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Vandals spray red paint on Charlie Kirk statue days after its unveiling to mark one year since his death.

A new memorial statue of the slain right-wing activist Charlie Kirk has been vandalised days after it was installed outside Turning Point USA’s headquarters, the youth-focused organisation he co-founded.

Turning Point chief operating officer Tyler Bowyer said on Sunday that the bronze statue, alongside an accompanying sign, was defaced with red spray paint in Phoenix, Arizona.

“This morning we woke up to radical criminals vandalizing our Headquarters. Crossing over Charlie’s face, scratching out Jesus and the Cross & spraying red paint on his neck,” Bowyer wrote on X.

The statue was unveiled on Thursday to mark one year since Kirk’s death. Kirk, a co-founder of Turning Point and staunch ally of US President Donald Trump, was fatally shot while speaking to students at Utah Valley University.

The man accused of killing Kirk, Tyler Robinson, faces a possible death penalty after pleading not guilty to murder charges earlier this month.

Phoenix police said they received calls on Sunday morning about a vandalised memorial outside Turning Point’s headquarters.

Turning Point accused the vandals of intentionally spraying the statue’s neck, the spot where Kirk was shot in the attack, which was captured on video.

“We will restore the statue and replace the signs, but we are also reviewing the footage of the incident and are working with law enforcement to identify who did this and hold them accountable,” Turning Point said in a post on X.

Federal authorities probing the death of actor Hayden Panettiere are focusing on where the drugs and medications that played a role in her death came from, echoing similar probes that resulted in charges for suppliers in the deaths of Matthew Perry and Mac Miller.

Drug Enforcement Administration agents and local investigators have questioned several people about the circumstances of her Aug. 16 death, focusing on potential controlled substances and medications tied to her demise inside a Greenville, S.C., apartment, according to sources familiar with the probe.

Paramedics and police found Panettiere in cardiac arrest, according to the Greenville County Coroner’s Office. Dispatch audio recordings from Broadcastify.com reference a possible overdose and CPR in progress. Narcan was reportedly administered by paramedics who arrived, and after efforts to resuscitate her, she was declared dead at 2:31 p.m.

Her death echoes that of actor Matthew Perry and rapper Mac Miller, both of whom succumbed to overdoses. In their respective cases, prosecutors secured convictions for the people who supplied Perry with ketamine and Miller with cocaine and oxycodone pills laced with fentanyl. Perry’s demise in his hot tub led to his assistant, two doctors, a producer and a woman dubbed the “Ketamine Queen” pleading guilty.

The Greenville County coroner, in the wake of Panettiere’s death, conducted an autopsy but has not made a formal finding on the cause of death and toxicology results are pending.

Panettiere lived in Los Angeles, but her boyfriend, Brian Hickerson, is a Greenville native, according to authorities. A police report outlined the initial response from police who arrived at the scene. The report states that Hickerson and his brother Zach Hickerson were with Panettiere inside an apartment when the 36-year-old actor died.

According to the police report, Brian Hickerson showed an officer “a bag of medications HAYDEN is currently on.”

Several areas of the report were redacted, including statements from the brothers about what transpired as they called 911.

The officer who authored the report, Matthew Bryan, wrote that he recorded an interview with Brian Hickerson on his body-worn camera, and observed Zach Hickerson being “very emotional” while first responders tried to revive the actor. Brian Hickerson became emotional after she was declared dead, Officer Matthew Bryan wrote.

Later, he said that authorities obtained video of three individuals coming and going from the apartment from the complex’s security, which helped detectives with a search warrant.

Sloan Ellis, a South Carolina attorney for Hickerson hired in the wake of Panettiere’s death, said in a statement, “Hayden’s death remains under investigation, and it is important to allow that investigation to proceed. As has been publicly reported, police confirmed there were no signs of foul play. Out of respect for Hayden’s loved ones and the ongoing investigation, there will be no further comment at this time.”

