police

Nov. 15 (UPI) — At least nine died and 32 were injured at a police station in Kashmir when officials accidentally triggered an explosion while examining materials used to make bombs.

The materials were to undergo forensic examination, but a “very unfortunate” incident caused them to explode shortly before midnight on Friday, regional Director-General of Police Nalin Prabhat told media.

“Any speculation into the cause of this incident is unnecessary,” Prabhat said, without detailing how the deadly detonation occurred.

The explosion happened in Nowgam in the India-administered province as police inspected the materials that they seized while investigating a terrorism network, The New York Times reported.

The 6,000 pounds of materials and other weapons were seized in Faridabad while investigating a car bomb that killed eight in the Indian capital of New Delhi on Monday and has been deemed a terror attack.

Officials say the materials were tied to a Pakistan-based organization called Jaish-e-Mohammed.

The raid also resulted in the arrests of six people, four of whom were identified as medical doctors whose licenses were revoked on Friday.

Friday night’s explosion severely damaged the police stationand nearby buildings also were damaged.

Body parts were found up to 650 feet from the blast site, and several vehicles were “engulfed in flames and reduced to charred husks,” police told media in a prepared statement.

Regional Lt. Gov. Manoj Sinha ordered an investigation to determine the explosion’s cause.

Earlier in the week, some Gen Z social media influencers said they no longer backed the protests, while mainstream figures like former President Vicente Fox published messages of support.

Thousands of people in Mexico City have taken part in protests against growing crime, corruption and impunity, which, though organised by members of Generation Z, ended up being mostly backed and attended by older supporters of opposition parties.

Saturday’s march was attended by people from several age groups, with supporters of the recently killed Michoacan Mayor Carlos Manzo, attending the protest wearing the straw hats that symbolise his political movement.

Earlier in the week, some Gen Z social media influencers said they no longer backed Saturday’s protests, while mainstream figures like former President Vicente Fox and Mexican billionaire Ricardo Salinas Pliego published messages in support of the protests.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum also accused right-wing parties of trying to infiltrate the Gen Z movement, and of using bots on social media to try to increase attendance.

In several Asian and African countries this year, members of the Gen Z demographic group have organised protests against inequality, democratic backsliding and corruption.

The largest Gen Z protests took place in Nepal in September, following a ban on social media, and led to former Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s resignation.

Madagascar also saw major protests that same month, initially driven by severe, prolonged water and electricity shortages that exposed wider government failures and corruption. The weeks of unrest led to the dissolution of the government, forcing President Andry Rajoelina to flee the country last month and regime change.

Saturday’s protests quickly turned violent, as “protesters accuse the federal government of repression”, reported Mexican news outlet El Universal.

Security forces fired tear gas and threw stones at protesters as they entered the perimeter of the National Palace, located in the city’s main square of Zocalo, El Universal reported.

“With their shields and stones, they [security forces] physically assaulted young people demonstrating in … Zocalo, who ended up injured and assisted by doctors who were also marching and ERUM [Emergency Rescue and Medical Emergencies Squadron] personnel,” said El Universal.

Police officers, after “chasing and beating protesters on the Zocalo plaza” for a few minutes, “forced people to leave the area and dispersed the last remaining protesters”, it added.

In Mexico, many young people say they are frustrated with systemic problems like corruption and impunity for violent crimes.

“We need more security,” said Andres Massa, a 29-year-old business consultant, who carried the pirate skull flag that has become a global symbol of Gen Z protests, told The Associated Press news agency.

Claudia Cruz, a 43-year-old physician who joined the protests, said she was marching for more funding for the public health system, and for better security because doctors “are also exposed to the insecurity gripping the country, where you can be murdered and nothing happens”.

President Sheinbaum still has high approval ratings despite a recent spate of high-profile murders, including that of Manzo.

Explosives reportedly detonate during forensic investigation as part of probe into earlier blast in India’s capital New Delhi.

At least seven people have been killed and 27 more injured after a cache of confiscated explosives detonated in a police station in Srinagar, Indian-administered Kashmir’s main city.

The stockpile exploded late on Friday night at a police station in the Nowgam area in the south of Srinagar.

Most of those killed were policemen and forensic team officials who were examining the explosives at the time of the detonation, unnamed sources told Indian broadcaster NDTV. Two officials from the Srinagar administration also died in the blast.

With five people still in critical condition, the death toll could continue to climb, according to the media outlet.

“Not a terror attack. Police say it’s a very unfortunate incident,” NDTV’s senior executive editor Aditya Raj Kaul said in a post on social media.

“The blast happened when a forensics team and the police were checking the explosive material stored at the police station,” he said.

#BREAKING: J&K Police Top Officials tell me that the massive blast at Nowgam Police Station around 11:20pm tonight happened when FSL team along with Police and Tehsildar were inspecting the large Ammonium Nitrate explosive which was confiscated earlier. Casualties in the blast.… pic.twitter.com/67U143jOFg

— Aditya Raj Kaul (@AdityaRajKaul) November 14, 2025

The huge blast comes days after Monday’s deadly car explosion in New Delhi, which killed at least 12 people near the city’s historic Red Fort and which officials have called a “terror” incident.

The explosion in the Indian capital occurred just hours after police arrested several people and seized explosive materials as well as assault rifles.

Police said the suspects were linked to Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM), a Pakistan-based group that is seeking to end Indian rule in Kashmir, and Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind, a Kashmir offshoot linked to JeM.

Police in Indian-administered Kashmir also detained more than 650 people as part of their investigation following the New Delhi car blast.

According to reports, the Nowgam police station, where the blast took place on Friday, had led an investigation into posters that were displayed around the area by JeM, warning it would carry out attacks on security forces and “outsiders”.

Police said their investigation into the posters exposed a “white-collar terror ecosystem, involving radicalised professionals and students in contact with foreign handlers, operating from Pakistan and other countries”.

Police also recovered nearly 3,000kg (3 tonnes) of ammonium nitrate, a commonly used material in bomb making, saying the armed group was stockpiling enough explosives to carry out a major attack in India.

Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since their independence from British rule in 1947, and both claim the Himalayan territory.

