Quakers say London police arrested six people at meeting on climate change, Gaza
British police raided a Quaker meeting house in London on Thursday and arrested six women attending a meeting on climate change and the war in Gaza, according to a statement from Quakers UK.
'No-one has been arrested in a Quaker meeting house in living memory,' said Paul Parker, recording clerk for Quakers in Britain, according to the statement.
'This aggressive violation of our place of worship and the forceful removal of young people holding a protest group meeting clearly shows what happens when a society criminalizes protest,' Parker added.
CNN has reached out to London's Metropolitan Police for comment.
Quakers, a nickname for members of the Religious Society of Friends, follow a religious tradition that originally grew from Protestant Christianity in the 17th century.
Quakers have a long history of supporting protest movements and non-violence is one of their core beliefs.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Where Are Elizabeth Smart's Kidnappers Now? Here's What Happened to Brian David Mitchell and Wanda Barzee
Elizabeth Smart's life was forever changed when she was abducted in the middle of the night by Brian David Mitchell and Wanda Barzee. During the early morning hours of June 5, 2002, Mitchell broke into the Smart family's Salt Lake City home and snatched then-14-year-old Elizabeth from her bed. Mitchell — who claimed to be a religious prophet named Immanuel — and his wife Barzee then held the teenager captive for the next nine months, with Mitchell repeatedly raping Elizabeth while Barzee watched on. As Elizabeth endured this terrifying ordeal, her missing persons case captivated the nation and her family never lost hope that she would be rescued. 'We always knew that if Elizabeth was alive it would be a miracle,' her uncle Tom Smart told PEOPLE. 'But we always believed that the miracle was very, very possible. And sure enough, it was.' On March 12, 2003, Elizabeth and her kidnappers were spotted walking in Sandy, Utah. Despite being dressed in a disguise and giving police a fake name, Elizabeth was ultimately saved by authorities and reunited with her family — while her kidnappers were taken into custody. About a week later, Mitchell and Barzee faced charges of aggravated kidnapping, burglary and sexual assault, according to the Los Angeles Times. In the more than two decades since her abduction, Elizabeth has managed not just to survive the traumatizing experience — but thrive in spite of it. With a focus on sharing survivors' stories, Elizabeth is an accomplished author, TV correspondent, motivational speaker, philanthropist and victims' rights advocate. In her personal life, Elizabeth wed Matthew Gilmour in 2012; the couple are parents to three children together. So where are Elizabeth Smart's kidnappers, Brian David Mitchell and Wanda Barzee, now? Here's everything to know about the husband-and-wife who abducted the Utah teenager and their lives today. Mitchell and Barzee first met in the mid-1980s at a group counseling session in Salt Lake City run by the Mormon church, The New Yorker reported. At the time, Mitchell's marriage to his second wife, Debbie, was falling apart amidst allegations that he had abused Debbie's two younger children from a previous marriage, according to CNN. Meanwhile, Barzee alleged in court that she was in the process of ending a 20-year abusive marriage while also losing custody of her six children, per CNN. The two were married within nine months of their first meeting, on Nov. 29, 1985 — the day Mitchell's divorce was finalized, Deseret News reported. In the following years, Mitchell worked as a die cutter at O.C. Tanner, while Barzee stayed home to practice and study the organ. Both were active members in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. But by the mid-1990s, all of that changed when Mitchell quit his job and stopped paying taxes, according to CNN. The couple sold off all their possessions and began living off the land, panhandling to get by as they hitchhiked across the country. During this time, they also distanced themselves from the Mormon church and began to wear religious robes, as Mitchell had become convinced he was a prophet who was to have seven wives. Mitchell first encountered the Smart family and their Utah home in November 2001, PEOPLE previously reported. Lois Smart met Mitchell while he was panhandling on the streets of Salt Lake City. At the time, she gave him $5 and an offer to do some roofing work on the family's home — an extension of kindness that was not uncommon for Lois and her husband Ed, who were Mormons. Mitchell returned to the family's Salt Lake City home months later with sinister intentions. On the night of June 5, 2002, the self-proclaimed prophet cut a hole in the Smart's kitchen screen and entered the bedroom that Elizabeth shared with her younger sister, Mary Katherine. He then abducted the 14-year-old Elizabeth at knifepoint. 'He placed his hand on my chest and then put the knife up to my neck,' she said in federal court in October 2009. 