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July 31 (UPI) — The British teen serving a 52-year sentence for the Southport killings of three young girls was charged Friday with additional crimes allegedly committed while in prison, including aggravated assault and weapons offenses.

Axel Rudakubana, 19, is accused of assaulting emergency workers in two separate attacks, one count of aggravated assault and possession of an offensive weapon between May and late October 2025

Police said all the alleged incidents took place at HMP Belmarsh in London.

Rudakubana is scheduled to go before Westminster Magistrates’ Court on September 11 to answer the charges.

He will appear via video-link from Broadmoor Hospital, a high-security psychiatric facility west of London to which he was transferred from prison last week.

Officials determined he was too dangerous for a regular penal institution following an independent clinical assessment, but the Justice Ministry stressed that would be returned to prison to complete his sentence once his mental state had improved and he was assessed as well enough to do so.

A psych evaluation after he carried out the July 2024 knife rampage that killed Bebe King, 6, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, 9, and seriously injured eight other children and two adults, found him fit to stand trial.

Following a trial in January 2025, Rudakubana was sentenced to a record 52 years in prison, minus time spent on remand.

The judge was unable to impose a so-called whole-life sentence normally applied for crimes of this seriousness, where the offender remains in prison until they die, as Rudakubana was 17 at the time of the attack.

He will become eligible for parole in 2076, just shy of his 70th birthday, but is unlikely to ever be released from prison.

The initial phase of an official inquiry into the killings concluded in April that Rudakubana could have been stopped but for the “catastrophic” and “irresponsible” failures of authorities and his parents.

Former Appeal Court judge Sir Adrian Fulford, said the attack woud likely have been prevented if Rudakubana’s parents had reported what they knew and law enforcement, child and mental health agencies responded appropriately to the risk he was known to present.

The Indianapolis Colts took a flyer on an impressive athlete from Kenya 13 years ago, but a story that began with an inspirational backdrop has taken an increasingly familiar turn: Daniel Adongo was deported from the United States last month, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed.

According to ICE, Adongo, 37, overstayed his visa after his brief NFL career ended in 2015 and he remained in Indiana. The former linebacker and African rugby star was arrested several times over the past nine years for crimes including felony intimidation, battery and disorderly conduct. He also showed signs of mental illness, according to court records.

“This dangerous individual was clearly a threat to the community, which is now safer since he’s been removed,” ICE Chicago Assistant Field Office Director Douglas Thompson said in a statement. “Those who violate immigration law are held equally accountable, including former professional athletes.”

Adongo was released by the Colts after playing in two games in 2013 and three in 2015, mostly on special teams. The team cut ties with him after police were called to a home in Fishers, Ind., to check on a woman who lived with Adongo.

According to a police report, the woman’s friend contacted law enforcement. Adongo was not at the residence at the time, and the woman declined medical assistance. The Hamilton County prosecutor’s office reviewed the case and did not charge Adongo.

However, the 6-foot-5, 260-pound Adongo began exhibiting increasingly erratic behavior. In 2017, an Indiana judge found him mentally incompetent to stand trial in a criminal case in which he was charged with intimidation and criminal mischief and ordered him committed to a state psychiatric hospital for evaluation and observation, according to the Indianapolis Star.

The only crime Adongo has been convicted of is a criminal mischief misdemeanor in 2020 for which he was sentenced to 364 days in jail, according to ICE. Other charges for intimidation, battery and disorderly conduct were dismissed.

Judges twice found Adongo incompetent to stand trial, according to court filings, including one case in which an expert witness testified that Adongo was acutely psychotic and possibly suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy — brain trauma — from playing football and rugby.

Members of Adongo’s family described in court filings a dramatic personality change in him after his playing career ended and expressed concern that he struggled to access mental health treatment.

ICE held Adongo without bond for several months under the Laken Riley Act, a federal law signed Jan. 29, 2025, that requires the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to detain undocumented immigrants without bond when arrested for specific crimes. He was deported one month ago.

