Paul Allen Rose, founder of Barrow’s Owl Sanctuary, was stripped of his MBE this month alongside eight other people who have been lost their honours for various reasons.

Rose, of Walney, was sentenced in May 2024, after pleading guilty to two counts of causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal and one count of failing to ensure animal welfare, contrary to Section 4 and Section 9 of the Animal Welfare Act 2006.

He was given a 20-week jail sentence suspended for two years.

A notice published on Thursday, March 5 by The Gazette says Rose had his MBE title stripped due to a criminal conviction.

A number of other individuals have had their honours removed in March 2026 including former rugby captain Stuart Hogg, who was stripped of his MBE after a domestic abuse conviction.

Here is a full list of those who have been stripped of their honours this year:

• Ian Ashbold, received MBE in 2016, stripped due to a Criminal Conviction
• Lloyd Hamilton, received MBE in 2011, stripped due to Criminal conviction
• Angela Middleton, received MBE in 2019, stripped due to bringing the honours system into disrepute.
• Nigel O’Connor, received MBE in 2015, stripped due to professional censure.
• Tony Reilly, received OBE in 2011, stripped due to professional censure.
• Paul Rose, received MBE in 2002, stripped due to Criminal conviction.
• Anant Shah, received OBE in 2020, stripped due to bringing the honours system into disrepute.
• Graham Trewhella, received MBE in 2010, stripped due to criminal conviction.
• Stuart Hogg, received MBE in 2024, stripped due to criminal conviction.

Nacon’s troubled prequel is finally ready for its full release on consoles and PC, as it attempts to live up to the lofty ambitions of the original game and its unusual setting.

Launching games in early access on Steam can be a double-edged sword. On the plus side, it helps nurture a community who’ll hopefully tell their friends to buy it on full release, while also giving developers a massive free play test. But on the negative side, players can get a deeply flawed first impression of a game that ordinarily wouldn’t be seen by the public for months, or even several years.

GreedFall: The Dying World (back when it was called GreedFall 2) entered early access in September 2024 and has not been getting an easy ride. The original game had more than its fair share of technical problems when it was released, and its sequel has come in for plenty of flack during its early access period, while at the same time its developer suffered a round of layoffs. Double-A games like GreedFall are rarely highly polished affairs, and now that it’s available in its final form it’s interesting to see how it fulfils what are once again quite lofty ambitions.

Like the first GreedFall, the backdrop to the sequel is a multi-polar colonial world, this time with a plague spreading across its continent. Your heroes come from the so far untouched island of Teer Fradee, their ornate dress and spiritual connection to their ecosystem reminiscent of Native Americans. The musket toting, technologically more advanced nations invading their land set up mines, carelessly annihilate swathes of wildlife, and call the indigenous people ‘savages’.

There’s a degree of historical realism about its setting, although you’ll also find huge mythical beasts and be able to use magic. Your first boss fight is against a freshly conjured nature golem that’s gone on the rampage, forcing you first to fight and then to flee. This proves to be only the first in a number of set pieces the game has to offer, as it alternates between limited open world sections and more linear exploration.

Conversations similarly vary between straightforward and consequential, your words and deeds sometimes affecting your reputation with party members and the wider community. The story propels you from place to place fairly frequently and membership of your group also changes, your standing with different teammates influencing how they support you, and whether they might be in the market for a little romance.

There are other, more significant changes and initially the most noticeable is that while some conversations are in English, plenty are spoken in Yecht Fradí, the invented language of the aboriginal people from which your hero hails. It sounds entirely convincing, its principle downside being the need to look at subtitles for many of the conversations, which isn’t always easy when you’re navigating or trying to follow someone’s tracks.

Combat has also changed considerably, and not entirely for the better. The fact that you’re offered three different approaches to controlling fights at the beginning of the game suggests its developer, Spiders, wasn’t sure about it either. What emerges is a semi-real-time tactical fighting system, inspired by BioWare’s early work but built with a drastically lower budget.

