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Seven men who committed a string of child sex abuse offences against two teenage girls in Rotherham have been jailed for a total of 106 years. The men were all convicted in June, after a nine-week trial at Sheffield Crown Court, which was the result of an investigation by the National Crime Agency's Operation Stovewood. The victims, who were aged between 11 and 16 at the time of the offences were both in care. They were groomed and often plied with alcohol or cannabis before being raped or assaulted...

London’s High Court on Friday quashed a planning permission for the UK’s first new coal mine in three decades, ruling that the permit was unlawful as it hadn’t considered the emissions from burning the fuel. Earlier this year, climate campaigners, including Friends of the Earth, challenged the approval of the coal mining project. The UK’s previous Conservative government approved in December 2022 the Woodhouse Colliery project in Whitehaven, northwest England.. The project to mine metallurgical coal, the one used for steelmaking, will be required to support steelmaking.. However, the new Labour government in the UK pulled in July its support...

Former BBC News presenter Huw Edwards has been given a suspended six-month sentence for child abuse image offences, meaning he avoids jail He is also required to complete a sex offender programme, and will be on the sex offenders' register for seven years In July Edwards admitted having 41 such images which were sent to him on WhatsApp The court hears that Edwards paid another man, Alex Williams, hundreds of pounds for gifts and presents in exchange for the images At one point, Williams said he had "naughty" and "young" images, to which Edwards replied: "Go on" The estimated age...

The Royal Navy has intercepted its first-ever “narco sub” – filled with £160m ($208M) worth of cocaine. HMS Trent seized the vessel in the Caribbean Sea. In eight drugs busts in seven months, the Portsmouth-based patrol ship has stopped nearly £750m ($979M) of narcotics reaching the streets of the UK in eight months. Trent’s latest operation, alongside the US Coast Guard and a US Maritime Patrol Aircraft, was the first “narco-sub” the Royal Navy has ever intercepted. The ship’s boarding team – comprising US Coast Guard personnel, Royal Marines from 47 Commando and specialist sailors – clambered aboard the semi-submersed...

In Hawaii "Phase 2" of the state Attorney General's report...deadly Maui wildfire disaster... The lengthy trial of organizers of the 2022 Freedom Convoy truckers protest against COVID mandates wrapped up... An inquest opened in the UK today regarding the suicide of an autistic teenager...arrested by police on terrorism charges... Police in Portland, Oregon suspect fentanyl is involved in the death of a two-year-old girl... "Against Life" The view of Pope Francis regarding the two major party presidential candidates... Three Americans among 37 sentenced to death in connection with a coup attempt in Congo... US Central Command said tonight that US...

One of British street artist Banksy's best-known paintings, "Girl with Balloon", has been found after its theft from a London gallery last week with two men charged, police said on Friday. The work features a young girl reaching for a red heart-shaped balloon and there are several murals depicting the same image in London and elsewhere. The painting was the only item stolen on Sept. 8, police said, adding it would be returned to the gallery.

Sir Keir Starmer is under major fire this afternoon after he refused to rule out clobbering pensioners even more in the forthcoming Budget. At Prime Minister’s Questions, Tory MP Louie French rose to demand answers around rumours the government may be planning to withdraw two further crucial support measures from older people. Mr French specified pensioners’ free bus passes, and the single person council tax discount. Sir Keir ducked the simple question, replying: “As he knows very well, I am not going to preempt the Budget. It will all be set out in due course.” With a casual wave of...

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has accused the Prime Minister of presiding over a two-tier policing and prisons system in a furious Commons clash. Around 1,750 people were expected to be let out on Tuesday in a bid to ease overcrowding. The Reform leader said at Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs): “Yesterday we witnessed some extraordinary celebratory scenes outside Britain’s prisons, where in some cases serious career criminals were released. This to make way for, yes, rioters, but equally those who have said unpleasant things on Facebook and elsewhere on social media. “Does the Prime Minister understand there is a growing...

Sir Keir Starmer, UK prime minister, will meet US President Joe Biden in the White House next week, against the backdrop of a recent divergence between the two allies on their approach to the Israel-Hamas war. The Gaza conflict will be on the agenda for the meeting, announced by the White House on Friday, which will see Starmer hold his second meeting with Biden since becoming prime minister on July 5. Starmer this week announced Britain was suspending some arms export licences to Israel after a British government review found possible breaches of international humanitarian law by Israel. He has...

Binyamin Netanyahu has said that Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to suspend some arms sales to Israel is “shameful” and will “only embolden Hamas”. The government has suspended 30 of Britain’s 350 arms export licences with Israel amid concerns that the weapons could be used against civilians in Gaza in breach of international law. The decision covers components for fighter aircraft, helicopters and drones, as well as equipment for hitting targets on the ground. “This shameful decision will not change Israel’s determination to defeat Hamas, a genocidal terrorist organisation that savagely murdered 1,200 people on October 7, including 14 British citizens....

