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Tag: United Kingdom

  • BHP Liable for 2015 Brazil Dam Collapse, UK Court Rules in Mammoth Lawsuit

    LONDON (Reuters) -BHP is liable for the 2015 collapse of a dam in southeastern Brazil, London’s High Court ruled on Friday, in a lawsuit the claimants’ lawyers previously valued at up to 36 billion pounds ($48 billion).

    Hundreds of thousands of Brazilians, dozens of local governments and around 2,000 businesses sued BHP over the collapse of the Fundao dam in Mariana, southeastern Brazil, which was owned and operated by BHP and Vale’s Samarco joint venture.

    Brazil’s worst environmental disaster unleashed a wave of toxic sludge that killed 19 people, left thousands homeless, flooded forests and polluted the length of the Doce River.

    Judge Finola O’Farrell said in her ruling that continuing to raise the height of the dam when it was not safe to do so was the “direct and immediate cause” of the dam’s collapse, meaning BHP was liable under Brazilian law.

    BHP said it would appeal against the ruling and continue to fight the lawsuit.

    BHP’s President Minerals Americas Brandon Craig said in a statement that 240,000 claimants in the London lawsuit “have already been paid compensation in Brazil”.

    “We believe this will significantly reduce the size and value of claims in the UK group action,” he added.

    CLAIMANTS CELEBRATE MAJOR RULING

    Gelvana Rodrigues da Silva, who lost her seven-year-old son Thiago in the flood, said in a statement: “Finally, justice has begun to be served, and those responsible have been held accountable for destroying our lives.”

    “The judge’s decision shows what we have been saying for the last 10 years: it was not an accident, and BHP must take responsibility for its actions,” she added.

    The claimants’ lawyers accused BHP, the world’s biggest miner by market value, of “cynically and doggedly” trying to avoid responsibility as the mammoth trial began in October.

    BHP contested liability and said the London lawsuit duplicated legal proceedings and reparation and repair programmes in Brazil.

    In the trial’s first week, Brazil signed a 170 billion reais ($31 billion) compensation agreement with BHP, Vale and Samarco, with BHP saying nearly $12 billion has been spent on reparation, compensation and payments to public authorities since 2015.

    BHP said after Friday’s judgment that settlements in Brazil would reduce the size of the London lawsuit by about half.

    A second trial to determine the damages BHP is liable to pay is due to begin in October 2026.

    (Reporting by Sam Tobin. Editing by Kate Holton and Mark Potter)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

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  • UK Culture Minister Welcomes BBC Apology to Trump

    LONDON (Reuters) -British culture minister Lisa Nandy said on Friday it was right that the BBC had apologised to U.S. President Donald Trump over a documentary his lawyers called defamatory.

    “They’ve rightly accepted that they didn’t meet the highest standards,” Nandy told Times Radio. “I think it’s also right that they’ve apologised.”

    The documentary, which aired on the BBC’s “Panorama” news programme just before the U.S. presidential election in 2024, spliced together three parts of Trump’s speech on January 6, 2021, when his supporters stormed the Capitol. The edit created the impression he had called for violence.

    (Reporting by Sarah Young and Kate Holton, editing by Catarina Demony)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

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  • Deal to End US Government Shutdown Strikes Buzzy Cannabis Drinks Industry

    NEW YORK (Reuters) -The agreement to end the longest-ever U.S. government shutdown includes a provision to stop the spread of intoxicating cannabis-infused beverages sold in some U.S. states, which pose a threat to alcohol sales.

    The provision, introduced by Senator Mitch McConnell, and signed into law by U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday, aims to close a loophole that has allowed some intoxicants to be sold as “hemp,” a legal product under federal law. The new rule excludes products with more than 0.4 milligrams of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the mood-altering substance in hemp and marijuana that is derived from the cannabis plant.

    The change, effective in a year, delivers a death blow to the “low-dose” THC-infused beverages industry, which has rapidly expanded in U.S. states such as Minnesota and Tennessee that permitted the drinks. Most have at least 1 milligram of THC, giving drinkers a buzz.

    Liquor stores like Total Wine, supermarkets and convenience stores sell the beverages, prompting market research firm Euromonitor to project sales of more than $4 billion in 2028.

    Alcohol makers such as Corona brewer Constellation Brands had been internally researching the drinks to weigh their next steps in the market segment. Pernod Ricard, which distills Absolut vodka, met with executives of one of the brands to discuss a possible investment over the summer, though it ultimately did not, Reuters reported.

    McConnell first legalized hemp in 2018 to support farmers in his home state of Kentucky but then became concerned about intoxicating products such as gummies getting into the hands of children. 

    Some founders of THC-infused drinks such as Cann are hoping to find a way in the next year to have the beverages permanently legalized, co-founder Jake Bullock said in a statement.

    (Reporting by Jessica DiNapoli in New York; Editing by Richard Chang)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

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  • UK Pro-Palestinian Commentator Lands Back in Britain After Release From US Detention

    LONDON (Reuters) -British pro-Palestinian political commentator Sami Hamdi landed back in London on Thursday after being released from the United States, where he spent more than two weeks in immigration detention.

    Hamdi was detained on October 26 at San Francisco International Airport after U.S. officials revoked his visa during a speaking tour in which he criticised Israel’s actions in Gaza.

    “It’s wonderful to be back after being exonerated by two federal judges, both of whom found that there were serious breaches of freedom of speech,” Hamdi told reporters after landing at London’s Heathrow Airport, where he was embraced by his family.

