Bronson, initially jailed in 1974 for armed robbery, has earned notoriety as Britain’s most dangerous lag.

Britain’s most notorious and longest-serving prisoners Charles Bronson has vowed to “expose” his “unlawful sentence and treatment” ahead of an oral parole hearing.

The 73-year-old has called his treatment a “total joke” ahead of his next parole hearing in the coming months. In a letter to Sky News, Bronson wrote: “I am 23 years over my tariff. I am forever denied progress.

“I am forever kept in solitary. They won’t even take me off Cat A.” He added: “I have to expose this unlawful sentence and treatment. It’s now gone on for far to (sic) long its become a total joke.”

The Parole Board has confirmed Bronson’s next hearing will be an oral one, meaning they will hear his plea for freedom, according to reports.

Once one of Britain’s most violent offenders, Bronson has spent most of the past five decades behind bars – apart from two brief periods during which he reoffended – for a string of thefts and firearms and violent offences.

These included 11 hostage-taking incidents in nine different sieges. Victims included prison governors, doctors, staff and, on one occasion, his own solicitor.

Bronson, who changed his surname to Salvador in 2014 after the artist Salvador Dali, was handed a discretionary life sentence with a minimum term of four years in 2000 for taking a prison teacher at HMP Hull hostage for 44 hours.

Since then, the Parole Board has repeatedly refused to direct his release. His last parole review in 2023 was his eighth.

It comes after a former lag revealed Bronson’s true nature when an inmate began weeping. Noel ‘Razor’ Smith clocked up three decades in various jails after more than 200 robberies.

Noel walked free from prison in 2010 but while recounting predictable tales of Bronson wreaking havoc within the prison system, Noel revealed to podcaster Dodge Woodall that there was another aspect to his character.

He said: “He’s a kind-hearted geezer. I will give you an example. I was in a block… and Charlie was there on the lie down and there was a kid who was next door to us.

“He was about 20 and he was crying all the time – his first time in prison. So Charlie went, ‘Why don’t you turn the f***ing radio on or something or read a book?’ He said, ‘I ain’t got a radio.’

“So the next morning… there’s a cleaner in the block who’s a prisoner… He’s out mopping and his radio is on the table. Charlie walks over, picks his radio up and goes, ‘I’m lending this to that kid. You’ll get it back when he’s gone.’”

Noel revealed Charlie then requested prison guards unlock the young man’s cell before presenting him with the radio for companionship.

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The DVLA has issued a reminder to drivers about the cheapest method to renew a driving licence – and it could save you money

Millions of motorists are being urged to check how they renew their driving licence – as doing it the wrong way could cost you extra cash. The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) has taken to social media to remind drivers that renewing online is the cheapest option. In a post on X, it said: “Due to renew your driving licence? Do it online at http://gov.uk/renewdrivinglicence

The £7.50 difference that could catch drivers out

Renewing your photocard driving licence online via GOV.UK costs £14. But head to a Post Office counter and the price jumps to £21.50 – £7.50 more for exactly the same renewal.

Apply by post and the fee is £17. With around 50 million driving licence holders in Britain, that difference could add up to a sizeable sum for households already feeling the squeeze.

When do you need to renew?

Drivers must renew a photocard licence every 10 years. The DVLA says you will receive a reminder before your current licence expires.

To renew online you must:

• Be a resident of Great Britain (there’s a different service in Northern Ireland)
• Not be disqualified from driving

If you cannot use the online service, you can apply at a Post Office or by post instead.

Who cannot renew online?

There are some important exceptions that could trip drivers up. You cannot renew online or at a Post Office if your name or title has changed. In that case, you must apply by post and include supporting identity documents.

There are also different processes for:

• Drivers aged 70 or over
• Those renewing a 5-year bus or lorry licence
• Anyone with a short-term medical driving licence

There is no fee if you are over 70 or renewing a medical short period licence.

How long does it take?

If you apply online, your new licence should arrive within a week. Applications made at a Post Office or by post can take up to three weeks – and potentially longer if medical or personal details need to be checked.

Importantly, your new licence will be valid from the date your application is approved – not from the expiry date of your current licence. Drivers must also send their old photocard back to DVLA once the new one arrives.

How to pay

Online renewals can be paid for by MasterCard, Visa, Electron or Delta debit or credit card. Postal applications require a cheque or postal order made payable to DVLA and sent to: DVLA, Swansea, SA99 1DH

Motorists are allowed to continue driving while waiting for their new licence to arrive, provided they meet the usual legal conditions.

