By MATTHIAS SCHRADER

MUNICH (AP) — Authorities temporarily shut down Munich Airport overnight after several drones were seen in the area, in the latest mysterious drone overflights in the airspace of European Union member countries.

Related Articles

Sarah Mullally named the first female Archbishop of Canterbury in history of Church of England

Japan’s governing party is choosing a new leader Saturday to succeed Ishiba

Hegseth announces latest strike on boat near Venezuela he says was trafficking drugs

Israel intercepts the last boat from the Gaza flotilla as Israeli minister mocks the activists

One of 2 victims in Manchester synagogue attack was accidentally shot by police

Germany’s air traffic control restricted flights at the airport shortly after 10 p.m. (2000 GMT) on Thursday and then halted them altogether, the airport said in a statement. Seventeen flights were unable to take off, affecting almost 3,000 passengers, while 15 arriving flights were diverted to three other airports in Germany and one in Vienna, Austria.

Flights in and out of the airport resumed at 5 a.m. (0300 GMT), said Stefan Bayer, a spokesperson for Germany’s federal police at Munich airport.

Authorities were not immediately able to provide any information about who was responsible for the overflights.

The latest in a series of drone incidents in Europe

The incident was the latest in a series of incidents of mysterious drone sightings over airports as well as other critical infrastructure sites in several European Union member countries. Drones also were spotted overnight in Belgium above a military base.

A drone incident in Oslo, the capital of Norway, which is a NATO member but not part of the EU, also affected flights there late last month.

It wasn’t immediately clear who has been behind the flyovers. European authorities have expressed concerns that they’re being carried out by Russia, though some experts have noted that anybody with drones could be behind them. Russian authorities have rejected claims of involvement, including in recent drone incidents in Denmark.

Passengers stranded in Munich

The Munich Airport said in a statement early Friday that there had been “several drone sightings,” without elaborating. Bayer, the police spokesman, said it wasn’t immediately clear how many drones might have been involved. He said police, airline employees and “regular people around the airport” were among witnesses who reported the drone sightings.

Police and fire department are on duty after drone sightings and flight cancellations at Munich Airport, Friday, Oct.3, 2025. (Jason Tschepljakow/dpa via AP)

After the closure of the runways, federal police deployed helicopters and other means to try to track down the drones, but no signs of them could be found, Bayer said.

Hundreds of stranded passengers spent the night in cots set up in terminals or were taken to hotels, and blankets, drinks and snacks were distributed to them, the German news agency dpa reported.

Alexander Dobrindt, Germany’s interior minister said he and some European counterparts would discuss the drone incursions, and a “drone detection and defense plan” at a meeting this weekend in Munich.

“We are in a race between drone threat and drone defense. We want to and must win this race,” he said in the western city of Saarbrücken, where he joined German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron at a ceremony to mark the 35th anniversary of Germany’s reunification.

Drones were spotted overnight in Belgium

In Belgium, several drones were spotted overnight above a military base near the German border, Defense Minister Theo Francken told Le Soir newspaper.

The minister did not confirm how many drones were flying in the vicinity of the Elsenborn military base — which serves mainly as an army training facility with a firing range – just after midnight. Belgian public broadcaster VRT said that 15 drones were spotted near the base, which is roughly about 375 miles from Munich.

Francken underlined that the nature of the flights was “suspicious and unknown,” Le Soir said. A defense ministry investigation is ongoing.

‘Anybody’ could be behind the flyovers

Hans-Christian Mathiesen, vice president of defense programs at Sky-Watch, a Danish maker of a fixed-wing combat drone that is being used in Ukraine, said “it could be anybody” who could carry out a drone flyover like the one at Munich airport.

“If you have a drone, you can always fly it into restricted airspace and disrupt activity. So everything from boys not thinking about what they’re doing — just fooling around — to someone that is doing it with a purpose: Criminal organizations, state actors, you name it,” said Mathiesen, whose company is involved in the fast-evolving drone ecosystem.

A state actor could disrupt activities and examine responses “with a minimal level of effort,” he said.

