New York City’s Comptroller and mayoral candidate Brad Lander has been freed after being arrested by federal agents at an immigration court as he linked arms with a man authorities were attempting to detain. The incident was caught on camera.
Published On 18 Jun 202518 Jun 2025
Israel’s Iron Dome is intercepting missiles launched from Iran, as air raid sirens sound across Tel Aviv.
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Getty ImagesThe opening of HS2 will be delayed beyond the target date of 2033, the BBC understands.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander is expected to tell Parliament on Wednesday that there is “no reasonable way to deliver” the railway line on schedule and within budget – but is not expected to say when the route will finally start operating.
She is set to outline the findings of two reviews into HS2, one of which points to a “litany of failure” leading to missed deadlines and ballooning costs.
It is the latest setback for the high-speed rail project, which has been scaled back and delayed repeatedly.
Alexander is expected to say that Conservative governments presided over the cost of HS2 rising by £37bn between 2012, when the line was first approved, and the general election last year.
She is set to release two reports into HS2 in a bid to “draw a line in the sand” and mark a government reset in how major infrastructure is delivered.
One will detail the findings of a review conducted by the former chief executive of Crossrail, James Stewart, which was commissioned last year to “investigate the oversight of major transport infrastructure projects”.
It will set out what has gone wrong with HS2 to date and what ministers can learn for future projects.
A second review by Mark Wild, the chief executive of HS2 who was put in place as part of efforts to get control of rising costs in October last year, will assess the construction of the project’s phase from London to Birmingham.
Alexander is also expected to announce the appointment of Mike Brown, the former commissioner of Transport for London, to become the new chair of HS2 Ltd.
Under the original plans, HS2 was intended to create high-speed rail links between London and major cities in the Midlands and North of England.
It was designed to cut journey times and expand capacity on the railways, but has faced myriad challenges and soaring costs in the 16 years since it was first proposed.
The massive construction project was given the green light in 2012, and was expected to cost £33bn and to be open by 2026.
By 2013, the cost of the project had spiralled to almost £50bn, with the expected completion date pushed back to 2033.
In 2020, when Boris Johnson recommitted the government to going ahead with HS2, one independent estimate put the potential eventual cost at £106bn.
In recent years, the scope of the development has been scaled back.
The eastern leg between Birmingham and Leeds was axed first, before Rishi Sunak’s government cancelled the planned Birmingham to Manchester route.
Last year, the Department for Transport said the remaining project cost was estimated at between £45bn and £54bn in 2019 prices – but HS2 management has estimated it could be as high as £57bn.
As Canada hosts the G7 Summit in Kananaskis, Alberta, from June 15 to 17, 2025, an orchestra of economic collapse plays across free economies like Canada, the United States, and the European Union. The conductor is not war or scarcity but a silent plague: Anti-Job Creation Syndrome, fueled by a job-seeker mindset where individuals, driven by a quest for stability, prioritize secure careers over the daring act of building enterprises.
Job creators, those rare alchemists who forge businesses from dreams, are the antidote, yet they are stifled by a culture that clings to caution. Canada’s G7 presidency must spark a global shift toward job-creating prosperity or risk a financial collapse that reverberates across continents.
The spark of entrepreneurial mysticism—a primal force weaving prosperity from village squares to global markets—has long defined human progress. From the wheel’s invention to Steve Jobs’ digital revolution, this unexplainable drive has birthed enterprises, from humble workshops to towering giants.
In Canada, small and medium-sized enterprises account for 50% of GDP, yet too many falter under job-seeker policies that favor bureaucracy over risk. In contrast, China’s job creators drive 60% of GDP; their billion entrepreneurs are a symphony of innovation. Canada’s G7 stage must champion this mysticism to counter the syndrome’s chokehold, lest free economies fade into a dissonant fog.
Free economies suffer because 99% of their economic teams are job seekers, trained to support enterprises, not start them. Job creators, wielding tacit knowledge—the intuitive brilliance of innovation—face a world that prizes explicit skills like accounting or law. Canada’s education system, like its G7 peers, churns out resume-builders, not enterprise-builders, leaving small businesses to wither.
Across the European Union, 50% of small enterprises have closed since 2020, while India’s multi-million startups thrive on risk-taking. This divide fuels the Anti-Job Creation Syndrome, where job seekers caution against starving the entrepreneurial flame. Canada must lead the G7 in nurturing job creators, not coddling job seekers.
The global economy splits into abstract and real realms. Abstract economies, like those of Canada and the United States, indulge in financial games—stock manipulations and debt bubbles—while real economies, grounded in value creation, flourish in job-creator nations.
Canada’s enterprises, burdened by $1.3 trillion in national debt, struggle in this abstract haze, unable to match China’s relentless advance. G7 elections, despite bold promises, fail to launch grassroots prosperity, blinded by job-seeker policies. The summit’s focus on digital resilience and climate change risks missing the primal need for enterprise creation. Canada’s leadership must shift this narrative to real economies, where job creators forge lasting wealth.
Canada’s G7 presidency is a clarion call to host a global summit, uniting nations to forge strategies for real economies rooted in value creation. The absence of bold economic debates to address declining productivity demands this reckoning. When 99% of economic teams lack the spark to grow small and medium-sized enterprises, the damage is profound.
How long will Canada’s enterprises languish in debt’s shadow? A summit could draw lessons from job-creator nations, rekindling the entrepreneurial mysticism embedded in every community.
