CNN
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Two men were each sentenced to four years and three months in prison to steal the landmark Sycamore tree in northern England.

Daniel Graham, 39, and Adam Calzars, 32, were convicted in May of two counts of criminal damage, according to the UK’s PA Media News Agency.

The pair was sentenced Tuesday at Newcastle Crown Court in northeast England.

The tree stood in a sentinel on the wall of Hadrian, built in Rome for more than 200 years, before being “deliberately cut down” in September 2023.

Upon ruling, the judge said the pair acted “pure bravery” and “funny media coverage” and their criminal acts led to it.

Prosecutor Richard Wright KC told the ju judges during the trial that Graham and Calzars, who traveled more than 40 minutes from their Cumbrian home, were engaged in a “moronic mission” to cut down the landmark.

Christopher Atkinson, the chief prosecutor in the case, of the Crown Prosecutor’s Office, said that both men had lied ironically about the part they played, and that they denounced each other for “the heartless destruction of this historic landmark.”

Tree cutting caused a pour in public sadness in September 2023, creating a global headline.

“There was an overwhelming sense of loss and confusion all over the world,” according to PA Media, National Trust manager Andrew Poad said in a victim’s impact statement read out in court.

Northumbria police and crime commissioner Susan Dangworth reiterated these feelings in a statement, saying, “The immeasurable cutting of the trees at Sycamore Gap has caused and distressed rage, upsetting and among many who had held Northumberland’s iconic trees in their hearts.”

“Today, those who tried to destroy the heart-warming symbols of Northumberland’s nature are accountable,” she added.

The beloved Sycamore Tree in Northumberland National Park became famous to millions of people around the world when it appeared in the 1991 blockbuster film Robin Hood: The Prince of Thieves.

The tree, known as the “Sycamore Gap,” was located on a UNESCO World Heritage Site, built 1,900 years ago to protect the Roman Empire’s most distant northwestern frontier.

The Sycamore Gap is considered one of the UK’s most photo shoot trees and was voted in 2016 as a British tree.

In response to the ruling, a National Trust spokesperson said: “As the Sycamore Gap Tree logging research has concluded, we are deeply grateful for the thousands of support messages we have received from around the world over the past 18 months.

“The sense of perpetual loss reflects the strong bond between people and our natural heritage,” the spokesman added.

This story has been updated with additional developments.

CNN’s Jack Guy and Issy Ronald contributed the report.

London
Reuters
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The UK has set up a secret plan to relocate thousands of Afghans to the UK after soldiers misdisclosed more than 33,000 personal details and put them at risk of retaliation from the Taliban, court documents showed on Tuesday.

A London High Court judge said it was first made public on Tuesday in a May 2024 ruling. Approximately 20,000 people said they need to provide relocation to the UK.

UK’s current defense minister John Healy said about 4,500 affected people were “in the UK or in transit… at a cost of around £400 million.”

The government is also facing lawsuits from those affected by the violation, further increasing the ultimate cost of the case.

The Data Breach Department’s Review Department also said that as of May this year, more than 16,000 affected people had moved to the UK.

The British government was forced to act after revealing the names of the Afghans who helped British troops in Afghanistan before withdrawing from the country in 2021 under chaotic circumstances.

Details appeared on Tuesday. After the legal ruling known as symptoms has been lifted. The injunction was granted in 2023 after the mod claimed that disclosure of the violation could put people at risk of serious killings or serious violence by the Taliban.

The dataset contained personal information from around 19,000 Afghans who applied to relocate to the UK and their families.

In early 2022, the mod was accidentally released before the violation was discovered in August 2023, when some of the datasets were published on Facebook.

The former Conservative government received an injunction the following month.

Kiel Starmer, Prime Minister of Government, Centre Left, who was elected last July, discovered that while Afghanistan remains in danger, there is little evidence of intent to carry out a campaign of retaliation.

Athens
CNN
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Greek police are looking for the killer of a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who was shot dead while visiting Athens on July 4th while attending a child. Family custody hearing.

Police say Przemyslaw Jeziorski, 43, an economist and marketing professor at Haas School of Business in Berkeley, California, was shot multiple times in close range in the Athens suburbs and died at the scene, police said.

According to police spokesman Konstantina Dimoglidou, a masked gunman struck the victim on his neck and chest, saying, “he approached the victim on foot and opened the shooting from close range.” Seven bullet casings from a 9mm caliber firearm were found at the scene, police said.

A murder investigation is underway. With the suspects not over a week gone by, his family and friends are demanding that police strengthen their efforts.

The shooting took place near the home of Jeziorsky’s ex-wife on the outskirts of Agia Paraskevi, the day after the two fathers attended a custody court hearing, police said.

CNN contacted Jeziorsky’s ex-wife for comment.

A senior police source, who is discussing on condition of anonymity, told CNN that “all scenarios are being considered, including close families,” as they are not permitted to discuss the case publicly, but did not elaborate further.