You can opt to just control your own character, as if you’re in a Mass Effect style action role-player, letting your party do their own thing, while at the other extreme you can pause time and issue specific orders to every party member, just like Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic. While it is possible to micromanage every aspect, other than the occasional boss fight we didn’t find it made much difference except to make battles take a lot longer to finish.

Battles are riddled with rough edges, the targeting system and the way you trigger different attacks working fine but never feeling necessary enough to make it all worth it, especially since your party seem quite happy to activate their own special moves if you let them.

Compared with Dragon Age: The Veilguard or Dragon’s Dogma 2, it’s all a bit clumsy and lacking in panache. Far more impressive are the game’s contrasting and architecturally distinctive environments. From the wilderness of Teer Fradee to the various cities and villages you visit, each area has its own wholly believable look and feel, as well as a population with their own beliefs, prejudices, and traditions.

GreedFall 2 offers first rate world building and unlike Avowed – which crammed its lore down your throat in huge, indigestible lumps – The Dying World’s conversations are admirably direct, whilst conveying all they need to about the lands and peoples you visit. Voice-acting is good and the script expressive enough to communicate emotion and societal mores without wasting your time with reams of tedious, unnecessary detail.

That’s just as well, because there’s a lot of talking, some of which comes with lasting effects. Like the original game, facial animation isn’t its strongest suit, but the combination of beautifully rendered environments, believable settlements, and a coherent sense of its warring nations, makes for a game that’s more than the sum of its parts, the over-ambitious tactical combat balanced by likeably earnest characters and a decent story.

Its other great success is giving you quests that can successfully be fulfilled in a number of ways. Depending on the skills you cultivate, you can wear disguises, bribe guards, use diplomacy to persuade, stealth to pilfer key items, or good old lethal force to just wipe everyone out – the latter proving especially cathartic after a failed negotiation with an annoying side character. It feels great to have options though and to be rewarded for exploring them.

Even post launch, GreedFall: The Dying World certainly has its issues. It also has an unusually well-developed sense of purpose and place. There are way too many bland fantasy role-playing games, but this one leans into its history and the tensions of its world, without letting that get in the way of the pacing or action. Look past the lack of polish, there’s an immersive world to explore, along with a compelling sense of progression as your party toughens up.

Formats: PlayStation 5 (reviewed), Xbox Series X/S, and PC
Price: £49.99
Publisher: Nacon
Developer: Spiders
Release Date: 12th March 2026
Age Rating: 16

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The bishop of a small Chaldean Catholic community in California has resigned and pleaded not guilty to embezzlement and money laundering after prosecutors said he took more than $270,000 from his parish.

Pope Leo XIV announced Bishop Emanuel Shaleta’s resignation on Tuesday. Shaleta was arrested last week at San Diego International Airport while trying to leave the country, according to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office.

Prosecutor Joel Madero said Shaleta is accused of embezzling from St. Peter Chaldean Catholic Cathedral in El Cajon, east of San Diego. But Shaleta’s defense attorney says those allegations are false.

Here’s what to know:

Bishop for more than a decade

Shaleta, 69, was born in Faysh Kahbur, a small town in Iraq near the Tigris River and the Syrian border, according to a biography on the St. Paul Assyrian Chaldean Catholic Church website. He entered seminary at age 15, training for the priesthood at St. John Minor Seminary near Mosul and Pontifical Urbaniana University in Rome. He was ordained by Pope John Paul II in 1984.

After receiving his doctorate in biblical theology, he was transferred to the United States, serving in Illinois, Michigan and California until 2015 when Pope Francis appointed him the bishop of the Eparchy of Mar Addai of Toronto of the Chaldeans in Canada.

Francis appointed him the Bishop of Saint Peter Apostle of San Diego of the Chaldeans in 2017.

Allegations involve rental payments

Madero, the prosecutor, said the embezzlement allegations are connected to monthly rental payments of more than $30,000 from a tenant of the church’s social hall, and that there were discrepancies in the church’s financial accounts.

