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The UK's antiterrorism laws are robust enough to meet new challenges, a new report has found.
Jonathan Hall KC, the UK's independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, has assessed whether existing laws needed to be tightened to cover incendiary chants and flag waving.
The UK is braced for thousands of people to attend London on Saturday for a major pro-Palestine protest march calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Previous marches have sparked calls from officials urging police to take action against protesters who are waving flags and chanting.
However, Mr Hall KC, in his latest report, has stepped back from calling for more intrusive measures which he believes would be a knee-jerk reaction when adequate powers already exist.
“My overall conclusion is that there is no need to legislate for any amendments to terrorism legislation now, and good reason for caution,” he said.
“It is difficult to identify any real situations where a gap in terrorism legislation means that terrorist mischief cannot currently be addressed by arrest and prosecution. Given the number of pro-Palestine marchers, there have been plenty of opportunities for gaps to become apparent.
“There may well be other mischiefs (such as anti-Semitism) but those are not a subject for terrorism legislation.
“It is possible to formulate hypothetical situations where certain words used might, arguably, fall outside terrorism legislation. However, to legislate for hypotheticals would be bad practice: the success of UK terrorism legislation is that it adapts in response to real terrorist harm.
“I am also conscious that if speculative examples were given by me (or during Parliamentary debates) of forms of words potentially falling outside terrorism legislation, it might inspire bad actors to use those forms of words, before amending legislation could be brought into force.
“There is a general risk of legislating in response to one set of protests because of the risk of unintended consequences when new legislation comes to be applied to other protests.
“Finally, I am conscious that real cases are currently before the courts. Where the edges of the current law are being tested out it would be premature to conclude that reform is necessary.”
Mr Hall KC said current legislation was sufficient to provide officers with powers to tackle people encouraging terrorism, such as controversial chanting, and said any efforts to make it more robust could have unintended consequences that could damage freedom of speech.
“The practical implications of a glorifying offence should be considered. A mere glorification offence would apply to the thousands (if not millions) of people online whose sick pleasure it is to engage in competitive praise for, create artwork from, gamify, and generally indulge in transgressive glorification of violence including terrorist violence,” he said.
“In a previous report I recommended that it would not be possible to make it a terrorist offence to possess violent terrorist propaganda, principally because of the number of people who would end up being prosecuted as terrorists. The same point applies here.
“It does no favours to the police, MI5, and His Majesty’s Prisons and Probation Service to extend the pool of terrorist offences unnecessarily.”
He said any changes would overload the police, prisons and intelligence services.
The police have faced mounting challenges from mass protest marches taking place across the country against the war in Gaza.
The last one on November 11 saw 126 arrests made.
Ahead of the march, former Home Secretary Suella Braverman had branded pro-Palestinian demonstrators “hate marchers” and was accused of encouraging unrest due to her rhetoric. It led to her sacking.
The Transfiguration
Director: Michael O’Shea
Starring: Eric Ruffin, Chloe Levine
Three stars
ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, Leon.
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
THE CLOWN OF GAZA
Director: Abdulrahman Sabbah
Starring: Alaa Meqdad
Rating: 4/5
Pox that threatens the Middle East's native species
Camelpox
Caused by a virus related to the one that causes human smallpox, camelpox typically causes fever, swelling of lymph nodes and skin lesions in camels aged over three, but the animal usually recovers after a month or so. Younger animals may develop a more acute form that causes internal lesions and diarrhoea, and is often fatal, especially when secondary infections result. It is found across the Middle East as well as in parts of Asia, Africa, Russia and India.
Falconpox
Falconpox can cause a variety of types of lesions, which can affect, for example, the eyelids, feet and the areas above and below the beak. It is a problem among captive falcons and is one of many types of avian pox or avipox diseases that together affect dozens of bird species across the world. Among the other forms are pigeonpox, turkeypox, starlingpox and canarypox. Avipox viruses are spread by mosquitoes and direct bird-to-bird contact.
Houbarapox
Houbarapox is, like falconpox, one of the many forms of avipox diseases. It exists in various forms, with a type that causes skin lesions being least likely to result in death. Other forms cause more severe lesions, including internal lesions, and are more likely to kill the bird, often because secondary infections develop. This summer the CVRL reported an outbreak of pox in houbaras after rains in spring led to an increase in mosquito numbers.
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6 UNDERGROUND
Director: Michael Bay
Stars: Ryan Reynolds, Adria Arjona, Dave Franco
2.5 / 5 stars
PSL FINAL
Multan Sultans v Peshawar Zalmi
8pm, Thursday
Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi
RESULTS
2pm: Handicap (PA) Dh 40,000 (Dirt) 1,200m
Winner: AF Senad, Nathan Crosse (jockey), Kareem Ramadan (trainer)
2.30pm: Maiden (PA) Dh 40,000 (D) 1,000m
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3.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh 40,000 (D) 1,700m
Winner: Jap Al Yaasoob, Szczepan Mazur, Irfan Ellahi.
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Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
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Indian origin executives leading top technology firms
Sundar Pichai
Chief executive, Google and Alphabet
Satya Nadella
Chief executive, Microsoft
Ajaypal Singh Banga
President and chief executive, Mastercard
Shantanu Narayen
Chief executive, chairman, and president, Adobe
Indra Nooyi
Board of directors, Amazon and former chief executive, PepsiCo
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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The Perfect Couple
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Jack Reynor
Creator: Jenna Lamia
Rating: 3/5
FROM%20THE%20ASHES
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