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The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said the McDonnell Douglas MD-11, operating as UPS Flight 2976 and bound for Honolulu, crashed around 5:15 p.m. local time (2215 GMT). The aircraft had three crew members on board, all feared dead, according to UPS and federal officials.

Local media footage showed the plane ascending with one wing ablaze before plunging to the ground, triggering a massive explosion. Thick black smoke billowed from burning warehouses and offices near the airport. Louisville authorities issued a shelter-in-place order for residents within a five-mile radius as emergency crews battled the flames.

Mayor Craig Greenberg confirmed multiple injuries and urged residents to stay clear of the area, noting significant road closures and ongoing firefighting operations.

According to FAA records, the 34-year-old MD-11 had been in service since 1990 and joined the UPS fleet in 2006. Boeing, which inherited the model after merging with McDonnell Douglas, said it would provide technical assistance in the investigation and expressed concern for all affected.

Data from Flightradar24 showed the aircraft climbed to just 175 feet and reached a speed of 184 knots before descending sharply. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has launched an investigation, with a team en route to Louisville. Such probes typically take 12 to 24 months to determine the cause and issue safety recommendations.

Louisville’s airport, home to UPS’s massive Worldport global logistics hub, was temporarily closed following the crash, raising concerns about potential disruptions to major delivery networks, including Amazon, Walmart, and the U.S. Postal Service.

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According to the findings, more than half of these firms are either currently under investigation or have faced enforcement actions for labour violations, consumer fraud, or environmental breaches. The donor list reportedly includes major technology and defense contractors, among them leading firms in aerospace, energy, and digital infrastructure — all with extensive dealings with the U.S. government.

Critics have warned that the overlap between federal contractors and private donors raises potential conflict-of-interest and “pay-for-play” concerns, suggesting that corporations doing business with the administration could be seeking favour through contributions to the President’s personal projects.

However, the White House has defended the initiative, arguing that the ballroom is being financed through private contributions rather than taxpayer funds, framing it as a cost-saving measure for the public.

The ballroom project, estimated at $250 million, has drawn attention not only for its high-profile donor base but also for what observers see as the increasingly blurred line between public office and private fundraising. The development has sparked renewed debate over ethics, transparency, and accountability within the current administration.

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Trump endorsed former Governor Andrew Cuomo—who is now running as an independent—directly urging voters not to support Mamdani, whom he labelled a “communist.” In a post on his social media platform, Trump said, “A vote for Curtis Sliwa … is a vote for Mamdani,” signalling he would prefer Cuomo over both opponents.

He stated: “It is highly unlikely that I will be contributing federal funds, other than the very minimum as required,” if Mamdani becomes mayor. The former president, who grew up in Queens and still holds property in New York, described it as being “hard for me … to give a lot of money to New York” under the condition of Mamdani’s leadership.

Mamdani, a 34-year-old state assemblyman who would become the city’s first Muslim mayor and youngest in over a century if elected, rejected the “communist” label and said Trump’s remarks constituted a threat—not grounded in law—to limit funding.

Cuomo, meanwhile, framed his candidacy as the only experienced option able to deal with the federal government. He recalled his battles with Trump during the pandemic, saying: “When I’m fighting for New York, I am not going to stop.”

The implications of Trump’s remarks extend beyond this mayoral race: they reflect broader patterns in his political strategy of linking federal funding decisions to state and local governments based on political alignment, raising concerns over the interplay of fiscal policy and partisan considerations.

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Under the revised rule introduced by the Trump administration, an employer — not just an individual borrower — can now be disqualified from the program if it is deemed to have a “substantial illegal purpose.” Examples cited include employers alleged to assist undocumented immigrants, provide gender-transition care to minors, or engage in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) work.

If an employer loses eligibility, its employees will remain responsible for their student loans, and their previous payments will no longer count toward forgiveness.

Who’s Suing and Why

A coalition of 22 state attorneys general filed one lawsuit, arguing that the rule is politically motivated, arbitrary, and exceeds the Education Department’s legal authority. Another lawsuit, brought by a group of nonprofits, cities, and labor unions, claims the policy violates the program’s intent and the First Amendment by discouraging public-service employment and restricting free expression.

Government’s Defense

The Education Department defended the rule as a commonsense measure to prevent taxpayer funds from benefiting organizations suspected of illegal or unethical activity. Officials said the regulation is meant to ensure accountability and is scheduled to take effect on July 1, 2026.

Implications and Reactions

Critics argue that the rule undermines the original purpose of the PSLF program, which was designed to encourage professionals to work in public service through loan forgiveness incentives. They warn it could deter teachers, healthcare workers, and nonprofit employees from serving communities in need.

Supporters of the new rule, however, contend that it reinforces fiscal responsibility and ensures that loan forgiveness benefits only organizations aligned with lawful and ethical practices.

What’s Next

The lawsuits aim to block the rule before its implementation. If successful, the changes could be delayed or overturned entirely. Until a final court decision is made, many public-service workers remain uncertain about their future eligibility for student loan forgiveness.

