Great Lever’s Neighbourhood Policing Team led the operation, focusing on removing illegal drugs from the streets and ensuring businesses comply with the law.

At the weekend (Sunday, August 2), officers on patrol found an abandoned vehicle, with checks later confirming that it had no current keeper and no insurance.

Inside the vehicle, officers discovered 49 boxes of nitrous oxide, a Class C drug.

Sergeant Daniel Richards from GMP’s Bolton neighbourhood team said: “The last few days have seen several successes for our team – taking illicit and dangerous drugs off the streets, and working with partners to secure the closure of shops suspected of criminality.

“While we will always work to tackle these sort of issues, our work can take many forms – from proactive patrols to local engagement and preventative work with the local council and other teams to address issues affecting residents in our area.

“I would urge anyone with anyone with issues to please get in touch with us, as it all informs our work and we will do what we can to help you.”

The nitrous oxide was seized this week. (Image: GMP)

Nitrous oxide can cause serious health risks and has been linked to fatal and life-changing road collisions in Greater Manchester.

The canisters were seized, and officers have gathered further intelligence as part of ongoing efforts to reduce the drug’s use.

On Monday, the team executed a warrant at a property on Grosvenor Street following reports of illegal substances.

A small amount of recreational steroids was found and seized.

A man was given an out-of-court disposal and a warning.

In addition to drug enforcement, officers secured three-month closure orders for two shops on Derby Street in Great Lever.

Great Lever’s Neighbourhood Policing Team lead the operation. (Image: GMP)

These closures followed reports of anti-social behaviour linked to the businesses.

The neighbourhood team said it remains committed to addressing both criminal activity and the wider community concerns that contribute to anti-social behaviour.

Their work includes direct enforcement, engagement with residents, and joint initiatives with the local council.

Officers continue to encourage residents to report any concerns or suspicious activity to help inform future operations and keep the community safe.

While the old adage of ‘no smoke without fire’ may be true, the reverse is not. From Suffolk to the Peak District to the Cairngorms, pockets of fires are still furtively flickering away, smokeless, unseen and underfoot, in roots, animal burrows or a seam of peat. Sharp-eyed fire crews remain on standby, ready to pounce on the next flame to pop up from the underworld.

The worst may be over – for now, although a new heatwave is on the way – after the spate of wildfires breaking out across Britain in recent days. But the damage – not just to the landscape but the wider tourist industry – reflects a disturbing reality: These things now spread further, faster and deeper than they used to.

And it’s certainly not just down to climate change.

The rise of the fashionable new doctrine that nature is ‘best left to itself’ is leaving mountains of flame-ready brushwood waiting for a spark.

And where, in the past, a live-in gamekeeper might have been on the spot in a trice to swat a wildfire before it got going, much of the countryside is now administered by a nine-to-five lanyard class who are expressly forbidden from tackling anything riskier than a bin fire in the office waste paper basket.

In Suffolk, much of Dunwich Heath and Minsmere, a great sprawl of ancient wood, heather and grassland, resembles a First World War-style wastescape of ash and the odd gnarled tree.

Two nature reserves – one run by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and the other by the National Trust – have been wiped out.

The disaster zone equates to 210 football pitches, so we are told by the local authorities who think that the public find a sporting analogy easier to digest than ‘371 acres’. Or, to put it another way, that equates to seeing London’s Hyde Park or three-quarters of Monaco go up in smoke.

A firefighting helicopter scoops up seawater in attempt to control the Dunwich Heath wildfire

The destruction further north has been much worse. The losses at Tintwistle Moor and Dove Stone in the Peak District have been officially rated as 1,250 football pitches, while the destruction in the Cairngorms stands at 3,500 pitches (ten square miles in old money). In each area, the fire crews have performed heroically, assisted by quick-thinking local farmers, gamekeepers and volunteers.

In Suffolk, for example, families had to be plucked from caravans in the dead of night as the flames were heading to a holiday park and, for a while, towards nearby homes.

Ultimately, not a single shed or mobile home, let alone a human life or residence, was lost. The sense of relief round here is palpable.

But now that these wildfires have been largely stamped out, a similarly incendiary debate has already started over the best way to minimise the damage in future.

In very broad terms, it boils down to those, on one side, who think our countryside should be proactively managed the way it has been for generations by people living and working on the land.

Then there are those, on the other, who want it to revert to a more ‘natural’, less human-centric state, a doctrine usually described as ‘rewilding’.

