Pips

UN Security Council passes resolution calling for an "immediate ceasefire" in Gaza, as US shifts position by abstaining from vote

Five members of the SAS have been arrested by British military police on suspicion of allegedly committing war crimes while on operations in Syria.

The Ministry of Defence said it would not comment directly on the investigation but defence sources indicated that reports of the arrests, which had been circulating in military circles for some time, were accurate.

An MoD spokesperson said: “We hold our personnel to the highest standards and any allegations of wrongdoing are taken seriously. Where appropriate, any criminal allegations are referred to the service police for investigation.”

Details around the arrests remain limited but the SAS has been actively deployed in Syria for the past decade, engaged in the fight against Islamic State and supporting the Syrian Democratic Forces.

It is not certain that any of the arrests will result in a prosecution, and war crimes convictions of British soldiers are exceptionally rare. But the arrests come at a time when the activities of the SAS in Afghanistan are separately coming under scrutiny in a public inquiry examining claims that 80 Afghans were summarily killed by the unit.

Based in Hereford, the elite force typically operates in absolute secrecy and is ready to conduct risky missions behind the lines and in locations where the UK does not formally acknowledge a military presence.

Government ministers and officials decline to comment on its activities, even off the record, a practice introduced from the 1980s. Its most senior officer, the director of special forces, is only accountable to the defence secretary and the prime minister.

Alabama’s attorney general on Monday said that an explosive device had been detonated outside his offices over the weekend in the state’s capital city of Montgomery.

“Thankfully, no staff or personnel were injured by the explosion. The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency will be leading the investigation, and we are urging anyone with information to contact them immediately,” the attorney general, Steve Marshall, said in a statement.

The explosion occurred early on Saturday morning.

Social media company Reddit filed its IPO prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday after a yearslong run-up. The company plans to trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “RDDT.”

Reddit said it had $804 million in annual sales for 2023, up 20% from the $666.7 million it brought in the previous year, according to the filing.

The company said it has incurred net losses since its inception. It reported a net loss of $90.8 million for the year ended Dec. 31, 2023, compared to a net loss of $158.6 million the year prior.

Its market debut, expected in March, will mark the first major tech initial public offering of the year. It’s the first social media IPO since Pinterest went public in 2019.

Reddit first filed a confidential draft of its public offering prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Commission in December 2021.

A group of armed men have broken into a live television studio in Ecuador and threatened staff, footage shows.

A live broadcast by station TC in the city of Guayaquil was interrupted on Tuesday by the group, who were wearing hoods and carrying guns.

Staff were forced to on to the floor, before the live feed cut out.

A 60-day state of emergency began in Ecuador on Monday after a convicted gang leader vanished from his prison cell.