Author: Darren Smith

Four Palestine Action protesters convicted of smashing their way into an Israel-linked defence factory with crowbars and sledgehammers could be sentenced as terrorists next month, after a judge’s pre-trial ruling found the raid had a “terrorist connection” — despite none of the defendants facing any terrorism charges. Charlotte Head, Samuel Corner, Leona Kamio and Fatema Rajwani were convicted of criminal damage last week at Woolwich Crown Court following the nighttime raid on the Elbit Systems UK site near Bristol on 6 August 2024. The four drove into the facility using an old prison van, smashing computers and drones, spraying red…

A man in his 40s has been shot dead by police in Bedford following an armed standoff that lasted through the night and into the following morning. Officers were first called to reports of vehicles being damaged at around 10.40pm on Monday. On arrival they found a man who had barricaded himself inside a property and was making threats. Armed officers, police negotiators and other emergency services attended the scene and spent several hours attempting to resolve the situation peacefully. Despite those efforts, Bedfordshire Police said the man “presented a weapon” shortly after 9.30am on Tuesday, at which point officers…

A video showing a Croatian woman repeatedly punching and slamming a migrant man to the ground outside a sports shop in Zagreb has gone viral, dividing opinion online over whether the violent confrontation constituted legitimate self-defence or a brutal and disproportionate assault. The approximately 50-second clip, filmed on a handheld device in early May, shows a physically imposing blonde woman delivering repeated blows to a smaller Asian man, forcing him against a shop window before taking him to the ground and continuing to strike him as he lies on the pavement. Throughout the footage, the man appears largely defensive —…

A cyclist has died in hospital days after being deliberately struck by a car in Norwich, with the driver now facing the prospect of a murder charge after the victim succumbed to his injuries. The man, in his 50s, suffered serious head injuries when he was hit by a white Mercedes CLA 180 Sport on Chartwell Road just after 5pm on Friday 8 March. Norfolk Police confirmed on Monday that he had died in hospital, describing the incident as a cyclist being “deliberately hit” by the vehicle. David Morgan, 40, had already appeared before Norwich Magistrates’ Court on Monday charged…

Polish police have arrested four Swedish citizens who allegedly robbed a Norwegian tourist at knifepoint in the heart of Gdańsk’s historic centre, detaining all four at the city’s airport as they prepared to board a flight home to Sweden — in a swift operation that has drawn widespread attention across Europe. The robbery took place on Stągiewna Street on 7 May, when the four suspects allegedly pressed a knife to the victim’s chest and demanded his mobile phone, bank card and PIN code. The group then used the stolen card to withdraw several thousand Norwegian kroner from ATMs and make…

A Turkish taxi driver has been hailed as a hero after he wrestled a loaded shotgun from a hostage-taker in his back seat — bringing an 80-kilometre police chase through the streets of Gaziantep to a dramatic end by grabbing the weapon with his bare hands and throwing it out of the car. Dashcam footage of the extraordinary confrontation, which took place on 10 May, shows driver Ramazan Yildirim, 58, leaping into the back seat as armed suspect Semih C., 31, pointed his rifle at officers who had surrounded the vehicle. The pair wrestle for nearly a minute before a…

Three balaclava-clad raiders armed with metal poles stormed a Bradford jewellery shop in a chaotic mid-morning ram-raid yesterday — only to flee empty-handed after failing to break through the store’s jewellery cases, as terrified customers including a woman with a baby scrambled to escape around them. The attempted robbery at Bradford Jewellers on Barkerend Road lasted just 30 seconds. At around 11.30am on 11 May, the gang used a vehicle to ram the shop front before piling inside through the destroyed entrance as smoke billowed from the building and alarms wailed. The impact left rubble, shattered glass and the vehicle’s…

Andy Burnham’s hopes of returning to Westminster to mount a leadership bid suffered a significant setback on Tuesday after the MP whose constituency had been mooted as a potential route back into parliament flatly refused to stand aside — and backed Sir Keir Starmer to remain in office. Marie Rimmer, who has represented St Helens South and Whiston since 2015, said she had no intention of giving up her seat for anyone and dismissed speculation that Burnham had been in contact with her about it. “I’m not planning to stand down for anybody,” she told the Guardian. “I was selected…

The man believed to be responsible for organising a significant proportion of illegal Channel crossings in recent years has been identified as a 28-year-old Iraqi Kurd who charges migrants up to £15,000 a crossing and has evaded arrest for years by operating under false identities, a BBC investigation has revealed. Kardo Jaf, who uses the alias Ranya — taken from the town of Ranya in Iraqi Kurdistan where he is believed to originate — runs a smuggling network with routes stretching from Afghanistan to the United Kingdom. Despite keeping his true identity carefully concealed, he has openly advertised his services…

Archaeologists believe they have solved one of biblical history’s most enduring mysteries, announcing that a site on the northeastern shore of the Sea of Galilee is almost certainly the lost town of Bethsaida — where the Gospels record Jesus healing a blind man and where several of his closest disciples were born. Excavation director Steven Notley told an audience in Washington DC on 5 May that the accumulated evidence from years of digging at El-Araj has “essentially confirmed” its identity as the ancient settlement, ending decades of uncertainty that has divided archaeologists and biblical scholars alike. The case rests on…