A 10-month-old baby has died after being left in a car in 26°C heat.

The baby’s father, reportedly a lecturer at a university near Lisbon in Portugal, is believed to have forgotten to drop her off at nursery before going to work.

He then went to work – and phoned the emergency services after finding her inside his car and realising his tragic error.

Despite efforts to revive her, she was pronounced dead at the scene.

The father is said to have parked the family car close to the NOVA University campus creche on Tuesday, before going to his office at the university’s school of science and technology.

Investigators are reportedly working on the theory that the baby girl was asleep and her father simply forgot she was in the car.

The temperature in the area on Tuesday was around 26°C – which means temperatures inside the locked car could have been double that.

The girl’s parents, including her mother who reportedly reached the scene around the time emergency responders arrived, have been offered psychological support.

Autopsy results are yet to be released and are not expected to be made public.

The Policia Judiciaria police force in the city of Setubal near Almada is conducting an ongoing investigation.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un might not be the best pals they make out to be after the North Korean leader’s chair was wiped ahead of a summit today.

A video shows the awkward scene where a North Korean security guard appears reluctant to let a Putin guard be the last man close to the chair before Kim sat in it.

It suggest Kim Jong Un might not trust Putin amid speculation he feared the high background radiation at Vostochny cosmodrome where the pair met.

Kim was not taking any chances because Putin’s cronies are known to use deadly agents Novichok and Polonium 210 to poison enemies or discarded friends.

Kim’s chair was also checked to ensure it would carry his heavy weight which is reportedly in excess of 20 st 6lbs.

He also refused to travel on a plane 948 miles from Vladivostok to the spaceport in Amur region on his first foreign visit since 2019.

Kim instead opted for a luxury armoured train on which he had travelled from Pyongyang.

This is because Russia’s skies are notoriously unsafe with one tourist plane crash landing this week.

And we all know how Yevgeny Prigozhin met his end when he was killed in a plane explosion just north of Moscow amid claims he was directly assassinated by Putin himself.

Kim is no innocent man either and has a track record of killing both enemies and friends.

He told Vladimir Putin that ‘great Russia’ will triumph over ‘evil’ as the two tyrants met for talks.

The pair even rounded off discussions by dining together with a wealth of local delicacies on the menu.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

A dad has been jailed after he raped two of his daughters while they were both under the age of 13.

The 48-year-old attacked his own children before he was arrested in October 2014, in Namibia.

Their mum said she could not believe he was capable of such horrific acts, and described his relationship with his six children as ‘loving’.

She even told Mariental Regional Court that one of the victims was her dad’s favourite child.

The parent said: ‘My daughters have not forgiven him, as they do not want to hear about him.

‘I have forgiven him, but I cannot forget what he did, and I want him to go to jail.’

The dad, who has not been named to protect the victim’s identity, was sentenced to 20 years in prison last month.

His defence lawyer Linus Samaria tried to argue for a shorter sentence by saying the girls had not suffered any physical injuries from the rapes, The Namibian reported.

Their mum explained how one of her daughters became pregnant and dropped out of school – it is not clear whether the pregnancy was related to the attacks

She said: ‘The other one I had to take out of the school and move her to another school in a different part of the country as the children at the school used to tease her by saying she slept with her father.’

Prosecutor Eric Naikaku said: ‘The accused had authority and vested trust over the victims and took advantage of it.’

The dad has already been in jail for eight years and 10 months while waiting for his trial to conclude.

Magistrate Frans Anderson said: ‘It is important to state that the interest of society and that of the victims clearly outweigh the personal interest of the accused.

‘This calls for a strong and deterrent sentence, coupled with rehabilitation as an objective.

‘Direct imprisonment remains the only competent sentence for the accused.’

The dad was sentenced to 15 years for each of the two charges of rape, but 10 years of one will run concurrently with the other.

He was acquitted of a third charge of rape.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

Vladimir Putin has turned to an old ally to replenish his ammunition supplies while preparing for an offensive in eastern Ukraine, a former security service officer has warned.

There are many signs Russia is set to hammer out an arms deal with North Korea along with ramping up domestic production to continue the full-scale invasion.

A meeting between Kim Jong-un, who rarely travels outside his country, and Putin wrapped up earlier today, with the supreme leader vowing support for Russia’s ‘just fight’.

Ivan Stupak, a former officer for Ukraine’s Security Service, spoke to Metro about what was discussed in the talks in Vladivostock, and what an arms deal may look like between the two nations.

He stressed that Russia is not interested in modern military supplies, but Soviet-era missiles, which North Korea has plenty of.

On the list are projectiles for BM-21 Grad, self-propelled 122mm multiple rocket launcher designed in the Soviet Union; shells for artillery and tanks; rounds for assault weapons and mortar mines.

Mr Stupak added that Russia would also be after repair parts for military vehicles like tanks and armoured personnel carriers (APCs).

Estimates say North Korea has tens of millions of artillery shells and rockets that could give a huge boost to the Russian army.

These would also be easy to be deployed to different fronts in Ukraine while the Russian army struggles with depleted stock.

‘Russia is running out of weapons, for sure. Key equipment was destroyed by the Ukrainian army using British-donated Storm Shadow missiles,’ Mr Stupak said.

‘For example, in 2022 Russia launched 70,000 missiles daily, while Ukraine could only fire about 10,000. It is our maximum.

‘Russia needs to restock its supplies to continue to have such firepower as it wants to destroy every Ukrainian city.

‘Russia also wants to conduct its own offensive operation on the eastern flank, in the cities of Kupiansk and Lyman. They are going to need all the extra weapons.’

Speculation about military cooperation grew after Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu visited North Korea in July.

Mr Stupak stressed that this is when talks of an arms deal began, and Kim’s trip to Russia was to complete the negotiations.

The leader has not openly spoken about a possible sale of weapons, which is the subject of intense scrutiny and fear in the Asia Pacific and the West.

Meanwhile, Mr Stupak said the isolated Asian country is after Russian agricultural equipment along with food supplies.

‘This could also be just about hard cash for North Korea, or gold bars, just like the deal with Iran for Shahed drones,’ he added.

‘If memory serves me well, it cost the Kremlin $1.5 billion. Kim could also be after naval technologies for his fleet, perhaps for submarine, and fighter jets, just like Sukhoi Su-57.

‘Russia has about 120 Sukhoi Su-35, so it could end up sharing about 10% with North Korea.’

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

A soldier in the British Army has been charged with second degree murder in Canada after he allegedly assaulted a businessman in downtown Toronto.

Corporal Craig Gibson, 28, was arrested after police were called to a disturbance on a street in Canada’s largest city at around 11.25pm on August 28.

Victim Brett Sheffield was given ‘life-saving measures’ at the scene before being transferred to hospital with life-threatening injuries, Toronto Police said.

The 38-year-old from Manitoba, who founded the company NextGen Drainage Solutions in 2011, died two days after the incident.

Gibson, reportedly from Dalry in Ayrshire, was scheduled to appear at the Toronto Regional Bail Centre at 10am on Monday.

The result of the hearing has not been made publicly available.

According to the Mail Online, Gibson is a soldier in The Highlanders, 4th Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland.

Citing defence sources, the news site reported he is accused of striking Mr Sheffield ‘once in the jaw’.

A spokesperson for the British Army said: ‘We can confirm a British soldier has been arrested and charged for second degree murder by the Toronto Police, Canada.

‘Our thoughts are with the family of the victim at this tragic time.

‘As the matter is the subject of an ongoing investigation by the Canadian authorities, it would be inappropriate to comment further.’

In a statement posted to social media, NextGen Drainage said: ‘[Mr Sheffield’s] absence is felt deeply across the community, our company, and his vast network of friends and colleagues.

‘Brett’s passion for helping every person feel valued and cared for, will continue to motivate us.

‘We are finding comfort in our shared commitment to ensuring Brett’s legacy thrives.’

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

A Vincent Van Gogh painting has been recovered three years after it was found by the ‘Indiana Jones of the art world’.

Dutch art sleuth Arthur Brand managed to track down and acquire The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring worth up to £5 million.

The 1884 painting was snatched in an overnight raid in March 2020 from The Singer Laren museum east of Amsterdam.

It was there on loan from the Groninger Museum.

‘The Groninger Museum is extremely happy and relieved that the work is back,’ director Andreas Bluhm said.

‘We are very grateful to everyone who contributed to this good outcome.

‘The painting has suffered, but is – at first glance – still in good condition.’

It was dumped in a blue IKEA bag, wrapped in bubble wrap and a pillow case.

Brand, who earned his ‘Indiana Jones of the Art World’ nickname after he traced a series of lost works, said finding confirming the painting was the stolen Van Gogh piece was ‘one of the greatest moments of his life’.

‘This is Spring Garden by Vincent Van Gogh which was stolen three years ago on Van Gogh’s birthday from a museum in the Netherlands.