Adongo was the first of two Kenyans to play in the NFL. The second was guard Rees Odhiambo, who played in 16 games from 2016 to 2018 for the Seattle Seahawks and Arizona Cardinals.

McLaren have fallen to the back of the top four teams in recent races as rivals have introduced upgrades, but the hope is that the aerodynamic package to be brought in across the Hungarian and Dutch Grands Prix on either side of Formula 1’s summer break will return them to competitiveness.

They decided that it was better to take the grid penalty in Belgium, where they expect to be no more competitive than at the last race in Britain but where passing is relatively straightforward, than compromise Hungary, where the car should perform better and overtaking is notoriously difficult.

Norris said: “I have to wait and see really how the overtaking is. We probably have a small straight-line speed advantage, comparing to people a little bit further back. So comparing to them we should have a good chance.

“To just overtake in general could be pretty difficult here. But the slipstream is pretty big, and there’s still a few straights, but there’s no straight-line mode (through some of the flat-out sections), and therefore the slipstream is pretty large, and you can gain a good amount from that.

“But we know it’s better than Zandvoort, and better than Hungary taking penalties. I hope it’s not the end of my weekend before it started, but I’m still confident we can have a good race.”

Norris’ grid penalty comes after a troubled start to the season for the team that won a drivers’ and constructors’ championship double last year, in both performance and reliability terms.

Technically, the part replaced in Belgium is known as the ‘power electronics’, which is a control computer within the battery module.

Norris failed to start the Chinese Grand Prix in March after a terminal issue with his power electronics unit, and a second example of that part had to be withdrawn after suffering problems in practice at the following race in Japan.

The Japan unit was repaired but suffered a terminal problem in practice in Monaco.

A McLaren statement said: “While the power electronics unit we installed in Japan, and have used in every session since Miami, has worked reliably, Mercedes-AMG High Performance Powertrains (HPP) has since introduced a series of reliability fixes to their new power electronics systems.

“However, in order to take advantage of these improvements, we must incur a 10-place grid penalty on Lando’s car in order to take a new unit.”

The statement added: “We now plan to use this fourth power electronics unit for the remainder of the season, in order to maximise reliability while minimising sporting penalties on Lando.”

McLaren will have a new rear wing design in Spa, which the team hopes will better suit the specific characteristics of the flowing high-speed track around the Ardennes forests.

This wing will have a conventional opening style in straight-line mode, rather than the somersaulting designs introduced this season by Ferrari and Red Bull.

Red Bull have had to revert to a conventional wing this weekend after Max Verstappen suffered high-speed crashes at the previous two races because of issues with the design.

Mercedes have had a series of engine-related reliability issues this year, not all to do with the battery.

Another has emerged with the engine used by championship leader Kimi Antonelli at the British Grand Prix.

That has had to go back to the HPP’s base in Brixworth for investigation and the Italian has a new engine as a result this weekend in Belgium. This is from within his allocation and therefore comes with no penalty.

Depending on the outcome of the investigations, Mercedes hope to be able to put Antonelli’s Silverstone unit back into the pool for use later in the year.

July 3 (Asia Today) — A U.S. battery joint venture between South Korea’s LG Energy Solution and Honda has begun mass-producing lithium-ion cells for energy storage systems at its Ohio plant, the company said.

L-H Battery Company began production Thursday at its factory in Jeffersonville, Fayette County.

The cells will be supplied through LG Energy Solution Vertech, the South Korean company’s North American energy-storage system integration subsidiary.

They are expected to be used in utility power grids as well as commercial, industrial and residential energy-storage systems across the United States.

The Ohio plant was originally built primarily to manufacture batteries for Honda electric vehicles.

The partners adjusted the factory’s production strategy as growth in the electric-vehicle market slowed and changes in the U.S. regulatory and policy environment increased uncertainty for automakers and battery manufacturers.

The joint venture decided to prioritize the faster-growing energy-storage market while maintaining the flexibility to produce cells for other applications.

It plans to consider manufacturing batteries for hybrid-electric vehicles at the plant as market conditions evolve.

