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- Three teenagers who raped two girls avoid jail to support rehabilitation
- Finnish experts suggest divers may have taken wrong tunnel in Maldives deaths
- Saka, Saliba and Raya absent from Arsenal training ahead of final game
- Trump administration appoints 82 new immigration judges to expedite deportations
- Two officers sue to block DOJ’s $1.7 billion fund related to January 6 riot
- Iran coordinates passage of 26 vessels through Strait of Hormuz in 24 hours
- Federal judge orders White House staff to adhere to presidential records law
- James Murdoch to acquire New York Magazine and Vox Media Podcast Network
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Three teenagers who raped two girls avoid jail to support rehabilitation
3:00 pm
Get you up to speed: Teenagers who raped girls spared jail ‘to avoid criminalising them’ | News UK
Three teenagers were found guilty of raping two young girls in separate incidents in Fordingbridge, Hampshire. Despite the severity of the crimes, none of the boys received a jail sentence from the court.
The three boys received youth rehabilitation orders rather than custodial sentences, as the court aimed to balance accountability with potential for rehabilitation. Each boy is subject to a ten-year restraining order prohibiting contact with the victims, alongside an additional three-month curfew.
The case has sparked significant public outrage, with advocates calling for a reassessment of sentencing practices for sexual offences. Moving forward, the campaign “This Is Not Right,” launched on November 25, 2024, aims to address violence against women and highlight the urgent need for reform.
What remains unclear — It is not specified how the court’s decisions will affect the three boys’ future behaviour or rehabilitation.
Three teenagers who raped two girls avoid jail to support rehabilitation
Three teenagers who raped two lone young girls in separate attacks have walked free from court.
The first victim, then aged 15, started speaking with one of the boys, also 15, on Snapchat before meeting up in Fordingbridge, Hampshire, on November 26, 2024.
After engaging in consensual sex acts, she described feeling ‘cornered, trapped petrified’ when a second 15-year-old turned up and the pair raped her while another boy filmed it.
The second victim, then 14, was raped in a field near to Fordingbridge recreation ground on January 17 last year.
That attack was also filmed.
None of the three boys was given a jail sentence.
The court heard two have been diagnosed with ADHD and the judge said he needed to ‘avoid criminalising these children unnecessarily’ and ‘support their reintegration into society’.
To the girls whose lives have been ruined by the attacks, he added: ‘I hope when you look back on today’s date you will take some comfort from the fact you have shown that courage in coming along to court.’
The first victim bravely read her victim impact statement from the same witness box, as well as a poem she had written directed towards her attackers.
She described how her mental health had deteriorated since the incident, leading her to isolate herself from her friends.
This Is Not Right
On November 25, 2024 WTX launched This Is Not Right, a campaign to address the relentless epidemic of violence against women.
With the help of our partners at Women’s Aid, This Is Not Right aims to shine a light on the sheer scale of this national emergency.
You can find more articles here, and if you want to share your story with us, you can send us an email at [email protected].
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The poem included the line: ‘All I want to do is die, I no longer have fear for when that comes.’
She added: ‘No one deserves the trauma of being raped.’
In a statement read on behalf of the second victim, she said her school attendance had suffered and added: ‘I often feel overwhelmed, anxious and emotionally exhausted to the point where sitting in a classroom becomes unbearable.’
She described suffering nightmares and struggling to sleep, and added: ‘I feel ashamed, insecure and uncomfortable in my own body.’
The girl added: ‘The person I was before the incident has completely gone, and sometimes I feel like I am grieving the person I used to be.’
The first 15-year-old was given a youth rehabilitation order (YRO) for three years with 180 days of intensive supervision and surveillance (ISS) for the rape of each of the two girls and two indecent images charges.
The court heard that he had been diagnosed with ADHD as well as ‘long-standing anxiety’.
The second 15-year-old was given the same sentence for three charges of rape against each of the two victims and four counts of taking indecent images in relation to filming of the incidents.
The court was told his IQ was in the ‘bottom 1% of his contemporaries’ and that he had also been diagnosed with ADHD.
A third boy, aged 14, was given a YRO for 18 months for two charges of rape in the January incident by encouraging the second defendant and an offence of indecent images.
He was described as having ‘mild cognitive impairment’.
Judge Nicholas Rowland told the defendants: ‘I have to remember that you are not small adults.
‘I have to think how likely you are to do serious things again, and I need to make sure you do not do serious things again in the future.’
He added: ‘I should avoid criminalising these children unnecessarily and understand the effects of their behaviour and support their reintegration into society.’
