Author: Darren Smith

Counter-terrorism officers are investigating after two men were found within the perimeter of the Cambridgeshire base, hours after police discovered an abandoned vehicle nearby. Two Latvian nationals who live in the UK have been arrested on suspicion of National Security Act offences after being found inside RAF Molesworth in Cambridgeshire. The Ministry of Defence Police (MDP) came across an abandoned vehicle near the base at about 10pm on Wednesday, during routine security patrols. A further search by the MDP and Cambridgeshire Constabulary uncovered a small breach in the perimeter fence. The men, aged 36 and 32, were arrested inside the…

Evidence from a Spanish rock shelter suggests that Neanderthals crafted a far wider range of wooden objects than the surviving archaeological record has previously shown. Archaeologists excavating the Abric Romaní site in Spain have found imprints and charred remains of 13 wooden objects made by Neanderthals between 40,000 and 62,000 years ago. The items include spears, a club, bark trays and a tripod-like structure. The researchers say the finds show Neanderthals selected different types of wood for different jobs. Their findings were published in the journal Science Advances. What was found The team examined 597 pieces of wood and wooden…

Senior officials are being invited to apply for voluntary exit packages as part of John Swinney’s reform of the public sector, just as staff are told to spend more time in the office. Senior Scottish civil servants earning more than £62,000 are being offered a month’s pay for every year of service, up to a maximum of 21 months, to leave their jobs under a voluntary exit scheme. ITV Border reported that the scheme has been opened to ‘C band’ officials and those in the senior civil service. The offer follows the First Minister’s promise last month, in his programme…

Federal prosecutors allege an 18-year-old planned to kill non-Muslims at one of America’s best-known shopping centres, after investigators monitored him for almost two years and arrested him as he took delivery of a rifle. Sheikhdoon Abdullahi Mohamud, 18, has been charged after he allegedly bought an AK-47, 200 rounds of ammunition and four 30-round magazines from an undercover FBI employee. He was arrested on Tuesday in a public park in Richfield, Minnesota, and appeared at a federal court in St Paul on Wednesday. Prosecutors allege he intended to carry out a mass shooting at the Mall of America on 24…

Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua are due to meet at the Principality Stadium on 11 December, but the fight would end well after midnight if Cardiff Council approves an extension to the venue’s licence. Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua are expected to make their ring walks at around 1am in Cardiff on 12 December, subject to the city council approving a licence extension for the Principality Stadium. The heavyweight contest is officially scheduled for 11 December, but an application from Millennium Stadium plc shows the main event would take place in the early hours of the following morning. The late…

The parents of a 22-year-old student who disappeared from campus in the early hours of 2 October have made a public appeal for his safe return, as police continue a search that has so far found no trace of him. Dilan Shaan Ashar, a University of Maryland student, was last seen on camera at about 2.30am on Friday 2 October at Terrapin Trail Garage, according to the University of Maryland Police Department (UMPD). His mother appeared in a video message shared by the force on Tuesday 6 October, four days after he vanished, saying the family wanted him home. Officers…

A single mother-of-two has been sentenced to more than three years in prison after a brief moment of phone distraction ended with the death of farmer Michael Armstrong, whose widow told a court the sight of the wreckage would never fade. Ami Dronsfield, 36, of West Turnpike, Glanton, Northumberland, has been jailed for three years and two months for killing Mr Armstrong after she failed to see his quad bike while driving. She was travelling south on the A697 at Whittingham in a VW Golf, on her way to a hair appointment, when the collision happened. Newcastle Crown Court heard…

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has unveiled a gold-trimmed, limited-edition US passport celebrating America’s 250th anniversary that includes Donald Trump’s portrait, while a separate, broader redesign of the standard US passport is also expected around 2028. A new commemorative US passport featuring Donald Trump’s image is set to be issued to mark the 250th anniversary of American independence, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has confirmed. The so-called “Patriot Passport” was previewed as part of a wider presentation unveiling a redesigned document that traces 250 years of American history, alongside a new government website intended to simplify the application process. While…

Moonies Bar and Nightclub in Ithaca, New York, has rejected claims made in a lawsuit by a former Cornell University student, known as Jane Doe, that its staff served her alcohol despite marking her as underage, hours before she says she was gang raped by members of the Chi Phi fraternity. A bar in Ithaca, New York, has strongly denied claims that it served alcohol to an underage Cornell University student shortly before she alleges she was gang raped at a fraternity house. Moonies Bar and Nightclub was named in a civil lawsuit filed by a woman using the pseudonym…

Ethan Brown, 23, took his own life on the day he was due to graduate from the University of Glasgow after being wrongly told he had failed a course, with an internal investigation later finding he had in fact earned a 2:1 honours degree that went undetected through multiple layers of academic checks. The family of a University of Glasgow student who took his own life after being mistakenly told he had failed his degree has settled a civil action against the institution. Ethan Brown, 23, had been due to graduate with an honours degree in geography in December 2024,…