The two countries have fought three wars over Kashmir since the nations were partitioned in 1947, and tensions remain high between New Delhi and Islamabad over the status of the territory.

ADAM Peaty’s mum has told of her heartbreak at the ongoing family feud that saw the Olympic swimmer’s brother James arrested over alleged violent threats.

Gold medallist Adam’s wife-to-be Holly Ramsay called cops while he was on his stag do in Budapest over concerns he could be assaulted when he got back to the UK.

Adam and Holly are set to get married next month, with her famous parents Gordon and Tana Ramsay, and their celeb pals such as Sir David Beckham and his wife Victoria as guests.

She had her hen do at the weekend but Adam’s mum Caroline was not invited.

Caroline has now revealed she wants to repair the rift.

She told the Daily Mail: “I know it’s the end. But please, the message I want Adam to hear is no matter what happens in the future, please know I love you, your dad loves you, you can come home and talk to me at any point.

FOR PEAT’S SAKE

Adam Peaty’s dad breaks silence as Olympian’s brother is arrested

ADAM BROKEN

Adam Peaty hugs fiancee Holly and laughing Gordon Ramsay after first triathlon

“There’s nothing you’ve done that I would not forgive. I love you so much.

“I hope your marriage is a good one, I don’t wish any ill on you and I want you and Holly to have a long and happy marriage, like your dad and me. The reason I’m speaking out is I want all this to end.”

Caroline added that she has reached rock bottom over the family feud.

She also claimed to feel as though her son is being “pulled away” from her amid the rift.

This comes as Adam Peaty’s dad broke his silence today after the Olympic swimmer’s brother was arrested over alleged violent threats.

Gold medallist Adam’s wife-to-be Holly Ramsay called cops while he was on his stag do in Budapest over concerns he could be assaulted when he touched down in the UK.

Five officers met 30-year-old Adam’s plane when it arrived at Manchester Airport at the weekend and escorted him through passport control.

It has since emerged that his older brother James, 34, was arrested at his Staffordshire home and later bailed.

Adam’s father Mark told The Sun: “They’re brothers.

“They’ve always been close but like any normal family, brothers fight, argue, fall out, make-up and start all over again. But it’s got out of hand.

“There’s been very little empathy towards Jamie’s genuine mental health difficulties.”

A Staffordshire Police spokesman said: “We arrested a 34-year-old man, from the Uttoxeter area, on November 11, 2025, on suspicion of harassment.

“The man was released on conditional bail while our enquiries continue.”

It follows Adam’s mum Caroline, 59, being snubbed from Holly’s hen do and uninvited from next month’s wedding at Bath Abbey, a move that sparked a furious online outburst from the athlete’s auntie Louise.

However, a source close to Adam and Holly said: “This feud is heart-breaking from both sides.

“But the reality is that Adam sees his mum Caroline to be enabling his brother’s actions rather than pushing him to deal with his demons.

“Poor Caroline must feel utterly torn and it’s just very hard for everyone.

“Gordon has been incredibly supportive of Holly and Adam; after all, he’s been through similar issues with his own brother.”

Adam has been forced to cancel a two-day event in the US after the ordeal.

The Olympic champion swimmer was due to fly to the US this weekend for a two-day training clinic with aspiring swimmers who signed up to his AP Race company.

He founded the business in 2019 to provide clinics to athletes across the globe.

Adam was expected to fly to Orlando, Florida, for a two-day session on November 15 and 16.

A source close to Adam said: “With everything going on Adam is going to remain in the UK.

“His team will still be delivering a first class clinic.”

The Sun first told this week how a secret feud between Adam and certain members of his family had imploded.

His mother, Caroline, was banned from attending his wedding to his fiancee Holly Ramsay, 25, next month.

Those close to the family branded six-time Olympic medalist Adam a “narcissist” and said he was “ashamed” of the family.

In a statement, a friend of Adam and Holly hit back and said the issue wasn’t cut and dry as his family were making out.

A friend said: “The issues that have been reported don’t stem from hen do or wedding invitations; it goes so much deeper.

“Things escalated over the weekend when someone became increasingly abusive and threatening over text.

“Adam was trying to enjoy his stag do and was getting freaked out by it all.

“He then received a threat that he’d be met off the plane.

“He told Holly who called the cops after consulting with her family.

“Gordon and Tana have been 100 per cent supportive of them in this.

PEATY FEUD TWIST

Adam Peaty’s brother arrested over stag do threats sent to Olympian

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“They are both brilliant in a crisis.

“The police were sufficiently concerned that they went to the airport to accompany him through passport control, baggage area, arrivals hall and into a waiting vehicle.”

An arrest had been made in connection with the Thursday shooting of Laney College athletic director and former football coach John Beam, the Oakland Police Department announced Friday morning.

Beam was shot on Thursday on the downtown Oakland campus, the Peralta Community College District confirmed to multiple media outlets, and was transported to a local hospital. His condition has not been made public. The Oakland police had not publicly named Beam as the shooting victim, but said there would be more information on the arrest forthcoming.

On Thursday at a news conference, Oakland’s acting police chief James Beere had told reporters that police were attempting to locate a potential suspect.

“It’s a male unknown race wearing all dark clothing and a black hoodie that fled the scene,” Beere said.

Beam coached football in Oakland — first at Skyline High School and then at Laney —for more than four decades before retiring from that aspect of his job after last season. He and the Eagles were featured during the 2020 season of the Netflix documentary series “Last Chance U.” The show depicted Beam as a mentor and father figure to his players, some of whom were facing significant challenges in their lives, as they navigate a football season.

“My thoughts are with Coach John Beam and his loved ones. We are praying for him,” Oakland mayor Barbara Lee said in a statement. “Coach Beam is a giant in Oakland — a mentor, an educator, and a lifeline for thousands of young people. For over 40 years, he has shaped leaders on and off the field, and our community is shaken alongside his family.”

The Oakland Police Department responded to calls of shots being fired at or near Laney around noon Thursday and found a “a victim suffering from a gunshot wound,” Beere said, adding that his department was interviewing witnesses and looking at surveillance footage as part of an active investigation.

