Rescue divers in Laos have evacuated the first of five villagers who have been trapped in a cave for over a week.

Lao and Thai rescue teams shared the news Friday, including a video showing the first rescued villager walking unsteadily with assistance. He was handed over to other team members for a medical check amid a waiting crowd.

The five villagers were located by divers Wednesday but rescue workers still face the dual challenge of extricating the remaining individuals and locating two more who are still missing.

Evacuations for the other four were paused until Saturday because they were not yet ready, according to Chakkit Taengtang of the Sai Than Association, one of the Thai rescue organizations on site.

Rescue teams had been pumping water out of the flooded cave passages throughout Friday, but a morning rainstorm complicated their efforts. The trapped men have been supplied with water, soft food, and foil blankets to help them stay warm.

The villagers reportedly entered the cave last week in search of valuable minerals before being caught by flash flooding that blocked their exit. One other villager managed to escape in time and alerted authorities to the seven left behind.

A video filmed inside the cave on Thursday vividly captured the desperation of the trapped men. Thai rescue diver Norrased Palasing spoke with a villager named Khamla, who urgently requested the group be allowed to swim out immediately.

“I can’t go on. I don’t have any strength,” he said.

Norrased reassured him that the water was being drained, providing blankets and food, and cautioned Khamla to eat slowly to prevent digestive issues.

Divers from several nations joined the rescue effort

Rescue teams from Laos and neighboring Thailand were joined by Japanese and Malaysian colleagues. Indonesian and French specialists also had been reported to be coming to the site in a rugged area in the central province of Xaisomboun, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) north of the capital, Vientiane.

Working in the dark in unfamiliar surroundings, divers had to make their way through twisting, narrow, flooded passages with jagged walls.

A good rescue plan depends on “the length of the dives involved, the restrictions and the sheer size of the passages that they are in, and the support that’s available,” said Gary Mitchell, press officer for the South & Mid Wales Cave Rescue Team, which is associated with the British Cave Rescue Council.

Other necessities normally include the space and equipment to recharge air or oxygen cylinders, and a medical team.

Rescuers must weigh risks of waiting for flooding to recede

At the same time, rescuers must weigh the high risks of guiding survivors without diving skills through zero-visibility water against the strategy of waiting for water levels to recede, said Mitchell, who took part in the complicated 2018 cave rescue in northern Thailand of 12 schoolboys and their soccer coach. Several of the divers at the Lao site had also taken part in the Thai rescue.

“You can’t leave people underground too long without medical support, without proper food, sustenance, clean water … before their condition is going to deteriorate,” Mitchell warned Thursday from Wales in a video interview.

The five found Wednesday were identified by their first names as Khamla, Mued, Ee, Ing, and Laen. They were reportedly in good health but exhausted from dehydration and lack of food.

A video filmed by Norrased showed the emotional moment he and Finnish diving instructor Mikko Paasi emerged from the water and discovered the trapped men sitting on a rock surrounded by floodwater.

Mued delivered a message to his family on camera, saying, “Don’t worry mom, dad. I’m still strong, I’m still healthy. Tomorrow I will be home. I love you, mom and dad.”

Lao officials say the villagers normally forage in the mountainous surroundings for a living.

The villagers are believed to have been searching for gold

The villagers had been reported to have entered the cave to look for gold deposits. Bounphong Khammanyvong, a local official in Longcheng, the district where the cave is located, said they had noticed rocks or sand with unusual colors in the cave, so they entered it in the hope of digging them out to see if they were valuable.

Bounphong, in an interview on Thursday with local media outlet Xaisomboun Province Television, said the villagers entered the cave on May 20, contradicting rescuers who put the date at May 19.

The three deaths are being treated as unexpected, the police force has said

A man, woman and a child have died after a fall from a high-rise block of flats in south London earlier this week.

Emergency services were called to flats on Churchyard Row, Elephant and Castle, at 7.29am on Wednesday, May 27, following reports that people had fallen from height, the Metropolitan Police said.