Five steps chart the path: promote entrepreneurial education to inspire job-creators; incentivize small and medium-sized enterprises with tax breaks; invest in training that blends tacit and explicit knowledge; foster public-private partnerships to break dependency; and convene a summit to share value-driven strategies.
The world watches as Canada stands at Kananaskis, its G7 baton poised to conduct a new symphony. Free economies teeter on collapse, their job-seeker mindset a weary colossus crumbling under caution.
Why is Expothon Worldwide gaining global attention? An international platform for entrepreneurial innovation and authority on National Mobilization of SME protocols, now so focused on 100 countries. Why is it challenging to use immediately deployable methodologies for all massive SME sectors within the GCC, OIC, European Union, African Union, Commonwealth, BRICS, and ASEAN for national mobilization of entrepreneurialism as pragmatic solutions? Over the last decade, these insights have been shared weekly and reached approximately 2000 selected VIP recipients at the National Cabinet-Level senior government officials across 100 free economies. This track record of expertise and trust forms the foundation of its proposed strategies.
Population-rich nations like India and China play a vibrant melody; their billion entrepreneurs are a testament to the reward of risk. Canada must lead the G7 in unleashing job creators, not job seekers, by forging enterprises that light up the global stage. Free economies and G& have some bigger challenges, like facing the anti-job creation syndrome.
Without this mega-shift, the old economic model risks a grand financial collapse, leaving free economies in darkness. Canada’s summit is the last stand to ensure job-creators triumph, creating a future of prosperity for all.
The rest is easy.
Tel Aviv, Israel – For the fourth night in a row, missiles have hit Israeli cities. Iran’s retaliatory strikes, triggered by Israeli attacks, saw people sheltering in stairwells and bomb shelters as the scale of the damage and Iranian rockets managing to penetrate one of the world’s most sophisticated defence systems have left many reeling.
On Friday, Israel began its assault on Iran, targeting military and nuclear facilities and killing high-profile security, intelligence and military commanders as well as scientists. Israel’s attacks, which have also targeted residential areas, have killed more than 224 people and wounded at least 1,481, according to Iranian authorities. The government said most of those killed and wounded have been civilians.
In response, Iran has fired barrages of missiles towards Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities.
Hundreds of Iranian missiles have been launched since Friday, and Israel’s air defence systems, though robust, have been unable to stop all of them. While the number of missiles fired by Iran appears to have gone down on a night-by-night basis, the scale of the attacks continues to be unprecedented for Israelis.
Central Tel Aviv, Haifa, the scientific hub of Rehovot and homes have been struck. At least 24 people in Israel have been killed in the strikes and hundreds wounded.
The Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, a source of national pride and a cornerstone of Israeli military research, was among the hardest hit. Its laboratories were torn open, glass panes shattered, and cables and rebar left dangling.
“This isn’t just damage to buildings,” said Jenia Kerimov, 34, a biology PhD candidate who lives nearby. “It’s years of research, equipment we can’t easily replace, data that might be lost forever.”
She had been in a bomb shelter a block away when the institute was struck. “We’re supposed to be helping protect the country. But now even our work, our home, feels exposed.”
Shelters across the country are packed. In older neighbourhoods without bunkers, residents crowd into communal safe rooms. In Tel Aviv and West Jerusalem, stairwells have become makeshift bedrooms. The Israeli military’s Home Front Command has evacuated hundreds of people to hotels after buildings that were hit were deemed uninhabitable.
Yacov Shemesh, a retired social worker in West Jerusalem, said his wife has been sleeping on the stairs in their apartment block since the attacks began.
“There’s no shelter in our building,” the 74-year-old explained. “I went to the roof Sunday night to see what was happening. I saw a flash in the sky and then a boom. But I couldn’t find anything in the news. Maybe they [the state] don’t want us to know how close it came.”
The barrage has triggered panic in a society long shaped by conflict – but where, until now, the destruction and wars were inflicted elsewhere – in Gaza, Jenin or southern Lebanon. Now, many Israelis are being confronted with destruction in their home cities for the first time.
In Tel Aviv, long lines snaked through the aisles of a grocery store. Despite being crowded, the atmosphere was hushed as customers tapped their phones, their faces drawn tight.
Gil Simchon, 38, a farmer from near the Ramat David Airbase, east of Haifa, stacked bottles of water in his arms.
“It’s one thing to hear for decades about the Iranian threat,” he said, “but another to see it with your own eyes – to see high rises in Tel Aviv hit.”
On Monday night, he used a bomb shelter for the first time in his life.
Even the Kirya, Israel’s military headquarters in Tel Aviv, was struck although damage was limited. Iran’s ability to hit such a fortified and symbolically vital target has deeply rattled a population raised on the reliability of its multilayered defence architecture.
While much of Israel is covered by the Iron Dome, David’s Sling and Arrow defence systems, officials admit these were not designed for a saturation attack involving ballistic missiles with heavy warheads. “These aren’t homemade rockets from Gaza,” one analyst said on Israeli television. “These are battlefield weapons.”
On Saturday night, the streets of West Jerusalem were quiet. One of the few lit spaces was a gym. Its owner gestured to the staircase descending underground. “We’re protected,” he said. Then with a smile, he added, “Gymgoers are crazy. If you’re working out at night, the gym had better be open.”
Outside, the night air buzzed with tension. A neon sign flared against the darkness. A small group gathered, eyes fixed on the sky. Moments earlier, streaks of light had passed overhead.
