Global Pulse

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  • Gavin Preston murder: Contract killer has kind compassionate nature, his mum tells court

    Gavin Preston murder: Contract killer has kind compassionate nature, his mum tells court

    On May 8, a Victorian court reached a guilty verdict in one of Australia’s most shocking recent contract killing cases: 25-year-old Jaeden Tito and 26-year-old Rabii Zahabe were convicted of the brutal murder of underworld figure Gavin Preston and the attempted murder of his companion Abbas Maghnie. As the sentencing phase of the trial gets underway, the case has drawn new attention for the heart-wrenching testimony from Tito’s mother, whose public conflict over her son’s actions lays bare the human fallout of gang-related violence.

    The murder itself unfolded in broad daylight on September 9, 2023, at a popular suburban cafe called Sweet Lulu’s in Keilor, Melbourne. Preston, 50, was sitting outdoors eating breakfast with Maghnie when two masked gunmen, who had lain in wait for hours, opened fire. Preston was killed instantly in a hail of bullets, while Maghnie suffered life-threatening wounds. Investigators later confirmed Maghnie survived only by chance: one of the assassins’ weapons jammed mid-attack, stopping them from firing the fatal shot that would have killed him. To date, Maghnie has refused to cooperate with police investigations into the shooting. Both Tito and Zahabe have maintained their innocence throughout the trial, despite the jury’s guilty verdict.

    In an emotional letter to the court — drafted with assistance from ChatGPT — Levi Tito, Jaeden’s mother, opened up about the devastating impact of her son’s conviction on her family. One of six children, Jaeden grew up as a protective older brother to his siblings and a constant source of joy for the household, she told the court. “I do not write this letter to excuse his behaviour but rather to share with this court the person I have known,” she wrote. “Your Honour, I understand my son’s actions have had devastating consequences … I continue to see kindness, compassion and humanity within him.”

    She added that even in custody, her son has kept in close contact with the family, sending regular letters and cards and taking up quiet hobbies like reading and colouring. These small acts, she said, confirm that the caring son and brother she raised has not disappeared entirely. “When we learned of his arrest … Our world changed completely,” she said. “We deeply long for the day he can come home to us but we understand that day is not near.” As Levi Tito spoke, Preston’s fiancee Lauran Howe, who was in attendance at the court, sat with her head in her hands, confronting the pain of losing her partner.

    Prosecutors, led by senior counsel Kristie Churchill, are pushing for the harshest possible sentence: life imprisonment for both men, arguing that the pre-planned, public nature of the killing demands the maximum penalty. “We say this was a murder that was extensively planned, it was sophisticated,” Churchill told the court. “This was a public execution that exposed many members of the public going about their lawful business to the execution.”

    Defense lawyers for both hitmen have pushed back against life sentences, noting that while the pair were convicted, there is no evidence they were the masterminds behind the plot. Paul Smallwood, representing Zahabe, argued that his client’s young age and the harsh conditions of his pre-sentencing custody should be taken into account. Daniel Sala, Tito’s attorney, echoed that point, emphasizing that the two men were nothing more than small parts of a larger criminal operation. “They are not the driving force behind it,” Sala said.

    The court has heard that both men are currently being held in protective custody due to the underworld connections of the victim, which puts them at significant risk of attack from other inmates. While the identity of the person or group that ordered the hit has not been confirmed, prosecutors acknowledged during the trial that Preston had a long criminal history and no shortage of enemies who may have wanted him dead.

    Justice Michael O’Connell, presiding over the case, noted that even if the pair were not the main organizers, they were fully aware of every detail of the plot. “Your clients seemed to know about all that planning and take advantage of it to make a getaway which enables them to get to Sydney within a couple of hours,” he said. The pair will return to court at a later date for their final sentencing, after the justice has considered all arguments from both the prosecution and defense.

  • ‘Pressure cooker’: Crown alleges affair discovery led to Priscilla Brooten’s death

    ‘Pressure cooker’: Crown alleges affair discovery led to Priscilla Brooten’s death

    After seven days of dramatic evidence presentation in a high-profile Brisbane Supreme Court murder trial, both prosecution and defence have wrapped their cases, leaving the future of accused killer Mark Sheridan Waden in the hands of a 12-person jury set to begin deliberations Monday. Waden has entered a firm not guilty plea to the 2018 murder of Priscilla Brooten, a US citizen who disappeared without a trace from the Bracken Ridge home the pair shared, with her body never located despite years of investigation.

