Muslim jail gangs said to force conversions on prisoners in UK: 'Jihadist training camps’

Radical Muslim inmates are said to be forcing other prisoners — mostly white British men — to convert to Islam in some of the U.K.'s prisons, according to British media reports this week.

The problem of Muslim gangs in the nation's prisons has become progressively worse since Britain's Sky News first reported, in 2013, that "British inmates are being bullied into converting to Islam while in jail" while noting that "The Prison Officers Association says it is symptomatic of the growing power and influence of Muslim gangs in prison."

This week Nick Timothy, the shadow justice secretary of the opposition Conservative party, has urged the left-of-center Labour Government to root out forced conversions. Timothy posted on X on Tuesday that," Islamist gangs control many of our prisons. Conversion to Islam is the only way to stay safe from them. I obtained data showing 1 in 5 Muslim prisoners are white. That’s four times higher than in the general population. This cannot continue."

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He told the U.K.'s Daily Telegraph that "We know that experts have warned repeatedly about forced conversions taking place behind bars, driven by Islamic gangs," Timothy said, adding "We need to be honest that something is not right here – Labour must urgently investigate and stamp out forced conversions in prison."

A press release from the U.K. Ministry of Justice stated that, "Most prisons show no evidence of gang-based extremism," while noting "We have also banned terrorist prisoners from holding positions of authority in corporate worship, e.g. leading the call to prayer, and clamped down on material found in prisons that could be used to spread harmful ideologies of justice."

According to Nile Gardiner, Director of the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom at the Heritage Foundation, this growing trend is having a detrimental effect on the country's prison system. "It is an absolutely outrageous state of affairs in the British prison system. This also poses a very significant national security risk for the United Kingdom. The British government appears to have lost control over its prisons, which have become jihadist training camps," Gardiner, who advised Lady Thatcher, told Fox News Digital.

He added that "urgent actions needs to be taken" in response to "the level of forced Islamization in British jails."

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The number of incarcerated Muslims has its origins in a defective British immigration policy, said Gardiner. According to The Telegraph, "the number of Muslim prisoners in jails in England and Wales has also increased and accounts for nearly one in five (18%) of the prison population, despite making up 6.5% of the general population."

Gardiner told Fox News Digital that "It is very clear that large-scale Islamic migration into the United Kingdom is having a direct impact on crime and public safety in the United Kingdom. And the growing Islamization of Britain carries with it immense risks for British national security and crime. The inflow of Islamic migrants is a real threat to Britain’s future."

Jonathan Hall, the British government’s independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, wrote in his 2022 report titled "Terrorism in Prisons" that he secured evidence that Islamist terrorists are behaving and acting as "self-styled emirs."

He added that the terrorists are "exerting a controlling and radicalising influence on the wider Muslim prison population (including through enforcers, whilst keeping their hands clean); recruitment (in particular of vulnerable or lonely prisoners, using guidance, sharing of food or material gifts), and conversion backed by implicit or actual violence; soliciting or accepting menial tasks (such as cell-cleaning) from lower status prisoners." 

A spokesperson from the ministry told Fox News Digital that, "We do not tolerate intimidation, gang activity or faith-based coercion of any kind in our prisons." The spokesperson added, "Prisons and staff act swiftly to clamp down on all threatening behavior from any groups or individuals."

According to the Justice spokesperson, "Forced religious conversions are not tolerated across the prison estate. In response to the report from the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation, Jonathan Hall, HMPPS [His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service] carried out a review into the influence of faith-based gangs. Following the review, HMPPS has improved the ability to identify nascent extremist gang activity and disrupt it before it takes hold via advanced training and data collection."

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An independent review by Colin Bloom, a British government advisor, looking at how the government engages with faith, in part stated, that "Failure to identify as a Muslim meant that at best the new prisoner would be denied ‘protection’ from the dominant Muslim gang on that wing, or at worst the new prisoner would be subjected to violence and intimidation from that same gang. "

According to a Fox News Digital review of the 2023 Bloom report, the 159-page study noted that "The 2019 Ministry of Justice report on separating extremist prisoners noted the growing problem of religious extremism across the prison estate, including the "aggressive encouragement of conversions to Islam."

Bloom had previously told GB News that there are some very good (Muslim) chaplains and excellent practices in prison, but "there is also, I think fair to say, that a number of prisons there are very large and aggressive Islamist gangs… where evidence was given to me and my review where Koran's were put on the bed of incoming inmates with the very clear indication convert or get hurt, and it was a way of coercing people to say, you know if you want to be protected in prison then you have to convert and become part of our gang."