Officials in Russia and close ally Belarus acknowledged last month that some drones used as part of Russia’s war in Ukraine had entered the territory of EU and NATO member Poland, prompting a scramble by Polish and NATO allies in which fighter jets were deployed to shoot them down.

This photo shows Munich Airport, Germany Friday, Oct. 3, 2025. (Ehsan Monajati/dpa via AP)

The drone overflights were a major focus of a summit of EU and European leaders in Copenhagen, Denmark, this week. Authorities have vowed to step up measures to minimize and thwart the threat posed by drones.

A Russian tanker is back at sea

Separately, a Russia-linked oil tanker that authorities in France detained — which had been suspected of involvement in the drone incursions over Denmark — was back at sea on Friday. The ship-tracking website Marine Traffic showed the ship leaving the French Atlantic coast where it was detained and apparently bound for the Suez Canal.

A thorough search by French Navy commandos that boarded the ship found no drones, no drone-launching equipment and no evidence that drones had taken off from the vessel, according to an official with knowledge of the investigation who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss it publicly.

The tanker’s name has changed several times and it’s now known as “Pushpa” or “Boracay.” Its route from a Russian oil terminal into the Atlantic took it past the coast of Denmark.

Associated Press writers Lorne Cook in Brussels and John Leicester in Le Pecq, France, contributed to this report.

When I saw Marwan Marouf’s face plastered on my Instagram feed, under bright red letters announcing he’d been arrested and detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the first thing I remembered was his distinctive, gentle voice.

For nearly three decades, Brother Marwan, as we know him, has been a constant presence in our community. Long before the Dallas area attracted thousands of Muslims and high-profile religious leaders, we grew up in small congregations, and people like Marouf led prayers and delivered short sermons to a few-dozen families now and then. He’d arrived in the city in the ’90s as a student, and he later worked as an engineer at the same company as my dad and some of my friends’ parents. 

Once, in high school, during late evening Ramadan prayers, I fell asleep while he was giving a lecture, lulled into a sense of peaceful drowsiness. In the women’s section of the mosque, there was a running joke that the mics weren’t strong enough to amplify Marouf’s soft-spoken delivery. I remember being annoyed that I had missed most of his sermon, as he’d been coming around to our masjid less frequently, since there were dozens of them now to rotate between. His sermons were almost always uplifting reminders about how to live more compassionately and generously at a time when it felt like both these forces were dwindling in our society.

Marouf, who is Palestinian, had been seeking permanent legal status since 2012 after receiving student and work visas, according to his lawyers in a press release, but he was first denied a green card in 2020. On September 22, ICE informed him he was denied again, his lawyers say, based on a decades-old claim that Marouf—through his support for the Palestinian-led charity the Holy Land Foundation—had supported terrorist activities. ICE arrested him that day, and he’s since been detained at the notorious Bluebonnet detention facility some 200 miles away from home. The Muslim Legal Fund for America (MLFA), which is handling his case, declined to comment for this story as he awaits a bond hearing, but the group has said that Marouf’s arrest and detention are “a direct affront to the due process protections guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.”

Marouf (left) (Courtesy/Noor Wadi, Justice For Marwan campaign)

In North Texas, where I grew up, Marouf is best known in the community for his work with the Muslim American Society of Dallas, supporting youth programming. He sponsored a Boy Scouts troop, led volunteer initiatives, and worked with programs for refugees as well. During the pandemic, he drove around Dallas and its sprawling suburbs delivering meals and supplies to people who needed extra help. Last year, he was recognized by the City of Richardson, one of the inner-ring suburbs, for his community service. 

On social media, the Muslim American Society quickly started collecting stories in his support, with the hashtag #BecauseOfMarwan. Many people affectionately called him Amo, the Arabic word for uncle, recalling his humble nature and the small ways he would make people smile—never getting mad at kids running amok at the center; making volunteers feel proud of the tasks they were assigned; and constantly working in the background to make everything run smoothly. He never sought the spotlight, but everyone who’s been in town long enough knows the name Marwan Marouf.  

“When I moved to Dallas with my family, Amo Marwan and his family really helped us feel like we’d lived here our whole lives,” said Noor Wadi, a community organizer who’s been supporting public outreach efforts for his case. “When … we’re at civic events, it feels empty without Amo Marwan. But we have hope that he will come back home. We’re going to apply pressure from every single angle.”

