. 4, 2025. (Maja Smiejkowska/PA via AP)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Police remove a protester after a banner was unfurled on Westminster Bridge, London, as part of a demonstration organised by Defend our Juries, in support of Palestine Action, Saturday Oct. 4, 2025. (Stefan Rousseau/PA via AP)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

People take part in a demonstration organized by GM Friends of Palestine at Manchester Cathedral, in Manchester, England, Saturday, Oct. 4 2025. (Ryan Jenkinson/PA via AP)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

LONDON (AP) — British police will get stronger powers to restrict repeated protests, the government said Sunday, after almost 500 people were arrested at a demonstration in support of a banned pro-Palestinian group.

The Home Office said police forces will be able to consider the “cumulative impact of frequent protests” on local areas when they impose conditions on marches and demonstrations.

“The right to protest is a fundamental freedom in our country,” Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said. “However, this freedom must be balanced with the freedom of their neighbors to live their lives without fear. Large, repeated protests can leave sections of our country, particularly religious communities, feeling unsafe, intimidated and scared to leave their homes.”

Pro-Palestinian demonstrations have been held regularly since the start of Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, which has so far killed more than 67,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry that is part of the Hamas-run government. The U.N. and many independent experts consider its figures to be the most reliable estimate of wartime casualties.

The protests have been overwhelmingly peaceful, but some people say they have allowed antisemitism to spread. Some Jews say they feel threatened by chants such as “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” A handful of pro-Palestinian protesters have been arrested for supporting Hamas, which is banned in the U.K.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his supporters have frequently accused critics of Israel or its conduct of the war in Gaza of antisemitism. Israel’s detractors see it as an attempt to stifle even legitimate criticism.

British police and politicians had urged protesters to stay home this weekend after Thursday's attack on a synagogue in Manchester that left two Jewish men dead. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that organizers should “recognize and respect the grief of British Jews this week” and postpone.

But on Saturday, about 1,000 people gathered in Trafalgar Square to protest against the banning of Palestine Action, a direct-action group that has vandalized British military planes and targeted sites with links to the Israeli military. It has been labeled a terrorist organization by the government, making support for the group illegal.

Critics say the government is restricting free speech and the right to protest.

Police officers carried away a number of people who sat silently holding signs saying “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action.” Police said they made 488 arrests for supporting the outlawed organization, and a handful for other offenses.


More than 2,000 people have now been arrested at protests since Palestine Action was proscribed in July, and more than 130 charged with terrorism offenses.

The war in the Palestinian enclave was triggered by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Southern Israel that left more than 1,200 people dead and 251 others taken hostage. The Palestinian militant group said Saturday it was willing to return all remaining hostages, 20 of whom are believed to be alive, and the bodies of the dead in accordance with U.S. President Donald Trump’s peace plan.

UK police to get new powers after latest pro-Palestinian protest

Reuters
Sun, October 5, 2025 

Police officers detain a protester, during a mass demonstration organised by Defend our Juries, against the British government's ban on Palestine Action, in London, Britain, October 4, 2025. REUTERS/Toby Melville

Police officers detain a protester during a mass demonstration organised by Defend our Juries, against the British government's ban on Palestine Action, at Trafalgar Square in London, Britain, October 4, 2025. REUTERS/Toby Melville

LONDON (Reuters) -British police will get powers to restrict repeat protests held in the same place, the government said on Sunday, a day after the latest pro-Palestinian demonstration went ahead despite requests to cancel it in the wake of a deadly attack at a synagogue.

The new powers will allow senior police officers to consider the cumulative impact of previous protests on a local community, the interior ministry said.

"The right to protest is a fundamental freedom in our country. However, this freedom must be balanced with the freedom of their neighbours to live their lives without fear," Interior Minister Shabana Mahmood said.

"Large, repeated protests can leave sections of our country, particularly religious communities, feeling unsafe, intimidated and scared to leave their homes," Mahmood said, noting the fears within the Jewish community.