At the scene, three people – a man, a woman and a child – were found to have died, despite resuscitation attempts by emergency services personnel.

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Their deaths are being treated as unexpected and the Met is investigating, the force said. It is understood that detectives will assess whether any of the deaths are suspicious as part of their investigation.

There were no other reported injuries.

A spokesperson for the Met Police said: “Work is under way to formally identify those who died. Their next-of-kin have been informed and are being supported by specialist officers.

“Detectives are urging any witnesses or anyone with information to come forward by calling 101, quoting CAD 1613/27MAY.”

A London Ambulance Service spokesperson said: “We were called at 7.31am on Wednesday May 27 to reports of an incident on Churchyard Row, SE11.

“We sent a number of resources to the scene including ambulance crews, a paramedic in a fast response car, an incident response officer and paramedics from our hazardous area response team (HART).

“We also dispatched a trauma team in a car from London’s Air Ambulance. Our first paramedic arrived in around four minutes.

“Very sadly, despite the best efforts of our crews, three people were pronounced dead at the scene.”

In an email to residents, building management said the police are on site and they are assisting the authorities.

The email added: “We know that seeing this kind of activity in your building can be unsettling, but we wanted to reassure all residents that the building is safe.

“There is no risk to residents, and everything is operating as normal.”

A resident said one of the people who died was a girl, adding: “No one has told us anything either.”

He said lots of international students live in the building.

Another nearby resident said she heard sirens and that her husband came to look and saw paramedics performing CPR on Wednesday morning.

Halyna Hoisan, 29, was being stalked by her ex-partner Yurii Muzyka who she had reported to the police

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A mother was stabbed to death by her ‘controlling’ ex-partner who refused accept their break-up. Yurii Muzyka, 34, killed Halyna Hoisan, 29, before filming a ‘selfie video’ near her body after the horrific attack.

Ms Hoisan, known as Lina, had been in a “turbulent” relationship with Muzyka for several years The Mirror reports. Previously in court, jurors were told she had reported him to police for violence, harassment and stalking.

He in turn made counter-allegations against her but was subject to a non-molestation order. On August 27 of last year he forced his way into Ms Hoisan’s flat in Greenwich, south London.

Undeterred by the presence of their three-year-old daughter, Muzyka stabbed her six times in the chest. He then took photographs of Ms Hoisan as she lay dying before plunging the knife into his stomach after a man she had been on a second date with ran to alert police.

Following a trial at the Old Bailey, Muzyka, a Ukrainian national from New Malden, south London, was found guilty of murder and possession of a blade. Sentencing him on Friday to life in prison with a minimum term of 30 years, Judge Simon Mayo KC said it was a “planned and sustained” attack on a “much-loved” mother in her own home.

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He told Muzyka: “You stabbed her six times to the chest using a knife that you had purchased less than six hours earlier. Shortly beforehand, you conducted internet searches directed at identifying the most vulnerable areas of the human body, including the chest.

“I am sure you intended to kill her. In killing Halyna, you robbed her young daughter of her mother just days before her fourth birthday.

“You knew your child would be present in the flat when you arrived. That knowledge did not deter you.

“That is a matter of particular gravity. I am sure your actions were driven by jealousy, resentment and determination to exert control over Halyna even after your relationship had come to an end.”

The judge said Muzyka had entered his former partner’s home armed with a knife and metal chisel using “stealth” and “subterfuge”. He described the act of photographing Ms Hoisan as she lay dying as “degrading and intrusive”, and said a selfie video capturing her final moments had caused “incalculable” distress to her family.

It was also reported that Ms Hoisan moved to Greenwich to escape him, however discovered a tracking device in her daughter’s scooter after Muzyka told her he knew which park she visited. She handed the tracker to police and also reported that he had stolen her phone from her home.

Last August, Muzyka phoned Ms Hoisan’s mother, Svitlana, in Poland and threatened to kill her daughter. Seven days before the murder, Ms Hoisan secured a non-molestation order against him.

