Criminals are working off community sentences by sticking fake diamonds on greeting cards, Justice Secretary Angela Constance was warned yesterday.
The shock claim emerged as members of the Scottish Police Federation quizzed MSPs at an election hustings in Edinburgh.
Two men arrested in connection with the alleged kidnapping and death of Sydney grandfather Chris Baghsarian have now been charged with murder.
Gerard Andrews, 29, and Daniel Stevens, 24, were handcuffed in the early hours of Wednesday morning after tactical police swarmed two properties in Sydney's north-west.
A grooming gangs inquiry is to be launched in a bid to protect children from the ‘horrendous harm of sexual abuse and exploitation’.
Professor Alexis Jay will chair a statutory probe to examine Scotland’s response to the problem – after months of delay by SNP ministers over whether to order one. The inquiry will focus on the prevalence of ‘group-based’ sexual abuse now and in the ‘recent past’, and leave ‘no stone unturned in the pursuit of justice for survivors’.
It was a soft summer’s day in 1993 and in the village of Scadabay, on the east coast of Harris, Mrs MacLeod was just thinking of getting her man’s tea on when she noticed a couple splashing up from the shore, their small but elegant yacht having dropped anchor.
Neighbours of a £6million unfinished 'super-mosque' say the empty shell of a building is an 'eyesore' that looks more like a multistorey car park than a place of worship.
Residents in Gillingham, Kent, said they have had enough of looking at the building site, which was meant to boast a 92-foot high minaret, saying it is a blot on the town centre.
The intended target of an alleged $50million kidnapping plot that saw an innocent elderly man mistakenly abducted is a wealthy property developer who has been pictured living the high life in Las Vegas and Monaco, wearing $7,000 tracksuits.
New York City's socialist mayor Zohran Mamdani is planning to spend $70 million on a 'feasibility study' into launching government-owned grocery stores, reports say.
The mayor, 34, has cried poverty since taking office as he threatens to raise taxes across the Big Apple to fund his projects, claiming he was left with a huge $5.4 billion financial black hole by his predecessor Eric Adams.
Apartment owners in a ritzy Sydney suburb have conquered their body corporate in a legal battle over who should repair their timber deck balconies.
Mosman residents Annette Barnett, Laura Lillas, Tony Clarkson and Kandiah Theivendren finally defeated their apartment block strata after the long-running saga was resolved in the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
A conservative provocateur exhibited a shocking display during a state legislature meeting when he showed up to support a new immigration bill in brownface and a sombrero.
David Pettinger, 49, is a well-known antagonist in Idaho, frequently disrupting political events and protests in grotesque caricatures.
A Shark Tank star who helped create the popular 'Squatty Potty' was arrested and charged with child pornography offenses, officials said.
Robert Edwards, 50, was arrested earlier this month in Utah after allegedly buying a horde of images of child sexual abuse material, the US Attorney's Office said.
As Mexico prepares to host this year's FIFA World Cup games, football fans are growing increasingly weary of visiting the nation that has seen a wave of violence following the capture and death of a powerful cartel leader.
The Mexican army on Sunday killed the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, Nemesio Ruben Oseguera Cervantes, more commonly known as 'El Mencho', effectively decapitating what had become Mexico's most powerful cartel.