A court document with details of the allegations has been sealed. But the San Diego District Attorney’s office says Shaleta has been charged with 16 felonies, including eight counts of embezzlement and eight counts of money laundering.

Shaleta has pleaded not guilty.

During a recent Mass, Shaleta said he has never “abused any penny of the church money.”

Shaleta faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted on all charges, the district attorney’s office said. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for April 27.

The Chaldean Church released a formal statement, saying that the Vatican was investigating the matter and that “all perspectives are being taken seriously and require careful review, proper documentation, and time so that the truth may be fully and fairly discerned.”

The priests of the Chaldean Catholic Eparchy of St. Peter the Apostle released a statement in solidarity with Shaleta and asked for prayers for the church.

Chaldeans are important Christian church in the Middle East

There are several branches of the Catholic Church that recognize the pope. That means they may have their own customs and rules, but they agree on the same church teachings. It also means the pope may appoint branch leaders and approve resignations.

The largest branch is commonly known as the Roman Catholic Church, and it is sometimes also called the Latin or Western Catholic church. There are also 23 Eastern branches of the church, including the Chaldean branch, that are in communion with the pope.

The Chaldean Catholic Church represents more than a million Aramaic-speaking Christians. The church traces its founding to the Apostle Thomas in the region that is now Iraq. Today, the headquarters — or Patriarchate — of the Chaldean church remains in Baghdad, Iraq.

The Chaldean Community Foundation estimates that the Chaldean and Assyrian branches together have roughly half a million members in the U.S., primarily in Arizona, California and Illinois.

Case comes during time of turmoil

for the branch

The Vatican said in its daily bulletin Tuesday that Pope Leo XIV had accepted Shaleta’s resignation under the code of canon law for Eastern Rite churches, which allows for the pope to agree if a bishop asks to step down.

Leo actually accepted Shaleta’s resignation in February, but appears to have waited to announce the decision to avoid interfering with the police investigation. Leo named Bishop Saad Hanna Sirop as a temporary administrator.

The head of the Chaldean church, Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako, retired on March 9, and Leo announced the retirement at the same time as Shaleta’s resignation.

It’s not clear if the two departures are connected.

Sako, 76, said that he first discussed retiring with Pope Francis in 2024, but Francis encouraged him to remain. Sako said he asked Leo to retire again on Tuesday and Leo agreed.

Sako said he freely offered his resignation and was leaving “of my own will” to pursue prayer, writing and simple service. He had occasionally clashed with Iraq’s political leaders, and his retirement comes as the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran has spilled into Iraq and other neighboring countries.

Before retiring, Sako wrote a letter to parishioners in the San Diego region, urging them to seek unity and “a compassionate, faithful heart, far from the spirit of revenge” during an “exceptionally painful situation.”

“Let the legal procedures take their course in revealing the truth and upholding justice,” Sako wrote. ____ Associated Press journalists Gregory Bull, Christopher Weber, Deepa Bharath, Nicole Winfield and Kathy McCormack contributed.

Democrat Shawn Harris and Republican Clay Fuller are headed for an April 7 runoff to fill Marjorie Taylor Greene’s former U.S. House seat in Georgia, after neither candidate secured a majority in Tuesday’s special election.

Fuller, a district attorney, received an endorsement from President Donald Trump in February.

He described Trump’s backing as “rocket fuel” for his campaign. However, this support was not enough to clinch an outright victory in a crowded field of 14 candidates, which included nine Republicans, three Democrats, a Libertarian and an independent. The election saw all candidates compete together, with the top two advancing.

Harris, a cattle farmer and retired brigadier general, faces a significant challenge in the heavily Republican district. Despite this, Democrats are expected to highlight his strong showing as another success in recent special elections. Harris has campaigned on a platform of moderation and addressing local issues, drawing a clear contrast with Greene’s more confrontational approach.