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Trump’s remarks came during a high-profile ceremony following the signing of a Gaza ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas at the Sharm el-Sheikh Peace Summit in Egypt.

Trump Acknowledges Pakistan’s Diplomatic Role

Speaking to world leaders gathered at the summit, Trump referred to the Pakistani army chief as “my favourite” and highlighted Pakistan’s constructive engagement in supporting peace negotiations.

He also extended a formal invitation to PM Shehbaz to address the ceremony, acknowledging Pakistan’s diplomatic role in helping end the conflict.

“Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir have played an important role in advancing peace efforts in Gaza,” Trump said.

PM Shehbaz: ‘Trump is a Man of Peace’

Taking the podium, PM Shehbaz hailed Trump’s leadership in brokering the ceasefire, calling him “a man of peace.” He praised the relentless efforts of the U.S. president and other regional leaders in achieving what he described as “one of the greatest days in contemporary history.”

“President Trump has worked day and night to make this world a place of peace and prosperity,” Shehbaz said. “Pakistan had earlier nominated President Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize for stopping war between India and Pakistan, and today I again nominate him for his extraordinary contributions to achieving peace in Gaza.”

The prime minister lauded Trump for helping prevent escalation between two nuclear powers and for his decisive role in the Middle East peace efforts.

‘The World Will Remember You,’ PM Says

Shehbaz went on to salute Trump for his “exemplary and visionary leadership,” adding:

“You are the man this world needed the most at this point in time. The world will always remember you as the man who went out of the way to stop seven — and today eight — wars.”

He also acknowledged the contributions of Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar; Turkish, Saudi, and Emirati leadership; and Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, President of Egypt, for their roles in ensuring the ceasefire.

A Diplomatic Milestone

The Gaza ceasefire, brokered with the involvement of multiple regional players, is being viewed as a critical diplomatic breakthrough aimed at halting months of devastating violence. Analysts say Pakistan’s engagement in mediation underscores its evolving role in international peacebuilding.

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The crackdown — concentrated in states ruled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) — has led to dozens of arrests, house demolitions, and widespread protests.

Authorities allege that the slogan threatens “public order,” but rights groups argue it’s a peaceful expression of faith being selectively criminalised.

The Origin of the Crackdown

The controversy began on September 4 in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, during celebrations of Eid al-Milad al-Nabi, which marks the birth of Prophet Muhammad.

A local Muslim neighborhood installed an illuminated board reading “I Love Muhammad,” modeled after the famous “I Love New York” design. Some Hindu residents objected, claiming it violated state rules on introducing new religious displays.

The police escalated the situation by charging more than two dozen Muslims with promoting religious enmity—a serious offense carrying up to five years in jail.

Protests quickly spread to other states, including Telangana, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, and Jammu and Kashmir. T-shirts, posters, and social media posts with the “I Love Muhammad” message appeared across the country as a form of peaceful resistance.

Police Raids, Arrests, and Bulldozers

In Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh — roughly 270km from Kanpur — a protest led by Imam Tauqeer Raza on September 26 turned violent. Police responded with mass arrests, detaining 75 people, including the imam and his relatives. Authorities then bulldozed at least four homes belonging to the accused, continuing a pattern of punitive demolitions targeting Muslim communities.

Such demolitions, often carried out without court orders or prior notice, have been criticised by India’s Supreme Court of India, which has stated that demolitions cannot be used as a form of extra-legal punishment. Despite this, activists say the practice continues unchecked in many BJP-ruled states.

Meanwhile, arrests have been reported in other states, including Gujarat, for nothing more than posting the slogan on social media.

Is Saying ‘I Love Muhammad’ Illegal in India?

India’s Constitution of India guarantees both freedom of religion (Article 25) and freedom of speech (Article 19(1)(a)). Legal experts say no law criminalizes the statement “I Love Muhammad.”

However, police have used public order and incitement provisions to prosecute those displaying the slogan, a tactic human rights groups call “legally flimsy but politically motivated.”

Nadeem Khan of the Association for Protection of Civil Rights (APCR) told Al Jazeera that authorities are deliberately targeting those who use or defend the slogan — not the slogan itself.

“They know there is no law criminalising ‘I Love Muhammad’,” Khan said. “The government cannot selectively criminalise a faith.”

Human Rights Alarm

Amnesty International India chair Aakar Patel warned that the crackdown violates India’s legal and international human rights obligations.

“Targeting people for slogans such as ‘I Love Muhammad’, which is peaceful and devoid of any incitement, does not meet the threshold for criminal restriction under Indian or international law,” Patel said.
“The role of the state is to safeguard rights equally, not police expressions of belief.”

A Pattern of Targeting Muslims

Critics say this is part of a broader pattern of marginalising Indian Muslims under Modi’s government. Hate speech incidents have risen 74% in just one year, with most occurring in BJP-ruled states.

Local disputes between Hindu and Muslim communities are increasingly turning into national flashpoints, amplified by partisan media and online networks.

