Harry Styles has reflected for the first time on the death of Liam Payne, sharing how it is especially ‘difficult to lose a friend who is so like you’.

The One Direction star died aged 31 in October 2024 after a fall from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

At the time, his former bandmates released a joint statement on the loss before penning individual farewells to their ‘brother’.

Since then, Louis Tomlinson has gone into further detail about the emotional impact, revealing it was Niall Horan who informed him of the death.

Harry has now shared that he still ‘struggles’ to talk about Payne, who he first met on X Factor when the singers were just 16 years old.

‘Full transparency, it’s like something that I, even the idea of talking about it, I struggle with that a little bit even,’ he confessed on Apple Music’s The Zane Lowe Show podcast.

Harry explained how he wasn’t able to ‘acknowledge how strange it is to have people kind of own part of your grief in a way’.

While he had lost a friend, the world had lost a star and fans very publicly grieved Payne alongside those who knew him in real life.

There was also intense pressure on the former group to speak out and to share insight into their own emotions as they paid tribute to him.

Harry continued: ‘I have such strong feelings around my friend passing away. And then suddenly being aware there’s maybe like a desire from other people of you to convey that in some way, or it means you’re not feeling what you’re feeling or something, you know?’

Reflecting on Payne’s death for the first time in an interview, he told Zane: ‘It’s so difficult to lose a friend. It’s difficult to lose any friend, but it’s so difficult to lose a friend who is so like you in so many ways.

‘It’s like, I saw someone with the kindest heart who just wanted to be great.’

The shock death left Harry wondering what he wanted to ‘do with his life’ and whether he was living how he really wanted to.

His discussion about Payne came after Zane asked about artistry and music, ahead of new album, Kiss All The Time. Disco Occasionally.

The Aperture singer shared that he loves when he can hear an artist ‘discover themselves’ and are being ‘vulnerable’.

‘Choosing the song that is meant just for me to work through something, I think it becomes something important when you choose to let people look at that,’ Harry mused.

‘I think the thing that makes someone like an artist is letting [fans] watch you be an ordinary person,’ he continued. ‘It’s not about being, “I am this mystic thing”.

‘I think the difference is we’re all ordinary people and there’s some people who let other people watch you be an ordinary person. And I think that is kind of the key in a lot of ways for me, anyway.’

Zane replied that he thought of Payne as Harry spoke and others who ‘ struggled to get out of extraordinary situations’.

The As It Was singer called Payne a ‘super special person’, adding the loss was ‘really sad’.

‘I think the greatest way you can honour your friends who pass away is by living your life to the fullest,’ he added.

This came in the form of travel for Harry, with the star embarking on a year of travel and side quests around Europe.

He told Zane how he just said yes to a lot (and no to some things) and made a group of new friends with the whole experience giving him a fresh outlook on life.

‘It just has changed the way that I’m experiencing life,’ Harry said. ‘This album is such a wonderful byproduct of that because I was recording while all this was happening, and I was exploring all that.

‘I think also just being in a place in my life where I’m like, if I put this album out and everyone decided they hated it. Would I be sensitive about it? Yes, I would. Would it make me doubt who I know myself to be as a person? No, it wouldn’t.’

Harry Styles’ new album Kiss All The Time. Disco Occasionally is out on March 6. His full interview on Apple Music’s The Zane Lowe Show is out now.

Got a story?

If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.

MORE: I was at the Brit Awards 2026 – here’s everything you didn’t see

MORE: Noel Gallagher stony-faced alongside Harry Styles and Robbie Williams on sombre Brits red carpet

MORE: What time are the Brits 2026, who is performing, and where to watch?

The home side have found goals hard to come by, scoring just 38 so far this term, and Ollie Watkins, their first-choice striker, has faced scrutiny after scoring just once in his last seven games. Former Blue Tammy Abraham was signed in January to ease the burden, but could he start here against his former side? Keep up to date with all the latest with our live blog below.

Ubisoft is giving Sony a run for their money, in terms of the least exciting way to make a major announcement, as the Black Flag remake is finally confirmed.