The winner will serve out the remaining months of Greene’s term. A Republican win in northwest Georgia’s 14th Congressional district would bolster the party’s majority in the House. The district stretches from suburban Atlanta to the Tennessee state line.

Fuller was a White House fellow in the first Trump administration and is a lieutenant colonel in the Georgia Air National Guard. He finished fourth in the 2020 Republican primary that Greene won before becoming a district attorney. Fuller had set an outright win as his goal for Tuesday’s vote.

This round of voting is only the first step in an elections marathon in the Georgia district. Republicans and Democrats seeking a full two-year term are set for a May 19 party primary, and possibly a June 16 party runoff, before advancing to the general election in November.

Last week, 10 Republicans and Harris qualified to run in November’s election for a full two-year term. That includes Fuller, as well as Colton Moore, a former state senator and favorite of far-right activists who drew attention for a vociferous attack on Trump’s prosecution in Georgia for alleged election interference.

For some, support for Trump hasn’t wavered. Presley Stover of Dallas, Georgia, voted for Fuller. She said she doesn’t agree with the president on everything, but supports him on the whole.

“I think as of right now, he’s doing a great job,” she said. “He’s definitely helping us a lot more than Biden did. I mean, as of now, they’re not the best, but you’re not gonna change anything overnight.”

Some Republicans, though, were unaffected by Trump’s nod.

“God, no. That’s not going to sway me one way or the other,” said Brendon O’Laughlin of Dallas, noting he voted for Brian Stover, a Republican from his area. O’Laughlin said he was looking for a change in style from Greene.

Those who backed Democrats said they were repelled by Trump and eager to reduce his power.

“There just needs to be checks and balances and I don’t think we have many of those right now,” said Matthew Wisniewski, a Dallas resident who voted for Harris.

But voters on a whole in the district embraced Greene’s hard-right campaign in 2020, when she parachuted into the district after aborting a campaign in a more closely contested district closer to Atlanta.

Greene was one of the most well-known members of Congress until she left in January. She remained loyal to Trump after he lost to Democrat Joe Biden, promoting Trump’s falsehoods about a stolen election. When Trump ran again in 2024, she toured the country with him and spoke at his rallies while wearing a red “Make America Great Again” hat.

But Greene began clashing with Trump last year after he and other Republicans pushed back against her running for U.S. Senate or governor. Greene criticized Trump’s foreign policy and his reluctance to release documents involving the Jeffrey Epstein case. The president eventually had enough, saying he would support a primary challenge against her. Greene announced a week later that she would resign.

Returning another Republican to Congress would bolster the party’s narrow majority in the House. Republicans currently control 218 House seats to Democrats’ 214.

North Yorkshire Police shared a video of the chase which was from Craven to Otley and said they had located the suspected stolen vehicle just over an hour after it was reported missing.

Officers from the Roads Policing Group attempted to intercept the vehicle at about 9.20am, and then set off in pursuit.

A spokesman said the pursuit “reached speeds of more than 100mph along the A65 from Skipton to Otley, travelling via Ilkley.”

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Several specialist units were sent to the area to help intercept the vehicle along with colleagues from West Yorkshire Police.

The driver, a 17-year-old boy was arrested on suspicion of aggravated vehicle taking, burglary, failing to stop for police, criminal damage, driving without a licence, driving without insurance, and resisting arrest.

He currently remains in police custody.

The spokesperson added: “Thankfully, no members of the public were injured. We appreciate the public’s patience and cooperation while Bridge Street in Otley was temporarily blocked.

“To those who believe they can act in this way without consequence: you are mistaken, there are no borders for us. We will use every specialist resource available to identify you, stop you, and bring you into custody.”

It outlined policy changes that could help the sector’s financial sustainability, such as reforming business rates for theatres, extending theatre tax relief to support touring productions, introducing stronger incentives for donations, and ensuring public funding settlements keep pace with inflation.

Yet there is a reason this Newcastle side have not kept a clean sheet since January.

Although Raphinha was 35 yards from goal in the final seconds of the game, substitute Joe Willock did not get close enough to the former Leeds United forward.

