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Sept. 23, 2025, 6:31 AM EDT / Updated Sept. 23, 2025, 7:07 AM EDTBy Freddie ClaytonMysterious drones that forced the closure of a major European airport were part of a “serious attack,” officials said Tuesday, hours after the latest unsettling incident over the continent’s skies.As U.S. allies weigh a tougher response to suspected Russian incursions, NATO leaders gathered at the United Nations General Assembly in New York condemned the Kremlin for a spate of “escalatory” incidents in recent weeks and vowed to defend itself.Authorities did not immediately assign blame for the two to three large drones that shut Copenhagen Airport — Scandinavia’s largest — Monday night. But police said a hybrid attack could not be ruled out, and Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen called it “the most serious attack on Danish critical infrastructure to date.”Norway’s Oslo airport also reopened Tuesday morning following four hours of airspace closure after a separate drone incident took place the same evening, police told Norwegian broadcaster NRK.Trump: Putin has ‘really let me down’ on Ukraine peace talks01:05“I cannot rule out that it is Russia,” Frederiksen, the Danish leader, told reporters. “We have seen drones over Poland that should not have been there. We have seen activity in Romania. We have seen violations of Estonian airspace,” she added, referring to a series of incidents in eastern Europe during September that have been blamed on Russia. “Russia should be in no doubt,” NATO said in a statement just hours after the latest incidents. “Allies will use all necessary military and non-military tools to defend ourselves and deter all threats from all directions.”A Russian MiG-31 fighter jet that took part in the violation of Estonian airspace.Swedish Armed Forces / via ReutersThe Kremlin dismissed what it said were “unfounded accusations” leveled each time there is an incident. It’s got to the point where such statements were “no longer taken into account,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters.The drones that shut Copenhagen airport appeared to be flown by a “capable operator,” Danish police Chief Superintendent Jens Jespersen told reporters on Tuesday.“It’s an actor who has the capabilities, the will and the tools to show off in this way,” he said, adding that no suspects had been identified and that it was too soon to tell if the events in Denmark and Norway were linked.Officials chose not to shoot down the drones because the risk was too great because of the airport being full of passengers, the planes on the runways and nearby fuel depots, Jes Jespersen, senior police inspector of the Copenhagen Police, said during a news conference.Passengers queue for new tickets at Copenhagen Airport on Tuesday morning.Sergei Gapon / AFP via Getty ImagesWestern leaders have increasingly vowed a more aggressive defense against what they say is a carefully escalating Kremlin campaign to probe NATO’s defenses and test its resolve. NATO is set to meet Tuesday discuss Russia’s violation of Estonian airspace, after Estonia requested consultations consultations under Article 4 last week — a mechanism that prompts urgent talks among alliesPoland “is ready to react toughly against all airspace violations,” its prime minister Donald Tusk said Tuesday on X. “In such a situation I’m counting on univocal and full support from our allies.”Britain also promised Monday to “confront planes operating in space without permission,” as Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper warned that Russia’s incursions risked triggering an armed conflict.The European Union is also weighing how to create a “drone wall” along its eastern border, Lithuanian foreign minister Kestutis Budrys told Reuters news agency on Monday.Washington’s new envoy to the United Nations, Michael Waltz, vowed Monday to “defend every inch of NATO territory” as he addressed an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting over the incursion into Estonia.NATO has already launched Operation “Eastern Sentry” earlier this month to bolster defenses along Europe’s eastern flank.A French Air Force pilot prepares for takeoff, prior to a joint mission with Polish F16s, as part of Operation “Eastern Sentry.”Thibaud Moritz / AFP via Getty ImagesMeanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy landed in New York Monday for what he said would be an “intense week” of diplomacy, as he tries to drum up support for new efforts to punish the Kremlin and turn rhetoric into action.“We are doing everything to stop the war,” he wrote on X Tuesday, adding that he had two dozen meetings scheduled.Freddie ClaytonFreddie Clayton is a freelance journalist based in London.

