Are drug gangs threatening the rule of law in the Netherlands? Many Dutch have been asking that question after a string of drug mafia murders, including that of an acclaimed investigative journalist.

Amsterdam

String of drug mafia murders rattles the Netherlands

A Dutch coffee shop where is permitted to buy small amounts of marijuana. You can even pay with your bank card. But business is like this one could spend up to 3 million euros, buying stock without receipt. It's technically illegal for them to purchase so much, but it's never prosecuted that legal gray area. Here is coming under increasing scrutiny, following the 2021 murder of investigative journalist Peter R De Vries, he was part of a team, supporting a witness in a case against a drug kingpin, these lawyers have spent more than two years on the run. The clock protection for defending a key witness in the trial against ridwan Targhee, he's accused of ordering a string of murders, including the former lawyer and the brother of the main witness against him and says the trial against two other men accused of the related murder of DeVries, has descended into a mess. It's now headed to retrial after a judge. That's the proceedings. And the Deluge of new evidence was submitted. What I say is we should just legally men up against situations like this learn from what is going on here and make changes in the law. So that it even less becomes a problem with the port of Rotterdam to be the main entry point for cocaine into Europe. The Netherlands is under pressure from other EU countries. The multitude of cool cases of Ryan. These criminal gangs rumbles on any of those questions are being directed here to the ministry of Justice asking exactly what is changing to prevent these kind of crimes in the future. The Dutch government sent me w a statement saying it's taking unprecedented action and is investing an additional seven hundred million euros in the coming years to fight organized crime. like the Italian mafia or something, but it is starting to get Big problem. Everyone turns to the Netherlands, as the prime example of legalization of drugs and how we should, you know, push forward the two example, legalize marijuana and other kind of drugs, and I don't know, it's really opens your eyes of the whole reality behind it. And how the Netherlands has become a narco-state people in Belgium and Germany rooting out their influence is significant not just for the Netherlands but for the whole of Europe,

The specialized police unit that included the five Memphis officers charged with the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols was disbanded on Saturday, as more protests took place in U.S. cities a day after harrowing video of the attack was released. It followed a call from President Joe Biden to the Nichols family, offering his support.

Memphis

Memphis disbands elite unit linked to fatal beating

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has fired the Conservative Party chairman. It comes after an investigation into Nadhim Zahawi's tax affairs found he seriously breached ministerial rules when he was chancellor. Questions remain over whether Sunak should have known earlier about Zahawi’s tax dispute.

Downing Street

Top Conservative fired over tax scandal

Former U.S. President Donald Trump had his first formal 2024 election campaign trail events on Saturday with stops in New Hampshire and South Carolina. They were noticeably low-key affairs, in contrast to the loud and lively rallies with thousands of supporters that he often holds.

Columbia

'Bring back world peace': Trump launches campaign

A protester has been killed in Peru during confrontations between demonstrators and police. That takes number of those who have died during the unrest to 58, since former President Pedro Castillo was impeached and imprisoned early last month. Roads in the south have been blocked by protesters after mainly indigenous leaders called a national strike. Food and fuel are running out in the region.

Puno

Protester killed in remote Peru clashes

Serbian superstar defeated Greece's Stefanos Tsitsipas for his 10th trophy in Melbourne, equalling Rafael Nadal's 22 Grand Slam titles.

Melbourne

Djokovic wins Australian Open title

One of the world's most expensive cities to live in - Hong Kong - is facing the highest rate of homelessness in a decade. Rising inflation has sent the cost of everything from food to rent soaring, compounding the problem. Experts and social workers blamed the pandemic partly for the sharp increase in street sleepers over the past two years, as people lost their jobs and income.

Tsim Sha Tsui

Hong Kong has a homeless problem

Ten civilians were killed in Ukraine, including three in Konstantynivka, as Russian artillery targeted homes. Ukraine's army says it has been exacting a heavy toll against Russian soldiers on the battlefield.

Kharkiv

Ukraine says Russia taking 'heavy losses'

Chanting 'no justice, no peace', protesters marched through Memphis following the release of Police footage showing the arrest of Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man who died after five police officers beat him during a traffic stop earlier this month.

Protests break out after Police footage released

The first tennis grand slam of the year has been won by a Belarusian player, Aryna Sabalenka. But because of the invasion of Ukraine, she was not technically allowed to represent her country.

'Neutral' Sabalenka wins Australian Open 

Two people have been injured in a suspected shooting by a Palestinian gunman around Jerusalem’s Old City on Saturday morning, in what a police spokesperson has described as a "terrorist attack." In response, Israel's military said it was boosting its forces in the occupied West Bank.

Jerusalem

Israel army deployed amid West Bank violence

After two years of being held online, the revered Sundance Film Festival has returned to showcase the best of independent cinema. A drama about a struggling single mother has taken the Grand Jury Prize.

