Author: Darren Smith

US Marines have boarded a commercial tanker near the Strait of Hormuz in a dramatic operation aimed at enforcing Washington’s naval blockade of Iranian ports, as President Donald Trump ordered a sixth consecutive night of strikes on the country. Footage released by US Central Command (CENTCOM) shows troops from the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit fast-roping from a helicopter onto the deck of the M/T Wen Yao in the Gulf of Oman on 16 July, with one Marine later seen posing in front of an Iranian flag. CENTCOM described the operation as a “verification boarding,” intended to confirm the vessel’s compliance…

A former Teacher of the Year who had recently been promoted to assistant principal has been arrested and charged with sexual battery after allegedly having sex with a student at a Mississippi middle school. Olivia Marie Smith, who won the award at Ocean Springs Middle School in 2022, was taken into custody following a tip-off received by police, according to reports. Smith had been serving as an eighth-grade English teacher at Ocean Springs Middle School before her recent promotion to assistant principal at nearby Oak Park Elementary School. She appeared at Jackson County Circuit Court on Thursday, where she was…

Iranian state media has published a disturbing video claiming to reveal President Donald Trump’s motorcade routes and security vulnerabilities, in the latest escalation of a public assassination threat campaign against the US president. The footage, released by Fars News Agency, an outlet widely regarded as closely linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), briefly appeared on X before being removed, though it continues to circulate on Telegram and other platforms. The video opens with a chilling claim of surveillance: “Based on the most complex security protocols between 2024 and 2026, Donald Trump’s routine movements in the US have been…

The family of murdered 18-year-old Henry Nowak have released a statement after Kiran Kaur, the mother of his killer, was jailed for three years for assisting an offender. Kaur, 53, was sentenced at Southampton Crown Court on Friday after removing the knife her son Vickrum Digwa had used to fatally stab Nowak in December. Digwa was jailed for life with a minimum term of 21 years in June, having been convicted of murdering Nowak and carrying a knife in public. He is now seeking to appeal against his conviction. Kaur, of St Denys Road, Southampton, was found guilty of assisting…

A powerful earthquake struck off the Pacific coast of Chiapas, Mexico, on Friday, close to the Guatemala border, triggering a tsunami warning and prompting precautionary inspections of infrastructure across the region. The US Geological Survey (USGS) initially recorded the quake at magnitude 7.4, before later revising the figure down to 7.3, though it remains classed as a very powerful earthquake. The earthquake struck at approximately 14:48 UTC, close to Puerto Madero, a major Pacific port and fishing town located roughly 13km from the Guatemalan border. Its epicentre was situated roughly 44 miles (70km) west-southwest of Puerto Madero, off Mexico’s Pacific…

An 11-year-old girl named Alice has died after her hair became trapped in the drain of an indoor swimming pool while on a family holiday in Sestri Levante, Italy. The incident, which took place at the Bagni Segesta beach resort on the town’s seafront, has prompted a police investigation and renewed scrutiny of pool safety standards across the country. Alice had travelled south from Milan with her mother for a holiday at the resort along Sestri Levante’s Descalzo promenade, a destination the family had returned to for several consecutive summers. The incident occurred in the resort’s indoor pool, where the…

A married Nashville police officer has resigned from the force after an internal investigation found she filmed herself having sex with a fellow officer inside a Tennessee middle school while children were present in the building. Lisa Vidrios, who was serving as a school resource officer at Madison Middle School, admitted to the affair after her husband, also a Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) officer, discovered video footage on her phone. The affair came to light in May 2025, when Vidrios’ husband, Angel, also an MNPD officer, found video footage on her phone showing her with her lover during a…

A 27-year-old man from Ayr has avoided a custodial sentence after admitting he posed as a fellow professional footballer to trick Premier League and Championship players into sending him naked photographs of themselves. William Kirkpatrick, now living in Glasgow city centre, was sentenced at Ayr Sheriff Court after pleading guilty to two fraud charges carrying a significant sexual element, resulting in his placement on the sex offenders register. Kirkpatrick’s scheme unfolded over June and July 2024, when he messaged a Sheffield Wednesday player on WhatsApp on 16 June, claiming the footballer could be added to the team’s group chat if…

Six members of a kidnap and burglary gang have been jailed for a combined 49 years after abandoning their 71-year-old victim in the boot of his own electric car when their getaway vehicle ran out of charge. The men, all from Swindon, Wiltshire, were sentenced at Exeter Crown Court on 14 July after pleading guilty to a string of offences including kidnap, false imprisonment and burglary, following a police investigation that spanned multiple forces across the south-west. The ordeal began when Franklin O’Dwyer, Altan O’Connell and Luke McInerney broke into the victim’s home in Torquay, Devon, at 1am on 14…

Greater Manchester Police have launched an urgent manhunt for Marwan Jumaa, 20, after he escaped custody while being transported from a secure hospital facility to North Manchester General Hospital for medical treatment. Jumaa, who was sentenced last year for an assault on two women following an investigation by the Metropolitan Police, is considered a risk to both himself and members of the public. Police sources said Jumaa’s sentence had been split between prison and hospital for treatment, though it is not known what condition he was being treated for at either the secure facility or North Manchester General Hospital. He…