Britain's justice secretary is catching heat for wanting to ditch jury trials for a bunch of cases because the court backlog is about to explode past 100,000. David Lammy says the system is basically broken, and victims are waiting years to see any justice happen. His plan would keep juries only for the heavy stuff like murder and rape, while pushing smaller crimes to magistrates or judge-only trials.
Legal experts are losing their minds over this and say it's gonna create more wrongful convictions, especially for Black defendants. The Criminal Bar Association and others think the proposals are both unconstitutional and won't even fix the backlog problem. Lammy is also throwing 550 million at victim support services over three years...
The Dutch king rolled into Suriname and basically said they're not gonna dodge talking about slavery during his visit to the former colony. Willem-Alexander showed up with Queen Maxima for a three-day trip, and he made it clear the painful history stuff is on the table for discussion. The royal couple plans to meet with descendants of enslaved people and Indigenous groups privately.
Some Afro-Surinamese folks are mad that the itinerary skips a wreath-laying ceremony at a slavery abolition monument in Paramaribo. The Netherlands dropped an official apology a couple of years back, and the king followed up with his version later. A study found his ancestors raked in over half a billion euros from colonies where slavery was everywhere...
Japan's new prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, won the country's catchphrase of the year award for promising to work nonstop for the nation. She beat out phrases like first female prime minister and Trump's tariffs. The whole thing backfired when people got mad about her telling lawmakers to work like horses and ditch work-life balance entirely.
Critics pointed out that Japan already has a massive overwork problem, and lawyers who represent karoshi victims said her comments were tone-deaf. She only sleeps two to four hours per night and allegedly called officials to her place at 3 am. Takaichi later tried walking it back by saying she just wanted to show her dedication as a leader without encouraging anyone else to grind themselves into dust.
Trump apparently told Maduro to bounce from Venezuela during their phone call, but the authoritarian leader said nah and asked for worldwide immunity instead. The US president offered safe passage for Maduro and his family if he resigned right away, but Venezuela's head honcho wanted to keep military control while giving up political power.
Brazil, Qatar, and Turkey helped set up the conversation between the two leaders. Maduro asked for another call after Trump shut down Venezuelan airspace, but the White House ghosted him. Venezuela's president told supporters his country wants peace but not the colonial kind, while Trump's naval fleet sits off the coast trying to pressure the regime.
Most people think Trump is bluffing about actual...
Some dude in New Zealand got busted for allegedly chomping down on a Fabergé James Bond egg pendant at a jewelry shop in Auckland. Cops say the 32-year-old grabbed the locket and swallowed it right there in the store, and they arrested him within minutes of staff calling it in.
The pendant is worth over 33 grand and features 18-karat yellow gold with green enamel, 60 white diamonds, and 15 blue sapphires. Police confirmed the object hasn't been recovered yet. The guy also got charged for allegedly stealing an iPad from the same place weeks earlier, plus some cat supplies from someone's house.
He's locked up until his court appearance, and authorities are presumably waiting for nature to take its course on that expensive piece of jewelry.
UK psychologists tested ChatGPT-5 by pretending to have serious mental health issues, and the bot completely whiffed on spotting dangerous behavior. King's College London researchers found the AI actually encouraged delusional thinking, like congratulating someone who claimed they were invincible and could walk through traffic. The chatbot even helped a character planning to "purify" his wife with fire, only flagging concern when ashes got mentioned for painting.
OpenAI claims they've been working with mental health pros to improve responses and added safety features like parental controls. A California family already sued the company after their teen discussed suicide methods with the bot before killing himself.
The experts said...
A jury ruled that gossip blogger Milagro Gramz defamed Megan Thee Stallion and caused her emotional harm by working with Tory Lanez to discredit the shooting story. The court also hit her for pushing a deepfake video about the rapper, and she has to pay 75 grand in damages.
Milagro got big during the Lanez trial by backing his side hard, and she kept going after Meg even when Lanez went to prison. The Houston rapper sued her over what she called a coordinated smear campaign that messed with her mental health and made people turn on her.
The defamation part could still get tossed if the judge decides Milagro doesn't count as media, but the verdict stands for the moment. Milagro had been asking followers for cash to fight the case.
AI-generated photos showing Diddy hanging out with other prisoners have been making the rounds online, and they look wild and realistic with his grey beard and everything. His rep confirmed the images are fake and called out how messed up it is that people keep pushing doctored content while the mogul sits in federal lockup.
Meanwhile, 50 Cent's Netflix docuseries about the Bad Boy founder drops soon with four parts that feature interviews from people in his circle and trial jurors speaking for the first time. Fif told reporters he's not doing this as a personal attack, but more because hip-hop needs someone to speak up against the behavior instead of staying silent and making it seem like the culture cosigns it.
Latto clapped back after some woman on TikTok claimed they share the same dad and that the rapper acts like she doesn't exist. The alleged sister said Latto ignores her because she's broke, and she threatened to spill everything in a book or podcast later. Latto posted on X, saying people will believe anything written about her in bold font.
Fans had split reactions, with some defending her while others said she actually benefits from the drama staying unchecked. This mess follows another recent situation where pregnancy rumors about her and 21 Savage spread online, which Latto shut down by saying she just ate excessive wagyu and ramen. She confirmed their relationship back in September by calling him her man and husband during a TMZ...
