Crime

The International Criminal Court confirmed 39 charges against Kony, paving the way for a trial if he is ever captured.

Judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) have confirmed war crimes and crimes against humanity charges against Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony, nearly two decades after the court first issued a warrant for his arrest.

Kony, who remains at large, faces 39 charges, including murder, sexual enslavement and rape, making him the ICC’s longest-standing fugitive.

Judges from the ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber III said there are “substantial grounds to believe that Mr Kony is criminally responsible for the crimes” committed in northern Uganda between 2002 and 2005, when he commanded the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).

Besides crimes committed by his rebels, the judges said Kony could also be held responsible for 10 crimes he allegedly committed himself, linked to two women he forced to become his wives.

“Mr Kony issued standing orders to attack civilian settlements, kill and mistreat civilians, loot and destroy their property and abduct children and women to be integrated into the LRA,” the judges said in their ruling.

The ruling marks the first time the ICC has confirmed charges in a suspect’s absence, meaning the case can formally proceed to trial if Kony is ever captured. Under ICC rules, a full trial cannot begin without the defendant’s presence in court.

Prosecutors said efforts to track down and arrest Kony, now 64, are ongoing.

The ICC’s decision followed a three-day hearing in September in which prosecutors and victims’ lawyers presented evidence and testimony without Kony present – an unusual procedure that set the stage for Thursday’s ruling.

Years of investigations and witness accounts formed the basis of the decision.

Emerging from northern Uganda’s Acholi region in the late 1980s, Kony’s LRA combined Christian mysticism with an armed rebellion against President Yoweri Museveni’s government.

The United Nations estimates about 100,000 people were killed and 2.5 million displaced during the conflict.

Even after being pushed out of Uganda, LRA fighters launched deadly raids across South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Central African Republic, burning villages, looting communities and abducting tens of thousands of children – the abducted boys forced to fight and girls forced into sexual slavery.

Kony came back into international focus in 2012 when a viral video about his crimes led to the #Kony2012 campaign on social media.

Despite the global attention and years of military operations to apprehend Kony, he remains at large.

A new trailer has been released for an upcoming crime drama on Sky that fans won’t want to miss

Sky has unveiled the thrilling first trailer for an upcoming prequel series to one of their best shows.

Gomorrah – The Origins will be released in early 2026 and revealing the startling story of how Pietro Savastano, originally portrayed by Fortunato Cerlino, became one of the most notorious crime bosses in Naples.

The original Italian crime drama aired between 2014-2021 and was one of Sky’s biggest international shows, becoming a worldwide hit after airing in 190 countries.

Now, rising star Luca Lubrano steps into Pietro’s shoes in a six-part origin story kicking off in 1977.

Sky says the gripping new drama will tell “the story of how it all began — how a very young Pietro Savastano will enter a criminal world set against the backdrop of a city in transformation: poor, rough-edged, hooked on cigarette smuggling and about to enter a new era of heroin use.”

Also joining the cast are Francesco Pellegrino as reluctant gangster Angelo ‘A Sirena’, Flavio Furno as charismatic convict ‘O Paisano’, Tullia Venezia as musician Imma, who goes on to become Pietro’s wife, and Fabiola Balestriere as young mother Annalisa Magliocca before she became the notorious female drug lord Scianel.

Supporting cast includes Antonio Buono, Ciro Burzo, Luigi Cardone, Antonio Del Duca, Mattia Francesco Cozzolino, Junior Rancel Rodriguez Arcia, and Antonio Incalza.

The first trailer revealed a fun and fast-paced thriller that will nevertheless delve into Naples’ darker underbelly as fans follow the rise of one of the most iconic characters in international drama.

Based on the bestselling novel by Roberto Saviano, it’s a must-watch for fans of the original series and is also bound to attract newcomers to the franchise who will immediately want to binge all five seasons of the flagship hit.

An official synopsis for Gomorrah – The Origins from Sky reads: “Pietro is a tough city kid who grew up in the poorest parts of Secondigliano.

“He and his friends survive any way they can, riding their mopeds around town and committing petty theft.

“But he has a big dream: to become like Angelo ‘A Sirena, the neighbourhood’s ‘king’. When he manages to get in the graces of the young boss, he finds himself caught in a power game far beyond him.

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“He ends up wondering whether this dark, violent criminal life is really what he wants or if his love for Imma can save him from such a fate.”

The original series overwhelmingly received five-star reviews from fans and, with writers Leonardo Fasoli, Maddalena Ravagli and author Saviano back on board for the prequel, it’s expected to reach similar soaring heights.

One fan raved about the original Gomorrah: “I absolutely adore this show. It’s raw, realistic, and unflinchingly brutal.

“As someone hailing from the North of Italy, I was already familiar with the Camorra, but this series opened my eyes to just how merciless it can be.

“The actors deliver outstanding performances, the script is flawlessly executed, and the storyline is gripping.”

Gomorrah – The Origins premiere in early 2026 on Sky and streaming service NOW.

United States lawmakers have written to Andrew, Britain’s disgraced former prince, requesting that he sit for a formal interview about his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, a day after King Charles III formally stripped his younger brother of his royal titles.

Separately, a secluded desert ranch where Epstein once entertained guests is coming under renewed scrutiny in the US state of New Mexico, with two state legislators proposing a “truth commission” to uncover the full extent of the financier’s crimes there.

On Thursday, 16 Democratic Party members of Congress signed a letter addressed to “Mr Mountbatten Windsor”, as Andrew is now known, to participate in a “transcribed interview” with the US House of Representatives oversight committee’s investigation into Epstein.

“The committee is seeking to uncover the identities of Mr Epstein’s co-conspirators and enablers and to understand the full extent of his criminal operations,” the letter read.

“Well-documented allegations against you, along with your longstanding friendship with Mr Epstein, indicate that you may possess knowledge of his activities relevant to our investigation,” it added.

The letter asked Andrew to respond by November 20.

The US Congress has no power to compel testimony from foreigners, making it unlikely Andrew will give evidence.

The letter will be another unwelcome development for the disgraced former prince after a turbulent few weeks.

On October 30, Buckingham Palace said King Charles had “initiated a formal process” to revoke Andrew’s royal status after weeks of pressure to act over his relationship with Epstein – who took his own life in prison in 2019 while facing sex trafficking charges.

The rare move to strip a British prince or princess of their title – last taken in 1919 after Prince Ernest Augustus sided with Germany during World War I – also meant that Andrew was evicted from his lavish Royal Lodge mansion in Windsor and moved into “private accommodation”.

King Charles formally made the changes with an announcement published on Wednesday in The Gazette – the United Kingdom’s official public record – saying Andrew “shall no longer be entitled to hold and enjoy the style, title or attribute of ‘Royal Highness’ and the titular dignity of ‘Prince’”.

Andrew surrendered his use of the title Duke of York earlier in October following new abuse allegations from his accuser, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, in her posthumous memoir, which hit shelves last month.

The Democrat lawmakers referenced Giuffre’s memoir in their letter, specifically claims that she feared “retaliation if she made allegations against” Andrew, and that he had asked his personal protection officer to “dig up dirt” on his accuser for a smear campaign in 2011.