Sources familiar with the probe have met with DEA agents about the actor‘s death, according to People magazine and TMZ.

Hickerson was arrested multiple times on suspicion of domestic violence against Panettiere, beginning in May 2019 in Los Angeles, though the charges were later dismissed when prosecutors couldn’t secure a material witness.

Following an eight-count criminal indictment in 2020 that covered multiple violent incidents over the previous year, Hickerson pleaded no contest in April 2021 to two felony counts of injuring a spouse or girlfriend.

He was sentenced to 45 days in county jail along with four years of formal probation, ordered to attend mandatory domestic violence classes, and received a five-year protective order.

PARIS: Investigators suspect that a train derailment in northwest France which injured 44, one gravely, was the result of sabotage, a police source told AFP on Saturday.

A fragment of rail was found on the track, with the possibility of a malicious act being treated as the main line of inquiry as a result, the source said.

Carrying 186 passengers, the train was running between the Normandy cities of Rouen and Caen when it derailed around 7:45 pm (1745 GMT) Friday.

Authorities activated a mass-casualty response plan, with 130 firefighters, five medical teams and 80 vehicles drafted in.

Rouen prosecutor Sebastien Gallois said 44 people were injured including an 18-year-old woman evacuated “in a critical condition”, while tests for drugs and alcohol on the train driver had come back negative.

SNCF Reseau, which controls the French rail network, told AFP that traffic on the line has been suspended and power to the tracks cut to allow emergency services to operate.

Once upon a time in Hollywood, Quentin Tarantino’s mansion was nearly burgled.

Police are looking into the report of an alleged prowler who, “clad in black,” was spotted trespassing at the Oscar-winning director’s Hollywood Hills mansion Wednesday afternoon.

According to law enforcement sources, a call was received about a prowler lurking around the 7400 block of Woodrow Wilson Drive around 12:20 p.m. Responding officers were on the hunt for a 35-year-old man with a thin build wearing a long-sleeved black shirt and black pants (in 100-degree heat).

According to sources familiar with the investigation but not authorized to speak publicly, there were people inside the home when the alleged cat burglar tried to enter a second-story window of the three-story home.

Police told The Times that the suspect had fled by the time officers arrived, but a trespass report was completed.

It is unclear whether Tarantino was home at the time of the incident, and police could not confirm whether the trespasser was successful in their burglary attempt.

This isn’t the first time the “Pulp Fiction” filmmaker has had trouble with home intruders.

Back in 2018, Tarantino reportedly awoke in the middle of the night to find two burglars inside his home. According to TMZ, he confronted the men and they booked it out of the same Hollywood Hills mansion. Although no one was injured, they apparently made off with jewelry and other valuables.

LONDON: British police said Wednesday that they have opened a criminal investigation into allegations that anti-immigration party Reform UK broke rules barring foreign donations.

Last week, Channel 4 broadcast an undercover investigation in which two senior Reform UK officials appeared to discuss ways money from an American financier could be channeled through his U.K.-based son to get around the rules.

U.K. electoral law says parties can only accept donations from British voters or U.K.-registered businesses.

The Metropolitan Police said that after the broadcast, the force “received a number of reports relating to donations and polling involving a political party.

“Detectives have assessed the information provided and determined that there are potential offenses requiring investigation,” it said.

Reform UK said it “denies any wrongdoing and will fully cooperate with the investigation.”

The party suspended Dan Jukes, a longtime adviser to Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, and party policy chief James Orr, after the documentary was aired. But Farage denied that there was any breach of electoral law.

The program showed two men purporting to be a U.S. financier and his U.K.-based son discussing with Jukes, in the presence of Farage, how 500,000 pounds ($675,000) could be donated to the party through the son. The “son” was actually a reporter from investigative group Verbatim, and the “father” an actor.

In separate footage, Orr, a Cambridge University theologian, appeared to discuss getting the U.S. donor to pay for opinion polls commissioned by Reform UK.