On Saturday, police arrested almost 500 people in central London during a protest in support of Palestine Action, a group that was banned in July after members broke into an air base and damaged military planes.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer had urged organisers to call off the demonstration following the killing of two people at a synagogue in Manchester on Thursday on Yom Kippur, the holiest day for Jews.

Police shot dead the assailant, a British man of Syrian descent who officials said may have been inspired by extremist Islamist ideology.

The group behind Saturday's protest said the plans for more powers to limit demonstrations represented "a dangerous, authoritarian escalation" in a crackdown on free speech.

"We are announcing a major escalation ... and we urge all of our supporters to sign up to show we will not stand by as our fundamental rights are stripped away," a spokesperson for Defend Our Juries said.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews welcomed the government's announcement but said more action was needed to protect the Jewish community.

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Mahmood is also due to review the police's existing powers to ensure they are sufficient and consistently applied, including powers to ban protests outright, the interior ministry said in a statement.

(Writing by William Schomberg; Editing by Jamie Freed and Tomasz Janowski)

Police to get new powers in crackdown on repeat protests after hundreds arrested at Palestine Action rally

Kate Devlin
Sun, October 5, 2025 
THE INDEPENDENT



Police to get new powers in crackdown on repeat protests after hundreds arrested at Palestine Action rally


Police are to be given greater powers to restrict repeated protests, the home secretary has announced, hours after hundreds were arrested at a Palestine Action demonstration in London.

The event went ahead despite calls from Keir Starmer and others in the wake of the terror attack on a synagogue in Manchester during which two people were killed.

The home secretary Shabana Mahmood said repeated large-scale protests had caused "considerable fear" for the Jewish community.

Palestine Action protest (Reuters)

She said: "The right to protest is a fundamental freedom in our country. However, this freedom must be balanced with the freedom of their neighbours to live their lives without fear.

"Large, repeated protests can leave sections of our country, particularly religious communities, feeling unsafe, intimidated and scared to leave their homes.

"This has been particularly evident in relation to the considerable fear within the Jewish community, which has been expressed to me on many occasions in these recent difficult days.

"These changes mark an important step in ensuring we protect the right to protest while ensuring all feel safe in this country."

In the wake of the arrests in London on Saturday, Amnesty International said it should not be the job of the police to arrest people “peacefully sitting down”, and that the arrests amounted to a breach of the UK’s human rights obligations.

As part of the new crackdown ministers will amend Sections 12 and 14 of the Public Order Act 1986 to explicitly allow the police to take account of the cumulative impact of frequent protests on local areas.

The home secretary will also review existing legislation to ensure powers are both sufficient and being applied consistently by police forces – this will include powers to ban protests outright.

In response, the Tory leader Kemi Badenoch asked: “What took them so long?”

She also said pro-Palestine demonstrators were abusing their right to protest and that many people at the marches are "actually out to intimidate Jews".

But Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesperson Max Wilkinson said: "People spreading antisemitic hate and inciting violence against Jews are getting away with it, and we fear the government’s approach will do nothing to tackle that while undermining the fundamental right to peaceful protest.”

Home secretary Shabana Mahmood outlined the proposals (PA)

The president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, Phil Rosenberg, said the move was one they had called for for months.

He said the change was “a necessary start. We have been calling for this for many months, and it was one of our key demands in the meeting with the prime minister and home secretary on Friday. But the government now needs to go further. We will work with them to ensure that these and other measures are as effective as possible in protecting our community.”

On Saturday officers arrested hundreds of people at a Palestine Action protest in London, days after the Manchester synagogue attack.

Met Police said 492 people were arrested at the protest in support the proscribed group, which was classed by the UK government as a terror organisation earlier this year.

Most of the arrests were made at Trafalgar Square, where around 1,000 protesters sat silently, some holding signs backing Palestine Action, despite calls from Sir Keir and police chiefs to stay away following the terror attack in Manchester.

