Author: Daniel Leka

Court documents have revealed the warm tone of correspondence between Sarah Ferguson and Jeffrey Epstein, including messages in which the Duchess of York expressed deep gratitude and affection towards the disgraced financier. Ferguson publicly apologised in March 2011 for accepting £15,000 from Epstein during an interview with the Evening Standard. She stated she would never have any association with Epstein again, describing the acceptance of money as “a gigantic error of judgment” whilst expressing abhorrence for paedophilia and any sexual abuse of children. However, emails from years earlier paint a picture of a close friendship between the pair. Correspondence dated…

The director of a Syrian detention camp housing over 2,000 people with links to Islamic State has reported increasingly hostile behaviour from residents following a government offensive that weakened Kurdish-led security forces. Hakmiyeh Ibrahim, who oversees the Roj camp near the Iraqi border, stated that camp residents have become emboldened, telling guards they will soon be free whilst Kurdish personnel will be imprisoned instead. The shift in attitude followed territorial gains by Syrian government forces against the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces earlier this month. More than 2,300 individuals are housed at Roj, predominantly women and children who have been detained…

Anthony Joshua has returned to the gym as part of his mental and physical recovery whilst pledging to help achieve the goals his late friends had set for their families. The heavyweight boxer, 36, has spent recent weeks mourning the loss of personal trainer Latif “Latz” Ayodele and recovery therapist Sina Ghami, both 36, who died in a car accident in Nigeria on New Year’s Eve. Joshua was also injured in the crash and required brief hospitalisation before returning to the UK in early January. Speaking a month after the tragedy, Joshua revealed he has resumed training as a means…

DNA evidence discovered inside a stolen getaway vehicle proved crucial in securing a life sentence for a gunman who carried out a drive-by shooting in West London. Nathan Tokosi, 25, of Grove Street, Lewisham, will serve a minimum of 24 years behind bars after being convicted of attempting to murder a 27-year-old man during the attack in Notting Hill. Police officers were called to Clydesdale Road at approximately 02:00hrs on Monday, 20 November 2023, following reports of a shooting. Witnesses described a vehicle pulling alongside another car before a passenger opened fire with a handgun. The severely injured victim was…

Four major Western nations have agreed to urgently convene a meeting of the International Coalition against ISIS following fresh concerns over security at detention facilities in North East Syria. The United Kingdom, United States, France and Germany issued a joint statement on Sunday after senior officials met to discuss the volatile situation in the region. UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, French Foreign Minister Jean Noël Barrot, German Deputy Foreign Minister Serap Güler, and US Special Envoy Tom Barrack participated in the discussions. The statement emphasised the critical need to prevent any security vacuum developing around ISIS detention centres, with the…

The Home Secretary will gain new powers to directly intervene in underperforming police forces and remove chief constables who fail to meet standards under sweeping reforms announced today. Shabana Mahmood unveiled a white paper titled ‘From local to national: a new model for policing’, which the Government describes as the largest overhaul of policing since forces were professionalised two centuries ago. Under the proposals, ministers will be able to send specialist teams into struggling forces to improve performance if crime solving rates or response times fall short. New laws will also hand the Home Secretary statutory powers to force the…

A fictional schoolgirl created for a UK Government-funded game designed to steer young people away from far-right extremism has been subverted and transformed into a viral racist meme spreading across social media. The character, known as Amelia, was originally developed for Pathways: Navigating the Internet and Extremism, a multiple-choice video game aimed at 13 to 18-year-olds in Yorkshire. The initiative was funded by the Home Office and created by political literacy company Shout Out UK. However, the purple-haired “goth girl” carrying a miniature union flag has now been co-opted by far-right accounts and is proliferating rapidly on platforms including X…

The Israeli Defence Force has confirmed it has retrieved the remains of the last hostage held in Gaza, bringing an end to efforts to recover all those taken captive. Soldiers recovered the body of Israeli police officer Ran Gvili during a targeted operation in the heavily damaged enclave. The retrieval completes the return of all living and deceased hostages from Gaza, fulfilling a key condition of the initial phase of President Donald Trump’s plan to end the conflict. Mr Gvili’s recovery marks the conclusion of lengthy military efforts to locate and bring home all Israeli hostages seized during the conflict.…

Britain and eight European nations have committed to delivering 100 gigawatts of jointly developed offshore wind power, in what ministers are describing as a historic step towards energy sovereignty amid growing global instability. Energy Secretary Ed Miliband signed the Hamburg Declaration at the Future of the North Seas Summit on Monday, alongside counterparts from Germany, France, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. The agreement marks the first time North Sea countries have pledged to deliver a specific portion of their offshore wind ambitions through collaborative cross-border projects. Three years ago, the same nations committed to building 300GW…

Border Patrol chief Greg Bovino has described his officers as “the victims” following the fatal shooting of a legally armed ICU nurse during a confrontation on the streets of Minneapolis. Alex Pretti, 37, was shot dead by federal agents in broad daylight on Saturday morning near Glam Doll Donuts at 26th Street and Nicollet Avenue. Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara later confirmed that Pretti was a lawful gun owner with a permit and had no serious criminal history beyond some parking tickets. Appearing on CNN on Sunday, Bovino was pressed by presenter Dana Bash over the circumstances of the shooting.…