WASHINGTON (AP) — The Department of Justice is acknowledging it has removed from its website news releases about criminal cases related to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot, calling the information about the prosecutions “partisan propaganda.”

The purge of news releases documenting criminal charges, convictions and sentencings is the latest step by the Trump administration to dramatically rewrite the history of the assault on the Capitol, when hundreds of supporters of Republican President Donald Trump stormed the building in an effort to halt the congressional certification of his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

Trump, on his first day back in office in January 2025, pardoned, commuted the prison sentences or vowed to dismiss the cases of all of the 1,500-plus people charged with crimes during the Capitol assault, including those convicted of attacking officers with makeshift weapons such as flagpoles, a hockey stick and crutch.

On Monday, the Justice Department announced the creation of a $1.776 billion fund meant to compensate Trump allies who feel they were unjustly investigated and prosecuted. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has not ruled out that rioters convicted of violence will be eligible for payouts, prompting bipartisan anger in Congress.

After a journalist on Friday observed on the social media platform X that the Justice Department was “quietly” removing news releases on its website that were related to the Jan. 6 attack, including about a Texas man who pleaded guilty to assault and also faced separate state charges of soliciting a minor, the department responded through its “rapid response” account that there was “nothing ‘quiet’ about it.”

“We are proud to reverse the DOJ’s weaponization under the Biden administration. We will do everything in our power to make whole those who were persecuted for political purposes,” the post said. “This includes stripping DOJ’s website of partisan propaganda.”

Among the releases removed from the site were those concerning seditious conspiracy cases against members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, far-right extremist groups. The Justice Department, in an unopposed motion last month, asked a federal appeals court to vacate those seditious conspiracy convictions, a request that was granted Thursday. The department on Friday moved to dismiss the cases against the group members.

A ‘substantial find’

A gun and drugs have been found by detectives after a suspect was shot by armed police in Whitefield. Officers tried to stop a car on Bury New Road at around 3pm on Friday (May 23).

The driver ‘failed to stop and drove directly at officers to get away’, Greater Manchester Police previously said.

A shot was fired by a GMP firearms officer. The driver of the car was taken to hospital for an injury to his arm, where he remained on Saturday The was injury described as ‘neither life-threatening nor life-changing’.

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The police watchdog, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), said the suspect suffered a suspected broken elbow. The 20- year-old ‘white British man ‘was arrested on suspicion of being concerned in the supply of Class A drugs at the scene.

In an update, GMP said its investigation continues.

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The force said officers searched an address in Radcliffe overnight and found a firearm and a ‘significant’ quantity of both Class A and Class B drugs. No further arrests have been made. Enquiries are ongoing.

Detective Superintendent Joe Harrop, from GMP’s Serious Crime Division said: “Our officers were met with an extremely dangerous situation on Bury New Road yesterday.

“Thankfully no members of the wider public, or officers were harmed in the incident. Despite this, our team has acted swiftly and professionally, and our investigation has progressed at pace.

“Overnight searches have led to the recovery of a firearm and a significant quantity of Class A and B drugs. This is a substantial find and it in turn prevents a potentially dangerous weapon and a significant amount of drugs from reaching our streets.

“Our investigation will progress, and we will continue to target those involved in serious and organised crime to keep our communities safe for all those who live and work across the whole of Greater Manchester.”

In a statement issued this morning, the IOPC said: “We are independently investigating following a non-fatal police shooting in Bury.

“We were made aware by Greater Manchester Police, who advised that a man was shot in the arm after a vehicle failed to stop for officers. He was taken to hospital with a suspected broken elbow.

“While firearms incidents like this are, thankfully, rare, it is important for there to be independent scrutiny to fully understand what has happened. IOPC investigators attended the scene and to the police post-incident procedures to begin gathering evidence.”

French police have suspended new EU border checks following long delays at the Port of Dover as drivers queued in sweltering heat.

More than 18,000 travellers were expected to arrive at the port through Friday and Saturday for the bank holiday getaway.