According to the Laney website, Beam was 160-33-3 with four undefeated seasons at Skyline High. He came to Laney as running backs coach in 2004, was promoted to offensive coordinator in 2005 and became head coach in 2012. He coached the Eagles to the California Community College Athletic Association championship in 2018

Another shooting occurred on Wednesday at Skyline High School. A student was shot and is said to be in stable condition. Two suspects, both minors, have been arrested by Oakland police.

A man who jumped the barricade and grabbed actress Ariana Grande at a Wicked: For Good premiere has been charged with being a public nuisance.

A now viral video shows the Australian man, Johnson Wen, pushing past photographers and charging at Grande while the cast made its way down a yellow carpet surrounded by fans. Co-star Cynthia Erivo could be seen wresting the stunned actress away from Mr Wen.

The 26-year-old had posted on Instagram late on Thursday that he was “free after being arrested”.

However, on Friday afternoon he was charged with being a public nuisance by a Singapore court. Local media reports say Mr Wen, who was unrepresented, intends to plead guilty.

This is not the first time Mr Wen, who describes himself as a “Troll Most Hated”, has invaded a concert or event.

His Instagram feed includes clips of him disrupting other celebrity events, including jumping on stage at Katy Perry’s Sydney concert in June this year and in a similar way during The Chainsmokers performance in the city last December.

If found guilty, he may be fined up to S$2000 ($1540; £1170).

Fans had earlier called for him to be arrested or deported.

“There needs to be action [taken] against him as this is clearly a criminal offence,” wrote an Instagram user, in a comment a video Mr Wen posted of his act.

“Oh wow so you do this a lot… how aren’t you in jail?” one Instagram user wrote.

Several accused Mr Wen for “re-traumatising” Grande, who had spoken of experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder after a suicide bomb attack at the end of her May 2017 concert in Manchester, killing 22 people and injuring hundreds.

“Ariana has been through so many scary things… and at her Manchester concert and you thought it would be fun to jump the barricade?” said another comment on Instagram.

Some fans also criticised security officers at the Thursday event for not being vigilant enough; while others called for social media platforms to ban Mr Wen’s videos.

In clips circulating online, Grande appeared shocked when she was grabbed by the intruder. Her co-stars Michelle Yeoh and Erivo can be seen comforting her while Mr Wen was escorted away by security.

Grande has not commented on the incident, and the rest of the event proceeded as normal.

The BBC has reached out to Singapore’s police and immigration authority for comment.

Hundreds of fans had gathered in a sea of green and pink at the Wicked: For Good Asia-Pacific premiere in a Singapore mall, including some who had stood in line for as long as eight hours before it began.

The movie, to be released on 21 November, is the second of a two-part adaptation of the popular Broadway and West End musical Wicked, which centres on the unlikely friendship between two very different witches.

The musical itself is a spin-off of the 1900 children’s novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

Grande, who plays the good witch Glinda, was decked out in a champagne pink sequin dress at the premiere while Erivo, who plays the wicked witch, wore a black tube grown embroidered with roses.

They were joined by co-star Jeff Goldblum.

The first movie, Wicked, was the highest-grossing movie of 2024 in the UK, and scored 10 Oscar nominations, winning two for best costume and production design.

ADAM Peaty has cancelled a two-day event in the US after receiving sinister threats amid his explosive family feud.

The Sun today revealed how Adam was escorted off a plane from his stag do by five police officers over concerns he might be assaulted.

Olympic champion swimmer Adam, 30, was due to fly to the US this weekend for a two-day training clinic with aspiring swimmers who signed up to his AP Race company.

He founded the business in 2019 to provide clinics to athletes across the globe.

Adam was expected to fly to Orlando, Florida, for a two-day session on November 15 and 16.

The website is still advertising Adam as attending and said: “Adam and the AP Race Team cannot wait to be heading to the USA for our first ever American Clinics.

FAMILIES AT WAR

What Adam Peaty’s ex REALLY thinks about Holly & family row, pals reveal

STAG DO ORDEAL

Peaty escorted from jet by gun cops after sinister threats amid family feud

“This is your ultimate opportunity to be coached by Triple Olympic Champion and World Record Holder, Adam Peaty and learn from his world class team.”

However those close to Adam said he would no longer be attending the clinic.

A source said: “With everything going on Adam is going to remain in the UK.

“His team will still be delivering a first class clinic.”

The Sun first told this week how a secret feud between Adam and certain members of his family had imploded.

His mother, Caroline, was banned from attending his wedding to his fiancee Holly Ramsay, 25, next month.

Those close to the family branded six-time Olympic medalist Adam a “narcissist” and said he was “ashamed” of the family.

In a statement, a friend of Adam and Holly hit back and said the issue wasn’t cut and dry as his family were making out.

And today insiders told The Sun how Holly, the daughter of celebrity chef Gordon, had called cops over concerns for Adam’s safety while he was on his stag do in Budapest, Hungary.

A source explained that Adam had received a series of “increasingly threatening” messages while away with friends – prompting Holly to get the police involved.

A friend said: “The issues that have been reported don’t stem from hen do or wedding invitations; it goes so much deeper.

“Things escalated over the weekend when someone became increasingly abusive and threatening over text.

“Adam was trying to enjoy his stag do and was getting freaked out by it all.

“He then received a threat that he’d be met off the plane.

“He told Holly who called the cops after consulting with her family.

“Gordon and Tana have been 100 per cent supportive of them in this.

FAMILIES AT WAR

What Adam Peaty’s ex REALLY thinks about Holly & family row, pals reveal

WILL ROW

Daughter ‘deleted’ from mum’s will because she didn’t show enough ‘love & respect’

“They are both brilliant in a crisis.

“The police were sufficiently concerned that they went to the airport to accompany him through passport control, baggage area, arrivals hall and into a waiting vehicle.”

A deputy for the Medina County Sheriff’s Office in Texas fatally shot California-based food influencer Michael Duarte last week, a police spokesperson confirmed to TMZ.

