Why Veteran Trees Deserve the Same Protection as Ancient Monuments
The offences you'd most expect at a Toby Carvery, a budget British chain restaurant, would be those against food. Bad reviews from the past six months highlight poor service, dry meat and lumpy gravy. But one of its sites in Enfield, north London, recently became the scene of a crime against nature.
The owners of the eatery, Mitchells & Butlers, admitted to felling an ancient oak tree on the edge of Whitewebbs Park earlier this month. Enfield Council, which owns the land the tree stood on, referred the case to the Metropolitan Police, but the lack of a Tree Preservation Order on this ecological wonder makes it a civil, rather than criminal, matter. An order has now been placed on the remaining stump in the hope it will recover, and council leader Ergin Erbil says it will ' take appropriate legal action ' against the company for breaking the terms of the lease.
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Boston Globe
8 hours ago
- Boston Globe
Pro-Palestinian activists break into UK's biggest air base in startling security breach
Advertisement In a statement, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the incident 'disgraceful,' saying: 'Our Armed Forces represent the very best of Britain and put their lives on the line for us every day. It is our responsibility to support those who defend us.' Palestine Action has carried out a series of acts of vandalism at high-profile and supposedly secure locations, including defense manufacturers. Thames Valley Police, the force responsible for the area, said in a statement that officers were working with the Ministry of Defense and the RAF to investigate. Inquiries 'are ongoing to locate and arrest those responsible,' the force noted. In a statement, the Ministry of Defense said, 'We strongly condemn this vandalism of Royal Air Force assets. We are working closely with the police who are investigating.' Advertisement The ministry did not immediately respond to a question on whether it would open a review of security at the site. Grant Shapps, a former British defense secretary, wrote on social media that there needed to be a 'full security review.' 'Storming an RAF base isn't protest — it's a national security breach,' he wrote. 'The blame lies squarely with these reckless activists, but ministers must now explain how on earth it was allowed to happen.' In its statement Friday, Palestine Action claimed the targeted planes 'can carry military cargo and are used to refuel' military aircraft, including fighter jets, from the British and Israeli militaries. But Greg Bagwell, a former senior RAF commander and a fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, said the planes damaged by the group were incompatible with Israeli fighter aircraft and could not be used to refuel them. 'They couldn't have gotten a more wrong aircraft,' he said in an interview. 'They have targeted aircraft that are not the aircraft they think they are.' The Israeli air force flies American-built fighter planes such as the F-15, the F-16, and the F-35A, Bagwell said, all of which can only be fueled with a boom-style method that is not used by the planes that were damaged Friday. Palestine Action has previously conducted vandalism and protests at sites in Britain that are operated by Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems and at companies with links to that firm, and also at other defense companies. Several activists have been prosecuted over the protests, including five people who were imprisoned last year for causing about $1.3 million of damage to a weapons equipment factory in Glasgow, Scotland, in June 2022. Advertisement Britain's largest RAF base, Brize Norton houses about 5,800 service personnel, 300 civilian staff members, and 1,200 contractors. Bagwell said he believed many military bases around the world were vulnerable to the kind of intrusion the group made Friday. 'Airfields are large pieces of real estate that have miles of fence line,' he said. 'It's not an easy piece of territory to protect everywhere. Anybody with a wire cutter or ladders could be able to get in.' Adding more human protection or electronic monitoring along every part of a major military base like Brize Norton would be very expensive. But Bagwell said officials needed to take the risk seriously. He said the breach showed that it would not have been difficult for terrorists or agents of a foreign government to have done something more sinister at the base. 'It was exactly the sort of activity that the likes of Russia and Iran would like to promote,' he said. 'This time it was a protester, but next time it could be someone who was doing something on behalf of others.' This article originally appeared in
Yahoo
12 hours ago
- Yahoo
Matthew Perry's Ketamine Death: Second Doctor Agrees to Plead Guilty
The 'lead' doctor charged in connection with Matthew Perry's 2023 ketamine overdose death has accepted a plea deal, prosecutors announced Monday. Dr. Salvador Plasencia has agreed to plead guilty to four counts of distribution of ketamine, a spokesperson with the Central District of California said. The charges carry a statutory maximum sentence of 40 years in federal prison. More from Rolling Stone 'Will Sean Combs Testify?' and Other Burning Questions We Still Have Judge Dismisses Sean Combs Juror Over Inconsistent Statements Sean Combs Trial: Possible Juror Dismissal and Mogul's 'Threatening' Voice Notes Plasencia, 43, is expected to appear in court in the coming weeks to formally enter his guilty plea. He was arrested last August alongside Jasveen Sangha, the woman described by prosecutors as the 'Ketamine Queen' of North Hollywood. When federal officials first unsealed their 18-count indictment last year, they identified Plasencia and Sangha as the 'lead defendants' in the case. They said three other defendants already had agreed to deals in exchange for their cooperation. The other three were identified as Perry's live-in assistant Kenneth Iwamasa, Dr. Mark Chavez (another physician), and Erik Fleming, a local man who allegedly acted as a go-between for Sangha in ketamine sales to Perry. '[Plasencia] essentially acted as a street-corner drug dealer peddling a dangerous substance to somebody he knew was addicted,' Assistant U.S. Attorney Ian Yanniello said last year at Plasencia's arraignment in downtown Los Angeles. 