Authorities warned of delays of several hours, with queues reported for all ferry operators and at the check-in plaza for tourist traffic at the Kent port.

While processing times are down to 50 minutes at the port’s buffer zone as of midday Saturday, congestion on surrounding roads means drivers face a two-hour queue to access the port, equating to a total wait of nearly three hours.

However, passengers and motorists will be spared the additional checks after Police Aux Frontieres suspended the EU’s entry and exit system (EES) in a bid to cut wait times at the border.

In a post on X, the port said: ‘We are pleased that Police Aux Frontieres (PAF) have responded positively by invoking the Article 9 clause of the EES regulations.

‘While conventional border checks will still be undertaken, this will now enable PAF to significantly reduce the border processing time.’

The decision means travellers will be processed normally and will not have to provide fingerprints and facial biometrics.

At both the Port of Dover and the Le Shuttle terminal in Folkestone passengers and drivers pass through juxtaposed controls, allowing them to notionally clear the French border before they cross the Channel.

Under the new Entry and Exit system, third-country nationals are now required to register their passport at their first point of arrival into the Schengen area.

However, unlike at dozens of Schengen airports, EES self-registration machines are not yet operational in the UK.

Travel expert Simon Calder told Sky News that Police Aux Frontieres had attempted to register passengers manually using 11 checkpoints.

But they have now reverted to traditional ‘wet-stamping’ of passports in a bid to ease queues, which were building yesterday and this morning.

The tropical heatwave is adding to the travellers’ misery as motorists waited to board ferries to the continent, with temperatures hovering at just under 30°C in Dover.

It comes as around 3.4 million journeys are expected to be undertaken on Sunday, with a further 3.1 million trips on bank holiday Monday.

According to the RAC, six in ten drivers were not planning a leisure trip over the weekend, with just five per cent citing rising fuel costs as a result of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s oil chokepoint.

It added the worst affected roads for congestion were likely to be the M1, M25, M5, M6, with anticlockwise journeys on the London orbital motorway expected to take twice as long as on an average weekend.

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Southampton were expelled from the play-offs on Tuesday and their appeal against the decision was rejected the following day – just 72 hours before kick-off in Saturday’s showpiece event.

Saints also admitted to spying on two other rivals’ training sessions, including Oxford United in December and Ipswich Town last month.

The Football Association has since opened an investigation of its own into Southampton over the Spygate scandal.

The club accepted what happened was “wrong” and apologised to the other clubs involved, as well as Southampton’s supporters.

After their appeal was rejected, the club said in a statement: “While we fully acknowledge the seriousness of this matter and the scrutiny that has followed, the club has consistently believed the original sporting sanction was disproportionate, a view that has been widely shared by many in the football community.”

But Middlesbrough boss Kim Hellberg said his trust in “doing the right thing” was restored after Saints’ expulsion.

“It’s a feeling of relief, happiness, a little bit of trust in doing the right thing and humanity,” he told BBC Radio Tees.

“The right way to do it is working hard, not doing something else when everyone will see with the evidence and everything we know.

“It is quite clear what has been done and that should never be allowed in football.”

Hull boss Sergej Jakirovic previously said the Tigers were “collateral damage” because they had to wait to find out which opponent they would actually be facing in the final.

“We can say everything is unfair in this last two weeks. You don’t know what’s going on,” he told BBC Radio Humberside.

“If you look from a Middlesbrough point of view they knew if they were successful they would play against us so I can turn the situation around but I will not do that. We will try to beat them on the pitch.”

The air ambulance landed at HMP Deerbolt, near Barnard Castle, at about 4.55pm on Friday (May 22).

A man was taken to Darlington Memorial Hospital by road.

It is not known at this time whether the man is a prisoner or a staff member. His condition is also not known. The MOJ has been contacted for updates.

A North East NEAS spokesperson said, “We received a call at 4.52pm on Friday to reports of a medical incident at HMP Deerbolt. 

“We sent two ambulance crews and the air ambulance and took one male patient to Darlington Memorial Hospital for further treatment.”