    He said the only allegation against him was overstaying his visa after it was revoked without warning. He insisted he had complied with all visa conditions and alleged the move was linked to his advocacy for Gaza.

    “I want to say that this wasn’t just an attack on me. It was an attack on the freedoms of ordinary Americans and citizens worldwide. It was an attack on their freedom to speak the truth in the face of hatred,” he said.

    U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Hamdi’s visa was cancelled under security rules and that he was in the country illegally. Rights groups and press freedom advocates condemned the detention, calling it an attack on free speech.

    Hamdi, managing director of The International Interest, a political risk consultancy, and a frequent analyst on British television, had spoken at a gala for the Council on American-Islamic Relations in California and was scheduled to appear at another event in Florida before his arrest.

    The Trump administration has pursued a sweeping immigration crackdown this year, including revoking visas for people accused of supporting terrorism and deporting foreign nationals who have voiced support for Palestinians.

    (Reporting by Sam Tabahriti and Marissa Davison; Editing by Catarina Demony and Alex Richardson)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

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  • UK Military Vows Reform After Survey Reveals High Rates of Sexual Harassment

    LONDON (Reuters) -Two-thirds of women in the British army reported experiencing sexualised behaviour in the past year, according to a survey released on Thursday, findings that the government said were “wholly unacceptable”

    Britain’s first ever military-wide survey found that 67% of female personnel had encountered generalised sexualised behaviours, such as inappropriate jokes or comments, while 21% reported targeted behaviours including unwanted touching or sexual advances.

    Among men, 32% reported generalised behaviours, and 6% targeted ones.

    “All those who choose to serve our country must be able to do so with dignity and respect, which is why today’s survey results are wholly unacceptable,” Veterans Minister Louise Sandher-Jones said in a statement.

    The Ministry of Defence said it would deploy specialist prevention teams to training bases in northern and southwest England, with plans to expand to Cyprus and a Royal Air Force base by 2026 before a wider roll out.

    The programme will focus on educating recruits about consent, misogyny and harmful online influences.

    According to the latest data, the British military has about 137,000 regular personnel, of whom approximately 16,300 were women, making up just under 12% of the total force.

    There have been a number of high-profile cases in Britain in recent years which have exposed bullying, abuse, and the sexual harassment of young recruits.

    Last month, a former army sergeant major was jailed for six months for sexually assaulting a 19-year-old soldier who later took her own life.

    Thursday’s announcement also follows criticism of the Armed Forces complaints system, with the Service Complaints Ombudsman saying was not “efficient, effective or fair”.

    “The results of the survey show just how much more I, and leaders at every level, need to do to stamp out behaviour which has no place in the UK Armed Forces,” said Air Chief Marshal Richard Knighton, the head of Britain’s armed forces.

    (Reporting by Sam Tabahriti; editing by Michael Holden)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

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  • U.K. Economy Grows at Slower Pace Ahead of Budget

    GDP rose 0.1% in the third quarter, compared with 0.3% in the second, amid uncertainty about the government’s budget and the impact of a cyberattack on a major carmaker.

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  • Britain Is Preparing Tens of Billions in New Taxes—Again

    LONDON—The U.K. has long been torn between two mutually exclusive desires: Voters want European levels of welfare with American levels of taxation.

    By accident or design, that debate is slowly being resolved in the direction of higher taxes, as Britain’s Labour government prepares its second major tax increase in as many years.

    Copyright ©2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

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  • Takeaways From the Newly Released Epstein Documents

    A House committee released 23,000 documents related to Jefferey Epstein on Wednesday, many of them emails the convicted sex offender sent to his rich or influential friends, or to reporters, over many years.

    Democrats on the House Oversight Committee initially released three emails where Epstein mentioned President Donald Trump. Republicans on the committee responded by disclosing the bigger trove of documents and accused the Democrats of cherry-picking a few messages out of context in an effort to make Trump look bad.

    Epstein served about a year in jail after pleading guilty in 2008 to soliciting prostitution from someone under age 18 but then went on to renew relationships with many influential figures in business, academics and politics.

    Here’s some takeaways from the documents released Wednesday.


    Epstein said Trump ‘knew about the girls,’ but it’s unclear what he meant

    Trump and Epstein were friends for years but at some point had a falling out, even before underage girls started to come forward to accuse Epstein of sexual abuse.

    Journalists sometimes reached out to Epstein, perhaps hoping he might have dirt to spill on Trump. One of those writers was Michael Wolff, who has written extensively about Trump. In a 2019 email to Wolff, Epstein mentioned that one of his best-known accusers, Virginia Giuffre, had worked at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club.

    “She was the one who accused Prince Andrew,” Epstein wrote.

    Giuffre, who died by suicide earlier this year, had said that Epstein’s longtime companion Ghislaine Maxwell recruited her from Mar-a-Lago to give sexualized massages to Epstein. And Trump had long claimed that he banned Epstein from coming to Mar-a-Lago.

    Epstein said in an email to Wolff that Trump hadn’t asked him to resign from the club, because he hadn’t been a member.

    “Of course he knew about the girls as he asked ghislaine to stop,” Epstein added.

    In July, Trump said he had banned Epstein from Mar-a-Lago because his one-time friend was “taking people who worked for me,” including Giuffre.

