INTERNACIONAL
State Department warns UK over grooming gang handling: ‘Unspeakable abuse’
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
The Trump administration harshly criticized the United Kingdom over its handling of mass immigration and the long-running rape gang scandal that has victimized white girls across the country.
In a statement posted to X, the U.S. State Department called on its Europe-based diplomats to track the effects of rampant immigration. While the statement zeroed in on the U.K., it also highlighted similar problems in Germany and Sweden.
«The State Department instructed U.S. embassies to report on the human rights implications and public safety impacts of mass migration,» the statement read. «Officials will also report policies that punish citizens who object to continued mass migration and document crimes and human rights abuses committed by people of a migration background.»
The statement referenced the so-called «grooming gangs» made up of mostly Pakistani men who have victimized young girls for decades, with little action taken by the government.
«In the United Kingdom, thousands of girls have been victimized in Rotherham, Oxford, and Newcastle by grooming gangs involving migrant men,» the State Department said. «Many girls were left to suffer unspeakable abuse for years before authorities stepped in.»
JD VANCE’S WARNING ON EUROPE’S FUTURE SHINES SPOTLIGHT ON CONTINENT’S GROWING LIST OF PROBLEMS
A day after the statement, GB News reported that U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer told reporters at the G20 in South Africa that the national inquiry would «leave no stone unturned.»
The State Department’s warning comes weeks after several victims — who were members of the independent inquiry — resigned over what they claimed was a continuation of a cover-up.
One abuse survivor, Ellie Reynolds, told cable channel GMB that the existence of grooming gangs has been «brushed under the carpet» and that «our voices have been silenced.»
She was supported by fellow survivor Fiona Goddard, who was groomed from the age of 14, and said that when she spoke out for help she was dismissed as a «child prostitute» by authorities.
Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivers his speech during a visit to the BAE Systems’Govan facility, in Glasgow, Scotland, Monday, June 2, 2025. (Andy Buchanan, Pool Photo via AP)
Goddard resigned to protest the cover-up, saying members of the grooming gangs near Bradford were in the «vast majority … Pakistani men.»
Successive governments — both Conservative and Labour — have been dealing with the revelations for years that a number of grooming gangs, often consisting mostly of men of South Asian or Pakistani heritage, have sexually exploited girls for decades across the north of England.
BRITAIN HIT BY ANOTHER ASIAN GROOMING GANG SCANDAL AS REPORT EXPOSES CHILD SEX ABUSE IN MANCHESTER
A British Union Jack flies from a souvenir stall near the Houses of Parliament in London, UK, on Monday, Oct. 27, 2025. (Jason Alden/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Prior to the inquiry, Starmer had commissioned a national audit led by Baroness Louise Casey earlier this year.
On the hot-button issue of the backgrounds of the criminals, the Casey report stated in part, «We found that the ethnicity of perpetrators is shied away from and is still not recorded for two-thirds of perpetrators, so we are unable to provide any accurate assessment from the nationally collected data.»
It continued: «Despite the lack of a full picture in the national data sets, there is enough evidence available in local police data in three police force areas which we examined which show disproportionate numbers of men from Asian ethnic backgrounds amongst suspects for group-based child sexual exploitation, as well as in the significant number of perpetrators of Asian ethnicity identified in local reviews and high-profile child sexual exploitation prosecutions across the country, to at least warrant further examination.»
A woman poses at her home in England, January 8, 2025. She was 14 when she was sexually abused by a grooming gang in Rochdale, England. (Hollie Adams/Reuters)
Her audit also identified other perpetrators, including White British, European, African or Middle Eastern individuals.
The results of the audit produced 12 recommendations to the government, which have been implemented, including a national inquiry to «direct local investigations and hold institutions to account for past failures.»
ELON MUSK DEMANDS UK ACT ON GROOMING GANG SCANDAL AMID GROWING CALLS FOR PROBE: ‘NATIONAL INQUIRY NOW!’
But the Starmer government has been set back by a failure to appoint a chair for the inquiry, and it has faced resignations as critics have accused the Labour government of covering it up for political reasons.
Alan Mendoza, founder of the Henry Jackson Society, told Fox News Digital that «successive governments» have allowed «gangs of largely South Asian Muslims to target white British girls, claiming, «the Labour government doesn’t want to be seen as stigmatizing demographics or potentially losing votes.»