On the day of the killing, Muzyka bought a knife and recorded a number of videos on his phone in which he told his mother he “just can’t bear it” and accused his former partner of “sleeping around”. The court heard Ms Hoisan had just begun a new relationship and was on a second date with a man when Muzyka burst into her home and attacked her.

After the killing, Muzyka was taken to hospital for surgery on his self-inflicted wound. When arrested two days later, he told police: “I can’t believe my partner have sex with another boy.”

Investigators found evidence on his mobile phone showing an obsession with spyware, masks, knives and human anatomy. He had searched these topics repeatedly and had 10 images of spyware, 44 of masks, 186 of the chest and heart, and 261 of knives.

Muzyka denied murder and claimed he had lost control, but this was rejected by the jury. During the sentencing hearing, Ms Hoisan’s mother, Svitlana, became angry and tearful as she addressed Muzyka in Ukrainian in court.

In her victim impact statement, she said: “The death of my daughter has had a profound impact on me. I cannot comprehend how one person can do something like this to another human being.

“I still cannot believe she is gone. I constantly think how much she suffered and the fear she must have experienced before her death.”

Muzyka hung his head in the dock and appeared to wipe away his tears.

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Franklin, from Scotland Yard, said: “Halyna’s murder was an appalling act of cruelty. Muzyka robbed a child of her devoted mother and parents of a loving daughter. Detectives worked tirelessly to bring Muzyka to justice and the successful conviction highlights the Met’s commitment to bringing dangerous men to justice and tackling violence against women and girls.”

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Police have remained at the scene

A child aged three fell from a flat window, which prompted a large emergency response in Liverpool today. Emergency services have remained at the scene following the incident today, on May 29.

It was reported that a girl had fallen from a first-floor window at around 11am. Merseyside Police, North West Ambulance Service and an air ambulance all attended the scene on Chadwick Street in Moreton, with people near to the scene telling the ECHO how several police cars and ambulances had arrived at the scene following the incident.

One man said how he saw around five police cars and an ambulance before hearing the air ambulance overhead, with the incident believed to have taken place at a block of flats near to the post office on Chadwick Street.

The child was taken to hospital and is believed to have suffered non-life threatening injuries.

Merseyside Police officers remain at the scene to carry out enquiries.

It comes after reports of large groups of children gathering on beaches and popular promenade areas around the town over the bank holiday over the Bank Holiday weekend.

Durham Police said it responded to reports of a “rowdy crowd of teenagers” congregating on the beach at Seaham Harbour Marina on Monday, where a 16-year-old boy was taken to hospital. 

The town centre, harbour and surrounding beaches will be under the dispersal order from 3.05pm on Friday (May 29). It will remain in force for 48 hours.

It means anyone suspected of entering the area with the intention of committing anti-social behaviour, or who is found to be engaging in it, can be forced to leave.

Anyone who fails to comply could be arrested or fined.

A spokesperson for Durham Police said: “This action has been taken to protect local residents, visitors to the area and businesses – some of which have been targeted with damage to property and nuisance behaviour.”

There will be an increased police presence in the affected areas while the order is in place.

Parents are being asked to be aware of where their children are and what they’re doing.

Anyone in the town for legitimate, lawful reasons can continue to enjoy it as normal.

It doesn’t actually rain every weekend. That would be insane.

But many parts of the southern and eastern U.S. have seen their beach trips and picnics upended this spring due to a spate of weekend storms, making it seem as though each weekend is a washout lately.

The Memorial Day holiday weekend was the wettest Burlington, Vermont, had seen in over a century, according to WCAX. And in Beeville, Texas, flooding rain forced water rescues. Many social media users posted desperate messages of woe, lamenting their spoiled fun. “Death. Taxes. Austin Memorial Day Rain,” Texas user @EvilMopacATX wrote on the platform X.

Experts don’t believe weekends actually attract more rain, it’s simply that there is an increased chance of rainstorms this hot and humid time of year — and we may notice the downpour more when it’s on a day off.

