Month: December 2025

At least 15 people were killed and dozens more injured after two gunmen opened fire on a Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach on Sunday evening, in what Australian authorities have labeled a targeted terrorist attack against the Jewish community.

Police in New South Wales said the shooting began around 6:45 p.m. local time as hundreds of people gathered for “Hanukkah by the Sea,” an event marking the first night of the Jewish holiday. Victims ranged in age from about 10 to 87, according to officials. At least 40 people were hospitalized, including several children and two police officers who were listed as critical but stable.

Authorities identified the attackers as a father and son, ages 50 and 24. Police said the older man was shot and killed by officers at the scene, while the younger suspect was taken to a hospital in serious condition. Investigators said six firearms were recovered and that two improvised explosive devices were also found nearby and safely removed by a bomb disposal unit. The father was licensed to own firearms, officials said, and investigators are determining whether the weapons used were legally registered.

New South Wales Premier Chris Minns said the violence was deliberate and ideologically motivated: “This attack was designed to target Sydney’s Jewish community on the first day of Hanukkah.”  Prime Minister Anthony Albanese similarly described the shooting as an “act of evil antisemitism” and a terrorist incident. Albanese said at a news conference: “What we saw yesterday was an act of pure evil, an act of antisemitism, an act of terrorism on our shores in an iconic Australian location, Bondi Beach, that is associated with joy, associated with families gathering, associated with celebrations, and it is forever tarnished by what has occurred last evening … The scenes in Bondi are shocking and distressing. Police and emergency responders are on the ground working to save lives. My thoughts are with every person affected.”

Officials have not yet released a full list of victims, but among those killed was Rabbi Eli Schlanger, an assistant rabbi with Chabad of Bondi and a key organizer of the event, per the organization. New South Wales Health Minister Ryan Park said the death toll rose overnight and confirmed that multiple children were among those wounded: “This is absolutely horrendous for the community broadly, but particularly the Jewish community. … What we saw last night was the worst of humanity, but at the same time, the very best of humanity.”

Video from the scene showed beachgoers fleeing as gunshots echoed across the waterfront. One widely shared clip appeared to show an unarmed civilian tackling and disarming one of the gunmen near Campbell Parade, a road running parallel to the beach. Premier Minns praised the man — later identified by relatives to Australian media as fruit shop owner Ahmed al Ahmed — calling him a “genuine hero.” Police confirmed the bystander was injured and hospitalized. Hundreds of officers and emergency responders flooded the scene, with images showing victims being taken away on stretchers.

Leaders around the world quickly condemned the attack, with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio writing on X, “The United States strongly condemns the terrorist attack in Australia targeting a Jewish celebration. Antisemitism has no place in this world. Our prayers are with the victims of this horrific attack, the Jewish community, and the people of Australia.”

A statement from the Great Britian’s Royal family read that King Charles and Queen Camilla were “appalled and saddened by the most dreadful antisemitic terrorist attack on Jewish people” attending the event, adding that Australia’s sense of unity would endure.

Israeli leaders also denounced the violence, with President Isaac Herzog calling it a “terrorist attack” and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres describing it as “a heinous deadly attack on Jewish families.”

Mass shootings are rare in Australia, where strict gun laws were enacted after the 1996 Port Arthur massacre. However, officials and researchers have noted a sharp rise in antisemitic incidents since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza, alongside increased hate incidents targeting Muslim communities. The Australian government appointed special envoys last year to combat antisemitism and Islamophobia, though attacks have continued.

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TIME mgazine on Thursday named the ‘Architects of Artificial Intelligence” as the 2025 Person of the Year, with the magazine citing 2025 as when the potential of artificial intelligence “roared into view” with no turning back.

Time is highlighting the people whose work propelled artificial intelligence from a cutting-edge experiment into a defining force of modern life. The decision marks a moment the magazine describes as the year when AI’s potential “roared into view” and firmly embedded itself in everyday society.

The publication emphasized that the recognition is directed at the innovators behind the technology rather than the systems they built. The group includes the “individuals who imagined, designed, and built AI,” a choice that editor-in-chief Sam Jacobs said reflects the scale of their impact on global culture, politics, and industry. “This was the year when artificial intelligence’s full potential roared into view, and when it became clear that there will be no turning back or opting out,” Jacobs wrote, calling AI “the most consequential tool in great-power competition since the advent of nuclear weapons.”