The Brazilian had the second he needed to look up and play a pass to Dani Olmo which, somehow, took a handful of flagging Newcastle players out of the game.

Olmo jinked inside the box and a panicked Malick Thiaw stuck out a leg, leaving referee Guida with no other choice as he pointed to the spot.

St James’ Park was stunned into silence for the first time all night.

“It was a great advert for us as football club on and off the pitch, but I’m just devastated for everybody that we couldn’t get the win that we all deserved,” Howe said.

“That’s football for you. It never plays to romance. It does what it does and now we have to dust ourselves down, take the positives from the performance and try and hit that on a more consistent basis.”

Newcastle felt a similar gut wrench on home soil after conceding stoppage-time winners against Liverpool and Arsenal earlier this season, and a late equaliser at the hands of Tottenham Hotspur.

Yet it was rather telling that those supporters who stayed behind on Tuesday night applauded their players off the field as they attempted to lift them.

This tie is far from over, even if it is going to take a herculean effort from Newcastle at the Nou Camp next week.

Howe felt in the “cold light of day” his side would see such positives after they showed they can compete with the very best.

Barnes was staying similarly upbeat.

“It will be a different sort of game at their place but we know what we can do and we know when we are at our level how well we can play,” he added.

“What a feeling it would have been to go there 1-0 up but we are level in the tie and all to play for.”

Two more members of the Iranian women’s football team have been granted asylum in Australia, taking the total to seven, amid fears for their safety after they were criticised for not singing their national anthem.

They were in Australia for the Asian Cup when the Iran war began just over a week ago.

The two women, a player and the other a member of staff, have been reunited with five players who were granted humanitarian visas a day earlier.

But Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke told reporters that, after making security assessments, not everyone who applied for a visa was granted one.

“There is a reason why some people were not made a direct offer [to stay]. There were some people leaving Australia who I am glad are no longer in Australia,” he said without offering a further explanation.

The rest of the team departed from Sydney late Tuesday local time to return to Iran.

Speaking after five people originally applied for visas, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said: “Australians have been moved by the plight of these brave women. They are safe here and they should feel at home here.”

The Australian government had been under pressure to protect the women after they were knocked out of the tournament.

The players were reportedly criticised on Iranian TV, with a commentator saying they had committed the “pinnacle of dishonour” for staying silent during the anthem before their match on 2 March – two days after the US and Israel began attacking Iran.

“Traitors during wartime must be dealt with more severely,” presenter Mohammad Reza Shahbazi said, according to Reuters news agency.

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Day 10 Iran war: Videos from on the ground

Some believed the team’s silence was an act of resistance, while others saw it as a show of mourning following the initial US-Israel attacks on their country.

The team has not made any specific comment on their stance.

They sang and saluted ahead of defeats to Australia on Thursday and the Philippines on Sunday, but there were concerns they had been ordered to do so.

The team failed to get past the group stage and players’ union FIFPRO said it was “really concerned” about their welfare and had been unable to contact them.

Dozens of people chanted “let them go” and “save our girls” as the team’s bus left the stadium on the Gold Coast after Sunday’s match.

Supporters said they could see at least three players making the international hand signal for help, according to CNN.

Before the rest of the squad left the country, some Iranian Australians held a protest at the team’s hotel and at the airport, seeking to prevent the women from leaving the country, citing fears for their safety in Iran.

Mr Trump posted on Truth Social about how some players felt they had to return “because they are worried about the safety of their families, including threats to those family members if they don’t return”.

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Iran war briefing: Day 10 with Sean Bell

‘Ongoing threat’

Exiled crown prince Reza Pahlavi, who lives in the US, said he had been told that Fatemeh Pasandideh, Zahra Ghanbari, Zahra Sarbali, Atefeh Ramazanzadeh and Mona Hamoudi were now in a “safe location”.

He earlier said the team faced an “ongoing threat” after their “brave act” not to sing the anthem.