«I hope that the inquiry will focus more specifically on the real issue plaguing the U.K. over the last 20 years,» Mendoza added.
A woman poses with a sign as members of the public queue to enter a council meeting during a protest calling for justice for victims of sexual abuse and grooming gangs, outside the council offices at City Center on Jan. 20, 2025 in Oldham, England. (Anthony Devlin/Getty Images)
The point person for the government’s inquiry is Labour member of Parliament Jess Phillips, who has served as the parliamentary undersecretary of state for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls since July 2024.
However, Phillips is facing heavy scrutiny over how she’s handling the set-up of the inquiry.
Asked in Parliament about the nature of the inquiry and whether it will address the perpetrators’ ethnicity, she vowed to be transparent.
«There is absolutely no sense that ethnicity will be buried away,» Phillips said. «Every single time that there is an apparently needless delay — even though it took seven months to put in place chairs for both the COVID inquiry and the blood inquiry, and nobody moaned about that — it gets used to say that we want to cover something up. That is the misinformation I am talking about. It will not cover things up. We are taking time to ensure that that can never happen.»
Elon Musk weighed in on the matter in a series of X statements earlier this year, stating that Phillips, was a «rape genocide apologist» and the world was witnessing «the worst mass crime against the people of Britain ever.»
Philips told the BBC that his comments were «disinformation» and «endangering» her, but said it was nothing compared to what the victims of the abuse had faced.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Commentators say the challenge for the government now is to find those credible and willing to bring justice and lasting change so it won’t happen again.
Fox News Digital reached out to Phillips’ office but received no response.
united kingdom,state department,europe
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
The U.S. is now flying B-52 bombers over Iran — an operational shift that signals American forces have achieved air superiority inside parts of the country after weeks of strikes degraded Tehran’s defenses.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine said in a briefing Tuesday the missions began «given the increase in air superiority,» as U.S. forces expand operations inside Iranian territory.
President Donald Trump said during an address to the public Thursday night that Iran’s air defenses had been «annihilated,» calling U.S. forces «unstoppable.»
«We are in this military operation … for 32 days,» he said. «And the country has been eviscerated and essentially is really no longer a threat.»
TRUMP SAYS IRAN ‘NO LONGER A THREAT’ AFTER 32 DAYS — OUTLINES NEXT PHASE OF US WAR
The bomber, first used during the Cold War and flown for about 70 years, allows the U.S. to expand the pace and flexibility of its strikes. Unlike earlier stand-off attacks focused on fixed targets, B-52s can remain over the battlefield and hit multiple targets in a single mission, including mobile systems and hardened sites, Mark Gunzinger, a retired Air Force colonel and former B-52 command pilot, told Fox News Digital.
The development signals the U.S. has moved beyond the initial phase of degrading Iran’s air defenses and is now able to operate more freely inside the country’s airspace, allowing for sustained, higher-volume strikes as the campaign enters a potentially more intense phase.
The aircraft can carry up to 70,000 pounds of ordnance — more than any other bomber in the U.S. arsenal — and deliver a mix of precision-guided bombs and long-range cruise missiles in a single mission.
The bomber, first used during the Cold War and flown for about 70 years, allows the U.S. to expand the pace and flexibility of its strikes. (Leon Neal/Getty Images)
But the bomber is slower than modern aircraft and lacks stealth, making it more vulnerable to radar and air defenses — conditions that would typically keep it out of contested airspace.
«The fact that these B-52s are now flying over Iran is clear evidence that we have air superiority — and even air dominance over parts of Iran,» Gunzinger said.
Gunzinger said that level of control allows U.S. forces to operate more freely over Iran, including remaining over the battlefield and striking targets as they emerge rather than relying solely on pre-planned, long-range attacks.
While U.S. officials have emphasized growing control of the skies, air superiority does not eliminate all threats. Iran still retains missile and drone capabilities, and has relied on asymmetric tactics throughout the conflict to continue attacks despite losses to its air defenses.
Early in the campaign, B-52s fired long-range cruise missiles from outside Iranian airspace. More recently, bombers operating from U.S.-operated UK base Royal Air Force Fairford have been seen carrying precision-guided bombs — a shift that reflects growing U.S. control of the skies and the move toward closer-range strikes.