Bloom noted that "prisons are actually a much more religious place than the rest of society. More people have a faith if they're in prison than not. But even by the standards of the most amazing, you know revivals religious conversions, there is something going on in prisons because we are seeing the most incredible number of people converting, particularly to Islam, in a way that is defies logic. And I think one of the things that we need to ensure that prison chaplains and prison management have is that inquiring mind to say just what the heck is going on here. This doesn't seem right."

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Death toll from mudslides, flooding at Nepal-China border climbs past 670, nearly 3,000 missing

The death toll from the devastating floods and mudslides along the Nepal-China border has risen to at least 676 people, as rescue operations stall amid poor weather.

After Nepali authorities updated their figures Saturday, the combined toll in Nepal and Tibet rose to 676 dead and nearly 3,000 people missing, according to The Associated Press. Chinese authorities have reported seven deaths and more than 550 missing, while Nepal’s disaster agency said the death toll had climbed to 669 with 2,426 people missing.

Experts believe Wednesday's mudslides and flash flooding across Nepal and China's Tibet region were caused by a large chunk of ice breaking off a glacier and falling into the Lhende Khola River. Rescue operations at the main disaster zone have been complicated by damaged roads and difficulty establishing communication, and look only to get more difficult, as intermittent rain is expected through the weekend.

"Search and rescue operations have been temporarily halted because it is raining, and the weather is foggy," Narendra Pariyar, a top official for Nepal's Rasuwa district, told Reuters.

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While Nepalese authorities have stressed they don't need countries to send people to help with general search and rescue, they did request that China send tunnel experts as up to 100 people are still trapped in a mud-filled hydropower plant tunnel.

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"We have already made requests for such specialised services and technical assistance in areas where we don't have enough expertise and technical know-how," Nepal's Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal told Reuters.

China dispatched five such workers from Tibet by helicopter to assist, according to the country's state-affiliated Xinhua news agency.

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Dramatic video showed the rescue of one such person as authorities from Nepal worked to drag the man out of the mud deluge.

Though impending rainstorms are likely to make rescue operations more difficult, officials say a previous threat from a lake that had formed on the border between Nepal and Tibet has substantially subsided.

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The lake had been overflowing into the Lhende Khola River, risking further flooding, but that risk had gone down by Saturday, according to Chinese officials.

Nepal's finance minister Swarnim Wagle estimated the country will need over $4 billion to rebuild after the disaster.

"This is just an estimate. Loss and damage is being assessed," he told Reuters.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Trapped Nepali workers pulled from hydropower tunnel after catastrophic flooding

Stunning video shows rescue workers in Nepal dragging trapped citizens out of the mud in a hydropower plant tunnel after the devastating mudslide that has left over 1,000 people missing.

The video, released by Nepal’s Prime Minister’s Office on Friday, shows a series of rescue workers pulling trapped people through a tunnel that’s been saturated with mud.

In a post on Facebook, the Prime Minister’s Office said it had rescued 350 people from the tunnel but that efforts continue to evacuate more than 100 people still trapped. The post also added that workers had moved another 533 residents to safety from flooded areas.

The rescue operation is intended to save people after a disastrous mudslide struck the valley in the Rasuwa district in northern Nepal, also affecting neighboring Chinese province Tibet.

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At least 538 people have been confirmed dead in Nepal, according to the most recent estimate from the Nepal National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA) and the Nepal Police.

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People unaccounted for on the Nepal side now number up to 1,924, according to The Associated Press.

Chinese authorities also report that, on the Chinese side of the border in Tibet, which was also affected by the deluge and ensuing mudslide, five people were confirmed dead with another 558 missing.

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Of the many missing people are approximately 90 Americans, according to the U.S. State Department.

President Donald Trump commented on the disaster Thursday, telling reporters, "That was a brutal... that was mud and water. It’s a mixture that nobody’s ever seen anything quite like that, where very powerful, strong, well-built buildings were wiped out like they were toothpicks."

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The uniquely devastating natural disaster was likely caused by a giant ice rock that crashed into the Lhende Khola River after an earthquake, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).

"On Wednesday morning (local time), 26 August 2026, a catastrophic debris flow and flood was likely triggered by a glacial collapse in Langtang National Park, Nepal, near the border with China," the USGS said in a post on its website.

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"This debris flow and flooding travelled nearly 100 km and impacted populated areas downstream along the Trishuli and Bhote Koshi Rivers, including Gyirong Port, China. Preliminary media reports and imagery analysis indicate many buildings and infrastructure have likely been buried or destroyed, including a vital highway connecting China and Nepal," the post added.