Sir Keir Starmer is facing mounting criticism from Labour MPs and party grandees over his plans to scrap £1.5bn in winter fuel payments for pensioners, ahead of a Commons vote on the issue next Tuesday. In a sign of the problem facing the prime minister, 10 Labour MPs have signed a non-binding early-day motion calling for the measure to be delayed, while peers have also criticised the policy that would end support for 10mn pensioners. “When we won the election, there was a lot of hope, and that sense of hope is being chipped away,” said Clive Lewis, MP for...

...Referring to one of ABF’s constituent brands, Primark, Mr Weston said the retailer annually lost more to shoplifting than it paid in business rates... Shortly before Mr Weston’s despairing announcement, Paul Gerrard, who runs public affairs at the Co-op...spoke of “people coming into our stores with wheelie bins, people coming into our store with builder’s bags to steal the whole confectionery section, the entire sprit section, the entire meat section”... The lawlessness that gives Britain such a dystopian feel – the marauding shoplifters, the Rolex rippers, the smartphone thieves, the lethal parade of teenagers with knives whose conception of the...

The prime minister has told the BBC his new government is "going to have to be unpopular" as he defended his "tough" decision to cut winter fuel payments. Speaking on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg in his first major interview in Downing Street, Sir Keir Starmer said he was determined to deliver change but this meant having to "do the difficult things now". Challenged on his plan to remove winter fuel payments from most pensioners while also awarding above inflation pay rises to some public sector workers, he said he was "fixing the foundations" and those in need would still get...

Millions of pensioners are set to lose winter fuel payments this year after an attempt to block the cuts failed in Parliament. The government won a vote on the plan to restrict the payments to all but the poorest pensioners by 348 votes to 228 - a majority of 120. Fifty-two Labour MPs did not take part in the vote, including seven ministers, but it is not yet known how many had deliberately abstained or were absent from Parliament for another reason. Only one Labour MP voted against the government. Dozens of Labour MPs were reported to have been planning...

There is a party atmosphere outside Britain's prisons this morning as criminals set free under Labour's controversial inmate release scheme praised Sir Keir Starmer for giving them their freedom. Those walking out from behind bars whooped and punched the air in delight before hugging loved ones, with some crowing they would be finally be spending time with their girlfriends - but not before going to McDonald's. Some were greeted by a cacophony on their release, with friends blasting out music and giving them new clothes, and some even spraying the former prisoners with sparkling wine to celebrate their newfound freedom.

Nearly ten thousand millionaires are predicted to flee the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom this year amid expected tax raids from the left-wing Labour Party government of Sir Keir Starmer. While the previous Tory government of Rishi Sunak ushered in the highest tax burden since the Second World War, in large part to pay for the debts accrued during the coronavirus lockdowns, it is widely predicted that the fall budget of the Labour government will see further money grabs by the British state, with likely targets including capital gains and inheritance taxes. According to a report from The Times of...

Leaders of two of the biggest unions have added further pressure on the government over its plan to cut winter fuel payments for millions of pensioners in England and Wales. Unite and the Public and Commercial Services Union have criticised the plan, while the head of the Trades Union Congress which brings together the unions also expressed his concerns. It comes as the prime minister faces a potential rebellion at a vote in the Commons on Tuesday if Labour MPs refuse to support the policy. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said the cut is necessary due to the state...

Eight arrests have been made as pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched through central London in protest at the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. Thousands of campaigners set off from Piccadilly Circus shortly after 1.30pm on Saturday, with the march passing alongside Hyde Park before ending on Kensington Road. The Metropolitan Police said in a post on X that the arrests were for a range of offences, including those under the Public Order Act. Protesters held signs at the demonstration that read 'Starmer has blood on his hands' and 'Stop the war coalition'. The march was briefly halted when at least two...

Fresh off the crackdown on so-called “keyboard warriors” over social media posts connected to the recent anti-mass migration riots, leading leftist politicians in Britain are beginning to demand for new speech restrictions on the internet. Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, whose neo-liberal Labour Party government enacted some of the strictest speech laws in modern British history, has joined the chorus of commentators demanding a new crackdown on social media.

Archaeologists revealed Tuesday that there may actually be some truth to the legend of Merlin and his death in Scotland. The legend goes that Merlin, loyal advisor to King Arthur, was imprisoned in Drumelzier in the Dark Ages, before being killed and buried on the banks of the river Tweed, according to a study published in the journal Archaeology Reports Online. A geophysical survey revealed that there is a grave-like pit in the region. When archaeologists started digging, what they found seemed quite unexpected. Excavations conducted at Tinnis Fort, which overlooks the area of Merlin’s grave in Drumelzier, found it...