    Before her death, Giuffre said that she only met Trump once and that he was not among the people who abused her. She didn’t think Trump knew of Epstein’s misconduct with underage girls.

    White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that Democrats had leaked select emails to “create a fake narrative to smear President Trump.”


    Mentions of former Prince Andrew

    In lawsuits and interviews, Giuffre accused Epstein and Maxwell of pressuring her into sexual encounters with Britain’s former Prince Andrew, starting when she was 17 years old. Those allegations eventually cost Andrew — now known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor — his official titles and his royal residence near Windsor Castle.

    In 2011, Epstein emailed a reporter and attacked Giuffre’s credibility.

    “Yes she was on my plane, and yes she had her picture taken with Andrew as many of my employees have,” wrote Epstein, before arguing that “this girl is a total liar.”

    Epstein wrote that he’d ask if then-Prince Andrew’s “people” would cooperate with the reporter for a story.

    Mountbatten-Windsor has always denied Giuffre’s allegations.

    That same year, Epstein, whose writing paid little heed to grammar or spelling, also mentioned Giuffre and Trump in an email that Epstein sent to Maxwell.

    “i want you to realize that that dog that hasn’t barked is trump.. virignia spent hours at my house with him,, he has never once been mentioned,” Epstein wrote.

    “I have been thinking about that,” Maxwell responded.

    In other emails, Epstein strategized how to respond to Giuffre’s stories, which included an account of meeting former President Bill Clinton on Epstein’s island in the Caribbean.

    “Presidents at dinner on caribean islands. ( clinton was never ever there, easy to confirm ). Sharing a bath with a Prince ( bathtub too small even for one adult ). sex slave being paid thousands of dollars. ( while at the exact same time, she was working as a hostess in a burger bar ).”

    Clinton has acknowledged traveling on Epstein’s private jet but has said through a spokesperson that he had no knowledge of Epstein’s crimes. Clinton has not been accused of wrongdoing by any of the women who say Epstein abused them, including Giuffre.


    Relationship with the press

    Many of the documents were email exchanges between Epstein and journalists he had longstanding relationships with, or who solicited his insights on financial markets and Trump.

    He was asked, typically off the record, to weigh in on everything from the president’s relationships with foreign leaders to the impact of oil prices on wealthy families in Saudi Arabia.

    Epstein offered to broker introductions between journalists and powerful people numerous times. He also contested the accusations against him.

    In a 2016 email to a reporter, Epstein denied ever spending time with former President Bill Clinton or Vice President Al Gore on his island.

    “You can also add, fresh politcal juice by stating that Clinton was never on the island,” Epstein wrote. “I never met Al Gore. No diners on the island either, no matter how much detail has been in the press.”

    Associated Press reporters Eric Tucker in Washington, D.C. and Michael R. Sisak in New York contributed to this report.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • Exclusive-BP in Active Talks With Stonepeak Over Castrol Sale, Sources Say

    By Amy-Jo Crowley, David French and Andres Gonzalez

    LONDON/NEW YORK (Reuters) -BP is in active talks with investment firm Stonepeak over the sale of its Castrol lubricants unit, two people with knowledge of the situation said, in what would be a major step in meeting the energy company’s $20 billion divestment goal.

    • Both Stonepeak and private equity firm One Rock made bids for the unit in September, one of the people and a third one said. Reuters could not establish the value or structure of Stonepeak’s consideration or if BP is currently in talks with other parties including One Rock about a deal for Castrol. A deal may not materialize, the people said. 

    • Reuters reported in May, citing sources, that BP had kicked off the sale of Castrol.

    • RBC analysts said in recent weeks that market expectations for the sale are around $8 billion.  

    • BP, Stonepeak and One Rock representatives declined to comment.  

    • The sale is part of BP’s strategy shift to refocus as it tries to boost profitability and fend off pressure from investors including activist hedge fund Elliott.  

    • BP CEO Murray Auchincloss said earlier this month the interest in Castrol is “very high” but declined to comment on specifics. He added he expects completed or announced asset sales to total around $5 billion this year. 

    (Reporting by Amy-Jo Crowley and Andres Gonzalez in London and David French in New York. Additional reporting by Stephanie Kelly and Shadia Nasralla. Editing by Anousha Sakoui)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

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  • Iceland Sees Security Risk, Existential Threat in Atlantic Ocean Current’s Possible Collapse

    By Alison Withers and Stine Jacobsen

    COPENHAGEN (Reuters) -Iceland has designated the potential collapse of a major Atlantic Ocean current system a national security concern and an existential threat, enabling its government to strategize for worst-case scenarios, the country’s climate minister told Reuters.

    The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, or AMOC, current brings warm water from the tropics northward toward the Arctic, and the flow of warm water helps keep Europe’s winters mild. 

    But as warming temperatures speed the thaw of Arctic ice and cause meltwater from Greenland’s ice sheet to pour into the ocean, scientists warn the cold freshwater could disrupt the current’s flow.

    A potential collapse of AMOC could trigger a modern-day ice age, with winter temperatures across Northern Europe plummeting to new cold extremes, bringing far more snow and ice. The AMOC has collapsed in the past – notably before the last Ice Age that ended about 12,000 years ago.

    “It is a direct threat to our national resilience and security,” Iceland Climate Minister Johann Pall Johannsson said by email. “(This) is the first time a specific climate-related phenomenon has been formally brought before the National Security Council as a potential existential threat.”