“They’re headed somewhere else – Haifa, I think,” a young man muttered. Minutes later, sirens wailed. Video soon appeared online showing flames erupting from a gas installation near Haifa.
Initially, social media was flooded with footage of missile impacts – some from residential balconies, others from dashcams. By the third night, multiple reports were published of people being arrested for documenting the attacks while Israeli officials warned foreign media against breaking a ban on broadcasting such content, describing it as a security offence.
Meanwhile, fears of power outages are growing. In Tel Aviv, drivers queued at petrol stations, anxious to keep their tanks full. A father strapped his children into the back seat before speeding away. His eyes flicked to the clouds, then the rear-view mirror.
For some Israelis abroad, a feeling of helplessness has deepened. Eran, 37, who lives and works in New York, spoke to his elderly parents near the city of Beit Shemesh. “They’ve gone to shelters before, but this time, the fear was different,” he tells Al Jazeera. “The shelter was full. When they returned home, they found pieces of interceptor debris in the yard.”
Eran, a former conscientious objector who refused Israel’s mandatory military draft – for which he spent time in jail – and asked to use a pseudonym for fear of state reprisal upon his return to Israel, has long been critical of Israeli policies. Now watching his family in danger, he feels more certain than ever.
“Israel claims to act for all Jews,” he said. “But its crimes in Gaza and elsewhere just bring danger to families like mine. Even in New York, it impacts me.”
For others, the picture is murkier.
“I don’t know any more where the line is between protecting ourselves and making it worse,” Gil said. “You grow up believing we’re defending something. But now, the missiles, the shelters, the fear – it feels like a cycle we can’t see out of.”
The Israeli government, meanwhile, has struck a belligerent tone, promising to make Tehran “pay a heavy price”. But in the shelters, tension is mixed with exhaustion and a growing recognition that something fundamental has changed.
“It’s like the feeling of a meat lover after they visit a meat-packing factory,” Gil said quietly. “You grow up on it, you believe in it – but when you see how it’s made, it makes you uneasy.”
This piece was published in collaboration with Egab.
French forward Kylian Mbappe is battling illness on the eve of Club World Cup opener for Real Madrid against Al Hilal.
Real Madrid’s Kylian Mbappe is a doubt for the club’s opening Club World Cup match against Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal after missing training on Tuesday due to illness.
The club said Mbappe had been suffering from a fever, with newly-appointed manager Xabi Alonso, who will make his debut in the dugout in Wednesday’s match, adding that a decision on his participation would be made in the morning.
“Kylian was a bit better this morning, but he was not fully fit, so we thought it would be best for him to skip training. Let’s see how it evolves, and we’ll make a last-minute decision,” Alonso told a news conference on the eve of the clash at the Hard Rock Stadium.
The potential absence of Mbappe leaves Alonso facing a selection dilemma as the French player is currently the only recognised centre-forward in the squad.
Brazilian teenager Endrick, who could have provided an alternative, was left out of the travelling party following a leg muscle injury sustained during Real’s La Liga fixture at Sevilla last month.
Mbappe has been instrumental for Real Madrid this season, scoring 31 La Liga goals since his high-profile summer move from Paris St Germain.
Regardless of Mbappe’s potential absence, Alonso insisted his team would need to press “like a unit”.
“Defensive work is important. It’s one of the tasks we need to address in the short term, and in the long term, it will be decisive for our success,” the Spaniard said.
Real Madrid enter the tournament as one of the favourites, having dominated European football over the last decade, winning five of the last 10 Champions League titles.
Al Hilal secured their place in the competition by triumphing in the AFC Champions League in 2021, and will look to capitalise on any weakness in Madrid’s lineup.
Real and Al-Hilal were drawn in Group F with Mexican side Pachuca and RB Salzburg of Austria.
Protesters have denounced the leader’s incarceration and ban from public office as an act of political retribution.
A federal court in Argentina has granted former President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner house arrest to serve her six-year sentence for corruption charges.
On Tuesday, the court decided that the 72-year-old Fernandez’s age and visibility as a political figure made house arrest a reasonable option for her confinement.
Just three years ago, in 2022, the popular left-wing leader faced an assassination attempt, wherein an assailant aimed a pistol at her head. The court cited such dangers in its decision, saying Fernandez’s safety “would become complex in a situation of prison confinement in coexistence with any type of prison population”.
It is not uncommon for courts in Argentina to permit house arrest for individuals of advanced age as well.
The former president’s house arrest must begin immediately, the court ruled. It also explained that she would be subject to electronic monitoring. She will serve out her sentence at her apartment in Buenos Aires that she shares with her daughter and granddaughter.
Fernandez, the court said, “must remain at the registered address, an obligation that she may not break except in exceptional situations”. Any future visitors to the apartment — outside of household staff, healthcare workers and other approved individuals — will have to be vetted by the court.
The former president’s incarceration comes after Argentina’s Supreme Court last week upheld her conviction and barred her from running for public office ever again.
She was found guilty in 2022 of using public works projects, including roadways, to give beneficial contracts to a close associate of her family, Lazaro Baez. Prosecutors said the contracts awarded to Baez had rates 20 percent higher than normal — a sum that could translate to millions of dollars.
Other scandals have dogged her political career, including accusations of bribery and money laundering. Some of those cases continue to be weighed by Argentina’s judicial system.