The Great North Air Ambulance Service confirmed that, while they attended, they weren’t required and returned to base.

The family of three sisters who drowned in the sea off Brighton beach have said they ‘don’t have the answers’ about what they were doing there or how they entered the water.

The ‘inseparable’ siblings – Jane Adetoro, 36, Christina Walters, 32 and Rebecca Walters, 31, all from the Uxbridge area of London – died 70 miles from home early on the morning of May 13.

Their father Joseph paid tribute to his three daughters, saying: ‘No words can truly describe the pain of losing three daughters in the prime of their lives.’

It was revealed this week that their mother, Janice Adetoro, also drowned in a heartbreakingly similar tragedy in 2010.

Janice, who had split with their father and suffered with mental health issues, walked into a park lake close to her home at the time in the West Midlands.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, their aunt Ajike Johnson said the tragedy ‘traumatised the girls’, adding: ‘They never recovered.’

Both the family and the police will be examining whether the sisters could have walked into the water as their mother had done – but stepmum Genevieve Barnaby-Adetoro dismisses the possibility.

Ajike – or Aunt Jik as her nieces called her – hopes it was a terrible accident.

‘I pray that they’ve been being mischievous, and that one of them lost their footing and the others dived in to save them,’ she said.

Genevieve told the paper the family has been retraumatised by abusive comments left by conspiracy theorists drawing their own conclusions on social media.

She said: ‘People are heartless. Some are saying, “We MUST know. We must have answers”. Hold on a minute. We are their family, and we don’t have answers.’

Holding back tears, Ajike added: ‘Don’t think we aren’t asking the questions ourselves. “Girls, why were you in Brighton? Did you just decide to go?”

‘I’ve gone over and over it.’

She said the girls ‘loved David Attenborough’ and could have decided to ‘go for a paddle’ after attending an event in Brighton for the natural historian’s 100th birthday the night before.

‘Did one fall in and the others go to help? Because they would have done – where one of them went, you always found the other two,’ she said.

Genevieve said ‘there is no comfort’ in the thought the girls died together, just how they had lived.

‘No,’ she said, adding: ‘They didn’t come into this world together. Why would they leave it together?’

A GoFundMe appeal to give the sisters ‘the loving and dignified farewell they deserve’ has attaracted nearly £40,000 in donations in its first 24 hours.

Fundraiser organiser Adesoji Adetoro wrote that it was set up on behalf of his brother Joseph and the family, adding that they are struggling to come to terms with what has happened.

‘No parent should ever have to bury their child, let alone all three,’ he said.

‘While trying to process this unimaginable tragedy, my brother is now also faced with the heartbreaking task of arranging three funerals.

‘As a family, we simply want to give the girls the loving and dignified farewell they deserve.’

Sussex Police have said there is no evidence to suggest criminality or that anyone else was involved, but specialist detectives are working to gather the full facts and circumstances around their deaths.

Hundreds of hours of CCTV footage have been reviewed and inquiries made to businesses and properties around the beach area to try to track the women’s last movements, the force said.

Anyone with information is asked to come forward, particularly anyone who saw the sisters around the Madeira Drive area between 10pm on May 12 and 5.30am May 13.

Chief Superintendent Adam Hays has said the force ‘will leave no stone unturned’ in the investigation to understand what led to the ‘tragic events of that Wednesday morning’.

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Leading universities have urged Shabana Mahmood to exempt outstanding students in some conflict-stricken countries from a draconian visa ban.

Some 34 universities, represented by higher-education associations the Russell Group and ResearchPlus, have written to the home secretary to plead for an exception for Chevening scholars, taking part in a government-funded programme that enables outstanding emerging leaders from around the world to do a one-year master’s degree in the UK.

The Home Office ended study visas for students from Afghanistan, Cameroon, Myanmar and Sudan in March, after Ms Mahmood claimed the visa routes were being abused. As a result, Chevening scholars from these countries are unable to come to the UK.

