Law

Published: 16 December 2025. The English Chronicle Desk. The English Chronicle Online. Keir Starmer’s Whitehall communications chief is set to brief the cabinet on overhauling the government’s media strategy on Tuesday, as ministers seek to counter the rise of far-right rhetoric online. David Dinsmore, a former Sun editor appointed permanent secretary for government communications in November, will outline plans to modernise the way ministers engage with the public, with a...

Published: 12 December 2025. The English Chronicle Desk. The English Chronicle Online. The Home Secretary has ordered an independent inquiry into potential vetting failures at the Metropolitan Police, amid serious concerns over the recruitment of hundreds of officers who may have joined without proper scrutiny. The move comes after revelations that up to 300 recruits hired between 2016 and 2023 may have undergone substandard or incomplete vetting processes, raising questions...

Published: 10 December 2025. The English Chronicle Desk. The English Chronicle Online. UK police forces have been criticised after lobbying to use facial recognition technology widely reported as biased against women, young people, and ethnic minorities. The technology, deployed through the police national database (PND), allows retrospective searches comparing a suspect’s image against more than 19 million custody photographs. Officials have now confirmed that the system disproportionately misidentifies Black and...

Published: 03 December 2025. The English Chronicle Desk. The English Chronicle Online The US Defence Department has sparked controversy after using the beloved Canadian children’s character Franklin the Turtle and pop star Sabrina Carpenter’s music in social media posts linked to US military and immigration operations. Both the publisher of Franklin and Carpenter herself condemned the posts, accusing the Trump administration of misusing their intellectual property for violent or politically...

Published: 03 December 2025. The English Chronicle Desk. The English Chronicle Online US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has stated that he did not personally see survivors before a follow-up strike on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean on 2 September, which left two survivors dead. The incident has raised serious questions about whether US forces may have violated laws governing armed conflict. During a White House cabinet meeting, Hegseth...

Published: 03 December 2025. The English Chronicle Desk. The English Chronicle Online Indonesia and the Netherlands have reached an agreement to repatriate two elderly Dutch nationals serving prison sentences in Indonesia for drug offences—one on death row and the other serving a life sentence. The repatriation, requested by the Dutch government on humanitarian grounds, was approved in October by Indonesian authorities, citing health concerns for both men. Siegfried Mets, 74,...

Published: 03 December 2025. The English Chronicle Desk. The English Chronicle Online A New Zealand man has been charged with theft after allegedly stealing a diamond-studded locket in an unusual manner—by swallowing it. The Fabergé egg pendant, valued at NZ$33,585 ($19,300; £14,600), has not yet been recovered, according to local police reports. Authorities were called to Partridge Jewellers in central Auckland last Friday afternoon, where the 32-year-old suspect was arrested...

Published: 02 December 2025 Tuesday. The English Chronicle Desk. The English Chronicle Online Justice Secretary David Lammy has revealed that 12 prisoners have been accidentally released over the past three weeks, with two still at large. This follows a previous wave of 91 accidental releases between April and October. Speaking to the BBC, Lammy acknowledged that while prisons continue to operate on a paper-based system, “human error” is inevitable. He...

Published: 02 December 2025 Tuesday. The English Chronicle Desk. The English Chronicle Online Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to meet US special envoy Steve Witkoff in Moscow on Tuesday as efforts intensify to reach a deal aimed at ending the Ukraine war. US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who has acted as an outside adviser in previous diplomatic discussions, is also expected to attend. The summit follows two...

Published: 02 December 2025 Tuesday. The English Chronicle Desk. The English Chronicle Online Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee has ordered the establishment of an independent committee to investigate the catastrophic fire at the Wang Fuk Court housing complex, which claimed at least 151 lives. The blaze, which erupted last Wednesday, engulfed seven of the eight tower blocks that were undergoing extensive renovations. Preliminary investigations indicate that protective netting around...