The Met said many of those arrested had to be carried out of the square after refusing to walk, with each person taking up to five officers to move away safely. Some were pictured holding their hands in the air defiantly.

Paula Dodds, chair of the Metropolitan Police Federation, said officers were “physically exhausted” but continue to be called on “to facilitate these relentless protests. And we are coming under attack for doing so. How can this be right?” she asked.


She added: “There aren’t enough of us. Hardworking police officers are continually having days off cancelled, working longer shifts and being moved from other areas to facilitate these protests.

“Our concentration should be on keeping people safe at a time when the country is on heightened alert from a terrorist attack. We are emotionally and physically exhausted. What are politicians and senior police officers going to do about it?”

Event organiser Defend Our Juries said that among those arrested was 79-year-old Elizabeth Morley, a Jewish woman and daughter of a Holocaust survivor.

In what it called the largest defiance of the ban on Palestine Action to date, people of a mixture of ages sat for the silent vigil, before taking out pens and writing signs in support of the group. Some read: “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.”

At the same time, around 100 people gathered in Manchester city centre for a similar demonstration, organised by Greater Manchester Friends of Palestine.

The prime minister had urged protesters to “respect the grief of British Jews”, while Jewish figures called the action “phenomenally tone deaf” after two people were killed in the attack in Manchester on Thursday.

Politicians and senior police officers also joined calls for the events not to go ahead. Scotland Yard chief Sir Mark Rowley warned the rallies would “likely create further tensions and some might say lack sensitivity” in the wake of the attack, while Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police Sir Stephen Watson urged would-be attendees to “consider whether this is really the right time”.

Sir Mark added that protests are “drawing valuable resources away from the communities of London at a time when they are needed most”. Police forces have deployed extra officers to synagogues and other Jewish buildings to offer protection and reassurance in the aftermath of the attack, with hundreds of extra officers around Manchester in particular.

Civil liberty groups express concern over plan for more anti-protest powers

Rajeev Syal,Peter Walker and Ben Quinn
Sun, October 5, 2025 
THE GUARDIAN


Police officers take away a demonstrator in Trafalgar Square in central London on Saturday.Photograph: Krisztián Elek/Sopa Images/Shutterstock


Civil liberty groups have expressed concern over government plans to hand police greater powers to restrict protests as organisers of mass demonstrations against the banning of Palestine Action pledged a “major escalation” of their campaign.

Shabana Mahmood said on Sunday that repeated large-scale demonstrations over Gaza had caused “considerable fear” for the Jewish community in the wake of a fatal terror attack on a synagogue last week.

Under new powers, police will be able to impose tougher conditions on static protests or marches by taking account of the “cumulative impact” of previous similar demonstrations, she said.


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Following her statement, the pressure group Defend Our Juries promised to escalate the demonstrations in support of Palestine Action over 10 days in November. “The home secretary’s extraordinary new affront to our democracy will only fuel the growing backlash to the ban,” a spokesperson said.

The measures have been announced after almost 500 people were arrested this weekend in London for expressing support for Palestine Action. Jewish community leaders, police and Keir Starmer had called on Palestine Action protesters to refrain from demonstrating after Thursday’s killing of two people in the terror attack on a Manchester synagogue.

Mahmood will also look at all anti-protest laws, with the possibility that powers to ban some demonstrations outright could be strengthened.

Shami Chakrabarti, the Labour peer and former shadow attorney general, warned that the government should pause before passing draconian powers that could end up in the hands of a Nigel Farage-led government.

“Street protest that isn’t a bit of a nuisance isn’t usually effective. But any government seeking to further restrict it should think about new powers in Farragist hands,” she said.

Two Labour MPs also expressed concern at the move. One told the Guardian: “However distasteful the protests in favour of Palestine Action have been, we must not fall into the trap of making rushed laws which can be used in future to stop justifiable protests.”