“This fear of retaliation has been a persistent obstacle to many of those who were victimised in their fight for justice,” the letter said. “In addition to Mr. Epstein’s crimes, we are investigating any such efforts to silence, intimidate, or threaten victims.”

Giuffre, who alleges that Epstein trafficked her to have sex with Andrew on three occasions, twice when she was just 17, took her own life in Australia in April.

In 2022, Andrew paid Giuffre a multimillion-pound settlement to resolve a civil lawsuit she had levelled against him. Andrew denied the allegations, and he has not been charged with any crime.

On Thursday, Democratic lawmakers also turned the spotlight on Zorro Ranch, proposing to the House of Representatives’ Courts, Corrections and Justice Interim Committee that a commission be created to investigate alleged crimes against young girls at the New Mexico property, which Epstein purchased in 1993.

State Representative Andrea Romero said several survivors of Epstein’s abuse have signalled that sex trafficking activity extended to the secluded desert ranch with a hilltop mansion and private runway in Stanley, about 56 kilometres (35 miles) south of the state capital, Santa Fe.

“This commission will specifically seek the truth about what officials knew, how crimes were unreported or reported, and how the state can ensure that this essentially never happens again,” Romero told a panel of legislators.

“There’s no complete record of what occurred,” she said.

Representative Marianna Anaya, presenting to the committee alongside Romero, said state authorities missed several opportunities over decades to stop Epstein.

“Even after all these years, you know, there are still questions of New Mexico’s role as a state, our roles in terms of oversight and accountability for the survivors who are harmed,” she said.

New Mexico laws allowed Epstein to avoid registering locally as a sex offender long after he was required to register in Florida, where he was convicted of soliciting a minor for prostitution in 2008.

Republican Representative Andrea Reeb said she believed New Mexicans “have a right to know what happened at this ranch” and she didn’t feel the commission was going to be a “big political thing”.

To move forward, approval will be needed from the state House when the legislature convenes in January.

Netflix has released a new four-episode series that follows a serial killer who strikes terror in Italy by targeting couples parked in lovers lanes – and viewers have been urged to check it out

Netflix subscribers are being urged to watch a gripping mini-series that will have you hooked from the very first episode. Film enthusiast Eccy Reviews, who shares the latest film and TV recommendations on social media, has told his followers they must watch The Monster of Florence.

The four-part series tells the true story of a “serial killer who strikes terror in Italy by targeting couples parked in lovers lanes, authorities explore a case from 1968 that may be key to identifying The Monster of Florence”. Directed by Leonardo Fasoli and Stefano Sollima, the programme features performances from Francesca Olia, Liliana Bottone, and Marco Bullitta.

Discussing the series, Eccy Reviews said: “You need to stop whatever you’re doing because Netflix just dropped a brand new series and it honestly might be one of the best shows of the year.”.

“It’s based on a true story. Now, trust me when I tell you that the first episode will have you absolutely hooked. It made me binge the entire thing and I honestly can’t recommend it enough.

“It can’t go under the radar. Everyone needs to watch it, everyone needs to talk about it. So make sure to get this show on your watch list and get it watched.”

Responding to his recommendation, one viewer said: “When I say my jaw just kept hitting the floor! This was a lot to take in but I did like it.”

Another commented: “Straight out of a Criminal Minds episode.”

A third wrote: “I always follow your recommendations, I’m starting it now.”

One viewer shared their thoughts on IMDb, stating: “I’d never heard of these murders until I watched this series.

“It’s well-acted and portrays the changing look and feel of the time periods in which it is set – a 20 year time span – through decor, cars, fashions and background music.

“The treatment of women is absolutely disturbing – not just the horrific murders but also the total misogyny and disrespect that they lived under in some family units.

“Apart from the detectives investigating these crimes – and the innocent victims – I don’t think there is one man featured who has any redeemable qualities.

“It was interesting but at times repetitive in that the same event was shown several times, albeit from different people’s perspective.”

Another viewer chimed in with: “This crime thriller is based on true events. After long time finally a solid psycho murder episode from Italy on Netflix.

“I find it is actually on short supply to see good series or movies from Italy on Netflix. The first episode was for me too slow paced and I thought already to stop.

“But the longer I watched it the more interesting the story got. There are many flashbacks to reconstruct the mystery puzzles and help so the audience to understand what was really going on.

“The atmosphere and filming locations have been wonderfully created from the 60s to the 80s.

“The actors played the characters respectably and I think the director did a great job too.

“If you liked the other two psycho killer series on Netflix Jeffrey Dahmer or Ed Gein this is for you. Final vote: 7/10.”

Sheinbaum calls for nationwide review of sexual harassment laws, as attack shines light on Mexico’s poor record on women’s safety.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has called for sexual harassment to be made a crime nationwide after being groped on the street while greeting supporters near the presidential palace in Mexico City.

Sheinbaum, 63, said on Wednesday that she had pressed charges against the man and would review nationwide legislation on sexual harassment following the attack by a drunk man who put his arm around her shoulder, and with the other hand touched her hip and chest, while attempting to kiss her neck.

Mexico’s first woman president removed the man’s hands before a member of her staff stepped between them. The president’s security detail did not appear to be nearby at the moment of the attack, which was caught on camera.

The man was later arrested.

“My thinking is: If I don’t file a complaint, what becomes of other Mexican women? If this happens to the president, what will happen to all the women in our country?” Sheinbaum told her regular morning news conference on Wednesday.

In a post on social media, the president said the attack was “something that many women experience in the country and in the world”.

Presenté una denuncia por el episodio de acoso que viví ayer en la Ciudad de México. Debe quedar claro que, más allá de ser presidenta, esto es algo que viven muchas mujeres en el país y en el mundo; nadie puede vulnerar nuestro cuerpo y espacio personal.

Revisaremos la… pic.twitter.com/jcs6FweI6q

— Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo (@Claudiashein) November 5, 2025

Translation: I filed a complaint for the harassment episode that I experienced yesterday in Mexico City. It must be clear that, beyond being president, this is something that many women experience in the country and in the world; no one can violate our body and personal space. We will review the legislation so that this crime is punishable in all 32 states.

Sheinbaum explained that the incident occurred when she and her team had decided to walk from the National Palace to the Education Ministry to save time. She said they could walk the route in five minutes, rather than taking a 20-minute car ride.

She also called on states across Mexico to look at their laws and procedures to make it easier for women to report such assaults and said Mexicans needed to hear a “loud and clear, no, women’s personal space must not be violated”.

Mexico’s 32 states and Mexico City, which is a federal entity, all have their own criminal codes, and not all states consider sexual harassment a crime.

“It should be a criminal offence, and we are going to launch a campaign,” Sheinbaum said, adding that she had suffered similar attacks in her youth.

The incident has put the focus on Mexico’s troubling record on women’s safety, with sexual harassment commonplace and rights groups warning of a femicide crisis, and the United Nations reporting that an average of 10 women are murdered every day in the country.

About 70 percent of Mexican women aged 15 and over will also experience at least one incident of sexual harassment in their lives, according to the UN.

The attack also focused criticism on Sheinbaum’s security detail and on her insistence on maintaining a degree of intimacy with the public, despite Mexican politicians regularly being a target of cartel violence.

But Sheinbaum dismissed any suggestion that she would increase her security or change how she interacts with people following the incident.