'He told me to get up quietly and if I didn't then he would kill me and my family.' Mitchell then forced Elizabeth to march three miles through the woods to a makeshift camp where Barzee was waiting. Elizabeth was changed into a robe and wed to Mitchell in a pseudo-ceremony performed by the religious zealot himself. Mitchell then raped Elizabeth for the first time. Over the next nine months, Mitchell raped Elizabeth up to four times per day and kept her tethered to a tree with a cable when he was not assaulting her. Barzee not only witnessed everything but also did nothing to stop it, Elizabeth later revealed. 'She would encourage him to rape me. She would sit next to me. The side of her body would be touching me while he was raping me,' Elizabeth said during a September 2018 interview with CBS This Morning. 'There were no secrets. She knew what was going on.' In July 2002, seven weeks after Elizabeth was taken, Mitchell attempted to abduct Elizabeth's cousin, 18-year-old Jessica Wright. Mitchell allegedly cut through Wright's bedroom window screen and attempted to enter her room using a chair he placed below the window — similar to how he had broken into Elizabeth's home, according to ABC News. However, in Wright's case, Mitchell fled when the family dog began barking. 'When I heard that, I thought they were trying to get a companion for Elizabeth,' her uncle David told PEOPLE in March 2003. 'We were like, 'No question, she's alive.' ' Elizabeth later revealed in her 2018 book, When There's Hope: Healing, Moving Forward, and Never Giving Up, that Mitchell had attempted to kidnap another girl while she was in captivity. According to Elizabeth's recollection, Mitchell began looking for his 'next wife' and searched local churches for young girls. He befriended a Mormon family in El Cajon, Calif., and after learning they had a young daughter, selected her as 'his next victim,' Elizabeth wrote. One night, Mitchell left their campsite dressed in dark clothes and with a knife in hand to kidnap the young girl. However, his plan was foiled when he entered the home and was alarmed by a man snoring. The sound compelled Mitchell to leave and abandon his plans to take the young girl. 'I know most people consider snoring a health risk or an annoyance, but in the case of this young girl, it saved her life,' Elizabeth wrote. The road to rescuing Elizabeth — and catching her captors — got its first break in October 2002, when Elizabeth's sister Mary Katherine told her parents she remembered who had taken her sister. Mary Katherine revealed it was the worker she knew as 'Immanuel,' and Ed knew immediately it was the man who had worked on their roof, PEOPLE previously reported. Based on Mary Katherine's recollections, a police sketch of Mitchell was revealed in February 2003. Following the police sketch, Mitchell's sister came forward and provided photos, which were then featured on a February episode of America's Most Wanted. Additional photos of Mitchell were shown for a second time on the program in March. On March 12, 2003, two separate couples who had seen America's Most Wanted spotted Mitchell walking around Sandy, Utah, with two females and called 911, PEOPLE reported at the time. When they were approached by police officers, Elizabeth — who was disguised in a gray wig and sunglasses — claimed her name was Augustine Marshall. At the police station, Elizabeth eventually confirmed her identity and was reunited with her family, while Mitchell and Barzee were arrested on suspicion of aggravated kidnapping, The New York Times reported. Due to delays, mental evaluations and competency hearings, it took nearly eight years for Barzee and Mitchell to be brought to trial for the kidnapping of Elizabeth. In November 2009, Barzee pleaded guilty to kidnapping and unlawful transportation of a minor in a deal with prosecutors, The New York Times reported. As part of her plea deal, Barzee also agreed to cooperate in the case against her estranged husband, Mitchell. (Barzee filed for divorce in November 2004, per the outlet.) In exchange for her guilty plea and cooperation, Barzee was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison, according to The New York Times. 'I am so sorry, Elizabeth, for all the pain and suffering I have caused you and your family,' Barzee said in court. 