Author: Darren Smith

Iran has demanded the United States release $24 billion in frozen funds as the price for ending hostilities, even as American forces launched fresh strikes on Iranian territory and the two sides traded accusations of ceasefire violations in a rapidly escalating confrontation. Iranian negotiators made the demand during talks in Qatar on Monday, according to state media, with Speaker Mohammad Ghalibaf travelling to Doha to press for agreement on a mechanism to implement the payment. Tehran is insisting that at least half the sum be made available immediately upon the signing of a memorandum of understanding with Washington, with the…

The CIA has been accused of secretly accessing the databases of commercial DNA testing companies to search for individuals carrying extraterrestrial genetic markers — claims that have been amplified by a philosophy author, a self-described former psychic spy and, remarkably, sitting members of the United States Congress. Jason Reza Jorjani, a philosophy PhD and science fiction writer, made the allegations on the American Alchemy podcast, claiming that a retired US Army sergeant with knowledge of a covert government programme had told him the CIA possessed a backdoor into the systems of genetic testing companies including 23andMe and Ancestry.com. According to…

Network Rail has released shocking CCTV footage of children dancing on live railway tracks and placing stones on the line in Inverness, Scotland — with one near miss so close that a driver was forced to slam on emergency brakes before the train narrowly missed two teenagers by a matter of feet. The footage, captured at a pedestrian crossing in Inverness, shows two separate incidents within a week of each other at the same location, where around 30 trains pass daily at speeds of up to 50mph. In the first incident, recorded at around 1pm on 7 May, two teenagers…

Britain has shattered its spring temperature record after Kew Gardens hit 34.8C on Bank Holiday Monday — with the Met Office warning the heatwave will continue through the week before finally breaking next week. Met Office Chief Operational Meteorologist Dan Suri confirmed the country had “provisionally broken the spring and May temperature record,” surpassing the previous high of 32.8C set in both 1922 and 1944. Senior meteorologist Becky Mitchell warned Tuesday could be even hotter, with temperatures potentially reaching 36C in parts of southern England and Wales. The Met Office said in a statement: “Tuesday will be another very hot…

An elderly man in his eighties was allegedly knocked to the ground by a supermarket employee during a dispute over a discounted cake price, leaving him injured on the floor of a busy Coles store in Sydney — with the supermarket giant now investigating the incident. The man had returned to the Coles Broadway store in inner-city Sydney on Monday after discovering he had been charged full price for a cake that was advertised at a reduced rate. According to a witness who spoke to 7news.com.au, the customer approached a male employee to request a refund but was allegedly told…

New footage from Arsenal’s Premier League title celebrations has emerged showing captain Martin Odegaard cradling and dancing with the trophy at a lavish Mayfair nightclub, as manager Mikel Arteta told his players they would be “champions of Europe” by Saturday. The Gunners celebrated long into Sunday night at Bacchanalia, an exclusive central London establishment that describes itself as a “world of Mediterranean delicacies, revelry and artistry” and where bottles of the venue’s most expensive wine carry a price tag of £56,000. Videos leaked to social media on Tuesday captured the full exuberance of a squad that had finally ended a…

The sentences of teenage boys who escaped jail after raping two girls in Hampshire have been referred to the Court of Appeal by the Attorney General following cross-party outrage and a personal intervention by the Prime Minister — who described the case as “appalling.” Attorney General Lord Richard Hermer referred the sentences under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme after widespread concern that the boys had avoided custody for a series of serious sexual offences. If the Court of Appeal agrees the sentences were unduly lenient, they can be increased. Southampton Crown Court sentenced two 15-year-olds and a 14-year-old to youth…

Hundreds of passengers travelling from Paris to Nice were left stranded on the side of the tracks for four hours in baking heat with no air conditioning, after their train broke down in the French countryside during an unprecedented May heatwave that pushed temperatures to record levels. The train departed Paris at 2.10pm but ground to a halt north of Lyon, near Civrieux-d’Azergues, due to a power supply failure. The cause has not been formally confirmed, though the incident occurred as France recorded its highest ever temperatures for a May day, with the mercury reaching 37C in some parts of…

A body has been recovered from the water at Rother Valley Country Park in South Yorkshire after a large-scale emergency search was launched on Bank Holiday Monday following reports that a teenage boy had entered a lake and not been seen getting out. Emergency services were called to the country park at 6.50pm on 25 May after the alarm was raised. South Yorkshire Police, South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, Yorkshire Ambulance Service and a search helicopter all attended the scene as a specialist search operation got underway. Multiple police cars, fire engines and ambulances were reported at the park…

A team of undercover Thai police officers caught a drug dealer by dressing in sequins, feathers and lipstick and posing as a glitzy dance troupe at a street festival — with a triumphant photograph of the operation going viral after being posted to Facebook. Five male officers and one female colleague slipped into tight-fitting glamour outfits for the covert operation at a street dance festival in Tha Luang, Thailand. Their target, Mekha Fa-wap-wap, never suspected the heavily made-up performers sashaying around him were preparing to strike. When they did, officers arrested him and found he was carrying more than 53…