‘We have searched for it for more than three and a half years but finally it’s here, it’s back.’

The identity of the man who contacted Brand saying he wanted to give the painting back was not revealed for his own safety.

‘The man told me, “I want to retun the Vn Gogh. it has caused a massive headache” because it could not be used as a bargaining chip,’ Brand said.

He managed to persuade the man, who ‘had nothing todo with the theft’, to hand back the painting.

The work will be scientifically examined in coming months.

It is being kept temporarily at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.

However, an insurance company had paid the Groninger Museum for the loss and is now the formal owner, although the museum says it will exercise its right to first purchase of the work.

It said it hopes to have The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring back on display soon, although this ‘could take weeks, if not months’.

The 25cm by 57cm (10in by 22in) oil on paper painting shows a person standing in a garden surrounded by trees, with a church tower in the background.

It dates to a time when van Gogh had moved back to his family in a rural area of the Netherlands and painted the life he saw there, including with his famous work The Potato Eaters, in mostly sombre tones.

Later, he moved to southern France, where he developed a far more colourful, vibrant style of painting as his health declined before his death in 1890.

On the rare occasions when Van Gogh’s paintings come up for sale, they fetch millions at auction.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

Questions are once again being asked about the health of Vladimir Putin, after footage of his meeting with Kim Jong-un today showed him repeatedly twitching his foot.

The Russian president appeared to get restless during the hours-long summit at the remote Vostochny Cosmodrome, a spaceport in the far east of the country.

While clasping his fingers, the 70-year-old kept rolling his foot around on its heel as he talked about his discussions with Kim.

His behaviour has added fuel to rumours he is suffering from undisclosed medical conditions.

Last year, several clips emerged of Putin tightly gripping tables or the arms of chairs, leading to suggestions he may have terminal cancer or Parkinson’s disease.

Unverified reports last year claimed the president had early stage Parkinson’s, a neurological condition that causes uncontrollable movements, though these were rubbished by the Kremlin.

In an appearance at a military command post and at an Easter church service, he seemed unsteady on his feet and kept chewing on his lips.

Several pictures showed him with a puffy face, allegedly a side effect of steroid treatment for pancreatic cancer.

He appeared similarly unable to keep his feet still during an appearance with Kazakh president Kassym-Jomart Tokayev in November.

Restless legs syndrome, also known as Willis-Ekbom disease, is common in people who have Parkinson’s – although it can have other causes.

Those foot twitches were not the only odd behaviour the warmonger exhibited while welcoming Kim to Russia today.

When the North Korean leader left his black car at the spaceport, Putin engaged him in an awkward 40-second handshake that mostly consisted of a locked, unmoving grip.

Nevertheless, their meeting mostly consisted of chummy pleasantries as each tried to work out how the other could boost their fortunes.

Kim heaped praise on Russia for its ‘just fight against hegemonic forces’, adding that North Korea would always stand alongside them on the ‘anti-imperialist front’.

The location of the summit has led to speculation that Kim may be seeking help in developing military reconnaissance satellites.

Analysts believe Putin wants to get his hands on tens of millions of ageing artillery shells and rockets in the North Korean arsenal, which could give a huge boost to the Russian army in Ukraine.

But either buying arms from or providing rocket technology to the country would violate international sanctions that the Kremlin has supported in the past.

Reuters reported that Kim wrote in a visitors book at the space centre: ‘The glory to Russia, which gave birth to the first space conquerors, will be immortal.’

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

There’s only one thing after five hours of politically-charged talks – and that’s an energy-boosting feast.

Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin rounded off discussions by dining together with a wealth of local delicacies on the menu.

You won’t be finding steak and chips here. Instead, the North Korean and Russian congregation tucked into a starter of duck, fig and nectarine before Russian ‘pelmeni’ dumplings made with Kamchatka crab.

White Amur fish soup and sea buckthorn sorbet followed, according to a Kremlin reporter cited by Reuters.

If that wasn’t enough, the geopolitical powerhouses scoffed a choice of sturgeon with mushrooms and potatoes or an entrecote of marbled beef with grilled vegetables for the main.

And then there’s dessert, of course.

The two pals were served red bilberries from the taiga – Russia’s vast forested Siberia region – with pine nuts and condensed milk.

White and red wines from the Divnomorskoe Manor from southern Russia were available to wash it all down.

It’s likely Kim would have used one of the wines to toast Putin’s health, while telling his counterpart ‘great Russia’ would triumph over ‘evil’.

Kim said: ‘I am deeply convinced that the heroic Russian army and people will brilliantly inherit the tradition of victory, confidently demonstrate invaluable dignity and honour on the fronts of the special military operation.

‘The Russian army and people will certainly win a great victory in the sacred struggle for the punishment of a great evil that claims hegemony and feeds an expansionist illusion.’

The pair earlier in the day inspected the Vostochny space rocket launch site before they held talks on expanding bilateral cooperation between the two countries and held private one-on-one talks.

While little is known about the contents of their discussions, Western officials have expressed concerns their talks focused on arms and what weapons Russia could obtain from North Korea that it could use in Ukraine.

It is believed Moscow would offer Pyongyang food, financial assistance and military technology.

Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov told Russian state media reporter Pavel Zarubin that ‘North Korea is our close neighbor. And despite any ‘comments’ or ‘shouts’ from the outside, we will build relations with our neighbors in a way that is beneficial to us and beneficial to our neighbors,’ he said.

‘In any case, the full scope of relations implies dialogue and interaction in sensitive areas, such as military cooperation, exchange of opinions on the most pressing issues in the area of security, this will be done as well,’ he added.

Peskov said ‘the rest of the questions are concerning our two countries, two sovereign countries and should not be a point of concern for the third states. Our cooperation is being conducted for the sake of the prosperity of our two countries and not against anyone else.’

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

Kim Jong-un told Vladimir Putin that ‘great Russia’ will triumph over ‘evil’ as the two tyrants met for talks which could lead to an arms deal supplying the Kremlin with weapons for its war in Ukraine.

The North Korean leader met the Russian president for a rare summit on Wednesday where they are expected to have struck a deal to provide Moscow with much-needed artillery shells in return for advanced satellite technology.

Putin, 70, showed Kim, 39, around Russia’s most advanced space rocket launch site in Russia’s Far East after the latter crossed the border in his armoured train.

After the tour, the pair – who called each other ‘comrade’ – sat down for several hours with ministers and then one-on-one, followed by a an opulent lunch of Russian ‘pelmeni’ dumplings made with Kamchatka crab and then sturgeon with mushrooms and potatoes.

Kim raised a toast with a glass of Russian wine to Putin’s health, to the victory of ‘great Russia’ and to Korean-Russian friendship, predicting victory for Russia in its ‘sacred fight’ with the West in the Ukraine war.

He told the Russian president: ‘I firmly believe that the heroic Russian army and people will brilliantly inherit their victories and traditions and vigorously demonstrate their noble dignity and honour on the two fronts of military operations and building a powerful nation.

‘The Russian army and people will certainly win a great victory in the sacred struggle for the punishment of a great evil that claims hegemony and feeds an expansionist illusion.’

US and South Korean officials have expressed concern that Kim would provide weapons and ammunition to Russia, which has expended vast stocks in more than 18 months of war in Ukraine.

Moscow and Pyongyang have denied such intentions.

When asked by Russian media, who were given significant access at the summit, if the Kremlin would help Kim build satellites, Putin said: ‘That’s why we came here.

‘The leader of the DPRK shows great interest in rocket engineering; they are also trying to develop space. We’ll show our new objects.

‘We’ll talk about all the issues without haste, there is time.’

DPRK is short for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea’s formal name.

For Russia, the summit was an opportunity to needle the United States, the big power supporter of Ukraine, though it was unclear just how far Putin was prepared to go in fulfilling any North Korean wish lists of technology.

Putin said Kim now planned to visit military and civilian aviation factories in the Russian city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur and inspect the Russia’s Pacific fleet in Vladivostok.

Kim, in turn, expressed support for Moscow’s efforts to defend its interests, in an apparent reference to the war in Ukraine. 

The choice to meet at Vostochny Cosmodrome – a symbol of Russia’s ambitions as a space power – was notable, as North Korea twice failed to launch reconnaissance satellites in the past four months.

Kim has made it a top priority to launch a spy satellite, while pushing his nuclear-armed country to step up the development of ballistic missiles, drones and attack submarines.

After showing Kim around a building where the Angara, Russia’s new 42.7-metre space launch rocket, is assembled, Putin said Kim had shown a ‘great interest in rocket engineering’.

Ahead of his meeting with Putin, Kim signed the visitor book in Korean: ‘The glory to Russia, which gave birth to the first space conquerors, will be immortal’.