It is a quarrel variously painted as tweedy traditionalists versus dreamy idealists; horny-handed countryfolk versus eco-zealots. Scratch a little deeper and you are soon into culture war/class war/political territory, too.

All can happily agree on a few things. First, idiots will always be with us, dropping fag ends and glass or lighting camp fires in hot weather.

Second, climate change, scorching temperatures and dry, tinderbox summers are now set to be the norm. Views then differ radically on what can be done to make the countryside less flammable.

It is clear that the more we leave woods, grass, heather and gorse untouched by human hand, the more an area accumulates what the authorities call ‘fuel load’ – and what the rest of us call ‘kindling’.

Yet the rewilding lobby argues passionately that rewilding leads to ‘rewetting’ – the benefits of dam-building beavers are often cited – and, thus, a wetter countryside is less likely to burn.

‘This cult has grown up saying, “Man bad, nature good”; that any human intervention is a bad thing,’ says Tim Bonner, chief executive of the Countryside Alliance. ‘At a time when the environmental movement could not be more right about the challenges of climate change and dry summers, it is exactly the time when more management is needed.

‘But the environmental movement and government agencies like Natural England have increasingly moved towards this sort of hands-off, happy-clappy, rewilding idea that if we just let nature go, it’ll all be fine.’

Almost every wildfire turns out to be the fault of a human (though the odd lightning strike can be to blame). Last month’s blaze above Dove Stone reservoir in the Peaks followed the drowning of a teenager whose friends had returned to honour him with fireworks. One of those set off the heather on the moor above.

However, it has not gone unnoticed that some of the worst wildfires have occurred in places with higher fuel loads – i.e. those where the orthodoxy of rewilding is embraced.

Every wildfire is different but the hottest topic in the rewilding debate concerns the management of our moorland. For this fight spills over into class, politics and animal rights.

An estimated one million acres of British moorland is dedicated to grouse shooting. Most of that land sits inside our national parks, says the pressure group Rewilding Britain, a staunch foe of ‘intensively-managed grouse moors which leave nature impoverished and contribute to climate breakdown’.

They argue that the traditional maintenance of grouse moors, which involves burning patches of heather in rotation during winter to promote heather regeneration, causes lasting damage to the peat beneath it.

Much better, say the rewilders, to leave nature well alone, let the peat soak up more moisture and, over time, see the heather give way to moss. They also want to block up moorland drains or ‘grips’ (historically created to promote sheep farming) that take water off the hills.

Though moorland is not prime beaver territory, the aim is rewetting as well as rewilding. Underpinning this, though, in many cases, is a simple dislike of wealthy people shooting small birds. With the grouse-shooting season almost upon us – Wednesday is the ‘Glorious Twelfth’ – the issue is a live one right now.

The shooters, estate owners and gamekeepers, however, point out that a grouse moor is not only much more eco-friendly than a hands-off hillside but it is far less likely to suffer a wildfire precisely because it is actively managed. By burning selected or ‘prescribed’ areas each winter, the moor becomes a ‘mosaic’ of heathers of different ages, each of which will promote different species of wildlife at different stages in the plant’s growth.

Overall, the whole patchwork is less susceptible to a fast-moving blaze because the newly-burned parts of the ‘mosaic’ serve as fire breaks. Furthermore, say the grouse lobby, winter burning or ‘muirburn’ does no damage to the peat.

With 30 years of gamekeeping behind him, moorlands expert Richard Bailey points to an online video showing a keeper placing a Mars bar underneath a patch of moorland heather.

Smoke rises in the distance over Dunwich Heath

Evacuated residents gather at Westleton Village Hall

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This then gets a full winter torching. The top of the heather is frazzled but the Mars bar underneath is unscathed in its wrapper, thus proving that the peat below is unharmed. A wildfire, on the other hand, burns down to the roots and would have incinerated both the Mars bar and the peat, too.

Peak District-based Mr Bailey, who was invited to address a parliamentary committee on the subject, has spent recent weeks helping out round the clock to put out the blazes in his area.

It is no coincidence, he points out, that these have occurred on non-grouse-shooting land run by the RSPB. He does not deny that wildfires can sometimes start on a grouse moor – and it does happen – but he argues that it is much less likely to take off at speed because the ‘fuel load’ is greatly depleted.

As for the rewilders’ plans to rewet peat bogs, typically over a 50-year period, he says that it is a nice idea but self-defeating if wildfires are going to incinerate the land in the meantime.

Mr Bonner points out that where locals burn heather in non‑grouse-shooting areas – such as Dartmoor – there is no vocal opposition because the beneficiaries there are animals, not gun-toting toffs in plus fours.