In a speech to the party’s conference on Friday, Farage insisted Reform UK hadn’t broken any rules or accepted “dodgy money.” He accused “foreign-funded hard-left activists” of being behind what he called “entrapment.” Verbatim is an offshoot of the Center for Climate Reporting, a nonprofit investigative group that says it’s funded by grants and donations.

Reform UK was facing questions about its funding even before the broadcast. Farage is being investigated by Parliament’s standards watchdog over an undeclared 5 million-pound ($6.7 million) gift he received from a Thailand-based cryptocurrency billionaire in 2024.

Police said Wednesday that the potential offenses raised by the TV program “are similar in nature to matters already under investigation by the Met’s Special Enquiry Team relating to donations made to the same political party. As a result, these matters will form part of that ongoing investigation.”

Founded in 2018 as the Brexit Party to push for a hard break from the European Union, Reform UK has grown rapidly in membership and support since changing its name in 2021 and honing its anti-establishment, anti-immigration message.

Though it holds just eight of the 650 seats in the House of Commons, it has often led opinion polls and was the big winner in local elections in May, a result that helped spur a panicky Labour Party to replace then-leader Keir Starmer with new Prime Minister Andy Burnham.

In July, Farage quit his House of Commons seat in protest of the parliamentary standards investigation, saying he would run for reelection and let voters be his judge. He easily won the August election, which was dismissed as a stunt by his critics and boycotted by all the other main parties.

BRASILIA: A judge ordered the reinstatement of Brazil’s federal police chief on Wednesday after another judge ordered his suspension amid a deepening crisis in the nation’s top court.

Supreme Court Justice Flavio Dino ordered police director-general Andrei Rodrigues to return to his duties, overturning a decision Tuesday by Justice Andre Mendonca, who had suspended him after accusing the police of illegally spying on him.

Scandal has engulfed the court ahead of October presidential elections after it emerged last week that a disgraced banker charged with fraud apparently asked one of its judges for help, days before his arrest.

Allegations of misconduct between two justices threaten to pull court into political battles ahead of upcoming election.

Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Andre Mendonca has ordered the suspension of federal police chief Andrei Rodrigues and the force’s intelligence chief Leandro Almada amid growing divisions that have tested the credibility of the country’s highest court.

The suspensions were announced on Tuesday. Mendonca, appointed by former right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro, has accused Rodrigues and Almada of producing six illegal reports on the activities of justices.

The move was backed by a majority on one of the high court’s five-member panels.

But it is likely to be challenged by the government, possibly pulling the administration of leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva into a political battle ahead of October’s presidential election.

“Investigating possible evidence of crimes is correct,” Institutional Relations Minister Jose Guimaraes, a top aide to Lula, said in response to the decision on social media. “But this measure smells electoral to me. That cannot happen.”

Polls show Lula and Jair Bolsonaro’s eldest son, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, in a tight race ahead of the first round of voting on October 4.

The Supreme Court has been roiled by mutual accusations of wrongdoing between Justice Alexandre de Moraes, appointed under centre-right President Michel Temer, and Mendonca, a Bolsonaro appointee.

De Moraes has become a prominent target of right-wing criticism, particularly after he oversaw the case against Jair Bolsonaro for plotting a coup after the 2022 election.

A report detailing possible links between de Moraes and disgraced banker Daniel Vorcaro was made public by Mendonca last week.

De Moraes, however, responded by accusing Mendonca of abusing his power, citing federal police intelligence reports and urging the court to investigate him. Mendonca has now challenged the legality of those reports.

The Vorcaro corruption scandal has widened to include powerful political figures on both the left and right.

Vorcaro was arrested in 2025 for allegedly overseeing one of the largest bank fraud schemes in the history of Brazil, leaving billions in owed money.

