Author: Darren Smith

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…

Thousands of people in Sweden have voluntarily had tiny microchips implanted in their hands, allowing them to unlock doors, pay for goods and access public transport with a simple wave of the wrist — a trend that has been circulating online for years but continues to spark fresh waves of alarm and conspiracy theories each time it resurfaces. Around 4,000 to 6,000 Swedes are estimated to have undergone the procedure since it first gained traction around 2015, according to industry figures — a niche but growing community of tech enthusiasts drawn by the convenience of ditching keys, cards and gym…

Videos have emerged of people from across Europe and America recording pledges of allegiance to a secretive Islamic doomsday sect based in Crewe — just as its heavily fortified headquarters was raided by hundreds of police officers investigating allegations of rape, forced marriage and modern slavery against its self-declared “new Pope” leader. The TikTok videos show would-be converts from Poland, Spain, France and the United States reading out formal statements declaring their faith in Imam Mahdi, professing that the Mahdis are “the proof of Allah” and pledging their allegiance to the Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light, known as AROPL.…

A 77-year-old man has been left seriously injured after a thug wielding a machete attacked him in broad daylight on a Glasgow street, with shocking footage capturing the moment the knifeman hacked at the elderly victim after stabbing him inside a parked car. The attack took place on Auckland Wynd in Dalmarnock at around 12.10pm on Tuesday 28 April, when the pensioner was reportedly stabbed inside a black Mercedes before the attacker turned on him in the street. Video footage of the incident shows the assailant, dressed entirely in black, attempting to open the boot of the car to retrieve…

The Daily Wire, the conservative media company co-founded by Ben Shapiro, has confirmed significant layoffs across multiple teams as third-party analytics data point to a dramatic collapse in the outlet’s digital reach and financial position. The restructuring, announced on 1 May 2026, was confirmed to The Wrap by a company spokesperson, who said cuts were “largely concentrated” at its Nashville production office. No official headcount figures were provided, though independent industry tracker layoffhedge.com estimated approximately 100 roles were eliminated, representing roughly half of the remaining workforce. The announcement drew an immediate public dispute. Candace Owens, who was herself fired from…

A video showing a man in Hull calmly asking two young men to leave a poppy-adorned war memorial has gone viral, dividing opinion between those who praised his measured stand for respect and those who questioned the assumptions behind the approach. The clip shows the man walking up to the memorial — inscribed with dedications and decorated with red poppy wreaths of the kind placed during Remembrance commemorations — where two young men are seated on the steps. His tone throughout is civil and unhurried. “Excuse me lads, would you mind sitting somewhere else?” he says. “It’s our war memorial,…

A Reform UK candidate standing for two Essex council seats next week has been exposed for posting a series of deeply racist messages online, including referring to white people as the “master race,” making pseudoscientific claims linking race to brain size and calling for a “purge” of what he termed “third world invaders.” Stuart Prior, 54, a property director, is contesting seats on both Essex County Council and Rochford District Council in the 7 May elections. A joint investigation by the Daily Mirror and HOPE not Hate identified posts from a now-deleted X account under his name, dating from late…