In Modi’s own constituency of Varanasi, BJP leaders responded to the Kanpur episode by putting up posters reading “I Love Bulldozer” — a taunting reference to the destruction of Muslim homes.

Impact on Young Muslims

Many of those arrested are young Muslims, some detained for wearing t-shirts or sharing posts with the slogan. Analysts warn that this climate of fear and surveillance is deepening alienation among Muslim youth.

“In theory, everyone is already guilty and can face action for just being,” political analyst Asim Ali told Al Jazeera. “The tempo of hate is increasing day by day.”

Rasheed Kidwai, another analyst, noted that the row is “overtly political, not religious”, reflecting broader identity tensions in India.

A Constitutional Stress Test

The “I Love Muhammad” crackdown has become a test of India’s constitutional commitments to freedom of religion and expression. Rights groups warn that selective enforcement of laws based on identity could undermine democratic norms in the world’s largest democracy.

The story is a re-written version from Al Jazeera 

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The incident, which occurred in 2018 in Toba Tek Singh, involved a tribal decision allowing the rape of an accused man’s sister as retaliation. Musk’s post, though shared without comment, was widely interpreted as an attempt to portray the act as sanctioned under Islamic law.

The post drew sharp criticism online, with many pointing out that such practices stem from unlawful tribal customs, not Sharia or Pakistani law.

Responding on X, Asif clarified:

“It was a tribal arrangement, nothing to do with Sharia law or councils, absolutely incorrect. Twenty people were arrested and prosecuted.”

According to reports, the case began when a man raped a woman in Pirmahal. After the victim’s family rejected forgiveness pleas, they demanded the accused’s sister be assaulted in return. Both families agreed to the arrangement, bypassing legal authorities.

Once the matter came to light, police intervened, arrested several people involved — including women from both families — and pursued prosecutions.

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Iranian diplomats will meet counterparts from Britain, France and Germany, known as the E3, after the trio warned that sanctions could be reimposed on Tehran if it does not return to the negotiating table over its nuclear programme.

Western nations and Israel have long accused Iran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran has consistently denied.

“In response to the request of European countries, Iran has agreed to hold a new round of talks,” said foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghai, as quoted by state TV on Monday.

The subject of the talks will be Iran’s nuclear programme, it added.

A German diplomatic source had told AFP on Sunday the E3 were in contact with Tehran and said, “Iran must never be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon”.

“That is why Germany, France and the United Kingdom are continuing to work intensively in the E3 format to find a sustainable and verifiable diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear programme,” the source said.

Israel launched on June 13 a wave of surprise strikes on its regional nemesis, targeting key military and nuclear facilities.

The United States launched its own set of strikes against Iran’s nuclear programme on June 22, hitting the uranium enrichment facility at Fordo, in Qom province south of Tehran, as well as nuclear sites in Isfahan and Natanz.

Kremlin meeting

Iran and the United States had held several rounds of nuclear negotiations through Omani mediators before Israel launched its 12-day war against Iran.

However, US President Donald Trump’s decision to join Israel in striking Iranian nuclear facilities effectively ended the talks.

The E3 countries last met with Iranian representatives in Geneva on June 21 — just one day before the US strikes.

Also Sunday, Russian President Vladimir Putin held a surprise meeting in the Kremlin with Ali Larijani, top adviser to Iran’s supreme leader on nuclear issues.

Larijani “conveyed assessments of the escalating situation in the Middle East and around the Iranian nuclear programme”, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said of the unannounced meeting.

Putin had expressed Russia’s “well-known positions on how to stabilise the situation in the region and on the political settlement of the Iranian nuclear programme”, he added.

Moscow has a cordial relationship with Iran’s clerical leadership and provides crucial backing for Tehran but did not swing forcefully behind its partner even after the United States joined Israel’s bombing campaign.

Snapback mechanism

Iran and world powers struck a deal in 2015 called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which placed significant restrictions on Tehran’s nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief.

But the hard-won deal began to unravel in 2018, during Trump’s first presidency, when the United States walked away from it and reimposed sanctions on Iran.

European countries have in recent days threatened to trigger the deal’s “snapback” mechanism, which allows the reimposition of sanctions in the event of non-compliance by Iran.

After a call with his European counterparts on Friday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the Western allies had “absolutely no moral (or) legal grounds” for reactivating the snapback sanctions.

He elaborated in a post to social media Sunday.

“Through their actions and statements, including providing political and material support to the recent unprovoked and illegal military aggression of the Israeli regime and the US… the E3 have relinquished their role as ‘Participants’ in the JCPOA,” said Araghchi.

That made any attempt to reinstate the terminated UN Security Council resolutions “null and void”, he added.

“Iran has shown that it is capable of defeating any delusional ‘dirty work’ but has always been prepared to reciprocate meaningful diplomacy in good faith,” Araghchi wrote.

Ali Velayati, an adviser to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said last week there would be no new nuclear talks with the United States if they were conditioned on Tehran abandoning its uranium enrichment activities.

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