LONDON, Dec 19 (Reuters) – British trade department minister Chris Bryant said the government had been hacked in October, partly confirming a report in the Sun newspaper, which said a Chinese group had breached systems to access Foreign Office data.
“There certainly has been a hack,” Bryant told Times Radio on Friday.
“I’m not able to say whether it is directly related to Chinese operatives, or indeed, the Chinese state,” he added.
The Sun named Storm 1849 as the Chinese cyber gang responsible for the breach, which it said was understood to possibly include tens of thousands of visa details.
Bryant said that the reporting around the incident was “speculation” and that the government was continuing to investigate, but at this stage it was “fairly confident” that there was a low risk any individual would be affected.
“We managed to close the hole, as it were, very quickly,” Bryant told Sky News, describing the breach. “It was a technical issue in one of our sites.”
The Sun newspaper said the group, Storm 1849, was a China-linked gang which was part of a state-aligned hacking apparatus, and which has been accused of targeting politicians and groups critical of the Chinese government.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said earlier in December that China posed “national security threats” to Britain, but defended his government’s decision to step up engagement with the country.
He is due to visit Beijing in late January, according to sources.
The incident at the Foreign Office follows two major cyber attacks on big British companies this year.
Hacks forced the country’s largest car maker, Jaguar Land Rover, to shut down production for five weeks, while retailer Marks & Spencer suspended online orders for six weeks.
Asked for details of the incident, the foreign office said that it had been working to investigate a cyber incident.
“We take the security of our systems and data extremely seriously,” a government spokesperson said.
(Reporting by Sarah Young; editing by Catarina Demony and William James)
JUST eight years after euthanasia was legalised in Canada, some doctors there say the result is “horrendous” as more and more people are driven to it by a failing health-care system.
Assisted deaths have risen at an alarming rate, while the criteria to be given a lethal injection has been relaxed.
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Alicia Duncan, left, with her late mother Donna, who was helped to take her own lifeCredit: Supplied
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Pro-assisted dying supporters at WestminsterCredit: EPA
Now experts warn it would be disastrous to allow a system like Canada’s Medical Assistance In Death (Maid) in the UK, after the families of some of those who opted for it revealed they did so because they could not access medical help.
Professor Leonie Herx, a Canadian palliative medicine consultant based in Calgary, Alberta, described the outcome as “horrific from a medical perspective”.
In 2017, the first full year the legislation was in place, one per cent of deaths in Canada were from euthanasia.
By 2022, it was four per cent, as 13,241 people opted for Maid.
Supporters insist the bill is strictly to help the terminally ill.
Ms Leadbeater said: “I believe that, with the right safeguards in place, people who are already dying and are mentally competent should be given the choice of a shorter, less painful death on their own terms and without placing family and loved ones at risk of prosecution.
“It will not undermine calls for improvements to palliative care. Nor will it conflict with the rights of people with disabilities to be treated equally and have the respect and support they are right to campaign for in order to live fulfilling lives.”
But this is very similar to how Canada’s law was introduced — and now the rules there have softened and the numbers resorting to euthanasia have soared.
My parents held hands as they passed away by assisted dying – we supported ‘beautiful’ decision, it wasn’t a surprise
When Maid was introduced in Canada in 2016, it was limited to the terminally ill.
But following a legal challenge in 2021 it was made available to those whose death was NOT “reasonably foreseeable”.
A further change due to come into force in March 2027 will open up the service to people whose sole medical condition is MENTAL illness.
Doctors in Canada have approved assisted dying after just ZOOM calls, and some politicians want to extend the practice to CHILDREN old enough to make an “informed” choice.
Requests for Maid are now much more frequently approved in Canada than in 2019, when eight per cent of requests were denied.
In 2022, that figure fell to 3.5 per cent, a Health Canada report says.
I believe that, with the right safeguards in place, people who are already dying and are mentally competent should be given the choice of a shorter, less painful death on their own terms and without placing family and loved ones at risk of prosecution
Kim Leadbeater
The report adds that 17 per cent of those who applied cited “isolation or loneliness”, while nearly 36 per cent believed they were a “burden on family, friends or care-givers”.
The number of Canadians ending their lives via Maid — usually given in the form of an injection administered by a physician — has outpaced other nations with similar laws.
And its legislation has grown far looser than those of other countries offering assisted dying, such as Belgium and the Netherlands.
One expert claimed that what has happened in Canada could happen in the UK because both countries have a struggling health system and an ageing population.
Canadian-born Alexander Raikin, a researcher at the Ethics And Public Policy Centre in Washington DC, said: “Euthanasia in Canada was meant to be rare and last resort, but it isn’t. It has become routine.
“Assisted deaths have seen dram-atic rates of growth in all the places that have legalised it, like the Netherlands, Switzerland and Oregon in the US, but in Canada that rate has been quite unprecedented. The similarities between Canada and the UK . . . suggest the UK is likely to follow Canada’s route.
“I don’t think it is a coincidence that this massive surge happens at the same time our health system is collapsing. It should ring alarm bells in Britain.”
In an interview with the Sun on Sunday, Canadian Alicia Duncan told, from her home in Mission, British Columbia, how her “active and happy” mother was given a fast-track death in 2021. She opted for it because she could not get the healthcare she needed.
Alicia, 41, an interior designer, now warns the UK about the perils of following Canada’s lead.
Her mum Donna, a psychiatric nurse, suffered a brain injury in a minor car crash but despite not facing immediate death, and receiving treatment for mental health symptoms, the 61-year-old’s Maid request was granted.
Despite protests by her daughter and long-serving GP, she was helped to take her own life just 48 hours later.
Alica said: “People in Britain should be very worried about this.
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Now, in the UK, a bill to legalise the early ending of life has been introduced in Parliament by Labour MP Kim Leadbeater
“It won’t stop at terminal illness alone. The UK needs to look at what happened in Canada.
“People think, ‘This will never happen to me’. I never thought my mother, who was active and happy, would have chosen to end her life because of a mental illness, and been helped to do so.
“I would say to Britain, you need to be cautious because once you decide to open this door you don’t get to choose who walks through.
“The moment you legalise euthanasia it starts as a crack then it becomes a wide-open chasm and there is nothing you can do to stop it.”
Since their mother’s death, Alicia and her sister Christie have been denied key details about the circumstances and believe safe-guards to protect vulnerable people were not followed properly.
She added: “I am so angry. People are choosing to die because they can’t access healthcare in a timely manner.
The moment you legalise euthanasia it starts as a crack then it becomes a wide-open chasm and there is nothing you can do to stop it
Alicia Duncan
“My mum was waiting to see a specialist for 18 months and her appointment was the week after she died.
“It’s easier to die in Canada than to access healthcare.”