Mr Bailey says that Greater Manchester fire brigade regularly seeks training and advice on moorland fires from estate gamekeepers because they have been managing moors for generations. He also notes that the brigade were very grateful for the help of 20 gamekeepers who worked round the clock on the Tintwistle fire for ten days – equating to 2,289 man-hours at no public cost.

He states that charity staff and civil servants, through no fault of their own, are told not to tackle any fire greater than one square metre and must dial 999 instead. ‘By the time the crews get there, the fire is going to be well under way,’ he says.

Down in Suffolk, I check out the impact on the local economy. It’s lunchtime in the enchanting village of Dunwich in what should be one of the busiest weeks of the year – and the place is ghostly.

The authorities have been telling everyone to ‘avoid the area’, even though Dunwich is perfectly safe – and well worth a visit. So, too, is neighbouring Westleton which responded magnificently when the fire broke out. Barbara Buckley, chair of Westleton village hall, and her neighbours were up all night finding accommodation for the refugees from the holiday park near the burning heath.

People here want to get on with their lives, not debate the merits of rewilding. However, one local farmer points out that the RSPB’s Minsmere reserve hardly needs rewetting since much of it is marshland, while its fire breaks were ‘woeful’.

The village hall remains the local information hub. One of those dropping in is the gardener for film star Ralph Fiennes who has a house inside the sealed-off security zone. Like all the others, it is fine thanks to the swift response of the fire brigade.

I talk to the actor’s brother, Jake Fiennes, a prominent countryside expert who runs the award-winning operation at Holkham Hall, the Earl of Leicester’s 25,000-acre estate in neighbouring Norfolk.

He has friends on both sides of the rewilding debate but wants to see us move on from its divisive tone. ‘We are on a small island on the edge of the Atlantic that has been managed by Man for millennia.

‘I get frustrated by the ecological language which alienates those who have historically managed land through different processes. There has to be compromise, partnership and understanding. I prefer to talk about restorative agriculture.’

Having grown up near Dunwich, he is very familiar with the burned-out area. He reflects that some of the heathland there had been left untouched for too long and had become, as he puts it, ‘rank’.

The RSPB also questions the language of the debate.

‘Rewilding means different things to different people but restoring and protecting natural processes in the right places can have real conservation benefits,’ a spokesman tells me.

‘That said, the heathland at RSPB Minsmere and our other lowland heathland sites is the very antithesis of what many consider to be “rewilding”. These landscapes are actively, carefully and continuously managed.’

He adds that the RSPB does provide firebreaks: ‘We take the risk of wildfire exceptionally seriously across all our reserves.’

The National Trust says it is equally committed to safety but that its eight-metre firebreaks at Dunwich were overwhelmed by 40-metre flames. It adds: ‘There is no rewilding policy at Dunwich Heath or anywhere at the National Trust. Our decisions are guided by science.’

It rejects the use of selected winter burning to reduce fuel load, saying there is ‘limited evidence’, adding: ‘We prioritise nature restoration over routine burning because healthier, wetter landscapes are more resilient to wildfire’.

Judging by recent events, those beavers have a great deal left to do.

Police, firefighters and paramedics were called to the scene in Holgate Road at 7.45pm on Friday (August 7).

Everyone was out of the vehicles when the fire crews arrived, North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service said.

The fire service said “casualties were left in the care of ambulance crews”.

Firefighters made the scene safe by isolation the vehicles’ batteries.

The fire service said the incident was “left in the hands of police”.

Images of the scene showed the fronts of both cars, a navy Uber and a silver Vauxhall, badly damaged after the collision outside the Crystal Palace pub.

The stretch of Holgate Road outside the pub was cordoned off after the crash.

McDonald’s set its sights on a Cambridge location, just minutes away from another operating store

McDonald’s has been given the green light to open a new restaurant in Cambridge despite another being just minutes away in the car. Cambridge City Council has granted McDonald’s Restaurants Ltd permission to open the new restaurant at Cambridge Retail Park.

The site, which has been vacant since March 2023, contains a former Frankie and Benny’s restaurant. It has more recently been used as a Turkish Restaurant. The approved plans include the change of use of the site to transform it into a mixed restaurant and takeaway use.

A planning statement says: “The customer seating area comprises a sizeable 112 covers for visitors to eat their meals within a relaxed modern environment. The dining area will include a variety of seating types and table sizes tailored to the customers’ needs.”