    Crown prosecutors laid out a damning circumstantial case arguing the killing followed a volatile relationship that erupted into a fatal argument on July 5, 2018. Prosecutor Andrew Walklate told jurors Brooten discovered private Facebook messages showing Waden was carrying on a secret relationship with a younger female colleague, triggering a day of tense exchanges between the pair. Phone records, diary entries, and counselling documents obtained by the prosecution paint a picture of a relationship mired in crisis, described by Walklate as a “pressure cooker scenario” that had been building long before that fateful July day. Brooten’s own notebook, left behind at the home after her disappearance, contained a chilling entry: she wrote she had threatened to ruin Waden’s life by exposing his unlicensed marijuana business and publishing details of a prior assault where he had nearly killed her.

    Walklate outlined that only four plausible explanations exist for Brooten’s complete disappearance: her former boyfriend Steven Thompson killed her, she remains alive in hiding, she died by suicide, or Waden killed her. He stressed that all available evidence points exclusively to the fourth scenario, adding that all evidence points to a deliberate killing rather than an accidental death. Notably, both the prosecution and defence have ruled out Thompson as a suspect, with Walklate describing him as a kind man who remained close to Brooten after their relationship ended and cared deeply for her well-being. Thompson was the one who first reported Brooten missing when all contact abruptly stopped, and spent months independently searching for clues about her fate.

    Key pieces of the Crown’s case include the suspicious timing of a 4-metre trench Waden arranged to be excavated at his property just 24 hours after Brooten vanished. Walklate said the urgent excavation, booked through the gig work platform Airtasker, was intended to hide Brooten’s body, the murder weapon, or other evidence tying Waden to the crime. Prosecutors also point to a series of text messages sent from Brooten’s phone to Thompson the day after she was allegedly killed, which contained text saying Brooten was leaving and that Thompson should not attempt to find her. Walklate argued the messages were a fabrication sent by Waden to create the false impression Brooten had left the country voluntarily.

    Further suspicious evidence cited by the Crown includes varying explanations Waden gave to friends and acquaintances for Brooten’s sudden absence – he claimed she had fled Australia over debt with dangerous criminal groups, that she had unresolved immigration issues, and that she had chosen to cut off contact. Prosecutors say these conflicting stories were part of a deliberate campaign to divert attention from the killing. They also point to a mysterious 2018 phone call to the US Consulate made by a man claiming to be Thompson, which alleged Brooten was being held against her will in the non-existent location of “Winchester, Maryland”. Thompson has denied making the call, and Walklate argued it was another false trail planted by Waden to confuse investigators.

    Since July 2018, there has been no confirmed trace of Brooten: no banking transactions, social media activity, border crossings, hospital admissions, or credible sightings have been recorded. Walklate noted the complete lack of contact is especially notable because Brooten did not reach out even after her own mother died, an absence that would be unthinkable if she were still alive. Brooten left all of her personal possessions – including clothing, makeup, and identification documents – at the shared home, further undermining any claim she left voluntarily.

    For the defence, barrister James Godbolt urged the jury to acquit Waden, arguing the entire case against his client is based entirely on circumstantial evidence that fails to meet the legal standard of proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Godbolt reminded jurors that even if they suspect Waden may have killed Brooten, or think it is probable he did so, that standard is not sufficient for a guilty verdict. “If you don’t get to beyond reasonable doubt, Mark Waden should be acquitted of murder,” Godbolt told the court.

    Godbolt pushed back against every key part of the Crown’s narrative, starting with the trench excavation: he said the work was part of a long-planned front-yard landscaping project, pointing out the illogic of burying a body in a front yard along a busy road when a private backyard was available. Testing of soil from the trench turned up no trace of human remains, and no forensic evidence linking Waden to Brooten’s death has ever been found, he added.

    The defence laid out alternative explanations for Brooten’s disappearance, noting the US citizen had a long history of severe depression and self-harm, with expert assessment placing her in the severe to extreme range of the condition. Godbolt argued suicide remains a plausible outcome, or alternatively that Brooten – who had been living unlawfully in Australia using multiple aliases – chose to disappear and live off the grid to avoid authorities. He also heavily criticized the police investigation into Brooten’s disappearance, calling it “inadequate to the extreme” for failing to thoroughly explore alternative leads and the possibility she remains alive.

    Justice Peter Callaghan is scheduled to deliver his final instructions to the jury on Monday, after which jurors will retire to decide whether the prosecution has proven its case beyond reasonable doubt.

  • A blind Ukrainian veteran turns pottery into a business and mentors others

    A blind Ukrainian veteran turns pottery into a business and mentors others

    In a sunlit apartment workshop in central Ukraine’s Vinnytsia, two broad-shouldered men stand focused before a spinning pottery wheel, their hands woven together deep in soft, malleable clay. For both men, connection and direction come not through sight, but through the quiet pressure of touch. One is Ivan Shostak, a 37-year-old combat veteran who lost his vision on Ukraine’s front lines, and now devotes himself to guiding other visually impaired veterans through the healing craft that remade his own life.