But Fernandez has dismissed the allegations against her as political attacks. She had been preparing to launch a bid in this year’s legislative elections, until the ban on her candidacy.
Fernandez served as Argentina’s president from 2007 to 2015, after succeeding her husband, the late Nestor Kirchner.
In 2019, four years after she left the Casa Rosada — the “Pink House” of the presidency — Fernandez returned to the executive branch as vice president to Alberto Fernandez, another left-wing politician.
Both Fernandez and Alberto Fernandez — who share no familial relation — faced sharp criticism for their management of Argentina’s economy, including their heavy reliance on government spending and their devaluation of the country’s peso through the printing of excess currency.
But particularly among working-class Argentinians, Fernandez continues to enjoy substantial popularity, particularly for her investments in social programmes to alleviate poverty.
Since 2024, Fernandez has led the Justicialist Party, the main pillar of opposition against the government of current President Javier Milei, a libertarian. He took office in 2023, succeeding Alberto Fernandez.
Faced with Fernandez’s incarceration, supporters of the former president took to the streets in Buenos Aires to protest over the past week, calling her lifetime ban from public office an act of political retribution.
UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said he rushed to pick up papers dropped by US President Donald Trump at the G7 Summit partly because he feared what the White House security team might do if anyone else tried to help.
Starmer and Trump were talking to reporters about their newly signed off UK-US trade deal when the moment descended into farce as the president brandished a folder containing the arrangements and the papers spilled out onto the floor.
Sir Keir fell to his knees to scoop them up and hand them back to President Trump.
“There are quite strict rules about who can get close to the president,” he told reporters.
“I mean, seriously, I think if any of you had stepped forward other than me, I was just deeply conscious that in a situation like that it would not have been good for anybody else to have stepped forwards, not that any of you rushed to!”
The prime minister added that President Trump “was on good form” when they met on Monday.
He said that the US-UK trade deal was a “huge relief in terms of the protection of their jobs and their livelihoods” for tens of thousands of people working for Jaguar Land Rover in the West Midlands and in the firm’s supply chain.
There were widespread fears that without a deal job losses would have been inevitable.
“I was on the phone to the CEO of JLR, who rightly reminded me, although I didn’t need much reminding, that 44,000 workers at JLR are extremely relieved and pleased that we got that order signed,” Sir Keir said.
The new arrangement removes tariffs, or import taxes, on the aerospace sector and cuts the levy on cars exported from the UK to the US to 10%.
But the deal did not address the expected removal of charges on steel imports, which are currently at 25%. Negotiations over steel are ongoing.
Trump has raised taxes on goods entering the US, in a series of rapid-fire announcements he says are aimed at encouraging businesses and consumers to buy more American-made goods.
It sparked financial turmoil and alarm around the world, including in the UK, where car manufacturers and steelmakers rely on the US as a key destination for exports.
Sir Keir said on Monday the signing off of the deal marked a “very important day” for both the UK and the US, while Trump said Sir Keir had done a “great job” in doing “what other people… haven’t been able to do” in securing a deal with the US.
The pact has drawn criticism by opposition parties in the UK, with Conservative party leader Kemi Badenoch calling it a “tiny tariff deal”.
In the minds of liberals, democracy is a society that is open, tolerant, and diverse. However, history demonstrates that the most tolerant regimes occasionally have to go beyond, even if that means violating their own principles, in order to remain. This paradox is exactly what explains the concept of militant democracy: a variety of democratic self-defense that gives the right to restrict some of the rights because the main one—the democratic order—still has to be protected.
What Is Militant Democracy?
The idea of militant democracy was first discussed by a German scholar called Karl Loewenstein in the 1930s. While Loewenstein was exploring the downfall of the Weimar Republic, he claimed that democracies must not be passive if they are to survive against those who want to destroy them from within.
Within this concept, a democratic power is no longer the weak and helpless one. It may, thus, use legal and constitutional means to prevent radical parties—be they fascist, communist, or religiously radical—from abusing the very freedoms that democracy grants them to commit their acts of treason, thereby driving the democracy to annihilation.
Tools of Democratic Self-Defense
Modern-day militant democracies employ various instruments to secure their foundations:
· Prohibiting extremist parties or movements (e.g., the ban of the neo-Nazi SRP by Germany in 1952 and of the Communist Party in 1956)
· Constitutional clauses that forbid organizations if they are considered “hostile to democracy”
· Limiting freedom of expression or gathering when these are used for the propagation of hate or the establishment of an authoritarian regime
· Ensuring the loyalty of public officials towards the democratic values through monitoring of their activities
Through these tools, the democracies are the ones that are controversial with these questions of moral and political problems. Can a democracy still be accepted if it restricts participation? Does the suppression of any kind of speech in order to defend tolerance at the end of it actually lead to the loss of that?
Between Protection and Overreach
Critics point out that militant democracy may be misused. Governments might use it as an excuse not to protect democracy but, instead, to go after their opponents. The purges in Turkey after the coup are, for instance, examples of such self-preservation. However, they are considered by many to be the signs of an authoritarian regime.
The demarcation between “anti-democratic” and just “illiberal” is often very vague. The populist parties—like Fidesz in Hungary or Law and Justice in Poland—are acting within the democratic systems but openly negate the liberal norms. Should the concept of militant democracy be applied to them? And who is in charge of making this decision?
A 21st-Century Comeback
Nowadays, as authoritarianism is on the rise and there are more and more cases of disinformation, the concept of militant democracy is coming back.