The outlet reported on Wednesday that Duarte, who amassed a following on social media as “FoodWithBearHands,” died Nov. 8 after deputies responded to a disturbance call in Castroville, Texas. Law enforcement reported to a “male subject with a knife acting erratically.” The spokesperson alleges that Duarte threatened and approached the responding deputy, and did not follow numerous “verbal commands” to get on the ground.

“Duarte charged toward the deputy while yelling, ‘I’m going to kill you,’” the spokesperson told TMZ. The spokesperson added that the deputy fired two rounds from her “duty weapon” and struck Duarte. He was reportedly given medical aid at the scene and transferred to a nearby hospital, where he died. He was 39.

Neither representatives for the Medina County Sheriff’s Office or Duarte immediately responded to requests for confirmation on Wednesday.

Barbecue pellet company Bear Mountain BBQ announced Duarte’s death on Tuesday in a joint statement shared to his Instagram page. A GoFundMe fundraiser created to benefit his family confirms that Duarte died “in a horrible accident on Saturday” while he was traveling in Texas, three days after he and his wife celebrated their ninth wedding anniversary.

“The world may know him as ‘FoodwithBearHands,’ but to us, he was a loving husband, father, brother, and a great friend to many,” reads the fundraiser description. “We ask that you lift Michael’s family up in prayer during this extremely difficult time, especially for his 6 year old daughter Oakley, and his wife Jessica.”

The GoFundMe seeks to raise $100,000 to support Duarte’s family in covering funeral expenses and “bringing him back home to California.” Donors have raised more than $65,000 as of Wednesday afternoon.

Duarte, raised in the desert town of Calipatria, began his professional culinary career working in several restaurants in San Diego, he said in October. He began posting videos on social media during the COVID-19 pandemic. After a “mental health crisis that led me to rehab,” Duarte continued to post cooking videos during his time off, including his first video, which featured his daughter, he said.

“That’s when I realized how happy creating content made me,” he wrote. “Over time, I began to see it wasn’t just a hobby — it could be a business, something bigger than myself.”

Over the years, he shared cooking recipes for alligator, iguana, frog legs, smoked duck and a variety of other dishes. His YouTube channel boasts a following of more than 260,000 subscribers and his Instagram page touts even more, with 845,000-plus followers.

“He had a rare gift for capturing the true spirit of BBQ: the smoke, the stories, the laughter, and the love for good food that brings people together,” Bear Mountain BBQ continued its statement.

The statement added: “But beyond the work, Michael was so much more. A proud dad who lit up every time he spoke about his daughter. A devoted husband whose love for his family was the center of everything he did. A good man with a generous heart, whose warmth and kindness touched everyone he met.”

Cape Town, South Africa – On an August evening in 1977, 30‑year‑old Steve Biko was on his way back from an aborted secret meeting with an anti-apartheid activist in Cape Town, taking the 12‑hour drive back home to King William’s Town. But it was a journey the resistance fighter would never finish, for he was arrested and, less than a month later, was dead.

Against the backdrop of increasingly harsh racist laws in South Africa, Biko, a bold and forthright youth leader, had emerged as one of the loudest voices calling for change and Black self-determination.

A famously charming and eloquent speaker, he was often touted as Nelson Mandela’s likely successor in the struggle for freedom after the core of the anti-apartheid leadership was jailed in the 1960s.

But his popularity also made him a prime target of the apartheid regime, which put him under banning orders that severely restricted his movement, political activities, and associations; imprisoned him for his political activism; and ultimately caused his death in detention – a case that continues to resonate decades later, largely because none of the perpetrators have ever been brought to justice.

On September 12 this year, 48 years after Biko died, South Africa’s Justice Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi ordered a new inquest into his death. The hearing resumed at the Eastern Cape High Court on Wednesday before being postponed to January 30.

There are “two persons of interest” implicated in Biko’s death who are still alive, according to the country’s National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), which aims to determine whether there is enough evidence that he was murdered, and therefore grounds to prosecute his killers.

While Biko’s family has welcomed the hearings, the long wait for justice has been frustrating, especially for his children.

“There is no such thing as joy in dealing with the case of murder,” Nkosinathi Biko, Biko’s eldest son, who was six at the time of his father’s death, told Al Jazeera. “Death is full and final, and no outcome will be restorative of the lost life.”

The Biko inquest is one of several probes into suspicious apartheid-era deaths that South Africa’s justice minister reopened this year. The inquiries are part of the government’s plan to address past atrocities and provide closure to families of the deceased, the NPA says.

But analysts note that the inquest comes amid growing public pressure on the government to bring about the justice it promised 30 years ago, as a new judicial inquiry is also probing allegations that South Africa’s democratic government intentionally blocked prosecutions of apartheid-era crimes.

Biko: ‘The spark that lit a fire’

Steve Biko was a medical student and national youth leader who, in the late 1960s, pioneered the philosophy of Black Consciousness, which encouraged Black people to reclaim their pride and unity by rejecting racial oppression and valuing their own identity and culture.

The philosophy inspired a generation of young activists to take up the struggle against apartheid, pushed forward by the belief that South Africa’s future lay in a socialist economy with a more equal distribution of wealth.

In his writings, Biko said he was inspired by the African independence struggles that emerged in the 1950s and suggested that South Africa had yet to offer its “great gift” to the world: “a more human face”.

By 1972, Biko’s student organisation had spawned a political wing to unify various Black Consciousness groups under one voice. A year later, he was officially banned by the government. Yet, he continued to covertly expand his philosophy and political organising among youth movements across the country.

In August 1977, despite the banning order still being in effect, Biko had travelled to Cape Town with a fellow activist to meet another anti-apartheid leader, though the meeting was aborted over safety concerns, and the duo left.

According to some reports, Biko heavily disguised himself for the road journey back east, but his attempts at going unnoticed were to no avail: When the car reached the outskirts of King William’s Town on August 18, police stopped them at a roadblock – and Biko was discovered.

The two were taken into custody separately, with Biko arrested under the Terrorism Act and first held at a local police station in Port Elizabeth before being transferred to a facility in the same city where members of the police’s “special branch” – notorious for enforcing apartheid through torture and extrajudicial killings – were based. For weeks in detention, he was stripped and manacled and, as was later discovered, tortured.