According to the proposals, the restaurant is expected to employ more than 120 full and part time staff, which McDonald’s seeks to recruit from the local area.

Located less than one-mile away from the new site, around a five-minute drive, is another McDonald’s location on Newmarket Road. There is also another operating restaurant on Rose Crescent in the city centre.

At the new location, the back of the restaurant would be extended into the existing storage area and alterations to the elevations include a new sliding entrance door and side door. The existing patio area is to be retained and enhanced, with a new children’s playframe and new patio seating included in the plans.

According to the applicant, McDonald’s Restaurants Ltd, the latest figures available show that the fast-food chain contributed £3.18 million to the economy in Cambridge.

Racism against NHS staff is on the rise, according to the Society of Radiographers (SoR), with members reporting a “noticeable” increase in abuse from patients over the past 18 months – including staff being called “monkeys”, told they are “dirty foreigners”, and, in one case, a man refusing to let a sonographer scan his pregnant wife because of her ethnicity.

Figures from the latest NHS Staff Survey back this up: 9.26 per cent of staff said they had personally experienced discrimination from patients or service users in the last year, the highest proportion in five years.

NHS England says new national staff standards will require organisations to take “meaningful action” against racist patients, including the option to refuse non-emergency care.

The story struck a nerve with Independent readers, many of whom voiced anger on staff’s behalf and called for tougher consequences for offenders.

Here’s what you had to say:

Patients repay lifesaving care with baseless superiority

It’s been going on forever. Patients who can barely read or string a coherent, expletive-free sentence together thumb their noses at well-educated non-white staff who often speak multiple languages better than they can speak one, while saving lives. Every Black worker in a caring profession among my friends and family can tell you endless stories. Some of the lurching, booze-sodden, abusive, toothless specimens who drag themselves into A&E after a Friday night’s excess are treated with care and respect, only to respond with utterly baseless superiority.

BrotherChe

Anti-immigration rhetoric is fuelling the rise in racism

Sadly, the inevitable rise of racism is a side effect of all this anti-immigration rhetoric. The far right thrive under these circumstances, as do their appalling racist values. When we normalise the far right and groups like Reform, these are the behaviours and values we start to normalise and accept again. If there was a general election today, Farage would probably win.

DH

Threatened with deportation by a patient

This happened to me (a German nurse) and a Portuguese student nurse when we were caring for a patient in A&E.

“So,” he said, “what are you going to do when we kick you both out of the country?” I was tempted to ask what he’d do if neither of us were in the country – but refrained.

Baldrick’s Plan

The NHS depends on foreign workers

Many seem to forget that there are far fewer British people going into nursing and care jobs because of the wage stagnation that’s occurred over the last 15 years, so we need these foreign workers to keep the NHS functioning. Without them it would collapse – there are still 111,000 adult care work vacancies in the UK. Complaining about workers from other countries has risen because of the racist rhetoric Farage has nurtured and encouraged for years now, and to deny that isn’t part of the problem is just ridiculous.

antmanbee

Don’t treat patients who abuse staff with racism

Simple answer – don’t treat racist hospital patients who insult NHS staff with racist remarks. The NHS does a wonderful job, and their staff should not have to put up with racism.

Christopher1959

It’s ignorance and arrogance, not skin colour, that’s the problem

26 years ago, as an area manager in a social housing supported living service, we had white racists who complained about non-white support workers or domiciliary carers. If they complained about or refused care from a non-white person, we’d invite them to go and live elsewhere. It’s not the colour of skin of the care providers that’s the problem – it’s the ignorance and arrogance of a colonialist mindset. Disgraceful.

JimLiverpool

Language standards for registration could be tightened

Racist incidents, from anyone, are disgraceful. However, regarding communication, there can certainly be problems. The NMC publishes “Guidance on registration language requirements”, but in a few cases this does not seem to be adequate – perhaps there should be an actual test at registration.

IndyReader

Bigotry clouds judgement, not skill

The government and NHS senior managers need to stop allowing this sort of behaviour, including assault. If people aren’t happy with what the NHS offers they have a choice of private care. I worked for years as a nurse, and I can assure you the colour of someone’s skin makes no difference to how they perform. Racism and bigotry affect a person’s mind.

Malcolm

Patients can’t dictate who treats them

This is part of a wider pattern of bad patient behaviour – at my local hospital, people even smoke in the grounds despite clear signage against it. There needs to be a much stronger response: racist comments, intimidation and other unacceptable behaviour shouldn’t be treated as minor, and should involve prosecution in serious cases. A patient can refuse treatment from an individual clinician, but they can’t insist the NHS provide a different one.

