Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA) will assume control of a high-profile investigation into allegations that former South Yorkshire Police officers were complicit in the Rotherham grooming gang scandal — including accusations that some officers personally raped victims.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance arrived in Britain on Friday for his summer holiday and used the occasion to caution Western allies against adopting censorship policies similar to those he says the United States experienced under former President Joe Biden.
Senior Hamas official Ghazi Hamad openly celebrated that fruits of October 7—the terrorist attack that murdered over 1,200 Israelis—are now producing political gains in the West.
Protests erupted across England on Saturday over the British government’s continued use of hotels to house mostly young, male illegal migrants. What began as a local backlash in Epping, Essex, has now grown into a national movement, drawing thousands in cities such as London, Manchester, and Newcastle.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan is facing criticism for refusing to debate Reform UK leader Nigel Farage on the city’s worsening crime crisis. Farage, who recently launched the “Britain is Lawless” campaign, challenged Khan to a televised debate, accusing him of failing to address soaring crime rates in the capital.
British users of the social media platform X reported being blocked from viewing footage of anti-mass migration protests following the activation of the UK's Online Safety Act on Friday. The legislation, passed under the previous Conservative government, is already facing sharp backlash for allegedly enabling widespread censorship.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, condemned the United Kingdom’s recent decision to outlaw activist group Palestine Action, calling it a “disturbing” misuse of counter-terrorism law. The ban, enacted under the UK’s Terrorism Act 2000, took effect earlier this month after group members caused £7 million in damages by vandalizing aircraft at an air force base in southern England.
The UK government has, for the first time, invoked its new Global Irregular Migration Sanctions Regime to impose asset freezes and travel bans on more than two dozen individuals, networks, and suppliers involved in facilitating migrant crossings across the English Channel. Those targeted include four transnational gangs active in the Balkans, a small-boat manufacturer in China, hawala money brokers in the Middle East, and seven smugglers connected to operations in Iraq.
A 65-year-old British man, Howard Phillips, was convicted on Tuesday for attempting to pass sensitive information to individuals he believed were Russian intelligence agents. In reality, the two men were undercover British intelligence officers. Phillips, who reportedly fantasized about being like fictional spy James Bond, had aimed to assist what he thought was a foreign intelligence agency.