He added that ‘peer pressure played a large part in what went on’.
The judge told the girls: ‘The sentence I am going to pass cannot possibly undo what happened to you.’
The boys were also made subject to a three-month curfew and given a restraining order for 10 years not to contact their victims.
Finnish experts suggest divers may have taken wrong tunnel in Maldives deaths
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Get you up to speed: Mystery of Maldives divers killed in ‘Shark Cave’ may have been solved | News World
Six people, including ecology professor Monica Montefalcone and her daughter Giorgia Sommacal, died during a diving incident in the Devana Kandu cave system in the Maldives. The group, comprising five Italians and their diving instructor, was found after becoming trapped in a dead-end corridor during a private dive.
The Italian tour operator, implicated in the incident, has denied any knowledge of the group’s unauthorised deep dive, according to its lawyer. An investigation is ongoing to ascertain the precise cause of death, with theories including potential disorientation within the cave system due to strong currents.
The investigation into the deaths of five Italian divers is ongoing, with officials seeking to determine the circumstances that led to the incident and whether proper protocols were followed. The Italian tour operator responsible for the diving trip has denied authorising the deep dive beyond local limits, while Finnish experts have indicated the possibility of the divers mistakenly entering the wrong tunnel.
What remains unclear — It is still unknown whether a strong current contributed to the divers’ tragic deaths.
Finnish experts suggest divers may have taken wrong tunnel in Maldives deaths
In total six people have died during the dive, including ecology professor Monica Montefalcone (left) and her daughter Giorgia Sommacal (right)
Finnish divers may have solved the mystery surrounding the deaths of five tourists in a ‘pitch black cave’ in the Maldives.
The experts have suggested that the group might have taken the wrong tunnel as they left the cave complex.
Five Italians died during a dive into the 160 ft deep ‘shark cave’ in the Devana Kandu cave system last week.
The bodies of ecology professor Monica Montefalcone, her daughter Giorgia Sommacal, researcher Muriel Oddenino, and marine biologist Federico Gualtieri have now all been retrieved.
Federico Gualtieri, a marine biologist, died during the cave dive on Thursday.
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They were accompanied by diving instructor Gianluca Benedetti, whose body was found last week.
They were on a research trip looking at soft corals but are uderstood to have gone on a private dive on Thursday morning when the group is believed to have died around 160 ft deep.
They had launched the expedition from the Duke of York yacht, which did not have a permit allowing dives of more than 100ft.
In total, six people have been killed as part of the cave dive, with Maldivian military rescue diver Mohamed Mahudhee dying from decompression illness on Saturday during a recovery mission.
The deaths have been called the worst diving incident in the history of the island nation and sparked a frenzy of questions about how events unfolded.
A team of Finnish experts has now suggested that the Italian researchers may have taken the wrong tunnel on their way out of the cave.
The pro-divers, working for Dan Europe, discovered the Italians in a corridor with a dead end inside the underwater complex, Italy’s La Repubblica daily reported.
Monica Montefalcone one of the five Italian scuba divers who died (Picture: Greenpeace via AP)
Gianluca Benedetti’s body was the first to be recovered last week
‘There was no way out from there’
‘There was no way out from there,’ the company’s CEO, Laura Marroni, was quoted by La Repubblica as saying.
Marroni revealed the details of the cave complex and how the doomed dive might have played out.
She told the newspaper that the cave system begins with a first large, very bright cavern with a sandy bottom.
At the end of that room is a badly lit corridor, but with good visibility from artificial lighting.
The passageway is almost 30 metres long and three metres across, which leads to a second chamber of the cave.
That second chamber is a large, round space with no natural light.
However, between the corridor and the second chamber is a sandbank.
While it is easy to get over the sandbank into the second chamber on the way in, when you turn around to leave, the bank almost looks like a wall.
That ‘wall’ then hides the corridor behind it, the paper said.
On the left of the sandbank is another corridor – only a few dozen metres long.
‘The divers’ bodies were all found inside, as if they had mistaken it for the right one,’ La Repubblica reported.
Researcher Muriel Oddenino had been on an official scientific mission with Ms Montefalcone prior to the dive (Picture: Facebook)
If they had taken that corridor by mistake, ‘then it would have been very difficult to return, especially with the limited air supply’, Marroni said.
The expert estimated that the Italians had about 10 minutes or less of air left.
She added: ”Realising that the path is the wrong one and having little air, perhaps after going back and forth, is terrifying. Then you breathe quickly, and the air supply decreases.’
Monica’s husband and Giorgia’s dad, Carlo Sommacal, told Italian media his wife ‘was one of the best divers in the world’ and would never put his daughter at risk.