Fox News Digital contacted the Nepalese Foreign Ministry and the U.S. State Department for further comment.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Norway's King Harald dies peacefully at 89, son Crown Prince Haakon to succeed him

Norway's King Harald died Friday at 89, the Royal House of Norway announced.

"It is with deep grief that we announce that His Majesty King Harald has passed away," the royal palace said in a statement.

"King Harald died peacefully at Oslo University Hospital Rikshospitalet Friday 28 August at 6:35 AM," the statement continued.

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Harald, who was Europe's oldest living monarch, was hospitalized with a blood infection on Aug. 17.

He had previously received a pacemaker after falling ill during a vacation in Malaysia in 2024. 

Harald announced he would be drawing down his number of public appearances that same year.

The monarch had served as Norway's head of state since 1991. He was Norway's first royal heir to be born in the country in more than 500 years. In 1905, after Norway gained its independence from Sweden, Harald's grandfather, King Haakon VII, became the first king of an independent Norwegian state since 1387.

Harald was viewed as a reformer and advocated for his fellow European royals to continue a trend towards openness with the public. 

"If you've opened the gate it's very difficult to close it again," he told Reuters. "I'm not sure I'd want to close it. So far so good, as far as I'm concerned." 

When the Nazis invaded Norway in 1940, Harald's mother fled with him, first to neutral Sweden, then to the United States, where they briefly lived in the White House after then-President Franklin Delano Roosevelt offered the pair safe haven. 

Harald, his mother and his sisters soon moved to Bethesda, Maryland and would often meet with Roosevelt, who Harald said was like a grandfather to him. 

Harald's son, Crown Prince Haakon, 53, will succeed him and take the name King Haakon VIII.

Haakon and his wife, who will become Queen Mette-Marit, have been embroiled in scandal since it was revealed she exchanged emails with and had multiple meetings with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. 

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Mette-Marit said she regrets her ties to the deceased billionaire and claimed she had no knowledge of his sordid past while communicating with him. 

Additionally, Mette-Marit's son, Marius Borg Høiby, who she had from a previous marriage, was convicted of several charges of rape and domestic violence in June. He was sentenced to four years in prison, and both he and prosecutors are appealing the sentence. 

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Russia threatens strikes on UK military targets, ‘catastrophic consequences’ over Ukraine

Russia warned Thursday that it could strike British military targets inside and outside Ukraine if Kyiv uses long-range British cruise missiles against targets deep inside Russian territory, according to reports.

This came a day after Moscow accused Ukraine of striking a shopping center in Russian-controlled Donetsk with British Storm Shadow missiles, wounding civilians, including children.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said Thursday that Britain was "one step away" from becoming legally complicit in what she described as civilian-targeted "terrorism," warning that failure to change course would bring "catastrophic consequences," Reuters reported.

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"We have repeatedly warned that any British military installations and equipment in Ukraine and beyond its borders could be targeted in response to Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory carried out using British weapons," Zakharova said at a news briefing in Moscow.

She urged British leaders to "immediately, in the most resolute and unequivocal manner, abandon the hostile, aggressive line" to prevent the conflict from escalating to an "entirely new level."

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham visited Ukraine Aug. 24 for Independence Day, when he announced that a defense contractor could release classified information about British components used in the long-range SCALP cruise missile as Ukraine and France seek to establish assembly lines in Ukraine, according to the U.K. government.

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The SCALP missile, the French version of Britain's Storm Shadow, can strike targets more than 155 miles away.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the U.K. was "participating in the war" and "pouring fuel on the fire."

A spokesperson for Britain's Ministry of Defense told Reuters London stood "shoulder to shoulder" with Ukraine and was committed to providing the equipment that Kyiv needed "to defend itself against (President Vladimir) Putin's illegal invasion."

"Russia should be in no doubt about the resolve of this government to stand against Russian aggression in Ukraine and against the U.K. and our allies," the spokesperson said.

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During his Kyiv visit, Burnham also hit back at Moscow, condemning Russia's "outrageous threats" and asserting that Britain's support for Ukraine would not waver.

Russia also warned Britain Aug. 17 that it would pay a "price" after The Times reported Aug. 15 that British-made drones supplied to Ukraine were used to strike military and industrial targets inside Russia for the very first time.

Britain's Ministry of Defense did not confirm whether British drones had been used in the strikes.

Zakharova made the remarks as President Donald Trump downplayed concerns about a broader war, telling Axios in a phone interview Thursday he was not concerned Russia would attack a NATO member.