The Holy Land Foundation case, which the government tenuously tied Marouf to, was a major milestone in the U.S. government’s targeting of Muslims and Palestinians. The W. Bush administration designated the foundation a terrorist organization in 2001, saying that it had secretly sent funds to Hamas. The charity, which had provided food and medical aid and supported other aid programs in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, was at that point the largest Muslim-led charity in the United States. It distributed funds to reputable organizations in Palestine that also received funds from the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the European Commission. 

In what many observers, including the ACLU and Human Rights Watch, consider a sham trial, the five leaders of the charity were convicted and sent to prison. Their sentences ranged from 15 to 65 years. The convictions relied on testimony from anonymous witnesses from the Israeli military and evidence gathered from government wiretaps of the charity’s leaders. Former Treasury Department officials later admitted that Muslim-run charities were an “easy, soft target” in the early years of the War on Terror. 

According to Marouf’s legal team, he was transparent about his time volunteering with the foundation, when they had fundraisers locally, when immigration officials questioned him about it during his green card application process. And his donations and volunteer work pre-dated the Bush administration’s questionable terror designation anyway. 

“This volunteer work included ordering pizza and hiring a clown to entertain children while their parents attended [foundation] fundraising events,” MLFA said. “Marwan’s donations included sponsorship of an orphan in Palestine. And yet, some thirty years later, the government still chooses to wrongfully penalize Marwan for these ordinary acts of charity—acts which he considers obligatory to his faith.” 

Wadi said that the case could raise fears among the community about being targeted for similar donations or civic engagement. The accusations made 20 years ago against the Holy Land Foundation, and other Islamic charities, are similar to the accusations that Israel has recently leveled against the United Nations Relief Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees, for example. In 2024, the Biden administration froze funding to the humanitarian organization after Israel accused some of its staff of participating in terrorist acts. 

What’s different now, Wadi said, is that the general public isn’t blindly accepting such claims about Muslims in their communities, especially after watching what a United Nations commission and a growing number of scholars have declared a genocide in Gaza, along with the blatant targeting of Palestinian student activists like Mahmoud Khalil. “People from all walks of life are saying, ‘That’s enough.’”

Imam Omar Suleiman, a well-known Dallas preacher, said that Marouf’s arrest was particularly shocking as the Trump administration has targeted Palestinians involved in demonstrations. “His arrest makes it apparent that the administration is now interested in targeting any Palestinian immigrant, whether they voice their opinions or simply serve quietly within their communities,” Suleiman said in an email. 

So far in Dallas, the community has turned out for Marouf. At a packed community gathering the day after his arrest, Suleiman told the gathered crowd not to despair. “This is not a funeral, this is not us bidding farewell to someone,” he said. “The heart of our community, the pillar of our community, has been taken away from us, and we can’t rest, nor can we accept that this is the way this is going to go.” 

He urged the crowd to continue advocating not just for Marouf but for the other detainees who have been unjustly held by ICE—like Leeqa Kordia, a 32-year-old Palestinian woman from New Jersey who has also been held at a North Texas detention center. “Marwan would be the first person to tell you to use his case, and what’s happened to him, to shine a light on people who share his plight,” Suleiman said. “If any one of you were in his situation, he would run around the world to make sure you got the support you needed.” 

The post Trump’s ICE Has Arrested a Pillar of the Dallas Muslim Community. I Grew Up Hearing His Calls for Compassion. appeared first on The Texas Observer.

By KONSTANTIN TOROPIN

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Friday he ordered a fourth strike on a small boat in the waters off Venezuela, according to a social media post.

Related Articles

Feds reimburse Florida $608 million for Everglades detention center costs

Trump administration taps Army Reserve and National Guard for temporary immigration judges

Lack of jobs data due to government shutdown muddies view of hiring and the US economy

US stocks cruise toward the finish of their record-setting week

Supreme Court will consider overturning strict Hawaii law regulating where people can carry guns

In his post, Hegseth said that “our intelligence, without a doubt, confirmed that this vessel was trafficking narcotics, the people onboard were narco-terrorists, and they were operating on a known narco-trafficking transit route.”