Ms Carr — who has rare genetic condition arthrogryposis multiplex congenita, which affects her joints and muscles, and uses a wheelchair, warned: “These laws will put lives like mine, marginalised lives, at risk and those risks will be fatal.
“All because of the dangerous assumption some of us are better off dead. Let’s be aware, maybe it’s going to be like Canada, and that is terrifying.”
This week in Canada, a 51-year old gran from Nova Scotia told how doctors offered her Maid while she was in hospital about to undergo a mastectomy for breast cancer.
These laws will put lives like mine, marginalised lives, at risk and those risks will be fatal
Liz Carr
Before she went in for what she hoped was life-saving surgery, the doctor sat her down and asked: “Did you know about Medical Assistance In Dying?”
She was then asked again before undergoing a second mastectomy nine months later, and a third time while in the recovery room after that procedure.
Around three quarters of Brits support assisted dying, a survey this year from advocacy group Dying With Dignity found, while just 14 per cent of us oppose it.
“If I decide my own life is not worth living, please may I ask for help to die.”
But the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, said of the bill: “This approach is both dangerous and sets us in a direction even more dangerous.
All I’m asking is that we be given the dignity of choice. If I decide my own life is not worth living, please may I ask for help to die
Esther Rantzen
“In every place where it’s been done, it has led to a slippery slope.
“The right to end your life could too easily, all too accidentally, turn into a duty to do so.”
‘BRITS, BE WARNED OF PERIL’
By Prof Leonie Herx, Professor of Palliative Medicine at the University of Calgary
IN Canada, a doctor-administered lethal injection has become the solution to almost any suffering, which is horrific from a medical perspective.
Any adult with a disability or chronic illness can get an “assisted death”.
There is no requirement to receive any treatment for even a reversible condition and sometimes it is the only “intervention” provided.
I have seen a person’s worst day become their last.
We are seeing people getting Maid for poverty, social isolation or deprivation.
It is routinely offered to any potentially eligible person as they access a care home, at time of surgery or during hospital admission for a health crisis.
It has altered the practice of medicine here and is leading to the premature death of many vulnerable people.
It has become something it never started as, something no Canadian could have imagined.
The UK should take warning.
Keep medicine invested in helping people restore their health and live well.
RUSSIA has deployed war wolves on the Ukraine front line — because the beasts react early to kamikaze drone sounds.
Troops say the howling animals have a good sense of smell, are sociable and active, and can warn of danger in advance.
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Vladimit Putin has deployed war wolves on the Ukraine front line — because the beasts react early to kamikaze drone soundsCredit: EPA
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Troops say the howling animals have a good sense of smell, are sociable and active, and can warn of danger in advanceCredit: East2West
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Wolf-tamer Aleksandr Konchakov raised two females that were rescued from Siberian region KhakassiaCredit: East2West
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A Ukrainian soldier launches a kamikaze FPV drone on the front lineCredit: Reuters
Two tamed wolves have been sent to serve with Vladimir Putin’s soldiers and more will follow if the experiment is a success.
A Russian news agency reported: “The predators can hear the approach of drones and warn of danger in advance.
“They will help Russian soldiers carry out combat missions in the [war] zone.”
The two females were rescued from Siberian region Khakassia and raised by wolf-tamer Aleksandr Konchakov.
In a video, he can be seen feeding ice cream to one of the wolves, called Vysota.
He said: “The puppies were simply brought to me by hunters without a mother.
“They have excellent intuition and are smart.”
Inside ‘Wolves’ of Ukraine the battalion of volunteer troops defending the ‘Road of Life’ – the last way out of wasteland Bakhmut
Moscow State Circus chief Edgard Zapashny said: “I hope these two female wolves, who will now be with our fighters, will not be harmed, and that the men will surround them with care and ensure their safety.
“In turn, they will save the lives of our soldiers.”
IT is the first far-right party to win German state elections since the Nazis – and the success of Alternative for Germany is down to younger supporters.
Paramedic Severin Kohler says that it is now trendy among Generation Z TikTokers to back the organisation known as AfD, which is led in the state of Thuringia by a man who has been labelled a “fascist”.
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AfD fans Severin Kohler and Carolin LichtenheldCredit: Paul Edwards
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AfD MP Torben Braga — who, curiously for a German anti-immigration party, was born in Brazil and is of Brazilian and Welsh ancestryCredit: Paul Edwards
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Professor Reinhard Schramm, who lost 20 close family to the Nazi extermination camps, has had death threats and bullets sent to him in the postCredit: Paul Edwards
Severin, 28, a leader of the party’s youth wing Junge Alternative, told me: “It’s a matter of a rebellion against their parents. Being from the right is punk now.”
Almost 40 per cent of 18 to 24-year-old voters backed the AfD in Thuringia, central Germany, last week. In neighbouring Saxony, 31 per cent did the same.
Yet the local branches of the party in the two states have been classified as “right-wing extremist” by the nation’s domestic intelligence agency.
On the Instagram page of Carolin Lichtenheld, who leads Thuringia’s Junge Alternative, the 21-year-old trainee pharmacist is shown brndishing a megaphone at a rally, with the caption: “Ready to fight for the preservation of our homeland and for our future. We are the youth who are ready to resist a woke society.”
The image is hashtagged with the word “reconquista” — a reference to the recapture by Christian kings of Spain and Portugal from the Muslim Moors.
Felix Steiner, from German far-right monitoring group Mobile Consulting, agrees that young voters are attracted to the AfD.
The activist told The Sun: “Almost no other party is so active on social media platforms, especially TikTok. The message is, ‘Young people, come to us. We are the next movement’.”
Youth campaigner Severin wears a T-shirt bearing the name Bjorn Hocke — the AfD’s leader in Thuringia who has twice been convicted this year of using Nazi slogans.
Former history teacher Hocke harnessed the power of TikTok to target the youth vote during the election.
Incredible story of Nazi hunter and holocaust refugee
In one post he leads a cavalcade of motorcyclists riding models made by Simson — a brand associated with national pride by the far right — in the old Communist East Germany.
Yet critics say that behind Hocke’s glossy social media campaigning is a man who is a political “danger”.
In 2019 a court in Thuringia ruled it was not libellous to call Hocke a “fascist” as the opinion had a “verifiable, factual basis”.
Thin-lipped and greying, Hocke once described Berlin’sHolocaust Memorial as a “monument of shame” and demanded a “180-degree turn” in Germany’s culture of remembrance.
The father-of-four once spoke of the Germans “longing for a historical figure” who would “heal the wounds of the people”.
Ulrike Grosse-Rothig, leader of Thuringia’s left-wing Die Linke party, told The Sun: “Hocke is a die-hard fascist. He’s a danger for German society, its voters and to democracy.”
Former AfD Thuringia MP Oskar Helmerich has called Hocke “a dangerous man”.