He said she had carried out about 5,000 dives and was ‘never reckless’.
The Italian tour operator that managed the diving trip has denied authorising or knowing about the group’s deep dive, which exceeded local limits, its lawyer told Italian local publication Corriere della Sera.
An investigation is underway to establish the cause of death.
Another theory being considered is that the divers were sucked into a cave by a strong ‘freak’ current, known as the ‘Venturi effect’.
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Saka, Saliba and Raya absent from Arsenal training ahead of final game
1:42 pm
TL:DR – Saka, Saliba and Raya absent from Arsenal training ahead of final game
- Bukayo Saka, William Saliba, and David Raya missed Arsenal’s training session (1).
- The team is celebrating their first Premier League title in 22 years (2).
- The trio is following individual training programmes, with no concerns regarding their fitness (3).
- Mikel Arteta is expected to rest key players ahead of the Champions League final against Paris Saint-Germain (4).
- Max Dowman was also absent due to GCSE exams (5).
Why Bukayo Saka, William Saliba and David Raya missed Arsenal training today
Arteta oversaw his first training session since Arsenal were crowned champions today (Picture: Getty)
Bukayo Saka, William Saliba and David Raya were not involved in Arsenal’s first-team training session on Wednesday.
The Gunners have been celebrating their first Premier League title success in 22 years this week after Manchester City’s draw at Bournemouth ended their title challenge.
Arsenal have got the job done with a game to spare and will be handed the trophy at Selhurst Park where they play Crystal Palace on the final day of the season on Sunday.
Mikel Arteta will be expected to rest some of his stars with nothing riding on that game.
Their Champions League final against Paris Saint-Germain in Budapest and their chance to secure a memorable double follows six days later.
Saka, Saliba and Raya, three nailed-on starters for the showdown but did not train with the main group today ahead of the trip to south east London this weekend.
But a club spokesperson has insisted there was ‘nothing to worry about’ regarding the trio, Hayters report, having been placed on individual training programmes.
Saka and Saliba did not train with the group (Picture: Getty)
Max Dowman was also absent with the 16-year-old sitting his GCSE exams this week.
Arsenal handed huge injury boost ahead of Champions League final
Elsewhere, Arsenal have been handed a major boost ahead of the PSG game with Mikel Merino returning to individual training.
The Spain international has played since the 3-2 defeat to Manchester United at the end of January after suffering a foot injury that required surgery.
Merino has not played since the end of January (Picture: Getty)
It was thought the former Real Sociedad star would miss the rest of the season but he could now be available for the match against Palace.
Trump administration appoints 82 new immigration judges to expedite deportations
1:19 pm
Get you up to speed: Trump administration onboards 82 new immigration judges in bid to speed up deportation cases
The Trump administration recently swore in more than 80 new federal immigration judges in Washington, D.C., marking the largest class of immigration judges in the department’s history. This initiative aims to expedite deportation cases as part of a broader government crackdown on illegal immigration.
The Justice Department has appointed 153 permanent immigration judges for fiscal year 2026, which began in October 2025. Since January 2025, the backlog of pending immigration court cases has decreased from 4 million to approximately 3.5 million.
The Trump administration, through Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, reaffirmed its “commitment to reestablishing an immigration judge corps” under his leadership, citing efforts to restore order to the immigration system. In reaction, Greg Chen of the American Immigration Lawyers Association condemned the move, arguing that the “deportation judge” listings indicate a lack of impartiality, with judges being compelled to serve enforcement aims rather than act as independent adjudicators.
What remains unclear — It is not specified how many of the newly appointed immigration judges previously worked as ICE lawyers or prosecutors.
Trump administration appoints 82 new immigration judges to expedite deportations
The Trump administration this week onboarded more than 80 new federal immigration judges, in its latest push to expedite deportation cases and further its government-wide crackdown on illegal immigration, Justice Department officials said Thursday.
The Justice Department, which oversees the U.S. immigration court system, swore in 77 permanent immigration judges and 5 temporary immigration judges, a group that officials described as the largest class of immigration judges in the department’s history.
Immigration judges decide whether noncitizens the government is seeking to deport should be removed from the U.S. or allowed to stay. Despite their title, immigration judges are not part of the independent judicial branch and are instead employees of the Justice Department, which runs dozens of immigration courts across the U.S., as well as an appellate immigration court.
While they’re part of the executive branch, immigration judges are expected to be neutral, and not show bias towards noncitizens or the Immigration and Customs Enforcement lawyers seeking their deportation. Still, the Trump administration has publicly referred to them as “deportation judges” in official job listings, calling on potential applicants in one ad to “deliver justice” to “criminal illegal aliens.”