The strike comes less than a day after it was revealed that President Donald Trump declared drug cartels to be unlawful combatants and declared that the United States is now in an “armed conflict” with them in a memo obtained by The Associated Press.

According to Hegseth’s post, the strike killed four men, but it offered no other details on who they were or what organization they belonged to.

The video of the strike posted online showed a small boat moving in open water when it suddenly explodes. As the smoke from the explosion clears, the boat is visible, consumed with flames, floating motionless on the water.

Last month, the U.S. military carried out three other deadly strikes against boats in the Caribbean that the administration accused of ferrying drugs.

With this strike, at least three of these operations have now been carried out on vessels that originated from Venezuela.

Those strikes followed a buildup of U.S. maritime forces in the Caribbean unlike any seen in recent times.

The Navy’s presence in the region — eight warships with over 5,000 sailors and Marines — has been pretty stable for weeks, according to two defense officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing operations.

Officials in the Pentagon, when asked for more details about the strike, referred The Associated Press back to Hegseth’s post on social media.

Related Articles

Other voices: Russia’s airspace incursions are a test for U.S., allies

On eve of sentencing, Combs tells judge he has been ‘reborn,’ asks for mercy

Man who attacked Michigan church became ‘unhinged’ when talking about Mormon faith

Death toll from attack at Michigan church stays at 4 after police sweep charred ruins

Suspected stowaway is found dead in plane’s landing gear at a North Carolina airport

By TIFFANY STANLEY, LUIS ANDRES HENAO and MARIAM FAM

WASHINGTON (AP) — Zohran Mamdani ’s swift rise in New York City’s mayoral race has made him into a national symbol — both as a point of pride among many Muslim Americans and a political foil for the right.

Related Articles

Feds reimburse Florida $608 million for Everglades detention center costs

Trump administration taps Army Reserve and National Guard for temporary immigration judges

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney to meet Trump at the White House next week

Trump was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize before. Experts say he’s unlikely to win this year

Trump sets Sunday deadline for Hamas to agree to a deal for ending the war in Gaza

His campaign has been met by a surge in anti-Muslim language directed at the Democratic nominee, who would become the city’s first Muslim mayor if elected in November.

Republican Rep. Andy Ogles of Tennessee called him “little muhammad” and urged deportation. On social media, GOP Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina referenced 9/11 alongside a photo of Mamdani dressed in a kurta, a loose collarless shirt common in South Asia.

Far-right activist Laura Loomer claimed without evidence that “NYC is about to see 9/11 2.0.”

On many levels, Mamdani’s run is a significant moment for the country and New York City, which endured 9/11 and the rise in Islamophobia that followed.

“He really does hold so much symbolism,” said Youssef Chouhoud, a political scientist at Christopher Newport University. The campaign is a reminder of anti-Muslim discrimination, he said, but also of Muslim Americans asserting their right “to lead this society moving forward.”

Politicians from both major parties have attacked Mamdani’s progressive politics and criticism of Israel. Conservatives have leaned more heavily into religious attacks and anti-immigrant sentiments.

President Donald Trump singled him out for censure and falsely questioned his U.S. citizenship, echoing “birther” rhetoric he once aimed at former President Barack Obama.

At the National Conservatism Conference, multiple speakers used Mamdani’s name and religion as attack lines, with former Trump adviser Steve Bannon calling the democratic socialist a “Marxist and a jihadist.”

The rhetoric is all too familiar for many Muslim Americans, including Amani Al-Khatahtbeh, who faced slurs and death threats as the first Muslim woman to run for Congress in New Jersey in 2020.

“We’re at a crossroads,” she said via email. “On one hand, Muslims are achieving unprecedented visibility and influence in political spaces. On the other, our dehumanization has never been so normalized and widespread.”

The threat of political violence

Before his assassination last month, conservative activist Charlie Kirk wrote on social media that, “America’s largest city was attacked by radical Islam 24 years ago, and now a similar form of that pernicious force is poised to capture city hall.” On his show, Kirk called Mamdani a “Mohammedan,” an antiquated term for Muslim, and warned about “Anglo centers” like New York coming “under Mohammedan rule.”