On September 12, the apartheid authorities announced that Biko had died in detention in Pretoria, some 1,200km (746 miles) away from where he was arrested and held. The minister of justice and police alleged he had died following a hunger strike, a claim immediately decried as false, as Biko had previously publicly stated that if that was ever cited as a cause of his death, it would be a lie.

Weeks later, an independent autopsy conducted at the request of the Biko family found he had died of severe brain damage due to injuries inflicted during his detention. Following these revelations, authorities launched an investigation. But the inquest cleared the police of any wrongdoing.

Saths Cooper, who was a student activist alongside Biko, remembers the moment he found out about his friend’s death. Cooper was in an isolation block on Robben Island – the prison that also held Mandela – where he spent more than five years with other political prisoners who had taken part in the 1976 student revolt.

“The news stilled us into silence,” the 75-year-old told Al Jazeera, recalling Biko’s provocatively “Socratic” style of engagement and echoing Mandela’s description of Biko as an inspiration. “Living, he was the spark that lit a veld fire across South Africa,” Mandela said in 2002. “His message to the youth and students was simple and clear: Black is Beautiful! Be proud of your Blackness! And with that, he inspired our youth to shed themselves of the sense of inferiority they were born into as a result of more than 300 years of white rule.”

After initial shock at the news of Biko’s death, “then the questions flowed of what had occurred,” Cooper recalled, “to which we had no answers.”

About 20,000 people, including Black and white anti-apartheid activists and Western diplomats, attended Biko’s funeral in King Williams Town on September 25. The day included a five-hour service, powerful speeches and freedom songs. Though police disrupted the service and arrested some mourners, it marked the first large political funeral in South Africa.

His death sparked international condemnation, including expression of “concern” from Pretoria’s allies, the US and the UK. It also led to a United Nations arms embargo against South Africa in November 1977.

Three years later, the British singer Peter Gabriel released a song in his honour, and in 1987, his life was depicted in the film Cry Freedom, in which Biko was played by Denzel Washington.

Nevertheless, Biko’s stature did nothing to hasten justice.

‘The unfinished business of the TRC’

Under the apartheid regime, any further investigation into Biko’s death was effectively put to rest for decades following the official 1977 inquest.

Then in 1996, two years after the end of apartheid, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was set up to investigate past rights violations, with apartheid-era perpetrators given the opportunity to disclose their crimes and apply for amnesty from prosecution.

Former security police officers Major Harold Snyman, Captain Daniel Siebert, Warrant Officer Ruben Marx, Warrant Officer Jacobus Beneke and Sergeant Gideon Nieuwoudt – the five men suspected of killing Biko – applied for amnesty.

At TRC hearings the following year, the men said that Biko had died days after what they called “a scuffle” with the police at the Sanlam Building in Port Elizabeth, while he was held in shackles and handcuffs. Up to that point, the commission heard, Biko had spent several days in a cell – naked, they claimed, in order to prevent him from taking his life.

In the decades since, it’s come to light that after being badly beaten at the Sanlam Building on September 6 and 7, Biko suffered a brain haemorrhage and was examined by apartheid government doctors, who said they found nothing wrong with him. Days later, on September 11, the police decided to transfer him to a prison hospital hours away in Pretoria. Still naked and shackled, Biko was put in the back of a van and moved. Although he was examined in Pretoria, it was too late, and Biko died on September 12 alone in his cell.

Despite admitting to beating Biko with a hose pipe and noticing his disoriented, slurred speech, the former officers claimed at the TRC that they had no indication of the severity of his injuries. Therefore, they saw nothing wrong with transporting him 1,200km away.

Eventually, the men were denied amnesty in 1999, partly for their lack of full disclosure of the events that caused Biko’s death. The suspected killers, some of whom have since died, were recommended for prosecution by the commission.

However, like most TRC cases, the prosecutions never materialised.

“The Biko case, along with others, must be viewed as the delayed activation of the unfinished business of the TRC – a matter that is a national imperative if we are to instigate a culture of accountability in South Africa,” Nkosinathi, now 54, said of the reopened inquest into his father’s death.

Though the scope of the Biko inquest has not been publicly stated, Gabriel Crouse, a political analyst and fellow with the South African Institute for Race Relations, worries that it will not examine new evidence, but that its goal will simply be to decisively determine whether Biko was murdered.

If this is the case, it would leave many questions unresolved, he says. For example, who pressured the initial forensic pathologist to declare a hunger strike as the cause of death; who ordered Biko’s killing; and what was the official chain of command?

‘The worms are among us’

Although the Biko inquest has renewed hope among his family that some of the perpetrators of his death will finally be brought to justice, analysts warn that the process may reveal uncomfortable truths about the nation’s past – including possible collusion between South Africa’s current government and the apartheid regime.

Nkosinathi now heads a foundation that promotes his father’s legacy. He points out that it is only pressure on the government that brought about this moment.

Months before the Biko inquest reopened, President Cyril Ramaphosa ordered the establishment of a commission of inquiry into whether previous governments led by his African National Congress (ANC) party intentionally suppressed investigations and prosecutions of apartheid-era crimes.

His move in April came after 25 survivors and relatives of victims of apartheid-era crimes launched a court case against his government in January, seeking damages.

The allegations of probes being blocked go back more than a decade. In 2015, former national prosecutions chief Vusi Pikoli caused a stir when he submitted an affidavit in a court case about the death of anti-apartheid fighter Nokuthula Simelane, in which he blamed the stalled cases on senior government officials interfering in the work of the NPA.

Former President Thabo Mbeki, who was head of state during Pikoli’s tenure, has denied that any such political interference took place. But the judicial inquiry, announced in April and now under way, lists former senior officials among those it considers interested parties.

The inquiry will look at why so few of the 300 cases that the TRC referred to the NPA for prosecution, including Biko’s, have been investigated in the last two decades.

“That it has become necessary to have to look into such an allegation tells much about how the huge sacrifice that was made for our democracy has been betrayed,” Nkosinathi told Al Jazeera.