Little wonder Thuringia’s small Jewish community has been fearful.
Professor Reinhard Schramm, who lost 20 close family to the Nazi extermination camps, has had death threats and bullets sent to him in the post from unknown sources.
Speaking at a synagogue in Thuringia’s largest city Erfurt, the 80-year-old Holocaust survivor told me: “The Jewish community is insecure and some are afraid. They are quite allergically against the AfD. This is not a normal party.”
Of Hocke’s demand for a “180- degree turn” in Germany’s culture of remembrance, the grandfather-of-three says: “So does this mean that I am not supposed to speak about my grandmother who was gassed to death in a German gas chamber?”
‘Some are afraid’
Severin insists the AfD is “against political violence”, adding: “We don’t have anything in common with people sending bullets to synagogues.”
The AfD won Thuringia — a largely rural state in central Germany — with just under 33 per cent of the vote.
It’s the latest European convulsion of the far right which has seen rampaging thugs attempt to torch migrant hotels in Britain and Marine Le Pen’s National Rally topping parliamentary elections in France.
In Germany — as elsewhere — the touchstone issue has been immigration.
Days before the Thuringia vote, a Syrian asylum seeker went on a knife rampage, killing three in the west German city of Solingen.
It emerged that the man — linked to Islamic State — had previously had his claim for asylum turned down but he had not been deported because the authorities could not find him.
Germany’s lame duck premier Olaf Scholz promised to speed up deportations and other mainstream parties followed suit with tough talk on immigration, including the conservative Christian Democratic Union.
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Andreas Buhl, a Thuringian MP for Merkel’s CDU, concedes that the former Chancellor’s open border policy was wrongCredit: Paul Edwards
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A CDU poster calling to stop illegal migrationCredit: Paul Edwards
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An anti-multicultural bannerCredit: Paul Edwards
Yesterday, it was reported that Germany’s interior minister Nancy Faeser has told the EU that controls will be brought in on all the country’s land borders, to deal with the “continuing burden” of migration and “Islamist terrorism”.
Britain, where populists Reform won four million votes at the General Election, will be watching whether moves towards the AfD’s turf will win back voters.
As well as a hardline stance on immigration, the AfD is also against what it says are over-zealous green policies, and it wants to halt weapons supplies to Ukraine.
At the Thuringian parliament in Erfurt, I met key Hocke lieutenant Torben Braga — who, curiously for a German anti-immigration party, was born in Brazil and is of Brazilian and Welsh ancestry.
The 33-year-old Thuringia MP says: “Bjorn Hocke doesn’t have a single fascist vein in his body.”
‘Political firewall’
Of his boss’s infamous “shame” reference to the Berlin Holocaust memorial, Braga says he meant it was “a shameful part of our history”.
Braga believes the security services are monitoring him and suggests “provocateurs” from those agencies were behind the “two or three cases” of people doing the Hitler salute at a recent rally in Erfurt.
Picturesque Erfurt is, at first glance, perhaps an unlikely setting for a far-right upsurge. Half-timbered town houses crowd flower-bedecked medieval squares where tourists enjoy beers on its many restaurant terraces.
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A far-right mob gather at a demonstration in Solingen last monthCredit: EPA
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Far-right AfD supporters wave German flags, including one adorned with an Iron CrossCredit: Getty
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The AfD party’s slick TikTok videosCredit: tiktok/@afd
This summer the England squad had their Euro 2024 training base a short drive away and Three Lions star Jude Bellingham was spotted having coffee in the city of 215,000.
Yet Thuringia has seen too much history in the 20th century.
After the Americans liberated Thuringia, it fell under Soviet control.
From 1949 to 1990 it was part of the Communist state of East Germany.
Post-German reunification, Thuringia and other eastern states struggled economically, with many youngsters heading to western Germany.
Immigration became a key political battleground after conservative Chancellor Angela Merkel opened Germany’s borders to a million refugees in 2015 and 2016.
Last year around 334,000 people claimed asylum in Germany — more than France and Spain combined. In the UK the figure was just under 85,000 people.
The AfD — formed in 2013 as a Eurosceptic party — has seen its fortunes rise as it hammered home its anti-immigration stance.
No other party is so active on social media platforms, especially TikTok.The AfD post pictures of demonstrations. The message is: ‘Young people come to us. We are the next movement’
It called for a ban on burqas, minarets, and call to prayer using the slogan, “Islam is not a part of Germany” in 2016.
In Thuringia, Hocke led a radical AfD faction called The Wing, deemed beyond the pale even by many in his own party.
Andreas Buhl, a Thuringian MP for Merkel’s CDU, concedes that the former Chancellor’s open border policy was wrong.
He told me: “In hindsight, it should have been clearer that you can also push people back at the border who have already entered another European country.”
He pledged, as other mainstream parties have, not to work with the AfD, creating a political firewall likely to block it from taking power.
It raises the spectre that those who voted for it may come to believe that democracy is failing them.
But anti-far-right activist Felix Steiner says only around half of AfD supporters are wedded to their hardline doctrines, with the rest supporting them as a protest vote.
He added: “The AfD result could be halved if voters were satisfied with other parties’ policies.”
The fight for the political soul of Germany’s Generation Z goes on.
It’s a battle of ideas that may be won or lost on the feeds of TikTok and Instagram.
THE much-mocked mullet was honoured in an annual tournament which saw proud owners young and old go head to head.
Kids, teens and grown fellas showed off their business on top, party at the back haircuts — popular back in the 1980s — at the 2024 USA Championship.
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The much-mocked mullet was honoured in an annual tournament – pictured Griffey MetzCredit: The Mega Agency
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The competition saw proud owners young and old go head to head – pictured Kamden CunninghamCredit: The Mega Agency
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Kids, teens and grown fellas showed off their business on top, party at the back haircuts popular back in the 1980s – pictured Paul Edward Moore IVCredit: The Mega Agency
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Kane Grissinger at the 2024 USA ChampionshipCredit: The Mega Agency
Kamden Cunningham, six, took the kids’ title with his epic “Kammander”, which he grew after his older brother decided to chop his long curly hair.
He said: “My mom cried at the chunk of curls she found upstairs, but we could no longer leave my hair the way Karson ‘styled’ it.
“I wanted to leave my hair long, so we scoured the internet for options and I chose a photo where the hairstyle was a mullet.”
A mix of public votes and judges’ verdicts saw Todd Grubb scoop the adult contest with his “Flow Motion” style.
Both he and Kamden walked away with a $5,000 cash prize, belt and GoPro Camera.
Others showing off classic styles at the tournament — held at the Indiana State Fair in Indianapolis — included Ian Botham lookalike Paul Edward Moore IV.
Meanwhile, Matt Rollings’ luxuriant locks flowed on to the back of his rollneck as he quaffed red wine.