In a letter sent to Ms Mahmood, the two associations which represent the University of Cambridge, Durham, Manchester, and Imperial College London among others, said the application of the visa ban to Chevening scholars was not “fair or proportionate”, adding that applicants have “already undergone rigorous, government-led assessment”.

They hit back at the claims that the system was being abused, saying: “Our universities take their compliance responsibilities seriously and support appropriate measures to protect the integrity of student visas.

“The vast majority of international study applicants are genuine, and it is in all our interests that the system remains credible.”

They described the visa brake as a “blunt measure”, adding: “These [Chevening] candidates are selected through a global competitive process overseen by the UK government which assesses academic merit, leadership potential, and their intention to return to their home countries following their studies.”

Professor Libby Hackett, of the Russell Group and Professor Andrew Jones and Professor Sasha, of ResearchPlus, who represent the University of Oxford and the Open University respectively, described the Chevening programme as a “highly competitive and well-regarded scheme” that “played a central role in advancing the UK’s international partnerships and national interests”.

Some 22 of the scheme’s alumni have gone on to be heads of state, and 15 per cent hold prominent positions in government, the letter, shared with The Independent says.

Sasha Roseneil, co-chair of ResearchPlus and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sussex, said: “We risk turning away tomorrow’s leaders by placing restrictions on outstanding scholars who have already passed the government’s own rigorous selection process”.

Foreign secretary Yvette Cooper reportedly appealed to Ms Mahmood for an exemption for Chevening students, with Ms Cooper concerned about the impact of the decision on vulnerable women in Afghanistan and Sudan. Ms Mahmood reportedly rejected the intervention.

According to Home Office data published this week, 10,835 people on a study visa went on to claim asylum in the UK in the year up to March 2026. Hundreds of thousands of people are granted student visas each year, and there were some 498,626 grants in the peak year ending June 2023.

The number of students who go on to claim asylum is decreasing, prompted by the fall in study visas granted following restrictions on family members coming to the UK.

The most common nationalities claiming asylum in the year up to March 2026 were Pakistani, with the vast majority arriving in Britain on legal visas, and Eritreans, most of whom have arrived illegally. This was followed by Iran and Afghanistan, with majority of these nationals also arriving irregularly, such as via small boat crossings.

The Chevening scheme offers more than 1,000 scholarships each year for promising students from around the world.

Prof Hackett said: “Chevening Scholars have shown themselves to be exceptionally talented individuals who use their education in the UK to make invaluable contributions in their home countries. We should be making every effort to attract and support these students, not creating more barriers for them.”

The Home Office has been contacted for comment.

The owner of the whippet said that the dog ‘is extremely lucky to be alive’ – and the sandpit has since been removed

An Ely woman said her whippet suffered life-threatening injuries at a dog field. Georgia Hewer-Heppethwaite, known as Georgia Nevada, 28, hired out Ely Dog Field in Little Downham for her whippet, Beans, on April 29.

Beans was running through the hired dog field when he fell into a closed sandpit and injured his neck. Beans jumped out of the sandpit and “started screaming like a visceral sound I’ve never heard before,” Georgia said.

“It was horrific. I just saw my husband sprinting towards him,” she added. The pair, who said it felt “like a dream” used a jumper to stop the bleeding while the vet was called. Beans was immediately taken to a nearby vet who waited outside to rush him into surgery.

Beans was in surgery for several hours. Georgia said: “He is extremely lucky to have survived. He suffered a hole in his neck just under the size of a ping pong ball.”

“We were told by the surgeons and vets that if we didn’t stop the bleeding and get him to the vet as quickly as we did, it would have been fatal,” she added.

When the accident occurred, the pair “were all over the place” but now they have “moved passed the initial emotion of it”. They called for better signage of the sand pit, which they described as a “hazard”.

Georgia, who has felt “really uneasy, upset and concerned”, wanted to see changes made to the sandpit to prevent other dogs from getting hurt. She said: “They had other dogs in the next morning.”

In response to the incident, the owners of the field said: “Ely Dog Field remains deeply saddened that any dog should ever be injured in any capacity and send our very best wishes to the dog for a continued recovery.”