Musil

I only saw nurses and doctors, nothing else

I had a bypass operation within a few days of diagnosis. I saw nurses and doctors – that’s it, nothing else. How can people see anything else? They helped me, and today I’m alive and writing this comment. The NHS is not perfect, but people are trying to make it better all the time. People complaining about colour within the NHS aren’t getting treatment or help from that.

Redlorries

Sowing division

What a terrible shame that those brought into the country to help the NHS and social care must bear the brunt of these attacks, when governments of both parties are culpable for sowing the division brought about by mass immigration. Little wonder some people have become intolerant when they see their towns and cities change. Mass immigration has been used not to help the NHS but to help capitalists increase their profits by reducing wages and workers’ rights and conditions.

FaithofOurFathers

Be nice and be treated, or leave

Six years ago I was in hospital for almost three weeks for a heart bypass, and every single nurse, doctor or auxiliary – whatever their background – was extremely good at their job. I wish I could say the same for the patients: some missed appointments through their own fault then complained they hadn’t been seen to, one refused a required test, and others were plain rude to staff, treating them like waiters and demanding things without a please or thank you. If people want to be racist, rude or uncooperative, give them one choice: be nice and be treated, or leave. The NHS is stretched and should be allowed to refuse treatment.

slapand

They should be sent private instead

These people should be sent private and see how far that gets them. Even my mother, who is fairly conservative, was shocked by the way other patients treated people of colour during a recent hospital stay – she was so grateful for the excellent care she received from all the staff.

Illearthstoner

Some of the comments have been edited for this article for brevity and clarity.

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Jeffrey Epstein was once a powerful figure in finance and elite social circles, building relationships with influential figures around the world.

But after his conviction as a child sex offender, those ties came under intense scrutiny. 

In the years that followed, a growing number of those connected to the disgraced financier died, fuelling persistent speculation surrounding the case.

The latest is Daniel Siad, who was found dead at his home in the suburbs of Paris in late July aged 68.

The Swedish-French modelling scout, who had helped arrange meetings between women and Epstein, was under investigation for human trafficking at the time of his death.

His death was initially reported as a cardiac arrest; however, the 28-year-old woman who had been staying with him claimed he had shown no signs of illness and had often spoken about his healthy lifestyle.

The Nanterre prosecutor’s office has now opened an investigation and ordered a post-mortem examination to establish Siad’s cause of death, reigniting conspiracy theories surrounding the Epstein case.

Epstein’s own death was mired in mystery and speculation. The 66-year-old was awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges when he was found dead in his prison cell. 

Jean-Luc Brunel, a 76-year-old French modelling agent, was found hanged in his cell in a Paris prison in 2022 (Pictured with Epstein)

The two guards responsible for monitoring him, who had been assigned after an earlier suicide attempt, reportedly fell asleep and failed to check on him for three hours. At the same time, the cameras outside his cell allegedly malfunctioned.

In 2023, the US Department of Justice concluded there had been ‘job performance failures’ by prison officials but ruled that Epstein had died by suicide. 

Even so, many have continued to question the official account, arguing that Epstein’s knowledge posed a threat to numerous powerful individuals.

Siad’s name appeared thousands of times in the Epstein files over a period of ten years.

Records show Epstein reimbursed Siad for expenses incurred during modelling scouting trips in which he procured women for the financier. 

Emails also show Epstein asking: ‘Wht about new girls?’ while Siad boasted of the women’s youth. In one exchange, he wrote: ’26 but she look 18.’

Although Siad had previously claimed ignorance of Epstein’s crimes, one victim told the BBC that Siad had introduced her to Epstein and was ‘essentially a professional trafficker’.

Earlier this year, former Swedish model Ebba Karlsson accused the scout of rape and human trafficking, claiming he had raped her in the 1990s.

After his death, the model told Agente France-Presse that Siad’s death was ‘very frustrating’, explaining: ‘He was very close to being arrested. We worked so hard for this, trying to have justice.’

Another mysterious death connected to Epstein was that of Jean-Luc Brunel, a 76-year-old French modelling agent who had been facing allegations of rape. 

In 2022, Brunel, similarly to Epstein, was found hanged in his cell in a Paris prison, where he was being held on suspicion of the rape and trafficking of minors, which he denied.

Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre had previously alleged she was forced into sex with the agent. 

After his death, she posted on Twitter: ‘I’m disappointed that I wasn’t able to face him in a final trial to hold him accountable.’ 