'It is my hope that you will be able to find it in your heart to forgive me.' Mitchell's trial began in November 2010, and his defense tried to argue he was not guilty by reason of insanity, but was found competent to stand trial, per The Seattle Times. In December 2010, a jury found Mitchell guilty of kidnapping and transporting a minor across state lines with the intent to engage in sexual activity, The New York Times reported. He was sentenced to life in prison. After getting arrested by Utah authorities in March 2003, Barzee spent the next several years in custody when she pled guilty in November 2009. She was subsequently sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for her role in Elizabeth's abduction, but received credit for time served. In 2016, Barzee was transferred from a federal prison to a Utah state prison to begin serving her separate one-to-15-year sentence for the attempted abduction of Elizabeth's cousin, NBC reported. However, in June 2018, Barzee's attorney requested that she receive credit toward her state sentence for her time spent in federal prison. Utah parole officials initially denied that request and set Barzee's sentence to run until January 2024. But the parole board unexpectedly reversed that decision in September 2018 — ruling that, after 'further review and advice from legal counsel,' Barzee's time spent in federal prison, as well as in a state hospital and jail, must be credited toward her current term. The news left Elizabeth 'surprised and disappointed,' she revealed in a statement at the time, per KSL. 'It is incomprehensible how someone who has not cooperated with her mental health evaluations or risk assessments and someone who did not show up to her own parole hearing can be released into our community,' Elizabeth said in her statement. During a press conference, Elizabeth urged the parole board to reconsider their decision. 'I do believe she's a threat,' she said about Barzee. 'I believe that she is a danger and a threat to any vulnerable person in our community, which is why our community should be worried.' Barzee was let out of prison on Sept. 19, 2018, and began five years of federal supervised release. She was first placed in a halfway house before moving into an apartment in Salt Lake City near an elementary school, The Salt Lake Tribune reported. Following her early release, Elizabeth spoke out about how she refused to let the past affect her present happiness. 'I'm not gonna let these people or this woman stop me from living the life that I want to live, and that's how I still feel,' she said. Most recently, in May 2025, Barzee was arrested for violating her parole. She allegedly visited parks in Salt Lake City, which she is restricted from doing due to her status as a registered sex offender. A spokesperson for the Salt Lake City Police (SLCP) told PEOPLE that "detectives developed information." Barzee was later released on judicial orders and the SLCP will continue monitoring the situation, requiring her to do weekly check-ins. While Barzee was released early from prison, Mitchell has been serving a life sentence with no possibility of parole since being convicted in 2010. Mitchell is currently an inmate at the United States Penitentiary, Terre Haute, a high-level security federal prison in Indiana, per its inmate directory. With Mitchell behind bars, Elizabeth revealed she does not spend much time thinking about the man who permanently altered the course of her life over two decades ago. 'They're not people that I think of regularly,' she told PEOPLE about her captors in September 2024. 'I guess every now and then, part of me wonders how you could get to a point where you would think it's okay to kidnap a young girl.' Mitchell, she added, 'should never get out' of prison. 'I just think no matter what, if he got out, he would be a danger if not to me than to another young girl,' Elizabeth said. 'I think he will always pose a threat.' Read the original article on People
San Francisco Chronicle
2 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Foul-mouthed, frustrated Democrats seek a spine
ANAHEIM — California Democrats have learned one lesson from last November's national loss to Republicans: Voters want to see them fight. Especially for the working class. Their next challenge is actually doing it. And California Democrats have a prime opportunity to do so in an upcoming budget fight in Sacramento. Part of Donald Trump's appeal is that voters at least feel that he's 'fighting' for them even if it is largely performative. (Exhibit A: Trump's tax plan gives a $300 tax break to families earning $50,000 and $90,000 to a filer making $1 million, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. So the word 'fight' was omnipresent in every speech, often in profane ways, at the California Democratic Party's three-day convention that ended Sunday. Speaking of his Republican opponents, California Sen. Adam Schiff told attendees: 'We do not capitulate. We do not concede. California does not cower, not now, not ever. We say to bullies, 'You can go f— yourself.'' Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee and a keynote convention speaker, told delegates Saturday, 'We gotta be honest. We're in this mess because some of it is our own doing.' Walz acknowledged that as half of the losing presidential ticket, he may be 'the last person to lecture on this topic, but I'm going to tell you, none of us can afford to shy away from having hard conversations about what it's going to take to win elections.' 'We didn't just lose the working class to just anybody. We lost to a grifter billionaire giving tax cuts to his grifter billionaire buddies. That last election was a primal scream on so many fronts: 'Do something! Do something! Stand up and make a difference.'' America is dubious that Democrats can do something. A CNN poll released Sunday found that 16% of respondents felt Democrats are the party that could 'get things done.' More than twice as many respondents (36%) felt that way about Republicans. 