«B-52s flying in Iran’s airspace shows America’s complete air dominance — and guaranteed, there are also F-22s and F-35s at high altitude on overwatch,» Rebecca Grant, a military analyst, told Fox News Digital. «They bring the big bomb payload for direct attacks on Iran’s drone and missile factories, plus underground targets.»
The Pentagon could not immediately be reached for comment.
During the June 2025 strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, stealth B-2 bombers led the assault, dropping massive bunker-buster bombs on hardened sites like Fordow and Natanz.
B-52s, meanwhile, were deployed to the region as part of the broader U.S. buildup — positioned to support sustained operations if needed.
MORE THAN 90% OF IRANIAN MISSILES INTERCEPTED, BUT A DANGEROUS IMBALANCE IS EMERGING
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine said the missions began «given the increase in air superiority,» as U.S. forces expand operations inside Iranian territory. (Matthew Horwood/Getty Images)
CENTCOM shared footage of strikes against airplanes amid the Iran war. (U.S. Central Command on X)
The latest development signals the U.S. has moved beyond the initial phase of degrading Iran’s air defenses and is now able to operate more freely inside the country’s airspace, allowing for sustained, higher-volume strikes as the campaign enters a potentially more intense phase.
The expanded freedom of action could become more important as the campaign enters what Trump has described as its final phase, with U.S. officials signaling that strikes could intensify in the coming weeks.
«If you really want to devastate Iran’s ability to continue to launch missiles and drones, you would want to use bombers to do that,» Gunzinger said.
Gunzinger added that the U.S. is using a significant portion of its combat-ready bomber fleet to sustain operations, underscoring the scale of the campaign as it enters what could be its most intense phase.
«Our bomber force now totals 140 aircraft,» he said, referring to B-2s, B-52s and B-1Bs. «If you scale that down to how many are ready to go to combat today, you’re probably at less than 50.»
«That is a dramatic change since the end of the Cold War era, where we had over 400 bombers, so we’re using a good percentage — I’d say a majority — of our combat capable bombers for this fight, to sustain this fight.»
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Built in the early 1960s for nuclear war against the Soviet Union, the B-52 Stratofortress was never designed to operate inside modern, heavily defended airspace — making its current use over Iran a reflection of how much those defenses have been degraded.
While U.S. officials have emphasized growing control of the skies, air superiority does not eliminate all threats. Iran still retains missile and drone capabilities, and has relied on asymmetric tactics throughout the conflict to continue attacks despite losses to its air defenses.
conflicts defense, air and space, air force, war with iran
INTERNACIONAL
Celebrity chef lashes out at Trump for changing the ‘rules’ the same year as America 250
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
Activist and celebrity chef José Andrés joined protesters outside the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday, when President Donald Trump became the first sitting president on record to attend oral arguments on a case at the High Court.
Andrés, when speaking to Fox News Digital, slammed Trump for «changing the game’s rules,» rules the chef said «have been already done,» the same year as America’s 250th anniversary since the Declaration of Independence was signed. He suggested that what Trump is doing – attempting to ensure that children born to parents who are in the United States illegally or temporarily do not become American citizens – is not what America «should be working towards.»
The chef’s comments mirrored remarks by other protesters alongside him outside the Supreme Court, complaining that Trump’s efforts to tighten the screws around birthright citizenship violates the Constitution. Actor Robert De Niro, who did not join protesters but joined Trump and some of his closest advisors inside the courtroom, was also present at the High Court on Wednesday.
JUSTICE JACKSON SPARKS ONLINE UPROAR AFTER LINKING BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP TO STEALING A WALLET IN JAPAN
«The argument is that this country, this year, is celebrating 250 years! It’s not the time to be changing the game’s rules. Those rules have been already done,» Andrés said. «Let’s keep working to make sure that the 15 million immigrants become part of America. This is what America should be working towards.»
Well-known D.C. chef and activist José Andrés leads protesters outside the Supreme Court on Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (Photo by Heather Diehl/Getty Images)
Andrés’ suggestion that «the game’s rules» have already been written and Trump’s efforts are trying to upend those pre-settled rules, effectively saying it goes against the Constitution and other policies the country was founded on, was echoed by other protesters Fox News digital caught up with outside the Supreme Court Wednesday as well.