    Shostak’s journey to the pottery wheel began long before he lost his sight. A veteran of the 2014 Donbas conflict, he chose to delay reenlistment when Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022, waiting to welcome his second son into the world before returning to duty. Just a few months into his second tour, in March 2023, a rocket-propelled grenade detonated inches above his head during the brutal, months-long Battle of Bakhmut. The blast robbing him permanently of his vision, and left him with a concussion, traumatic brain injury, and damaged neck vertebrae.

    The physical pain was overwhelming, but the hardest trials came after Shostak returned home. Unable to cope with the weight of his injury, his then-wife left, leaving him to navigate his new darkness alone. “There was a family, and after the injury there was no family,” Shostak reflected. Only his parents remained close, standing by him through the darkest days. For six months, he was confined to bed, numbing physical agony with medication, but no drug could ease the crippling despair that settled over him.

    A turning point came when a fellow soldier on home leave stepped in, bringing Shostak to a local rehabilitation center for visually impaired people. In just four weeks, center staff taught him to navigate daily life: how to use a smartphone, how to move with a cane, how to reclaim small acts of independence. It was there that Shostak first learned a life-changing truth: “It turned out you could live even in total darkness.”

    A group visit to a local pottery workshop would spark the new path that would redefine Shostak’s life. As he shaped his first simple plate on the wheel, a long-lost feeling rushed back: the thrill of creating something tangible, of proving he could still contribute, still build. “After that came the thrill that I could still do something,” he recalled.

    Shostak began attending classes regularly, slowly honing his craft, and eventually started selling his handcrafted pieces—everything from mugs and plates to candle holders. When the UN Development Program and Swedish supporters launched the “Pottery in the Dark” rehabilitation project in Vinnytsia, designed to support war veterans who lost their sight in combat, Shostak stepped into the role of instructor. What began as a personal rehabilitation exercise has since grown into a thriving small business and a peer support network for other traumatized veterans.

    Today, Shostak works from a small workshop his older brother—also a serving soldier—built for him in his apartment, running his business with a small team of three who help market and sell his work primarily through his Instagram page. He keeps no rigid schedule, noting that pottery demands emotional alignment: “Clay is that kind of material, and pottery is that kind of work, where if you feel bad, there’s nothing to do here. It won’t come out at all. Everything breaks, comes out crooked. Only when you feel good, you sit down, you work, and it all turns out great.” While firing and glazing are completed at a separate offsite studio, Shostak personally selects every glaze color, guided by his sense of touch and imagination. Every piece he creates bears the emblem of the air assault forces he served in: a dome, wings, and a sword, alongside the unit’s motto “Nobody but us” and Shostak’s name.

    For Shostak, the work is about more than making a living to support his two children—it’s about setting an example. “I have two kids I have to help through life and show by my own example that you have to fight for your life,” he said.

    The project has already transformed lives beyond Shostak’s. Roman Shtohryn, director of the Podillia rehabilitation center hosting the program, reports that six of the 11 veterans who completed the training now earn a steady income from their pottery work. Shtohryn explains that pottery serves unique therapeutic roles for traumatized veterans: it pulls creators into a meditative state of flow, drawing focus away from pain and trauma, and delivers an immediate, tangible reward for their effort—a finished piece they can hold and sell.

    On a recent workday, Shostak guided 47-year-old fellow veteran Viacheslav Sadovskyi, who was injured when a drone exploded near him in 2024, leaving him blind after five reconstructive surgeries. Laughing as he checked in, Shostak reached for Sadovskyi’s hands, guiding them to the spinning clay, walking him through how much pressure to apply, which angles to use, his hands never leaving Sadovskyi’s the whole time. “There, I can feel it,” Sadovskyi said.

    For program leaders, the peer-to-peer model is what makes the work so powerful. “It matters that a veteran teaches a veteran,” Shtohryn said. “We’re equals. We understand and support each other.” To date, Shostak has created more than 1,000 one-of-a-kind pottery pieces—none of which he has ever seen, but every one of which carries the mark of his resilience, and helps build a new future for other veterans walking the same path.

