Author: Darren Smith

Brazil’s quest to end a 24-year wait for a sixth World Cup title begins this evening against Morocco in New Jersey, with Carlo Ancelotti facing serious questions over a squad that arrives in North America carrying significant defensive weaknesses and little recent momentum. The Selecao remain the most successful nation in World Cup history with five titles, the last of which came in 2002 when Cafu lifted the trophy in Yokohama following a 2-0 win over Germany. Since then, Brazil have endured a run of quarter-final and earlier exits — eliminated by France in 2006, by the Netherlands in 2010,…

England’s training equipment, including match boots and official tournament balls, has been stolen ahead of the team’s arrival at their World Cup training base in Kansas City, with two people taken into custody as police investigate. The theft occurred on Friday as team staff transported the equipment from England’s pre-tournament base in Florida to the Swope Soccer Village in Missouri, where the players are due to arrive on Saturday. The vehicles carrying the kit were broken into while the players travelled separately. Local police confirmed the incident in a statement: “We are investigating a possible theft of equipment from a…

A 44-year-old woman was killed by a 25-foot python in Indonesia after the giant snake attacked her while she was tending to cattle, with her husband later finding her body partly inside the reptile’s mouth just metres from their home. Elisabet Yamalau had stepped outside to tend to her farm animals in North Maluku on Tuesday afternoon when the python, concealed in undergrowth, sank its fangs into her leg and wrapped itself around her body. Her husband, Benyamin Lanto, 52, went looking for her that evening when she failed to return home, discovering her motionless body halfway inside the snake’s…

Israeli air raids across southern Lebanon killed one person on Friday and into the evening, as the military issued forced displacement orders for 20 towns and villages, despite a US-brokered ceasefire that was meant to have ended hostilities. Lebanon’s National News Agency reported that the person was killed in an Israeli air raid on the municipality of Maarakeh, in the Tyre district of southern Lebanon. Al Jazeera’s Heidi Pett, reporting from Beirut, said the strikes continued into Friday evening on towns and villages well north of what Israel calls the “Yellow Line” — the area of southern Lebanon it has…

The humpback whale that captivated Germany for months likely died only five or six days after a controversial final rescue attempt failed to guide it back into the Atlantic, officials confirmed on Friday, drawing a sad close to a saga that divided scientists, government officials and the public. The whale, nicknamed “Timmy” and “Hope” by German media, was found dead on 14 May, stranded off the small island of Anholt in the Kattegat, the broad strait between Denmark and Sweden connecting the Baltic Sea to the North Sea. Its discovery brought an end to a months-long rescue effort that culminated…

The mother of a former police officer accused of murdering his TV presenter ex-boyfriend and his new partner with a service pistol has been refused bail after being charged with attempting to interfere with a key witness ahead of her son’s trial, in the latest twist in one of Australia’s most closely watched criminal cases. Coleen Lamarre, 63, herself a former police officer, was arrested by homicide detectives at her Balmain home on 29 April and charged with one count of intending to pervert the course of justice. NSW Police allege she attempted to persuade a man referred to in…

The RAF flypast marking King Charles’s official birthday is set to take place over Buckingham Palace at around 1pm today, the centrepiece of the Trooping the Colour celebrations after a procession down the length of The Mall. The flypast is expected to last approximately six minutes, concluding at 1.06pm with the arrival of the Red Arrows. A range of military aircraft will take part, including Chinook helicopters, Typhoons and Lightning fighter jets, though the Ministry of Defence has cautioned that the specific line-up remains subject to change depending on “weather, aircraft serviceability, and operational commitments.” According to the MOD, the…

Thousands of people gathered in central Seoul on Saturday for the annual Seoul Queer Culture Festival, while a conservative Christian group held a counter-rally nearby, in a now-familiar standoff that reflects South Korea’s continuing divide over LGBTQ rights. According to organisers and police, the festival’s organising committee set up a stage and around 70 booths from 11am local time, with the main festival beginning in the afternoon. The parade, the centrepiece of the event, was scheduled to begin at 4pm and run for approximately 3km along central Seoul. Organisers told police they expected around 50,000 people to attend, Yonhap News…

A photograph appearing to show President Donald Trump standing alongside a group of unidentified figures in elaborate red coats, gold trim and white wigs has gone viral after social media users claimed it had been briefly posted online and then quickly deleted — though the image has now been identified as an AI-generated hoax. The image, which shows Trump outdoors facing three tall, platinum-blonde figures in red, theatrical-style uniforms resembling British redcoats, was shared widely on X, with one post from user @ImBreckWorsham racking up 14.5 million views. “Posted and then almost instantaneously removed. What the literal hell is this?”…

Motorists are being warned they could face a £100 fine and three penalty points this week for breaching a Highway Code rule many drivers are unaware even exists, as UK Bike Week gets underway and more cyclists take to the roads in the warmer weather. The warning centres on advanced stop lines, commonly known as bike boxes, found at many signal-controlled junctions across the country. These marked areas allow cyclists to position themselves ahead of other traffic while waiting at red lights. According to the Highway Code: “Some signal-controlled junctions have advanced stop lines to allow cyclists to be positioned…