As part of its mass deportation campaign, Mr. Trump’s administration has sought to overhaul the country’s immigration courts, since, in many cases, immigrants have to be issued removal orders before being deported.
That overhaul has included a purge of more than 100 immigration judges, including many appointed under the Biden administration. Some of the judges ousted under the Trump administration have said they believe they were fired over not sufficiently pushing deportations or having backgrounds helping or advocating for immigrants.
Over the past year, the Justice Department has also issued directives and precedent-setting orders sharply restricting when immigration judges can grant asylum or other forms of relief to those facing deportation, and when they can release those in ICE detention on bond.
The new class of immigration judges was sworn in on Wednesday in Washington, D.C., Justice Department officials said.
Most of the immigration judges joining the Justice Department’s ranks this week had previously worked as ICE lawyers, prosecutors or in the military, as officers, judge advocates or other roles, according to bios provided by the department. Some worked as state or local judges, or as lawyers in private practice.
Justice Department officials said the administration has hired 153 permanent immigration judges in fiscal year 2026, which began in October 2025.
In a statement Thursday, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the Trump administration is “committed to reestablishing an immigration judge corps that is dedicated to restoring the rule to the law in our nation’s immigration system.”
“This could only happen thanks to President Trump’s decisive leadership and commitment to securing our borders,” Blanche said.
Greg Chen, senior director for government relations at the American Immigration Lawyers Association, accused the Trump administration of seeking to “compel” immigration judges to “act as tools of enforcement, no impartial adjudicators.”
Chen said the “deportation judge” job listings show immigration courts “are not fair or independent in the way we expect them to be but are completely controlled by a President who has stripped them of power and is using them to execute his mass deportation campaign.”
Over the past years, the number of immigration court cases has ballooned, fueled by a surge in asylum requests by those crossing the southern border illegally. The backlog of millions of cases has crippled the government’s ability to decide many cases in a timely manner, leading to years-long waits for decisions.
On Thursday, Justice Department officials said they had reduced the backlog of pending immigration court cases from 4 million to around 3.5 million since January 2025.
Two officers sue to block DOJ’s $1.7 billion fund related to January 6 riot
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Get you up to speed: 2 officers in Jan. 6 riot sue to block DOJ “anti-weaponization” fund
Two law enforcement officers, Harry Dunn and Daniel Hodges, have filed a lawsuit in federal court in the District of Columbia to block a $1.7 billion fund established by the Trump administration as part of a recent settlement. The officers argue that the fund’s creation is illegal and seek to reverse any transfers made by the Treasury Department to implement it.
The lawsuit against the Trump administration seeks to block the $1.7 billion fund announced on Monday by the Justice Department. Attorneys representing potential claimants have begun preparing their cases, even as no specific criteria for eligibility or payout caps have been disclosed.
Two law enforcement officers have filed a lawsuit seeking to block the creation of the Trump administration’s $1.7 billion “anti-weaponization fund,” claiming it is illegal. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche stated that the fund will provide a process for claims from those alleging weaponisation, but officials have not clarified eligibility criteria for potential payouts.
What remains unclear — The Justice Department has not revealed the eligibility criteria for payouts from the fund or any potential financial limits.
Two officers sue to block DOJ’s $1.7 billion fund related to January 6 riot
Two law enforcement officers who clashed with rioters at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, sued Wednesday to block the Trump administration’s $1.7 billion “anti-weaponization fund,” which was created this week as part of a settlement between President Trump and the federal government.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in the District of Columbia by retired U.S. Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn and Metropolitan Police Department officer Daniel Hodges, asks a federal judge to find the creation of the fund illegal and reverse any transfers that the Treasury Department has made to the Justice Department to implement it.
Both Dunn and Hodges defended the U.S. Capitol after a mob of Trump supporters attempted to stop the certification of the Electoral College on Jan. 6.
The fund was announced Monday by the Justice Department. In a statement, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the fund would “provide a systematic process to hear and redress claims of others who suffered weaponization and lawfare.”
Since the announcement, attorneys representing those claiming the government was weaponized against them have begun scrambling to position their clients for payouts.
Jan. 6 rioters — including those convicted of the most violent behavior during the attack but later pardoned by Mr. Trump — could likely apply for payouts. High-profile former Trump administration and campaign officials who sued the Justice Department before reaching their own settlement agreements may also be eligible to receive payments from the fund.