Prosecutors suspected Brunel of using MC2 Model Management, a US agency he co-founded with Jeffrey Epstein’s financial backing, to house and transport young women for the sex offender. 

Also in 2022, two more of Epstein’s acquaintances mysteriously died. One of them was American lawyer Mark Middleton, who had, while working for former US President Bill Clinton, facilitated access to the White House for the financier, who visited at least 17 times between 1993 and 1995.

Middleton, who had also previously flown on Epstein’s ‘Lolita Express’ plane, was found dead at a ranch in Arkansas under gruesome circumstances.

The 59-year-old was hanging from a tree with an extension cord around his neck, and a shotgun wound to the chest. A Stoeger 12-gauge coach shotgun was later discovered nearby.

Middleton, who had also previously flown on Epstein’s ‘Lolita Express’ plane, was found dead at a ranch in Arkansas under gruesome circumstances

The other death was that of businessman and fraudster Steven Hoffenberg – widely regarded as Epstein’s mentor

Bill Richardson, the former governor of New Mexico and US ambassador to the United Nations, died in his sleep at his summer home in Massachusetts aged 75

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In 2014, Alfredo Rodriguez, Epstein’s former butler, died from cancer aged 60

Although the coroner ruled the death a suicide, noting Middleton’s history of mental health struggles, those who knew him were more skeptical.

Speaking to RadarOnline, one former business associate said: ‘He knows nothing about guns. He hated guns. He couldn’t have tied a noose to save his life. The man couldn’t change a light bulb by himself […] His death scenario is completely implausible to everybody that knew him.’ 

The other death that year was that of businessman and fraudster Steven Hoffenberg – widely regarded as Epstein’s mentor.

Hoffenberg and Epstein met in 1987 and quickly became close, regularly travelling on Hoffenberg’s private jet together and enjoying a luxurious lifestyle. 

But their relationship soured when Hoffenberg claimed Epstein was involved in his investor Ponzi scheme, which got him 18 years in prison and a $1million fine. 

Epstein was never charged in connection with what the Securities and Exchange Commission called ‘one of the largest Ponzi schemes in history’, but in 2016, Hoffenberg sued the financier, claiming he was the ‘architect of the scam’.

Hoffenberg was found dead aged 77 at his Connecticut home in August 2022. His body was found in an advances state of decomposition, with police estimating he has been dead for a week. 

A post-mortem examination revealed he had died of natural causes. 

A year later, another figure linked to Epstein died. Bill Richardson, the former governor of New Mexico and US ambassador to the United Nations, died in his sleep at his summer home in Massachusetts aged 75. No cause of death was announced. 

In 2019 it was revealed he had been named in the civil suit between Virginia Giuffre and Ghislaine Maxwell, with Giuffre alleging Richardson was among the powerful men to whom she was sexually trafficked by Maxwell and Epstein.

Epstein donated $50,000 to Richardson’s 2002 campaign for governor, while flight logs show Richardson travelled with Epstein and three of his victims from the British Virgin Islands to the US Virgin Islands in 2011.

A spokesman for Richardson said he did not know Giuffre and had never seen the financier in the company of underage or young girls.

These mystery deaths have spanned over a decade. In 2014, Alfredo Rodriguez, Epstein’s former butler, died from cancer aged 60.

Rodriguez had previously been caught by the FBI attempting to sell Epstein’s ‘little black book’ for $50,000.

This book was dubbed the ‘holy grail’ by prosecutors, since it reportedly contained details of Epstein’s friends and victims. 

According to court papers, Rodriguez said he had stolen the book as insurance, fearing Epstein would make him ‘disappear’.

A few years later, in 2018, a detective who investigated Epstein in the early 2000s in Palm Beach died aged only 50, after a ‘brief illness.’

Joe Recarey, who alleged he was under political pressure to drop the case, had previously told the Miami Herald that he feared for his life.

Joe Recarey, a detective who investigated Epstein in the early 2000s in Palm Beach died aged only 50, after a ‘brief illness’

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Thomas Bowers, who was 55 at the time of his death, had formerly worked for Deutsche Bank, who had taken on Epstein as a client in 2013

Steve Bing, another of the disgraced financier’s associates, died in 2020 by suicide 

In 2021, Epstein’s final cellmate, Efrain ‘Stone’ Reyes died after reportedly contracting Covid

Recarey claimed he was being followed, and routinely had to switch his routes to work or take different cars.