  • New research shows systematic discrimination against Muslims in UK prisons

    New research shows systematic discrimination against Muslims in UK prisons

    Exclusive new data obtained by Middle East Eye from UK social justice charity Maslaha has uncovered persistent, systemic disparities in how Muslim prisoners are treated across the UK prison system, raising urgent alarms about covert racial and religious discrimination ahead of the implementation of the 2026 Sentencing Act. Maslaha’s investigation combines official prison population data with firsthand testimonies from incarcerated Muslims to paint a clear picture of unequal treatment that has persisted for more than a decade despite repeated government pledges to reform the system. The charity’s findings show that Muslim prisoners, who make up just 18 percent of the UK’s total prison population, are disproportionately represented in disciplinary actions, harsher punishments, and restricted access to privileges, work opportunities and educational programming behind bars. Between January 2023 and December 2025, Muslims accounted for 23 percent of all disciplinary adjudications and 29 percent of all additional days added to prisoners’ sentences for rule violations, far outstripping their share of the overall prison population. Adjudications, the formal disciplinary process for rule-breaking inmates, can result in stripped privileges and up to 42 extra days added to a custodial sentence. Beyond disciplinary action, the data also shows Muslims fare worse than any other religious or belief group under the UK’s Incentives and Earned Privileges (IEP) scheme: they make up the largest share of prisoners placed in the lowest behavior categories, and are the least likely to earn enhanced privileges. This restricted access to privileges in turn blocks their eligibility for in-prison work and education programs, and is set to disproportionately harm their chances of qualifying for early release under the upcoming Sentencing Act reforms. Passed in January 2026 but not yet enacted, the new legislation is designed to address widespread prison overcrowding by introducing an “earned progression” model that allows fixed-sentence prisoners to earn early release, unless they have received extra days for rule violations. Maslaha’s research warns that because Muslims are already disproportionately targeted with disciplinary action and harsher punishments under existing policies, they will be systematically locked out of the early release opportunities the new law is meant to provide. The charity describes the systemic disparities as a “culture of covert discrimination”, and notes that existing schemes designed to regulate prisoner behavior have become vehicles for subtle but materially harmful racism and religious bias. Firsthand testimonies collected in the report underscore the daily impact of this bias. One incarcerated Muslim told the charity that the system automatically views Muslim inmates with heightened suspicion, a bias that is impossible to ignore during daily interactions. Another described the adjudication process as a “kangaroo court”, where punishments are routinely issued for accusations that cannot be proven. These disparities are not a new discovery: a 2014 review led by Lord Young also found that ethnic minority inmates received harsher punishments than white inmates even when involved in the same incidents, and that the privileges system systematically favored white prisoners. Mandatory equality measures were introduced after the 2014 review, but Maslaha’s research confirms that patterns of discriminatory treatment have continued unchanged despite these policy changes. In 2025, UK Prison Minister James Timpson publicly acknowledged that racism, sexual harassment and bullying had become normalized in UK jails, and announced a plan to overhaul what he called a “toxic culture of cover-up” among senior prison leadership. Yet the latest data confirms that the UK government has still not addressed the deep-rooted systemic racial discrimination that multiple studies over the last decade have repeatedly documented. Raheel Mohammed, director of Maslaha, emphasized that the report lays bare long-standing, troubling trends: Muslim men who are racialized face systematically harsher treatment, punishment and outcomes across the entire prison estate. Mohammed argued that the government is failing to meet its legal obligations under the Equality Act to assess and address the disparate equality impacts of new criminal justice policies, creating a high risk that Muslim and other racialized prisoners will be left even further behind once the new Sentencing Act enters into force. He added that while policymakers have prioritized solving prison overcrowding in recent reforms, they have failed to address the underlying problem of disproportionate sentence inflation that falls heaviest on ethnic minority incarcerated people. Mohammed called on the UK Secretary of State for Justice to open a review of core failures in the adult justice system, including the ineffectiveness of current oversight policies that have consistently ignored data documenting discriminatory outcomes. In response to the report’s findings, a UK Prison Service spokesperson stated that the service is committed to fair and equal treatment for all prisoners regardless of background, ethnicity or religious belief. The spokesperson added that prison staff are required to meet high standards of professional and personal conduct, that any form of misconduct will not be tolerated, and that non-compliance can result in disciplinary action. The spokesperson also noted that many different factors influence adjudication outcomes, and argued that conclusions cannot be drawn from Maslaha’s data in isolation.

