Author: Darren Smith

The Taliban has formally recognised child marriages under a sweeping new family law regulation, establishing specific legal provisions governing marriages involving minors and codifying rules that effectively render a girl’s silence as consent to marriage — the latest in a series of measures that have systematically stripped Afghan women and girls of their most basic rights. The 31-page regulation, titled Principles of Separation Between Spouses, outlines the conditions under which marriages can be contracted and dissolved under Taliban-interpreted Islamic law. According to Article 5, marriages arranged for children by relatives other than their father or grandfather are considered legally valid…

A former East London imam who used claims of supernatural powers and threats of black magic to rape and sexually abuse seven women and girls over more than a decade has been sentenced to life in prison, with a minimum term of 20 years. Abdul Halim Khan, 54, of Old Ford Road, Bethnal Green, was sentenced at Snaresbrook Crown Court on Wednesday after being convicted in February of 21 offences including nine counts of rape, five counts of rape of a child under 13, four counts of sexual assault, two counts of sexual assault of a child under 13, and…

A paedophile who spent years pretending to be a non-verbal wheelchair user incapable of holding up his own head — all to avoid standing trial for child sex offences — has been jailed for 15 years after CCTV footage exposed the elaborate deception, with his brother convicted alongside him for helping maintain the lie. John Siddell, 41, of Chestnut Street, Ashington, Northumberland, was convicted at Leicester Crown Court on Tuesday of 15 child sex offences against three boys aged between four and 14, as well as perverting the course of justice. His brother James Siddell, 44, was also convicted of…

A British toddler is at the centre of an urgent manhunt in Cyprus after allegedly being taken by his father, who is accused of breaking into the mother’s home in the coastal city of Limassol before fleeing across the island’s dividing line into the Turkish-occupied north. The 29-year-old father, described as Turkish Cypriot, is said to have entered Limassol illegally by crossing from the northern territories before forcing his way into the property with an accomplice. According to local outlet Protothema, he shoved the mother before leaving with the two-year-old boy. The pair are believed to have fled in a…

Static facial recognition cameras deployed on a south London high street led to 173 arrests in five months — averaging one every 35 minutes when the technology was active — as the Metropolitan Police published results from its most significant trial of the technology to date. The pilot, which ran in Croydon between October 2025 and March 2026, marked the first time the Met had used fixed cameras rather than mobile vans for live facial recognition. Placed on Croydon High Street, the cameras were used across 24 operations and scanned more than 470,000 members of the public during the trial…

The Open Society Foundations has announced a $30 million commitment over three years to fund organisations working to counter antisemitism and anti-Muslim hatred, citing sharp rises in recorded bias incidents on both sides following the escalation of conflict in the Middle East. The pledge was announced personally by Alexander Soros, who now chairs the philanthropy founded by his father George Soros. In a video statement, Alexander Soros described the issue as “deeply personal” for his family, noting that he is the son of a Holocaust survivor and is himself married to a Muslim American. The funding will be directed towards…

An 11-year-old boy has died after an unsecured metal goalpost collapsed on him at a football ground in Brazil, crushing him in front of other children while his father was nearby packing away equipment. Bernardo Amorim Calixto Santos had gone to watch his father Maurício Calixto Gomes play for amateur club Colorado at a pitch in São José da Lapa on Saturday — a regular outing for the pair. After the match ended, while the adults were tidying away equipment, the children continued to play on the open pitch. It is believed Bernardo either leaned against or was hanging from…

A convicted child abductor who was mistakenly released from prison enjoyed a meal at a restaurant and visited a pub before fleeing the country — while prison staff waited three days to alert police to the blunder, a High Court has heard. Ifedayo Adeyeye, 57, was released from HMP Pentonville on 21 April despite having been sentenced to a further 12 months in jail just the day before. The Metropolitan Police were not informed of the error until the afternoon of 24 April, according to The Telegraph, by which point it is believed Adeyeye had already left Britain. Mr Justice…

Israel has launched a fierce denunciation of The New York Times after the paper published a column alleging widespread sexual abuse of Palestinian prisoners by Israeli security forces, with the government’s foreign ministry describing it as one of the worst “blood libels” to appear in the modern press. The piece, written by Times columnist Nicholas Kristof and published on Monday, was titled “The Silence That Meets the Rape of Palestinians.” In it, Kristof interviewed 14 individuals who alleged they had been sexually abused while in Israeli detention. Several sources claimed to have been raped repeatedly with batons by prison guards;…

The World Health Organisation has warned that further cases of hantavirus are likely to emerge among passengers from the stricken Dutch cruise ship MV Hondius, while stressing there is no sign of widespread community transmission and that the global risk remains low — as repatriation flights scatter passengers across more than 20 countries and health authorities begin the complex task of tracing everyone who may have been exposed. As of 11 May, the WHO had confirmed seven cases of Andes hantavirus linked to the outbreak, with two additional probable cases awaiting laboratory results. Three people have died — two confirmed…