Honda said in May that it would convert part of the joint venture’s electric-vehicle battery production lines to make batteries for hybrid vehicles.

The company also said it would use the Ohio battery facilities for other applications as it restructures its North American vehicle and battery production network.

Honda canceled plans in March to develop and launch three electric-vehicle models that had been scheduled for production in North America, citing changes in the business environment.

The start of storage-battery production marks a significant step in LG Energy Solution’s strategy to manufacture more energy-storage products within North America.

Demand is rising as utilities add renewable-energy capacity and seek batteries that can store electricity when supply exceeds consumption.

Artificial intelligence data centers are also increasing electricity demand and creating a need for additional power-generation, transmission and storage infrastructure.

Energy-storage systems can help stabilize power grids by storing electricity during periods of low demand and releasing it when demand rises.

LG Energy Solution has been converting or adapting electric-vehicle battery facilities to produce storage batteries as manufacturers respond to slower electric-vehicle growth.

The company plans to operate five energy-storage battery manufacturing sites in North America.

The network includes plants in Holland and Lansing, Mich., the NextStar Energy facility in Windsor, Ontario, the Ultium Cells factory in Spring Hill, Tenn., and the L-H Battery Company plant in Ohio.

LG Energy Solution said it aims to secure more than 50 gigawatt-hours of annual energy-storage battery production capacity in North America by the end of 2026.

The company said batteries manufactured in Ohio will support projects serving power grids, businesses and homes.

BloombergNEF has projected that the U.S. energy-storage market could expand to 485 gigawatt-hours in 2030 and 976 gigawatt-hours in 2035.

“Energy storage systems are an important future business for L-H Battery Company and will become a core business pillar along with the production of battery cells for hybrid-electric vehicles,” L-H Battery Company Chief Executive Officer Koo Ja-hoon said.

Chief Operating Officer Rick Riggle said the company has hired employees and begun production since the joint venture was established in 2023.

“This start of mass production is significant because it goes beyond simply operating a plant and establishes a stable production base for our North American business,” Riggle said.

LG Energy Solution and Honda formally established L-H Battery Company in 2023 to manufacture lithium-ion batteries in Ohio.

The joint venture was initially designed to support Honda’s expanding electric-vehicle production in North America.

The revised production strategy allows the companies to use the plant for energy storage and hybrid vehicles while retaining the ability to respond if electric-vehicle demand recovers.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260703010001209

May 17 (Asia Today) — Samsung SDI invested more than 1 trillion won in facilities and research during the first quarter despite a slowdown in the global electric vehicle battery market.

The company spent 1.0243 trillion won ($733 million) on capital expenditures and research and development in the January-March period, according to its first-quarter report.

That was down from 1.1314 trillion won ($809 million) a year earlier, reflecting tighter spending controls amid weak battery demand.

Samsung SDI reported an operating loss of 155.6 billion won ($111 million) in the first quarter, though it reduced the deficit by 64%.

Research and development spending rose sharply to 434.8 billion won ($311 million), up 21.8% from 357 billion won ($255 million) a year earlier. R&D accounted for 12.2% of revenue.

Capital expenditures fell to 589.4 billion won ($421 million), down 23.9% from 774.4 billion won ($554 million) in the same period last year.

Battery industry analysts say Samsung SDI appears to be shifting its strategy from aggressive capacity expansion toward advanced technology development, including solid-state batteries and 46-millimeter cylindrical cells.

The book value of Samsung SDI’s assets under construction stood at 7.5205 trillion won ($5.38 billion) at the end of the first quarter, up about 330 billion won ($236 million) from the end of last year.

Samsung SDI is pursuing major overseas projects including a joint battery plant with General Motors in Indiana and a second joint plant with Stellantis.

A battery industry official said aggressive facility expansion during a downturn could increase fixed-cost pressure.

“Samsung SDI appears to be adjusting the speed of investment while focusing on high-value products and supply chain stability,” the official said.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260517010004588