Author: Darren Smith

Andrew McGinty, a 34-year-old coach who worked with England and Great Britain’s water polo squads, was found dead in a hotel room after taking his own life, an inquest has concluded. McGinty’s body was discovered at the Village Hotel in Bury, Greater Manchester, on 18 December last year after staff forced their way into his room when he failed to check out. He had arrived at the hotel two days earlier on 16 December. When staff entered, they found the door had been chained from the inside. He was found lying on a bed. A final hearing at Rochdale Coroner’s…

A 50-year-old man has been arrested after walking into a café on Tonge Moor Road in Bolton and stabbing two men in an attack that left residents of the north-east area of the town shaken on Monday morning. Greater Manchester Police were called to Tonge Moor Road at around 10.30am on 21 April following reports of a stabbing. Emergency services attended and two men were treated by medical professionals at the scene for stab wounds. According to witnesses, the attacker entered the café and stabbed a young man sitting at a table before a second man sustained a stab wound…

Israel is set to stage the largest LGBT festival in the history of the Middle East, with a four-day event at the Dead Sea planned for June 2026 that organisers say will transform a stretch of the Judean Desert into a fully functioning pride city operating around the clock. Pride Land, running from 1 to 4 June, is the brainchild of producer Aaron Cohen, who described the scale of the undertaking as unlike anything previously attempted in the region. “We chose to grow,” he said. “To take an investment of millions, purchase entire hotels for four days, and build a…

Three container ships have come under fire in the Strait of Hormuz within hours of Donald Trump announcing an extension to the US-Iran ceasefire, raising immediate questions about Tehran’s intentions and the fragility of the truce. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency confirmed the attacks on Wednesday, with maritime security sources providing further detail on each of the three incidents. The most serious involved a Liberia-flagged container ship operating northeast of Oman, which sustained damage to its bridge after being struck by gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades. The master of the Greek-operated vessel reported that an Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps…

Landlords across London have been illegally advertising rental properties reserved exclusively for Muslim tenants, in what legal experts say amounts to a clear breach of equality law, an investigation has revealed. Listings uncovered by The Telegraph across multiple platforms — including Facebook, Gumtree, Telegram and the website of real estate agency Roshan Properties — explicitly request tenants be “Muslim boys” or “Muslim girls,” while others specify Punjabi, Gujarati, Kerala or Haryana speakers. The adverts span several London boroughs with significant South Asian and Muslim populations, including Ilford, Dagenham and Harrow. The practice is unlawful under the Equality Act 2010, which…

Donald Trump has announced an open-ended extension to the ceasefire with Iran, hours before the truce had been expected to expire, citing a direct request from Pakistan’s military and civilian leadership as the reason for holding fire. In a post on Truth Social on Tuesday evening, Trump said he had directed the US military to maintain its blockade of Iran while remaining “ready and able” to act, but would hold off on resuming strikes until Iranian leaders had submitted a unified proposal and discussions had been brought to a conclusion “one way or the other.” The president said the decision…

A Ukrainian mother has been arrested and charged with human trafficking after attempting to sell her six-year-old son to a man at a pizza restaurant in exchange for £18,500, in what police described as a case that “sends a chill down your spine.” The 39-year-old woman from the Lutsk district was caught in a police sting operation after the would-be buyer himself alerted authorities to the offer. Officers spent several days documenting the crime before moving in at the moment of the exchange, arresting the woman immediately after she received the money and handed over the child. “The man who…

A significant movement of US Air Force transport aircraft toward Saudi Arabia has been detected on flight tracking websites, heightening speculation about American military preparations as a ceasefire with Iran approaches its expiry deadline on Wednesday evening. At least five C-17 Globemaster III aircraft were observed departing a key NATO installation in Germany and heading toward the region on Tuesday, according to data from FlightRadar24 and ABSB Exchange. The jets were also reportedly observed landing at Nur Khan Airbase between 19 and 20 April before looping back toward Europe. Reports suggest the aircraft are carrying security equipment, communications gear, logistical…

An armed police officer filmed kicking a man in the face at Manchester Airport told a jury he chose to use his boot rather than his firearm because deploying his semi-automatic pistol risked killing the suspect. PC Zachary Marsden, giving evidence at Liverpool Crown Court, said he struck Mohammed Fahir Amaaz in the facial region after the 21-year-old had already been Tasered and fallen to the ground. The officer said he believed Amaaz was attempting to get up and attack him again and that he had run out of viable alternatives. His irritant spray would not have acted quickly enough,…

Finnish Air Force trainee pilots are facing disciplinary action after using their aircraft to trace a series of phallic shapes across the sky during what was supposed to be a routine training exercise. Flight tracking data revealed that at least four aircraft taking off from Jyväskylä on the morning of 13 April drew the crude outlines at around 7.30am, with the flight paths clearly visible to anyone monitoring live tracking website Flightradar. The cadets, who were assigned to practise turning manoeuvres within a designated flight zone, also traced two heart shapes in the sky near Säkinmäki. Screenshots of the flight…