    Elevation of the issue means Iceland’s ministries will be on alert and coordinating a response, Johannsson said. The government is assessing what further research and policies are needed, with work underway on a disaster preparedness policy.

    Risks being evaluated span a range of areas, from energy and food security to infrastructure and international transportation.

    An Atlantic current collapse could have consequences far beyond Northern Europe. It could potentially destabilize longtime rainfall patterns relied upon by subsistence farmers across Africa, India and South America, according to scientists.

    It could also contribute to faster warming in Antarctica, where sea ice surrounding the southernmost continent as well as ice sheets atop it are already under threat from climate change.

    Scientists have warned that the world is underestimating the threat that an AMOC collapse could become inevitable within the next couple of decades as global temperatures keep climbing.

    The Nordic Council of Ministers funded a “Nordic Tipping Week” workshop in October with 60 experts assessing how societies might be impacted. They are finalizing recommendations from the meeting, organizers said.

    “There is tons of research on the likelihood of when exactly things are going to happen,” said Aleksi Nummelin, a physical oceanographer at the Finnish Meteorological Institute. “There is much less on what is the actual societal impact.”

    On Monday, scientists from more than 30 universities and international organizations sounded an alarm about the accelerated thawing of Earth’s glaciers, ice sheets and other frozen spaces.

    Other climate ministries and meteorological offices across Northern Europe told Reuters they are funding more research while weighing possible risks in their climate adaptation plans.

    Ireland’s weather service said its scientists briefed the country’s prime minister last year and a parliamentary committee last month. Norway’s environment ministry said it was “seeking to deepen our understanding of the issue through new research” before determining whether to classify AMOC as a security risk.

    Britain said it was following scientific reports that suggested an abrupt collapse was unlikely during this century, while directing more than 81 million pounds into research to understand when the Earth’s climate systems might be pushed to a point of no return.

    “The science is evolving quite rapidly and time is running out to do anything about it because the tipping point may well be quite close,” said oceanographer and climatologist Stefan Rahmstorf from Germany’s Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. 

    Iceland is not taking any chances, as the pace of warming speeds up and greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise. 

    “Sea ice could affect marine transport; extreme weather could severely affect our capabilities to maintain any agriculture and fisheries, which are central to our economy and food systems,” Johannsson said.

    “We cannot afford to wait for definitive, long-term research before acting.”

    (Reporting by Ali Withers and Stine Jacobsen in Copenhagen; Editing by Katy Daigle and David Gregorio)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

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  • Chinese ‘cryptoqueen’ who scammed thousands jailed in UK over Bitcoin stash worth $6.6 billion

    LONDON (AP) — A Chinese woman who was found with 5 billion pounds ($6.6 billion) in Bitcoin after defrauding more than 128,000 people in China in a Ponzi scheme was sentenced by a U.K. court on Tuesday to over 11 years in prison.

    Police said the investigation into Zhimin Qian, 47, led to officers recovering devices holding 61,000 Bitcoin in the largest cryptocurrency seizure in the U.K.

    Qian, dubbed “cryptoqueen” by British media, was arrested in April 2024 after spending years evading the authorities and living an “extravagant” lifestyle in Europe, staying in luxury hotels across the continent and buying fine jewelry and watches, prosecutors said.

    Police said she ran a pyramid scheme that lured more than 128,000 people to invest in her business between 2014 and 2017, including many who invested their life savings and pensions. Authorities said she stored the illegally obtained funds in Bitcoin assets.

    When she attracted the attention of Chinese authorities, Qian fled to the U.K. under a fake identity. Once in London, police said she rented a “lavish” house for over 17,000 pounds ($23,000) per month, and tried but failed to buy multimillion pound properties in a bid to convert the Bitcoin.

    Investigators found notes Qian had written documenting her aspirations — including her “intention to become the monarch of Liberland, a self-proclaimed country consisting of a strip of land between Croatia and Serbia.”

    They said other notes showed Qian detailing her hopes of “meeting a duke and royalty.”

    Judge Sally-Ann Hales said Qian was the architect of the crimes from start to finish.

    “Your motive was one of pure greed. You left China without a thought for the people whose investments you had stolen and enjoyed for a period of time a lavish lifestyle. You lied and schemed, all the while seeking to benefit yourself,” Hales said.

    The businesswoman, who had pleaded guilty to money laundering offenses and transferring and possessing criminal property, was sentenced Tuesday to 11 years and eight months at Southwark Crown Court.

    She was sentenced alongside her accomplice Seng Hok Ling, 47, a Malaysian national who was accused of helping Qian transfer and launder the cryptocurrency. Ling was jailed at the same court for four years and 11 months after he pleaded guilty to one count of transferring criminal property.

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  • Trump Says He Has an ‘Obligation’ to Sue BBC

    (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that he has an “obligation” to sue BBC for misrepresenting his comments ahead of the Jan. 6, 2021 attacks on the U.S. Capitol.

    “Well, I think I have an obligation to do it,” Trump told Fox News host Laura Ingraham in an interview.

    (Reporting by Jarrett Renshaw; Editing by Himani Sarkar)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

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  • Nigeria Will Work With US and UK to Investigate Cocaine Cartel, Anti-Narcotics Agency Says

    LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Nigeria’s anti-narcotics enforcement agency said on Tuesday it is working with its U.S. and British counterparts to “unravel the cartel behind the importation of 1,000 kilograms of cocaine” discovered at a port in Lagos.