Mamdani condemned Kirk’s killing while decrying America’s plague of political violence.

In September, a Texas man was charged with making death threats against Mamdani, including calling him a terrorist and saying “Muslims don’t belong here,” prosecutors said.

Mamdani’s campaign responded by saying these types of threats “reflect a broader climate of hate that has no place in our city.”

“We cannot and will not be intimidated by racism, Islamophobia and hate,” the statement read.

Islamophobia from 9/11 until now

Anti-Muslim bias has persisted in different forms since Sept. 11, 2001.

New York City police ran a now-disbanded Muslim surveillance program. There was furor in 2010 over plans to build a Muslim community center in lower Manhattan. Nationwide, dozens of states introduced legislation aimed at banning Islamic law.

“At its core, anti-Muslim rhetoric is the same: that Muslims don’t belong in this country, that they are perpetual foreigners, that they are a threat to American society and government,” said Eman Abdelhadi, a sociologist at the University of Chicago.

Critics of Obama, a Christian with Muslim ancestry, sought to use his connections to Islam as a political liability. As president, he spoke about his childhood years in Indonesia and his father’s Muslim family in Kenya as assets in diplomacy.

Trump amplified criticisms of Obama’s background, stoking so-called “birther” rumors by falsely questioning whether Obama was born in the U.S.

“He’s really created this new permission structure for people to more openly voice their anti-Muslim rhetoric,” Chouhoud said.

A similar playbook is being used with Mamdani. Born in Uganda to parents of Indian descent, he has lived in New York City since he was 7 and became a U.S. citizen in 2018. He was elected to the state Assembly in 2020.

Despite that record, Trump has echoed a false allegation denying Mamdani’s citizenship and immigration status.

Democrats and the backdrop of the Israel-Hamas war

Islamophobia and antisemitism have risen during the war in Gaza. Accusations of both have played out in the race for mayor of New York, a city home to the largest Jewish and Muslim populations in the U.S.

Before dropping out, Mayor Eric Adams joined another Democrat, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, in calling Mamdani “dangerous.” Cuomo accused him of “fueling antisemitism” with sharp criticism of Israel.

An outside group supporting Cuomo, who’s now running as an independent, prepared a flyer that appeared to lengthen and darken Mamdani’s beard, which Mamdani called “blatant Islamophobia.” Cuomo’s campaign disavowed it and the mailer was never sent.

Other Democrats have distanced themselves from Mamdani’s progressive platform, critiques of Israel and staunch support for Palestinian rights.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York apologized to Mamdani after incorrectly saying he referenced “global jihad.” At issue was his refusal to condemn other people’s use of the slogan “globalize the intifada.” He later said he would discourage its use. Some see the phrase as a call for Palestinian liberation and rights, others as a call for violence against Jews.

In an emotional news conference ahead of his primary win in June, Mamdani accused his rivals of using antisemitism to score political points. “I’ve said at every opportunity there is no room for antisemitism in this city, in this country.”

Pride and hope from fellow Muslims

Despite the controversies, many American Muslims are upbeat about a possible Mamdani victory.

“The abiding emotion … is a really deep sense of hope,” said Chouhoud, whose Brooklyn accent speaks to his New York roots.

Shahana Hanif, a Mamdani ally and the first Muslim woman elected to the New York City Council, is optimistic. She said Islamophobia is being used as a fear tactic “and it’s just not working.”

Hanan Thabet, a born-and-raised New Yorker and a Mamdani supporter, said his campaign has energized her family after two years of grief over the killing and starvation of Palestinians in Gaza.

So much so that her children — ages 10 and 8 — helped her phone bank for him. “They’re super excited to see this young energetic brown man, Muslim man, you know, potentially be our next mayor.”

As a mother, she feels like it’s “impossible to explain why it has become so socially acceptable to dehumanize Muslims and Arabs, and why our lives seem to matter the least.”

“That is what makes Zohran’s candidacy not only historic,” she said, “but necessary.”

Henao reported from New York, and Fam from Cairo.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.