1 hour ago A raid and a secret tape exposed a Sicilian mafia that is shrunken, whiny and clinging on for survival | John Dickie

A historic number of arrests were made, but the days of targeted murder or massive political influence are long gonePalermo has not seen anything like it for years. Helicopters in the pre-dawn sky. Carabinieri barracks across Sicily emptied, with all 1,200 officers deployed. The Cacciatori – red-bereted shock cops – brought over from the wilds of Calabria. The Carabinieri’s own film units serving up a morning montage of flashing blue lights, balaclava-wearing officers with submachine guns, police dogs sniffing, cottage doors breaking, and burly, handcuffed men ushered into Alfa Romeos. And then, of course, in the press, the humiliating wiretaps of gangsters sharing their secrets. Cosa Nostra is back in the headlines, and back under the cosh.Italian law enforcement is good at this stuff. Not a single one of the 181 men and women targeted for arrest on 11 February managed to go on the lam before the crackdown. Based on the numbers alone, this raid was the biggest anti-mafia operation ...

Events

3 h. ago Why it's important to remember Scotland's police officers, nurses and social workers are real

Emergency service personal and other public sector workers do difficult jobs for relatively low levels of pay and save countless lives

Events

12 h. ago Three shot and killed outside Louisville motor vehicle office, police say

Police in Louisville say three people were shot and killed outside a motor vehicle office

Events

14 h. ago Three people killed in Louisville, Kentucky, motor vehicle office shooting

One person was dead at the scene and two others died at the hospital; no reported arrests nor information on the shooterThree people were shot and killed at a motor vehicle office in Louisville, Kentucky, on Friday, police said.Major Donald Boeckman of Louisville metro police department told reporters that officers found one person dead at the scene and another two wounded. The two wounded were taken to hospitals and died there. He said there was no ongoing threat to public. Continue reading...

Events

15 h. ago PC Sharon Beshenivsky's murderer dies behind bars just months after he was finally locked up for police officer's murder

Piran Ditta Khan spent nearly two decades on the run the killing of PC Beshenivsky in Bradford on 18 November 2005.

Events

15 h. ago Moment hero police officer ran into burning house to save woman after building was torched in arson attack

Police were called to the blaze in Nottingham on July 19 last year. Footage shows PC James Cantrill rushing into the back of the smoke-filled property.

Events

15 h. ago The 11 missed chances to save woman who died 'bleeding from her eyes' with meningitis less than 24 hours after she was sent home by doctors and told she had the flu

EXCLUSIVE: Sophie Ward, 20, from London died 'bleeding from her eyes' less than 24 hours after doctors mistakenly told her she had the flu, rather than the meningitis that was killing her.

Society

16 h. ago Police officer who removed burglar’s tag to have relationship with him is jailed

Natasha Conneely was working in offender management at Bedfordshire Police when she started a secret relationship with a known burglar.

Events

16 h. ago Dramatic bodycam shows moment hero police officer rescues woman from burning building

Dramatic bodycam footage has revealed the heroic actions of a police officer who rescued a woman from a burning building.

Events

30 h. ago Wind up to 70mph, heavy rain expected to batter parts of Britain

A number of yellow weather warnings come into force on Friday morning across Northern Ireland, Wales and parts of Scotland.

Politics

36 h. ago Bus blasts in Israel are ‘suspected terror attack’, say police

No injuries reported after three explosions in Tel Aviv suburb of Bat Yam and two more bombs being defusedA string of explosions has rocked buses in the Israeli city of Bat Yam, in what police described as a “suspected terror attack”, with an official saying that there were no injuries.No injuries were reported in the blasts late on Thursday. Police said bomb disposal units were searching for any additional bombs in the city which is a suburb of Tel Aviv. Continue reading...

Events

39 h. ago Coe agrees with Trump on excluding transgender athletes from women’s sport

IOC presidential candidate focused on integrity of sportCoe claims Trump ‘right on the principle’US president Donald Trump is right in principle to seek the exclusion of transgender athletes from women’s sport, International Olympic Committee presidential candidate Sebastian Coe has said.Earlier this month Trump signed an executive order aimed at banning transgender athletes from women’s sports, which includes empowering the secretary of state’s office to put pressure on the IOC on its inclusion policy ahead of the Los Angeles Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2028. Continue reading...

Politics

42 h. ago Police Scotland chief warns national insurance hike could risk officer numbers

Jo Farrell was speaking at a meeting of the Scottish Police Authority on Thursday.

Events

46 h. ago ‘If not fire, we’ll be killed by hunger’: villagers continue to feel fallout from Bolivia’s worst wildfires

Residents battle food shortages and health issues after vast areas of forest and farmland burned last yearAs she walks away from the house where she raised her family, Isabel Surubí pauses to point at the bed of a stream, now covered with dry leaves, that once supplied her entire community. “The water used to come from here,” she says.In 2024, wildfires in Bolivia burned more than 10m hectares (about 39,000 sq miles) of forest, farmland and savannah – an area greater than the size of Portugal. After the fires, and the drought that preceded them, the spring feeding Surubí’s village of Los Ángeles in Bolivia’s tropical dry forest ran dry. Continue reading...

Events

47 h. ago Police officer, 20, accused of drink driving after crashing into wall on his way to work

West Mercia Police officer Liam Williams was arrested after he was accused of ploughing his car into a wall next to Worcester Catherdal on Tuesday at around 6.45am

Events

55 h. ago Fear and loathing in our increasingly violent 'caravan city': Van dwellers arm themselves with axes and baseball bats as tensions flare with locals after 'arson' attack on motorhome

Police are still unsure what caused the fire that gutted a caravan on the night of February 13. But some van dwellers are convinced it was arson as relations with locals deteriorate

Events

62 h. ago Newmains man who spat at one police officer and bit another jailed for a year

Paul Robertson was told that such assaults "will be dealt with severely".

Events

63 h. ago Hero cop and firefighter rescue woman from burning car in Arizona

Police footage shows the rescue of a woman from a burning vehicle in a heroic effort by Chandler Police Motor Officer Brian Larison.

Events

63 h. ago Police officer who tested positive for steroids 'interacted with active criminals'

'A police officer is expected to target active criminals, not to consort with them'

Events

63 h. ago Brian Laundrie’s parents rail against ‘inaccuracies’ in Gabby Petito documentary

The docuseries features police body cam footage of Laundrie's parents speaking to an officer about their son and Gabby Petito

Politics