“As a result of their brave act of civil disobedience in refusing to sing the current regime’s national anthem, they face dire consequences should they return to Iran,” he posted on social media.

The Australian Iranian Council had also urged the government to protect the players.

It launched an online petition asking authorities to “ensure that no member of Iran’s women’s national football team is to depart Australia while credible fears for their safety remain”.

Mr Burke told reporters that the seven Iranians are now on humanitarian visas, “and the processing will soon start for them to move to what’s called a resolution of status, which is a permanent visa”.

Police and paramedics were called shortly after 1pm today (Tuesday, March 10) to reports that a man had been assaulted in Dent Street.

A man in his 50s was left with serious injuries and was taken to the James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough for treatment. 

Despite the best efforts of the emergency services, he was sadly pronounced dead shortly after arrival.

His family have been informed and are being supported by specially trained officers, Durham Police has confirmed this evening.

A 49-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the incident and taken into police custody where he remains. 

null (Image: THE NORTHERN ECHO)

A cordon was erected at the scene earlier this afternoon, leaving residents on the street unable to access their homes.

One resident, Susan Weston, came home from the doctors and found her street full of police.

The 56-year-old told The Northern Echo: “We came back and police let us through at about 1.15pm.

“What I saw out the front was just awful. I didn’t want to look. Seeing that out the front of my house, I felt sick. I felt shaky.”

Detective Chief Inspector Sharon Alderson, who is leading the investigation, said: “We understand that this incident will have caused shock to the community, and our thoughts are with the victim’s loved ones during this difficult time.

“While there will be an increased police presence in the area as we carry out our enquiries, I can reassure the community of Shildon that we believe this to be an isolated incident.

“I’d like to thank residents for their support and co-operation while our investigation is carried out.

“A team of officers are currently working to establish the circumstances surrounding the incident and we are keen to hear from anyone who witnessed the incident who has not yet spoken to us.”

Anyone with any information should call Durham Constabulary on 101, quoting incident reference 209 of March 10.

Information can also be submitted anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or online at www.crimestoppers-uk.org. 

The cheap and commonly prescribed drug could be used to ‘prolong survival’ for MND patients

Researchers are to test whether statins could help people with motor neurone disease (MND) live longer after data suggests cheap cholesterol-busting drug may ‘prolong survival’.

MND is a progressive neurodegenerative disease with no kown cure. Patients usually die within three to five years after diagnosis.

The disease causes muscle weakness and gets worse over time, but scientists are researching whether repurposing other drugs could give people living with MND longer with their loved ones.

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Researchers, led by experts at Stanford University in the US, looked at medical records of US veterans diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) – one of the main forms of MND. They analysed data on the medical records of more than 11,000 veterans between 2009 and 2019.

The research team found that people who were also prescribed certain medications appeared to live longer, with 18 medications taken for other conditions linked with prolonged survival.

These included statins prescribed to treat high cholesterol and alpha blockers, also known as alpha adrenergic receptor antagonists, which are prescribed to improve urine flow in men with enlarged prostates.

“To our knowledge, this is the largest study to identify new ALS treatment candidates through drug repurposing and the first to be based on electronic health records,” the authors wrote in the Lancet Digital Health journal.

Lead author Professor Richard Reimer, from Stanford University School of Medicine said: “Currently there are no truly effective treatments for ALS and people with the disease only live between three and five years after they have been diagnosed. Developing treatments for ALS has been difficult and disappointing because we don’t understand the disease completely and it is difficult to study in the clinic.

“Our findings suggest that treatment with statins and alpha blockers might prolong survival for individuals with ALS. Both statins and alpha blockers are generally well tolerated and available in inexpensive generic forms.”

He added: “The next steps will be determining why these associations exist and who may benefit from the treatments. For example, are statins affecting ALS survival by lowering cholesterol? Are they only helpful to individuals with elevated cholesterol?

“Once there is a better understanding of the link between these medications and survival for people with ALS, we hope that formal placebo controlled trials will confirm their benefit.”