Neither Blanche nor the White House has said outright that they would oppose payouts from the fund to those convicted — and since pardoned — of assaulting law enforcement officers. The Justice Department has not disclosed any criteria regarding who would be eligible for a settlement or whether there would be a cap on the amount of money they could receive. Blanche said at a Senate hearing this week that the five-member commission that will make up the fund’s board would supply that information.
“This Fund creates enormous physical dangers for Officers Dunn and Hodges, who risked their lives on January 6, 2021, and who continue to do so by refusing to let that day be forgotten,” wrote Public Integrity Project founder Brendan Ballou, who represents the officers. “The Fund is stunningly, blindingly illegal, and the defendants must be prohibited from transferring money to this corrupt and illegal monstrosity.”
The settlement stemmed from a $10 billion lawsuit filed earlier this year in federal court by Mr. Trump, who accused the agencies of unlawfully allowing a government contractor to leak his tax returns and those of his sons and his company. He alleged the government’s mishandling led to the improper disclosure of the tax documents to media outlets in 2020. His sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., and the Trump Organization were also plaintiffs in the suit.
Mr. Trump and his legal team also agreed to drop their administrative claims against the Justice Department after he asked the government to pay him about $230 million to settle two federal damage claims over investigations targeting him during his first administration or the Biden administration, the department said.
The settlement also permanently bars the IRS from pursuing claims against Mr. Trump or his company based on prior tax returns.
Iran coordinates passage of 26 vessels through Strait of Hormuz in 24 hours
12:46 pm
Get you up to speed: Iran claims it coordinated passage of 26 vessels out of Hormuz in 24 hours
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced it coordinated the passage of 26 vessels through the Strait of Hormuz in the past 24 hours. The statement, reported by Iran’s state-affiliated ISNA news agency, asserts that traffic is being conducted “with permission and in coordination” with the IRGC Navy.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has claimed control over the Strait of Hormuz, coordinating the passage of 26 vessels amid ongoing tensions. The blockade initiated by the United States on Iranian ports has severely impacted global energy markets, with significant concerns about a potential food price crisis highlighted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) stated it facilitated the passage of 26 vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, asserting control over the waterway amid ongoing tensions. Meanwhile, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations warned of a potential severe global food price crisis within six to 12 months due to disruptions, labelling the situation as “the beginning of a systemic agrifood shock.”
What remains unclear — It is uncertain how many vessels are awaiting transit through the Strait of Hormuz amid the ongoing blockade.
Iran coordinates passage of 26 vessels through Strait of Hormuz in 24 hours
News|US-Israel war on Iran Iran claims it coordinated passage of 26 vessels out of Hormuz in 24 hours
The IRGC claims to maintain control over the Strait of Hormuz despite the US blockade on Iran’s ports.
Vessels navigate the Strait of Hormuz near Musandam, Oman, May 20, 2026 [Reuters]
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has said it coordinated the transit of 26 vessels through the Strait of Hormuz in the past 24 hours, as talks between Washington and Tehran over the resumption of traffic through the narrow waterway remain stalled.
“Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz is being carried out with permission and in coordination with the IRGC Navy,” the statement carried by Iran’s state-affiliated ISNA news agency said on Wednesday.
About a fifth of global energy exports used to pass through the strait before the beginning of the United States-Israel war on Iran on February 28, which prompted Tehran to blockade the waterway.
US President Donald Trump’s administration responded by imposing a blockade on Iranian ports, choking Iranian oil exports – the country’s key source of revenue.
The standoff has put huge strain on global energy markets as well as raising concerns over a looming humanitarian catastrophe.
On Wednesday, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) warned that the blockage could trigger a severe global food price crisis within six to 12 months, calling the disruption “the beginning of a systemic agrifood shock”.
The Rome-based agency said the disruption is no longer only a shipping or energy-market problem, warning that the shock is moving through global agrifood systems in stages.
“The shock is unfolding in stages: energy, fertilizer, seeds, lower yields, commodity price increases, then food inflation,” the FAO said.
Stalled talks
On Wednesday, Trump spoke about “progress” made in negotiations with Iran. But he also threatened to resume military action if Iran does not agree to a deal.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned “return to war will feature many more surprises”. The IRGC also said that if Iran is attacked again, it would widen the conflict by extending fighting “this time” beyond the region.
Will Todman, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told WTX News that the warring sides seem convinced that extending their respective blockades will earn them more leverage against the other.
“I think it’s very difficult to see something that will fundamentally change the calculation, because both sides seem to believe that the longer this goes on, the greater their leverage will be because the more their opponents will be suffering economically,” Todman said on Wednesday.
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