Flavio Bolsonaro has also faced scrutiny for his ties with Vorcaro, after he approached the banker for assistance in funding a film about his father. Jair Bolsonaro is currently serving a 27-year prison sentence.

The right-wing senator used Tuesday’s suspension to push his claim that the prosecution of his father was a political “witch-hunt”. The Federal Police had recommended charges be brought against the elder Bolsonaro in November 2024.

“Lula’s special group in the Federal Police officially unmasked,” Senator Bolsonaro wrote in a social media post. “May the honourable and glorious Federal Police regain its autonomy to go after criminals, and not Lula’s political adversaries.”

William Marcel Murad, the federal police’s executive director, released a statement saying that Rodrigues has the agency’s “full confidence” and that agents “will not be shaken by attacks”.

24 Hours in Police Custody fans have been left gutted as fan favourite Tom Hamm revealed he’s left the show.

Detective Sergeant Tom Hamm has announced he’s officially retired after more than 22 years of police service and seven years on the show.

He shared the news with his fans on social media this week, writing: “So tonight is likely to be my last appearance on #24hoursinpolicecustody.

“I hope that the episodes I have appeared in have somehow influenced people by showing the difficulties that police face when investigating crime. Thanks for the support.”

Tom’s followers were devastated by the news.

One wrote: “Happy retirement Tom, I bet all the free time you get will be a breath of fresh air.”

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A second said: “Happy retirement Tom! Love the series, its great to see what goes on behind the scenes. Time to relax now.”

“The series won’t be the same without you working on the team. Well done to your team and everyone else who was involved,” this person posted.

The last episode featured a 17-year-old boy was left for dead under a railway bridge, suffering traumatic brain injuries.

Police originally thought he was a victim of a hit-and-run in Luton in June 2022.

They boy survived but had life-changing injuries.

Tom, who worked for Bedfordshire Police, said: “This case, for me was quite emotional because the victim was a twin and I have twin boys of similar ages to him and the parallel of how my children’s lives and the difficulties and circumstances of his life was something that played on my mind.”

“I could put myself in the position of his parents and how I would feel if I got that knock on the door from a police officer saying one of them had been hurt.

“This, by the grace of God, could be me.

“And I understand how it would affect the other twin.

“They do share a different bond than other siblings I think.

“Knowing how close mine are, if one of them is suddenly not there, it does affect them deeply.”

He had another reason to feel personally attached because of an enduring regret over the loss in quick succession of first his father and then his mother.

Tom’s personal feelings are evident in the two-part documentary, 24 Hours in Police Custody, in which he and his team investigate the mystery of why a 17-year-old boy was left critically injured on the roadside after suffering catastrophic head injuries.

“Initially, we didn’t know who the victim was, and we were working hard to establish his identity,” says Tom, who has now retired from Luton CID after 22 years of service.

At first, it looked like a hit and run but as all the injuries were to his head, medics believed they were inconsistent with a car collision.

When the victim’s twin brother arrived at the police station, he told them that he believed his brother had come to Luton from London to meet a girl.

But then he learnt on social media that he had been involved in some sort of altercation,

With the victim lying in hospital in a life-threatening coma, Tom told his team their priority was to get his family by his bedside as soon as possible.

He discovered that the case was linked to a county line drugs trade, where drugs are moved between different part of the country.

Hamid was found guilty of conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm and was sentenced to 10 years and nine months in jail.

Jasmine Aldrich was also charged with conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm but was found not guilty.

RABAT: Moroccan media have criticized a Spanish police report that accused Morocco’s security forces of failures as tens of thousands of migrants crossed into the Spanish territory of Ceuta.

More than 70,000 migrants entered Ceuta from Morocco on July 30 and 31 in an unprecedented, chaotic surge that left scores dead and sparked European Union infighting over the touchy issue of migration.

The Spanish police report seen by AFP flagged a Moroccan police response of “total permissiveness” that it said facilitated the rush, with some officers directing migrants toward the water.