  • Belfast ‘hit list’ of migrants’ homes circulated ahead of second night of riots

    Belfast ‘hit list’ of migrants’ homes circulated ahead of second night of riots

    Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland, has been rocked by a second consecutive night of violent anti-migrant rioting, after a circulated \”hit list\” targeting homes of foreign-born residents led masked, balaclava-clad rioters to launch coordinated attacks on ethnic minority communities across the city.\n\nThe unrest traces its origin to a knife attack carried out Monday by Hadi Alodid, a 30-year-old Sudanese asylum seeker who had previously been granted indefinite leave to remain in the United Kingdom. Alodid is currently facing charges of attempted murder, with many public commentators characterizing the assault on 38-year-old Stephen Ogilvie as an attempted beheading. Ogilvie, the attack victim, suffered catastrophic injuries including the loss of his left eye and severe lacerations across his face. In a remarkable display of empathy released Wednesday, Ogilvie’s family pushed back against attempts to exploit the attack for division, stating: \”We have many migrants who make a deeply valuable contribution to our country. We do not want this terrible tragedy to divide people and fuel hostility.\”\n\nViolence first erupted across Belfast on Tuesday night, when hundreds of masked rioters set fire to residential properties and vehicles overwhelmingly owned by ethnic minority residents. Targeting homes listed as belonging to migrants, asylum seekers and refugees, rioters were recorded kicking in doors, smashing windows, and shouting threats to force all foreigners out of the area. A local Middle Eastern-owned supermarket was completely destroyed by arson, and video footage showed children being evacuated from adjacent homes as nearby structures burned. Local pastor Jack McGee confirmed to the BBC that residents were driven from their properties solely \”because they’re black.\”\n\nBy Wednesday evening, the unrest continued as rioters clashed with officers from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) near a Belfast hotel that houses migrant arrivals. The PSNI confirmed it had received urgent reports from multiple \”extremely distressed\” families who found their addresses included on the circulated hit list, and issued a formal warning that sharing the document could constitute a criminal offense. \n\nFootage from the scene shows police deploying water cannons and firing plastic bullets to disperse crowds, while rioters ripped bricks from local buildings to hurl at officers and infrastructure. Rioters set fire to abandoned structures and wheelie bins, blocked major thoroughfares with makeshift roadblocks assembled from street furniture, and operated overt checkpoints to stop passing vehicles and screen for non-white drivers. \n\nThe unrest was not confined to Northern Ireland: parallel anti-migrant demonstrations broke out across the UK on Tuesday night, including in Glasgow, Scotland, where 300 masked men marched through city streets and assaulted random passersby. Police locked Muslim worshippers inside Glasgow Central Mosque for their own protection after crowds surrounded the religious building.\n\nPolitical leaders across the UK have uniformly condemned the violence, though sharp divisions have emerged over its root causes. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer described the disorder as \”shocking and completely unacceptable\” during a Wednesday statement. Scottish First Minister John Swinney directly blamed anti-immigration figures like Nigel Farage for stoking the racial tensions that led to violence. Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O’Neill echoed the condemnation, saying: \”Groups of masked men burning families out of their homes is nothing less than disgusting cowardice. This has nothing to do with community. This is outright thuggery.\” Green Party leader Zack Polanski framed the unrest as part of a broader coordinated movement, warning: \”What we are witnessing in Belfast is not an isolated incident – it is part of a coordinated far-right pattern playing out across these islands… We will not allow racism and fascism to be normalised on any of our streets.\”\n\nNigel Farage, leader of the right-wing Reform UK, pushed back against these claims, arguing that the violence stemmed from legitimate public fear unaddressed by mainstream politicians. \”Things kicked off in Belfast last night in a very big way, and things will continue to kick off,\” he said Wednesday. \”I’m very open about the fact that some very bad actors get involved in this stuff, but not the vast majority. The vast majority are fearful. The vast majority want action. They actually want something done to make their streets safer and nothing is being proposed.\”\n\nHigh-profile public figures with large platforms had already encouraged protests before the rioting began on Tuesday. Controversial far-right activist Tommy Robinson, born Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, joined billionaire X (formerly Twitter) owner Elon Musk in urging followers to demonstrate over the Monday knife attack. Hours before the first riot, Musk posted on his platform: \”Only by protesting REPEATEDLY and LOUDLY will there be any change!!\” On Wednesday, he doubled down on his stance, writing: \”Murderous migrants beheading innocent people in their home town is what’s making people angry, not “social media”!\

  • ‘Racist thuggery’ condemned after second night of disorder in N.Ireland

    ‘Racist thuggery’ condemned after second night of disorder in N.Ireland

    Northern Ireland has been rocked by a second consecutive night of violent unrest, triggered by a recent stabbing in Belfast and stoked by far-right agitation targeting migrant communities. Senior UK government officials have labeled the violence unabashed “racist thuggery”, after 16 people were arrested and 12 police officers were injured during Wednesday’s clashes.

