Author: Darren Smith

A bomb disposal unit has been deployed to a street in Blantyre, South Lanarkshire, after a suspicious item was discovered at a premises on Victoria Street, prompting the evacuation of a health centre, two nearby schools and dozens of surrounding homes. Emergency services were called to the scene at around 9.30am on Thursday 23 April 2026, following the discovery of the item within the grounds of a building on the street. Police Scotland established a cordon around the area and evacuated the affected buildings as a precautionary measure while specialist officers assessed the find. A Police Scotland spokesman said: “The…

A Jewish building inspector has been left too frightened to wear his kippah in public after being punched and subjected to a torrent of antisemitic abuse by a stranger who approached him on a bicycle while he was carrying out work at a property in Slough. The attack, which took place on a Monday afternoon on Elliman Avenue in Berkshire, was captured on video and has since circulated widely on social media. The footage, lasting approximately one minute, shows a man in a white baseball cap, striped jacket, black jeans and white trainers riding up to the victim — an…

Residents and councillors in the Surrey village of Laleham have reacted with fury after asylum seekers were quietly placed in a £500,000 property situated just 200 yards from a local primary school, with local authorities claiming they received no prior warning before the migrants arrived. The row has been dramatically intensified by the subsequent arrest of an Afghan asylum seeker, believed to be in his early 20s, who was detained outside the house on suspicion of harassment after allegedly returning to the school grounds despite being told by police to stay away. The man had reportedly been seen loitering near…

British Transport Police have released CCTV images of two men they wish to speak to after a passenger was targeted for his mobile phone at Oxford Circus Underground station and two officers who intervened were assaulted as the suspects made their escape. The incident took place at around 3.15pm on Sunday 8 March, when the two men allegedly attempted to rob a passenger of his phone after he stepped off a Central Line train. When officers moved in to intervene, the suspects attacked them before fleeing the station. Detectives believe the individuals pictured in the CCTV footage may be able…

An Algerian migrant who spent months stalking the streets of Mayfair in search of wealthy victims wearing high-value watches has been sentenced to four and a half years in prison after stealing more than £100,000 worth of luxury timepieces from three separate victims in the space of just two months. Abdulkarim Ienbuzir, 25, of Liverpool, was described by the sentencing judge as a “systematic predator” who knew exactly what he was looking for and loitered in some of London’s most affluent areas waiting to strike. “You found them, and you swooped,” Judge Mark Cole told him at Southwark Crown Court…

Green Party leader Zack Polanski has been holding talks with the campaign strategists behind New York’s newly elected left-wing mayor Zohran Mamdani, in an effort to replicate the social media approach that propelled the self-described socialist to one of the most high-profile political victories of recent years. Polanski, who has positioned himself as an “eco-populist” within British politics, met online with Morris Katz, one of Mamdani’s senior strategists, in recent weeks. The Green leader was unable to travel to New York for an in-person meeting on environmental grounds, as he does not fly. Discussions are said to have centred on…

A 76-year-old South African farmer required more than 17 stitches to his head after five armed men broke into his smallholding in Kameeldrift East, Pretoria, in a brutal late-night attack that has reignited debate about rural safety and the ongoing threat to farming communities across South Africa. Trompie Kruger was at home with his family when the attackers forced their way into the property just after 11pm. The suspects moved swiftly through the house — restraining one family member with cable ties while Kruger’s wife locked herself in the bedroom and hid in the bathroom. The attackers then turned their…

Residents of a Sydney suburb are calling for urgent action after a series of deeply disturbing incidents in which human waste has been thrown from a high-rise apartment building onto a busy shopping centre below, with New South Wales Police now investigating what locals are describing as a pattern of deliberate targeting. The incident that prompted public outrage occurred last Sunday afternoon at South Village shopping centre in Kirrawee, in Sydney’s Sutherland Shire, when mother-of-three Denise Gray heard something strike her car as she was loading her children in after a visit to a nearby park. Bystanders quickly alerted her…

Islamic State has published a detailed tribute to the Bondi Beach massacre, praising the alleged father-and-son attackers as soldiers of the faith and explicitly urging its followers to treat the attack as a template for similar strikes against Jewish and Western targets. The seven-page feature, titled The Sydney Attack: The Revenge of the Oppressed Ummah, appeared in the terror group’s English-language Voice of Khurasan newsletter and was seen by The Australian. It includes photographs of the alleged attackers — Sajid and Naveed Akram — alongside images of mourners at the beach where 15 people were killed and dozens more wounded.…

Britain has agreed to pay France up to £660 million in a new three-year deal aimed at stemming Channel crossings, taking the total amount handed to Paris by British taxpayers since the small boats crisis began to more than £1.3 billion. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood will travel to Paris on Thursday to formally sign the agreement, which Labour has described as a landmark in the two countries’ joint efforts to tackle people smuggling. The package consists of a guaranteed £500 million core payment over three years, with a further £160 million available on top — though the additional £53 million…