    The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) said the cocaine was found in an empty container last weekend. It is said to be worth over 338 billion naira ($235 million), representing one of the largest drug seizures in the country’s history.

    “In a swift response to the Agency’s request, officers of the US-DEA and UK-NCA, have already joined the ongoing investigation of the largest single seizure of cocaine at the Tincan Port Lagos,” Femi Babafemi, spokesperson for the agency, said in a statement.

    The seizure was formally transferred to the NDLEA on Tuesday after its initial discovery by port operators.

    Nigeria is considered a significant regional transit hub of narcotics in West Africa and has also gradually become considered as a key producer, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

    “The essence of collaborating with our international partners on this case is to ensure no stone is left unturned and every gap is sufficiently covered so that ultimately we can get all the masterminds of this huge consignment brought to book wherever they are located across the globe,” Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa, the NDLEA chairman, said of the investigation.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • Sex offender mistakenly released from U.K. prison re-arrested after manhunt

    London — A convicted sex offender who was mistakenly released early from a London prison was re-arrested Friday after more than a week of freedom, police said.

    Brahim Kaddour-Cherif was one of two men set free in accidental releases from Wandsworth Prison over the past two weeks that have caused a political headache for the government and focused renewed attention on an overcrowded and overwhelmed prison system.

    The other inmate, Billy Smith, 35, who was sentenced to nearly four years for fraud and accidentally released on the same day as Cherif, turned himself in at the Victorian-era lockup on Thursday.

    Cherif, 24, a registered sex offender due to a previous indecent exposure conviction, was serving time for trespass with intent to steal. The Algerian national who overstayed a legal visit to the U.K. in 2019 was in the initial stages of deportation when he was allowed to walk off the prison ground on Monday.

    Mistakenly released sex offender Brahim Kaddour-Cherif is shown in this undated photo.

    Metropolitan Police


    He was stopped by police in north London in an arrest filmed by national broadcaster Sky News. He initially denied he was the man they were looking for, but then said he wasn’t to blame for being on the streets.

    “I’m not Brahim, bro,” he initially told a police officer, who said he recognized his distinctive nose. “Everyone know him, he’s in (the) news,” Cherif said.

    After police officers pulled out their phones to look at the photo of the wanted man, he effectively admitted he was Cherif.

    “It is not my fault,” Cherif said. “They released me illegally.”

    Both men were wrongly freed from Wandsworth, which was built in southwest London in the middle of the 19th century, and was already under scrutiny after another prisoner escaped two years ago by clinging to the underside of a food delivery truck.

    HMP Wandsworth Release Algerian Prisoner By Mistake

    A police van departs Wandsworth Prison, Nov. 5, 2025, in London, England.

    Ben Montgomery/Getty/Ben Montgomery Photography


    The inadvertent releases followed more stringent security checks that were supposed to be in place after an asylum-seeker who inspired a rise of anti-immigrant protests was mistakenly freed from Chelmsford Prison, east of London, on Oct. 24.

    Prison chiefs were summoned to a meeting Thursday to discuss the errors and said efforts were being made to update a system that still uses paper prison records.

    The mistaken releases have become a source of heated debate and a political liability for the Labour government after being a thorn in the side of their Conservative predecessors.

    According to government figures, 262 prisoners were released in error in the year ending March 2025, a 128% increase on the previous 12-month period.

    Conservatives say the Labour government is to blame for a policy to release some inmates earlier to ensure prisons don’t exceed capacity.

    But Labour has blamed 14 years of Conservative rule and years of austerity that has starved the Prison Service of resources.

    “We inherited a prison system in crisis and I’m appalled at the rate of releases in error this is causing,” Justice Secretary David Lammy said after the arrest. “I’m determined to grip this problem, but there is a mountain to climb which cannot be done overnight.”

    An official review of the issue has begun, but Ian Acheson, a former prison governor and adviser to U.K. government ministers, cited the overcrowding of Britain’s prisons as a reason for the rise in accidental releases.

    Overcrowding has brought more pressure on the prison managers to get offenders out as quickly as possible, which has led to more movement of prisoners within the prison system, Acheson told the Telegraph newspaper.

    “It is quite possible that one of the reasons for the increase in these mistakes has been the push and imperative to get people out,” Acheson told the Telegraph.

    Haley Ott

    contributed to this report.

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  • Australia’s Helen Garner wins Baillie Gifford nonfiction prize for her ‘addictive’ diaries

    LONDON (AP) — Helen Garner, an acclaimed Australian writer whose celebrity fans include singer Dua Lipa, won the prestigious Baillie Gifford Prize for nonfiction on Tuesday for what judges called her addictive and candid diaries.

    Garner, 82, was named winner of the 50,000 pound ($65,000) prize at a ceremony in London for “How to End a Story.” Journalist Robbie Millen, who chaired the prize jury, said Garner was the unanimous choice of the six judges.

    Millen said the judges were captivated by the sharp observation and “reckless candor” of Garner’s 800-page book, which covers her life and work between 1978 and 1998.

    He said it is “a remarkable, addictive book. Garner takes the diary form, mixing the intimate, the intellectual, and the everyday, to new heights.

    “There are places it’s toe-curlingly embarrassing. She puts it all out there,” Millen said, adding that Garner ranks alongside those of Virginia Woolf in the canon of great literary diarists.