    The unrest first erupted on Monday, following a knife attack that left local man Stephen Ogilvie seriously injured. A 30-year-old Sudanese national, Hadi Alodid, appeared before Belfast magistrates on Wednesday charged with attempted murder, and was remanded in custody ahead of a next hearing scheduled for July 8. Within an hour of the attack, footage of the incident was posted to the social platform X by far-right activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, also known as Tommy Robinson, and was subsequently amplified by X owner Elon Musk, turning a local criminal incident into a tinderbox for anti-immigration rage.

    On Tuesday, the first major night of violence left the region reeling: masked rioters set vehicles and buildings ablaze, forced dozens of families from their homes, and forced Northern Ireland’s largest main mosque to close its doors for the first time in its 46-year history. Mosque chairman Mohammed Arshed noted that the community had never faced such severe, nearby unrest since opening in 1978.

    Violence spilled into a second night on Wednesday, when AFP correspondents on the ground witnessed dozens of masked agitators clashing with riot police into the late hours. Rioters set a civilian car and a boarded-up property on fire, and hurled projectiles including petrol bombs and bricks at officers responding to the unrest. Police deployed water cannon and mounted charges to push the rioters back, after the group attempted to advance on a local hotel that was being used to house asylum seekers. Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn confirmed that while the scale of Wednesday’s disorder was smaller than Tuesday’s widespread violence, the harm and fear inflicted on vulnerable communities cannot be understated.

    “It was really important to convey the sense of fear that has been created, above all for those who were intimidated, burned out of their houses by masked thugs on the basis of the colour of their skin,” Benn told Sky News Thursday. Benn also added that authorities had received troubling reports of commuters being stopped and interrogated about their nationality while traveling to work. One such incident targeted a nurse en route to her shift at Belfast’s Ulster Hospital, who was chased and intimidated by rioters. Hospital officials praised the nurse for completing her shift despite the terrifying encounter, noting her bravery stood in stark contrast to the rioters’ actions.

    UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer quickly condemned the violent scenes as “shocking and completely unacceptable”, while Ogilvie’s own family issued an appeal for calm, urging the public not to use their family’s “terrible tragedy” to divide communities and fuel hostility. Ogilvie, who lost an eye in the attack, remains in stable condition as he recieves medical care.

    The unrest also spilled over to the Scottish city of Glasgow, and comes as anti-immigration sentiment simmers across the United Kingdom, stoked by far-right political groups. Most of Tuesday’s violence was concentrated in Protestant unionist areas of Northern Ireland, where some protesters expressed anti-immigration views shared by far-right groups across the country. One protester, who gave only his first name John, said that many working-class people felt they had been manipulated by political leaders, and shared widespread anxiety over rising migrant arrivals across Europe. Accounts linked to self-described “patriot” groups have flooded social media with the attack footage, urging supporters to join protests against mass migration.

    Immigration has long been a polarizing hot-button issue in UK politics, and has helped drive the recent rise of the hard-right Reform UK party led by Nigel Farage. Violent anti-immigration protests have become increasingly frequent across the country in recent years. Tensions were already running high across the UK before the Belfast unrest: last week, skirmishes broke out in southern England after far-right groups criticized police handling of the murder of a white student by a British Sikh man.

    Local residents in Belfast expressed deep dismay at the violence tearing through their tight-knit communities. A 28-year-old local resident who assisted in evacuating neighbors told AFP: “It’s just sad, this is a really close-knit community.” Another local, 50-year-old plumber Brendan who joined the protests, said no one supported the violence, noting that decades of sectarian conflict that ended with the 1998 Good Friday peace deal had already left the region weary of unrest. But he added that many shared anger over the stabbing, which had rallied disparate groups together.

  • French singer Patrick Bruel charged with rape, attempted rape and sexual assault

    French singer Patrick Bruel charged with rape, attempted rape and sexual assault

    PARIS — One of France’s most celebrated entertainment figures, 67-year-old singer and actor Patrick Bruel, has been charged with multiple counts of rape, attempted rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment spanning an 11-year period from 2008 to 2019, Nanterre’s public prosecutor’s office confirmed in an official announcement Thursday. The celebrity has repeatedly denied all allegations against him.

    The legal process moved forward this week after Bruel completed two days in police custody. On Wednesday, he was brought before four investigative judges at the Nanterre court, located in the western suburbs of Paris, to hear the formal charges. The ongoing formal investigation covers a specific set of documented accusations: a rape allegation from 2008 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, an attempted rape reported in 2010 in Brussels, and multiple counts of sexual assault and sexual harassment that allegedly took place in 2019 in the southern French city of Perpignan and Ajaccio on the island of Corsica.