As Kim was making his way through the forests of Russia by train, North Korea launched two short-range ballistic missiles from an area near the capital, Pyongyang, into the sea off its east coast.

It was the first such launch by the North while Kim was abroad, analysts said, demonstrating an increased level of delegation and more refined control systems for the country’s nuclear and missile programmes.

Kim had made just seven trips abroad in his 12 years in power, all in 2018 and 2019.

He also briefly stepped across the inter-Korean border twice.

The make-up of Kim’s delegation to Russia, with the notable presence of Munitions Industry Department Director Jo Chun Ryong, suggested an agenda heavy on defence industry cooperation, analysts said.

‘In Korea, there is a proverb: good clothes are those that are new, but old friends are best friends. And our people say: an old friend is better than two new ones,’ Putin told Kim.

‘This folk wisdom is fully applicable to modern relations between our countries.’

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

An off-duty paramedic saved a toddler’s life with the help of a new app when a barbecue toppled onto him at his home in Adelaide.

Two-year-old Grayson Garrad was going blue when mum Ashleigh found him pinned underneath the heavy grill out in their back garden.

He had already lost consciousness due to the weight of the machine compressing his airway.

Ashleigh frantically called for an ambulance, but her son’s chances of survival were vanishing by the second.

Not too far away, Robert Davis was standing in line at an ice cream van when his phone pinged in his pocket.

It was an alert from the GoodSAM app telling him someone in the area needed urgent resuscitation.

Speaking to 7 News, Ashleigh described what happened next: ‘This man in his regular clothes came, and I didn’t know who he was or where he came from.’

Mr Davis wasted no time getting to work on the youngster, telling the broadcaster: ‘The toddler just felt lifeless, and I was trying to give some effective CPR.’

Ashleigh added: ‘I thought he was going to be gone. We couldn’t thank him enough for what he’s done.’

The GoodSAM app allows people with training in CPR to sign up as volunteers to respond to life-threatening emergency situations.

When an emergency call comes through and is classified as such an incident, the details are automatically sent out through the app to alert the nearest approved volunteer responder.

The responder is also sent the location of the nearest defibrillator.

Co-founder Professor Mark Wilson has said of the app: ‘If a patient has a cardiac arrest or a traumatic head injury, it is the first few minutes after the incident that determine the outcome – life, death, or long-term brain injury.

‘There are first aid trained people all around us but usually the first they know of a neighbour having a cardiac arrest is an ambulance appearing in their street.

‘If they had known and started CPR a few minutes before the ambulance arrived, chances of survival can rise significantly.

‘GoodSAM now makes this possible, connecting those with the skills to the public in their minute of need.’

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

This is the sheer scale of the catastrophe in northeastern Libya where Storm Daniel caused two dams to collapse.

Before and after satellite images reveal entire neighbourhoods washed away into the sea, roads submerged by flood water and buildings wiped out since the burst on Sunday.

Rescuers have found more than 2,000 bodies in the wreckage of the city of Derna, the worst-hit by the raging storm.

At least 5,300 people are feared dead, said the interior ministry of Libya’s eastern government.

Local officials have warned that many of those yet to be found are likely to have died.

Satellite images show the Wadi Derna river, running from the mountains through Derna and into the sea.

It has been dry for most of the year, though it floods semi-regularly when it rains.

On Sunday night, as the storm pounded the coast, residents reported hearing the loud explosions before realising the dams outside the city had collapsed.

Rescue teams were working day and night to recover many other bodies scattered in the streets and under the rubble in Derna.

Bodies were even retrieved from the sea before being buried in mass graves, said health minister, Othman Abduljaleel.

The devastation pointed to the storm’s intensity, but also the North African nation’s vulnerability caused by years of political turmoil.

Libya is divided by rival governments, one in the east, the other in the west, and the result has been neglect of infrastructure in many areas.

Investment in roads and public services has also dwindled.

Because of the destruction of access roads to Derna, the arrival of international rescue teams and humanitarian assistance was hampered.

Local emergency crews, including troops, government workers, volunteers and residents, continued digging through rubble looking for the dead.

Bulldozers have worked over the past two days to fix and clear roads to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid and heavy equipment urgently needed for the search and rescue operations.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

Thousands of people killed in a devastating flood in Libya have been buried in mass graves.

More than 5,000 people are now reported to have died in the tragedy that swept through Derna on Sunday, with 10,000 people feared to be missing.

The flood was caused by a powerful storm that burst dams nearby, unleashing a torrent of water that devastated a quarter or more of the Mediterranean city.

Both buildings and their residents have been washed away in the floods.

A hospital director in the city said on Monday that 1,700 bodies had been counted at his hospital, and that 500 more had been buried in another part of the city.

Some 10,000 people are estimated to be missing, with many believed to have been swept out to sea.

Mohammed Qamaty, a volunteer in Derna, said rescue workers were still searching for victims.

He said: ‘We call on all the young Libyans, anyone who has a degree or any medical affiliation to please come and help us.

‘We have a shortage in nurses, we need help.’

Videos of the aftermath show water gushing through the port city’s remaining tower blocks and overturned cars, and later, bodies lined up on sidewalks covered with blankets, collected for burial.

Residents say the only indication of danger was the loud sound of the dams cracking, with no warning system or evacuation plan.

Many bodies have been laid out on the ground in hospital corridors and people are still trying to identify missing relatives as more dead were brought in, it was reported.

One Derna resident, Mustafa Salem, said he has so far lost 30 members of his family.

Aid convoys and trucks carrying bulldozers were headed towards the city today.

The flood unleashed enormous destruction, flipping and mangling cars and leaving Derna’s streets covered in rubble, mud and debris.

Satellite photographs of the city from before and after the disaster show that what had been a relatively narrow waterway through the city centre was now several times wider, with all the buildings that had run along it gone.

Extensive damage, with buildings missing, is also clearly visible in other parts of the city where flood waters broke out from the waterway.

Soussa, Al-Marj and Misrata were also affected by Sunday’s storm.

Rescue operations are complicated by Libya being politically fractured.

The internationally recognised Government of National Unity (GNU) is based in Tripoli, in the west. Derna is in an eastern area where a parallel administration operates, and where control is wielded by commander Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army.

Libya’s Prime Minister Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah, head of the Tripoli-based government, said on Tuesday the floods were an unprecedented catastrophe. Libya’s Presidential Council head Mohammed al-Menfi has called for national unity.

Derna, about 250km east of Benghazi along the coast, is surrounded by the nearby hills of the fertile Jabal Akhdar region.

The city was once where militants from the Islamic State group built a presence in Libya, after Gaddafi’s fall.

The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said emergency response teams had been mobilised to help on the ground. Governments including Qatar and Turkey have rushed aid to Libya.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

Ukraine staged a devastating attack on a key Russian naval base just hours before Vladimir Putin shook hands with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

At least 24 people have been injured and two warships were reportedly damaged as a barrage of missiles rained down on Sevastopol port on Wednesday morning.

Blistering strikes sparked as many as seven massive explosions and a shipyard went up in flames after the port in annexed Crimea was bombarded.

Terrifying footage filmed from residents nearby showed multiple blasts and huge flashes of light over the city, which is the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.

The Russian defence ministry said ten cruise missiles hit the port – also known by the name Ordzhonikidze – and claimed that seven had been shot down.

A strategically important ship building and repair yard was engulfed in flames, while a power plant and other Black Sea naval facilities also appeared to be hit.

It marks the biggest attack on Sevastopol since Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine in February last year.

The strikes also came as the Russian president was due to meet with Kim Jong Un to seek new ammunition supplies which have drained over the last 18 months of the war.

Putin and Mr Kim met at Vostochny cosmodrome in Russia’s far east today, where the time is seven hours ahead of Sevastopol.

Both leaders were expected to inspect the cosmodrome and then sit down for talks, Russian state media reported.

It’s thought that for Mr Kim, it is a chance to get around crippling UN sanctions and years of diplomatic isolation, as he seeks economic aid and military technology.

While the pair met, emergency work continued at the scene of the attack on the port Putin uses as a main hub for strikes on Ukraine.

Russian officials admitted two ships undergoing repair were ‘damaged’ but did not identify the vessels – they also said three kamikaze sea drones were destroyed by the patrol ship Vasily Bykov.

Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Putin-appointed governor of occupied Sevastopol, said: ‘I am at the scene of a fire on the southern site of Sevmorzavod [Sevastopol Shipyard]. 

‘All operational services are working on the spot, there is no danger to civilian facilities in the city.

‘As a result of the attack, according to preliminary information, a total of 24 people were injured, four are in a moderate condition.

‘All necessary assistance to the victims is provided in full.’

Describing the strikes, which came at 3.18am local time, one eyewitness said ‘This is a f****** nightmare. I live on the northern side, I heard missiles passing over us towards the bay, and the explosions started…

‘Three of four missiles were right over us.’