So what is actually driving these Saturday and Sunday storms?

Some have posited on social media that city air pollution, human-caused climate change and even cloud seeding are responsible for the frequent soggy weekends. But the reasons for weekend rain in the U.S. have been different from month to month, AccuWeather senior meteorologist Paul Pastelok told The Independent.

Over Memorial Day weekend, it was an upper-level area of high pressure that produced a lot of moisture.

“And so, everything was going from Texas through Missouri, Illinois, Ohio and then getting into the east and even parts of the Southeast ended up getting into a little bit of a rainfall as well,” Pastelok said.

In previous weeks, there was a different explanation.

The polar jet stream — narrow bands of wind that blow around the planet from west to east — was pushing storm systems from the northeastern Pacific region through the Northwest and into the Ohio Valley.

Areas with recent rainy weekends, like the Northeast, were in a “sweet spot,” he explained.

“Timing wise, I can’t explain that. It just seems like we got into a funk that everything wanted to come on weekends and spoil things,” said Pastelok.

He didn’t think climate change or air pollution played into the timing or formation of these weekend storms, either.

Other experts agreed.

“I believe the issue with rain on holiday weekends is simply luck of the draw,” Steve Decker, an associate professor at Rutgers University said. “Climate change can make rain events heavier when they happen, but that doesn’t affect the timing of the rain.”

Past studies had connected vehicle emission pollution to precipitation levels on week days and weekends, he noted, but the air has gotten cleaner since then.

That said, 44 percent of Americans are living in places with unhealthy levels of ozone or particle pollution, according to the American Lung Association latest “State of the Air” report.

And, air pollution can influence the behavior of precipitation, including how much rain falls, John Nielsen-Gammon, the Texas State Climatologist, said.

But, “any weekend effect ought to be minor,” he told The Independent.

There’s also “no connection” between recent rainy weekends and the impending shift to an El Niño climate pattern, James Booth, a professor at The City College of New York, said.

El Niño patterns, which are natural parts of the climate, typically bring wetter and colder weather to the southern U.S..

This year’s El Niño is projected to be incredibly strong, although climate change can hamstring predictions and analysis based on past years.

While there’s a consensus among these experts that air pollution and climate change aren’t influencing the timing of weekend storms, that doesn’t mean they’re not factors in the storms at all.

Scientists know that polluting greenhouse gases from fossil fuels – like carbon dioxide and methane – are responsible for warming the Earth’s atmosphere.

A warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture. That means an increased storm formation and heavier rainfall.

“Climate change is certainly increasing the upper limit on moisture in storms but that influence is most clear in intense storms and in increasing variability,” Matthew Barlow, a professor of climate science, at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, told The Independent.

Where these storms dump may vary, says Nielsen-Gammon. But there’s another factor that can make them especially dangerous.

They may be more likely to stay in one place for a while.

“Add to that changes in the jet stream tend to slow storms down which means they can dump more rain in one place,” noted Tom Rickenbach, a professor of atmospheric science at East Carolina University.

Brad Pitt once had six children all carrying his rather famous surname. These days, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to find one who still uses it.

Maddox Jolie-Pitt has reportedly become the latest of the actor’s children to distance himself from the family moniker, filing to change his name to Maddox Chivan Jolie.

The 24 year-old is said to have listed the reason for the request simply as ‘personal’.

While the legal filing is new, the switch itself may not come as much of a surprise to the Fight Club actor. Earlier this year, Maddox appeared in the credits of his mother Angelina Jolie’s film Couture as ‘Maddox Jolie’, dropping the Pitt surname altogether.

More significantly, he’s far from the first sibling to do so. Last year, Shiloh legally changed her name from Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt to Shiloh Jolie shortly after turning 18. Her lawyer later described it as an ‘independent and significant decision’ and said she was merely following the legal process required to make the change.

Zahara has also publicly moved away from the double-barrelled surname. During a sorority ceremony and later at her graduation from Spelman College, she was introduced as Zahara Marley Jolie rather than Zahara Jolie-Pitt.

