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AN EX-KGB spymaster who subjected the British secret service to its worst embarrassment since the Cold War is the right-hand man of Lord Mandelson's controversial Russian friend Oleg Deripaska, the Evening Standard discloses today. Valery Pechenkin was a high-ranking officer in the KGB and a Colonel-General in its successor, the FSB. He is employed as head of security at Deripaska's company Basic Element, but the part he plays in Deripaska's affairs goes far beyond the role suggested by his job title. According to well-placed sources in Moscow, Pechenkin is one of Deripaska's strongest links to the Kremlin. The veteran spy...

The man who was killed by a tiger after entering its enclosure at a wildlife park has been identified as William Chapman, the BBC understands. Chapman entered the enclosure at Yorkshire Wildlife Park near Doncaster shortly after 13:30 BST on Saturday and was pronounced dead at the scene, according to South Yorkshire Police. An eyewitness described seeing him wearing headphones and "pacing around" near the enclosure before he went in and was attacked. Police confirmed he was visiting the park on his own. A force spokesperson said his family was aware and was being supported by specialist officers. The park...

A Christian teacher is taking legal action against a school in Sunderland after being sacked for telling students she is pro-life. Anita Meston, who's been a teacher for 28 years, joined Biddick Academy in Washington in October 2024. During a Year 8 history lesson which focused on the bombing of Dresden in World War II, she asked whether similar moral questions surrounded the current conflict in Palestine. When asked by a pupil, Meston said that she was “pro-Israel” but lamented the deaths of innocent people in Gaza. Later in the lesson, a different student asked if she was “pro-abortion”, to...

A police investigation has been launched into the death of the 67-year-old - a wanted man in Russia, and an opponent of President Vladimir Putin. A former Kremlin power-broker whose fortunes declined under Mr Putin, Mr Berezovsky emigrated to the UK in 2000. Thames Valley Police said the death, at a property in Ascot, Berkshire, was being treated as unexplained. The area around the property has been cordoned off to allow the investigation to take place, the force said. The inquiry was at a very early stage and more details will be released when available, it added. A South Central...

The UK government has revived plans for digital IDs, now saying they’ll be voluntary — not mandatory — after fierce public backlash. But privacy, surveillance, and hacking concerns remain. We talked to British citizens to find out if they trust the government with their data. (TRT is a Turkish public broadcast service)

Sir Kier Starmer has come under fire for representing a notorious hate preacher in court. The leader of the opposition represented Abu Qatada at a hearing in 2008. While he was a leading KC (King's Counsel) barrister, Starmer was one of a number of human rights lawyers who represented Qatada in hearings. Sir Keir’s spokesperson has told The Telegraph that it was his job as a lawyer to represent people he doesn't agree with and has described the allegations as "desperate attacks from a Tory party that has given up on running the country." Qatada arrived in the UK on...

LONDON (AP) — The fate of the Chagos Islands is in the hands of one man almost half a world away. The contested Indian Ocean archipelago that is home to a strategically important U.K.-U.S. military base has been in limbo since U.S. President Donald Trump in January criticized a deal by the U.K. government to transfer sovereignty of the islands to Mauritius. U.K. Defense Secretary Wes Streeting said Wednesday that officials are reviewing the pact after Trump renewed his criticism of the U.K.-Mauritius agreement, calling it a “terrible deal,” during his first meeting with Prime Minister Andy Burnham in New...

One post, "time for mass deportation," paired with a caption about a supposed "12-year-old Mohammed" who wanted donors to move him from a three-star hotel to a five-star hotel with a better halal menu, free Wi-Fi, Sky, and a location nearer a girls' school, was treated as politics. The judge said it concerned an issue already debated in Parliament and acquitted Gray. The second post was the one that counted. It showed a rasher of bacon next to a man in a turban, with the caption: "Fun facts about bacon! People who eat bacon have a lower chance of marrying...

Christian@InTheTrenchesUK·7hTHIS MORNING. RAF FAIRFORD. 00:45.A pensioner called 999. Not MI5. Not GCHQ. A villager spotted three suspicious vans heading toward a US bomber base and dialled 999.Five men arrested under the Explosives Act, then upgraded to Section 5 of the Terrorism Act: preparation of a terrorist act. Three vans. 85 homes evacuated at 1.30am. Army bomb disposal robot inside a 400-metre cordon. Counter Terrorism Policing now leading. Major incident declared.The operation was not intelligence-led. A resident made a phone call. That is what stopped it.The IRGC already told you this was coming.In July 2026, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps issued...

“The United States has decided to remove all of its B-1 bombers from an air base in the United Kingdom following a suspected terror plot in the country. Around a dozen American bombers were stationed at the RAF Fairford air base, located northwest of London, until the Pentagon made the move on Sunday. The air base was used as a hub for launching bomber strikes in Iran. The Pentagon said in a statement on Sunday: 'While operational security precluded us from confirming the movement of our assets and forces in real-time, we can acknowledge now that all U.S. bombers that...

