UNITED KINGDOM
Hundreds charged in raid
More than 450 people were charged and hundreds of thousands of cannabis plants worth millions of US dollars seized in a massive operation throughout last month, police said yesterday. Cannabis production is a cash cow for organized crime, fueling gang violence as groups compete for territory, police said. Operation Mille saw searches and arrests carried out across England and Wales “at a scale and pace not seen before,” said Steve Jupp, the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for serious organized crime. “Nearly 200,000 cannabis plants with an estimated street value of between ￡115 [million] to ￡130 million [US$147 million to US$166 million] were seized,” police added in a statement. About 1,000 people were arrested and of those, “more than 450 were later charged,” it said.
PHILIPPINES
Marcos pardons farmer debt
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday wrote off US$1.04 billion in land-related debt owed by more than half a million farmers, a move aimed at boosting food production. The “New Agrarian Emancipation Act” he signed into law waived all property-related debt owed by farmers who had been given land on 30-year payment terms under a 1988 land reform program, but had been unable to pay. “We know these farmers do not have the means to pay this huge debt, so putting it under the government’s tab is the right thing to do,” Marcos said at a signing ceremony at the presidential palace. The writing off of the loans, which were issued by government banks, meant “we are doing everything in order to feed our people,” he added.
ITALY
Fire kills six, injures 80
A fire that broke out in a Milan nursing home early yesterday killed six of the residents and injured about 80 others, firefighters said. The blaze began at about 1:30am, apparently in the room of two female residents, who were among the dead, they said, adding that three other women and a man died in the fire. Among the injured, two were in critical condition, while most of the others were being treated for smoke inhalation, they told Italian state radio. Luca Cari, a spokesperson for the national firefighters corps, said firefighters were investigating the cause of the blaze, which was contained by early morning. Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala, who came to the scene, told reporters that the 100 or so residents of the nursing home who were not injured were being transferred to other facilities in the city.
UNITED STATES
Teen gets life for murder
The first of two Iowa teenagers who pleaded guilty to beating their high-school Spanish teacher to death with a baseball bat was on Thursday sentenced to life with a possibility of parole after 35 years in prison. District Court Judge Shawn Showers sentenced Willard Miller after a sentencing hearing that lasted more than seven hours. Miller and another teen, Jeremy Goodale, had pleaded guilty in April to the 2021 attack on Nohema Graber. Showers acknowledged Miller’s young age, but added that he had “cut Nohema Graber’s precious life short,” devastating her family and the community. “I find that your intent and actions were sinister and evil. Those acts resulted in the intentional loss of human life in a brutal fashion,” Showers said. “There is no excuse.” Before being sentenced, Miller said in court that he accepted responsibility for the killing and apologized to the Graber family. Goodale is to be sentenced later.
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly
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