Author: Darren Smith

The United Nations is preparing for up to 10,000 deaths from Venezuela’s devastating earthquakes, a senior UN official has warned, as a tropical weather system threatens to bring heavy rain to areas already struggling with collapsed buildings and thousands of displaced people. Gianluca Rampolla Del Tindaro, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator for Venezuela, said the current death toll of 1,450 would “unavoidably and sadly keep on growing,” and confirmed the UN was working on the assumption it would need 10,000 body bags in the country. “I truly hope actually the number is going to be smaller than that,” he said. Rampolla…

Resident doctors in England have voted to accept a pay and conditions offer from the government, bringing to an end three years of strikes that led to hundreds of thousands of patient appointments being cancelled across the NHS. The British Medical Association announced that 53 per cent of eligible members voted in favour of the deal in a referendum, on a turnout of 57 per cent, with 32,932 doctors casting votes. The result draws a line under one of the longest and most disruptive periods of industrial action in NHS history. The package includes a 3.5 per cent pay rise…

A person has been hit by a train between Epsom Downs and Sutton, Southern Rail has confirmed, causing significant disruption to services in the area. Southern Rail announced the incident on X at 5.27pm on Sunday 29 June, warning passengers that trains in the area would be stopped for a longer period than usual. In a follow-up post, the operator advised anyone on board a train that had come to a halt outside a station to remain on the train and await further information. “We know where you are and we are working on getting you back on the move…

Emergency services have responded to a fire at an Islamic prayer hall on one of Dublin’s busiest streets, with four fire engines and more than 20 firefighters dispatched to the scene as Luas services were temporarily suspended and traffic restrictions put in place across the city centre. The fire broke out at the Al-Madinah Prayer Hall on Talbot Street shortly after 3.40pm, with Dublin Fire Brigade receiving multiple calls reporting smoke issuing from the building. A full evacuation of the premises took place as firefighting operations got underway, with the effort to extinguish the blaze continuing at the time of…

Jack Draper has been forced to withdraw from Wimbledon after suffering a recurrence of the arm injury that has repeatedly disrupted his 2026 season, dealing a significant blow to British hopes at the Championships just days before play gets underway. The 24-year-old had been building towards his home Grand Slam after a difficult year blighted by a bone bruise in his left arm that ruled him out of the Australian Open and restricted much of his first half of the season. A knee problem during the clay-court season added to his troubles, but an encouraging run to the semi-finals at…

Chelsea have broken their silence over Enzo Maresca’s departure, revealing in a bombshell statement that their former head coach resigned in December 2025 because he wanted to succeed Pep Guardiola at Manchester City — despite being under a long-term contract he had no right to terminate. In a statement posted to their official Instagram account, the club said they were first informed in Autumn 2025 that Maresca believed there might be an opportunity for him to take over at City at the end of the season. “It became clear to us that it was his strong desire to succeed Guardiola…

Manchester City have appointed Enzo Maresca as their new manager, signing the Italian on a three-year contract as the club looks to move forward following the end of the Pep Guardiola era. Maresca, who stepped down from Chelsea in January, is no stranger to the Etihad Stadium. He first joined City in 2020 to lead their development squad, guiding them to the top of the table in his debut season. He returned in 2022 as one of Guardiola’s assistant managers after a spell in charge of Parma in Italy, gaining further insight into City’s methods and philosophy at the highest…

At least five people have been killed in a shooting at a youth facility in Stade, a town of around 50,000 people east of Hamburg in Lower Saxony, northern Germany, according to initial reports from German police and media. A large-scale police operation is currently underway at the scene. The motive for the attack is unclear at this stage, and no details have been confirmed about the shooter, the victims or whether the perpetrator is among the dead or in custody. Two suspects detained after shooting Local police have confirmed two suspects have been detained after the shooting in northern…

Rescue teams searching for survivors of Venezuela’s devastating twin earthquakes have made a shocking discovery in the rubble — collapsed buildings whose walls appear to have been filled with styrofoam rather than solid construction materials, prompting fury over the quality of the housing built under the country’s socialist government. A rescuer posted a video on TikTok showing himself pulling apart collapsed wall sections with his bare hands, revealing a thin outer layer of concrete concealing what appears to be styrofoam or a similar lightweight material underneath. Digging his finger into the material with ease, he said in Spanish: “Look at…

A brand new £183 million train station has opened in Cambridge with just six car parking spaces, sparking immediate anger from locals who say the decision to prioritise cyclists over drivers is a “total missed opportunity” that will push more traffic onto an already congested city centre. Cambridge South, the city’s third railway station, welcomed its first passengers after three years of construction, offering links to London, Brighton, Birmingham and Stansted Airport. Expected to serve more than one million passengers a year, the station sits next to Cambridge’s busy Biomedical Campus and has been designed with more than 1,000 bicycle…