If a protest such as Saturday’s in support of Palestine Action takes place at the same site on several occasions, and causes repeated disorder, the police will get the power to instruct organisers to hold the event elsewhere, limit numbers and to set time limits, Home Office sources said.

The changes will amend sections 12 and 14 of the Public Order Act of 1986, under which anyone breaching conditions set by police faces up to six months in jail, an unlimited fine, or both.

Speaking on Sunday to Sky News, Mahmood said she believed there was “a gap in the law” that required action, and she aimed to act at speed.

“What I will be making explicit is that cumulative disruption, that is to say the frequency of particular protests in particular places, is in and of itself, a reason for the police to be able to restrict and place conditions,” she said.

Speaking later to BBC One’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme, Mahmood denied this was about banning protest: “This is not about a ban. This is about restrictions and conditions that would enable the police to maybe put further time restrictions or move those protests to other places.

“What I’m allowing is for the police to be able to take cumulative disruption into account, and it is important.”

The Liberal Democrats warned that the plans for further protest restrictions would lead to a greater waste of police time while letting off those inciting violence.

Max Wilkinson, the party’s home affairs spokesperson, said: “The Conservatives made a total mess of protest laws. I fear Labour seem to be following them down the same path, instead of properly reforming these powers to focus on the real criminals and hate preachers.”

The plans could be challenged in the courts because they mirror failed moves by the former Conservative home secretary Suella Braverman to curb protests.

The court of appeal in June upheld the original judgment in what the civil rights organisation Liberty – which brought the legal challenge – hailed as a major legal victory.

The case centred on legislation passed in June 2023 – without a parliamentary vote – that reduced the threshold for when police could crack down on protests, meaning the law covered anything that was deemed as causing “more than minor” disruption. In May 2024, the high court agreed with Liberty that Braverman’s legislation had been unlawful.

Home Office sources pointed out that Liberty won the 2023 case because ministers tried to change the definition of “serious public disorder”, lowering it to cover any crime “more than minor” through a statutory instrument.

Officials believe the measures this time will be more robust because they are not trying to lower the threshold and are planning to use primary legislation.

Tom Southerden, a director at Amnesty International UK, said the government’s proposal was “ludicrous” and may be a “cynical” attempt to look tough.

Akiko Hart, Liberty’s director, said: “The police already have immense powers to restrict protests – handing them even more would undermine our rights further while failing to keep people safe from violence like the horrific and heartbreaking antisemitic attack in Manchester.”

Defend Our Juries said there would be mass civil disobedience defying the ban from 18 to 28 November, in the lead up to and throughout the judicial review.

In a letter to chief constables on Sunday, Mahmood warned that “the country faces a period of heightened tensions and division” and thanked police for their response to Thursday’s attack.

“I have confirmed the government will bring forward legislation to increase the powers available to you to tackle the repeated disruptive protests we have seen, and continue to provide the reassurance to communities that they need.

“And I will review more widely the full suite of public order legislation, to ensure that it keeps pace with the continued changes in the scale, nature and frequency of protests,” she wrote.

The planned new powers follow protest-related measures in the crime and policing bill going through parliament, which would ban the possession of face coverings or fireworks or flares at protests, and criminalise the climbing of certain war memorials.


UK police to get greater powers to restrict demos

AFP
Sun, October 5, 2025 


A UK minister says pro-Palestinian protests have caused 'considerable fear' for the Jewish community (JUSTIN TALLIS)(JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP/AFP)


UK police are to be given greater powers to restrict protests as a minister said repeated large-scale pro-Palestinian demonstrations had caused "considerable fear" for the Jewish community.

The government initiative follows Thursday's deadly knife and car-ramming attack on a synagogue in the northwestern city of Manchester.

A pro-Palestinian demonstration in central London went ahead on Saturday despite pleas from Prime Minister Keir Starmer and the capital's Metropolitan Police to delay it.