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Sergei Naryshkin, head of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service, known as the SVR, confirmed Thursday that he met with CIA Director John Ratcliffe in Moscow earlier this week, Reuters reported.

Naryshkin characterized the meeting as routine, saying they discussed issues within the scope of their intelligence services, according to Reuters.

Trump similarly described Ratcliffe's trip as "semi-routine," according to Axios.

Fox News Digital has reached out to 10 Downing Street for comment.

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Ratko Mladić, 'Butcher of Bosnia' convicted of genocide, dies at 84

Ratko Mladić, the Bosnian Serb warlord general who oversaw wartime atrocities as he led forces that carried out the worst massacre in Europe since World War II, has died. He was 84.

Mladić, known as the "Butcher of Bosnia," died at a hospital in The Hague, Netherlands, U.N. court officials said.

He had been in custody since 2011 after years on the run for war crimes committed during the wars in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s. 

In 2017, he was sentenced to life in prison.

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Mladić was one of the most notorious figures in the conflict that left more than 100,000 people dead and displaced more than a million others.

Under his command, Bosnian Serb troops took control of large swaths of Bosnia and Herzegovina and laid siege to the capital of Sarajevo and other cities. His forces detained non-Serb civilians and enemy soldiers in concentration camps and systematically slaughtered prisoners.

Despite the charges levied against him, Mladić never showed remorse. In court, he yelled at the judges when he was sentenced.

"He was murdered there, in those dungeons," Janko Seslija, a former Bosnian Serb soldier, told The Associated Press. "I feel sorry for Gen. Mladić. He was an honorable man, honorable soldier and commander."

A former Communist-era military officer, Mladić sided with the Serbs as Yugoslavia broke apart and disintegrated into war. He led a Serb insurgency in Croatia before taking over the Bosnian Serb army, according to The AP.

Among the horrors Mladić was charged with was the 1995 slaughter of up to 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica, which was supposed to be a safe zone guarded by Dutch peacekeepers.

Mladić seized the town and assured the Muslim children that everything would be fine. Hours later, his troops began days of rape, torture and mass killings.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Experts zero in on likely cause of deadly Nepal mudslide, with more than 1,300 missing

The catastrophic floods in Nepal and Tibet that have killed at least 273 people were triggered by a massive glacier collapse and debris flow that registered as a magnitude 5.2 landslide, according to the U.S. Geological Service (USGS).

The USGS originally pinpointed the cause of the mudslides as a 4.4 magnitude earthquake but later updated its analysis after observing data from nearby seismic stations, long period seismic waves and satellite imagery. That data suggested that no earthquake had occurred.

Climate experts at the Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development told The Associated Press that Wednesday’s flash floods were likely triggered by a glacial avalanche.

"Hydrological observations indicate the exceptional speed and magnitude of the flood wave," they said in a statement, adding that at one point, the water levels on the Trishuli River rose by as much as 27 feet in just a half hour.

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Rescue teams are now searching for the more than 1,300 people who went missing during the floods along the Nepal-China border. Many of them were foreigners and pilgrims.

Nepal Police on Thursday began posting lists of Nepali and foreign nationals missing. Several dozen Americans were listed.

Dozens of bridges were destroyed and nearly 25 miles of roads were damaged, hampering search and rescue efforts, according to Nepalese officials.

The Nepalese army rescued more than 100 people from flood-hit areas by helicopter Thursday morning, according to army spokesperson Brig. Gen. Raja Ram Basnet.

Bishal Kumar Bhandari, chairman of the Nepal Red Cross Society, told the AP that they have shifted focus to large-scale relief operations. He said that around 1,200 people were displaced from at least three villages.

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Videos of the disaster showed raging floodwaters sweeping away cars, engulfing people trying to flee and destroying homes and bridges.

Debris was left tangled in tree branches and power lines, vehicles were buried and mud-covered survivors emerged as flooding cut off travel in some areas.

The village of Soley in Nuwakot, which has about 25 homes, was almost entirely destroyed, according to Kathmandu-based journalist Nirajan Paudyal, whose parents and other relatives live there. Desperate for news, he traveled to the area Thursday to check on his family.

"There is no update till now. I fear there won’t be any update," Paudyal told the AP.

The disaster in Nepal and Tibet underscores a broader threat, as increasingly unstable Himalayan ice poses risks to communities, infrastructure and water supplies across one of the world’s most densely populated regions.

The region experienced similar flash flooding in August 2025, when high temperatures caused a glacial lake in Tibet to overflow. The resulting floods killed nine people and damaged critical infrastructure, including a bridge linking Nepal and China.

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