Cooper believes the delayed prosecutions are a result of a compromise made by the apartheid regime and the ANC to conceal one another’s offences, including alleged cases of freedom fighters colluding with the white minority government.

“It’s justice clearly denied,” Cooper said, adding that he once questioned TRC commissioners about why they had concealed the names of rumoured apartheid-era collaborators who went on to work in the new democratic government. “The response was, ‘Broer, it’ll open a can of worms,’” Cooper told Al Jazeera.

“I see one of the commissioners died, the other is around, and when I see him, I say, ‘There’s no more can of worms, the worms are among us.’”

Like Cooper, political analyst Crouse also believes some kind of “backdoor deal” was struck following the transition from apartheid to democracy in 1994.

Many political actors failed to apply for amnesty, he says, despite prima facie evidence of their guilt. “And so it became very apparent that white Afrikaner supremacists and Black ANC liberationists, some from both camps, had gotten together and said, ‘Let’s both keep each other’s secrets and go forward into the new South Africa on that basis,’” he said.

Pikoli’s 2015 affidavit seems to echo such analysis. In his document, Pikoli recalls a meeting in 2006, where former ministers grilled him about the prosecution of suspects implicated in the attempted murder of Mbeki’s former chief of staff, Frank Chikane. Pikoli does not specify what the ministers objected to but says it became clear they did not want the suspects prosecuted “due to their fear of opening the door to prosecutions of ANC members, including government officials.”

A plea bargain was struck with the suspects while Pikoli was on leave in July 2007, as part of which the suspects refused to reveal the masterminds behind the compilation of a hit-list targeting activists. Pikoli believes a court trial would have forced them to disclose more details.

‘A stress test’ for democratic South Africa

Mariam Jooma Carikci, an independent researcher who has written extensively about the failure of justice in the democratic era, believes the official inquiry into the hundreds of unprosecuted TRC cases, including Biko’s, is “a stress test” of democratic South Africa’s honesty.

“For three decades we treated reconciliation as an end in itself – truth commissions instead of prosecutions, memorials instead of justice,” she said.

She sees Biko’s ideas continuing to flourish in today’s student movements, for example, in the #FeesMustFall campaign that called for free university tuition and the decolonisation of education in 2015.

“You see his echo in decolonisation debates and student movements, but the truest honour is policy – land, work, education, healthcare – designed around human worth, not investor or political comfort,” Jooma Carikci said.

While the country waits to hear the outcomes of the Biko inquest and the wider TRC inquiry, Nkosinathi Biko remains haunted by constant reminders of his father.

His younger brother Samora, who recently turned 50, looks exactly like Biko, he says, but being only two at the time of his death, “he was unfortunate not to have had memories of his father because of what happened.”

Meanwhile, for the country in general, Nkosinathi sees connections between Biko’s death and the 2012 Marikana massacre, during which police shot and killed 34 striking miners – the highest death toll from police aggression in democratic South Africa.

In his mind, the image of police opening fire on unarmed protesting workers echoes the country’s dark history – a sign that the state brutality that ended his father’s life has spilled over into democratic South Africa.

It seems Kris Jenner cranked the volume up too much on her lavish Beverly Hills birthday celebration over the weekend.

The “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” matriarch and businesswoman rung in her 70s on Saturday with an opulent and high-profile bash at Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos’ mansion, drawing ire from neighbors over its noise level. Police responded Saturday evening to the famed Warner estate — purchased by Bezos in 2020 for $165 million — after the Beverly Hills Police Department received radio calls about loud music, Lt. Kevin Orth confirmed Monday.

Neighboring residents complained of “loud music and disturbances echoing through the hills” and police spoke with the event security and issued a warning, according to TMZ. The outlet, which published photos of law enforcement outside the mansion, reported that attendees got particularly raucous when Bruno Mars delivered a private performance. Police also reportedly took issue with “large fake hedges” — apparently put up without a permit — that blocked the street beyond Bezos’ property.

A representative for Jenner did immediately respond to a request for comment.

Jenner enjoyed a James Bond-themed bash (coincidence?) that counted daughters Kim, Kourtney, Khloé, Kylie and Kendall among attendees. Backgrid published photos of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, Oprah, Gayle King, Tina Knowles, Mariah Carey, Mark Zuckerberg and wife Priscilla Chan, Sarah Paulson and Naomi Watts, among many others arriving at the grandiose event.

Jenner also posted photos from the Saturday soirée on Instagram, sharing snaps of herself with her “beautiful family and friends,” including Bezos and wife Lauren Sánchez Bezos, Stevie Wonder, Alicia Keys and Tommy Hilfiger. The famed “mom-ager” shared additional photos from the event Monday.

Hours before Jenner’s birthday bash, second-eldest daughter and shapewear mogul Kim Kardashian announced a bump on her years-long journey to become an attorney. The Skims mogul and “All’s Fair” actor, 45, revealed she failed California’s bar exam on her first attempt.

“Six years into this law journey, and I’m still all in until I pass the bar,” she said in an Instagram story. “No shortcuts, no giving up — just more studying and even more determination.”

She added: “Falling short isn’t failure — it’s fuel. I was so close to passing the exam and that only motivates me even more.”

Chicago police officers responded to a call of gunshots fired at federal agents Saturday amid immigration enforcement operations that drew protesters into the streets, the department said.

There were no reports of anyone hit by gunfire, according to police, and the federal Department of Homeland Security said in a statement on the social platform X that the shots were fired by a man in a black Jeep who was targeting the agents.

The suspect and the vehicle have not been located, according to DHS.

Tensions are high as federal enforcement has grown increasingly aggressive some two months into an immigration operation in Chicago dubbed “Operation Midway Blitz.” Some residents have protested, at times following and confronting heavily armed agents.

A federal judge issued an extensive injunction this week restricting agents’ use of force after saying a top Border Patrol official repeatedly lied about threats posed by protesters.

Saturday’s Border Patrol operation in Little Village, a largely Mexican neighborhood, attracted protesters who blew whistles, honked car horns and yelled at agents to leave. Some confronted police officers they viewed as helping the federal agents.