Other eyecatchers belonged to Griffey Metz, Calvin Johnson, Matthew Ray and Kane Grissinger.
Aussie mullet fans show off their madcap mops at this year’s Mulletfest
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Matt Rollings’ luxuriant locks flowed on to the back of his rollneck as he quaffed red wineCredit: The Mega Agency
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A mix of public votes and judges’ verdicts saw Todd Grubb scoop the adult contest with his ‘Flow Motion’ styleCredit: The Mega Agency
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Calvin Johnson’s efforts caught the eye of judgesCredit: The Mega Agency
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Matthew Ray’s long locks also stood out from the crowdCredit: The Mega Agency
The dad-of-six had owned five pharmacies which closed down when his marriage broke up.
He was subject to a domestic violence protection court order in 2016 to protect his wife, the Preston inquest heard
Coroner James Adeley recorded that he had “detained hostages and died after being shot by federal agents”.
Associates in Blackburn said he became increasingly religious and had quarrelled with his wider family in the months before his death.
He had spent much of the year before the attack in Pakistan.
It emerged after the kidnap drama that Akram had previously been the subject of a low-level investigation by MI5 but the case was closed after a month.
He travelled to New York on December 29 2021, and then on to Dallas, where he purchased a black market handgun.
PM Benjamin Netanyahu has accepted the framework of a ceasefire deal to stop the Gaza war, pictured with US Secretary of State Antony BlinkenCredit: EPA
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Israeli soldiers patrol along the border with the Gaza StripCredit: EPA
But terror group Hamas — whose October 7 massacre and taking of Israeli hostages triggered the conflict — has yet to accept the deal after branding peace moves “an illusion.”
Mr Blinken, who will now lead further talks in Cairo, said he had a “very constructive meeting” with Mr Netanyahu.
The deal had been held up by Hamas demands that Israeli troops must leave the 25-mile coastal strip where it claims 40,000 Palestinians have been killed by the military bombardment in the past ten months.
Israel had advocated its forces stay in two corridors of territory to stop Hamas receiving arms from its backers Iran.
But it appeared to have moved first on the plan.
Mr Blinken said Mr Netanyahu had “confirmed to me that Israel accepts the bridging proposal” first offered by the US last week in Doha.
He added: “It’s now incumbent on Hamas to do the same.”
He said there was an urgency to get it agreed as it is “the best way to make sure the conflict doesn’t spread”.
Mr Netanyahu said he appreciated “the understanding the US showed toward our vital security interests, amid our joint efforts to bring about the releases of our hostages”.
Benjamin Netanyahu Congress speech LIVE – Israel’s PM to speak as ring of steel erected before ‘day of rage’ protests
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IDF troops conducting a military operation in Gaza StripCredit: Rex
UKRAINE set two major Russian oil depots ablaze with kamikaze drones.
Columns of smoke were seen rising into the sky on Friday night as the facilities were hit in Russia’s Krasnodar area.
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Ukraine set two major Russian oil depots ablaze with kamikaze dronesCredit: East2West
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Columns of smoke were seen rising into the sky in Russia’s Krasnodar areaCredit: East2West
Russian regional headquarters said fuel storage tanks had been set alight.
They also said separate drones were shot down in the Black Sea’s Yeysk.
Reports said the Ukrainians had also damaged a communications tower.
Putin boasts two palaces in Krasnodar region – an official residence in Sochi, and a private £1 billion clifftop residence at Gelendzhik likened to the lair of a James Bond villain.
It comes as Kyiv pursues repeated attacks on Russian oil depots, seeking to disrupt Vladimir Putin’s war machine.
Ukraine’s Sumy province came under fire the same night, with a Russian drone supplied by Iran damaging a power station and cutting off electricity and water.
The Ukrainian Air Force reported they shot down 24 of the 27 Shahed-type drones.
TOURIST bosses in Majorca say they fear for their businesses as activists stage another protest today aimed at driving out British visitors.
A charter boat owner revealed he had been getting emails from clients asking if it was still safe to visit the Spanish isle.
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Businesses in Majorca are worried about the impact of protests on their tradeCredit: Solarpix
And one bar worker in party resort Magaluf said it was quieter than normal, leading to fears protests were starting to bite and hitting trade.
Activists have urged protesters to occupy the beaches today in their continuing campaign against mass tourism, which they blame for making housing too pricey for islanders.
They want limits on visitors and restrictions on foreign property buyers.
Last weekend, 15,000 people took to the streets in Majorca’s capital Palma.
Protesters held up signs telling “Guiri” — a term referring to foreigners, particularly Brits — to go home.
Anti-tourist graffiti has also appeared in the island.
But boat charter boss Yannick Slock, 34, says he fears for the future of his business if the protests continue.
He said: “It was a surprise to get an email from a client in New Zealand.
“They said, ‘Do you think it’s safe to come still?’. We thought, ‘Wow, the news has travelled across the world’.
“Let’s see how the protests go today. You just hope they don’t get violent. That would definitely affect business.”
of the historic anti mass tourism protest in Majorca have apologised for the abuse directed at holidaymakers
And the Magaluf bar worker added: “It is very quiet at the moment here compared to previous years. Hopefully, things will get moving again soon.”
Javier Barbero, from protest group Banc del Temps, said: “This is just the start.
“If measures aren’t taken we will continue taking to the streets.”
Defence Sec Grant Shapps says a new Ukraine aid package worth £150million will help to protect the country’s battered infrastructureCredit: PA
Air defence radars, decoys and electronic warfare systems worth £70million will be sent by the UK and allies.
Meanwhile, £80million for small boats, reconnaissance drones and uncrewed surface vessels is being provided.
Mr Shapps said: “The International Fund for Ukraine is providing vital support to the Armed Forces of Ukraine to meet their urgent capability requirements.
“It includes more air defence systems to protect Ukrainian civilians and infrastructure, as well as maritime capabilities to bolster naval forces.”
The fund for Ukraine has received £900million so far.
IT’S 4pm on a Tuesday in May and a man on his stag do is splayed on the floor as a fully naked woman bobs down over him before waxing his chest.
Watching are his mates, who whoop and cheer as he is punished by “extreme stripper” Jade Benidorm.
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Stag do lads dressed as Oompa Loompas dance with a stripperCredit: Chris Eades
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Stripper Jade Benidorm punishes a punterCredit: Chris Eades
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A group of girls on a hen doCredit: Chris Eades
She then grabs hot candles to drip on to the soon-to-be-married man’s chest as he yelps in protest.
Welcome to Benidorm 2024, where business is booming and the famous holiday hotspot has become wilder than ever.
While the cost of living is soaring in the UK, Benidorm is getting more tourists than ever — nearly three million came here last year — and the nightlife has stayed open all winter for the first time.