Another Sevastopol resident said there was ‘a horrendous explosion right outside my window – the sky was on fire’.

‘I woke from three strong explosions… windows were shattered,’ said another.

Another said: ‘My whole block of flats is jumping as our air defence is working.’

One more said: ‘I heard a strong low sound like a missile going in the sky, then a huge flash of flight, a strong explosion, and then three more flashes of light.’

Later, an explosion was heard in the Streletskaya Bay area, although it was unclear if this was a fresh attack or Russian air defences.

Putin did not comment on the carnage in Sevastopol as he arrived to meet Kim, whose officials appeared to be seeking to stop the Russian media from filming him.

‘I’m glad to see you,’ Putin told Kim as they embraced in a handshake – Kim had previously arrived in bizarre red-carpet fashion on a train.

While they were together, North Korea also launched two ballistic missiles towards its eastern seas, once again leaving Japan and South Korea on red alert.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

Kim Jong Un has offered to give Vladimir Putin his ‘full and unconditional support’ for Russia’s ‘sacred fight’ – believed to mean the war against Ukraine.

Mr Kim said Pyongyang will always stand with Moscow on the ‘anti-imperialist’ front and also called North Korea’s relations with Russia ‘the first priority’.

The leaders met at the Vostochny Cosmodrome -a secluded Russian spaceport in the far east of the country – before touring launchpads and holding a private meeting.

The talks lasted four to five hours, after which Mr Kim left, Russia’s state news agency RIA Novosti reported.

After the mammoth meeting the world leaders tucked into a a feast of duck, Russian ‘pelmeni’ dumplings and fish soup.

This was followed by sea buckthorn sorbet, according to a Kremlin reporter cited by Reuters.

Analysts have said North Korea may have tens of millions of ageing artillery shells and rockets based on Soviet designs that could give a huge boost to the Russian army in Ukraine.

But either buying arms from or providing rocket technology to North Korea would violate international sanctions that Russia has supported in the past.

The decision to meet at the cosmodrome, Russia’s most important launch centre on its own soil, suggests that Mr Kim is seeking Russian help in developing military reconnaissance satellites.

In the past he has described the satellites as crucial to enhance the threat of his nuclear-capable missiles.

In recent months, North Korea has repeatedly failed to put its first military spy satellite into orbit.

Mr Putin welcomed Mr Kim’s limousine, brought from Pyongyang in the North Korean leader’s special armoured train, at the entrance to the launch facility with a handshake that lasted around 40 seconds.

In his opening remarks, Mr Putin welcomed Mr Kim to Russia and said he was glad to see him, saying the talks would cover economic co-operation, humanitarian issues and the ‘situation in the region’.

Mr Kim, in turn, expressed support for Moscow’s efforts to defend its interests, in an apparent reference to the war in Ukraine.

‘Russia is currently engaged in a just fight against hegemonic forces to defend its sovereign rights, security and interests,’ the North Korean leader said.

‘I take this opportunity to affirm that we will always stand with Russia on the anti-imperialist front and the front of independence.’

The two men began their meeting with a tour of a Soyuz-2 space rocket launch facility, at which Mr Kim peppered a Russian space official with questions about the rockets.

Mr Kim and Mr Putin then met together with their delegations and later one-on-one, according to Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.

After the talks, the Russian president threw an official lunch for Mr Kim, Russian state media reported.

The meeting underscores how the two leaders’ interests are aligning in the face of their separate, intensifying confrontations with the United States.

It comes just a few hours after the North Korean leader launched a number of ballistic missiles towards the eastern seas.

The weapons are believed to have flown cross-country, leaving Japan and South Korea wary of their close yet oft-volatile neighbour.

Japan’s Coast Guard, citing Tokyo’s Defence Ministry, said the missile likely has landed but still urged vessels that may be travelling or moored around Japan’s coast to watch out for falling objects.

For Mr Putin, the meeting with Mr Kim is an opportunity to refill ammunition stores that the 18-month-old war has drained.

For Mr Kim, it is a chance to get around crippling UN sanctions and years of diplomatic isolation.

Asked whether Russia will help North Korea build satellites, Mr Putin was quoted by Russian state media as saying ‘that’s why we have come here’.

‘The DPRK leader shows keen interest in rocket technology. They’re trying to develop space, too,’ he added, using the abbreviation for North Korea’s formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Asked about military co-operation, Mr Putin said ‘we will talk about all issues without a rush. There is time’.

Mr Kim also brought Jo Chun Ryong, a ruling party official in charge of munitions policies, who joined him on recent tours of factories producing artillery shells and missile, according to South Korea.

Despite the recent frequency of North Korean missile firings, Wednesday’s launches on the eve of the summit came as a surprise. South Korea’s Unification Ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs, said it was the first time the North had launched a missile while Mr Kim was travelling overseas.

Mr Kim could have ordered the launches to make a point to Mr Putin about North Korea’s defence posture and show that he remains in close control of the country’s military activities even while abroad, said Moon Seong Mook, an analyst with the Seoul-based Korea Research Institute for National Strategy.

Mr Moon, a retired South Korean brigadier general who participated in past inter-Korean military talks, said the North with the launches could have also intended to express its anger towards the United States, after State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a press briefing that Mr Putin was meeting ‘an international pariah to ask for assistance in a war’.

The United States has accused North Korea of providing Russia with arms, including selling artillery shells to the Russian mercenary group Wagner. Both Russian and North Korean officials denied such claims.

Speculation about military co-operation grew after Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu visited North Korea in July.

Mr Kim subsequently toured his weapons factories, which experts said had the dual goal of encouraging the modernisation of North Korean weaponry and examining artillery and other supplies that could be exported to Russia.

MORE : Kim Jong-un says Russia ‘will triumph against evil’ before toasting Putin’s health

MORE : Crab dumplings and red bilberries: Putin and Kim’s after-meeting dining menu revealed

MORE : Ukraine launches huge attack on Russian naval port just before Putin meets Kim

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

A man has died after being eaten by some piranhas following a boat crash on an Amazonian river.

Joney Jose Silva da Luzon’s body was discovered on the Cuiabá River in Barão de Melgaço, Brazil, at around 6pm on Saturday.

Two boats carrying five passengers collided and three passengers were rescued alive while the other person, Wagner Silva, remains missing and is presumed dead.

The 38-year-old’s body was found with multiple bites when he was pulled out of the water and placed on a rescue boat.

His wife is one of the three survivors and the pilot of one of the boats is another of the survivors.

The Brazilian Navy said it sent a search and rescue team to the location as soon as it learnt of the accident.

A spokesperson said: ‘An administrative procedure has been initiated to determine the cause, circumstances and responsibility of the incident.’

As of September 12, divers are still searching for Wagner’s body.

Access to the area has been restricted by the authorities as the investigation continues.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

At least seven people have been killed after rainstorms battered a town in southern China and allowed dozens of crocodiles to escape captivity.

Residents in the nearby city of Maoming were advised to stay at home after over 70 crocodiles broke free from a farm and are still at large in the surrounding area.

An emergency official said that 69 adult crocodiles and six juveniles had escaped.

Some have been captured but the operation was difficult because of the depth of a lake they are in, reports suggested.

Local media also suggested that while some had been recaptured, several others had been shot or electrocuted by authorities ‘for safety reasons’.

No injuries have been reported at this time.

Further west, seven people died and three are missing after multiple landslides in the city of Yulin in the Guangxi region, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. The landslides were triggered by heavy rains on Sunday and Monday.

The rain also caused flash floods in Hong Kong last week, killing two people. Parts of the city were flooded again following a heavy downpour on Monday. Puddles of water and debris could still be seen.

Hong Kong leader John Lee said the government would set up an emergency assistance fund to help those affected by the floods.

The reptiles are believed to be Siamese crocodiles, which can grow up to 3m or nearly 10 ft long.

Maoming, a city in Guangdong province, is home to a number of crocodile farms where the animals are bred for their skin and meat.

The average weight of the adult crocodiles that have been captured is about 75kg, according to a local firefighter.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

A British woman who died after a cosmetic procedure in Turkey may not have been made aware of the risks associated with the surgery, a coroner has heard.

Melissa Kerr, 31 and from Denton in Norfolk, died at the Medicana Kadikoy hospital in Istanbul on November 19 of last year – the day she went under the knife to receive a ‘Brazilian butt lift’.

An inquest into her death was held today and Norfolk’s senior coroner Jackeline Lake was told Melissa was only given ‘limited information regarding the risks and mortality rate’ of the surgery.

The psychological wellbeing practitioner died after injected fat entered a vein before moving and blocking her pulmonary artery, with her cause of death recorded as a pulmonary thromboembolism, Ms Lake said.

