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Camden barber faces £500 fee or removal of 15-year-old shop bench
A barber in Kentish Town, north London, has been ordered by Camden Council to remove a bench outside his shop for 15 years or pay £500 for a pavement licence, plus £350 annually to renew it. Michael Vasili, 42, who runs George’s Barber Room started by his father in 1989, says the community bench is…
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Latin America’s conservative shift faces its biggest test yet in Brazil election
Brazil’s presidential election is a major test of whether the conservative gains seen elsewhere in Latin America will extend to the region’s largest country. Left-wing incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is narrowly ahead of conservative senator Flávio Bolsonaro, but neither is expected to win the first round outright. A Datafolha poll put Lula on…
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Supreme Court kicks off new term with fresh questions over its legitimacy and its future
The Supreme Court begins its new term Monday amid intense public and political scrutiny over its legitimacy and reputation as an impartial institution. The court’s first major case involves a federal-state dispute over holding oil and gas companies liable for climate change harms. Chief Justice John Roberts faces mounting pressure as an institutionalist trying to…
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UK rail assaults hit record 25,000 as staff face rising violence
Assaults on UK trains have soared to a record high of almost 25,000 incidents in 2025-26, representing a 20% rise from the previous year. Nearly 2,500 of these were physical assaults on staff – roughly seven per day. The surge comes as the British Transport Police has lost more than 10% of its officers between…
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Southern Baptist president calls on pastors to ‘step up’ ahead of midterm elections
Southern Baptist Convention president and pastor Willy Rice has urged pastors to become more involved in politics ahead of the midterm elections. He argues that many political questions have theological and moral dimensions, and that pastors have historically influenced important moments in American political life. Rice said Christians had been encouraged to withdraw from politics,…
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Lynette Hooker case far from ‘put to rest’ 6 months later as feds quietly reconstruct scene: former FBI agent
Six months after 55-year-old Lynette Hooker disappeared during a sailing holiday in the Bahamas, the US Coast Guard Investigative Service is still investigating, according to former FBI agent Nicole Parker. Parker said investigators are working to reconstruct what may have happened on the water, and that the case has not been “put to rest”. Hooker’s…
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Remembering When The Rolling Stones Put Songwriting at the Forefront of a Surprising Album in 1966
The Rolling Stones’ 1966 album Aftermath was their first to feature exclusively original songs written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. This transformation marked a crucial moment in the band’s development, establishing them as serious songwriting talents and setting them apart from their British Invasion peers, particularly The Beatles. The album featured 14 tracks on…
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Armed guards halted family cricket game hours before Fairford terror arrests
Armed guards at RAF Fairford halted a family cricket game on Saturday evening with warnings of a “live incident”, an episode that preceded a major police operation by eight hours. The heightened alert proved prescient when counter-terrorism officers arrested five men in the early hours of Sunday following a report of masked individuals and three…
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Leeds carpenter defends demolishing his half of a semi-detached home
A carpenter who illegally demolished his half of a semi-detached home in Pudsey, Leeds, has insisted he acted responsibly despite allegations he left his former neighbour’s property damaged and unsellable. Chris Rhodes, 47, has defended his decision to tear down his portion of the building, with Shivarna Mitra, 44, claiming the work left her side…
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Flydubai hijacker called for women to be ‘stomped on’ in religious rants while studying at British university
A 29-year-old Omani co-pilot, Hamam al-Hammami, attempted to seize control of a Flydubai aircraft bound for Tel Aviv on Wednesday, attacking and severely wounding captain Smit Machchhar with the onboard crash axe. Passengers and crew wrestled control of the plane away from him as it plummeted 14,000 feet in 29 seconds. The UAE prosecutor has…