Shootings at Bondi and Brown
Plus: Chile elects a right-winger, Jimmy Lai gets convicted, midair collision narrowly averted, and more...
A mass shooting at Bondi Beach: Two gunmen opened fire in Australia, at Bondi Beach, in an attack targeting Jews on the first evening of Hanukkah, killing 15 and injuring many others.
The two gunmen were a father in his 50s who immigrated to Australia and his native-born son in his 20s. The father was shot by the authorities, but the son is in police custody. The attackers' names have not yet been released. A bystander tackled and disarmed one of the gunmen.
The event at which the massacre took place was hosted by the Jewish organization Chabad. The victims ranged in age from 10 to 85, and included the notable Rabbi Eli Schlanger (organizer of "Chanukah by the Sea," as the event was known), Holocaust survivor Alex Kleytman, Reuven Morrison ("whose main goal was to give away his earnings to charities dear to his heart," per Chabad), and Tibor Weitzen, a beloved grandfather.
Australia drastically tightened gun laws following a 1996 shooting spree in Tasmania, where 35 people were killed. "Public anger prompted the government to ban assault rifles and many other semiautomatic rifles and shotguns," reports The New York Times. CNN notes that "New Zealand did the same after the Christchurch massacre in 2019, when an Australian-born right-wing terrorist live-streamed the massacre of 51 at two mosques in the city." The guns used in this shooting were legally owned: The 50-year-old shooter was a member of a gun club who held a valid recreational gun license and owned six registered firearms, all of which were recovered at the site of the crime. "The younger suspect had been under investigation by the Australian Security Intelligence Agency (ASIO), the country's primary spy agency, for about six months during 2019," reports CBS, but very little information has been released about the man's past or why he had run afoul of the authorities before.
At Brown University, in Rhode Island, the night before: "The gunman opened fire inside a classroom in the engineering building, firing more than 40 rounds from a 9 mm handgun," reports the Associated Press, drawing on on law enforcement sources. "Two handguns were recovered when the person of interest was taken into custody and authorities also found two loaded 30-round magazines, the official said. One of the firearms was equipped with a laser sight that projects a dot to aid in targeting, said the official, who was not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly and spoke to AP on the condition of anonymity."
Two students were killed and at least nine others were injured. The shooting took place during finals, with the gunman entering a lecture hall and opening fire. A person of interest was taken into custody but later released. A manhunt is underway, but not much is known about the killer, his motives, or how his guns were acquired. The university has canceled exams and dismissed all students, starting winter break early.
Scenes from New York: I highly recommend reading David Sedaris on being bitten by a dog. They've overtaken this city, in my opinion, and apparently many others, including Portland, where he's writing from.
David Sideris essay about being bitten by a dog in the recent New Yorker lol LOL pic.twitter.com/vbmri8aTjC
— Grace ????????????????⬛???? (@HormoneHangover) December 15, 2025
QUICK HITS
- The scariest words in the English language, courtesy of Axios: "Harris stepping toward another White House run."
- "Hong Kong newspaper founder Jimmy Lai, a leading figure in the city's pro-democracy movement and an ardent critic of the Chinese Communist Party, was on Monday found guilty on three charges of sedition and collusion with foreign forces in a landmark national security case," reports The Washington Post. "The case has become a symbolic test of Hong Kong's 2020 national security law and its reach, exemplifying the Communist Party's intense crackdown on the once-freewheeling territory. The 855-page verdict, handed down by three government-approved judges, will be seen as further proof that Beijing has swept away any last remaining press freedoms and judicial independence in the city, essentially ruling that one man was responsible for a mass movement saw almost a third of Hong Kong's 7 million people take to the streets."
- Friday almost saw a midair collision between a JetBlue airplane flying from Curacao to JFK Airport and a U.S. Air Force refueling tanker headed toward Venezuela. "They passed directly in our flight path," the pilot told air traffic control. "They don't have their transponder turned on. It's outrageous."
- Four years ago, Chileans elected socialist Gabriel Boric president. This past weekend, they reversed course, voting right-winger José Antonio Kast into office. Kast "ran on a platform of faster growth, fiscal responsibility, safer streets and ending illegal immigration," reports The Wall Street Journal, noting that Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, Venezuela, and Honduras have all also issued defeats to left-wing presidential candidates since 2023.