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“Since potentially significant and, as yet, unquantified risk of long-term biological harms is present to participants and biological safety has not been definitively demonstrated in this proposed cohort, at the very least, there should be a graded/stepwise approach starting with those aged 14 as the lower limit of eligibility,” it reads.

An American citizen was shot dead by Immigration and Customs Enforcement months before the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minnesota, records have shown.

Ruben Ray Martinez was killed during a traffic stop on South Padre Island in Texas last March, several outlets, citing documents obtained by nonprofit watchdog American Oversight, reported.

Martinez had just turned 23, and he and his best friend were driving from San Antonio to South Padre Island to celebrate, his mother, Rachel Reyes, told the Associated Press.

Shortly after midnight on March 15, 2025, a driver, confirmed by family to be Martinez, and a passenger in a blue Ford were passing through an intersection where Homeland Security Investigations officers had been helping South Padre Island police redirect traffic after an accident, according to an internal ICE incident report included in the new release of documents.

Reyes confirmed to the Associated Press that the victim in the report was her son, and Charles Stam, a lawyer for Martinez’s family, also confirmed Martinez was the one killed to The New York Times.

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Agents surrounded Martinez’s car and ordered him and the passenger to get out, according to the report. Martinez “accelerated forward” and hit an HSI special agent, “who wound up on the hood of the vehicle,” the report said.

An HSI supervisory special agent then fired multiple times through the open driver’s side window, according to the report.

Martinez was taken to a hospital and later died, the report said. The HSI agent hit by the car was treated for a knee injury, according to the report.

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“It was his first time getting to go out of town,” Reyes said of her son. “He was a nice guy, humble guy. And he wasn’t a violent person at all.”

It’s unclear why Martinez was stopped in the first place.

Without confirming the identity of the victim, the Department of Homeland Security said a federal agent had fatally shot a man that day in March to “protect himself, his fellow agents, and the general public.”

“A driver of a blue Ford intentionally ran over a Homeland Security Investigation special agent resulting in him being on the hood of the vehicle. Upon witnessing this, another agent fired defensive shots to protect himself, his fellow agents, and the general public,” a DHS spokesperson told The Independent. “This incident is under active investigation by the Texas Department of Public Safety Ranger Division.”

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According to the Associated Press, Martinez’s death is one of at least six fatal shootings by federal immigration agents since the start of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, which has grown increasingly unpopular.

The Trump administration sparked nationwide backlash over the deaths of Good, a mom of three, and Pretti, an ICU nurse. Both were gunned down by federal agents in the streets of Minneapolis last month. Both were 37-year-old U.S. citizens.

Both shootings have been framed by the Trump administration as self-defense, a claim that has been scrutinized.

A new Reuters/Ipsos poll found that 55 percent of Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of immigration, while just 38 percent approve, the lowest level since the president returned to the White House.

Teesside Airport fly to a range of destinations over February half-term, whether it is sun, a city break or a chance to see the Northern Lights your after.

In December, the managing director of Teesside Airport, Phil Forster said the airport hit record passenger numbers for 16 years.

2025 also saw the expansion of several routes at the airport following growing public demand. Alicante, operated by Ryanair, has grown from two flights a week in the summer to four. It also operates all year-round.

Mr Forster previously thanked Ryanair for its vote of confidence and talked about the success of the flights it operates.

He said: “Alicante has doubled in capacity and is now year-round and we were able to get Malaga, which I was delighted about as there was a lot of clamour for that. That is also a year-round service, so you can really start to see the growth that we’re starting to get on those routes.”

Flights to Malaga also operate all year-round, with there also being flights to Amsterdam three times a day.

However, despite news last year KLM had scrapped one flight a day in the summer, Mr Forster was insistent the airline is not going anywhere.

He said: “KLM are going nowhere. They are a huge, valued client of Teesside Airport, they’ve been here for 25/30 years.”

He also confirmed the airport is looking at every opportunity to expand and add more routes.

He said the airport speaks to Jet2 on a regular basis and is in active discussions with the airline.

If you are looking to get away this half-term here is the full list of destinations you can fly to from Teesside Airport:

• Alicante – Monday and Friday, Ryanair
• Amsterdam – Three flights a day, KLM
• Enontekiö – Sunday, Transun
• Malaga – Wednesday and Saturday, Ryanair

Donald Trump has announced a global tariff after the US Supreme Court ruled that his previously imposed duties are illegal.

The new 10% import duty will apply to all countries and be effective “almost immediately”, the US president said in a post on his Truth Social platform.

The White House announced the levy would take effect on 24 February, although it could face legal challenges.