The government said police would be authorised to consider the "cumulative impact" of protests when deciding to impose limits on protesters.

"The right to protest is a fundamental freedom in our country. However, this freedom must be balanced with the freedom of their neighbours to live their lives without fear," Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said in a statement.

Over 1,000 people took part in Saturday's protest in London's Trafalgar Square, with nearly 500 people arrested for showing support for the banned Palestine Action campaign group.

Defend our Juries, a group that organises protests in support of Palestine Action, called the new measures an "extraordinary new affront to democracy" in a statement published Sunday.

It also announced that it would "escalate" its campaign to lift the ban ahead of a legal challenge in the High Court in November.

-'Solidarity' with Jewish community-

Organisers previously rejected calls not to gather, saying they "stood in solidarity" with the Jewish community over the Manchester attack, but that "cancelling peaceful protests lets terror win".


A day earlier, Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy was booed at a vigil for the Jewish victims of the synagogue attack.

"Large, repeated protests can leave sections of our country, particularly religious communities, feeling unsafe, intimidated and scared to leave their homes," Mahmood said.

"This has been particularly evident in relation to the considerable fear within the Jewish community."

Questioned by a BBC television interviewer about the Jewish community's repeated warnings about the dangers they face, Mahmood admitted she was "very worried about the state of community relations in our country".

The Home Secretary added, speaking to Times Radio, that there was a broad "problem of a rise not only in antisemitism but in other forms of hatred as well".

"There are clearly malign and dark forces running amok across our country," she said.

Police shot dead assailant Jihad Al-Shamie, a 35-year-old UK citizen of Syrian descent, within minutes of the alarm being raised on Thursday's synagogue attack.

One person was killed in the attack outside the synagogue in north Manchester. Another died after suffering a fatal gunshot, likely from armed officers as they tackled Al-Shamie.

Three people who were seriously injured remain in hospital, including one who is also believed to have been accidentally hit by police fire.

Counter terrorism police have been granted more time to detain four people arrested on suspicion of terrorism-linked offences over the incident.

The UK has seen repeated pro-Palestinian demonstrations since the deadly Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023 and Israel's retaliatory action in Gaza in which tens of thousands have died.

‘All the trees are dead': An ancient California forest has been wiped out

Julie Johnson
Sun, October 5, 2025 

SAN FRANSISCO CHRONICLE

The Teakettle Experimental Forest within the Sierra National Forest is 80 miles east of Fresno,

 pictured in 2017. (U.S. Forest Service)

Roughly 500 years ago in California's High Sierra, pine cones dropped to the ground and a cycle began. The Aztec Empire was falling. The printing press was new. The seedlings grew.

Half a millennia later, U.S. Forest Service scientists began testing strategies to save these now ancient and massive trees in the little-known area east of Fresno called the Teakettle Experimental Forest. They had plans to light a huge prescribed burn to clear overgrowth next year

But then the Garnet Fire ignited amid a lightning storm and scorched all 3,000 federally protected acres on its path through the Sierra National Forest.

"There are large swaths where everything is dead - all the trees are dead," said Scott Scherbinski, a biologist and program manager at the Climate & Wildfire Institute. "It will be a start-over event for this forest."

Old growth forests across the American West are at risk of disappearing within the next 50 years due to a combination of extensive drought-related tree deaths and high severity fire, according to recent studies.

Malcolm North, a Forest Service ecologist and lead researcher on the Teakettle for 30 years, said the forest is a tragic example of that risk.

Fires with less intensity can be beneficial in California's fire-adapted landscapes, but the Garnet Fire, when it burned through in September, may have killed most trees and sterilized the ground - making it unlikely the forest can rebound without significant intervention.

It's not just big trees that were lost, but also the chance to continue research under way for decades. Over the years, researchers marked and tracked about 40,000 trees and tested various fire and thinning methods and generated pioneering research into forest health.