'He commented to another patient that the victim was spiraling out of control, yet he still offered to sell [Perry] more ketamine.' In his plea deal agreement signed June 13, Plasencia admitted he once injected Perry with ketamine while the actor was in the backseat of a car parked outside the Long Beach Aquarium in Long Beach, California. He also admitted he visited Perry's house on Oct. 12, 2023, administered ketamine, and then watched as Perry's 'blood pressure spiked,' causing the actor to 'freeze up.' 'Not withstanding victim M.P.'s reaction, defendant left additional vials of ketamine with defendant Iwamasa, knowing that defendant Iwamasa would inject the ketamine into victim M.P.,' the plea agreement stated. Plasencia pleaded not guilty at his arraignment last year and was released on bond. His lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday. Sangha, 42, was remanded into custody and is awaiting a trial set to begin in August. Prosecutors argued last August that she was a flight risk due to her British citizenship and because she allegedly returned to selling ketamine after both Perry's death and the death of another man in 2019 that purportedly was linked to ketamine she supplied. Perry, an actor best-known for playing Chandler Bing on the hit sitcom Friends, died on Oct. 28, 2023, at the age of 54 from the acute effects of ketamine, his autopsy determined. He was found face down in a hot tub at his home in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles. Officials said Perry 'became addicted' to intravenous ketamine while seeking treatment for depression and anxiety at a local clinic in fall 2023. They said Perry turned to the four suppliers charged in the case when the clinic refused to increase his dosage. According to prosecutors, Plasencia and Chavez distributed about 20 vials of liquid ketamine to Perry in exchange for $55,000 cash during the last few weeks of the actor's life. The doctors charged Perry $2,000 for a single vial that cost Chavez approximately $12, officials said. 'I wonder how much this moron will pay?…[Let's] find out,' Plasencia allegedly texted Chavez on Sept. 30, 2023, according to the indictment. Later that day, Plasencia injected Perry with ketamine at the actor's house and left vials behind for Iwamasa to administer to Perry even though the assistant had no medical training, the filing stated. After the meeting, Plasencia allegedly texted Chavez that the interaction was 'like a bad movie.' Chavez is due to be sentenced on Sept. 17. Fleming has his sentencing scheduled for Nov. 12, while Iwamasa has his sentencing set for Nov. 19. Best of Rolling Stone The 50 Best 'Saturday Night Live' Characters of All Time Denzel Washington's Movies Ranked, From Worst to Best 70 Greatest Comedies of the 21st Century
CNBC
14 hours ago
- CNBC
Aflac finds suspicious activity on U.S. network that may impact Social Security numbers, other data
Aflac says that it has identified suspicious activity on its network in the U.S. that may impact Social Security numbers and other personal information, calling the incident part of a cybercrime campaign against the insurance industry. The company said Friday that the intrusion was stopped within hours. "We continue to serve our customers as we respond to this incident and can underwrite policies, review claims, and otherwise service our customers as usual," Aflac said in a statement. The company said that it's in the early stages of a review of the incident, and so far is unable to determine the total number of affected individuals. Aflac Inc. said potentially impacted files contain claims information, health information, Social Security numbers, and other personal information, related to customers, beneficiaries, employees, agents, and other individuals in its U.S. business. The Columbus, Georgia, company said that it will offer free credit monitoring and identity theft protection and Medical Shield for 24 months to anyone that calls its call center. Cyberattacks against companies have been rampant for years, but a string of attacks on retail companies have raised awareness of the issue because the breaches can impact customers. United Natural Foods, a wholesale distributor that supplies Whole Foods and other grocers, said earlier this month that a breach of its systems was disrupting its ability to fulfill orders — leaving many stores without certain items. In the U.K., consumers could not order from the website of Marks & Spencer for more than six weeks — and found fewer in-store options after hackers targeted the British clothing, home goods and food retailer. A cyberattack on Co-op, a U.K. grocery chain, also led to empty shelves in some stores. A security breach detected by Victoria's Secret last month led the popular lingerie seller to shut down its U.S. shopping site for nearly four days, as well as to halt some in-store services. Victoria's Secret later disclosed that its corporate systems also were affected, too, causing the company to delay the release of its first quarter earnings. The North Face said that it discovered a "small-scale credential stuffing attack" on its website in April. The company reported that no credit card data was compromised and said the incident, which impacted 1,500 consumers, was "quickly contained." Adidas disclosed last month that an "unauthorized external party" obtained some data, which was mostly contact information, through a third-party customer service provider.