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Sept. 24, 2025, 3:47 PM EDTBy Tyler KingkadeAfter dozens of school districts and colleges fired employees or placed them on leave over social media posts about Charlie Kirk’s assassination, some of those employees are turning to federal courts to get their jobs back. A former Ball State University staff member is suing the Indiana school’s president after she was fired for posting on Facebook: “Charlie Kirk’s death is a reflection of the violence, fear and hatred he sowed. It does not excuse his death, AND it’s a sad truth.”An art teacher in central Iowa filed a suit last week after the Oskaloosa school board voted to fire him for posting “1 Nazi down” about Kirk’s assassination.An elementary school teacher assistant is suing her Spartanburg County, South Carolina, district over what her lawsuit calls an unconstitutional social media policy. According to the suit, she was fired for posting a quote from Kirk in which he said it’s worth having “some gun deaths every single year” to protect the Second Amendment, and then adding the phrase “thoughts and prayers.” And on Wednesday, an art professor will plead his case before a federal judge in Sioux Falls, hoping to stop the University of South Dakota from firing him for posting on Facebook: “Where was all this concern when the politicians in Minnesota were shot? And the school shootings? And capital police? I have no thoughts or prayers for this hate spreading nazi. A shrug, maybe.”The schools have not yet responded in court. The universities and two districts declined to comment on pending litigation.The lawsuits are among the first actions educators have taken to combat a campaign propelled by conservative influencers and Republican lawmakers who urged schools and other employers to fire people who they say made light of or celebrated Kirk’s death. Those pushing for the firings have argued that teachers and professors with abhorrent views shouldn’t be allowed to influence students. Liberal-leaning critics have accused conservatives of embracing so-called cancel culture, which they had long condemned. Death of Charlie Kirk raises questions about future of free speech in America02:00Civil liberties groups have warned that some of the firings could violate the First Amendment, regardless of whether they simply criticize Kirk or openly celebrate his death. The legal challenges filed over the past two weeks will be important test cases on whether public employees can post statements deemed offensive, said Adam Goldstein, vice president of strategic initiatives at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.“It’s an unfortunate necessity that the courts will have to weigh in here,” Goldstein said. “There’s no option here other than a number of cases where courts hopefully reinstruct us on how the First Amendment is supposed to work.”In the days after Kirk was shot earlier this month, Vice President JD Vance and other top Republicans urged citizens to report people who mock Kirk’s assassination to their employers. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon told Fox News last week that she’d “like to see more” college faculty who celebrate Kirk’s death fired or suspended.Some Democrats have shared similar sentiments. In Iowa, a leading Democratic gubernatorial candidate echoed calls to remove the Oskaloosa teacher. “I’d be pretty uncomfortable with my kids having teachers that celebrated someone’s murder,” Rob Sand, the candidate and current state auditor, told the Des Moines Register this week. Because the cases involve public employees, the employers have a higher bar to meet before firing them for speaking out, legal experts say. They will have to show the staff members’ posts created a disruption that interfered with classes, for instance, or the operation of a school. Goldstein said generating controversy or complaints is typically not enough to warrant a firing. Michael Hook, the University of South Dakota art professor, deleted his remarks after a few hours, and shared an apology that stated he regretted the original post. Through his lawyer, Hook declined to be interviewed.Hook filed a motion Tuesday to get an emergency order to block the university from moving forward with the next step in his termination process. He alleges his firing stems from angering “the wrong people,” noting that the governor and speaker of the state house had called for his termination. “When I read this post, I was shaking mad,” Gov. Larry Rhoden, a Republican, posted on X.An online petition to reinstate Hook has over 8,000 signatures.In many cases, Goldstein said, the teachers’ punishment seems disproportionate to their alleged offense, noting that an inappropriate post could be flagged without termination.“It’s very weird to live in a world where Charlie’s wife can forgive the shooter,” Goldstein said, “but we can’t forgive a teacher who quoted him.”Tyler KingkadeTyler Kingkade is a national reporter for NBC News, based in Los Angeles.

