Author: Darren Smith

The crisis entered a dangerous new phase on the fourth consecutive day of demonstrations, as protesters broke through metal barricades and surged toward the Prime Minister’s office in Tirana — with police responding with water cannons and tear gas as crowds refused to disperse and demands escalated to calls for Edi Rama’s resignation. The scenes marked a significant escalation from the largely peaceful gatherings of previous days. According to our sources, protesters tore through the metal barricades separating them from the Prime Minister’s building as riot police deployed water cannons against the advancing crowd. The demonstrators did not retreat, gathering…

A 28-year-old Long Island man died in his father’s arms after a longtime friend allegedly stabbed him in the neck while he slept — with the woman found still hiding in the victim’s basement when police arrived, the murder weapon reportedly still in her possession. Bobby Carragher, an autobody shop worker from Massapequa, had spent several hours watching television with Kristin Sculley, 22, in his basement bedroom before falling asleep, according to NBC New York. Nassau County police say it was at that point that Sculley allegedly carried out the attack, stabbing Carragher in the neck with a pocket knife.…

Thousands of Albanians are set to take to the streets of Tirana for a second consecutive evening to protest a vast luxury resort development linked to Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law — as the country’s anti-corruption prosecutors opened a formal investigation into how a protected coastal wetland was stripped of its legal status to make way for the project. The second day of protests is set to begin at 6pm at Skanderbeg Square in the capital, with demonstrators planning to march towards the Prime Minister’s office. The call to return was amplified by well-known Albanian comedian and mayoral candidate Florian…

A father was heard screaming a chilling message about death and money in the street just ten minutes before he shot dead six members of his own family across multiple locations in an Iowa city, police have confirmed. Ryan Willis McFarland, 52, carried out a series of domestic violence-fuelled shootings in Muscatine, Iowa, on Monday afternoon before taking his own life as officers closed in on him near the city’s riverfront trail. The massacre claimed the lives of six people believed to be his relatives, including two students and two school district employees, sending shockwaves through the close-knit community. Neighbour…

British tourists travelling to Tenerife and Gran Canaria next week have been warned of significant travel disruption as the Canary Islands prepare for an unprecedented papal visit — with authorities on high alert after a chilling ISIS threat targeting Pope Leo XIV. Pope Leo XIV will arrive in the Canary Islands on 11 and 12 June as part of a wider tour of Spain, marking the first ever official papal visit to the islands. The occasion has prompted one of the largest security operations in the archipelago’s history — and a disturbing threat from a pro-ISIS outlet that has placed…

A mother carried her dead baby daughter onto a bus and pleaded with fellow passengers to save her — while knowing the child had already been killed hours earlier by her and her partner, a new documentary series has revealed. Rosalin Baker, 25, strapped the lifeless body of 16-week-old Imani to her chest in a baby carrier and boarded a bus in London, where she sat impassively texting on her phone for around 20 minutes before raising the alarm that her daughter had stopped breathing. Traumatised passengers rushed to help, attempting CPR on the tiny body, while Baker remained emotionless…

A teenager accused of making a bomb hoax that forced Peter Kay off stage and sent 13,000 fans fleeing from a Birmingham arena had to be removed from his court hearing today after he began taking off his prison-issue tracksuit bottoms in front of the judge. Omar Majed, 19, appeared via video link at Birmingham Crown Court charged with communicating false information to police under the Criminal Law Act, following an incident at the Utilita Arena last month that brought Kay’s Better Late Than Never tour to an abrupt halt just 45 minutes into the performance. Judge Andrew Smith KC…

A Metropolitan Police officer has pleaded not guilty to a string of fraud and corruption charges after allegedly claiming she had never received thousands of pounds worth of luxury goods she had ordered online — including a Cartier wedding band, a Dior bikini and a Moncler jacket. Sunna Harrison-Aziz, 28, of Coulsdon in south London, appeared at Southwark Crown Court on Tuesday to deny ten charges including five counts of corrupt or improper exercise of police powers, four counts of fraud by false representation and one count of perverting the course of justice. She spoke only to confirm her name…

A mountain rescue team has spent two gruelling days abseiling down a steep Welsh hillside to clear several tonnes of fly-tipped rubbish that had blighted one of the country’s most picturesque landscapes since January — waste so extensive it could be seen from five miles away and was described as having a “catastrophic” impact on local wildlife. The Central Beacons Mountain Rescue Team, working alongside Rhondda Cynon Taf Council and the landowner, completed the clearance of Bwlch Mountain in South Wales over a weekend-long operation that required more than a kilometre of rope, specialist abseil equipment and teams working 12-hour…

An Oregon father allegedly watched his two-year-old son walk out of their home unaccompanied while he was binge-watching a television programme — and failed to intervene, in a case that ended with the toddler drowning in a river and his father facing criminal charges. Aaron Paulsen is facing misdemeanour child neglect charges following the death of his son Dane Paulsen on 1 March 2025 in the rural community of Siletz, Lincoln County. According to court documents obtained by KATU, Dane’s mother, Cha Met Jackson, had told Aaron the toddler would be in his care before she left the house. Aaron…