The Metropolitan Police has announced that three men have been imprisoned after £2m in counterfeit drug supply was uncovered. The three men, Allen Valentine, his son Roshan Valentine and friend Krunal Patel produced and sold on the internet, Class C drug benzodiazepines, which is a type of sedative, as well as advertising the sale of xanax, diazepam and valium. The drugs were purchased in cryptocurrency, which was then converted into pound sterling. Krunal Patel was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment, Roshan Valentine, was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment and Allen Valentine, was sentences to 11 years’ imprisonment at Isleworth Crown Court. The three individuals pleaded guilty to various offence including conspiracy to produce and supply Class C drugs, money laundering offences and possession of Class C drugs and unauthorised copies of registered trademarks.

The Metropolitan Police have announced that two men have been charged after a stabbing in Perivale.  Police were called on 9 June 2021 to reports of a stabbing in Teignmouth Gardens, where they found a 38-year-old man with stab injuries, who currently remains in a stable condition in hospital. Ronald Thorpe, was charged 10 June and is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Friday, 11 June. Gurdeep Bahra, was further charged with common assault on Thursday, 10 June and bailed to appear at Ealing Magistrates' Court on 23 July.

Law360, London: A man who bribed a police officer with a £7,000 (US$8,900) all-expenses-paid Moroccan holiday and restaurant meals was sentenced to four and a half years in prison at a London court on 12 January 2024.

The Metropolitan Police Service has confirmed that its investigation into the Grenfell Tower fire remains on track to submit all charging files to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) by the end of September 2026. The investigation has identified 57 individuals and 20 organisations as suspects for potential criminal offences including corporate manslaughter, gross negligence manslaughter, misconduct in public office, fraud and health and safety matters. The police have submitted 15 of 20 files to the CPS with 10 of 14 overarching evidence files complete. The investigation team has expanded to 220 officers and has gathered 165 million electronic files, taken 14,400 statements and stored over 27,000 exhibits. The CPS has committed to making charging decisions before the 10th anniversary of the fire. The Metropolitan Police has begun planning for potential court proceedings, including construction of a replica of tower elements to assist potential future juries, while emphasising this does not presume charges will be brought.

The Metropolitan Police has announced that it has charged two 16-year-old boys for the murder of Anas Mezenner, 17, who was found with stab wounds on Tuesday 19 January 2021 in Haringey. The boys have also been charged with possession of points and blades.

A single-tier authority established by the Local Government Act 1972 with responsibility for the delivery of all services in their area. Metropolitan districts are described in the Local Government Act 1972 Sch 1 Pt I, by reference to existing administrative areas, and their names are prescribed by the Secretary of State in the Metropolitan Districts (Names) Order 1973 (SI 1973/137). ). 'District', without more, means, in relation to England, a metropolitan district or a non-metropolitan district: Local Government Act 1972 s.270(1); 'non- metropolitan district' means any district other than a metropolitan district: s.270(2).

See Texas shoot out.

1. What is the applicable legislation? The principal legislation regulating foreign direct investment (FDI) in Mexico is the Foreign Investment Law (FIL), published in the Federal Official Gazette (Diario Oficial de la Federación) on 27 December 1993, and last amended on 15 June 2018, and its Regulations. The Regulations for the FIL and the National Foreign Investment Registry were published in the Federal Official Gazette on 9 September 1998. In addition, international treaties for FDI (ie where the investment made by the foreign entity provides either a majority or control of the entity, administration rights or other entitlement of such nature. This refers to any corporate right, not only economical rights to perceive any certain return) known as Agreements for the Encouragement and Reciprocal Protection of Investments (Acuerdos de Promoción y Protección Recíproca de las Inversiones or ‘APPRIs’, per its Spanish acronym) are designed to promote and protect capital cashflow invested in productive sectors. The APPRIs are recognised as generating trust for foreign investors, as they promote a favourable environment for investment and promote economic development.

This table summarises all completed investigations by Mexico’s competition authority (the Comisión Federal de Competencia Económica—COFECE) into alleged cartels, anti-competitive agreements and abuses of dominant positions since 2018. Note—only investigations that have been made public are included in this table. 2024 Investigations under Article 53 of the Federal Law of Economic Competition Case name, companies under investigation and industry Issues Developments Water proofing• Grupo Thermotek• Impac Restrictive agreement—price fixing • Infringement decision issued—03/10/2024; fines totalling MXN 237m imposed Diesel• 3 undertakings and 3 individuals (listed here) Restrictive agreement • Infringement decision issued—12/06/2024; fines totalling MXN 3.4m imposed Investigations under Article 28 of the Federal Law of Economic Competition Case name, companies under investigation and industry Issues Developments Grocery retail• Walmart Concerns Walmart abused its dominant position by imposing abusive conditions on its suppliers • Infringement decision issued—17/12/2024 Alcoholic beverages• Mexican Mezcal Quality Regulatory Council (MMQRC) Concerns the MMQRC abused its dominant position by refusing to provide the certification service necessary for several mezcal producers to be able to market their products • Infringement decision issued—02/07/2024; fines totalling MXN 4.1m imposed 2023 Investigations

NOTE—to see whether notification thresholds in Mexico and throughout the world are met, see further: Where to Notify. 1. Have there been any recent developments regarding the Mexican merger control regime and are any updates/developments expected in the coming year? Are there any other ‘hot’ merger control issues in Mexico? There have been significant recent developments in the Mexican merger control regime, including amendments to the applicable law and the creation of a new competition authority. The relevant law is the Federal Economic Competition Law 2015 (Ley Federal de Competencia Económica, Competition Law 2015), as amended through a reform published in the Official Gazette on 16 July 2025, which entered into force on 17 July 2025 (Publicación DOF 16 de julio de 2025 Edición Vespertina, Amendment 2025). The Amendment 2025 establishes the National Antitrust Commission (Comisión Nacional Antimonopolio, CNA) as the new competition authority, to which the powers and functions previously exercised by the Federal Economic Competition Commission (Comisión Federal de Competencia Económica, COFECE) and the Federal Telecommunications

Debt ranking below senior secured debt and above shareholders in a distributions waterfall.

A layer of debt which ranks behind senior debt in right of repayment. It carries a higher risk than senior debt and consequently carries a higher interest rate.