At the level of the European Union, instruments such as Article 7 and the Conditionality Regulation are a manifestation of the concept of militant democracy in a power-sharing setting—they are means of pursuing the protection of the Union’s constitutional identity through the people’s mandate within the Union.
In Romania, the candidacy of Călin Georgescu, an intellectual nationalist and a local United Nations official, became a disaster because they effectively eliminated him from the race for political office. While his presidential bid was embraced by some segments of the public, his past affiliations and unorthodox views have led to institutional resistance and public denunciation. Proponents of this view claim that elites are overreaching; on the other hand, some people see it as a safety measure to prevent the spread of the extremist ideologies that are hidden under the pop era rhetoric—thus, the example of militant democracy.
A Difficult Balance
Militant democracy is a fascinating concept because it tries to protect democracy, but at the same time it can weaken it. The experience of the Weimar Republic is a very interesting one—it shows that democracies can be destroyed from the inside, usually due to their own excessive tolerance and lack of decisiveness. This is still true today. Democracies are at risk not only from external sources but also from insiders who use democratic freedoms to destroy democracy. This paradox makes the concept of militant democracy very important, yet quite complex: it is a protective agent intended to defend democratic order, but if it is used in a wrong way, it can become the very thing that it is fighting against.
Simultaneously, to protect democracy is not supposed to turn into a justification for the expansion of authoritarianism and political repression masked as democratic defense. There is a danger of misuse—where governments turn militancy democracy instruments into weapons to repress the political opposition that is not only to limit the protests or to consolidate power—that is always there. Hence, it is necessary that these steps are taken in a just, honest, and respectful way of the law. The rightfulness of the militant democracy rests on strict control and fidelity to democratic principles, guaranteeing that the attempts to defend democracy are not those that undermine the democratic matter.
To sum up, a militant democracy isn’t about limiting ideas but rather about saving a democratic space where ideas are not only allowed but also protected by safeguards that ensure the democratic order. The idea also asks for a subtle synergy—sufficient determination to make sure that anti-democratic elements cannot trick freedoms while being open enough to keep political pluralism and healthy discussions alive. In the current era, where we have witnessed an upsurge in populism, foreign meddling, and internal rifts, this equilibrium has become more vital than ever. Tolerance can’t be boundless if democracy wants to live on; hence, there have to be conditions—very cautiously and equitably implemented—that serve as the defense of democracy against those who are plotting to conquer it from the inside.
As attacks escalate between Iran and Israel, fears are growing over the global economic fallout.
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Palestinian photojournalist Abdel Raheem Khader has been describing the shock of losing 38 members of his family.
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The British government has announced a national inquiry into organised child sexual abuse following the release of a damning report by Baroness Louise Casey that criticised decades of institutional failure to protect children from so-called “grooming gangs”.
It marks a remarkable U-turn by the Labour Party government of Prime Minister Keir Starmer, which had resisted months of calls for an inquiry, stating that it was focusing on recommendations already made in an earlier seven-year probe.
But what exactly is the Casey Report, and what drove Labour’s abrupt change of course?
Commissioned earlier this year by Starmer, the Casey Report is a review of how United Kingdom institutions have tackled child sexual exploitation.
The review focused on “grooming gangs” – groups of men who targeted vulnerable girls for sexual abuse, often over extended periods of time.
The report identified an institutional failure to protect children and teenage girls from rape, exploitation and serious violence.
Among its recommendations, the Casey Report suggested a change in the law so adults in England and Wales face mandatory rape charges if they intentionally penetrate a child under age 16.
In her report, Casey concluded that too many grooming cases have been dropped or downgraded from rape to lesser charges because a 13- to 15-year-old is perceived to have been “in love with” or have “consented to” sex with the perpetrator.
Her review also highlighted reluctance by the authorities to “examine the ethnicity of the offenders”, saying it was not racist to do so.
In the local data that the audit examined from three police forces, they identified clear evidence of “over-representation among suspects of Asian and Pakistani-heritage men”.
However, the review also criticised the ongoing failure to collect ethnicity at a national level, with it not recorded for two-thirds of perpetrators, making it impossible “to provide any accurate assessment from the nationally collected data”.
Yes.
The UK’s Home Secretary Yvette Cooper confirmed the government would accept all 12 recommendations in the Casey Report.
This means the police will launch a new national criminal operation targeting grooming gangs, overseen by the National Crime Agency (NCA).
This operation would be overseen by an independent commission with powers to compel witnesses to provide evidence.
It would also go ahead with a national inquiry, with Starmer stating that he had read “every single word” of the report and would accept Casey’s recommendation for an investigation.
Richard Scorer, the head of Abuse Law and Public Inquiries at Slater and Gordon, a law firm, told Al Jazeera that the sheer size of the scandal and the fact that it had affected thousands of children made it “inevitable” that there would need to be a public inquiry about it at some point.
US billionaire Elon Musk’s online references to the grooming scandal that emerged a decade ago in several towns and cities in northern England had also pushed the “issue up the political agenda”, he said.
In June 2022, an independent review found that the police and local council had failed to prevent sexual exploitation of young girls by gangs in Oldham, a town in Greater Manchester in England.
Two years later, political leaders in Oldham Council called for the government to investigate further, but then-Home Office Minister Jess Phillips rejected the council’s request, saying it should lead an investigation itself.
