Author: Darren Smith

Australia has recorded its first suspected case of bird flu on the mainland, with a single migratory wild bird testing positive in Western Australia for a strain that authorities fear could be the deadly H5N1 virus responsible for millions of animal deaths worldwide. Agriculture Minister Julie Collins confirmed the detection but said it was too early to confirm whether the bird was carrying the concerning H5N1 strain, with further test results expected on Saturday. Mainland Australia remains the only continent yet to detect the killer strain, making the suspected case a significant moment for the country’s biosecurity authorities. “There is…

A three-year-old boy thrown into a crocodile enclosure at a Cambridgeshire zoo suffered a broken arm and pelvis in the fall, with witnesses left in tears after watching the zoo owner’s wife leap into the pit to pull him to safety. The boy was looking at reptiles inside the tropical house at Johnsons of Old Hurst, near Huntingdon, when he was thrown approximately 15ft from an elevated viewing platform into the enclosure below. Tracey Johnson, who runs the zoo with her husband Andy, rescued the child, who remains in a critical but stable condition at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge. It…

Grammy-nominated record producer Tay Keith, whose beats powered some of the biggest rap hits of the past decade including Travis Scott’s “Sicko Mode” and Drake’s “First Person Shooter,” has been found dead at his Nashville home aged 29. Police performing a welfare check discovered the producer, whose real name is Brytavious Chambers, unresponsive in his Martin Street apartment in Nashville on Thursday afternoon, the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department confirmed. No foul play is suspected. His death is pending autopsy results. NBC News said it had reached out to his representative for comment. Keith, who hailed from Tennessee, had risen from…

A three-year-old boy is in a critical but stable condition in hospital after being thrown into a crocodile enclosure at a zoo in Cambridgeshire, with a 30-year-old man arrested on suspicion of attempted murder. Police were called to Johnsons of Old Hurst, near Huntingdon, just before 1.30pm today. The child was rushed to hospital with serious injuries following the incident, which is understood to have occurred in front of other visitors at the zoo. Cambridgeshire Police said the arrested man, from Norfolk, is not believed to be known to the child or his family. The force is now speaking to…

A 13-year-old girl drowned in a North Yorkshire river while celebrating her birthday with her family, an inquest has heard, in a tragedy that unfolded within minutes of her parents preparing to leave a popular picnic spot. Palwasha Akbar, from Bradford, had gone with her family to the River Wharfe at Burnsall on 31 May for a barbecue in what was the day before her 14th birthday. At the opening of an inquest in Northallerton on Thursday, Assistant North Yorkshire Coroner Alison Norton said the teenager “got into some difficulty in the water” and was retrieved before being taken to…

The UK government has lifted its advice against all but essential travel to several Gulf states, including the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait, following the signing of an interim peace agreement between the United States and Iran. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office updated its travel guidance shortly after Washington and Tehran signed their memorandum of understanding, which is designed to bring an end to the conflict that had destabilised the wider region and raised fears of broader escalation across the Gulf. The change will come as a significant relief to British travellers, businesses and airlines, as well as…

Jamie Varley has been sentenced to a whole life order for the murder of his 13-month-old adopted son Preston Davey, meaning he will never be released from prison. The 37-year-old textiles teacher from Blackpool, who also served as head of year and safeguarding lead at a comprehensive school, was told by Mr Justice Turner at Preston Crown Court: “You will stay in prison for the rest of your life.” Varley had claimed Preston drowned in the bath in July 2023 after he left him unattended for a couple of minutes. But a post-mortem examination found more than 40 injuries on…

Three people were taken to hospital and Scotland’s busiest motorway was closed for several hours after a car crashed into a barrier on the M8 in Glasgow on Wednesday evening. Emergency services were called to the westbound carriageway at Govan, between the Junction 24 slip roads, at around 7.15pm after a grey Skoda Octavia struck a central barrier. A 21-year-old man who was driving the vehicle and two 22-year-old female passengers were taken to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital. A 26-year-old male passenger was assessed by medics at the scene. Traffic Scotland posted about the incident on social media, advising…

Patients at Muckamore Abbey Hospital in Northern Ireland were subjected to abuse and systematic bullying by staff members whose job it was to care for them, a major public inquiry has concluded, with the inquiry chair declaring the scandal “was clearly preventable.” Tom Kark KC, chairing the inquiry, made clear in stark terms what the investigation had established. “Patients were abused at Muckamore Abbey Hospital. It is important to state that bold and simple fact,” the report states. Many patients had their lives made “miserable” by certain members of staff, the inquiry found, though it was careful to note that…

The Archbishop of Canterbury has issued a formal apology for the Church of England’s role in historical forced adoptions, telling the thousands of mothers affected that “the shame is ours” in a video statement that arrives a day before the government is expected to make its own apology in the House of Commons. Dame Sarah Mullally said the Church was “profoundly sorry” for the pain caused by adoption practices in homes affiliated to the Church of England, describing the impact on many people as “lifelong.” “You have nothing to be ashamed of, the shame is ours,” she said. “We are…