Police sources said the link to organized crime is also being investigated as the murder is a “sign of contract murder.”

Police said Zeziorsky had no criminal history in Greece.

The witnesses saw the masked black man approaching the victim on foot and told local media that they heard six shots and saw the assailant running from the scene.

“There was no silencer on the gun, it was very loud. It was like an explosion,” another witness who saw the attack told CNN affiliate CNN Greece.

Jeziorski’s family has repatriated his body to his hometown of Poland and is collecting money from a Greek legal representative to “pursuing legal action and assisting in the ongoing investigation.”

“Our family is heartbroken and we are doing everything we can to ensure that justice is provided,” his brother, Jeziorsky, wrote on his online fundraising page.

In a statement, UC Berkeley said that Zeziorsky was “passionate about education,” teaching data analytics skills to more than 1,500 alumni and doctoral students over 13 years. He was described by friends and colleagues as “a wonderful person, friend, coworker” and “exceptionally talented and hardworking.”

“We are heartbroken by the news of the tragic and sudden death of Professor Przemyslaw Jeziorski, a beloved member of our department of marketing and the HAAS community,” said Jenny Chatman, dean of UC Berkeley’s business school. “As the authorities investigate what happened, they focus on supporting the community during these difficult times. My heart goes to Przemek’s family and loved ones.

The highly regarded economist has created a popular MBA marketing analysis course and has “been a leading expert in quantitative marketing, industrial organizations, and economics of digital markets,” says Berkeley.

His research into self-sufficiency level entrepreneurs and financial inclusion and training took him all over the world, with one colleague describing him as “really adventurous.”

“He was the loving father of two young children and was always there if anyone needed help,” Professor Zusalt Katna, Berkeley, said in a statement. “He had a major impact not only on his research, but also on the field of marketing that combined his energetic presence with optimism and healthy skepticism.”

Before joining Berkeley staff, Jeziorsky worked as an assistant professor of economics at Johns Hopkins University and visiting scholar at Microsoft. He received his PhD in Economic Analysis from Stanford University and a Masters degree from the University of Arizona and the Faculty of Economics in Warsaw, Poland.

Jeziorski has appeared in several top-tier academic journals, including The American Economic Journal and the Rand Journal of Economics. He was also the co-founder of a startup called Keybee, a short-term rental property management platform.

CNN
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Syrian troops enter the country’s southern Druze minority bases on Tuesday and “pursuing outlaw groups,” the government said.

The clash broke out over the weekend between the Druze army and the Bedouin tribes of Sweida in the Southern City, killing 30 people and wounding dozens more. The violence prompted intervention by the Syrian government, losing 18 soldiers in the clash.

Having vowed to protect Syrian Druze, Israel launched a strike against the Syrian army moving forward towards Sweida.

Druze is a roughly 1 million Arabs living primarily in Syria, Lebanon and Israel. In southern Syria, where Deleuze forms a majority in Sweida, communities were sometimes caught up in between the Assad regime and the military of extremist groups during the country’s long conflict.

“Israel is committed to preventing harm to Syrian Druze due to its deep brotherhood alliance with Israeli Druze citizens and its family and historical ties with Syrian Druze,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.

Sweida sits in what Israel has unilaterally declared the demilitarized zone of southern Syria. The Israeli government has accused Syria of violating its demilitarization policy by moving military equipment to cities. The Syrian government rejected the declaration of Israel’s demilitarized zone and, together with the international community, repeatedly called on Israel to halt military operations that violate its sovereignty.

“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz have instructed the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) to immediately attack the regime forces and weapons that have been taken to Syria’s Druze Mountains region for the purposes of the regime operation against Deleuze.

The IDF said Tuesday it attacked Syrian military vehicles and moved towards Sweida after identifying a convoy that includes armor officers and tanks.

Earlier on Tuesday, Druze spiritual leader Hikumat al-Hijiri called for international protection from “all countries” to “use all possible means” and “supporting wild campaigns.”

“We are facing a complete war of extinction,” Al Hijiri said in a video statement.

However, a statement issued by other Druze leaders welcomed the Syrian government’s intervention in Sweida and called on the state to assert its authority. It was also called for an armed group in the city to hand over the arms to government forces and seek dialogue with Damascus.

Hours after the military entered the city on Tuesday, Syrian Defense Minister Muhaf Abu Kusla declared a “ceasefire” following an agreement with an unidentified community leader, saying military police are deploying “regulating military action and exempt violators from liability.”

After overthrowing longtime dictator Bashar al-Assad last year, new president Ahmed al-Sharaa pledged and made a pledge to protect all of Syrian diverse communities, but his leader-loyal strength has sought fiercely against the fierce and religious minority. In March, hundreds of people were killed in a western Latakia city during crackdown on the Alawian denomination to which Assad belonged, raising fears among minority groups.