At nationwide rallies in September to mark her first year in power, the president allowed supporters to embrace her and take selfies.

Pickpocketing is a major issue in popular tourist cities such as Barcelona, but it’s not Spain that tops the list as the prime location for this slick-fingered crime

While Barcelona is infamous for its high levels of pickpocketing, it’s not Spain that takes the crown as the prime hotspot for this nimble-fingered crime. Despite pickpocketing being a major issue – particularly for tourists – in Barcelona, the problem is rampant across Europe and beyond, with one European holiday destination dubbed the “worst” for light-fingered theft.

In tourist-heavy areas, holidaymakers must be extra vigilant with their belongings, especially in airports, train stations, underground systems, hotel lobbies or even while strolling down certain streets. UK travel insurance firm Quotezone.co.uk revealed last year that it had pinpointed where travellers were most likely to fall prey to pickpockets, singling out a location visited by 3.5 million Brits each year.

Tourists have corroborated the research with reviews on one particular visitor hotspot warning of “a lot of pickpockets in the area”. Data gathered by Quotezone showed that Italy was the prime spot where tourists are likely to be separated from their possessions by nimble-fingered thieves.

Rome’s iconic Trevi Fountain has been flagged as a hotbed for pickpocketing, with the landmark boasting over 100,000 reviews – and hundreds of mentions of “pickpockets” on TripAdvisor, reports the Express.

As a site that becomes packed from spring through to summer, visitors are cautioned to “be careful” at this “beautiful” Roman landmark.

One disgruntled holidaymaker took to TripAdvisor to vent: “You have to elbow your way to the front of the fountain. Many people gather in front and sit for hours, so sitting is almost impossible.

“We didn’t spend more than 15 minutes. Be aware of pick pockets, as you are body to body in front and around the fountain.”

Another tourist, also reviewing on TripAdvisor, described a “beautiful fountain” but warned that the area was “extremely crowded”, cautioning others to “beware of this area” due to “lots of scams and pick pockets”.

According to research by Quotezone, Italy tops the list as the prime hotspot for pickpockets, closely followed by France, with the Eiffel Tower in Paris being particularly notorious.

Currently, Google reviews of the Eiffel Tower reveal over 800 visitors citing pickpockets as a problem – and the area is swamped with tourists throughout the year.

One Google reviewer shared their experience, describing the Eiffel Tower as “enormous and breathtaking”, but they also issued a warning.

The visitor penned: “It’s a very popular place, so expect big crowds; people from all over the world gather here to admire the monument and take in the scenery.

“Because of that volume of visitors, be mindful of your belongings. Pickpockets operate in crowded tourist spots, and there are street hustles and game scammers who may try to distract you or pressure you into playing quick ‘games’ that aren’t fair.”

The reviewer added: “Keep bags zipped and close, avoid carrying valuables in easily accessible pockets, and politely decline invitations from anyone hawking games or insisting you join impromptu activities.”

Quotezone’s comprehensive European pickpocketing index has revealed Italy as the top spot, with France coming in second and Spain taking third place. These rankings are based on mentions of “pickpockets” or “stolen” per million visitors.

The researchers reached their conclusions by analysing the number of mentions of “pickpocketing” or “stolen” on traveller review websites for Europe’s top destinations, compared to the number of visitors to each country.

Greg Wilson, founder and CEO of Quotezone.co.uk, warned: “Theft can happen anywhere, and tourist hotspots are convenient places for criminals to target holidaymakers’ wallets and purses while they are busy taking in the sites.

“Many holidaymakers are unaware that some of the most popular destinations for Brits have some of the highest incidents of pickpocketing in Europe.

“Our research revealed some surprising results with Italy having the most pickpocketing mentions, yet France and Spain have much larger volumes of tourists.”

According to data from Quotezone, the “worst” European countries for pickpocketing are:

1. Italy
2. France
3. Spain
4. Germany
5. Netherlands
6. Portugal
7. Turkey
8. Greece
9. Poland
10. Republic of Ireland

WASHINGTON — Hurling a sandwich at a federal agent was an act of protest for Washington, D.C., resident Sean Charles Dunn. A jury must decide if it was also a federal crime.

“No matter who you are, you can’t just go around throwing stuff at people because you’re mad,” Assistant U.S. Atty. John Parron told jurors Tuesday at the start of Dunn’s trial on a misdemeanor assault charge.

Dunn doesn’t dispute that he threw his submarine-style sandwich at a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent outside a nightclub on the night of Aug. 10. It was an “exclamation point” for Dunn as he expressed his opposition to President Trump’s law enforcement surge in the nation’s capital, defense attorney Julia Gatto said during the trial’s opening statements.

“It was a harmless gesture at the end of him exercising his right to speak out,” Gatto said. “He is overwhelmingly not guilty.”

A bystander’s cellphone video of the confrontation went viral on social media, turning Dunn into a symbol of resistance against Trump’s months-long federal takeover. Murals depicting him mid-throw popped up in the city virtually overnight.

“He did it. He threw the sandwich,” Gatto told jurors. “And now the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia has turned that moment — a thrown sandwich — into a criminal case, a federal criminal case charging a federal offense.”

A grand jury refused to indict Dunn on a felony assault count, part of a pattern of pushback against the Justice Department’s prosecution of surge-related criminal cases. After the rare rebuke from the grand jury, U.S. Atty. Jeanine Pirro’s office charged Dunn instead with a misdemeanor.

Customs and Border Protection Agent Gregory Lairmore, the government’s first witness, said the sandwich “exploded” when it struck his chest hard enough that he could feel it through his ballistic vest.

“You could smell the onions and the mustard,” he recalled.

Lairmore and other agents were standing in front of a club hosting a “Latin Night” when Dunn approached and shouted profanities at them, calling them “fascists” and “racists” and chanting “shame.”

“Why are you here? I don’t want you in my city!” Dunn shouted, according to police.

Lairmore testified that he and the other agents tried to de-escalate the situation.

“He was red-faced. Enraged. Calling me and my colleagues all kinds of names,” he said. “I didn’t respond. That’s his constitutional right to express his opinion.”

After throwing the sandwich, Dunn ran away but was apprehended about a block away.

Later, Lairmore’s colleagues jokingly gave him gifts making light of the incident, including a subway sandwich-shaped plush toy and a patch that said “felony footlong.” Defense attorney Sabrina Schroff pointed to those as proof that the agents recognize this case is “overblown” and “worthy of a joke.”

Parron told jurors that everybody is entitled to their views about Trump’s federal surge. But “respectfully, that’s not what this case is about,” the prosecutor said. “You just can’t do what the defendant did here. He crossed a line.”

Dunn was a Justice Department employee who worked as an international affairs specialist in its criminal division. After Dunn’s arrest, Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi announced his firing in a social media post that referred to him as “an example of the Deep State.”

Dunn was released from custody but rearrested when a team of armed federal agents in riot gear raided his home. The White House posted a highly produced “propaganda” video of the raid on its official X account, Dunn’s lawyers said.

Dunn’s lawyers have argued that the posts by Bondi and the White House show Dunn was impermissibly targeted for his political speech. They urged U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols to dismiss the case, calling it a vindictive and selective prosecution. Nichols, who was nominated by Trump, didn’t rule on that request before the trial started Monday.