    Prosecutors added that the judicial inquiry will also expand to examine additional claims of rape, attempted rape and sexual harassment that occurred between 2010 and 2019 across three other French cities and Nyon, Switzerland. Notably, several accusations that were previously closed without further action have been reopened and added to the current case file.

    Following the hearing, Bruel was released from custody but placed under strict conditional judicial supervision. The terms of his release include a ban on exiting French territory, a requirement to surrender his passport to authorities, a mandate to complete ongoing psychological assessment and treatment, and a €500,000 ($576,760) bail payment. He is also prohibited from making any contact with his accusers or their family members, and barred from entering massage parlors — the location where some of the alleged offenses are said to have occurred.

    In a statement released after the hearing, Bruel’s legal team confirmed that their client will fully cooperate with the ongoing investigation and remains compliant with all requests from judicial authorities.

    The case gained public momentum in recent weeks, after French investigative outlet Mediapart published a series of reports highlighting accusations from multiple women against Bruel that date back decades. Those reports prompted additional accusers to come forward and file new formal complaints with authorities. Prosecutors noted that even accusations from other women that fall outside the applicable statute of limitations have been added to the case file, to allow investigating judges to build a full, comprehensive picture of the claims. Complaints filed in other jurisdictions may also be consolidated into the Nanterre-based investigation at a later date.

    A towering figure in French popular culture, Bruel rose to massive fame across the French-speaking world in the late 1980s and 1990s. His unprecedented popularity earned the nickname “Bruelmania” from French media, a comparison to the global Beatlemania frenzy that surrounded the Beatles in the 1960s. Hit tracks from his 1989 second album became enduring staples of French popular music, exploring relatable universal themes of love, heartbreak, nostalgia and childhood that resonated with cross-generational audiences for decades. Alongside his music career, Bruel built a successful parallel acting career, appearing in dozens of French film and television productions over the course of decades. In response to the emerging allegations last month, Bruel canceled all scheduled public performances planned for this summer across France, Canada, Switzerland and Belgium, as well as his end-of-year tour dates in Canada.

  • Victoria Police release new images of escaped prison inmate Orijol Rukaj

    Victoria Police release new images of escaped prison inmate Orijol Rukaj

    Two months after a convicted inmate vanished from a supervised funeral visit in Melbourne, Australian authorities have turned to the public for fresh tips, releasing new closed-circuit television footage in a bid to reignite the stagnating manhunt.

    Forty-seven-year-old Orijol Rukaj has not been spotted by law enforcement since he slipped away undetected mid-service on April 25, when he was granted temporary, supervised release from custody to attend a funeral at Keilor East Cemetery in Melbourne’s northwestern suburbs.

    After eight weeks of intensive searches across the state that yielded no confirmed sightings, Victoria Police have announced a new push for public assistance, publishing additional CCTV clips captured inside the correctional facility that show Rukaj at multiple timepoints. Investigators hope the newly released images will jog the memory of members of the public who may have encountered the fugitive since his escape.

    In a public statement detailing the progress of the manhunt to date, police confirmed that officers executed visits to 20 separate properties across Melbourne’s metropolitan area on June 9 to question Rukaj’s known associates. Following those inquiries, investigators confirmed they now believe the escaped inmate remains hiding somewhere within the Melbourne region.

    The investigation has also uncovered that multiple people allegedly helped Rukaj plan his escape, though all suspects believed to be involved are currently outside of Australia. Police added that Rukaj has documented ties to Albanian organized criminal networks, further underscoring the urgency of the manhunt.

    Law enforcement has released a detailed public description of the fugitive: he is a Caucasian male with a thin build, standing approximately 176 centimeters tall, with hazel eyes and short, shaved brown hair. He speaks with a Southern European accent, and was last seen wearing a white collared shirt, a black suit, and a pair of Asics athletic trainers.

    Victoria Police have issued a clear warning to the public: anyone who spots Rukaj should contact emergency services via the triple-zero emergency line immediately. Members of the community with any relevant information that could help investigators locate the fugitive are asked to either visit their nearest local police station or contact the anonymous Crime Stoppers hotline at 1800 333 000.

  • Chinese police detain man after dog torture videos spark outrage

    Chinese police detain man after dog torture videos spark outrage

    In a case that has ignited widespread public anger across China, authorities in the southwestern megacity of Chongqing have taken a man identified only by his surname Li into custody over allegations that he tortured adopted dogs and cats, then profited by selling graphic footage of the abuse online. The incident has thrown a spotlight on shifting public attitudes toward animal welfare across the country, as grassroots demand grows for formal legal protections for animals long absent from Chinese statute books.