For nearly two decades, Lesney Products ruled the world's pockets and playrooms. Born in a bombed-out London pub garage after the war, this British firm turned die-cast metal into pure childhood gold, selling hundreds of millions of tiny cars under the Matchbox name and building a monopoly so complete that "Matchbox" became the generic word for toy car itself, the way "Hoover" meant vacuum cleaner. Their factories in Hackney and Kentish Town ran round the clock, their sales curves only pointed skyward, and their executives believed, with total conviction, that no one could ever touch them. Then in 1968 an...

A heavily pregnant woman has been left homeless after a council that houses more than 3,500 migrants refused her emergency accommodation, a charity says. Homeless Project Scotland posted on Facebook claiming the 34-week-pregnant woman, who said she had fled an abusive relationship in London, was snubbed by Glasgow City Council. The charity's chief executive Colin McInnes described her plight as one of the most 'horrific' he had seen. The shelter said it was 'extremely concerning' that the woman had no where else to go as Mr McInnes urged Prime Minister Andy Burnham to 'take back control' of homeless services from...

The Islamist organisation 5 Pillars has reported John Cleese to the Prevent Programme after John made factual, accurate and valid statements about Islam John's statements on Islam: “To criticise a culture whose holy book advocates the killing of all the people they disagree with...is not racist. It’s culturalist.” “traditional British values are under attack from Muslim belief systems, especially the Koranic demands to kill ‘infidels’.” “I personally prefer a culture that does not approve of Female Genital Mutilation, Child Marriage and Killing Infidels.” “Another religious diktat from the Pro-Paedophila Propaganda Department.” 5 Pillars are a vile organisation who should not...

Counter-terror police are leading an investigation in which five men were arrested on suspicion of explosives offences and preparation of a terrorist act near an RAF base which hosts the United States Air Force (USAF). The men were detained after police received a report of "three suspicious vehicles" travelling towards RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire at about 00:45 BST on Sunday, officers said. A major incident was declared and an Army explosive ordnance disposal team has been examining vehicles near the base. Eighty-five households in the nearby village of Whelford have been evacuated while investigations continue. Officials believe the incident is...

There is a decisive shift occurring in European politics. It’s happening across nations – and parties. It lies behind the far-right Alternative für Deutschland’s victory in the Saxony-Anhalt state election last weekend. And it is the under-reported factor in the close general election being fought in Sweden this weekend. In almost every part of the continent, the politics of crime, security, migration and citizenship is driving governments to harden their borders and toughen their approach towards integration, especially when it comes to Islamism. On the centre-right, the Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker has outlined this week that he plans to bring...

The British military has been jamming or blocking satellites from other countries in order to defend itself from hostile threats, the BBC has been told. The RAF has been using a ground-based system for the past year, which a defence source said had already been used "to deter our adversaries". It is understood the system could be used to prevent a hostile nation's satellites from tracking the movement of the UK's nuclear armed submarines or other sensitive military operations, such as those involving special forces. It comes as the head of the RAF said the UK faced "unprecedented threats" from...

WHAT THE ISLAMIST-APPEASER BBC OMITTED IN INTERVIEWING JORDANIAN ARAB "KING" Nov-14-2011BBC News Special: Lyse Doucet speaks to King Abdullah of Jordanhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/programmes/2011/11/111114_king_abdullah_of_jordan_interview.shtml___1) "King" Abdullah of Jordan outrageously said -typically- propagated to BBC that if Israel would have just solved the "Palestinian" problem, it wouldn't had to deal with Iran nukes... that Iran wouldn't want -then- to attack Israel... The BBC Reporter --of course-- "forgot" to press about the clear genocide the Islamic Republic has repeatedly reiterated in 1994 (in Argentina by Iranian official Mohsen Rabbani),[1][2] in 2005 [3][4][5][6] and 2007 [7] (by Ahmadinejad) for Israel to be WIPED OFF, Period. What's...

Assisted suicide is legal in several countries, including Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland, as well as parts of the US, although eligibility rules vary. UK lawmakers on Friday rejected legislation that would have allowed terminally ill adults in England and Wales to choose to end their lives. Following an impassioned four-hour debate in the House of Commons, the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill was rejected by 286 votes to 270. The outcome marked a notable reversal from last year, when an almost identical bill passed with a majority of 23 votes. The bill would have allowed...

New survey shows evangelical church attendance and belief are growing in the UK despite overall Christian declineEvangelical communities are among the youngest and most diverse segments of British ChristianityFindings suggest genuine faith commitment is thriving even as nominal Christianity fadesWhile headlines continue to proclaim the death of Christianity in Britain, a new survey reveals a stunning counter-narrative: evangelical Christianity is not just surviving—it’s growing. The research from the Evangelical Alliance demonstrates that authentic, Bible-believing faith is expanding even as cultural Christianity continues its decline across the United Kingdom.Peter Lynas of the Evangelical Alliance points to compelling evidence that evangelical communities...

Saturday Night Live UK returned for its second season — and wasted no time getting stuck into Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. The Sky series cold opened with a sketch (watch above) in which the Duke and Duchess of Sussex (as depicted by Jack Shep and Ayoade Bamgboye) visited the King and Queen in Scotland's Balmoral Castle. Larry Dean's King Charles III was aghast at his child's reappearance. "Don't tell me you've spent all your Netflix money already," he asked incredulously. "It was $60 million. How long was it meant to last?" Prince Harry replied. Queen Camilla, as played by...