‘I was concerned about my kids because I didn’t know if it was someone that they hired just out of prison that would hurt me or my family,’ he told the Herald.

And just months later in 2019, an Epstein-connected banker reportedly hanged himself at his home in California. 

Thomas Bowers, who was 55 at the time of his death, had formerly worked for Deutsche Bank, who had taken on Epstein as a client in 2013.

In 2020, the company agreed to pay a $150million fine to settle charges brought by New York authorities, admitting it had made a ‘critical mistake’ by doing business with the paedophile. 

Steve Bing, another of the disgraced financier’s associates, died a year later in 2020 after taking his own life.  

The Hollywood producer died after jumping from his 27th floor apartment in Los Angeles aged 55.

Bing, who frequented the same social circles as Epstein, had a history of addiction and had reportedly become depressed during the Covid-19 pandemic, a source told TMZ.

The connection between the two had long been observed. In 2008, celebrity blog Gawker named both Bing and Epstein as members of Bill Clinton’s ‘billionaire boys’ club’.

Following Bing’s death, Carrie Mitchum, the aunt of his late girlfriend Allexanne, claimed in a Facebook post that although Bing was not particularly close to Epstein, Allexanne had persuaded him to ‘make a statement via his attorneys telling what he did know’ about the financier.

And in 2021, Epstein’s final cellmate, Efrain ‘Stone’ Reyes died after reportedly contracting Covid at his mother’s apartment in the Bronx.

Reyes, 51, had been jailed on drug charges and was transferred to a private prison on August 9, 2019, leaving Epstein alone in his cell, a day before the paedophile was found dead. 

Reyes’s lawyer said that the two men had developed a good relationship while sharing a cell. 

He said Reyes did not want to be transferred because of ‘the relationship that he built up with Mr Epstein’, adding: ‘I think my client’s presence stabilised Mr Epstein.’

Andoni Iraola has wanted defensive cover after injuries to Joe Gomez and Conor Bradley, and Liverpool have moved to sign someone who can play both at centre-back and right-back

Liverpool have agreed a deal to sign Barcelona captain Ronald Araujo to remedy their defensive injury crisis. Araujo, 27, will join the Reds on loan with an option to buy.

The defender’s move to Anfield has come from nowhere, as he was expected to continue at the Camp Nou after signing a new contract until 2031 last year. But Barcelona boss Hansi Flick sanctioned his exit after Liverpool lodged their interest.

Andoni Iraola has been looking to sign a defender in light of injuries to both Joe Gomez and Conor Bradley. Although Araujo prefers to play as a centre-back, he can play also at right-back, providing cover for both positions which Liverpool lack depth in.

The Uruguay international is now set to have a medical with Liverpool before linking up with his new team-mates which could be as soon as this weekend. Araujo has spent eight years at Barcelona, making 213 appearances and scoring 14 goals.

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The 6ft 3in right-footer has also won eight trophies, including three La Liga titles. His career under Flick has been blighted by health problems, struggling to nail down a place in the German’s starting line-up.

Araujo missed the first half of the 2024-25 season due to a serious hamstring injury, and last season, he took a month out after being granted a leave of absence to ‘take care of himself emotionally’. The decision came after he received a red card against Chelsea in a Champions League fixture.

“I’d been dealing with anxiety for a year and a half that turned into depression, and I was playing like that,” Araujo revealed to Mundo Deportivo. “That doesn’t help, because on the field you don’t really feel like yourself.

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“You know your worth and what you can contribute on the field, and when I wasn’t feeling well, I knew something was wrong. That day I realised that was it, that I needed to talk to professionals and the club so they could help me.”

Araujo could make his debut for Liverpool when Iraola’s side travel to Newcastle in their Premier League opener on Sunday, August 23. Prior to that, Liverpool will face Monaco and Como in pre-season friendlies at Anfield.

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NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Africa’s largest economies are accelerating plans to build more domestic solar manufacturing capacity, a shift industry analysts say reflects both industrial ambition and growing unease over dependence on imports from China that dominate the global market.

Ethiopia, South Africa, Morocco and Nigeria have been stepping up efforts to localize manufacturing of equipment for solar power, from module assembly to more advanced manufacturing, according to industry experts.

However, they say China is likely to retain its dominant global role in making solar cells and other components. Its exports of such equipment have soared, partly due to a glut in supply back home.

Chinese renewable energy investment and related construction projects in Africa reached $66 billion between 2010 and 2024, according to the think tank ODI Global.

