Author: Darren Smith

A young British couple from the West Midlands are facing up to 30 years in a Turkish prison after allegedly being caught attempting to smuggle two suitcases packed with cannabis through Istanbul on their way back to the UK — with one of them reportedly beaten up in a holding cell within hours of their arrest. Holly Cooper and Taylor Johnson, both 20, were stopped by customs officers at Istanbul Airport on 26 April after arriving on a connecting flight from Thailand. According to The Sun, which first reported the story, they were pulled aside as they attempted to board…

The White House was placed on lockdown on Monday afternoon after the US Secret Service shot a man near the Washington Monument, with press corps journalists evacuated from the north lawn and held inside the briefing room as emergency services responded to the scene. The Secret Service confirmed the incident in a statement posted on X, saying: “US Secret Service personnel are on the scene of an officer-involved shooting at 15th Street and Independence Avenue in Washington, DC. One individual was shot by law enforcement; their condition is currently unknown. Please avoid the area as emergency crews are responding.” Members…

Inmates at a Welsh prison are being issued personalised “neurodiversity passports” that allow them to specify their preferred pronouns and set out any conditions or sensitivities that staff should be aware of, it has emerged. The documents, introduced at HMP Usk in Monmouthshire, record information including what causes a prisoner anxiety — such as loud noise, bright lights or needles — as well as how they typically express pain, whether through crying or self-harm. Preferred pronouns are also included. The Category C prison has attracted attention following the publication of an Independent Monitoring Board report into conditions there. The report…

A man in his 40s has died after falling several floors inside a rooftop bar in Birmingham city centre, West Midlands Police have confirmed. Officers were called to Colmore Row at around 6.20pm on Sunday following reports that the man had fallen within the building. He was taken to hospital but was later pronounced dead. The venue involved is Henman & Cooper, a rooftop bar located in the heart of Birmingham’s commercial district. Police have confirmed the death is not being treated as suspicious, and a report is being prepared for the coroner. A West Midlands Police spokesperson said: “We…

Two people have been killed and up to 20 others injured after a car drove into a busy pedestrian zone in the eastern German city of Leipzig in what authorities have declared a mass casualty event, with the driver — a 33-year-old German citizen — arrested at the scene. Leipzig’s Mayor Burkhard Jung confirmed the death toll and injuries to journalists at the scene as police launched a major operation in the city centre. Officers said there was no further danger to the public following the arrest of the suspect. The prime minister of the state of Saxony, Michael Kretschmer,…

Counter-terrorism police have arrested two people in connection with an arson attack on a memorial wall in Golders Green that pays tribute to protesters killed by the Iranian state, as investigators continue to work through what has become the most intensive community policing operation in the Metropolitan Police’s history. A 46-year-old man and a 38-year-old woman were arrested at an address in Romford on the morning of Monday 4 May on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life. Both were taken to a London police station where they remain in custody. Officers are also conducting a search at the…

An armed man was taken into custody following a nine-hour standoff in Beverly Hills after allegedly attempting to mow down a sheriff’s deputy in the early hours of Sunday morning before later seizing a female hostage and barricading himself inside a pick-up truck in one of Los Angeles’s most affluent neighbourhoods. The incident began at around 3am on Sunday when the suspect allegedly attempted to strike a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputy with a vehicle near Inglewood, at the intersection of Hawthorne Boulevard and West 104th Street. The deputy was not injured. The situation escalated dramatically into the afternoon…

Three people have died and a British national is in intensive care after a suspected hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship sailing the Atlantic Ocean, with the World Health Organisation describing the situation as a “public health event” as it coordinates an international response. The outbreak was reported aboard the MV Hondius, a polar expedition cruise ship operated by Dutch-based company Oceanwide Expeditions, which departed from Ushuaia in Argentina on 20 March and was due to complete its journey in Cape Verde on 4 May. One case of hantavirus has been confirmed, with five further suspected cases under investigation, according…

A woman has been stabbed to death in a random street attack in Barcelona in front of horrified bystanders, with a suspect arrested within hours as the city declared two days of official mourning for the victim. The fatal stabbing took place at around 11am on Friday in Esplugues de Llobregat, a residential area in the southwest of the city approximately two miles from the Camp Nou stadium. The attacker stabbed the woman in the throat, chest and stomach before fleeing the scene. A man aged 50 who intervened to try to help was also wounded in the arm, though…

A mother has spoken of her fear after a man named Mestafa Salim wearing an electronic ankle tag subjected her and her two young daughters to a terrifying harassment incident on a Bolton street before being arrested by police — with officers reportedly telling her he faces court and likely deportation. The woman was walking along Bury Road in Bolton with her ten-year-old daughter Laylah and toddler Millie in a pram on Saturday morning when the man approached and began behaving in an intimidating manner. According to her account, he got in her face, asked personal questions including whether she…