Local celebrity Frank The Stag Man, who runs Fk It Parties, says: “It’s Disneyland for crazies here. Absolutely anything goes.”
One sozzled stag do reveller tells me: “You couldn’t get away with what we’re doing anywhere else in the world.
“What happens on the stag, stays on the stag.”
For stripper Jade, it is her first show of the day — she can do up to 15 a day over the weekend.
And this is just a warm-up, as later on men will head to the infamous Benidorm strip, aka Calle Gerona, where they will watch one of the countless live sex shows.
Watch shocking moment ‘extremely violent’ most wanted Brit ‘drugs baron’ is tackled by cops in Benidorm
They include a Star Wars-themed option on Segways and extreme BDSM shows.
Stag dos are spoilt for choice, as every other bar on the strip offers a free raunchy show and punters as old as 70 will be packing in with them to get an eyeful.
And it’s not just stag dos that flock to the X-rated shows.
Niamh, 22, visited Benidorm last year with her mum and took her to the Segway sex show.
The Dublin lass says: “I’ve never seen anywhere else where young and old can party together. It’s great.”
The seaside resort has been welcoming boozy visitors since the 1960s, then in the 1980s legendary stripper Sticky Vicky paved the way for the raunchy acts that dominate the strip now.
The erotic performer died, aged 80, in November last year and now even has a tribute act.
Her daughter Maria is carrying on as the original.
Frank, 53, who owns Miller’s Bar and Miller’s Beach Bar, has been running group holidays to the city for more than 15 years.
He reckons: “It’s a break from the norm and over the past few years things have got wilder.
“We are the top party destination in Europe and, thanks to social media, more people are starting to realise that.
“It’s impossible to come here and not have a good time.
“People love being shocked and that’s what Benidorm provides.
“There’s everything from drag strippers who stitch up the groom to tribute acts and more extreme performances.
“Winter is non-existent here and for the first time this year we didn’t stop over the winter months.
“We were still busy.”
In high season, Benidorm gets around 200 stag and hen dos a week, with many of their clients being Irish or from the North of England.
Disneyland for crazies
Frank’s partner is Jade Benidorm, 31, who says people often show their wild side when they come to the party destination.
She said: “Sticky Vicky paved the way for acts like mine.
“Most people expect to see something shocking, but also appreciate the showmanship of it.
“Ninety-nine per cent of brides and grooms who come to my show have no idea what their stags have planned.
“Some are timid, others are up for a giggle and some get naked very quickly.
“It’s great to see people enjoying themselves and pushing the limits.”
But while there are great times to be had in Benidorm, the partygoers should beware the strip’s darker side.
Boozed-up Brits have become an easy target for so-called “serpientes” (Spanish for “snakes”) after a quick buck.
Frank warns: “While being on the beach at night is technically illegal, that doesn’t stop people skinny-dipping after a few drinks.
“But leaving your clothes and belongings on the beach gives snakes a chance to steal phones and money.
“While you’re having a bit of fun, they’ll strike.
“Plus most people won’t want to admit that they’ve lost their stuff having a naked swim, so they’ll say they got mugged.
“People just need to remember to keep an eye on stuff, like they would at home.”
There are other dangers, too.
Within 30 seconds of arriving at Avenida de Mallorca, known to tourists as The Square, I was offered cocaine.
The going rate is €50 a gram.
The dealer, who also worked as a doorman for one of the clubs, tells me: “It’s the good stuff from Columbia.”
When I refuse, I’m offered pills or another powder.
I have to walk away fast just to be left alone.
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A stag party from Yorkshire hit the resortCredit: Chris Eades
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A cheeky Scottish holidaymaker leaves little to the imaginationCredit: Chris Eades
The offer is repeated again and again as I make my way along the street.
Dad Simon, 44, tells me: “I’ve been offered drugs about 20 times since I lit a cigarette.
“It’s full-on.”
He is here on a rugby tour and is flanked by Brandon, 17, and Dylan, 16, who are hoping to see a sex show.
Cops tell me of the street dealers: “Where there is demand, there will be supply, but we don’t want it here.”
Alleged British drug kingpin Paul Brown was last month arrested in a hotel in the city after a four-year international manhunt.
While out on the strip, The Sun saw one Brit being arrested, and it is a regular occurance for clubs to be raided by cops looking to find drugs.
We are the top party destination in Europe and, thanks to social media, more people are starting to realise that. It’s impossible to come here and not have a good time
Frank, bar-owner
It’s not just drug dealers who are preying on visitors.
Despite 500 police patrolling the area each day to keep holidaymakers safe, smashed blokes are being targeted by women pretending to be sex workers offering a €5 thrill — which results in punters being robbed once their pants are down.
There have been protests against British tourists in Majorca, the Canaries and Ibiza — but the Benidorm locals love them.
Visit Benidorm told me they felt “very privileged to host British tourists”.
And a taxi driver added: “Eighty per cent of the people here are British.
“The problem is pickpockets looking for British drunk guys.
“They pose as sex workers, offer a service, and once the guy has dropped his trousers they take everything.
It’s rougher than the worst bits of Newport. But I bloody love it
Sun source
“We see it every night, men who have nothing because it’s been nicked.
“It’s not good for us, because people go home and say you’ll get robbed.
“It puts people off coming here.
“The criminals just focus on the tourist streets.”
The women can be seen standing on street corners just seconds away from the main strip, sporting short skirts and high heels, like many of the partygoers.
Online groups about Benidorm have reports of tourists being punched by bouncers when they start to cause trouble.
Some posts advise avoiding a street off the strip as it is “muggers alley”.
Yet despite the darker edge, most revellers aren’t put off.
As one woman from Newport, South Wales, told The Sun: “It’s rougher than the worst bits of Newport. But I bloody love it.”
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Revellers with a podium dancer at a clubCredit: Chris Eades
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A raunchy podium dancer at a barCredit: Chris Eades
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Levante city beach and seafront walkwayCredit: Getty
A DONKEY and trailer are driven through the devastation of the Gaza Strip — as hopes rise of a ceasefire.
The bleak scenes have brought international calls for Israel to relent and it is now offering a 40-day truce.
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A donkey and cart is driven between destroyed buildings in the north of Al Nusairat refugee camp, southern Gaza StripCredit: APAImages / Polaris
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The bleak scenes have brought international calls for Israel to relent and it is now offering a 40-day truceCredit: APAImages / Polaris
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A senior Hamas official also raised hopes of a breakthrough, declaring the terror group had no ‘major issues’ with the most recent truce planCredit: APAImages / Polaris
Israeli officials are preparing to fly to the Egyptian capital Cairo to seal the long-awaited deal which would see thousands of Palestinian prisoners freed in return.
But Hamas terror master Yahya Sinwar has yet to respond to the offer, dubbed “extraordinarily generous” by US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.