    Garner, who has published novels, short stories, screenplays and true crime books, said she was “staggered” to have won the prize for diaries she wrote entirely for herself.

    “I never thought that I was writing for anyone but myself and that’s what’s good about them, I think — that I’m free when I’m writing,” she told The Associated Press from Melbourne, Australia.

    “Those are the hours of practice that in a sense turned me into a writer. Because I’ve been keeping a diary since I was a girl — and I’ve burnt most of it, of course. I burnt it up until about the late 1970s. But it’s my 10,000 hours and it’s my enormous daily practice. So you never expect that to be out in the public eye. But it is.”

    “How to End a Story” is a deeply intimate book that among other things recounts, with unsparing detail and flashes of humor, the breakdown of a marriage.

    Despite the risk involved in such public soul-baring, Garner says the reaction of readers has made the experience life-affirming.

    “What I write about — my life and my experience and my, not to put too fine a point on it, soul — there are so many people who know what I mean and who’ve been there. And that’s been a great joy to me to discover that,” she said. “The deeper I go, the more other people I find there.”

    Garner’s book is the first set of diaries to win the prize, which was founded in 1999 and recognizes English-language books in current affairs, history, politics, science, sport, travel, biography, autobiography and the arts.

    Garner’s 1977 first novel “Monkey Grip” – the semi-autobiographical story of a single mother in bohemian inner-city Melbourne – is considered a modern Australian classic. Her work includes the novella “The Children’s Bach,” screenplays including “The Last Days of Chez Nous” and true crime books including “This House of Grief,” which Lipa chose this year for her monthly book club.

    The singer said Garner’s work was “a thrilling discovery. She’s one of the most fascinating writers I have come across in years.”

    Garner is co-author of “The Mushroom Tapes: Conversations on a Triple Murder Trial,” a book about Erin Patterson, the Australian woman who killed three of her estranged husband’s relatives with a lunch containing death cap mushrooms. It is published in Australia and the U.K. this month.

    Garner is less well known outside her home country, with U.S. and U.K. publishers only recently publishing many of her books.

    “It has taken us a long while to work out how good she is,” Millen said. “Finally her status is being recognized, and I hope this will cement it.”

    Garner is the second Australian in a row to win the Baillie Gifford prize. Last year’s winner was Tasmanian writer Richard Flanagan for his genre-bending memoir “Question 7.”

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  • Manhunt continues in U.K. for registered sex offender mistakenly released from London prison

    A search continued on Thursday for one of two convicted criminals who were mistakenly released from prison the previous day in Britain — the second and third such incidents in two weeks and part of a growing trend of mistaken releases that have put the government under fire. 

    London’s Metropolitan Police said it was informed by England’s prison service on Tuesday afternoon that a 24-year-old was “released in error” from Wandsworth prison, in southwest London, on Oct. 29. 

    The suspect has been identified as Algerian national Brahim Kaddour Cherif, who remained at large on Thursday. Police said he is a registered sex offender who was convicted of indecent exposure last year, sentenced to an 18-month community order and put on the sex offenders’ register for five years.

    The BBC reported that Cherif last appeared in court in September, charged with failing to comply with requirements for convicted sex offenders.

    “Cherif has had a six-day head start but we are working urgently to close the gap and establish his whereabouts,” Paul Trevers, who is overseeing the police investigation, said in a statement.

    The second man mistakenly released, 35-year-old William Smith, was let go from the same prison as Cherif on Monday, the Surrey Police said, but the force issued an update on Thursday to say he had turned himself back in at Wandsworth Prison in South London. 

    He was released the same day he appeared at a hearing where he received a 45-month sentence for multiple fraud offenses. 

    In a statement shared Thursday on social media, the Surrey Police thanked members of the public for sharing its appeal for information on Smith, and said it was cancelling its request for help to find him.

    “I am absolutely outraged and appalled by the mistaken release of a foreign criminal wanted by the police. The Metropolitan police is leading an urgent manhunt, and my officials have been working through the night to take him back to prison,” David Lammy, U.K. deputy prime minister and justice secretary, said in a statement after reports emerged of the first mistaken release, according to the BBC.

    “Victims deserve better and the public deserve answers. That is why I have already brought in the strongest checks ever to clamp down on such failures and ordered an independent investigation, led by Dame Lynne Owens to uncover what went wrong and address the rise in accidental releases which has persisted for too long,” Lammy said.

    A spokesperson for U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer called that release “utterly unacceptable” and said the issue of accidental prisoner releases “needs to be dealt with, and the system needs to be reformed and the appropriate checks need to be in place to stop this type of thing from ever happening,” according to The Guardian.

    Just last week, the accidental release of Hadush Kebatu, an Ethiopian man jailed for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl, triggered a two-day manhunt and his eventual deportation. British authorities agreed to give him the equivalent of about $600 to get on a plane, rather than filing a new legal challenge to his deportation.

    The number of prisoners released from U.K. prisons by mistake has more than doubled in the last year, according to government data analyzed by Britain’s Telegraph newspaper.

    About 262 prisoners were mistakenly released from March 2024 to March 2025, compared to 115 during the same period the previous year, the Telegraph reported.

    An official review of the issue has begun, but Ian Acheson, a former prison governor and adviser to U.K. government ministers, cited the overcrowding of Britain’s prisons as a reason for the rise in accidental releases.

    Overcrowding has brought more pressure on the prison managers to get offenders out as quickly as possible, which has led to more movement of prisoners within the prison system, Acheson told the Telegraph newspaper.