One police vehicle had its taillight smashed and windshield damaged. DHS said some protesters threw a paint can and bricks at agents’ vehicles.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Raza writes for the Associated Press.

US district judge blocks Donald Trump’s use of military force to tackle protests against immigration officers.

United States President Donald Trump unlawfully ordered National Guard troops to Portland, Oregon, a federal judge has ruled, marking a legal setback for the president’s use of the military for policing duties in US cities.

The ruling on Friday by US District Judge Karin Immergut is the first to permanently block Trump’s use of military forces to quell protests against immigration authorities.

Immergut, a Trump appointee, rejected the administration’s claim that protesters at an immigration detention facility were waging a rebellion that legally justified sending troops to Portland.

Democrats have said Trump is abusing military powers meant for genuine emergencies such as an invasion or an armed rebellion.

Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield described the ruling as a “huge victory” and the “decision confirms that the President cannot send the Guard into Oregon without a legal basis for doing so”.

“The courts are holding this administration accountable to the truth and the rule of law,” Rayfield said in a post on social media.

BREAKING NEWS: We just secured a final court order blocking National Guard deployment!

Today’s ruling is a huge victory for Oregon. The courts are holding this administration accountable to the truth and the rule of law. pic.twitter.com/ffzgj0zCjM

— Attorney General Dan Rayfield (@AGDanRayfield) November 8, 2025

Portland’s Mayor Keith Wilson also applauded the decision, saying it “vindicates Portland’s position while reaffirming the rule of law that protects our community”.

“As I have said from the beginning, the number of federal troops needed in our city is zero,” Wilson said, according to local media reports.

The City of Portland and the Oregon Attorney General’s Office sued in September, alleging that the Trump administration was exaggerating occasional violence to justify sending in troops under a law permitting presidents to do so in cases of rebellion.

Echoing Trump’s description of Portland as “war-ravaged”, lawyers from the Department of Justice had described a violent siege overwhelming federal agents in the city.

But lawyers for Oregon and Portland said violence has been rare, isolated and contained by local police.

“This case is about whether we are a nation of constitutional law or martial law,” Portland’s lawyer Caroline Turco had said.

The Trump administration is likely to appeal Friday’s ruling, and the case could ultimately reach the US Supreme Court.

A review by the Reuters news agency of court records found that at least 32 people were charged with federal crimes stemming from the Portland protests since they began in June. Of the 32 charged, 11 pleaded guilty to misdemeanours, and those who have been sentenced received probation.

About half the defendants were charged with assaulting federal officers, including 14 felonies and seven misdemeanours.

Prosecutors dismissed two cases.

Charging documents describe protesters kicking and shoving officers, usually while resisting arrest.

Three judges, including Immergut, have now issued preliminary rulings that Trump’s National Guard deployments are not allowed under the emergency legal authority cited by his administration.

DAVID Tennant’s wife has been left horrified and has appealed to the police following a series of vile death threats. 

Actress Georgia has been targeted by trolls online through social media with one even branding her ‘a w****’.

Georgia took to her Instagram stories to share a screenshot of messages she’s received from users online. 

One troll branded her ‘w****’ and told her to go back to the street she came from, referencing her as the ‘ex-wife of David Tennant’.

Georgia and David have been happily married since 2011. 

The couple also have four children together and each have one child from previous relationships.

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Another sent her a barrage of vile death threats.

The actress tagged social media platform Instagram and The Metropolitan Police in a plea for them to take action against the users. 

Georgia is also an actress like her husband and is the daughter of Doctor Who actor Peter Davison and his ex-wife Sandra Dickinson.

Following in her parents footsteps, she made her on-screen debut at the tender age of just 15 in Peak Practice in 1999, playing Nicki Davey.

The actress is perhaps best known for a recurring role as Abigail Nixon in The Bill from 2007 to 2009.

In May 2008, Georgia appeared in an episode of Doctor Who as Jenny, as the artificially-created daughter of the tenth doctor David, who is now her husband.

In 2020, along with David, Georgia co-starred and produced the comedy Staged, which was filmed during the Covid-19 lockdown.

As of this year Georgia has been the executive producer in a short film titled The Birds and the Bees.

Hubbie David has been facing his own predicaments this past year after his ITV game show The Genius Game was axed in the channel’s biggest, most expensive flop in years.

ITV spent months denying it had scrapped the programme, whose finale earlier this year attracted a paltry average of 661,000 in a prime time slot.

Earlier this year, Managing Director, Media and Entertainment, Kevin Lygo earlier revealed the truth  about the show when he was asked whether they would bring it back and whether he considered it a success.

He said: “Not really. I think it was a good try, but if were honest the audience didn’t come, it was a bit complicated.

“But I do know people who were obsessed with it. You know, especially young people were obsessed with and couldn’t believe we were not going to bring it back.

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“But, you know, I think in entertainment we all know how difficult it is to launch a big new show.”

Discussing expenditure he added: “Every show is a risk that’s new. Every show costs millions of pounds, practically, to put on. Certainly great big entertainment shows.”

Discrimination against black people is “baked” into the leadership, culture and governance of the Metropolitan Police, an internal review has found.

The independently commissioned review, authored by Dr Shereen Daniels, surveyed 40 years of evidence of how racism had affected black communities, as well as black officers and staff.

Baroness Doreen Lawrence, mother of murdered black teenager Stephen Lawrence, said that while the report was welcome, it “contains nothing I did not already know”.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley described the report as “powerful”, adding that it “calls out that further systemic, structural, cultural change is needed”.

The review, commissioned from the consultancy HR Rewired, concluded that darker-skinned Met staff were “labelled confrontational” while lighter-skinned employees might receive quicker empathy and leniency.

Dr Shereen Daniels said that systemic racism was “not a matter of perception”, adding that “true accountability begins with specificity”.

“The same systems that sustain racial harm against black people also enable other forms of harm. Confronting this is not an act of exclusion but a necessary foundation for safety, fairness and justice for everyone,” Dr Daniels said.