A senior Hamas official also raised hopes of a breakthrough, declaring the terror group had no “major issues” with the most recent truce plan.
Israel’s PM Benjamin Netanyahu has come under huge pressure amid demonstrations led by hostage families demanding an immediate deal.
READ MORE ON GAZA CONFLICT
But details have yet to be signed off by Sinwar – who is believed to be hiding from Israeli forces hunting him in the last Hamas stronghold in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah.
The deal on the table is understood to include a 40-day pause in fighting to allow hostage releases and boost aid to the blitzed coastal strip.
Israel has also agreed to consider a second phase of a truce consisting of a “period of sustained calm” in reply to Hamas demands for a permanent ceasefire.
Sinwar – who planned the massacres – tops Israel’s most wanted list.
Hostages set to be freed on humanitarian grounds include any remaining women, children, men over 50, and those who are sick.
Heartbreaking Hamas propaganda video of hostage heightens need for Israel to ‘take action’ in Rafah and Gaza
Britain’s Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron also described Israel’s offer as “generous”.
He said: “I hope Hamas do take this deal and frankly, all the pressure in the world and all the eyes in the world should be on them today saying ‘take that deal.’”
President Volodymyr Zelensky says Ukraine desperately needs more air defences to intercept Moscow’s bombardments.
General Sir Jim Hockenhull, head of the UK’s Strategic Command, also backed Ukraine’s long-range strikes on Russia — because it was “fighting a war of national survival”.
He said: “The fact that they see military value in attacking the Russians in depth is unsurprising and entirely understandable.”
How Ukraine’s new $50BILLION war chest will grind Russia’s war machine to halt & buy them precious time to defeat Vlad
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Ukrainian servicemen with British NLAW anti-tank weaponsCredit: EPA
UKRAINE is braced for a mega-blitz as Russia tries to force victory in its war before US weapons arrive.
A Kyiv spy chief warned Moscow was planning a huge assault starting next month.
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Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky is grateful for US weapons – but Russia is now planning a huge assault before the shipments can arriveCredit: Alamy
It came as a Russian missile tore down a TV tower today in Ukraine’s second city, Kharkiv.
Experts fear the area — just 15 miles from Russia — could face a second ground offensive after beating off a tank assault on the first day of the war in February 2022.
Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukraine’s feared GUR military intelligence, warned life would be even more “difficult” from mid-May through early June.
But he insisted Ukraine would endure and prevail.
Budanov, who has survived repeated assassination attempts, said: “It is not catastrophic. But there will be problems from mid-May.”
HE used to claim he was the “Hardest Geezer” in the Sussex seaside town of Worthing.
Now Russ Cook has proved he is the hardest geezer in the world — by becoming the first man in history to run the entire length of Africa.
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Russ Cook has become the first man in history to run the entire length of Africa – and vowed not to cut his hair or beard until he was finishedCredit: Reuters
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The ‘hardest geezer’ of Worthing made it from South Africa to Tunisia after 352 dysCredit: Instagram / hardestgeezer
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Russ set off from Cape Africa’s southernmost point, Cape Agulhas, where the Indian and Atlantic oceans meet
His 9,891-mile trek from Cape Town to Tunisia, where he crossed the finish line today, spanned 352 days and was the equivalent of 377 marathons.
Russ, 27, battled injuries, food poisoning, extreme heat and cold, a kidnapping and robbery.
It took 19million steps and 20 pairs of trainers to complete the epic feat through 16 countries.
He set off from Cape Africa’s southernmost point, Cape Agulhas, where the Indian and Atlantic oceans meet, on April 22, 2023, vowing not to cut his hair or beard until he crossed the finish line in Bizerte in Tunisia.
The huge red beard and ponytail he grew during the trek earned him the nickname “Africa’s Forrest Gump”, in a nod to the Tom Hanks blockbuster.
A former big boozer and gambler, Russ turned his life around at 19 after a pal challenged him to run the Brighton half marathon.
He says: “I was in a bad place and my mate knew it. I was unfit and drinking and blowing money in the bookies, so I agreed to run it.
“After that, I did the Brighton marathon. Through training, I learnt the values of running and discipline and self-belief, which empowered me, and I applied it to other things in life.”
Realising he would never win marathons, the ex-cleaner decided to set himself endurance challenges. In 2019, he ran 71 marathons through 11 countries between Asia and London, with little more than a backpack and a hammock. It took him just 66 days.
‘It’s been the toughest days of my life’
In 2020, he broke the world record for the fastest marathon while pulling a car.
He ran 26 miles along Worthing seafront with a 730kg Suzuki Alto attached to a rope around his waist in 9hr and 56min, knocking 9hr 40min off the record of 19hrs.
Kelvin Kiptum wins London Marathon with second fastest ever time
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Russ has been compared to beloved Tom Hanks character Forrest GumpCredit: Alamy
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An exhausted Russ rehydrates with power drinksCredit: Instagram / hardestgeezer
Then, in 2021, Russ was buried alive for a week in a box with just 20 litres of water and a ventilation tube.
He also became the first to complete a marathon on crutches and crossed the finish line of another 26-mile race drunk because he stopped every mile to sink a beer.
Russ came up with the idea of running across Africa during Covid, in a bid to raise £1million for charities supporting refugees and rough sleepers.
Incredibly, he had raised over £700,000 earlier tonight.
He says: “People reckon I’m nuts but, if I want to do something, I will do it regardless of how outlandish it seems.
I have passed blood for six days and suffered awful food poisoning, a bad back that only painkillers could cure, had visa nightmares, dehydration and suffered exhaustion
Russ Cook
“Quitting never even came into it. Not even thought of it.
“I decided to run Africa for my personal achievement and have some mad stories to tell — and I bloody well did it.
“I did it first and that makes me so proud. This was all about how far I could push my limits. It is more than just running across a whole continent.
“When I started running, I didn’t like long distances, but I taught my body to get to the point where it could quite comfortably run all day long without much difficulty.
“Then came Africa. The blazing heat in the day and the freezing cold at night.
“Running on sand, through jungles, through sandstorms and snow storms and torrential downpours.
“I have passed blood for six days and suffered awful food poisoning, a bad back that only painkillers could cure, had visa nightmares, dehydration and suffered exhaustion.”
In November, Russ was forced to visit medics in Nigeria for scans as his back pain became “excruciating”.
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Russ being scanned after his back pain became ‘excruciating’Credit: Instagram / hardestgeezer
He says: “It got very bloody hard at times, but I would tell myself to stop moaning like a little weasel and get on the road and get that zombie stomp going.”
Recalling the simple things that inspired him to keep going, Russ adds: “These 352 days have been the toughest of my life, but also such an immense honour.
“I have met incredible people every single day in every single country who welcomed us.