Consultant plastic surgeon Simon Withey, who appeared at the inquest as an expert witness, said the death rate associated with Brazilian butt lifts is ‘likely to be in excess of one in 4,000’.

He said it is ‘quite possible’ that, if the risk of the procedure had been explained to Melissa ‘before she was financially committed to proceed, she would not have done’.

In a string of WhatsApp messages between Melissa and a hospital worker before travelling to Turkey, she arranged to pay £3,200 in cash.

She asked four times to see photographs of previous patients but there is no evidence they were provided.

Melissa said in her messages she felt ‘a bit nervous’.

Recording a narrative conclusion, Ms Lake said Melissa died after cosmetic surgery.

The coroner said: ‘Ms Kerr wasn’t seen by a surgeon or clinician prior to the date of the procedure.

‘Ms Kerr underwent a limited assessment prior to the procedures.

‘Ms Kerr was provided with limited information regarding the risks and mortality rate associated with this procedure.’

Ms Lake said ‘certain techniques’ used ‘increased the risk of embolism occurring’, including a ‘decision to inject fat into superficial muscle’.

She said there have been a ‘high number of patient deaths in similar circumstances, adding: ‘There has been the release of an international alert to surgeons regarding the high mortality rate associated with this procedure.

‘There has also been the introduction of a voluntary moratorium on this type of procedure in the UK.

‘These are clearly not being followed in Turkey.

‘I’m concerned patients are not being made aware of the risks or the mortality rate associated with such surgery.

‘I don’t have any authority over hospitals in Turkey and I also appreciate the UK government has no control (over) what happens in other countries.

‘However the danger our citizens will continue to travel abroad for such procedures continues, though citizens are unaware of the risks involved.

‘I do have concerns there will be future deaths and I’m of the view future deaths can be prevented by way of better information.

‘I do propose making a report to the Secretary for Health, who I believe could take action to prevent future deaths.’

Ms Lake will write to Health Secretary Steve Barclay outlining her concerns that Brits are unaware of the risks of having cosmetic surgery overseas.

She offered her condolences to Melissa’s relatives, who were listening to the inquest remotely.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

A paedophile who posed as a church missionary trying to help children trafficked young boys and sexually abused them.

Thomas Scheller pretended to be ‘spreading good news of Jesus’ in Kenya while he raped three little kids, the youngest being just 10 years old.

The 74-year-old German national also filmed some of the abuse and sent the clips overseas, the Milimani Law Courts heard.

He was jailed for 81 years last month, after he was found guilty of seven charges which included defiling underage boys, child trafficking and posessing child abuse content.

Scheller claimed he had been trying to help the children and had permission to do so from their mums, local media reported.

He said these parents were attempting to ‘frame and fix him’ and prayed for mercy while in court.

The former engineer committed his heinous crimes in the city Kisumu, after fleeing from police in the coastal town of Kilifi.

Between March and April 2020, Scheller raped a 13-year-old boy in one of Kisumu’s slum suburbs.

During this time, he also showed pornographic videos to at least two of the boys.

Scheller was eventually arrested in the capital of Nairobi, while with one of his victims outside the German Embassy.

He has been detained since 2020 because the prosecution convinced the courts he was a flight risk and should not be granted bail.

The child molester will likely die behind bars as he would have to live to be 155 years old to see the end of his sentence.

Magistrate Carolyne Muthoni Njagi said: ‘Courts are the custodians of children’s rights and will not sit and watch helplessly while the Kenyan children are being abused by the affluent western and eastern visitors who hide their true selves in the church.’

This is just one of multiple stories about Western people using the guise of Christianity to abuse children on the continent.

US missionary Renee Bach is infamously accused of running a charitable treatment centre where at least 105 children died in Uganda.

The allegations, which led to a lawsuit being settled in July 2020, were that Ms Bach had given the impression she was a doctor while not having any medical training.

She has continuously denied any wrongdoing with her lawyer saying ‘the settlement was deemed by all parties to be in the best interests of all involved’.

The story will be explored in a new HBO docuseries called Savior Complex, airing on September 26.

Dr Andreana Prichard, an academic from the University of Oklahoma who has studied evangelical missions in Africa cites a ‘Western obsession with African orphans’ starting in the 1830s.

While the intention to honour the Bible’s call to ‘visit orphans and widows in their affliction’ may be real for many, the dynamic has always been a controversial and complicated one.

Writing for The Conversation, Dr Prichard gave an example of the ‘mission’ becoming problematic from all the way back in 1890.

She told how a famine pushed many children to seek help at an orphanage run by the Church Missionary Society in in Frere Town in Mombasa

When things improved and parents tried to take their children home they were reportedly refused, with missionaries ‘worried they would lose converts and donations for their work’.

Kenya has recently taken significant steps to replace privately-run orphanages with family-based care.

The government is among several others on the continent that is working to end what has been called the ‘institutionalisation of children’.

In 2019, the then British high commissioner to Kenya, Nic Hailey, said: ‘Nothing is more important than protecting the children of Kenya; it’s heartbreaking to see adults from my country and also from other countries travelling to Kenya with an aim of coming to abuse children.’

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

Five men accused of gang-raping a British woman were caught trying to clean blood off the floor after the attack using bed sheets, police have said.

The alleged victim, 20, accused the group of Israeli men of gang-raping her in a hotel room during a pool party in the holiday resort of Ayia Napa.

Further harrowing details of the incident have emerged in court today as the suspects have now had their detention extended for another six days.

The suspects – three aged 19 and two aged 20 – are expected to plead to charges including rape, sexual assault, sexual harassment and abduction at their next court appearance.

Yiannis Habaris, a lawyer for three of the defendants and lawyers from the firm Gabriel Kaimakliotis representing the other two, said they had no objections to the remand renewal.

Two of the suspects were not present in the courtroom because they were in isolation recovering from Covid-19, the lawyers said.

Police investigator Andreas Nikolettis told the court that the 20-year-old woman said one of the five men had ‘forcibly’ taken her to his room after grabbing her hand while she was partying with friends around the hotel pool on September 3.

The Israeli then tried to remove her bathing suit while she pleaded with him to let her leave, he said, before the other suspects entered the room.

One had sex with the woman against her will and another forced her to perform oral sex while another two held her down in the bed.

She said one suspect also held her up against the wall and had intercourse with her.

At some point, she managed to lock herself in the bathroom and began shouting for help.

She managed to flee the room by pushing the suspects aside and rejoined her friends who went with her to report the rape to the police.

MailOnline revealed last week the incident took place at the three-star Fedrania Gardens Hotel after the girl was invited to a party there as she was staying elsewhere.

Nikolettis said the woman, who was in a ‘bad psychological state’, identified the five suspects in a line-up.

Police immediately went to round up the five suspects after the ‘concise and detailed’ complaint by the woman and spoke with her friends.

According to the investigator, the suspects were found trying to clean up blood stains on the floor of the hotel room using bed sheets.

A friend of the woman had told investigators that he saw her leaving the pool area with one of the Israelis, but he didn’t see the suspect using any force.

Two of the suspects admitted to having sex with the woman but insisted it was consensual and denied committing rape. The other three said they had no sexual contact with the woman.

There was no CCTV at the hotel.

About a dozen friends and relatives of the suspects were present in the courtroom during the hearing.

Ayia Napa is popular with young tourists from across Europe who enjoy the resort’s multitude of nightclubs, bars, white-sand beaches and lively nightlife.

The five men – three aged 19 and the other two 20 – have now had their detention extended for another six days by a court on the island.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

This is the moment North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un arrived in Russia for his meeting with Vladimir Putin.

Authorities rolled out the red carpet for the politician and ally to the Kremlin as he disembarked his bulletproof armoured train in the city of Vladivostok, in Russia’s Far East.

Footage showed flustered aides running around as a smiling Kim stepped on the red carpet, instantly being greeted by Russian officials.

What was expected to be a rare meeting between two authoritarian rulers, driven together by their need for support in escalating standoffs with the West, was a bit of a let down in the end.

Russia’s president was nowhere to be seen in the crowd, instead sending one of his ministers.

State TV later reported that the natural resources minister, Alexander Kozlov, met with Kim instead on arrival.

He is expected to seek economic aid and military technology for his impoverished country.

In an unusual twist, it appears that he has something his Russian counterpart desperately needs: munitions for Russia’s grueling war in Ukraine.

This meeting is a chance for the North Korean leader to get around crippling U.N. sanctions and years of diplomatic isolation.

For Putin, it is an opportunity to refill ammunition stores that the war has drained.

Footage released by Oleg Kozhemyako, governor of Russia’s far eastern Primorsky region, showed Kim, sat in a big white chair, talking with a delegation led by Kozlov.

‘It will be a fully fledged visit,’ Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.

‘There will be negotiations between two delegations, and after that, if necessary, the leaders will continue their communication in a one-on-one format.’