Georgia said that “it is a beautiful dog park” but if owners are hoping to take their dogs there, she had warned them to “avoid that area”. “I feel like they have a responsibility as dog owners to make it safe”, she continued.

In a statement on Friday, May 22, a spokesperson for Ely Field Park said: “The sandpit has now been removed as we move forward following the recent incident. Our priority remains providing a positive and enjoyable space for our customers and their dogs.”

Ely Dog Field added that they “immediately provided all assistance that [they] could to support the owners that evening”, after being made aware of a dog being “seriously injured” while at the field.

The statement added: “We were very pleased to receive an update the following day confirming that the beautiful dog had returned home from the vets.

“In line with correct procedure, we followed due process and notified our insurers, who then took over all communication regarding the matter. The insurance company reviewed photos, videos, and a significant amount of documentation and concluded that we are not liable.”

The Pentagon has released a fresh batch of previously classified UFO files and videos.

Among the 222 newly disclosed files is a clip in which a jet shoots down a suspected Unidentified anomalous phenomenon (UAP) over Lake Huron in February 2023.

Other documents declassified by Donald Trump’s administration relate to a series of sightings in a secret facility in Sandia, New Mexico, between 1948 and 1950.

The files contain 209 sightings of UAPs, including ‘green orbs’, ‘discs’, and ‘fireballs’ reported near the military base.

They also detail findings of residual copper powder in areas where the suspected UFOs were sighted.

Some of the reports became part of Project Grudge, a short-lived investigation into UFOS between February and December 1949.

A newly-released CIA file details a sighting at the Saray Shagan weapons testing range in the USSR, now Kazakhstan.

Section 14 outlines an ‘airborne, luminous, bright green, unidentified object’ which was spotted in the summer of 1973.

It described ‘concentric circles forming around the phenomenon over a period of several minutes’ before dissipating.

Another video, likely recorded on a mobile phone, shows a luminous phenomenon near Karaganda International Airport in Kazakhstan in March 2022.

Other files include recordings of astronauts flagging potential UAPs.

In one clip, Scott Carpenter, the Aurora 7 pilot, described white particles in view that appear to move at ;random and ‘look exactly like snowflakes’ during the fourth manned spaceflight in 1962.

He said the particles were ‘reflective’ and flying faster than his spacecraft.

US defence secretary Pete Hegseth said: ‘The Department of War is in lockstep with President Trump to bring unprecedented transparency regarding our government’s understanding of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena.

‘These files, hidden behind classifications, have long fueled justified speculation — and it’s time the American people see it for themselves. This release of declassified documents demonstrates the Trump Administration’s earnest commitment to unprecedented transparency.’

Two weeks ago, the Pentagon released the first tranche of documents relating to alleged sightings of unidentified objects, including a chilling FBI report about ‘aliens’ and wild claims that Nazis built a UFO.

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For decades, the British summer holiday has carried one basic assumption: if you want reliable sun, you leave the UK. Spain, Greece, Turkey, Portugal and Italy have offered what Britain could not always guarantee: warmth, blue skies and the feeling of a proper summer break.

But climate change is beginning to alter the financial logic of that decision. This does not mean the UK should celebrate warmer summers. Heat brings serious risks: drought, wildfire, water stress, pressure on health services and damage to infrastructure.

Yet for households facing higher living costs, expensive travel and growing awareness of carbon emissions, the summer holiday is becoming more than a lifestyle choice. It is becoming a household finance decision, a regional economic decision and a climate-risk decision.

The warning signs are now difficult to ignore. The Met Office confirmed that summer 2025 was the UK’s warmest on record, with a mean temperature of 16.10°C between June and August. It is also estimated that a summer as hot or hotter than 2025 is now around 70 times more likely because of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions. This does not mean every British summer will be hot or dry. But it does mean that warm-weather tourism at home is becoming more plausible than it was for previous generations.