“Seeing all the kids running out to jog with us has been wonderful.
“But, in some remote areas, being white with a big red beard and red hair, I did terrify a few kids!”
As his epic trek neared an end, Russ focused on his home comforts. He says: “My body was starting to break down. Everything hurt. My legs felt like they were about to fall off. Just a few more days, I said.
“Now it’s time to party and the daiquiris will be flowing. It will be good to get into a real crisp bed and have a long hot soak in a bath.”
During his African epic, Russ would sleep in a support vehicle driven by his pals Harry Gallimore and Stan Gaskell.
It also carried their video gear, to record the world record attempt, and was their link to his social media channels on YouTube, X and Instagram.
Russ ran an average of 30 miles a day, including 90 days through the Sahara Desert.
As it was 50C in the day, he ran at night, though it was sometimes still 25C.
My body was starting to break down. Everything hurt. My legs felt like they were about to fall off
Russ Cook
He endured snow storms in Algeria and monsoons in rainforests.
In the Congo, tribal natives wielding machetes kidnapped him on day 102 last August.
Russ — who feared they could be cannibals — had been separated from his support vehicle due to the terrain.
He stumbled into a rural settlement as he headed for their rendezvous point.
He recalls: “There was a chief there who told me I must give him money. I told him I had none.
“Pretty soon I found myself surrounded by lots of blokes with machetes, who escorted me into the bush.
“I didn’t know what they were going to do, so I emptied my bag to show I had nothing but a biscuit, and gave it to them.
“Then I ran for it, bushwhacking through jungle paths. I kept off any tracks until I was far away.
“Then, suddenly, two men pulled up on a motorbike and took me on a seven-hour ride into the jungle and I was thinking, ‘Is this it?’.
“I thought, ‘Here is the self-proclaimed Hardest Geezer being held in a Congo gulag before being ripped apart limb by limb by these people and eaten’.”
Russ was able to negotiate with his kidnappers during a two day ordeal, and his team paid a ransom.
It came weeks after Russ — who also suffered a week of food poisoning and bouts of diarrhoea — was help up by armed maniacs in Angola on day 64 last June.
I thought, ‘Here is the self-proclaimed Hardest Geezer being held in a Congo gulag before being ripped apart limb by limb by these people and eaten’
Russ Cook
He had jumped into the support van for lunch at the roadside unaware they were being watched by gunmen planning to rob them.
He posted on X: “Nothing like a gun being pointed in your face to let you know you are alive.
“It was like any other day when a couple of lads pop open the side door and demanded everything we have.
“None of us got killed or injured. We did lose a lot of our gear. Losing our passports was the big blow as it had our visas to move onwards with.
“It was a nightmare trying to get it sorted in Angola so we had to halt the challenge for two weeks and drive back to Namibia to get new passports and visas.
“That was 1,281 miles back to Windhoek to sort the paperwork and 1,281 miles back to the start.”
Russ admits the terrifying experiences were a real eye-opener.
He says: “One of the reasons I wanted to run the length of Africa is because no one has ever done it before.
“After the robbery and kidnapping, I was starting to find out why.
“But 99 per cent of the time people were so good to us, giving us food and help and donating by going to ATMs and giving us cash.”
From South Africa, Russ ran along the west coast up through Namibia, Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Senegal, Mauritania, and Algeria, before finishing in Tunisia just under a year later.
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Supporters joined Russ for the final leg of the challengeCredit: AFP – Getty
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Other fans waited for him while wearing red beardsCredit: Reuters
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Russ pictured at the finish lineCredit: Reuters
But a problem securing a visa to cross the border into Algeria almost scuppered his challenge on day 278.
After a four day stalemate and pleas on social media, the UK’s Algerian embassy offered courtesy visas.
For his final 29.3-mile stretch — in which he completed in 4hr 47min — Russ had invited social media followers to run with him or wait at the finishing line. Some turned up wearing fake red beards.
And he revealed he couldn’t wait to be reunited with his girlfriend.
He says: “I warned the girls and boys to get the daiquiris set up.
“Nothing was going to stop me, even if I had to crawl my way over broken glass to get to the very end.
“Not too bad for a former fat lad with booze and gambling issues.”
Paying tribute to his partner on X, he added: “My girl is an absolute diamond. Put her through the emotional wringer daily. Deserves the world and everything in it.
“Can’t wait to share a strawberry daiquiri with her on a Tunisian beach and tell her how beautiful she is.
“Would be in a mental asylum in Congo without her.”
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Russ takes a dip after finishing the trekCredit: sky News
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Russ’ journey in full
RUSS’S Project Africa challenge will bring a massive funding boost to two amazing causes – and it is easy for you to pledge your support.
One beneficiary, The Running Charity, works to transform the lives of young people affected by homelessness and multiple or complex needs.
The other, Sandblast, helps Sahrawi refugees. To donate, visit: givestar.io/gs/projectafrica
Teen pupils taking their exams were not allowed to wear socks or shoes to their tests.
The bizarre measure was introduced in Bihar, an eastern Indian state, to stop cunning students slipping notes into the exam halls.
Educate and Delegate: A mother’s homeschooling adventure
Over 1.8 million Indian children instead had to take the official ‘Class 10’ end-of-year test wearing only flip-flops or sandals on their feet, according to the BBC.
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The hats prevented the students, aged 18 to 19, from looking at their fellow classmates’ answers to cheatCredit: Solent
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70 students took part during their exam on March 19Credit: Solent
WITH two bodyguards on patrol permanently outside his office, chief prosecutor Kreshnik Ajazi sums up why the Albanian drug gangs he targets are so ruthless.
In 2018, a shipment of 50 kilos of cocaine went missing in EnglandCredit: Alamy
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The theft triggered a string of revenge attacks back in Albania, including three men being gunned down in their Range Rover with AK-47sCredit: Chris Eades
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This month, Bajram Luli, 27, was stabbed to death in Greenford, West London, after having just moved to the UKCredit: LNP
A trail of tit-for-tat killings between warring gangs battling to control the UK drugs market shows he knows what he is talking about.
The theft of 50 kilos of cocaine in England triggered a string of revenge attacks back in Albania, including three men being gunned down in their Range Rover with AK-47s.
And a dealer convicted of murdering a rival in Southampton has been shot dead inside an Albanian top-security prison in a sophisticated revenge hit that cost a million euros to arrange.
As the Met probes yet another killing of an Albanian man in London, The Sun travelled to the former Communist country to investigate the criminal gangs that have such a foothold in the UK.
Mr Ajazi, a stylish 40-year-old who wears shirts monogrammed with his initials on the cuffs, has devoted his life to dismantling these gangs — but it comes with a heavy price.
Hitting where it hurts
Threats to his life mean the armed guards never leave his side, 28 security cameras are trained on the outside of his office building in the city of Elbasan, and his wife wonders when he will take a job prosecuting “normal criminals”.