Then there’s Vivienne, who appeared as ‘Vivienne Jolie’ in the playbill for the Broadway musical The Outsiders. So that’s now four siblings and four variations on the same message.

The growing distance between Pitt and several of his children has become one of the most visible legacies of his split from Jolie. Hollywood break-ups rarely stay private. Few, however, have continued to generate headlines quite as consistently as this one.

The roots of the family divide stretch back to a private jet flight in 2016. Days later, Jolie filed for divorce and later alleged that Pitt had physically and verbally assaulted members of the family – including the Tomb Raider and Salt star – during the journey.

In legal filings connected to an FBI investigation, Jolie claimed that Pitt argued with Maddox during the flight and put his hands on the then-15 year-old. Pitt has repeatedly denied the allegations and the FBI ultimately cleared him of wrongdoing.

Nearly a decade later, reports continue to suggest that relationships within the family remain pretty strained. Maddox and his brother Pax are frequently cited as being the most distant from their father.

Pax previously made headlines after sharing a blistering social media post aimed at Pitt.

People close to Pitt have consistently rejected suggestions that he has given up on his children. Sources have maintained that he wants a relationship with all six and hopes that some of the divisions can eventually heal.

Although this latest news seems unlikely to indicate that any mending of relationships is on the horizon.

Those close to Jolie have offered a very different interpretation, arguing that the fractured relationships are a consequence of Pitt’s own actions.

Maddox was adopted by Jolie from Cambodia in 2002 before Pitt later adopted him after joining the family. More than two decades later, his decision to reportedly drop the Pitt surname appears to be the latest sign that the family divide is now deeper than ever.

MORE: The bizarre reason Brad Pitt is being sued by a penis cream company

Kitted out with our Teva hurricane trailsetters in the respective men’s and women’s varieties, my partner and I set off on a loop walk through the South Downs.

Immediately we were both impressed with how spongy the shoes felt, having upgraded from the Craghoppers adflex low 2s. In my experience, the adflex shoes provided the brunt of their support via a firm fit, which secured the foot solidly in position. By contrast, I’d argue the trailsetters went one step further in planting my feet and ankles, combining an anchored feel with the brand’s ‘hyper-comf’ sponge to absorb reverberation and counteract the impact of hard, unpredictable ground.

As any well-versed hiker and tamper knows, loose scree and dry, dusty paths can leave you slipping and sliding all over the place, so a reliable tread and grip is essential. Along with your grip, you want to feel as though your ankles aren’t at risk of rolling as you traverse boulders, ditches and the like. While a hiking boot provides the utmost ankle support, a low hiking shoe like the trailsetter can be enough – so long as it’s been well designed.

The trailsetters are equipped with directional lugs (3D traction pads) on their soles, which ensure you’re able to brake from the heel and pick up speed from the toe. On top of the stop-start improvements these bring – specifically, I was able to come to firm halt after quickly descending a steep track – the lugs give your feet more purchase to bear your weight over tricky terrain, without rolling any ankles or, worse, taking a tumble.

Circling back to the appeal of a low hiking shoe (instead of a boot), you can’t overlook the ease putting them on and off. On my year spent travelling New Zealand, including hiking a number of its great walks, my accommodation spanned scant tents and a low-roofed van. This meant that the task of donning my cumbersome hiking boots with their 16 lace-eyelets wasn’t the most appealing when I simply needed to run to the campsite loo in the early hours.

If you’re someone who frequently plans multi-day hikes, I’d urge you to consider the trailsetter’s low profile. You simply have to slide your foot into the shoe and pull the handy bungee drawstring. No water-logged laces, no impenetrable knots and a significantly lighter weight in your rucksack.

Admittedly, the trailsetters aren’t a perfect pick for marshland and extreme rain given they’re not waterproof. That said, with a rubber reinforcement across the toe, they’re definitely up to the task of April showers and muddy paths. In fact, they kept my feet entirely dry through a long, grassy field that was covered in morning dew.

