LONDON: New and expanded powers for British police took effect on Sunday, including measures targeting activists who stop traffic and major building works with protests.
Authorities have repeatedly condemned environmental protest groups, including Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion, which have sought to raise awareness about the urgency of climate change by staging multiple high-profile protests at the busiest highways and roads. Their protests in recent years often caused serious disruption for motorists.
From Sunday, police will have powers to move static protests. Critics have argued the toughened laws are a threat to the right to protest, but UK officials say the measures were to stop “disruption from a selfish minority.”
“The public have had enough of their lives being disrupted by selfish protesters. The mayhem we’ve seen on our streets has been a scandal,” Home Secretary Suella Braverman said.
Authorities say that under the new Public Order Act, protesters found guilty of “tunnelling” — or digging underground tunnels to obstruct the building of new infrastructure works — could face three years in prison. Anyone found guilty of obstructing a major transportation project could be jailed for up to six months.
The law also makes “locking on,” or protesters attaching themselves to other people, objects or buildings, a criminal offense.
Hundreds of climate change protesters were arrested last year in the UK for blocking major roads and bridges. Many activists protested by sitting in the middle of the roads or gluing themselves to the roadway to make them harder to move.
The civil disobedience is a wave of direct action that has also seen activists glue themselves to famous museum paintings or throw soup at artworks to draw media attention to their cause.
Police have said it’s costly to deal with the protests and that they diverted thousands of officers from other work like dealing with crime.
UK police have new expanded powers to crack down on protests
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UK police have new expanded powers to crack down on protests
- Measures include targeting activists who stop traffic and building works with protests
A stampede at a religious event in India has killed at least 60 people
- Stampede occurred when thousands rushed to leave makeshift tent following event with Hindu figure Bhole Baba
- Deadly stampedes are relatively common around Indian religious festivals, where large crowds gather in small areas
LUCKNOW, India: A stampede among thousands of people at a religious gathering in northern India killed at least 60 and left scores injured, officials said Tuesday, adding the toll could rise.
Attendees had rushed to leave the makeshift tent following an event with Hindu figure Bhole Baba, local media reported. Video of the aftermath showed the structure appeared to have collapsed. Women wailed over the dead.
Deadly stampedes are relatively common around Indian religious festivals, where large crowds gather in small areas with shoddy infrastructure and few safety measures.
Police officer Rajesh Singh said overcrowding may have been a factor in the stampede in a village in Hathras district of Uttar Pradesh state, about 350 kilometers (220 miles) southwest of the state capital, Lucknow.
Initial reports suggested that over 15,000 people had gathered for the event, which had permission to host about 5,000.
“People started falling one upon another, one upon another. Those who were crushed died. People there pulled them out,” witness Shakuntala Devi told the Press Trust of India news agency.
Bodies were brought to hospitals and morgues by trucks and private vehicles, government official Matadin Saroj said. Government official Ashish Kumar told The Associated Press that at least 60 had reached mortuaries in the district.
More than 150 people were admitted to hospitals, medical official Umesh Tripathi said.
Uttar Pradesh’s chief minister, Yogi Adityanath, called the stampede “extremely sad and heart-wrenching” in a post on social media platform X. He said authorities were investigating the cause.
In 2013, pilgrims visiting a temple for a popular Hindu festival in central Madhya Pradesh state trampled each other amid fears that a bridge would collapse. At least 115 were crushed to death or died in the river.
In 2011, more than 100 Hindu devotees died in a crush at a religious festival in the southern state of Kerala.
Man convicted of terrorism offense for planning attack on UK military base
- Farooq was arrested outside St. James’s Hospital in Leeds, where he had previously worked as a student nurse
- Police who attended the scene discovered in Farooq’s bag a pressure cooker with wires attached
LONDON: A British man was convicted on Tuesday of planning an attack on a military base after being arrested with an explosive device in the grounds of a hospital, Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service said.
Mohammad Farooq was found guilty of preparing acts of terrorism following a trial at Sheffield Crown Court, in northern England.
The 28-year-old had previously pleaded guilty to possession of an explosive substance with intent to endanger life, possession of an explosive substance in suspicious circumstances, possession of information likely to be useful to a terrorist, and other offenses.
Farooq was arrested outside St. James’s Hospital in Leeds, where he had previously worked as a student nurse, after showing a member of the public a gun and saying he “felt like killing everyone,” the CPS said.
Police who attended the scene discovered in Farooq’s bag a pressure cooker with wires attached, which bomb disposal experts found to be a viable explosive device.