Dunn is charged with assaulting, resisting, opposing, impeding, intimidating and interfering with a federal officer. Dozens of Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol were convicted of felonies for assaulting or interfering with police during the Jan. 6 attack. Trump pardoned or ordered the dismissal of charges for all of them.

Kunzelman writes for the Associated Press.

Zohran Mamdani, the progressive standard-bearer who could become New York City’s next mayor after Tuesday’s election, faces a public-safety trap that has entangled progressives nationwide: Voters want less cruelty, not less accountability. Confuse the two, and even progressives will vote you out.

Even before he has taken office, Mamdani is already fending off attacks from opponents, including former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and other political adversaries. They seek to brand him as a radical by tying him to the national Democratic Socialists of America’s most controversial criminal justice planks, such as declining to prosecute misdemeanor offenses.

Yet, in distancing himself from those specific policies, Mamdani is cleverly navigating a political minefield that has doomed other reformers. His strategy demonstrates a crucial lesson for the broader progressive movement: voters want a less inhumane justice system, not one that is unenforced. If progressives are perceived as abandoning accountability for offenses like shoplifting and public drug usage, they invite a political backlash that will not only cost them elections (or reelections) but also set back the cause of reform nationwide.

Americans across the political spectrum support reducing extremely harsh punishments. They want shorter sentences, alternatives to incarceration and rehabilitation over punishment. The moral case against excessive punishment resonates with voters who see our system as unnecessarily cruel. The evidence is overwhelming: 81% of Americans believe the U.S. criminal justice system needs reform, and 85% agree the main goal of our criminal justice system should be rehabilitation.

But when it comes to deciding which behaviors deserve prosecution, the politics shift dramatically. Mamdani has previously aligned with the Democratic Socialists of America, an organization that calls for ending the enforcement of some misdemeanor offenses.

This is precisely the kind of stance that can trigger backlash. The 2022 recall of San Francisco’s progressive district attorney shows why. About 1 in 3 “progressive” voters cast a ballot to remove the progressive DA from office. It wasn’t because they disagreed with his policies; in fact, these same voters supported his specific reforms when his name wasn’t attached to them. Their opposition was rooted in a fear that declining to prosecute low-level crimes would create a deterrence vacuum and incentivize lawlessness.

In Los Angeles, George Gascón’s trajectory offers a cautionary tale. As Los Angeles County district attorney, he survived two recall attempts before losing his 2024 reelection bid by 23 points. L.A. voters hadn’t abandoned reform — they’d supported it just four years earlier. But Gascón’s categorical bans on seeking certain harsher sentences or charging juveniles as adults triggered a revolt from his own rank-and-file prosecutors, creating the perception that entire categories of misconduct would go unaddressed. When prosecutors publicly sued him, arguing his directives violated state law, the deterrence vacuum became tangible. By the time Gascón walked back some policies, voters’ trust had evaporated.

This pattern repeats across the country. In Boston, DA Kevin Hayden has distanced himself so forcefully from predecessor Rachael Rollins’ “do not prosecute” list that he bristles at reporters even mentioning it. Yet Hayden’s office is still diverting first-time shoplifters to treatment programs — the same approach Rollins advocated. The difference? Hayden emphasizes prosecution of repeat offenders while offering alternatives to first-timers. The policy is nearly identical; the politics couldn’t be more different.

Critics are right to argue that the old model of misdemeanor prosecution was a failure. It criminalized poverty and addiction, clogged our courts and did little to stop the revolving door. But the answer to a broken system is not to create a vacuum of enforcement; it is to build a new system that pairs accountability with effective intervention.

Mamdani has already shown political wisdom by declaring, “I am not defunding the police.” But the issue isn’t just about police funding — it’s about what behaviors the criminal justice system will address. As mayor, Mamdani would not control whether the prosecutors abandon prosecution of misdemeanors, but what matters are his stances and voters’ perception. He should be vocal about how we thinks prosecutors should respond to low-level offenses:

• First-time shoplifters: Restitution or community service.
• Drug possession: Treatment enrollment, not incarceration.
• Quality-of-life violations: Social service interventions for housing and health.
• DUI offenders: Intensive supervision and treatment.

To be clear, this isn’t about ignoring these offenses; it’s about transforming the response. For this to work, the justice system must use its inherent leverage. Instead of compelling jail time, a pending criminal case becomes the tool to ensure a person completes a treatment program, pays restitution to the store they stole from, or connects with housing services. This is the essence of diversion: Accountability is met, the underlying problem is addressed, and upon successful completion, the case is often dismissed, allowing the person to move forward without the lifelong burden of a criminal record.

Mamdani’s proposed Department of Community Safety is a step in the right direction. But it must work alongside, not instead of, prosecution for lower-level offenses, and Mamdani must frame it as a partner to prosecution. If voters perceive it as a substitute for accountability, his opponents will use it as a political weapon the moment crime rates fluctuate.

New York deserves bold criminal justice reform. But boldness without pragmatism leads to backlash that sets the entire movement back. The future of the criminal justice progressive movement in America will not be determined by its ideals, but by its ability to deliver pragmatic safety. For the aspiring mayor, and for prosecutors in California and beyond, this means understanding that residents want both order and compassionate justice.

Dvir Yogev is a postdoctoral researcher at the Criminal Law & Justice Center at UC Berkeley, where he studies the politics of criminal justice reform and prosecutor elections.

The five-part series, penned by a Booker Prize-winning author, has been praised by critics and viewers alike and boasts a smashing 100% rating.

A five-part British crime noir series is earning high praise and, fortunately, it’s available to stream for free on Channel 4.

The limited series Get Millie Black was crafted for television with a screenplay penned by Booker Prize-winning author Marlon James, who wrote A Brief History of Seven Killings.

This crime thriller marks Marlon’s screenwriting debut and first premiered on HBO in the United States on November 25, 2024. It then made its UK premiere on Channel 4 on March 5, 2025.

Get Millie Black has been steered by Tanya Hamilton – the show’s lead director – while Annetta Laufer directed two episodes and Jean Luc Herbulot directed one. The series was penned by writers Theresa Ikoko and Lydia Adetunji.

The plot revolves around the unparalleled Millie-Jean Black, a Jamaican-born police detective who is forced to leave Scotland Yard and her troubled life in London and return home to Jamaica, where she joins the Jamaican Police Force.

Once back in Kingston, Millie and her partner Curtis start investigating a missing persons case which intersects with another — bringing Scotland Yard detective Luke Holborn to Millie’s doorstep. The show grapples with complex themes and delves into the painful and troubled legacy of slavery, racism, classism, sexuality, and generational cycles of trauma in the post-colonial Jamaican and British landscape.

Get Millie Black features the brilliant Tamara Lawrance in the starring role, alongside Joe Dempsie, Anjli Mohindra, Gershwyn Eustache Jnr, Chyna McQueen, Nestor Aaron Absera, and Peter John Thwaites.

The five-part mini series is available to watch without charge on Channel 4, with episodes running for an hour on average, reports the Express.