    “It is quite possible that one of the reasons for the increase in these mistakes has been the push and imperative to get people out,” Acheson told the Telegraph.

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  • Several Prisoners Mistakenly Released From UK Prisons Each Week, Minister Says

    LONDON (Reuters) -Several prisoners are mistakenly released from British prisons each week, a minister said on Thursday, revealing the scale of a problem that came to light with the wrongful release of a migrant sex offender whose offences sparked weeks of protests.

    The accidental release of Ethiopian asylum seeker Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu last month compounded the pressure on the government which is struggling with overcrowded prisons and a broken immigration system.

    His arrest in July already triggered protests outside a hotel housing asylum seekers in Epping, north of London, which then became a touch-paper for wider anti-immigration demonstrations. He was deported following a three-day manhunt.

    This week, two more mistaken prisoner releases – including an Algerian national on the sex offenders register who had overstayed his visa – have raised further concerns about the prison system, which has been grappling with overcrowding after the number of inmates in England and Wales doubled in the last 30 years.

    The government estimates that 262 prisoners were released mistakenly in the 12 months to March 2025 – marking the fourth consecutive year of increase and more than double the 115 reported the previous year.

    “The system is in utter chaos,” Alex Davies-Jones, a minister in the justice department, told Times Radio.

    “We are deporting more foreign prisoners than ever before,” she said. “We’re also going to be deporting them on sentencing, rather than waiting for them to serve time in our prisons.”

    The accidental releases have also increased pressure on David Lammy, Britain’s justice minister and deputy prime minister, who told parliament on Wednesday that he had toughened the rules to fix the problem, without revealing that he had known about the recent mistakes.

    Davies-Jones blamed the crisis on 14 years of “chronic austerity and underfunding in our public services”, as well as the failure to build more prisons, under the previous Conservative government.

    (Reporting by Muvija M; Editing by Sharon Singleton)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

    Photos You Should See – Oct. 2025

    Reuters

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  • Britain’s Prince William Calls for Optimism on Environment at EarthShot Prize Event

    RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) -Britain’s Prince William expressed optimism on Wednesday about tackling global environmental challenges at a star-studded event in Rio de Janeiro for the fifth edition of his EarthShot Prize.

    William’s first visit to Latin America comes shortly before Brazil hosts the UN climate summit COP30 next week.

    “I understand that some might feel discouraged in these uncertain times,” William said during the ceremony for the award, founded in 2020 and inspired by a visit to Namibia.

    “I understand that there is still so much to be done. But this is no time for complacency, and the optimism I felt in 2020 remains ardent today.”

    Named in homage to John F. Kennedy’s “moonshot” goal, the award was intended to foster significant environmental progress within a decade that has now reached its midpoint.

    The prize, which aims to find innovations to combat climate change, and tackle other green issues, awards five winners 1 million pounds ($1.3 million) each to drive their projects.

    Pop stars Kylie Minogue and Shawn Mendes, Brazilian musicians Gilberto Gil, Seu Jorge and Anitta, along with former Formula One world champion Sebastian Vettel, were among those who appeared or performed at the ceremony.

    British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and London Mayor Sadiq Khan also attended.

    William will attend the UN climate summit in place of his father, King Charles. On his trip, he announced initiatives for Indigenous communities and environmental activists, and visited landmarks in Rio.

    (Reporting by Andre Romani in Sao Paulo and Michael Holden in London; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

    Photos You Should See – Oct. 2025

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  • Stability AI largely wins UK court battle against Getty Images over copyright and trademark

    LONDON (AP) — Artificial intelligence company Stability AI mostly prevailed against Getty Images Tuesday in a British court battle over intellectual property.

    Seattle-based Getty had accused Stability AI of infringing its copyright and trademark by scraping 12 million images from its website, without permission, to train its popular image generator, Stable Diffusion.

    The closely followed case at Britain’s High Court was among the first in a wave of lawsuits involving generative AI as movie studios, authors and artists challenged tech companies’ use of their works to train AI chatbots.

    Tech companies have long argued that “fair use” or “fair dealing” legal doctrines in the United States and United Kingdom allow them to train their AI systems on large troves of writings or images. Tuesday’s ruling provides some clarity but still leaves big unanswered questions over copyright and AI, experts said.

    According to the judge’s written ruling, Getty narrowly won its argument that Stability had infringed its trademark, but lost the rest of its case.

    Both sides claimed victory.

    “This is a significant win for intellectual property owners,” Getty Images said in a statement.

    Shares of Getty dipped 3% before the opening bell in the U.S.

    Stability, based in London, said it was pleased with the ruling.

    “This final ruling ultimately resolves the copyright concerns that were the core issue,” Stability’s General Counsel Christian Dowell said.

    Getty had accused Stability of both primary and secondary copyright infringement.

    Legal experts said the first one involves the act of reproducing something without permission — similar to a dodgy factory churning out counterfeit Chanel handbags or pirated CDs — while the second involves importing those copies from another country.

    In this case, Getty said Stability’s use of its image library to train and develop Stable Diffusion’s AI model amounted to breach of primary copyright. Stability responded that the case doesn’t belong in the United Kingdom because the AI model’s training technically happened elsewhere, on computers run by U.S. tech giant Amazon.