In January this year, Musk threw his weight behind far-right activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, who goes by the name Tommy Robinson and had been outspoken on the issue.
He called for Robinson, a controversial political figure, then serving an 18-month jail term for contempt of court, to be freed, writing on his own social media platform X, “Why is Tommy Robinson in a solitary confinement prison for telling the truth?”
Musk also accused Starmer of failing to prosecute child rapists when he was director of public prosecutions between 2008 and 2013.
He also took aim at Minister for Safeguarding Jess Phillips, calling her “a rape genocide apologist”.
Starmer responded at the time, without mentioning Musk by name. “Those that are spreading lies and misinformation as far and as wide as possible are not interested in victims, they are interested in themselves,” the PM said.
Experts say it’s certainly a positive step.
William Tantam, a senior lecturer in anthropology at the University of Bristol, who has worked on a previous independent inquiry into child sexual abuse, said that from a researcher’s perspective, the main positive was that there would be more consistency and clarity in data.
He said that another positive is that inquiry panel will have the authority to compel agencies to participate.
Scorer noted that bringing in the NCA to investigate cases that haven’t progressed in the past is also a very welcome outcome of the report.
He said in the UK, different police forces have not always succeeded in coordinating their efforts to tackle grooming gangs, so a more centralised overview from the NCA might secure “a better coordination of police activity”.
Cooper told Parliament on Monday that more than 800 cases have now been identified for formal review, and she expects that figure to rise above 1,000 in the coming weeks.
But Scorer warned that the government would need to assign an additional budget for the implementation of the changes recommended by Casey.
“If you are asking the NCA to reopen and investigate, potentially up to 1000 cases, that’s going to require a huge amount of resources,” he said. “Who’s going to pay for that? That’s one of the questions that the government is going to need to answer.”
While Wimbledon bosses have confidence in their security provisions, which are reviewed annually, the issue has come into sharper focus this year.
It is estimated that around 1,000 people work in the field of security to some extent across the Championships.
In addition to the screening around the ballot, there are also more checks and balances when it comes to those in the queue.
Anyone gaining entry to the Championships that way will have to be registered with Wimbledon – meaning they’ve had to provide personal information.
In the grounds, as well as police and military personnel, there are other discreet members of the security team.
A team of fixated threat specialists are hired in and can assist the player escort team.
There are also behavioural experts who are trained to spot people acting strangely.
There is significant CCTV coverage on site, and if there are concerns around a particular player then a specific CCTV sweep will be done of the seats near to the player and their box.
On court, protection officers are positioned near the players, with more on Centre Court and No.1 Court.
If something spontaneous happens on site, there are response teams walking round the grounds who can come and support staff.
Security teams are also in regular contact with the referees’ office to discuss issues like scheduling.
The Mediterranean archipelago of Malta has long captivated British investors, and its allure extends beyond its sun-drenched beaches and rich history. For those seeking to diversify their portfolios or find a new place to call home, investing in Maltese property offers a unique blend of lifestyle benefits and financial potential. The island nation’s robust economy, EU membership, and attractive residency programmes further enhance its appeal as a prime destination for property investment.
Malta’s property market has demonstrated remarkable resilience and consistent growth, even amidst global economic fluctuations. Several factors contribute to this stability. The country’s strategic location in the heart of the Mediterranean, coupled with a favourable business climate, attracts international investors and expatriates, fuelling demand for housing. Furthermore, Malta’s EU membership provides a secure legal framework and facilitates ease of movement and trade for EU citizens.
The Maltese government actively encourages foreign investment through various initiatives, including attractive residency and citizenship by investment programmes. These schemes often involve property acquisition, providing a pathway to residency or citizenship for eligible investors and their families. Beyond the financial incentives, Malta offers an exceptional quality of life, characterised by a warm Mediterranean climate, a rich cultural heritage, a vibrant social scene, and excellent connectivity to major European cities. The widespread use of English as an official language also makes it an easy transition for UK investors.
The Maltese property market is diverse, offering a wide range of options to suit various tastes and budgets. From modern apartments and penthouses in bustling urban centres to charming townhouses in historic villages and luxurious villas with sea views, there is something for every investor. The market has seen steady appreciation in property values over the years, driven by limited land availability and growing demand from both local and international buyers.
Rental yields in Malta are also attractive, typically ranging from 4% to 7%, depending on the location and type of property. Prime areas like Sliema, St. Julian’s, and the capital city, Valletta, are particularly popular for rental investments due to high demand from expatriates working in Malta’s thriving finance, gaming, and technology sectors, as well as tourists. The demand for high-quality, luxury villas and high-end apartments remains particularly strong.
Certain areas in Malta are particularly sought-after by property investors:
For UK investors seeking EU citizenship, Malta’s Exceptional Investor Naturalisation (MEIN) programme offers a path via significant economic contribution. Managed by the Community Malta Agency, it requires a substantial non-refundable government investment (€600k or €750k depending on residency duration), plus €50k per dependent. Applicants must also invest in property (purchase from €700k or rent from €16k annually) held for five years, and make a €10k philanthropic donation. A 12 or 36-month residency period and thorough due diligence are mandatory. Successful applicants gain Maltese (EU) citizenship.
The outlook for the Maltese property market remains positive. Projections indicate continued growth in property values, supported by a robust economy, ongoing foreign investment, and sustained demand from both local and international buyers. The government’s focus on urban regeneration projects and the increasing importance of sustainable and eco-friendly developments are also shaping the future of the market. While challenges such as affordability for some locals and potential overdevelopment in certain areas exist, the overall sentiment is one of cautious optimism.