Discussing Get Millie Black and how Millie’s character came to life, Marlon revealed: “My mother was one of the first policewomen in Jamaica to make detective. Storytelling has always struck me first and foremost as a mystery to be solved – which I’m sure I got from her. Millie, from the second she appeared in my imagination, was a brilliant, mercurial, hilarious, unpredictable force of nature; someone who was always there, just waiting for her story to be told. I didn’t create her, I found her.”

Boasting a perfect 100% score on review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, Get Millie Black has received endless praise from critics, with one penning: “Get Millie Black lives and breathes. This might be a crime thriller, but it isn’t just a crime thriller. In the right hands, a crime thriller can contain multitudes.”

Meanwhile, another reviewer commented: “We got more story in the first 300 seconds than some series manage in an hour-long episode.”

In another glowing review of the series, a third critic remarked: “Crime shows, especially missing girl shows, often feel barren, or at least frozen in their Scandinavian snowscapes. Millie, on the other hand, feels abundant.”

And yet another impressed reviewer said: “Get Millie Black works well as a gory whodunit (with a genuinely unnerving twist at the centre). But the outstanding performances and the crimes in this setting make the show unique.”

Audience reviews follow in a similar vein, with one viewer writing: “All I’m going to say is wow. Watched all episodes in one sitting. Terrific detective series.”

While another audience member commented: “Worth a good watch if you’re interested in crime dramas. Especially if you want something original like this one, which takes place in Jamaica. Matter of fact, you don’t see many Jamaican movies/tv shows nowadays, and I’m glad that I’d checked it out. Great acting, good writing, and pacing that makes the series sort and simple since this is a limited series.”

Get Millie Black is available to stream for free on Channel 4.

Despite her criminality, Stephanie St Clair liked to be seen as a ‘lady’ and her story is told in a new Sky History series, Original Gangsters, which is narrated by Sean Bean

Roaring Twenties New York was a hotbed of crime, where mobsters like Lucky Luciano ruled the roost – cashing in on prohibition with bootleg booze. Then there was the numbers game … and there was Stephanie St. Clair.

Like a people’s lottery, players of the numbers game – which was illegal – would write a lucky three digit number on slips of paper and runners would run these slips and the bets between the gamblers and their ‘bankers.’

The winning numbers were chosen from the last three digits of the daily trading totals of the New York Stock Exchange which, crucially, made the game impossible to tamper with or fix.

At a time when Black people weren’t even allowed bank accounts, St Clair – a Black woman born in Guadalupe who fled to the US from the French West Indies where she was raised at 13 – wanted a piece of the pie.

READ MORE: ‘Al Capone was a mobster but not a monster’ insists great grand niece of mafia boss

Anyone with the cash to pay winners, or the front to chance their arm until they built up a big enough pot, could be a numbers banker. And it was a way for Black people to enter the banking system. In 1922, St Clair – until then a cleaner – managed to accumulate $30K and launched her own numbers operation – stepping out of the boundaries of both her sex and her race.

Interestingly, she also used other people – particularly men – to keep her hands clean while masterminding the racket. One such enforcer was Bumpy Johnson, who became known as the Godfather of Harlem where they were based. Bumpy would punish people with beatings – or by taking lives.

Featured in a new Sky History series, Original Gangsters, which starts on Tuesday and is narrated by Sean Bean, despite her criminality, St Clair liked to be seen as a ‘lady.’ Sean Bean says:”Although very few photos of her survived, we can see that that image was incredibly important to Stephanie. She never allowed herself to be photographed without her hair, her makeup, her clothes all perfectly styled.”

Alongside being a ruthless gangster, St Clair was a committed activist for the Black community. And when she was arrested, she testified about the participation of the NYPD in vice rackets – leading to more than a dozen police officers being suspended from the force. But when another formidable gangster, Dutch Shultz, tried to muscle in on her numbers, her resistance led to Harlem becoming a warzone – with him using bombings, beatings and murders to muscle in on her turf.

When Shultz was eventually gunned down by a group known as Murder IN, she sent him a message on his death bed saying, ‘As you sew, so shall you reap.’ The same could be said of her, when she is jailed in the 1930s after gunning down her ex and being imprisoned for two to 10 years. Released in the early 1940s, little is known of her after that.

But Serena Simmons says of the little known crime boss, who died in 1969 aged around 72: “She was an outlier. She was someone who may have been able to go down a different path – a good path – if circumstances had been different. She was a very strong character. Underneath it all she was thoughtful, sensitive and a deep thinker. She was intelligent, self educated and widely read. Her clothes were her costume – she needed to be taken seriously – and she was functioning in a man’s world.

“Don’t get me wrong, she did do bad things, but she had a strong moral code; she was aware of injustice because she herself had experienced so much. I think her intention was bizarrely a good one. She had to be self-serving to help others. She had a lot of trauma when she was younger – so this is someone for me who was in survival mode and psychologically could compartmentalise her actions.

“She was motivated to achieve something and constructed her own path outside of any institutional support. I’m not sure we have any understanding about how hard that would have been. Is there a little bit of me that admires her? Yes, there is.”

Original Gangsters starts on Tuesday 4th November at 9pm on Sky History and History Play. The series will also be available to stream on NOW.

Police in Evanston, Illinois, are investigating a violent arrest by a Customs and Border Protection agent who repeatedly punched a man’s head against the road. It happened after the agent’s vehicle was rear-ended, and a hostile crowd formed telling federal officers to leave, who responded with pepper spray and pointing their guns at protesters.

It’s unclear whether the man being punched was the driver behind the collision or part of a crowd that formed to pressure federal officers to leave. The incident sparked outrage from local leaders and renewed tensions over federal immigration enforcement in the Chicago area.

A ‘major incident’ has been declared after multiple people were stabbed on board a train in Cambridgeshire that was heading to London King’s Cross. Here’s everything we know so far

A horrifying knife attack unfolded on a high-speed train heading towards London last night, leaving ten people hospitalised, nine of whom have life-threatening injuries.

The incident took place on Saturday, 1 November, on the 18.25 service from Doncaster, South Yorkshire, to London King’s Cross. Police received reports at 7.39pm that “multiple people had been stabbed on a train”, and armed police, paramedics, air ambulances and transport police rushed to Huntingdon station, where the train made an unscheduled stop for assistance.

While the train stopped at Huntingdon, some passengers said the attack took place shortly after the train left Peterborough station in Cambridgeshire, which is around 50 minutes from London. British Transport Police confirmed that 10 people were taken to hospital, with nine believed to have suffered life-threatening injuries. There have been no fatalities.

READ MORE: Huntingdon train stabbings: Counter-terror police investigate as ‘major incident’ declaredREAD MORE: Huntingdon horror as person ‘hanging out train door bleeding’ after mass stabbings

The terrifying train attacks are said to have involved a man carrying a large knife. Two people have been arrested over the stabbings, and one suspect is believed to have been shot with a taser.

Passengers recounted scenes of panic as people trampled over each other and hid in toilets to escape the carnage. One witness told The Times there was “blood everywhere” and people were getting “stamped” on by others as they tried to flee. “I heard some people shouting we love (you).”

Witness Olly Foster told the BBC he initially heard people shouting “run, run, there’s a guy literally stabbing everyone”, and believed it might have been a prank related to Halloween. He quickly realised it was not a prank when he noticed his hand was “covered in blood” as there was “blood all over the chair” he had leaned on.