The Person of the Year issue features two separate covers: one showing workers assembling the towering letters “AI,” and another paying homage to the 1932 “Lunch atop a Skyscraper” photograph, with tech leaders perched on a steel beam above a city skyline. The artwork includes figures such as Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Jensen Huang, Lisa Su, Sam Altman, Demis Hassabis, Dario Amodei and Fei-Fei Li. A second cover story explores the perspectives of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Baidu CEO Robin Li.

Analysts noted that 2025 marked a turning point: AI moved from an early-adopter technology to one embraced by a broad consumer base. According to research firm Forrester, a “critical mass of consumers” now sees AI as part of routine life. Prediction markets had also listed AI, along with prominent tech CEOs, Pope Leo XIV, President Donald Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, as leading contenders for the title.

Time’s long-running Person of the Year tradition dates back to 1927. The honor has sometimes gone to groups or concepts—not only individuals—such as “the endangered earth” in 1988, the personal computer in 1982, and “You” in 2006. In 2024, the magazine chose President Donald Trump after his return to the White House, following Taylor Swift’s selection in 2023.

Alongside its main announcement, Time also revealed several other annual honors: YouTube’s Neal Mohan was named CEO of the Year, Leonardo DiCaprio received Entertainer of the Year, A’ja Wilson was named Athlete of the Year, and KPop Demon Hunters earned Breakthrough of the Year.

The 2025 Person of the Year issue goes on sale Dec. 19.

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A federal judge has ordered the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran man who was mistakenly deported earlier this year and has since been held in immigration detention, finding that the Trump administration has held him for months without the legal authority required to continue his detention or remove him from the United States.

The ruling, issued Thursday by U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis in Maryland, granted Abrego Garcia’s habeas petition, concluding that federal authorities lacked the legal basis to continue holding him.  In her decision, Xinis determined that the government had no valid final order of removal allowing Abrego Garcia’s deportation, despite repeated attempts by the Trump administration to expel him: “Because respondents have no statutory authority to remove Abrego Garcia to a third country absent a removal order, his removal cannot be considered reasonably foreseeable, imminent, or consistent with due process,” Xinis wrote, adding, “Although respondents may eventually get it right, they have not as of today. Thus, Abrego Garcia’s detention for the stated purpose of third country removal cannot continue. Respondents’ conduct over the past months belie that his detention has been for the basic purpose of effectuating removal, lending further support that Abrego Garcia should be held no longer.”

The judge directed federal officials to release Abrego “immediately,” notify him in advance of the precise time and location of that release, and update the court by 5 p.m. Eastern. She also noted that the government’s conduct “belie[s] that his detention has been for the basic purpose of effectuating removal.” DHS spokespersons sharply attacked the decision after Thursday’s ruling, calling it “naked judicial activism by an Obama-appointed judge” and asserting that the order “lacks any valid legal basis.”

Abrego, a Salvadoran national, first entered the U.S. in 2012 and has long maintained that he fled “gang violence targeting his family.” Although an immigration judge granted him “withholding of removal” in 2019—barring his return to El Salvador due to credible threats—he was nevertheless deported in March to the CECOT megaprison after officials later claimed he was linked to MS-13, an accusation he denies and has never been convicted of. Government lawyers later conceded the deportation was an “administrative error,” prompting the Supreme Court in April to require his return.

Following months of resistance, the administration brought Abrego back in June, immediately charging him with human smuggling based on a 2022 traffic stop. He has pleaded not guilty. After briefly living with family in Maryland under pretrial conditions, he was taken into ICE custody again—despite the absence of a removal order—and held for third-country deportation.

Throughout the case, the administration has explored sending him to a series of countries with which he has no ties, including Uganda, Eswatini, Ghana, and Liberia. Xinis criticized those efforts, noting that officials ignored Costa Rica, which publicly confirmed it would accept Abrego as a refugee. “Respondents’ calculated effort to take Costa Rica ‘off the table’ backfired,” she wrote, citing repeated notifications to him of expulsion to African nations “that never agreed to take him.” The administration has continued to insist that Abrego is a gang member, though judges have questioned the evidence. Senior officials, including President Donald Trump and top homeland security leaders, have vowed that Abrego would “never walk America’s streets again.”

Xinis summarized the situation bluntly: “The history of Abrego Garcia’s case is as well known as it is extraordinary.” Now with the judge’s order in effect, Abrego will resume complying with pretrial conditions in his criminal case under the supervision of U.S. Pretrial Services.

Editorial credit: Christopher Penler / Shutterstock.com