'If you ask people today what a Democrat is, they say it is 'a deer in the headlights,'' Walz said. 'We've got to find some goddamn guts to fight for working people. … Nobody votes for roadkill.' 'That means having the guts to break down the power structures that are there. We know who's strangling our politics.' Lorena Gonzalez, president of the 2.3 million-member California Labor Federation, warned that Democrats shouldn't become 'Republican lite' by adopting their positions. She invoked the Depression-era song written by Florence Patton Reece, 'Which Side Are You On?' 'Are you on the side of the billionaires and the tech bros and Elon Musk and the Republican Lites?' Gonzalez said. 'Or are you on the side of working people, men and women who make this state work, who continue to go to work every day, hardworking people. Are you on the side of unions?' Case in point: It sounds hollow to hear California Democrats rail on Trump and congressional Republicans for their budget that would cut health coverage for 8.6 million Americans (according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office) when California is considering cuts to its most vulnerable citizens to close a $12 billion budget deficit. Gov. Gavin Newsom's May revised budget proposal i ncluded cuts to the In-Home Supportive Services program, which provides care to low-income elderly and disabled people. Those providers, who are predominantly women of color, earn about $17 an hour. The typical provider would lose about $20,000 in pay annually under the proposal, according to union leaders. These are the 500,000 workers who bathe, dress and take care of 850,000 frail Californians — our parents, children and siblings. Many providers are one paycheck away from homelessness, union organizers say. Such a pay cut 'would be devastating,' Cynthia Williams, an Orange County in-home provider since 2008, told me. If the cuts were passed, her family would likely have to move and use the local food bank even more. She cares for her disabled-veteran sister and her daughter, who is blind and disabled and has a gastric condition that requires her to have four or five small meals a day. 'So that (salary reduction) would cut down on what I would be able to do. Providing four or five meals a day would not be an option,' Williams told me. 'We don't need to keep milking the poor to give to the rich,' she said. 'We need to make sure that Democrats care for the people that are the most vulnerable.' Union leaders, whose members are the lifeblood of Democratic campaigns, say they are watching how Democrats handle this proposed cut. At a rally Saturday outside the Anaheim Convention Center where Democrats were meeting, United Domestic Workers Executive Director Doug Moore directed a message 'to our Democratic lawmakers. This rally is not just a protest. It's a warning. 'Balancing the budget on the backs of low-income children, seniors, people with disabilities and the caregivers who support them is not leadership, it's shortsighted cowardice,' Moore told rallygoers. 'Every Democrat inside this convention hall, this is your moment. Your integrity matters now more than ever. You can't claim to stand for justice, equity, working families in your speeches, then turn around and vote for budget cuts that hurt the very people who make this state function. 'It is time for you to have the courage to stand with us — or else. We are watching. We are the people who got you in the office.' California Democrats are looking for ways to stave off those cuts. Behind closed doors, Senate Democrats are considering several plans that would raise revenue from wealthy corporations to plug the budget deficit. One idea is to tax large corporations that do business in California but do not provide adequate or affordable health coverage to their employees and pay their workers so little that they must rely on Medi-Cal. It would require employers to pay a tax for each worker; details on the proposal are still being crafted. Other Democrats in the Legislature are privately discussing a proposal that would close the 'water's edge loophole' that would require corporations to report all their worldwide profits, not just the profits they claim were earned in the U.S. This proposal could enable California to collect taxes on its rightful share (an estimated $3 billion) of those total profits. Now, the percentage of national sales that occur in the state is the percentage of profit subject to corporate tax in California. Twenty-eight states plus Washington, D.C., require a version of water's edge reporting, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Polic y, The short-term question: Will Gov. Newsom veto this because he is concerned about being tagged as someone who 'raised taxes' — even if it is on wealthy corporations — if he runs for president in 2028 when his term ends? The long-term question: Whose side are Democrats on?