The financial scale of outbound tourism is substantial. According to the Office for National Statistics, UK residents made an estimated 94.6 million visits abroad in 2024 and spent about £78.6 billion overseas. Spain alone received an estimated 17.8 million visits from residents of Great Britain in 2024, followed by France and Italy. These figures show how deeply foreign summer travel is embedded in our lifestyles and the wider leisure economy.

International travel clearly has personal and cultural value. People travel to see family, experience different cultures, rest, celebrate and escape routine. But from a household finance perspective, foreign holidays also involve costs that are often underestimated: flights, luggage charges, airport parking, transfers, travel insurance, exchange-rate costs, mobile roaming, higher peak-season accommodation prices and the financial risk of disruption.

Climate change adds another layer of uncertainty. Heatwaves, wildfires, floods and airport disruption can quickly turn a holiday into a financial loss. A family may budget for flights and hotels, but not for cancelled excursions, delayed returns, medical expenses in extreme heat, or additional accommodation if travel plans are disrupted. Climate risk is therefore no longer only a concern for governments, insurers or infrastructure investors. It is entering ordinary household decisions, including where families spend their summer break.

Sustainable staycations

This is where the UK staycation becomes more important. Staying in Britain is not automatically cheap and it is not automatically sustainable. In popular destinations such as Cornwall, Devon or the Lake District, a peak-season cottage can cost well over £1,000 for a week, depending on location, property size and school-holiday timing. A long car journey is not necessarily low carbon. Popular coastal towns can become overcrowded, placing pressure on housing, water, waste, roads and local services. But a well-planned domestic holiday can reduce several financial and environmental costs at once.

First, it can reduce exposure to volatile travel costs. Families may avoid airfare inflation, exchange-rate uncertainty and some of the expenses linked to overseas travel. They may also have more flexibility to travel outside the most expensive weeks, take shorter breaks, or adjust plans if weather conditions change.

Second, domestic tourism keeps more spending inside the UK economy. Money spent in local guesthouses, restaurants, cafes, farm shops, museums and small attractions circulates through regional economies. This matters especially for coastal and rural areas where seasonal tourism supports employment and small businesses.

VisitBritain’s 2024 domestic overnight tourism data shows that British residents took 106 million overnight trips in Britain, although trip volume fell compared with 2023. Spending, adjusted for inflation, increased by 3% in Britain, partly reflecting higher costs per trip. This is important: domestic tourism has economic value, but affordability is already a constraint.

Third, staying closer to home can reduce the carbon cost of leisure. Aviation’s climate impact is not limited to carbon dioxide. Aviation accounts for about 2.5% of human-made global CO₂ emissions, but its climate impact also includes non-CO₂ effects such as contrails and nitrogen oxides. Replacing a short-haul flight with rail, coach, or a shorter domestic journey will not solve climate change, but it can reduce the footprint of a decision made by millions of households every year.

Britain cannot simply wait for warmer summers and call it an opportunity. If domestic tourism grows without planning, it could create new costs: overcrowded beaches, higher local rents, water shortages, waste pressures and congestion. A sustainable staycation economy needs investment in public transport, affordable accommodation, shaded public spaces, water refill points, wildfire awareness, coastal protection and better visitor management.

There is also a fairness issue. If domestic holidays become fashionable but unaffordable, the benefits will be uneven. The goal should not be luxury staycations for wealthier households. It should be a broader model of climate-conscious leisure that allows more families to rest and travel without excessive financial strain or environmental cost.

The message to households should be practical rather than judgemental. A foreign holiday is not wrong. People travel abroad for many good reasons, including family, culture, rest and escape. But the old idea that a summer holiday requires a flight is becoming less convincing. As UK summers become warmer and overseas travel becomes more exposed to climate and cost shocks, staying in Britain may increasingly make financial and environmental sense.

A warmer UK summer is not good news in itself. It is a warning. But it also forces a practical question: if sunshine is becoming more available at home, can Britain build a tourism model that keeps more money in local economies, reduces emissions, and protects households from the rising financial risks of climate change?