Investing in Maltese property can be a rewarding venture, offering the potential for capital appreciation, attractive rental income, and an enviable Mediterranean lifestyle. However, as with any investment, thorough research, due diligence, and professional advice are paramount to making informed decisions.
Video of an Iranian attack on and near Israeli intelligence buildings near Tel Aviv has been circulating online.
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Israel and Iran are engaged in attacks for a fifth straight day, with Israel targeting Iran’s nuclear facilities, military sites, oil and gas facilities, and state TV headquarters.
The escalation has raised fears of a widening conflict and turmoil in global energy markets.
Iran is one of the top global producers of oil and gas and holds the world’s second largest proven natural gas reserves and the thirdlargest crude oil reserves, according to the United States Energy Information Administration.
With about 157 billion barrels of proven crude oil, Iran holds about a quarter (24 percent) of the Middle East’s and 12 percent of the world’s proven oil reserves.
Iran is the ninth largest oil producer globally and the fourth largest within OPEC, producing about 3.3 million barrels of crude oil per day. It exports roughly 2 million barrels of crude and refined fuel each day.
In 2023, Iran’s net oil export revenues were estimated at $53bn, up sharply from $37bn in 2021. While Iran’s economy is relatively diversified compared with many of its neighbours, oil continues to be a critical source of government income.
However, years of limited foreign investment and international sanctions have kept Iran’s oil production well below its full potential.
After Israel’s attacks on Iran began on Friday, fears of a wider Middle East conflict sent oil prices soaring nearly 7 percent in a single day. Prices have held steady about that level since.
Iran’s oil facilities are spread across several regions, mainly in the south and west of the country. These include onshore oilfields, offshore platforms, refineries, export terminals and pipelines.
Nearly all of Iran’s crude oil flows through Kharg Island, the country’s main export terminal, which handles close to 1.5 million barrels per day.
More than 20 percent of the world’s seaborne oil passes through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow maritime chokepoint between Iran and Oman.
Major onshore oilfields include:
Major offshore fields include:
Its main refineries include:
Iran has the world’s second largest proven natural gas reserves after Russia. They are estimated at 1,200 trillion cubic feet (34 trillion cubic metres), which accounts for 16 percent of global reserves and 45 percent of OPEC’s total.
Iran is the third highest producer of natural gas behind the US and Russia with production reaching 9,361 billion cubic feet (265 billion cubic metres) in 2023, accounting for at least 6 percent of global production.
Like oil, Iran relies heavily on domestic companies to develop its gasfields due to international sanctions, which have limited foreign investment and technology access.
Iran’s gas facilities are concentrated primarily in the south, especially along the Gulf, with major gasfields and processing plants.
Iran’s largest gasfield, and the largest in the world, is the South Pars field, which it shares with Qatar, where it’s known as the North Field.
Other important gasfields are the North Pars, Golshan, Ferdowsi, Kangan and Nar fields.
Iran’s main gas-processing centre is the South Pars Gas Complex, located in Bushehr province.
Israel has struck multiple energy facilities, including the South Pars gasfield, Fajr Jam gas plant, Shahran oil depot, Shahr Rey oil refinery and Tehran fuel depots.
Israeli soldiers have killed dozens of Palestinians and wounded hundreds as they sought aid in Gaza, according to Palestinian officials.
The soldiers fired at the crowds on Tuesday morning as they gathered along the main eastern road in the southern city of Khan Younis. It was the latest in a string of killings since the Israel- and United States-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) launched operations to distribute food in the enclave three weeks ago.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health reported that at least 51 civilians were killed. However, the death toll is expected to rise as many of the injured are in a critical condition, according to medics at Nasser Hospital, where the casualties were being treated.
Gaza Civil Defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal added that more than 200 people were injured although reports concerning the number of casualties varied.
“Israeli drones fired at the citizens. Some minutes later, Israeli tanks fired several shells at the citizens, which led to a large number of martyrs and wounded,” the spokesman said, noting that the crowd had assembled in the hope of receiving flour.
Israel did not immediately comment on the incident.
Survivors described horrific scenes.
“Dozens of civilians, including children, were killed, and no one could help or save lives,” survivor Saeed Abu Liba, 38, told Al Jazeera.
Yousef Nofal, who called the event a “massacre”, said he saw many people lying motionless and bleeding on the ground. The soldiers continued to fire on people as they fled, he said.
“I survived by a miracle,” said Mohammed Abu Qeshfa, who mentioned both heavy gunfire and tank shelling.
Al Jazeera’s correspondent Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from Deir el-Balal in central Gaza, quoted medical sources at Nasser Hospital as saying many victims were “unidentifiable” because they had been “shredded to pieces” in the attack.
The incident on Tuesday is the latest in a string of killings around GHF food distribution centres.
The private organisation began distributing aid at the end of May after Israel partially lifted an almost three-month blockade of food and other essential items that has put Gaza’s 2.3 million people at risk of famine.
The United Nations and other major humanitarian groups have refused to work with the GHF, saying it cannot meet the level of need in Gaza and it breaks humanitarian principles by giving Israel control over aid access.
After previous shootings, which have been a near-daily occurrence since the aid centres opened, the military has said its soldiers had fired warning shots at what it called suspects approaching their positions although it did not say whether those shots struck anyone.