Scott Stephens, a professor of fire science at UC Berkeley, said the Teakettle held enormous scientific value because of the sheer amount of data collected over the past 30 years.

"That being lost is a tragedy to science," Stephens said. "You can't recreate that."

In 1938, the U.S. Forest Service set aside 3,000 acres about 80 miles east of Fresno to study hydrology and named it Teakettle after a creek. They originally set out to study whether tree thinning sent more water flowing into the creek for Central Valley farmers, but that research was scrapped after similar studies elsewhere found no benefit.

The Teakettle Experimental Forest within the Sierra National Forest is 80 miles east of Fresno, pictured in 2017. (U.S. Forest Service)

The Teakettle is one of 76 experimental forests established by the federal government for ecological research. Before the fire, it was open to the public but had no established trails. Only a small sign on a locked gate marked its borders and it was primarily visited by researchers and hunters.

About 30 years ago, North and other scientists launched a series of studies on the Teakettle into forest thinning and prescribed burning to restore a healthier balance to what had become overgrown forests. Towering sugar pine and Jeffrey pine had grown to hulking proportions with 9-foot diameter trunks, but these large trees were being choked by small trees and underbrush.

Teams found evidence that fires had occurred naturally about every 12 to 15 years in the Teakettle until the federal government stopped letting wildfires burn in the late 1800s. Before the Garnet Fire, the last major wildfire in the Teakettle had burned in 1865, and since then smaller trees, shrubs and debris had proliferated and created "a dangerous situation," North said.

Led by North, researchers tried six methods for clearing overgrowth on 18 plots, each 10 acres in size. They found that light vegetation thinning followed by low-intensity fire had the best outcomes, but that crews must return to limit undergrowth and allow big trees to flourish.

In a recent project, scientists meticulously raked forest floor duff made of pine needles and other highly flammable debris away from the trunks of large trees to mimic pre-1800s forest conditions. The plan was to determine how those trees fared compared to others where the duff remained piled up along the base.

The Garnet Fire burned through the Teakettle Experimental Forest in the Sierra east of Fresno.

 (The Climate & Wildfire Institute)

But their most ambitious plan was set to begin next year.

North and collaborators were awarded over $5 million in grant funding from Cal Fire to launch a prescribed fire across 3,300 acres. Most prescribed fires are under 50 acres.

Scherbinski, whose organization partnered with the Forest Service to manage the Teakettle prescribed fire project, said that it would have been a key demonstration to show that planned fires can burn safely at a large scale, which is needed to address California's wildfire crisis.

The groups were scheduled to start building fire breaks in September and continue preparations over the next 12 months. The prescribed fire was scheduled to take place next fall.

But then the Garnet Fire ignited Aug. 24 about 10 miles south of the Teakettle and ultimately charred more than 60,000 acres. It threatened giant sequoias in the famed McKinley Grove in the Sierra National Forest as it burned for 32 days before it was contained Sept. 25.

When the fire barreled toward the Teakettle, firefighters wrapped research cabins with fire-resistant material and aircraft doused those areas with fire retardant. But the fire was burning so intensely as it entered the Teakettle in the first days of September that fire officials said it wasn't safe for crews to do more to save the old growth forest, according to North.

The Garnet Fire burned through the Teakettle Experimental Forest in the Sierra east of Fresno.

 (The Climate & Wildfire Institute)

On Sept. 8, ecologist Matthew Hurteau published a "Eulogy for the Teakettle" lamenting the government's failure to protect national forests by reintroducing fire sooner and at large scales.

"I am sad because this old-growth forest is no more," wrote Hurteau, a biology professor at the University of New Mexico. "I am angry because this outcome was a choice."

On a helicopter flight to survey the burn scar after the fire was mostly extinguished, North said black sticks covered the ridgelines and slopes where towering pine and mixed conifer stands once grew. The ground was scorched and "you could see the outline where massive logs had been," he said.