    The scheme unraveled after a woman who offered her puppies for free adoption shared her suspicious experience with friends, who then brought the case to wider public attention on Chinese social media. Earlier this month, Li posted an adoption advertisement on the popular short-video platform Douyin, posing as a loving pet owner to lure vulnerable animals. According to local media reports, Li claimed his two young children adored puppies, a fabricated backstory designed to convince people to entrust their pets to him.

    The true horror of his actions emerged Sunday, when animal welfare volunteers found one of the puppies Li had adopted abandoned in the stairwell of his apartment complex. The young dog had suffered a broken leg, a severed tail, and severe facial swelling, and later died from its injuries. Further investigation uncovered that Li had abused multiple adopted cats and dogs, recording the abuse to sell the violent clips to buyers online.

    By early this week, news of the abuse had sparked mass public protest, with more than 100 demonstrators gathering outside Li’s residential building to demand accountability. Many carried signs calling for systemic change, with placards reading “Those who abuse animals practice cruelty toward all living things” and “Stop animal abuse — we urgently call for laws banning animal cruelty.”

    Video footage posted to social media showed police responding to the protest, removing demonstrators from the premises, with some activists reporting they were barred from recording or sharing images of the demonstration online. Following Li’s detention, public calls for harsh legal penalty for the suspect have flooded Chinese social media platforms. One top-voted comment on Weibo, China’s leading microblogging platform, read, “This is appalling. I fully support severe punishment.”

    Currently, no formal national laws in China criminalize animal cruelty, meaning authorities have not yet publicly disclosed what specific charges Li is being investigated for. Even without formal legal protections, public awareness of animal welfare issues has risen sharply across China in recent years, driven in large part by growing pet ownership and grassroots advocacy on social media. This high-profile case has become a flashpoint for broader demands for legislative change, with activists and ordinary citizens increasingly pushing for the government to add animal cruelty statutes to the national legal code.

  • Philippine town seeks immediate airlift of food to ease hunger in quake-hit villages

    Philippine town seeks immediate airlift of food to ease hunger in quake-hit villages

    Four days after a catastrophic 7.8-magnitude offshore earthquake struck the southern Philippines, leaving dozens dead and thousands displaced, a local mayor has issued an urgent appeal for military helicopters to deliver life-saving food supplies to communities cut off by widespread landslides.

    The powerful quake, which hit Monday off the coast of Sarangani province, ranks among the strongest seismic events to shake the Philippine archipelago in 50 years. As of Thursday, official disaster data puts the death toll at no less than 47, with 688 people injured and 31 others still unaccounted for. More than 12,600 residential structures across rural farming communities and urban centers were damaged in the disaster, forcing more than 45,000 residents to leave their homes. Roughly half of these displaced people are now sheltering in emergency evacuation facilities, and provincial officials note that many survivors remain too fearful of ongoing aftershocks to return to their properties even if their homes survived intact.

    According to the Philippines’ Office of Civil Defense, the national agency tasked with managing major disasters, Sarangani province has recorded the highest number of fatalities at 20, most of which stemmed from a single landslide that buried multiple homes in the coastal town of Glan.

    Glan Mayor Victor James Yap, speaking to Philippines-based DZMM radio, outlined the dire conditions facing his town of more than 100,000 residents. Ten of the town’s 31 barangays (villages) remain completely cut off from overland access, blocked by landslide debris, and power has yet to be restored across the area. “We need food and water but it’s difficult to transport them to some of our villages which remain isolated,” Yap said. “Choppers are needed to transport food because people there are already very hungry.”

    While a key access highway leading into Glan has been cleared and reopened to traffic, allowing fuel deliveries to resume as early as Thursday, the town still remains without grid electricity, and mobile phone connectivity remains spotty at best across most affected areas.

    Most fatalities across the disaster zone were caused by falling debris from collapsed buildings or landslides across Sarangani, the nearby coastal city of General Santos, and the adjacent provinces of South Cotabato and Davao Occidental. In a separate, quake-related tragedy, two swimmers drowned off the coast of General Santos after being swept out to sea by sudden abnormal waves immediately after the quake struck, with one additional swimmer still missing. Seismic sea surges reaching up to 1.4 meters above normal tide levels were recorded in southern Philippines, with smaller wave activity detected as far away as Indonesia, Palau, and southern Japan.

    Geographically, the Philippines sits along the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, a seismically active arc of fault lines encircling the Pacific Ocean that leaves the country regularly vulnerable to major earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. This recent quake is the strongest to hit the nation since an 8.1-magnitude quake and subsequent tsunami in August 1976 killed an estimated 8,000 people across the archipelago.