Discussions could cover humanitarian aid to North Korea and the U.N. Security Council resolutions imposed against Pyongyang, Russian officials said.

US officials, who first said the visit was imminent, said arms talks between the two were actively advancing and that they were likely to discuss providing Russia with weapons for the war in Ukraine.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

MORE : Putin issues ‘serious’ warning to UK and claims Sunak ‘doesn’t understand’ what’s happening in Ukraine

MORE : Russia ‘has likely urged North Korea to join three-way war drills with China’

MORE : Demoralised Russians ‘fight on with machine guns pointed at backs’

An Olympic champion was found to have faked end-stage cancer to avoid a six-figure court case, new documents have revealed.

Eric Lamaze, 55, is Canada’s most successful Olympic showjumper and has been embroiled in a £400,000 lawsuit over three horses he sold in 2010.

He won individual gold and team bronze at Beijing 2008 and added another bronze eight years later at the Rio 2016 Games.

Lamaze also secured Pan American Games gold in 2015 as well as a bronze at the 2010 World Equestrian Games.

The rider, who earned more than £800,000 in 2007 alone, missed the Olympics in Tokyo and retired in 2022 in order to focus on his health.

He was initially diagnosed with brain cancer in 2017 and went public with the news two years later.

But now it has been revealed he submitted fraudulent documents relating to his condition to delay a court hearing as part of a £400,000 lawsuit against him.

Lamaze is accused of selling three horses from his Torrey Pines Stables to Iron Horse Farm in 2010 that were not up to the standard expected.

A long-running legal case has rumbled on since then and in July his attorney Tim Danson applied for a delay in proceedings.

The document cited medical issues – but there were no medical records attached – just photos of his disfigured face following brain surgery.

Justice Marvin Kurz published two endorsements, with the first stating that Lamaze’s stables had brought a motion asking to adjourn.

Kurz did not proceed due to ‘questions regarding the true state’ of Lamaze’s health.

Lamaze’s notice of the motion stated that he had been ‘battling brain cancer for a number of years’, with the disease also allegedly spreading to his throat.

It was said that he was scheduled to undergo further surgery on June 11.

But Jerome Morse, for Iron Horse, cast doubt on the allegation ‘in light of the fact Mr Lamaze made similar claims in early 2019, in the hope of adjourning his discovery.’

Morse revealed that Lamaze took part in events on March 13, 14 and 16 in 2019.

But a private detective hired by Iron Horse Farm in Belgium went to Dr Pirotte who denied signing the document and confirmed it was fraudulent.

Not only that the letter was written in Dutch, with a mistake on the address of the Chirec Delta Hospital, and allegedly signed by neurosurgeon Dr Nordenyn Oulad Ben Taib – despite the doctor only having French, English and Arabic on his list of languages.

Now Danson has resigned from the case representing Lamaze and last week said: ‘Eric is very sick, but maybe not with cancer.’

Lamaze himself continues to insist he does have the disease – but confessed he ‘made a little mistake’.

Asked about evidence stacking up against him, he told The Toronto Star: ‘You’ll never find it because I did have cancer.

‘Was I deceitful here and there to protect some doctors and protect this and that?

‘Of course I was.’

But Justice Hurtz said: ‘Mr Lamaze attempted to perpetrate a fraud on the court by filing three forged letters, which falsely purport to be medical reports regarding Mr Lamaze’s dire medical condition.

‘Mr Morse [Iron House’s lawyer] argues that if that fraud were not sufficiently egregious, Mr Lamaze feigned end-stage cancer, which is an insult to all who have suffered from that dreaded malady.

‘He did so only to avoid a ‘day of reckoning’ in an action that was commenced more than ten years ago but has yet to reach trial.’

Lamaze has been ordered to pay £25,800 to cover the costs to Iron House Farm following the motion to adjourn in July.

He also needs to find a new lawyer by September 29 or else he would lose the case by default.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

Two British holidaymakers have died in northern Spain after coming off the motorbike they were riding on.

The couple, aged 68 and 65, were heading through the municipality of Blanes in the province of Asturias when they suffered their fatal accident yesterday.

Emergency services were called at around 5.30 pm to the A-8 motorway, during heavy rain in the area.

The woman is said to have been hit by another vehicle while she was lying on the tarmac and had to be cut free from underneath of the car by firefighters.

The man is also understood to have been hit by another vehicle – said to be a lorry according to other locals – after he came off the motorbike.

They were pronounced dead at the scene.

The Civil Guard is carrying out an ongoing investigation.

A spokesman for the force confirmed today: ‘Two British nationals have died in an accident on the A8 motorway in the municipality of Blanes, near the Balmori exit.

‘They were a couple aged 68 and 65.

‘They were heading west in the direction of the provincial capital Oviedo when the motorbike they were on overturned for reasons which are still being investigated.

Sources said there was no indication they lived in Spain and they were believed to be holidaymakers.

It was not immediately clear where the two Brits had been heading when they suffered their tragic accident.

Blanes is popular with tourists and is well-known for its rugged coastline. It is widely considered to be one of the most beautiful towns in Spain.

Many locals emigrated to the Americas to make their fortunes and some returned rich and built large houses known collectively as the ‘Indianas.’

Got a story? Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk. Or you can submit your videos and pictures here.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

Follow Metro.co.uk on Twitter and Facebook for the latest news updates. You can now also get Metro.co.uk articles sent straight to your device. Sign up for our daily push alerts here.

MORE : Town in Portugal flooded by red wine after burst distillery tank sends 2,200,000 litres flowing down street

MORE : Ex-Spain Women’s manager Jorge Vilda calls his sacking ‘unfair’ and ‘undeserved’

MORE : Moment explorer is pulled from 3,300ft cave after being trapped underground for nine days

Kim Jong-un has just made a 20-hour journey in his bulletproof train to get Russia for a summit with Vladimir Putin.

The North Korean leader opted to spend the extra time travelling in what has been dubbed a ‘moving fortress’ rather than take a shorter flight.

This has been a family tradition since his grandad Kim Il-sung started using trains to get to Vietnam and Eastern Europe.

It is considered much safer to travel by train than plane, with security agents routinely sent ahead to check routes and stations for any threats.

While relying on railways makes the trek much longer, Kim has certainly made sure he is comfortable throughout.

His 90-carriage train is stocked with fresh lobster as well as cases of French Bordeaux and Burgundy red wines, according to Konstantin Pulikovsky, a Russian official who was also onboard.

The train is equipped so that there are no interruptions to work – with bedrooms, conference rooms and audience chambers.

Passengers have access to satellite phones and flat-screen TVs for briefings with those still in Pyongyang.

The dark green train has bulletproof windows along with reinforced walls and floors so those inside are protected against explosives. It also carries attack weapons and a helicopter, according to Seoul’s unification.

All this extra weight means the train moves at just 37 miles per hour.

For comparison, Eurostar trains on the HS1 line between London and the Channel Tunnel can reach 186 miles per hour, according to Trainline.

Kim once travelled around 2,800 miles, for two and a half days, through China to meet former US president Donald Trump in Vietnam.

This week’s journey to Russia is Kim’s first trip abroad since the coronavirus pandemic.

It is believed Kim and Putin will meet after the Eastern Economic Forum scheduled for tomorrow in the port city of Vladivostok.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said: ‘There will be negotiations between two delegations, and after that, if necessary, the leaders will continue their communication in a one-on-one format.’

The West is worried about the pair striking up an arms deal to provide weapons to Russian fighters in Ukraine.

Monday saw the US State Department warning that this kind of agreement could trigger sanctions.

But Mr Peskov was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying: ‘As you know, while implementing our relations with our neighbours, including North Korea, the interests of our two countries are important to us, and not warnings from Washington. It is the interests of our two countries that we will focus on.’

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

MORE : Kim Jong-un gets the red carpet treatment during bizarre arrival in Russia for meeting with Vladimir Putin

MORE : Kim Jong-un says new ‘nuclear attack sub’ will ‘strike fear into heart’ of US

MORE : Demoralised Russians ‘fight on with machine guns pointed at backs’

A rhino at a zoo in Austria killed a keeper and seriously injured another in a freak attack this morning.

The fatal incident happened at Hellbrunn Zoo in the western city of Salzburg.

Police said in a statement that during routine work in the rhino enclosure, a 33-year-old keeper was attacked by the animal ‘for reasons that are still unknown’.

A spokesperson for the force said: ‘The woman succumbed to her injuries at the scene of the accident.’

Witnessing the gruesome attack, her 34-year-old colleague stepped in to help.

He tried to scare the rhino away, but was also attacked and seriously injured. He was taken to the hospital, but his condition is currently unknown.

Zoo director Sabine Grebner told local media the victim had been assigned to smear the rhinos with an insect stick to prevent insect bites.

This is when the animal acted out and attacked the woman.