Park City

COVID Latest

Sundance Film Festival returns after two years away

Protesters in Peru have isolated its southeastern city of Puerto Maldonado after three weeks of road blockades. They are demanding constitutional reform. Some vandalised the regional governor's house on Friday. 

Lima

Politicians targeted by Peru protesters

Ukraine has invited the IOC chief, Thomas Bach, to visit his country's frontline after the body indicated it does not want to bar athletes from the Paris 2024 games based on their nationality.

Kyiv

Ukraine Invasion

Russian Sanctions

Zelenskyy slams IOC decision on Russia

A Palestinian boy, aged 13, shot and injured an Israeli man and his adult son in East Jerusalem. The boy was shot and disarmed by bystanders and taken to hospital in handcuffs.

Palestinian boy shoots two in Jerusalem

The city of Memphis has released harrowing video of the violent encounter between Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old man and the five police officers charged with his murder. The video shows what begins as a traffic stop turning into a manhunt, ending in a violent arrest that led to Nichols' death and the subsequent arrest of the officers involved.

Memphis murder arrest video released

Over a few hours under grey skies, dozens of combat planes and helicopters roar on and off the flight deck of the aircraft carrier Nimitz. The demonstration of U.S. military power in the hotly contested South China Sea has riled Beijing.

Riau Islands

U.S carrier group enters South China Sea

A San Francisco judge ordered the release of body camera footage showing the moment officers intervened when an alleged assailant attacked the husband of former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The footage was released alongside a surveillance video showing the alleged attacker smashing through a glass window to get into the couple's San Francisco home.

San Francisco

Footage shows attack on Pelosi's husband

A Palestinian gunman killed at least seven people and wounded three others after opening fire outside an East Jerusalem synagogue, according to Israeli authorities. Police said the shooter didn't have an organizational affiliation.

Palestinian gunman opens fire outside synagogue

The International Olympic Community has announced that Russian and Belarussian athletes could be allowed to compete at the Paris 2024 Olympics under a 'neutral' banner, rather than a Russian or Belarussian flag.

Paris

'No anthem, no flag' for Russian Olympians

After nearly a year of war, prisoners have accumulated on both sides of the border and detention centres in Ukraine are filling with Russian soldiers. Now a TV crew has been given rare access to one of these camps in an undisclosed location, where detainees wait in hope of a prisoner swap to return to their homeland.

Rare access to Russian POW camp

U.S. prosecutors have charged three men with attempting to assassinate a prominent critic of Iran's government who was previously the target of a failed Tehran-backed kidnapping plot, Attorney General Merrick Garland said on Friday.

Washington

Three charged over Iran-backed assassination plot

Novak Djokovic's father Srdjan said on Friday he would not attend his son's Australian Open semi-final and would instead "watch from home", after a video emerged showing him posing at Melbourne Park with fans holding Russian flags.

Djokovic's dad to skip Australian Open finals

The Paris Mayor says she would not 'stand in the way' of Russian and Belarusian athletes competing at the 2024 Summer Olympics, prompting threats of a boycott by Ukraine. The warning came after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said it would 'explore a pathway' for athletes from the two countries to participate as neutrals.

Saint-Denis

Ukraine threatens to boycott Olympics

The announcement comes one day after the United States and Germany both announced they are sending battle tanks to Ukraine, the first stage of a coordinated effort by the West to provide dozens of the heavy weapons to help Kyiv as Russia's invasion enters its 12th month.

Canada, France pledge more tanks to Ukraine

Rockets were fired by Gaza militants overnight as tensions soared following an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank that killed nine Palestinians, including at least seven militants and a 61-year-old woman.

Rockets fired at Israel after deadly West Bank raid

Peru's President Dina Bolurate is facing growing pressure over her handling of anti-government protests. Trouble began in December when her predecessor was forced from office and imprisoned after trying to dissolve Congress. Protesters want Boluarte to step down.

As deadly protests continue, Peru’s government faces crisis

A World Health Organization committee is meeting on Friday to decide if the COVID-19 pandemic is still a global emergency. Several leading scientists say it may be too early for WHO to declare the end of the pandemic emergency phase. The United Kingdom started easing restrictions in 2021 but is still working to live with the virus. 

Geneva

WHO considers if COVID still an emergency

U.S. President Joe Biden hit out at what he called “MAGA Republicans in the House of Representatives” on Thursday for threatening to destroy the economic progress his administration had made and refusing to lift the country’s debt ceiling. Biden called the GOP threat ‘mind-boggling’, during a speech in Virginia.

Richmond

Biden hits out at 'dangerous' Republicans

Five recently-fired Memphis police officers have been charged with murder in the death of Tyre Nichols, who died in hospital three days after a confrontation with officers at a traffic stop. Video of the alleged beating that ensued is due to be released later this week. The five officers have been charged with second-degree murder, aggravated assault and kidnapping.

Memphis Police officers charged with murder

Nine Palestinians have been killed during an Israeli military raid in the occupied West Bank town of Jenin. The Israeli military says its troops went in to arrest Islamic Jihad militants planning major attacks.