The death toll of more than 50 people made Tuesday the deadliest day around the GHF sites so far. Previously, that record was set on Monday, when 38 people were killed, mostly in the Rafah area south of Khan Younis.
Reports indicated more than 300 people have been killed and more than 2,000 wounded while trying to collect aid from the GHF.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk has hit out at Israel over the killings of Palestinians near the aid delivery points.
“I urge immediate, impartial investigations into deadly attacks on desperate civilians to reach food distribution centres,” he said on Monday.
This season Piastri is in another league compared to his team-mate. The incident in Canada was a direct result of Lando making yet another mistake. McLaren need to prioritise Oscar for the rest of the season, surely? – Anon
To describe Piastri as “in another league” from Norris this year is a bit of a stretch, to say the least.
There’s no doubt Piastri has had a better season than Norris so far, and been the more convincing of the two McLaren drivers. Hence his advantage in the championship and in their head-to-head stats in both races and qualifying.
But in terms of outright performance, there is little between the two, and they are more or less swapping the position of the faster McLaren driver each weekend.
The key this year so far is that Piastri is delivering his best on a more consistent basis than Norris. The Australian is beating Norris, not only on the weekends when he is quicker, but also on some of the weekends when the Briton looks like he probably is, because of the errors he is making.
Canada was a case in point. Had Norris strung his qualifying together, he would probably have been ahead of Piastri on the grid, in which case he would likely have finished ahead of him as well.
The same could have been said of Saudi Arabia and Miami. In Jeddah, Norris crashed in qualifying, trying too hard. In Miami, he qualified ahead but tangled with Verstappen on the first lap, allowing Piastri past.
There is no doubting Norris’ speed, but it’s also undeniable that he is making too many mistakes this season. He knows it; the team know it. And they’re trying to help him with it.
Of course, the question is, why is this happening? Is he feeling the pressure from Piastri? Of being in the best car and this being his best chance of a world title so far in his career? A combination of both, and perhaps other factors as well?
Whatever it is, he certainly needs to get out of the headspace he is in and find a way to get into a place where things flow more naturally for him. Where, essentially, he is not over-striving.
As for the question of prioritising Piastri, that goes back to the first answer. Other than in specific circumstances, that’s not how McLaren go racing, and it’s hard to see a strong argument for it at the moment.
The McLaren is not the fastest car every weekend. But it is consistently the fastest car so far this year.
Their drivers are one and two in the championship, and relatively comfortably so. What would be the argument for them to prioritise Piastri in those circumstances?
HumAngle, in collaboration with the Africa Transitional Justice Legacy Fund (ATJLF), has developed a comprehensive e-guide for newsrooms and civil society organisations. We drew from years of experience reporting on transitional justice issues across Africa, and existing literature in the area.
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The emerging Web3 project Snorter Bot (SNORT) has successfully accumulated over $1 million through its ongoing crypto presale campaign, positioning itself as a potential game-changer within the Solana ecosystem.
This innovative meme token combines a familiar animal-themed branding approach with practical trading bot functionality, presenting users with advanced tools for navigating the volatile crypto market.
The project’s unique approach has attracted whale investors and retail buyers alike, making the Snorter Token presale one of the most promising crypto investment options in 2025.
Snorter distinguishes itself from conventional meme crypto projects by delivering genuine utility through its sophisticated Telegram-based trading platform. The Snorter Bot protocol provides users with lightning-fast transaction capabilities, automated token discovery for new launches, portfolio management tools, and copy trading features.
These comprehensive functionalities are designed to give traders a decisive advantage in the fast-paced cryptocurrency environment.
The platform also incorporates cutting-edge MEV protection and intelligent anti-scam detection systems, addressing critical security concerns in the meme coin sector. Snorter Token holders benefit from reduced trading fees, paying only 0.85% compared to the industry-standard 1.5% rate.
This competitive fee structure, combined with the bot’s high-performance capabilities, creates compelling value for active traders seeking efficient execution tools.
Snorter Token’s fundraising success began with an exceptional $60,000 raised within its first few minutes – and just a couple of weeks later, it’s surging toward the $1 million milestone. This organic growth was achieved without institutional venture capital backing, reflecting genuine retail investor enthusiasm for the SNORT crypto.
The Snorter Bot project has also attracted endorsements from notable crypto influencers, including ClayBro (136,000 YouTube subscribers), who highlighted Snorter’s combination of meme culture and real-world trading utility.
Early participants can access substantial staking rewards of approximately 462% APY, creating additional incentives for long-term holders.
While conventional crypto trading approaches leave investors scrambling through clunky interfaces as prices explode past their entry targets, Snorter’s pioneering execution system delivers immediate results. This technological superiority enables ordinary traders to compete directly with sophisticated AI systems that take advantage of slower participants during emerging token releases.
Furthermore, Snorter Bot’s robust security measures will tackle the rampant scam epidemic affecting countless investors – with testing phases demonstrating an 85% chance that Snorter will identify fraudulent projects.
Snorter’s flexible infrastructure will eventually span numerous blockchain networks (including BNB Chain, Ethereum, and Base as well as Solana), offering unmatched versatility for modern crypto traders.
The next SNORT price increase is scheduled to take place in a matter of hours, but the tokens are currently priced at just $0.0951.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not provide financial advice. Cryptocurrencies are highly volatile, and the market can be unpredictable. Always perform thorough research before making any cryptocurrency-related decisions.