«Well, I don’t know that there should be no limits, but there certainly shouldn’t be the limits that are proposed. And Justice Robert said it way better than I could. It’s a new world. It’s the same Constitution,» someone at the protest outside the Supreme Court, holding a small dog wearing a sign that read «NO KINGS. ONLY BI—ES,» told Fox News Digital.
EXPERT FLAGS ‘DISAPPOINTING’ QUESTIONS FROM JUSTICES IN TRUMP BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP CASE
«We are setting ourselves up for a two-tiered, or hierarchy of citizenship, you know. Why is it that some people who are born here get to be citizens and other people are not, based on who their parents’ ancestry is? To me that just violates the core concept of equality that our country is supposed to be founded on,» said another.
People demonstrate outside the U.S. Supreme Court ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump’s expected arrival on April 01, 2026 in Washington, DC. The Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments in Trump v. Barbara to determine if President Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship is constitutional. (Al Drago/Getty Images)
«It will help regulations when it comes to certain laws. And it was kind of – the hearing itself – it was educational, a lot of things to take, and things to learn from the 14th Amendment,» added another.
«We have a 14th Amendment for a reason,» another activist said. «We can’t rewrite the Constitution.»
SAUER CITES ‘STRIKING’ FIGURES ON SECRETIVE BIRTH TOURISM IN HIGH-STAKES SCOTUS CASE
When asked for his thoughts on Wednesday’s oral arguments after leaving the courthouse Wednesday, De Niro focused his criticism on Trump, telling Fox News Digital he didn’t know what to think immediately after leaving the hearing.
«I’m waiting to get a, getting a – I’m not sure because I could hear, but not hear. It’s complicated. So, I can’t say,» De Niro responded when asked about the oral arguments he had just witnessed.
Robert De Niro caught leaving oral arguments at the Supreme Court on Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (Nicholas Ballasy/Fox News)
De Niro described the Trump administration’s stance on the matter — that children born to parents who are in the United States illegally or temporarily are not American citizens — as a way for Republicans to «get rid of people they don’t want.»
When asked about claims he has «Trump Derangement Syndrome,» sometimes referred to by the acronym «TDS,» De Niro called it «nonsense.»
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
«People don’t like him for a reason,» De Niro shot back. «All the terrible things he’s done. If he did nice things, then he could have, he had the chance — he became president — to do nice things, not hateful, retribution, not just, outright mean things. If he did nice things, people would love him. But he’s got a problem. He’s damaged.» Asked what specifically bothered him about Trump, De Niro said «everything.»
«Everything that we all know now,» De Niro, who reportedly sat in seats reserved for the justices’ guests, added as he was leaving the courthouse.
Reporting from Wednesday indicated the Supreme Court appeared ready to reject Trump’s argument on birthright citizenship. The arguments reportedly lasted over two hours, and, in addition to Trump, recently fired U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi was present, as was Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, among other Trump allies.
us protests, celebrity chefs, supreme court oral arguments, supreme court, politics, washington dc, immigrant rights
La Casa Rosada también resiste en las redes el escándalo de Adorni
Sigue el éxodo en Italia tras no clasificar al Mundial: despidieron a Gattuso como entrenador
What B-52 bombers bring to Iran fight — and what it means for the war now
Qué se conmemora el Viernes Santo
Cuánto deberá pagar un progenitor como mínimo por la cuota alimentaria de su hijo en abril 2026
A los 61 años, Catherine Fulop hizo una fuerte confesión: “Ya no soy la misma”
Dos jubiladas que le habrían prestado dinero a Manuel Adorni negaron conocerlo
Quiénes son las dos acreedoras del préstamo con el que Adorni compró su departamento en Caballito
El Gobierno reevalúa la estrategia de comunicación por el caso Adorni y mide el impacto en la imagen de Milei
Milei se pone al frente de la defensa de Adorni y lo suma a un acto por Malvinas en una nueva muestra de respaldo
POLITICA2 días agoEl Gobierno reevalúa la estrategia de comunicación por el caso Adorni y mide el impacto en la imagen de Milei
- POLITICA1 día ago
Milei se pone al frente de la defensa de Adorni y lo suma a un acto por Malvinas en una nueva muestra de respaldo
- POLITICA17 horas ago
AFAgate: el juez Armella le derivó la causa a su colega González Charvay, como pretendían Tapia