Ultimately, at £115, Teva’s trailsetters – for both men and women – are a great mid-range pick. They’re not quite base camp material, but they won’t let you down on easy to moderate hikes such as Snowdon or the Seven Sisters. Providing, that is, that it’s not raining cats and dogs outside for the entirety of your excursion. Happy adventuring!

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Majda was destitute. Her husband and eldest son had been killed by Israeli airstrikes. Living in a ragged tent in Gaza with rats and the stench of sewage, she couldn’t support her children and feared her daughters would be harassed going to the communal latrine in a camp with hundreds of strangers.

So she made a decision she now deeply regrets. She married off her 13- and 14-year-old daughters to men who promised safety and support.

“I thought I was protecting them,” she said. “Fear was slaughtering me.”

The devastation that Israel’s campaign has wreaked in Gaza has helped fuel an increase in marriages of young girls, according to experts and official data. With almost the entire population driven from their homes, most living in squalid camps and dependent on aid, some parents have sought some financial stability for their teen daughters by giving them away in marriage.

For the girls, it meant a loss of their childhood and future — and, often, dangerous pregnancies.

For Majda’s daughters, it meant horrific physical abuse.

Child marriage was declining before the war

Before the war, child marriage had been slowly declining in Gaza, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. In 2022, the last tally released by the bureau, 17.8% of marriages involved a girl under the age of 18, down from more than 22% in 2015.

The minimum legal age for marriage in Gaza is 17, with some exceptions allowed; the U.N. and most humanitarian groups categorize marriages of girls under 18 as early marriage.

By marrying, they were counted with their husbands as a separate family to receive aid from relief groups, rather than being under their parents’ allotment. Several girls also said that since schools largely shut down during the war, they saw no hope of continuing their education.

One girl said she and her parents and seven brothers and sisters were displaced more than 25 times during the war. Her father had been totally against early marriage and wanted her to enroll in university. But the family was so desperate that he agreed to a suitor.

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Siyam said that at times of widespread displacement in conflicts with Israel, some Palestinians have seen marriage as a way to bring stability for their daughters. “Wars and conflicts lead to a return to more conservative traditions,” she said.

Younger girls who marry are more vulnerable to rape and violence, including abuse from in-laws as they load household chores on them, Siyam said. Because divorce rates in early marriages are high, “the girl ends up returning home with one or two children.”

Some girls were abused and fled

Majda said the in-laws broke their promise and soon demanded her elder daughter be brought to her 23-year-old husband, who was living in his family’s tents in Deir al-Balah.

For the first 10 days, the girl screamed whenever her husband approached her. “I kept screaming and he hit me,” the elder daughter said.

Eventually, his mother “tied up my hands above my head,” the daughter said. The husband then raped her.

After that, he repeatedly threatened to bring his mother to tie her up if she screamed, she said. She recounted repeated instances of rape and said on one occasion, she had to be taken to the hospital with bleeding.

A few months later, the family came to take her 13-year-old sister to join her 21-year-old husband. She “kept screaming that she did not want to get married,” Majda recalled.

The younger sister told the AP that she too was tied up by her mother-in-law and raped by her husband. She said she had two miscarriages, both after her husband kicked her while she was pregnant.

Majda’s elder daughter gave birth to a son. Months later, in November, she fled, carrying her son for 15 kilometers (9 miles) to her mother’s tent.

Not long after that, the younger sister also fled back to Majda. They then discovered that she was pregnant.

Girls experienced high-risk pregnancies

The maternity ward of Awda Hospital in central Gaza saw an increase in the rate of teenage pregnancies during the war, said the ward’s head, Yasser Shaaban. Many suffered severe health complications from getting pregnant so young, he said.

On top of that, the vast majority were malnourished, as Israeli restrictions on aid drove Gaza’s population to the brink of famine at times.

Four of the girls who spoke to the AP had given birth, and all described dangerous pregnancies or births. Three had at least one miscarriage.