But he is too busy to worry, with many of the attacks he deals with stemming from bloody fall-outs that begin in Britain.
The lawyer said: “These disputes between gangs are created in England but the revenge takes place in our city. When I became the chief prosecutor, my aim was to challenge those gangs, which we have done.
“That means I am now escorted every single minute of my life by a special escort from the state police, which tells you what sort of danger I am in.
“But it has been worth it.”
Turkish and Albanian drug gangs are joining forces to wreak havoc on London amid UK migrant crisis
Thanks to his and the state police’s work, the local gang-related murder rate has dropped from 15 a year to zero.
The UK government is just as determined to take on the Albanian organised crime gangs.
The National Crime Agency last month signed an agreement with Albanian police to challenge criminals who control the UK cannabis market as well as enjoying a healthy slice of the £4billion cocaine trade.
Around 1,700 gang members are thought to be at large in the UK and there are more Albanians in our jails than any other foreign nationality, even though Albania has a population of just 2.8million.
As well as trying to lock up gang leaders, the police are hitting them where it hurts — in their pockets.
A British-registered £200,000 Lamborghini — with a number plate that partly reads 14MBO (Lambo) — was recently seized from a suspected criminal, along with a hotel he owned. And the cops now plan to use it as a patrol car.
A spokesman for Albania’s Agency Of Seized And Confiscated Assets said: “We will send a message that what has been earned from criminal activities in the UK and Europe will be confiscated.”
The problem is that in Albania revenge is a tradition so we cannot predict what is going to happen
Mr Ajazi
When the police Lamborghini rolls past, it will raise a smile from law-abiding Albanian migrants. But other cases the police have to deal with are no laughing matter.
Organised crime gangs are similar to the Mafia in that they are structured around families. That means they take disputes personally.
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In 2013, drug dealer Arben Lleshi, 27, who killed a rival in Southampton was extradited to Peqin Prison in Albania and in 2023 his victim’s gang spent a million euros organising a hit to kill him in jailCredit: Handout
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Endrit Alibej, 34, was also killedCredit: YouTube
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Alibej’s family wasted no time in taking revenge and the killings continued for two years, claiming a total of eight livesCredit: Chris Eades
In 2018, a shipment of 50 kilos of cocaine — with a potential market value of tens of millions of pounds — went missing in England.
The gang waiting for its delivery suspected the courier so they beat him up and dumped him in a remote location, reckoning that whoever he had tipped off to steal the drugs would come to his aid.
They kept watch to see who would collect him — and once they knew which family was behind the theft, the killings began.
Soon after, Endrit Alibej, 34, was driving away from a family dinner in Elbasan with his uncle Arben Dylgjeri, 56, and a Turkish associate.
As they slowed to negotiate a roundabout, a gunman armed with an AK-47 struck, spraying the vehicle and killing all three men.
Setting body on fire
Alibej’s family wasted no time in taking revenge and the killings continued for two years, eventually claiming a total of eight lives.
Mr Ajazi said the to-and-fro attacks related to that particular dispute have ended — for now.
He added: “Let’s say they are currently on standby.
“The problem is that in Albania revenge is a tradition so we cannot predict what is going to happen.”
Another case Mr Ajazi is involved in shocked the Albanian justice system because it exposed the full extent of corruption in prisons.
In 2013, Albanian drug dealer Arben Lleshi, 27, was jailed for life at Winchester Crown Court for killing a rival in Southampton and setting his body on fire.
He was extradited to serve his sentence in the top-security Peqin Prison, 40 miles south of capital Tirana.
Late last year, his victim’s gang began plotting their revenge.
They spent an estimated one million euros bribing prison officials to smuggle a 9mm Smith and Wesson into the jail and to pay a hitman.
The gun was passed to the killer in the middle of November and he kept it concealed for three weeks before going to Lleshi’s cell ten days before Christmas.
Mr Ajazi said: “He invited that man to talk. He said, ‘Can we have a conversation?’
“And at this moment, he took out the gun and shot and killed him.”
The jail’s entire command structure has been arrested — 12 officers in total — on suspicion of taking bribes and turning a blind eye.
Back in Britain, an Albanian man was stabbed to death in North London last month, with one of his countrymen being charged with the murder.
And the Met are now investigating yet another killing of an Albanian.
These disputes between gangs are created in England but the revenge takes place in our city
Lawyer
At around 5.30pm on Monday, March 11, a white Kia car was seen reversing down a road in Greenford, West London, before one of the occupants leapt out and fled.
Moments later Bajram Luli, 27, staggered out of the car with a serious stab wound to his stomach.
Cops and paramedics were called but they could not save him.
A man has now been charged in connection with the alleged murder and will stand trial later.
Bajram had only just moved to the UK from Albania. The motive for his killing has not been revealed and there is no suggestion he was involved in any criminality.
But the police back in Albania — and chief prosecutor Mr Ajazi — will be hoping these two recent cases are not the start of yet more blood feuds.
Pictures from Chris Eades, in Albania
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This British-registered £200,000 Lamborghini was seized in Albania by police… who aim to use it as a patrol carCredit: Chris Eades
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Arben Dylgjeri, 56, also diedCredit: YouTube
BRITISH POLICE LINK-UP
A BRITISH bobby’s helmet takes pride of place on a shelf in the grand governmental office of Albania’s Interior Minister, Taulant Balla.
The gift from a visiting UK police delegation shows the commitment of both countries to forging closer links to fight organised crime.
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A British bobby’s helmet takes pride of place on a shelf in the grand governmental office of Albania’s Interior Minister, Taulant BallaCredit: Chris Eades
Mr Balla has had a series of meetings with UK ministers to thrash out ideas on how best to stop trafficking gangs.
One success has been the 90 per cent drop in the number of Albanians crossing the Channel in small boats.
And the no-nonsense politician – popular in Albania for an anti-drugs drive outside schools which has seen more than 800 dealers convicted – is confident of a similar result against the narco gangs.
Mr Balla said: “We have had good results in the fight against organised crime.
“We are working closely with Britain’s National Crime Agency and the Metropolitan Police, and we have some joint operations ongoing.
“I’m very happy that from the British side we are receiving a lot of expertise and are exchanging important data that is needed in bringing people to justice.
“Also, the work in seizing criminal assets is going very well.
“Houses and hotels we seize are being used for good purposes. And the Lamborghini that was seized will be used by our traffic police.
“My message to the organised crime gangs is – impunity time is finished. We are having a campaign against the fugitives.”
As he spoke, his mobile phone pinged with more good news – a message revealing the date that a wanted killer who had been on the run abroad would finally arrive home to face justice.
Albania’s fight against crime is a long, difficult one. But with the help of British police, they are finally reaping rewards.