Ms Grebner added: ‘She was very careful and thoughtful with the animals, and she had an extremely good instinct for animals.’

The exact circumstances of how the accident occurred are to be determined, but the director stressed that all safety regulations will also be evaluated.

Hellbrunn Zoo confirmed it would remain closed for the rest of the day.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

MORE : Critically endangered leopard cub takes its first steps at UK wildlife park

MORE : Austrian town puts up fence blocking view to stop tourists taking photos

MORE : Schoolgirl, 11, savaged by XL Bully dog breaks silence on ‘ferocious’ attack

Dozens of men from military units under Russia’s command were unmasked as ‘enablers’ of unspeakable war crimes in eastern Ukraine.

These are the faces of the pro-Kremlin puppets who allowed the abuse of civilians and prisoners of war during the occupation of Izium, 30 miles from the border.

Exactly one year has passed since the discovery of mass graves in the town, which laid bare the levels of cruelty that Vladimir Putin’s troops are capable of.

Some 436 bodies – mostly of women and children – were exhumed from a forest just outside Izium, days after it was recaptured by the Ukrainian military.

At least 30 had signs of torture, with some pulled out with ropes round their necks, tied hands, broken limbs, and burn wounds. Several men had their genitals cut off.

Now, an investigation by the Centre for Information Resilience identified Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics (LDPR) units LDPR who played a significant role in the occupation of the town, including in the violence and abuse against civilians.

Their report released today links the 48 men pictured to a school used as a site for torture and detention of innocent people.

Shared exclusively with Metro.co.uk, the image was taken by Russian propagandist and singer, Roman Razum, linked to the Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) militia.

According to investigators, it shows soldiers from the fifth battalion of the 204th Infantry Regiment.

Most are from Luhansk and surrounding cities and towns in eastern Ukraine. Their ages appear to be from early 20s into their 30s.

Using open sources, CIR found they were stationed at School No. 6 from April to July 2022.

Survivors described being subjected to electric shocks, waterboardings, beatings, and threats at gunpoint.

Zhenia, who was detained twice in the building, detailed the horror he endured after being kidnapped from his home.

The 19-year-old said: ‘At the school, one of the soldiers in charge came over and wanted to hit me. I covered my face.

‘He said, “What are you, a boxer”. Then he called over three soldiers and they all started beating me.

‘They held me first in a storage closet and then in an office for three days, but would take me outside sometimes to ask me questions and they would beat me;
they even hit me on the head with their walkie talkies.’

But Zhenia is one of the fortunate ones who survived the crimes in Izium during the occupation.

Another man, Ihor, who was arrested five times, said three Russian soldiers came to his apartment and accused him of having marijuana.

Speaking with Human Rights Watch, the 48-year-old said they searched his home, put a bag over his head, and beat him as they marched him down the stairs and to their car.

He said they drove him to School No. 6 and locked him in a hallway storage closet for about half an hour.

At one point, Ihor accused them pf being fascists and they began beating, kicking, and slapping him.

CIR further geolocated videos at School No. 6 showing soldiers unloading a van with packages for them sent by friends and family.

All the boxes have their names and units written on the front, findings which the investigators have since shared with the Ukrainian government.

Ross Burley, co-founder of CIR, said about the findings: ‘Investigators from our Eyes on Russia team have compiled strong evidence about which pro-Russian military units were based at or near torture sites in occupied Izium.

‘These soldiers may not have carried out torture themselves but they occupied the town, they guarded and protected these locations by their presence, and in doing so these soldiers enabled torture to take place. 

‘Those who survived the Russian occupation describe the Luhansk and Donetsk militias, in particular, as some of the worst behaved of all the occupying forces as they were often drunk, violent and looted homes and shops.

‘There are reports of children being shot dead by drunk militia for breaking curfew and robbing homes while owners are held at gunpoint.’ 

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has arrived in Russia ahead of an expected meeting with President Vladimir Putin.

The meeting has sparked Western concerns about a potential arms deal for Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

Mr Kim spent 20 hours travelling 1,180km (733 miles) on the slow-moving green-and-yellow train, it was reported by the BBC.

The train’s heavy armoured protection makes it rattle at a speed of about 50km/h (31mph) which is much slower than most modern trains.

North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Mr Kim boarded his personal train on Sunday afternoon, accompanied by unspecified members of the country’s ruling party, government and military.

South Korea’s military assessed the train crossed into Russia earlier today military sources said in a briefing, without elaborating on how the military obtained the information.

Mr Kim’s delegation likely includes his foreign minister, Choe Sun Hui, and his top two military officials – Korean People’s Army Marshals Ri Pyong Chol and Pak Jong Chon.

Other officials identified in North Korean state media photos may hint at what Mr Kim might seek from Mr Putin and what he would be willing to give.

The officials include Pak Thae Song, chairman of North Korea’s space science and technology committee, and Navy Admiral Kim Myong Sik, who are linked with North Korean efforts to acquire spy satellites and nuclear-capable ballistic missile submarines.

Experts say North Korea would struggle to acquire such capabilities without external help, although it is not clear if Russia would share such sensitive technologies.

Kim Jong Un is also apparently bringing Jo Chun Ryong, a ruling party official in charge of munitions policies who had accompanied the leader on his recent tours to factories producing artillery shells and missiles, according to South Korea’s Unification Ministry, which analysed the North Korean photos.

North Korea may have tens of millions of artillery shells and rockets based on Soviet designs that could give a huge boost to the Russian army in Ukraine, analysts say.

A possible venue where Mr Kim and Mr Putin could meet is the eastern Russian city of Vladivostok, where Mr Putin arrived on Monday to attend an international forum that runs through Wednesday, according to Russia’s TASS news agency.

Mr Putin’s first meeting with Mr Kim was held in 2019 in the city that is about 425 miles (680 kilometres) north of Pyongyang.

Russian news agencies quoted Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov as saying the two leaders will meet after the Vladivostok forum, but the reports did not specify when or where.

Kim Jong Un is making his first foreign trip since the Covid-19 pandemic during which North Korea tightly enforced border controls for more than three years.

Associated Press journalists near the North Korea-Russia frontier saw a green train with yellow trim similar to one Mr Kim used during previous foreign trips at a station on the North Korean side of a border river on Monday.

US officials released intelligence last week that North Korea and Russia were arranging a meeting between their leaders.

According to US officials, Mr Putin could focus on securing more supplies of North Korean artillery and other ammunition to refill declining reserves as he seeks to defuse a Ukrainian counteroffensive and show that he is capable of grinding out a long war of attrition.

That could potentially put more pressure on the US and its partners to pursue negotiations as concerns over a protracted conflict grow despite their huge shipments of advanced weaponry to Ukraine in the past 17 months.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Washington will monitor the meeting closely, reminding both countries that ‘any transfer of arms from North Korea to Russia would be a violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions’, and that the US ‘will not hesitate to impose new sanctions’.

In exchange, Mr Kim could seek badly needed energy and food aid and advanced weapons technologies, including those related to intercontinental ballistic missiles, nuclear-capable ballistic missile submarines and military reconnaissance satellites, analysts say.

Got a story? Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk. Or you can submit your videos and pictures here.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

Follow Metro.co.uk on Twitter and Facebook for the latest news updates. You can now also get Metro.co.uk articles sent straight to your device. Sign up for our daily push alerts here.

MORE : Kim Jong-un says new ‘nuclear attack sub’ will ‘strike fear into heart’ of US

MORE : A faulty Russian rocket left an astronaut stranded in space. Now he is a record breaker

MORE : The everyday items that give a glimpse into the true brutality of Ukraine conflict

In the winelands of Portugal, even the industrial accidents have a touch of class.

That’s what the residents of São Lourenco do Bairro discovered on Sunday – when a local distillery’s tanks burst and sent 2.2 million litres of red wine flooding along the road.

Video footage from the scene shows a mighty river of booze flowing down a steep hill as bewildered locals watch on.

Winemakers Levira Distillery had been due to bottle the product when their vats suddenly gave way, spilling enough liquid to fill up an Olympic-sized swimming pool.

But it wasn’t all rosy-cheeked fun – so much wine flooded the local area, it sparked an environmental alert.

The red tsunami had to be diverted before it contaminated the nearby Cértima River.

Local media reported the Anadia Fire Department managed to change its course and send it safely towards a field.

Nevertheless, Levira had to dredge the wine-soaked land to make sure it didn’t become a problem in the future.

The distillery said: ‘We assume full responsibility for the costs associated with cleaning and repairing the damage, having teams available to do so immediately.

‘We are committed to resolving this situation as quickly as possible.’

The basement of one house near the Levira site was flooded with wine, the fire department said, though it was unclear if the homeowner was annoyed or thrilled with the turn of events.