One of them almost died during childbirth from severe bleeding, her mother said. She was 16 and severely malnourished at the time.

“I was unconscious for many days (after birth), and I couldn’t hold my daughter for a while,” the girl said.

The family faced another painful choice

Back with their mother, Majda’s daughters were terrified at any talk of going back to their husbands. Speaking to the AP in April, her youngest said returning would be akin to “death.”

Majda said her younger daughter had always been a talkative, playful girl. But since her marriage, “she does not talk to anyone, not to her husband and not to me,” she said.

The girls had returned to school, but the elder said she felt excluded and ashamed because she was the only student who was married with a baby. She described herself as a child mothering a child.

“I am tired,” she said. “I want to die.”

Majda was coming under heavy pressure from her father and her in-laws, who said she couldn’t afford to care for her daughters, the grandson and the baby on the way.

Women can divorce their husbands in Gaza, but the process is expensive and complicated. Divorce also carries stigma, mainly for women, and would make it difficult for the girls to ever remarry.

The in-laws assured Majda that her daughters would be treated well.

Feeling she had no choice, she relented. The girls returned to their husbands, now in Gaza City, in early May. Majda hasn’t been able to contact her daughters since then.

“They did not want to return,” she said. “They were crying.”

___

Ezzidin reported from Cairo.

The ‘Thursday Murder Club’ writer will take centre stage at the popular event in September.

Acclaimed author and broadcaster Richard Osman will share centre stage at a prestigious literary festival in Stirling in September.

Bloody Scotland International Crime Writing Festival today reveals that the star of pointless and author of the best-selling Thursday Murder Club novels is the final early release headliner for the 2026 event.

He first visited the Stirling festival when as an unpublished author and his crime novels are now a regular fixture on bestseller lists around the world.

He said: “Can’t wait to come back to Stirling and the incredible ‘Bloody Scotland’ festival. I can 100 per cent guarantee this event will contain mirth, merriment, murder and mayhem, though not necessarily in that order. See you there!’

Other big names released so far include Lee Child (who sold out within 24 hours), S A Cosby, Tana French and Lucy Foley all of whom will be interviewed on stage by guest programmer, Denise Mina.

Richard Osman will be interviewed by long time friend and fellow crime writer, Mark Billingham. Tickets are on sale at www.bloodyscotland.com

The rest of the Bloody Scotland 2026 programme will be revealed at The Golden Lion in Stirling at noon on Thursday, June 4, followed by an event at 1.30pm with J D Kirk.

Bloody Scotland is Scotland’s International Crime Writing Festival, providing a showcase for the best crime writing from Scotland and the world, unique in that it was set up by a group of Scottish crime writers in 2012. Full information at bloodyscotland.com

All of the authors shortlisted for the Bloody Scotland Debut Prize have been invited to attend the programme launch. The long-list for the McIlvanney Prize will be revealed later in the month.

The 2026 festival begins on Friday, September 18 and concludes on Sunday, September 20.

The festival takes place in various venues (including The Albert Halls, Made in Stirling and the social hub of the festival, The Golden Lion Hotel) in the historic city of Stirling.

The Bloody Scotland board is made up of crime writers Lin Anderson, Craig Robertson, Gordon Brown, Abir Mukherjee plus Muriel Robertson and Catriona Reynolds.

Bloody Scotland receives vital funding from the National Lottery through Creative Scotland and Stirling Council. They are also grateful to their many sponsors and supporters including The Glencairn Glass, H W Fisher, Waterstones, The Open University in Scotland, the Faculty of Advocates, Lumo, Arnold Clark and Go Forth Stirling along with a wide range of publishers.

Creative Scotland is the public body that supports culture and creativity across all parts of Scotland, distributing funding provided by the Scottish Government and The National Lottery. Further information at creativescotland.com.

Follow on X, Facebook and Instagram. Learn more about the value of art and creativity in Scotland and join in at www.ourcreativevoice.scot

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