Newsweek
2 hours ago
- Newsweek
NATO Ally 'Can't Rely' Solely on US for Protection, Ex-Trump Adviser Warns
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. The U.S. can no longer be considered a reliable ally for Britain and the other NATO members, former Russia adviser to President Donald Trump Fiona Hill said in a recent interview with British newspaper The Guardian. "We're in pretty big trouble," the American-British national said during her interview about the U.K.'s vulnerable geopolitical situation. "We can't rely exclusively on anyone anymore," she said, casting doubt on Trump's determination to tackle Vladimir Putin's aggressive expansion ambitions in Europe. Why It Matters Hill's comments reflect widespread concerns in Europe that the U.S. is no longer the reliable ally it used to be for the continent, and European nations need to quickly get ready to fend for themselves, boosting military spending, forging new alliances or strengthening existing ones. Earlier this week, most NATO members voted to endorse Trump's demand for them to increase their defense spending to 5 percent of their GDP. But this goal might be hard to reach: already in 2023, NATO leaders agreed to spend at least 2 percent of their GDP on national defense budgets, but 22 of the 32 member states are still falling short. During #DefMin, NATO Defence Ministers agreed an ambitious new set of capability targets to build a stronger, fairer, more lethal Alliance, and ensure warfighting readiness for years to come Tap to learn more ↓ — NATO (@NATO) June 5, 2025 What To Know While Hill was born in England, she lived and worked in the U.S. for 30 years, ascending to the role of the White House's chief adviser on Russia during Trump's first administration. Her role was cut short in the summer of 2019, when she was fired by the president, who later accused her of being "terrible at her job." The dismissal followed Hill's testimony at Trump's impeachment trial, where she spoke of Russian meddling at the heart of the White House. Since then, Hill has spoken repeatedly of Trump's admitted admiration for Putin, criticizing his soft approach to the Russian strongman. Fiona Hill, former senior director for Europe and Russia at the National Security Council, on February 2, 2022, on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. Fiona Hill, former senior director for Europe and Russia at the National Security Council, on February 2, 2022, on Capitol Hill in Washington said that Putin had "declared war on the West" through his invasion of Ukraine, which the Kremlin leader presented to his counterparts in China, North Korea and Iran as "part of a proxy war with the United States." But Trump, who has long admired the Russian president, appears unwilling to take a strong stance against him and instead "wants to have a separate relationship with Putin to do arms-control agreements and also business that will probably enrich their entourage further," Hill told The Guardian. While Trump has recently shown frustration with Putin, who has largely ignored or stalled on the U.S. president's calls for an end to the invasion of Ukraine, he has remained reluctant to impose further sanctions on Moscow—a type of punishment that European leaders have instead embraced. In a recent interview with The Telegraph, Hill said: "If you offer the Russians a carrot, they just eat it, or they take it and hit you over the head with it." What People Are Saying European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in March: "If Europe wants to avoid war, Europe must get ready for war. By 2030, Europe must have a strong European defense posture." Though she recently insisted that the U.S. was still "an ally," in April she said: "The West as we knew it no longer exists." France's President Emmanuel Macron, who has long advocated for the creation of an EU army and boosting military spending, said in January: "What will we do in Europe tomorrow if our American ally withdraws its warships from the Mediterranean? If they send their fighter jets from the Atlantic to the Pacific?" Earlier this week, President Donald Trump described a phone call with Putin as a "good conversation, but not a conversation that will lead to immediate peace." During the phone call, he said, Putin said "he will have to respond to the recent [Ukrainian] attack on the airfields," Trump wrote on social media, without adding whether he tried to sway the Russian leader from doing so. On June 1, Kyiv launched coordinated, long-range strikes on multiple Russian airbases thousands of miles from Ukraine which took out more than a third of Moscow's strategic cruise missile carriers. What Happens Next According to Hill, Putin sees the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a way toward establishing the country's dominance as a "military power in all of Europe." And the U.S., she warned, cannot be relied on at the moment to help Europe fight off this growing threat. When it comes to defense, she said, the U.K.—and the other NATO members—should not rely on the military umbrella of Washington as they did during the Cold War, "not in the way we did before." A recent survey by the European Council on Foreign Relations found that Europeans are increasingly losing confidence in the U.S. from a geopolitical perspective. A majority, according to the study released in February, considered the U.S. a "necessary partner" rather than "an ally."