An older man “blocked” the attacker from stabbing a younger girl, leaving him with a gash on his head and neck, Foster said. Passengers around him used jackets to try to stop the bleeding. Although it lasted 10 to 15 minutes in total, Foster said the incident “felt like forever”.

Another witness, who wishes to remain anonymous, shared the horror moment he saw a person “hanging out the train door bleeding”. They told The Mirror: “I was waiting for the 8:10pm train to Kings Cross when I spotted the train on the platform. I spotted someone hanging out the train door bleeding.

“I looked further up the platform and see people running towards me bleeding and panicking. I saw someone in a hoodie running towards us so I shouted for everyone to leave the station immediately, so I got people out the station with me and to a place of safety.”

In the early hours of this morning (2 November), the incident was escalated to a “major incident” and counter-terrorism police were brought in to support the investigation. The station remains closed with numerous train services cancelled.

British Transport Police said in a statement: “We can confirm that at 7.42pm today (1 November) British Transport Police were called to reports of a multiple stabbing on board the 6.25pm train service from Doncaster to London King’s Cross.

“Officers immediately attended Huntingdon station alongside paramedics.

“Armed police from Cambridgeshire Police boarded the train and arrested two people in connection to the incident who have been taken to police custody.

“Ten people have been taken to hospital with nine believed to have suffered life-threatening injuries. One is being treated for non life-threatening injuries. There have been no fatalities.

“This has been declared a major incident and Counter Terrorism Policing are supporting our investigation whilst we work to establish the full ci

rcumstances and motivation for this incident.”

As an investigation is underway, it is unclear at this time what caused the incident. In regard to this, Chief Superintendent Chris Casey issued a statement, which read: “This is a shocking incident and first and foremost my thoughts are with those who have been injured this evening and their families.

“We’re conducting urgent enquiries to establish what has happened, and it could take some time before we are in a position to confirm anything further.

“At this early stage it would not be appropriate to speculate on the causes of the incident.

“Our response is ongoing at the station and will be for some time.

“Cordons are in place and trains are not currently running through the area, and there are also some road closures.”

A ‘major incident’ has been declared after multiple people were stabbed on board a train in Cambridgeshire that was heading to London King’s Cross. Here’s everything we know so far

A horrifying knife attack unfolded on a high-speed train heading towards London last night, leaving ten people hospitalised, nine of whom have life-threatening injuries.

The incident took place on Saturday, 1 November, on the 18.25 service from Doncaster, South Yorkshire, to London King’s Cross. Police received reports at 7.39pm that “multiple people had been stabbed on a train”, and armed police, paramedics, air ambulances and transport police rushed to Huntingdon station, where the train made an unscheduled stop for assistance.

While the train stopped at Huntingdon, some passengers said the attack took place shortly after the train left Peterborough station in Cambridgeshire, which is around 50 minutes from London. British Transport Police confirmed that 10 people were taken to hospital, with nine believed to have suffered life-threatening injuries. There have been no fatalities.

READ MORE: Huntingdon train stabbings: Counter-terror police investigate as ‘major incident’ declaredREAD MORE: Huntingdon horror as person ‘hanging out train door bleeding’ after mass stabbings

The terrifying train attacks are said to have involved a man carrying a large knife. Two people have been arrested over the stabbings, and one suspect is believed to have been shot with a taser.

Passengers recounted scenes of panic as people trampled over each other and hid in toilets to escape the carnage. One witness told The Times there was “blood everywhere” and people were getting “stamped” on by others as they tried to flee. “I heard some people shouting we love (you).”

Witness Olly Foster told the BBC he initially heard people shouting “run, run, there’s a guy literally stabbing everyone”, and believed it might have been a prank related to Halloween. He quickly realised it was not a prank when he noticed his hand was “covered in blood” as there was “blood all over the chair” he had leaned on.

An older man “blocked” the attacker from stabbing a younger girl, leaving him with a gash on his head and neck, Foster said. Passengers around him used jackets to try to stop the bleeding. Although it lasted 10 to 15 minutes in total, Foster said the incident “felt like forever”.

Another witness, who wishes to remain anonymous, shared the horror moment he saw a person “hanging out the train door bleeding”. They told The Mirror: “I was waiting for the 8:10pm train to Kings Cross when I spotted the train on the platform. I spotted someone hanging out the train door bleeding.

“I looked further up the platform and see people running towards me bleeding and panicking. I saw someone in a hoodie running towards us so I shouted for everyone to leave the station immediately, so I got people out the station with me and to a place of safety.”

In the early hours of this morning (2 November), the incident was escalated to a “major incident” and counter-terrorism police were brought in to support the investigation. The station remains closed with numerous train services cancelled.

British Transport Police said in a statement: “We can confirm that at 7.42pm today (1 November) British Transport Police were called to reports of a multiple stabbing on board the 6.25pm train service from Doncaster to London King’s Cross.

“Officers immediately attended Huntingdon station alongside paramedics.

“Armed police from Cambridgeshire Police boarded the train and arrested two people in connection to the incident who have been taken to police custody.

“Ten people have been taken to hospital with nine believed to have suffered life-threatening injuries. One is being treated for non life-threatening injuries. There have been no fatalities.

“This has been declared a major incident and Counter Terrorism Policing are supporting our investigation whilst we work to establish the full ci

rcumstances and motivation for this incident.”

As an investigation is underway, it is unclear at this time what caused the incident. In regard to this, Chief Superintendent Chris Casey issued a statement, which read: “This is a shocking incident and first and foremost my thoughts are with those who have been injured this evening and their families.

“We’re conducting urgent enquiries to establish what has happened, and it could take some time before we are in a position to confirm anything further.

“At this early stage it would not be appropriate to speculate on the causes of the incident.

“Our response is ongoing at the station and will be for some time.

“Cordons are in place and trains are not currently running through the area, and there are also some road closures.”

Police say a number of people were taken to hospital after a series of stabbings on a train near Cambridgeshire.

Police in the United Kingdom have arrested two suspects after several people were taken to hospital following a stabbing on a train near Cambridgeshire in eastern England.

“We are currently responding to an incident on a train to Huntingdon where multiple people have been stabbed,” the British Transport Police said in a statement on X on Saturday.

“Two people have been arrested,” it said.

Cambridgeshire police issued a separate statement, saying they were called at 19:39 GMT after reports that multiple people had been stabbed on a train.

“Armed officers attended and the train was stopped at Huntingdon, where two men were arrested. A number of people have been taken to hospital,” the police said.

The East of England Ambulance Service said it mobilised a large-scale response to Huntingdon Railway Station, which included numerous ambulances and critical care teams, including three air ambulances.

“We can confirm we have transported multiple patients to hospital,” it said.

One witness described seeing a man with a large knife, and told The Times newspaper there was “blood everywhere” as people hid in the washrooms.

Some passengers were getting “stamped [on] by others” as they tried to run, and the witness told The Times that they “heard some people shouting we love [you]”.

Another witness told Sky News that one of the suspects was tasered by police.

The appalling incident on a train near Huntingdon is deeply concerning.

My thoughts are with all those affected, and my thanks go to the emergency services for their response.

Anyone in the area should follow the advice of the police.

— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) November 1, 2025

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the “appalling” incident was “deeply concerning”.