Moroccan police numbers around the border post were “clearly smaller than usual” and officers “made no serious attempt” to stem the surge, said the report.

But Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has consistently avoided blaming Morocco, noting that there was no “solid proof” that the North African country orchestrated the migrant rush.

Sanchez’s leftist government has tried for years to improve the countries’ historically delicate relations — notably over the status of Ceuta and Spain’s other north African territory, Melilla.

Moroccan authorities have yet to comment on the leaked police report, but several Moroccan media outlets have weighed in on its allegations.

Moroccan news site Hespress on Friday called it “particularly weak,” saying it lacked material evidence and contained “glaring contradictions.”

Hespress said the police report sought to make Morocco “the scapegoat” in Spanish political and judicial disputes.

Moroccan news site Le Desk on Thursday described the report as “botched,” pointing to factual errors including a reference to June 30 instead of July 30.

And TelQuel said that claims by some media that the report directly accused Morocco of “planning and executing” the influx were false, adding that the allegations did not name any Moroccan official as responsible.

News site Medias24 challenged the “permissiveness” claim by arguing that it was based solely on one satellite image that was “obviously just a snapshot.”

Last month, a senior Moroccan official told AFP on condition of anonymity there had been no Moroccan security failures during the influx.

Former Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone has denied being arrested at an airport in Portugal after arriving with a shotgun he intended to use in a clay pigeon shooting competition.

Ecclestone, 95, said he was stopped and questioned by four police officers and customs officials at the Tires Aerodrome in Cascais on Monday after arriving from Switzerland.

The British businessman told the Press Association he had to “surrender” the weapon he travelled with as he did not have the right documents to correctly import it.

Ecclestone, who was in charge of F1 for nearly 40 years until 2017, said the Portuguese police were “very helpful” and rejected reports he had been arrested.

“I was going to take part in a clay pigeon shooting competition in Portugal,” said Ecclestone.

“I went to see the police and said, ‘What can I do for you?’ And they said, ‘We would like some information on this gun you brought in’.”

Ecclestone added he had already taken his shotgun from England to Switzerland and said he anticipated no problems as the airport officials know him “very well”.

However, on arrival he was questioned by police for about an hour and was asked to hand over the weapon as he did not have the official documents to bring it into the country.

The incident marks the second time Ecclestone has encountered airport issues regarding firearms. In 2022, he was arrested in Brazil for illegally carrying a gun while boarding a private plane to Switzerland and was ordered to pay 6,000 Brazilian reals (£1,000) to the local authorities.

Authorities say seven people are still missing after deadly explosions at a facility storing pyrotechnic material.

Two explosions at a military facility in the Bolivian city of Viacha have killed at least 10 people and injured dozens of others, authorities said.

The blasts occurred on Friday in an area used to store pyrotechnic material, about 30km (18 miles) from the administrative capital, La Paz, Bolivia’s Ministry of Defence said.

Viacha health director Rita Nebraska told a local television station that between 10 and 15 people were believed to have been killed and 62 others were injured.

She said 14 of the wounded were transferred to hospitals in La Paz, including a girl with third-degree burns.

Fireworks were stored at the military facility, but the cause of the explosions remains under investigation, police spokesman Roger Roca said. He added that seven people were still missing.

Firefighters warned that a heat source remained at the site, Nebraska said, urging residents to stay at least 150 metres away because of the risk of another explosion.

Police said dozens of nearby homes were damaged and that many civilians were injured by shattered glass.

About 50 civilians and six military personnel injured in the explosions “have been treated … by the different medical centres of Viacha”, Deputy Minister of Defence Ernesto Justiniano Urenda said in a statement.

An investigation is under way to determine the cause of the explosions, how the pyrotechnic material was stored and whether anyone was responsible, he added.

Footage posted on social media showed one of the explosions shattering windows in nearby buildings and sending debris into the air as thick black smoke rose from the facility.