September 24, 2025

Sept. 24, 2025, 6:20 PM EDTBy Dalila MuataThis week, dozens of Christian creators on TikTok prepared for what they thought would be a biblical Rapture. In Australia, Tilahun Desalegn said he sold his car. Thousands of miles away in Colorado, Melissa Johnston created flowcharts and care packages for those who would be left behind.In Chicago, De’Mico Harden began documenting the signs — pointing out anytime the clock struck 9:23, a date that was among the three-day window when the Rapture was supposed to take place.But by Wednesday afternoon, no such end had come — instead, confusion and disappointment had set in for some believers. Many had been posting videos to TikTok about what people should expect when the Rapture occurs, namely that Jesus will take true believers to heaven as Earth enters an apocalypse.“OK, um, Rapture update, Wednesday, 9/24, sorry to report, I don’t think it actually happened,” TikTok creator AveragePickleballGuy said. “Everybody I know is still here. … A lot of people on my comments have told me that I was duped and didn’t know what I was talking about. I just kind of fell into this, I didn’t have all the facts, so I wanted to issue a public apology to anybody who took me seriously.”The prediction that the Rapture would begin on Sept. 23, during the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah, appeared to originate with a South African pastor named Joshua Mhlakela, who had shared his theory in an interview with religious YouTube channel Centtwinz TV in June.Pastor Joshua Mhlakela’s Rapture prediction went viral in June.Got Reality? via YouTubeMhlakela doubled down on the theory in a later appearance on the podcast, saying that when the Rapture happens, people will disappear in the blink of an eye and “God’s judgment will leave the world unrecognizable.”As the date neared, his apocalyptic prophecy, which he projected with “100% confidence,” went viral.“For believers, the Rapture represents the ultimate validation,” Landon Schnabel, an associate professor of sociology at Cornell University, said. “Rapture beliefs create powerful in-group/out-group dynamics. Believers develop a sense of special knowledge and moral superiority, while simultaneously feeling persecuted by a world that doesn’t understand them.” The Rapture now joins the ongoing list of doomsday theories that have captivated the masses, such as the 2000 Y2K bug or when the ancient Mayan calendar predicted the apocalypse on Dec. 21, 2012.But according to Schnabel, what sets this Armageddon apart from the rest is the explosive reaction from the public. Interest in the word “rapture” increased by 1,000% in the last three days, with a search volume of over 1 million, according to Google Trends. Peak interest in “rapture” in the U.S. hit around midnight on Tuesday, the day Mhlakela had said it would happen. On TikTok, more than 290,000 posts use the #rapture hashtag.The meme-ification of the Rapture across social media also helped thrust the prediction into the mainstream. Many of the videos posted to TikTok are sketches or jokes surrounding the theory. Even Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” poked fun at the theory.“Previous predictions spread through niche religious networks or required mainstream media coverage to go viral,” Schnabel said. “TikTok’s algorithm can take a South African preacher’s prediction and put it in front of millions of young people in hours.” In the last 24 hours, some who gave up after waiting for the Rapture to arrive have called on Mhlakela to apologize for his “fake Rapture prophesy.”Mhlakela could not be reached by NBC News. He is expected to appear on Centtwinz again on Friday for an exclusive interview, the YouTubers said in their Instagram story on Wednesday.Others online wanted TikTokers who pushed Mhlakela’s theory to admit they were wrong.But some believers continue to hold out hope, which Schnabel said is unsurprising. “The public mockery actually strengthens believers’ commitment by confirming their persecution narrative,” he said. “The social bonds created around shared belief are often stronger than the belief itself.”Or, as TikToker Desalegn put it in a video to his followers Wednesday: “At this point, I’ve got nothing to lose but to continue to believe.”Dalila MuataDalila Muata is the newsroom coordinator for NBC News Digital.

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