The CPS said Farooq’s electronic devices revealed evidence of his interest in extremist ideology and research into RAF Menwith Hill, a nearby Royal Air Force base in North Yorkshire.
Farooq had pleaded not guilty to but was convicted of preparing a terrorist attack at RAF Menwith Hill. He will be sentenced at a later date.
Bethan David, head of the CPS Counter Terrorism Division, said in a statement: “Farooq is an extremely dangerous individual who amassed a significant amount of practical and theoretical information that enabled him to produce a viable explosive device.
“He then took that homemade explosive device to a hospital where he worked with the intention to cause serious harm. Examination of his electronic devices revealed a hatred toward his colleagues at work and those he considered non-believers.
“It is clear from his Internet searches that he was also conducting extensive research of RAF Menwith Hill, with a view to launching a potential attack.”
Indian worker’s employer arrested for murder in Italy
- Antonello Lovato was arrested for second degree murder over the death of Satnam Singh
- “If the Indian, who died due to copious blood loss, had been promptly helped, he would in all likelihood have been saved,” the Latina prosecutors’ office said
ROME: Italian police Tuesday arrested the employer of an Indian farm laborer who was left on the road to die after a work accident that severed his arm and crushed his legs.
Antonello Lovato was arrested for second degree murder over the death of Satnam Singh, who was injured while working on a farm in Latina, a rural area south of Rome where tens of thousands of Indian farmhands work.
“If the Indian, who died due to copious blood loss, had been promptly helped, he would in all likelihood have been saved,” the Latina prosecutors’ office said, citing a medical examiner.
Singh, who was 31 and working without legal papers, had his arm sliced off by a machine which also crushed his legs.
Lovato then dumped Singh and his wife on the roadside, along with the severed limb in a box, according to trade unions who are supporting Singh’s widow.
“The worker’s condition after the accident was so serious as to make the need for prompt assistance clear,” the prosecutors’ office said.
Prosecutors said an ongoing investigation would continue into working conditions on the farm.
Undocumented workers in the region where the farm is located are paid an average of 20 euros ($21) a day for up to 14 hours labor, according to the Osservatorio Placido Rizzotto, which analyzes conditions in the agriculture industry.
Italy’s financial police identified nearly 60,000 undocumented workers from January 2023 to June 2024.
But Italy’s largest trade union CGIL estimates that as many as 230,000 people — over a quarter of the country’s seasonal agricultural workers — do not have a contract.
Ukraine to get ‘good news’ on air defense at NATO summit, US official says
- The Ukrainians are keen to secure additional Patriots or similar systems
BRUSSELS: Ukraine is expected to get “good news” in its quest for more air defense systems at a NATO summit in Washington next week, a senior US State Department official said on Tuesday.
“We hope we’ll be able to get to the summit and make some new announcements on air defense,” said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“You’ve heard that the Ukrainians are keen to secure additional Patriots or similar systems. And I think we’ll have some additional good news for them on that front.”
The official did not provide any further details.
Ukrainian officials have been urging their allies for months to supply more air defense systems to defend against frequent missile and drone attacks from Russian forces following Moscow’s 2022 invasion.
Leaders gather for a summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Washington from July 9 to July 11, intended in part to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the military alliance.
Accused scammer who claimed to be Irish heiress has been extradited to UK to face charges
- Marianne Smyth faces allegations that she stole more than $170,000 from the victims
- A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Justice confirmed the extradition
LONDON: A woman accused of traveling across the U.S. claiming to be an Irish heiress and scamming several victims out of tens of thousands of dollars has been extradited to the United Kingdom, a U.S. official said Tuesday.
Marianne Smyth faces allegations that she stole more than $170,000 from the victims from 2008 to 2010 in Northern Ireland.
A U.S. magistrate judge in Maine ruled in May that there was sufficient evidence for extradition of the American, who accusers say has also fashioned herself as a witch, a psychic and a friend to Hollywood stars.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Justice confirmed the extradition, and referred questions to law enforcement officials in Northern Ireland. An attorney for Smyth did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment.
Authorities overseas have said Smyth stole money that she had promised to invest and also arranged to sell a victim a home but instead took the money. Smyth’s victims in the U.S. included Johnathan Walton, a podcaster who warned others about her grifts.
A court in Northern Ireland issued arrest warrants for her earlier this decade. She was arrested in Maine in February.
Smyth drew comparisons to Anna Sorokin, a scammer who impersonated a German heiress to pay for a glamorous lifestyle in New York City, and became subject of a Netflix series. Sorokin, whose real name is Anna Delvey, was convicted in 2019 of conning $275,000 from banks, hotels and swank New Yorkers to finance her deluxe lifestyle.