Israeli forces bar Israeli and Palestinian activists from delivering food and medicine to homes besieged by settlers.

Israeli police have killed a Palestinian man in Jerusalem and the Israeli army has blocked humanitarian assistance from reaching an occupied West Bank village besieged by settlers for weeks.

Officers opened fire on a 33-year-old Palestinian near Damascus gate in Jerusalem on Friday. Israeli police said its border guard “neutralised” the man, claiming he was attempting to stab one of them.

The Palestinian Wafa news agency identified the man as Ibrahim al-Hendi from East Jerusalem’s Beit Hanina neighbourhood. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Following the incident, Israeli forces deployed around Damascus Gate and the surrounding area of Jerusalem’s Old City, Palestinian sources told Al Jazeera.

Separately, the Israeli army said that it arrested Palestinians in the town of Qabatiya in the West Bank, alleging they were “planning to carry out an attack” against Israelis and security forces.

Ten other Palestinians were arrested during a 48-hour Israeli army operation in Nablus in the West Bank. The Israeli army said it seized more than “30 weapon production machines used to manufacture weapons” during the operation.

Meanwhile, Israeli settlers and soldiers carried out attacks across the occupied West Bank on Friday, Wafa reported. Settlers stormed the Khirbet al-Hamra community in the northern Jordan Valley and assaulted one resident.

Israeli settlers, accompanied by soldiers, also attacked Khalet a-Nahlah in southern Bethlehem. Israeli forces also fired tear gas and concussion grenades at a crowd of Palestinians who gathered to resist the attacks.

Blocking access to Qusra

As violence and harassment of Palestinians continues across the occupied territory, the Israeli army on Friday also prevented around 100 peace activists from delivering food and medicine to Palestinians who have been under siege in the town of Qusra for 28 days.

Since August 9, Israeli settlers have besieged three Palestinian homes in the northern occupied West Bank village, while the Israeli army has also prevented the families from entering or leaving them, claiming the area is a “closed military zone”.

“Day 28 of the blockade on Qusra. About 100 activists arrived to deliver supplies to the besieged families,” the Israeli Peace Now movement said in a post on X.

“The army blocked us at first, claiming Qusra was a ‘closed military zone.’ Then let us in but on the way back detained us for ‘violating a closed military zone’,” it added.

Qusra Mayor Abdel Azim Wadi also told the state-run Turkish Anadolu news agency that the Israeli army has been “preventing the delivery of basic necessities to three families trapped on Mount Ras al-Ain”.

US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee told Israeli public broadcaster Kan on Friday that settler violence against Palestinians is “damaging the image of Israel as a nation and a people, warning that Israel “needs all the friends it can get” and “doesn’t need more enemies”.

Around 750,000 Israeli settlers live in 156 illegal settlements and 360 settlement outposts in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and carry out attacks aimed at forcibly displacing Palestinians, according to Palestinian figures.

The hit Channel 4 true crime documentary series recently returned with a brand new special, but fans are still waiting for the second half to air.

Channel 4 has issued a fresh update on its beloved true crime series 24 Hours in Police Custody.

The long-running documentary series has amassed a devoted fanbase since its premiere back in 2014. It offers an unflinching look at police work in the UK and the lengths teams go to in order to bring criminals to justice.

After a months-long wait for new episodes, fans were finally informed they had a new two-part special to look forward to. That was The Ambush, which aired its first half just last week on Sunday night (August 30).

Many fans were left confused when the second part didn’t air the following evening on the Bank Holiday Monday, as a number of fans had expected the double bill to unfold over two nights. They were sadly mistaken, as the second part had always been scheduled to air exactly one week after part one, meaning it will be shown on Sunday, September 6.

Channel 4 has now directly addressed the legion of baffled fans with a cheeky post on its dedicated documentaries Facebook page. The broadcaster posted a series of screenshots of the flurry of remarks regarding the special episodes, including fans asking “Can’t find part two?” and “When is part two?”