“My thoughts are with all those affected, and my thanks go to the emergency services for their response,” Starmer said in a statement on X.

“Anyone in the area should follow the advice of the police,” Starmer added.

London North Eastern Railway, or LNER, which operates the East Coast Mainline services in the UK, confirmed the incident had happened on one of its trains and said all its railway lines had been closed while emergency services dealt with the incident at Huntingdon station.

LNER, which runs trains along the east of England and Scotland, urged passengers not to travel, warning of “major disruption”.

It serves major stops, including in London, Peterborough, Cambridge, York and Edinburgh, and trains are often very busy and packed with travellers.

The mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, Paul Bristow, said in a post on X, “Hearing reports of horrendous scenes on a train in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire”, and added that his “thoughts are with everyone affected”.

Knife crime in England and Wales has been steadily rising since 2011, according to official government data.

While the UK has some of the strictest gun controls in the world, rampant knife crime has been branded a “national crisis” by Starmer.

His Labour government has tried to rein in their use.

Nearly 60,000 blades have been either “seized or surrendered” in England and Wales as part of government efforts to halve knife crime within a decade, the Home Office said on Wednesday.

Carrying a knife in public can already get you up to four years in prison, and the government said knife murders had dropped by 18 percent in the last year.

Two people were killed – one as a result of misdirected police gunfire – and others were wounded in a stabbing spree at a synagogue in Manchester at the start of October,  an attack that shook the local Jewish community and the country.

Both suspects, who were arrested earlier this week, have denied involvement in stealing priceless Napoleonic-era jewellery that remains missing.

The Paris prosecutor says two more people have been handed preliminary charges for their alleged involvement in a recent jewel heist at France’s Louvre Museum, days after they were arrested by Paris police as part of a sweeping probe.

Paris Public Prosecutor Laure Beccuau said in a statement on Saturday that a 37-year-old suspect was charged with theft by an organised gang and criminal conspiracy, while the other, a 38-year-old woman, is accused of being an accomplice.

Both have been incarcerated and both denied involvement, said Beccuau.

The male suspect has been placed in pre-trial detention pending a hearing to take place in the coming days, said the prosecutor, adding that he had been known to the judicial authorities for previous theft offences.

Beccuau justified the detention of the woman, who lives in the French capital’s northern suburb of La Courneuve, on the grounds of a “risk of collusion” and “disturbance of public order”.

The woman’s lawyer, Adrien Sorrentino, told reporters his client is “devastated” because she disputes the accusations.

“She does not understand how she is implicated in any of the elements she is accused of,” he said.

Five people were arrested by Paris police on Wednesday in connection with the case, including one who was identified by his DNA at the crime scene. Three of them have been released without charges, Beccuau said. Seven people have been arrested in total.

Last month, thieves wielding power tools raided the Louvre, the world’s most visited art museum, in broad daylight, taking just seven minutes to steal jewellery worth an estimated $102m.

French authorities initially announced the arrest of two male suspects over the Louvre robbery.

The two men were charged with theft and criminal conspiracy after “partially admitting to the charges”, Beccuau said this week.

They are suspected of being the two who broke into the gallery while two accomplices waited outside.

Both lived in the northeastern Paris suburb of Aubervilliers.

One is a 34-year-old Algerian national living in France, who was identified by DNA traces found on one of the scooters used to flee the heist. The second man is a 39-year-old unlicensed taxi driver.

Both were known to the police for having committed thefts.

The first was arrested as he was about to board a plane for Algeria at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport.

The second was apprehended shortly after near his home, and there was no evidence to suggest that he was planning to go abroad, prosecutors said.

The stolen loot remains missing.

The thieves dropped a diamond- and emerald-studded crown that once belonged to Empress Eugenie, the wife of Napoleon III, as they escaped.

The burglars made off with eight other items of jewellery.

Among them are an emerald-and-diamond necklace that Napoleon I gave his second wife, Empress Marie-Louise, and a diadem that once belonged to the Empress Eugenie, which is dotted with nearly 2,000 diamonds.

Last week, the Louvre director told the French Senate the museum’s security operations “did not detect the arrival of the thieves soon enough”.

“Today we are experiencing a terrible failure at the Louvre, which I take my share of responsibility in,” the director said, adding that she submitted her resignation to Culture Minister Rachida Dati, who turned it down.

My first reaction, when I heard about the proposed $2.3-million fence around MacArthur Park, was skepticism.

Yeah, the park and the immediate neighborhood have long dealt with a nasty web of urban nightmares, including homelessness, crime and a rather astonishing open-air drug scene, all of which I spent a few months looking into not long ago.

But what would a fence accomplish?

Well, after looking into it, maybe it’s not the worst idea.

Skepticism, I should note, is generally a fallback position for me. It’s something of an occupational duty, and how can you not be cynical about promises and plans in Los Angeles, where each time you open the newspaper, you have to scratch your head?

I’m still having trouble understanding how county supervisors approved another $828 million in child sexual abuse payments, on top of an earlier settlement this year of $4 billion, even after Times reporter Rebecca Ellis found nine cases in which people said they were told to fabricate abuse allegations.

The same supes, while wrestling with a budget crisis, agreed to pay $2 million to appease the county’s chief executive officer because she felt wronged by a ballot measure proposing that the job be an elected rather than appointed post. Scratching your head doesn’t help in this case; you’re tempted instead to bang it into a wall.

Drone view of MacArthur Park looking toward downtown Los Angeles.

(Ted Soqui/For The Times)

Or maybe a $2.3-million fence.

The city of L.A. is primarily responsible for taking on the problems of MacArthur Park, although the county has a role too in the areas of housing, public health and addiction services. I made two visits to the area in the last week, and while there are signs of progress and slightly less of a sense of chaos — the children’s playground hit last year by an arsonist has been fully rebuilt — there’s a long way to go.

In a story about the fence by my colleague Nathan Solis, one service provider said it would further criminalize homelessness and another said the money “could be better used by funding … services to the people in the park, rather than just moving them out.”

The vast majority of people who spoke at the Oct. 16 meeting of the Recreation and Parks Commission, which voted unanimously to move forward with the fence, were adamantly opposed despite claims that enclosing the space would be a step toward upgrading and making the park more welcoming.

“Nothing is more unwelcoming than a fence around a public space,” one critic said.

“A fence can not solve homelessness,” another said.

The LAPD underwater dive unit investigates activity in MacArthur Park Lake.

(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

Others argued that locking up the park, which is surrounded by a predominantly immigrant community, recalls the ridiculous stunt that played out in June, when President Trump’s uniformed posse showed up in armored vehicles and on horseback in what looked like an all-out invasion of Westlake.

But another speaker, Raul Claros — who is running against Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez in the 1st District — said he’d spoken to residents and merchants who support the fence, as long as it’s part of a greater effort to address the community’s needs.

Claros said he has three questions: “What’s the plan? What’s the timeline? Who’s in charge?”

Hernandez, by the way, is not opposed to the fence. A staffer told me there’s a fence around nearby Lafayette Park. Other fenced parks in Los Angeles include Robert Burns Park, adjacent to Hancock Park, and the L.A. State Historic Park on the edge of Chinatown, which is locked at sunset.