A similar incident struck the Bodegas Vitivinos winery in Villamalea, Spain, three years ago, though a mere 50,000 litres were released that time.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

MORE : Wine expert hails £6.99 Aldi rosé that ‘tastes just like Whispering Angel’

MORE : Newly-found ancient shipwreck has wine jars still intact after 2,000 years

MORE : Moment trapped explorer is freed from 3,300ft-deep cave after nine days

A man trapped deep in a cave in Turkey may reach the surface tonight or tomorrow morning, but rescuers admit their mission to save him is ‘tricky’.

Mark Dickey, a researcher and experienced caver from the US, began suffering gastrointestinal bleeding at 1,000 metres underground while exploring the Morca cave in the Taurus mountains on September 2.

Around 190 rescuers and doctors from across Europe have rushed help the 40-year-old, with the first doctor, a Hungarian, reaching him the following day.

He has since had at least one doctor and a small team of people caring for him at all times and has received IV fluids and four litres of blood.

This weekend rescuers began the task of moving him to the surface on a stretcher, and according to medical coordinator Tulga Sener, Mr Dickey could be out within hours.

However, one of the rescue’s technical coordinators, Giuseppe Conti, admitted the mission was ‘a bit tricky’ because section of the cave he’s in has a web of slopes and around a metre of flood water.

Turkey’s disaster management agency previously said it could take up to 10 days to bring Mr Dickey back to the surface because he’ll need to stop and rest regularly.

Speaking on Saturday, Ali Hamza Pehlivan, governor of Mersin, said Mr Dickey’s condition was improving ‘thanks to medical intervention’ and that he was ‘stable’.

Turkish authorities shared a video which showed Mr Dickey standing and moving around on Thursday.

While alert and talking, he said he was not ‘healed on the inside’ and needed a lot of help to get out of the cave.

He can not currently eat through his mouth and is fed intravenously.

Mr Dickey thanked the caving community and the Turkish government for their efforts to rescue him.

The Morca cave is the third deepest in Turkey and the 38th deepest in the world.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

Although it’s been over 20 years, I can still remember every detail of what happened on 11 September 2001.

I was 15 and a sophomore in high school when an announcement was made during geometry class that a plane had crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. A girl in front of me burst into tears.

But despite knowing my dad worked on the 104th floor of the South Tower, I wasn’t concerned as I was too busy consoling my classmate, who I accompanied down to the guidance counsellor’s office. It was there that I was told that my mum’s parents were on their way to pick up me and my sister Jessica, now 27, and brother Matthew, 25, and take us home.

The rest of the day was a whirlwind.

While I was allowed to watch the events unfold live on TV, my siblings – then aged six and four – were kept distracted in the other room. I helped my mum, ringing hospitals to check if my dad was there, and taking a string of calls from friends asking if we’d heard anything. It was emotionally exhausting.

Mobile phone service was down, but I recall my dad having been able to get through to his mother. ‘I’m OK,’ he’d said. ‘They’re telling us to stay where we are.’ It was the last time we ever heard from him. But as I watched the South Tower collapse at 9:59am, I was convinced in my heart that he was safe.

The next day my mum and I drove to the city, parked the car, and had to walk many blocks before we got anywhere near Ground Zero. It was surreal.

Not only was it eerily quiet, but I’ll never forget the ash around my ankles. That’s when I realised it was all that was left of the Twin Towers and that I was essentially standing in one huge graveyard.

People had hung hundreds of flyers with photos of their missing loved ones. Wanting to be strong, I pushed my sinking feeling aside as we ran from one Red Cross tent to the other in search of signs that my father was still alive.

A week on, my mum decided to sit us down and explain that our dad wasn’t coming home. I was devastated. But as the eldest, and in the ensuing weeks and months, I felt I needed to take on the role of the second parent and act as caregiver for everyone to make sure they were all right.

My mum threw herself into work, taking early retirement from her job as vice principal of a school to support a congressman. And while my sister became withdrawn, my brother would spend hours playing with Legos, building towers and smashing them.

A beautiful memorial mass was held for my dad on 1 December 2001, but that he had died didn’t hit me until much later while attending a funeral for a friend’s father. I broke down and couldn’t stop crying. My grief had finally caught up with me and those tears I shed were for him.

It was a long time – maybe six months – before my father’s death was confirmed when a police officer came to our house in Howell, New Jersey, to inform us that his remains in the form of his teeth had been identified.

As I grew older, I still had overwhelming feelings of loss, especially around the 9/11 anniversaries. So while my sister found support through counselling with Tuesday’s Children, a nonprofit dedicated to helping the families of 9/11 victims, I decided at the age of 20 to seek therapy.

With the help of a professional, I learnt how lucky I was to have had my father for as long as I had, but also to appreciate the values he’d instilled in me.

He was such a funny, kind and compassionate man and it’s because of him that at Christmas every year I work with charities, filling shoe boxes with toys to send to those in need.

Some of the fondest memories I have of him include camping trips to the Poconos where, aged nine, I caught my first fish, which he helped me to reel in.

We laughed a lot because I didn’t want to touch it before he threw it back into the lake unharmed. Like him, I could never hurt an animal.

He’d always remind me to be gentle with our old golden retriever, Kelsey, and when I’d bring home turtles or goldfish, he’d help me to take care of them.

When I was 12, we visited SeaWorld and my father cheered me on as I took part in a dolphin swim. Today, I’m a marine mammal behaviour specialist at the Dolphin Research Center in Grassy Key, Florida.

One of the things we do is help veterans – some of whom went to Afghanistan to fight because of 9/11 – to manage their PTSD through dolphin therapy. It’s incredibly rewarding and I feel that with my work I’ve come full circle.

He would’ve been so proud that I not only followed my passion, but that I’m giving back to society in some way.

To mark the 20 year anniversary a couple of years ago, I was at the memorial in New York to read aloud a list of names – including my father’s – something I did together with my sister in 2003.

While I feel honoured to have had the opportunity to get up there and represent those men and women who perished that day, I feel such immense sadness that they are no longer with us.

As told to Katreen Hardt

Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing jess.austin@metro.co.uk. 

Share your views in the comments below.

MORE : Remains of two more 9/11 terror attack victims identified nearly 22 years on

MORE : Biden rejects plea deal for 9/11 ‘masterminds’ that would see them avoid death penalty

MORE : Father-of-three who survived 9/11 drowns trying to save kids after raft capsizes

Five children who travelled from the UK to Pakistan with Sara Sharif’s father have been found hiding at their grandfather’s house, it has been reported.

Urfan Sharif, 41, is said to have fled the UK with his partner and brother the day before Sara was found dead with ‘extensive injuries’ at her home in Woking, Surrey, last month.

The trio reportedly took five young members of the family with them, though there is no suggestion they were kidnapped by force.

Sara’s grandfather, Muhammad Sharif, told the BBC all five kids were taken from his house in the north-eastern city of Jhelum during a police raid, which was confirmed by local authorities.

Sara’s 13-year-old brother was said to be one of the five who left the UK with her dad, though the identities of the kids found in the raid have not been revealed.

Muhammad Sharif did not say how long the kids had been with him, and has previously denied being in touch with his son.

Surrey Police have previously expressed concern for the ‘welfare’ of the youngsters.

Witnesses to the raid said dozens of officers cordoned off the area around the property and stopped people filming on their phones.

A neighbour told the BBC: ‘Police officers including female officers raided the house. They broke the CCTV at the entrance and entered it.

‘While inside, more officers arrived outside and stopped the traffic. They stopped everyone from filming on their mobile phones.’

Sara and her brother had been living with their dad and his partner, Beinash Batool, 29.

They had lived with their mother Olga from 2015 to 2019, when a family court ruled they should move in with Mr Sharif.

Olga had equal rights on spending time with her kids but said it became harder to maintain contact over time.

Speaking to Polish broadcasters last week, she said: ‘Their stepmother wrote to me not to come anymore because the children did not want to see me.

‘It’s not normal that once the children were happy, and arguing about who would talk to Mum first, and then the kids don’t even want to talk to me on the phone and are calling me the worst names.’

Mr Sharif and Ms Batool have since hit back at claims surrounding the case in a video statement and claimed press coverage had forced their family into ‘hiding’.

In a video shared with Sky News, Ms Batool said her side of the family is willing to cooperate with British police and ‘fight our case in court’.

She could be heard to say: ‘Firstly, I would like to talk about Sara. Sara’s death was an incident. Our family in Pakistan are severely affected by all that is going on.

‘All the media have been giving wrong statements and making up lies.

‘All of our family members have gone into hiding as everyone is scared for their safety.

‘The groceries have run out and there is no food for the kids as the adults are unable to leave their homes out of fear for safety.’

Mr Sharif, Ms Batool and Mr Sharif’s brother, Faisal Malik, who travelled with the couple are wanted by British and Pakistani police for questioning.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.