“Growing economies, coupled with recent energy shortages in countries like Zambia and the ongoing need to provide access to underserved populations, make it (Africa) a perfect market for China to channel its overcapacity in the sector,” said Olena Borodyna, a senior geopolitical risk advisor with the London-based think tank.

Africa eyes solar production

Africa’s largest economies are keen to build their own solar manufacturing capacity.

South Africa’s utility, Eskom, plans to develop a 1-gigawatt solar manufacturing facility to capture more value from its fast-expanding solar market and respond to changing electricity demand.

Production of solar panels in Nigeria, meanwhile, is expanding rapidly, with local assembly capacity rising from about 120 megawatts to roughly 300 megawatts in the last two years. Its annual solar imports, mostly from China, also put it near South Africa’s level.

The homegrown manufacturing push is tied to structural shifts in Africa’s power markets. Rising adoption of rooftop and distributed solar systems in South Africa is reducing national grid demand, squeezing utilities’ revenues and prompting interest in diversification.

South Africa is already the continent’s largest importer of solar equipment, bringing in more than 3 gigawatts annually, also largely from China. Industry analysts say this scale of demand makes it one of the continent’s strongest candidates for localized production.

African power markets shift

The increased interest in solar power represents a significant shift, said Benjamin Clarke, policy director at the Africa Solar Industry Association, even if actual manufacturing capacity remains limited. He said nations pursuing solar manufacturing tend to already have industrial capacity and strong domestic demand.

“Morocco has doubled production to around 1 gigawatt a year. South Africa maintains a similar capacity. Egypt has gigawatt-scale projects coming online,” he said.

“A few years ago, local solar manufacturing was barely on the agenda anywhere in Africa,” Clarke said “It is now becoming a recognized pillar of industrial policy and green economic development.”

The need for more solar or other renewable power has soared. The industry group GOGLA estimates that more than 10 million solar kits were sold across Africa in 2025, serving roughly 148 million people. This was a 10% increase compared to 2024, with much of that growth concentrated in East and West Africa.

The solar build-out is within a highly concentrated global supply chain dominated by China. Africa has effectively no commercial-scale solar cell manufacturing, meaning emerging assembly plants still must rely on imported Chinese components.

“Most new factories assemble imported Chinese components rather than produce the high-value solar cells and other upstream materials, leaving Africa dependent on foreign technology for the most sophisticated parts of the supply chain,” Clarke said.

Technology transfer remains limited

China’s investment is helping Africa build manufacturing capacity and technical skills.

It’s a vital opportunity for technology transfer and job creation, ODI Global’s Borodyna said, “given China’s expertise in building out these technologies at scale.”

“China will play a huge role in the build-out of manufacturing capacity across the continent, as well as continue solar exports to the continent,” she said.

Experts say the continent has yet to receive the deeper sharing of knowhow needed to develop its own fully integrated solar industry.

Reliance on China for solar supply is likely to remain high in regions including Africa, said Hannah Pitt, with the think tank Rhodium Group’s energy and climate practice.

Trade restrictions in the U.S. and Europe have led Chinese companies to invest more in other regions such as Africa and Southeast Asia, according to Rhodium Group. Ethiopia is a favored destination, with more than half of the announced investments since 2018 coming from Chinese sources, alongside Japanese investments.

Investments in South Africa, Nigeria and Morocco were mostly led by domestic companies or joint ventures with local participation, the think tank said.

Saturated Chinese markets push solar manufacturing overseas

Extensive state support and years of steady investments in green technology manufacturing have resulted in an oversupply of solar power equipment and falling prices in China, a key factor in its huge global market share, said Lauri Myllyvirta with the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.

With the market oversupplied, several major Chinese solar manufacturers, including Longi and Jinko, made losses in the first three months of 2026. For such companies, shifting overseas may be the only way to stay in business.

Chinese firms pledged as much as $250 billion in overseas green manufacturing projects between 2011 and the first half of last year, according to an estimate by Net Zero Industrial Policy Lab’s “China’s Green Leap Outward” report.

Chinese solar exports doubled in March reaching a new monthly record, as 50 countries set all-time records for Chinese solar imports in a single month, according to Ember, a think tank.

“In terms of producing and manufacturing things — like solar panels, batteries, electric vehicles — really China is by far the lead in this race,” said Li Shuo, director of the Asia Society Policy Institute’s China Climate Hub. “I personally expect the dominance of China to be further cemented and not weakened over the coming years.”

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Chan reported from Hong Kong. Associated Press journalist Anton L. Delgado contributed from Bangkok.

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The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.