The post was captioned: “POV you’re the Social Media Manager reading the comments on the new 24 Hours in Police Custody,” before clarifying exactly when fans can see the new episode. It added: “Watch part two of ‘The Ambush’ this Sunday at 9pm on Channel 4.”

Reacting to the post, many fans admitted they had been left confused and preferred watching both back-to-back. “I wish you’d air the episodes over two nights rather than have to wait a week,” one fan said accompanied by a crying emoji.

Another fumed: “Next time I’ll binge both on the day the second is released. I hate that wait!” Meanwhile a third series fan added: “I’d prefer not to wait a whole week. Had I known in advance I would have waited and watched them both at the same time. Still looking forward to it though.”

Yet another posted: “I’m waiting till Sunday to watch both and ignoring the spoilers,” as one vented: “Please listen to the feedback and NEVER again make us wait a week for part two!!! Consecutive days is long enough.”

24 Hours in Police Custody: The Ambush returns to Channel 4 on Sunday, September 6 at 9pm.

Haitian foreign minister says renewal is necessary to ensure safety ahead of elections scheduled in December.

Haiti’s Foreign Ministry has called on the United Nations Security Council to renew the mandate of an internationally backed security force meant to tamp down the powerful armed groups controlling parts of the country.

On Thursday, Foreign Minister Raina Forbin reiterated her view that the Gang Suppression Force (GSF) needed to be fully deployed to her country, with support from the international community.

Its mandate, however, is slated to expire on September 30, unless the UNSC acts to extend its mission.

“We need technical, financial, logistical and safety support that is up to the challenge,” said Forbin. “We must now move from solidarity to action.”

Her remarks came at a meeting of the Organisation of American States (OAS), focused on the continued gang violence in Haiti.

Forbin gestured to a pressing need in her country. This year alone, in the three months from April to June, an estimated 1,408 people were killed in Haiti, with 656 injured. Much of that violence was attributed to gangs.

Haiti is also pushing ahead with long-postponed general elections. Critics, however, fear that the violence could disrupt the elections and weaken public confidence in the outcome.

Political instability in Haiti has been heightened since the assassination of former President Jovenel Moise in 2021. Armed groups have flourished in the vacuum, assuming control over large swaths of the capital of Port-au-Prince and displacing more than one million people.

Authorities have struggled to address either the out-of-control violence or the deeper causes of instability in the country, including poverty and government corruption.

The upcoming elections, the first in a decade, are currently scheduled to take place on December 13. But officials have questioned whether they will take place, given conditions on the ground.

OAS Secretary-General Albert Ramdin said that the regional body would deploy an Electoral Observation Mission to help support a credible vote, urging greater assistance for Haiti’s provisional electoral council.

He added that about one million identity cards must also be produced and distributed before voting can take place.

“Haiti is at a critical juncture,” Ramdin said in a statement on Thursday. “Our responsibility is clear: to strengthen security efforts, advance electoral preparations, fulfill existing commitments and ensure that international cooperation translates into tangible improvements in the daily lives of the Haitian people.”

But international assistance efforts have also drawn criticism, with many Haitians sceptical of outside interference in their country.

Officials within such international forces have also bemoaned a lack of steady support. Before the GSF, Kenya had led a Multinational Security Support (MSS) to support Haitian police, only to withdraw in April, after failing to meet its funding and deployment goals.

The UN Security Council voted to create the GSF task force in October 2025 as a replacement for the MSS. The mission was given a 12-month mandate.

The GSF is authorised to pursue “counter-gang operations to neutralize, isolate, and deter gangs”, either independently or in cooperation with Haitian police and its military.

Human rights advocates, however, note that such international support has been lacking for Haitians fleeing the violence.

Many Haitians have been forcibly returned to the country after fleeing for safety. A UN official informed an emergency meeting of the UNSC last week that nearly 200,000 people have been sent back to Haiti during the first eight months of this year.