Baroness Lawrence said that discrimination “must be acknowledged, accepted and confronted in the Met”, adding that racism was the reason why her son had been killed and why the police had “failed to find all of his killers”.

She added: “The police must stop telling us that change is coming whilst we continue to suffer. That change must take place now.”

Imran Khan KC said that the report’s conclusions were “little surprise”, adding that Sir Mark Rowley should resign if he did not “recognise, acknowledge and accept” its findings.

He added: “This Report lays out in shocking clarity that the time for talking is over, that promises to change can no longer be believed or relied on.”

The report is the latest to highlight racism within Britain’s biggest police force, after Louise Casey’s 2023 review – commissioned after the murder of Sarah Everard – concluded that the Met was institutionally racist, misogynistic and homophobic.

Reviews conducted decades ago have criticised discrimination within the Met – including the 1999 Macpherson report that called the force “institutionally racist” after the mishandling of Stephen Lawrence’s case.

Earlier this year, secret BBC filming found serving Met Police officers calling for immigrants to be shot and revelling in the use of force.

Several officers have since been sacked, after Sir Mark Rowley pledged to be “ruthless” in getting rid of officers who are unfit to serve.

Following the publication of the latest report, Sir Mark Rowley said: “London is a unique global city, and the Met will only truly deliver policing by consent when it is inclusive and anti-racist.”

Police in Australia broke up a protest against Israeli companies taking part in a defence show in Sydney. At least one pro-Palestinian protester was seen dragged along the ground by officers.

Video shows part of Rome’s medieval Torre dei Conti collapse for a second time during a restoration near the Colosseum. One seriously injured worker remained trapped Monday evening with firefighters continuing a high-risk rescue as the tower’s stability is assessed.

Commuters can expect travel chaos in the days ahead after the derailment of train on a major line, with the train operator issuing an urgent warning for anyone travelling by rail this week

Less than 48 hours after passengers were stabbed in a frenzied attack on a train near Huntingdon, Cambridge, police have declared a second ‘major incident’.

Chaos has ensued after an Avanti West Coast train derailed near the Cumbrian village of Shap in what was declared a “major incident”.

Those onboard feared the worst after the train hit mud left by a landslide at around 90mph, with some alarmed passengers even concerned that the “loud bang” meant that another knife attack was underway, like the one that unfolded in Cambridgeshire on Saturday night (November 1).

The incident occurred at 6.10 am this morning (November 3), and all passengers were safely removed from the train by emergency crews. Meanwhile, photographs show a train carriage in a crushed state, with pipework and wires exposed.

Four individuals suffered minor injuries following the derailment near Shap in Cumbria, North West Ambulance Service confirmed, but thankfully, after assessing 87 people, ambulance workers determined that “no one required further hospital treatment”.

However, while the major incident status has since been “stood down”, an operation remains in place as crews work to clear the scene, and Avanti West Coast have now warned commuters to expect significant disruption to its network in the days to come.

READ MORE: Cumbria train derailment LIVE: Emergency services rush to scene amid ‘do not travel’ alert

Warning commuters not to travel north of Preston, an Avanti West Coast spokesperson said: “At 06.10hrs today, 3 November, the 0428 Avanti West Coast service from Glasgow to Euston was reported to have derailed at Shap in Cumbria. Our priority is the well-being of everyone who was on board and getting them safely off the train. We are assisting emergency services who are on the scene.

“As a result, all lines are blocked north of Preston. Please do not attempt to travel north of Preston today. We’ll provide further information in due course, but it is likely there will be significant disruption to our network for a number of days.”

With the line from Glasgow to London Euston being the main route for services operating in the west of the UK, it’s expected that thousands of passengers will be impacted by this ongoing disruption.

Echoing Avanti West Coast’s warning not to travel north of Preston, National Rail stated: “Major disruption between Carlisle and Preston expected until the end of the day. A derailed train between Penrith and Oxenholme means all lines are blocked. Trains running between Carlisle and Preston may be delayed by up to 120 minutes or cancelled.”

Meanwhile, National Rail has also clarified that rail replacement buses are no longer in operation between Carlisle and Preston, “due to a limited supply of coaches”, while it’s anticipated that “replacement vehicles may be busier than usual”. The train company advised: “You may be entitled to compensation if you experience a delay in completing your journey today. Please keep your train ticket and make a note of your journey, as both will be required to support any claim.”

It was previously reported that some 130 passengers have been taken to the nearby Shap Wells Hotel, with hotel director Shabeeh Hassan, revealing that the commuters arrived from 07:30am and seemed to have no injuries. He did however remark that some of the passengers were in shock, telling BBC Radio Cumbria: “I’m doing as much as I can just to make them comfortable.”

It comes after passengers on the 6.25pm LNER train from Doncaster to King’s Cross on Saturday night ended up running for their lives down the carriages as one of the biggest mass stabbings in British history unfolded.

A total of 10 people – including a man who was allegedly stabbed in the head while protecting a young girl – were rushed to hospital after the quick-thinking driver made an unscheduled stop at Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire, allowing passengers to flee down the platform.

Anthony Williams, 32, of Langford Road, Peterborough, was charged with 10 counts of attempted murder, one count of Actual Bodily Harm and one count of possession of bladed article.

Do you have a story to share? Email me at [email protected]

READ MORE: Cumbria train derailment: Major update as company warns ‘do not travel’

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.

Tens of thousands of people in Sudan have fled el-Fasher and the advance of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in the Darfur region. Al Jazeera’s Hiba Morgan reports from a camp for displaced civilians in the neighbouring Northern State where people are in desperate need of assistance.

Tanzania’s incumbent president, Samia Suluhu Hassan, has been re-elected with 98 percent of the vote in an election denounced by the opposition as a sham.

The government has denied that hundreds of people have been killed in a police crackdown.

So, what’s behind this crisis, and what’s next?

Presenter: Adrian Finighan

Guests: 

Tito Magoti – independent human rights lawyer and activist

Nicodemus Minde – researcher with the East Africa Peace and Security Governance Program at the Institute for Security Studies in Nairobi

Fergus Kell – research fellow with the Africa Programme at London’s Chatham House