    During the three-week trial in June, Getty dropped its primary copyright allegations, in a sign that it didn’t think they would succeed. But it still pursued the secondary infringement claims. Even if Stability’s AI training happened outside the U.K., Getty said offering the Stable Diffusion service to British users amounted to importing unlawful copies of its images into the country.

    Justice Joanna Smith rejected Getty’s claims, ruling that Stable Diffusion’s AI didn’t infringe copyright because it doesn’t “store or reproduce any Copyright Works (and has never done so).”

    Getty also sued for trademark infringement because its watermark appeared on some of the images generated by Stability’s chatbot.

    The judge sided with Getty but added that the case only partially succeeded, and that her findings are “both historic and extremely limited in scope.”

    “While I have found instances of trademark infringement, I have been unable to determine that these were widespread,” she said.

    Experts said Getty’s move to drop part of its copyright case means AI training is still in legal limbo.

    “The decision leaves the U.K. without a meaningful verdict on the lawfulness of an AI model’s process of learning from copyright materials,” said Iain Connor, an intellectual property partner at law firm Michelmores.

    Smith said there was “very real societal importance” in deciding how to strike a balance between the creative and tech industries. But she added that the court can only rule on the “diminished” case that remained and couldn’t consider “issues that have been abandoned.”

    A Getty spokeswoman declined to say whether there would be an appeal.

    Getty is also pursuing a copyright infringement lawsuit in the United States against Stability. It originally sued in 2023 but refiled the case in a San Francisco federal court in August.

    The Getty lawsuits are among a slew of cases that highlight how the generative AI boom is fueling a clash between tech companies and creative industries.

    AI companies are now fighting more than 50 copyright lawsuits — so many that a tech industry lobby group has called on President Donald Trump for help stop the court fights, saying they threaten AI innovation.

    Among the cases, Anthropic agreed to pay $1.5 billion to settle a class-action lawsuit by authors while a federal judge dismissed a similar lawsuit from 13 authors against Meta Platforms. Warner Bros. has sued Midjourney for copyright infringement, as have Disney and Universal in seperate lawsuits, alleging that its image generator creates copyrighted characters.

    ___

    AP Technology Writer Matt O’Brien contributed to this report.

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  • Prince William and Kate Middleton’s college classmate dead after 100-foot rooftop fall

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    A British reality star and socialite who was also a classmate of Prince William and Kate Middleton during their college days, died Thursday after a fall from a rooftop, London police confirmed to Fox News Digital Tuesday.

    “Officers responded to concerns for a man on the roof of a building in Cockspur Street, Westminster at 23:02hrs on Thursday, 30 October,” a spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police told Fox News Digital.

    “The man sadly fell from height. Despite the best efforts from the London Ambulance Service, he was sadly pronounced dead at the scene. His death is being as unexpected but non-suspicious.”

    He reportedly fell from the posh Trafalgar St. James Hotel. The fall was about 100 feet, according to People magazine.

    PRINCE WILLIAM, KATE MIDDLETON MOVE TO FOREST LODGE DESPITE PREVIOUS PRIVACY AND SAFETY CONCERNS

    A British reality star and socialite who was also friends with Prince William and Kate Middleton during their college days died Thursday after a fall from a rooftop, London police confirmed to Fox News Digital Tuesday. (Getty Images)

    Duncan, 45, who appeared on reality shows like Britain’s “Big Brother,” attended University of St. Andrews in Scotland at the same time William and Middleton were there and began dating.

    He was an acquaintance of the couple while they were at St. Andrews and was one of the first people to know they were an item, according to the Daily Mail, which was first to report the story.

    He was also at the school’s infamous student fashion show during which Middleton reportedly caught William’s eye when she walked the runway in a sheer dress.

    William at his college graduation

    Prince William and Kate Middleton knew Duncan from their college days.  (Michael Dunlea/AFP via Getty Images)

    Kate Middelton at her college graduation

    Kate Middleton at her college graduation in 2005.  (Michael Dunlea/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

    PRINCE ANDREW VANISHES FROM ROYAL WEBSITE AFTER KING CHARLES STRIPS ALL TITLES AND HONORS

    “It was the end of their first year,” Duncan previously told the Daily Mail of the fashion show. “I was there, and in person there were a lot of attractive girls. She was in a very daring dress, in a sheer stocking-like dress. He was sitting front row, and his eyes were like stalks.

    “She brushed by him on the way to the catwalk, and things were never the same again — the whole history of the monarchy had been altered.”

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    Ben Duncan in a suit

    Duncan on the UK’s “Big Brother” in 2010.  (Eamonn McCormack/Getty Images)

    British TV personality Lizzie Cundy mourned Duncan on social media.

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    Trafalgar St. James Hotel

    The Trafalgar St. James Hotel in London.  (Getty)

    “So shocked and heartbroken to hear my friend Ben Duncan has passed away,” she wrote on X Monday. “A beautiful soul with a large fun character. We laughed so much about the silly things in life. God bless you dear Ben. You are a one off . Thoughts and prayers with all his family.”

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    Broadcaster Mike Hollingsworth wrote on Facebook, “My dear, dear friend Benjamin (Ben) Duncan has left us. He lived life as a Peter Pan, the boy who never grew up. He will be sorely missed by his many, many friends who grew to love his charm, his wit, his infectious laugh and his innate sense of style. The world is a poorer place for his passing…RIP Benji.”

    Fox News Digital has reached out to a rep for Buckingham Palace for comment.

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