That amounts to a 20,000 increase over the same period last year.

Several foreign suspects were among those arrested, according to prosecutors.

Dutch police have arrested ⁠34 ⁠suspects after a drug-related shooting in a small town in the east of the country that left a security guard dead and two police officers injured.

Jolanda Aalbers, head of the regional police, told reporters on Tuesday that a “large group” of masked men had opened fire at 4am (02:00GMT) when police arrived at a house in Overasselt, a village near the German border, to investigate reports of suspicious activity.

During the shootout, a 51-year-old security guard was killed while two of the officers arriving at the scene sustained injuries that were not life-threatening, Aalbers said.

“When the first police unit arrived at the scene, shots were fired immediately,” the police chief said. “That was an incredibly traumatic incident. They had to rescue their colleagues and get them to safety. I have tremendous respect for what they did.”

Aalbers added that several weapons, data storage devices, and vehicles were seized at the scene.

Among those arrested ⁠were suspects from the ⁠Netherlands, Belgium, France, and Algeria, according to regional prosecutors.

They said that there were indications the shooting was connected to a “long-running” conflict, as the same house had ⁠been shot a dozen times in a single incident last ⁠year. Two people were convicted in that incident.

Local media linked the incident to the criminal underworld of Dutch drug lord Jos Leijdekkers, also known as “Bolle Jos” (“Fat Jos”). One of the Netherlands’ most wanted criminals, he was previously convicted for his role in international cocaine trafficking.

Dutch Minister of Justice and Security David van Weel said that police “acted swiftly in response to the life-threatening situation in Overasselt, which involved an unprecedented number of people”.

In a post on X, he noted that 34 arrests had been made and said “the investigation is still ongoing” while condemning the “horrific act of violence”.

Channel 4 will air part two of ‘The Ambush’ in a matter of days

24 Hours in Police Custody fans are being forced to wait days for a new episode.

The Channel 4 hit show kicked off its new two-part special, The Ambush, last night (August 30) and fans were instantly hooked. The harrowing episode centres on the case of a teenage boy who was found by the road with serious head injuries.

Viewers follow as the police try to uncover if the young man was the victim of a random incident or something more sinister. An official synopsis reveals: “A 17-year-old boy is found by the roadside with catastrophic head injuries. His twin says the boy had gone to meet a girl. But was it a trap?”

Those who tuned into part one were eager to discover how the case ended tonight (August 31), but they couldn’t find a new episode on the broadcaster’s schedule.

Taking to X, formerly Twitter, one fan questioned: “When’s the next episode? I can’t find it anywhere on the planner and Sky doesn’t have the next episode planned despite there apparently being one #24hoursinpolicecustody.”

Someone else shared their excitement to tune in, posting: “Tonight’s episode should provide us with more information.” But their hopes were quickly squashed as they learned that Channel 4 doesn’t have an episode scheduled until Sunday.

The furious fan shared: “What it’s not on tonight!!! You are joking me[…].” So exactly how long do viewers have to wait for the next instalment?

When does Part 2 of the 24 Hours in Police Custody special come out?

Channel 4 will air part two of 24 Hours in Police Custody ‘The Ambush’ next Sunday (September 6) at 9pm, meaning there is a week between part one and part two.

Part one is currently available to stream on the broadcaster’s on-demand service. Some viewers were already aware of the wait between the two episodes, but that hasn’t stopped them from issuing complaints.

Also writing on X, one viewer fumed: “Why are they making us wait a week for the conclusion? That’s really not on #24hoursinpolicecustody.”

Someone else added: “Are you serious @Channel4? We wait over 6 months for a new #24hoursinpolicecustody and now we’ve to wait a week for part 2?!.”

The two-part special comes after a long spell of the channel airing re-runs.

24 Hours in Police Custody’s The Ambush returns for part two next Sunday (September 6).