The law Mr Trump has used to impose the tariff caps it at 150 days, but he brushed off a question about the limit by saying “we have a right to do pretty much what we want to do”.

It comes after six of the Supreme Court‘s nine judges voted to overturn Mr Trump’s signature economic policy, handing him a significant loss.

The judgment was in response to an application brought by businesses affected ‌by the tariffs from 12 mostly Democrat-run states.

The applicants challenged the way the US president imposed the sweeping country-specific taxes.

Traditionally, tax-raising measures like tariffs are taken through Congress but the president wished to bypass that process.

But the majority judgment found the US Constitution “very clearly” gives Congress that power.

“The framers did not vest any part of the taxing power in the executive branch,” US Chief Justice John Roberts wrote.

The case is the first challenge to a major part of Mr Trump’s agenda to be ruled on by the Supreme Court.

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Foreign countries ‘are dancing in the streets’

Trump ‘ashamed’ of judges who ruled against him

Responding to the decision, Mr Trump described it as a “disgrace”.

He said he was “ashamed” of the six Supreme Court judges who ruled against him for not “having the courage to do what’s right” for the US, describing them as “fools and lapdogs” who are “very unpatriotic and disloyal to our Constitution”.

Three of the six judges who ruled his tariffs illegal are Republicans. They include Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett, who were appointed during Mr Trump’s first term in office.

Mr Trump thanked the three justices who voted in his favour, before claiming that foreign countries “who have been ripping us off for years” were now “dancing in the streets”.

Read more: Trump’s trade war is not over

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Trump hits out at court over tariffs ruling

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Mr Trump’s administration had argued that a 1977 law allowing the president to regulate importation during emergencies also allowed him to set tariffs.

Other presidents have used the law to impose sanctions before, but Mr Trump was the first president to invoke it for import taxes.

Following the Supreme Court ruling, he said: “Today I will sign an order to impose a 10% global tariff under section 122 over and above our normal tariffs already being charged.”

Section 122 of the 1974 Trade Act allows the president to institute a “temporary import surcharge” of up to 15% for a maximum of 150 days if he finds there are “large and serious” balance-of-payments deficits to prevent an “imminent” and “significant” depreciation of the US dollar in foreign exchange markets.

What has been the British response?

The UK government said it expected its “privileged trading position” with the US to continue.

A spokesperson said Britain would work with the US to understand “how the ruling will affect tariffs for the UK and the rest of the world”.

The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) said the decision did little to “clear the murky waters for business”.

William Bain, head of trade policy at the BCC, said Mr Trump could use other legislation to reimpose tariffs – which is exactly what he’s planning.

What are tariffs?

From 2 April last year, a day described by Mr Trump as “Liberation Day”, countries across the world were hit with taxes on their exports.

The tariffs were brought in via executive order from Mr Trump, who invoked ‍the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to do so.

The Act is a 1977 law intended to be used during national emergencies, which Mr Trump invoked, saying the country was in a national emergency because of US trade deficits.

It was also this law that was used to apply levies on Canadian, Chinese and Mexican goods and services entering the US, although Mr Trump’s national emergency rationale was the trafficking of the drug fentanyl into the US.

What does it mean for the economy?

What happens next, and whether roughly $175bn in import taxes will be refunded, remains to be seen.

The decision immediately lowers the effective tariff rate sharply, from 12.8% to 8.3%, according to Michael Pearce, the chief US economist at Oxford Economics.

Many companies, including wholesale chain Costco, have already gone to court seeking tariff refunds.

Read more from Sky News:
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Justice Kavanaugh wrote in the dissent: “The court says nothing today about whether, and if so how, the government should go about returning the billions of dollars that it has collected from importers.

“But that process is likely to be a ‘mess’, as was acknowledged at oral argument.”

That uncertainty is likely to remain, potentially eliminating any economic benefit from tariff removal.

Emergency services are at the scene of the crash this afternoon (Friday, February 20)

A woman has suffered serious injuries after a crash along a residential street. Emergency services were called to West Street in Wisbech just after 1pm today (Friday, February 20).

The crash involved a car and a woman. Cambridgeshire Police are at the scene with paramedics.

The woman is believed to have suffered serious, but not life-threatening injuries. A police spokesperson said: “We were called at 1.03pm to reports of a collision between a car and a pedestrian on West Street, Wisbech.

“Officers are at the scene together with paramedics and the pedestrian, a woman, is thought to have suffered serious but not life-threatening injuries.”

The East of England Ambulance Service has been contacted for more information.

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