As for the long-range plan, the Hernandez staffer said the councilwoman has secured and is investing millions of dollars in what she calls a care-first approach that aims to address drug addiction and homelessness in and around the park.

Eduardo Aguirre, who lives a couple of blocks from the park and serves on the West Pico Neighborhood Council, told me he’s OK with the fence but worried about the possible consequences. If the people who use the park at night or sleep there are forced out, he said, where will they go?

“To the streets? To the alleys? You know what’s going to happen. It’s a game,” Aguirre said.

Last fall I walked with Aguirre and his wife as they led their daughter to her elementary school. They often have to step around homeless people and past areas where dealing and drug use, along with violence, are anything but infrequent.

Families and others should be able to feel safe in the park and the neighborhood, said Norm Langer, owner of the iconic Langer’s deli on the edge of the park.

A visitor takes in the view at MacArthur Park.

(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

“I completely understand why you’re skeptical,” Langer told me, but he said he’s seen improvements in the last year, particularly after fences were installed along Alvarado Street and vendors were shut down. Police say some of the vendors were involved in the drug trade and the resale of stolen merchandise.

“The point isn’t to limit access,” Langer said. “The fence is intended to improve safety and quality of life for the people who live, work, and spend time here. It gives park staff a fighting chance to maintain and restore the place, especially at night, when they can finally clean and repair without the constant chaos that made upkeep nearly impossible before.”

LAPD Capt. Ben Fernandes of the Rampart division told me police are “trying to make it not OK” to buy and use drugs along the Alvarado corridor. Drug users often gather in the northeast corner of the park, Fernandes said, and he thinks putting up a fence and keeping the park off limits at night will help “deflect” some of “the open-air usage.”

The park has a nice soccer field and a lovely bandstand, among other popular attractions, but many parents told me they’re reluctant to visit with their children because of safety concerns. If a fence helps bring back families, many of whom live in apartments and have no yards, that’s a good thing.

But as the city goes to work on design issues, questions about enforcement, opening and closing times and other details, it needs to keep in mind that all of that is the easy part.

It took an unforgivably long time for L.A. Mayor Karen Bass and other elected officials to acknowledge a social, economic and humanitarian crisis in a place that’s home to thousands of low-income working people.

The neighborhood needs much more than a fence.

[email protected]

Thirty-four children were among 78 people killed in the deadly blaze, which occurred during the school holidays.

A Turkish court has sentenced 11 people to life in prison over a fire that killed 78 people at a hotel in a ski resort in northwest Turkiye’s Bolu mountains in January.

Among those sentenced on Friday were Halit Ergul – the owner of the Grand Kartal Hotel, which sits in the Kartalkaya ski resort about 295km (183 miles) east of Istanbul – according to state-run broadcaster TRT Haber.

The court also sentenced Ergul’s wife, Emine Ergul, and their daughters, Elif Aras and Ceyda Hacibekiroglu – all of whom were part of the hotel’s management team.

The deadly blaze broke out overnight in the restaurant of the Grand Kartal on January 21, quickly engulfing the 12-storey hotel, where 238 guests were staying.

Thirty-four children were among 78 people killed in the fire, which occurred during the school holidays when many families from Ankara and Istanbul head to the Bolu mountains to ski.

Another 137 people suffered injuries during the incident, as panicked hotel guests were forced to jump from windows in the middle of the night.

Also sentenced on Friday were the hotel’s general manager, Emir Aras, as well as the deputy mayor of Bolu, Sedat Gulener, and the director of another hotel, Ahmet Demir, both of whom were reportedly on the board of directors of the company that owned the Grand Kartal.

There are a total of 32 defendants in the trial, 20 of whom are in pre-trial detention, according to TRT. It’s unclear when the remaining defendants will appear in court.

In total, the convicted were handed 34 aggravated life sentences for the 34 children killed in the disaster. Those in the courtroom greeted the announcement with applause.

The fire sparked nationwide anger in Turkiye, with questions raised over safety measures in place at the hotel after survivors said no fire alarms went off during the incident, and they had to navigate smoke-filled corridors in complete darkness.

Under pressure to act, Turkish authorities quickly arrested nine people in connection with the blaze, while the government appointed six prosecutors to lead an investigation.

Speaking to reporters outside the still-smoking hotel, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya pledged that those “responsible for causing this pain will not escape justice”.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced a day of national mourning, as he served as a pallbearer at a funeral ceremony for the victims the following day.

Footage shows FBI and state police vehicles in Dearborn, Michigan, near Fordson High School, conducting an investigation. This comes after FBI Director Kash Patel said in a social media post that multiple people allegedly plotting a violent “terrorist” Halloween weekend attack were arrested.

JOHANNESBURG — South Africa’s government on Friday criticized the U.S. refugee policy shift that gives priority to Afrikaners, the country’s white minority group of Dutch descent.

The Trump administration on Thursday announced a ceiling of 7,500 refugees to be admitted to the United States, a sharp decrease from the previous 125,000 spots and said Afrikaners would be given preference over other groups.

U.S. President Trump has claimed that there is a “genocide” against Afrikaners in South Africa and that they are facing persecution and discrimination because of the country’s redress policies and the levels of crime in the country.

It’s one of the contentious issues that has seen diplomatic relations between South Africa and U.S. hit an all-time low, with Trump suspending all financial aid to South Africa and setting one of the highest tariffs for the country’s exports to the U.S.

The South African government’s international relations department said Friday that the latest move was concerning as it “still appears to rest on a premise that is factually inaccurate.”

“The claim of a ‘white genocide’ in South Africa is widely discredited and unsupported by reliable evidence,” spokesman Chrispin Phiri said.

Phiri said that a program designed to facilitate the immigration and resettlement of Afrikaners as refugees was deeply flawed and disregarded the country’s constitutional processes.

“The limited uptake of this offer by South Africans is a telling indicator of this reality,” Phiri said.

The U.S. notice, which signifies a huge policy shift toward refugees, mentioned only Afrikaners as a specific group and said the admission of the 7,500 refugees during the 2026 budget year “justified by humanitarian concerns or is otherwise in the national interest.”

Trump’s asylum offer for Afrikaners has sparked divisive debate in South Africa, but has been largely rejected even by many in the Afrikaner community.

This week, a group of prominent Afrikaners including politicians, activists, writers and businesspeople penned an open letter rejecting the notion that Afrikaners needed to emigrate from South Africa.

“The idea that white South Africans deserve special asylum status because of their race undermines the very principles of the refugee program. Vulnerability — not race — should guide humanitarian policy,” they wrote in the widely publicized letter.

However, some Afrikaner groups continue to be very critical of the South African government’s handling of crime and redress policies even though they reject the “white genocide” claim.

An Afrikaner lobbyist group, Afriforum, on Thursday said that it doesn’t call the murder of white farmers a genocide, but raised concerns about white people’s safety in South Africa.

“This does not mean AfriForum rejects or scoffs at Trump’s refugee status offer — there will be Afrikaners that apply and they should have the option, especially those who have been victims of horrific farm attacks or the South African government’s many racially discriminatory policies,” AfriForum spokesman Ernst van Zyl said.

While it’s unclear how many white South Africans have applied for refugee status in the U.S., a group of 59 white South Africans were granted asylum and were received with much fanfare in May.

Magome writes for the Associated Press.