We seem to have said it a lot lately but there is a dispiriting lack of showmanship to the video games industry at the moment. From Nintendo repeatedly not giving people what they want, in the form of a new first party Direct, to Sony’s increasingly lazy news announcements, publishers are becoming almost allergic to any sort of fanfare.

A remake of Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag has been an open secret for years but after all that build-up the final, official announcement is a single image in a blog post that doesn’t even mention the game – posted late in the afternoon, just as everyone is going home (in Europe at least, where Ubisoft are based).

The blog in question is about everything that’s happening with Assassin’s Creed in 2026 but doesn’t talk about Black Flag Resynced at all, almost as if the image was added by accident. That may mean it’s not due out this year, though, which is exactly what the most recent rumours suggested.

Instead of Black Flag, the blog talks about the one year anniversary of Assassin’s Creed Shadows, with the annoucement that support for the game is being wound down, but there’s still ‘a few surprises’ left before the end.

It’s assumed, although Ubisoft has never quite confirmed it, that the next mainline entry will be what is currently known as Codename HEXE. It’s believed to involve witch hunts in medieval Germany and while the blog doesn’t confirm that it does promise a ‘unique, darker, narrative-driven Assassin’s Creed experience, set during a pivotal moment in history.’

According to Ubisoft you won’t hear anything more about it for ‘a little longer’ but its inclusion in the blog seems to imply that a 2026 release is a possibility. Although the director did recently exit the company, so that’s likely to have put it back a bit.

There’s also Codename INVICTUS, which the blog describes as a PvP multiplayer experience. Rumours have spoken of a troubled development and compared it to Fall Guys, of all things, but the blog seems to refute this, insisting it ‘isn’t quite what the rumours have suggested.’

They don’t say what it actually is though and while there’s brief references to mobile game Assassin’s Creed Jade and ‘bringing co-op back to Assassin’s Creed’ there’s no details on that either.

After a brief mention of a planned live action series, the blog ends with the annoucement of a free 60fps patch for 2014’s Assassin’s Creed Unity on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.

That’s very welcome but the whole reveal is so half-hearted it’s hard to get excited about it any of it, when there’s no real detail and no trailers or even proper screenshots.

Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter.

To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here.

For more stories like this, check our Gaming page.

MORE: Activision shuts down Call Of Duty leaker to not ‘mess with player expectations’

MORE: Marvel’s Wolverine and other PS5 games not coming to PC claims report

MORE: Planet Of Lana 2 review – the prettiest landscapes in gaming

A neighbour heard screaming and banging on the night Ms McNally died, while another saw a shadow on blinds at the back of her house.

Advertisement

Neighbours of a pregnant woman killed in 2022 heard screams and noises on the night she died, a court was told.

Stephen McCullagh is accused of murdering his pregnant girlfriend Natalie McNally in December 2022.

Ms McNally, 32, was stabbed at her home in Silverwood Green, Lurgan, on the night of December 18 when she was 15 weeks’ pregnant.

McCullagh, 36, from Woodland Gardens, Lisburn, denies murder.

A neighbour told Belfast Crown Court on Wednesday he heard screaming and banging on the night Ms McNally died, while another neighbour said she saw a shadow on Ms McNally’s blinds at the back of her house.

Emils Sosins, who lived next door to Ms McNally, said he heard “banging and screaming” coming from her home at around 9pm on the night she died.

He told the court he could not hear what was being said but it sounded like a female. He said the noise lasted three to five seconds and then he heard no further noises.

Asked if he took action, he said he “listened out” and was going to go and see what was happening if there was anything further, “but there was nothing afterwards”.

Aisling Henry, who lived in a flat to the back of Ms McNally’s property, said on the night Ms McNally died, at around 9pm, she noticed Ms McNally’s patio blinds were completely down and said her blinds “were never down”.

She said she heard a noise which drew her attention and described it as “like a sharp intake of breath, like a scream”.

She said she also saw a shadow on the patio blinds which she said looked like that of a “big man or a tall woman” and said the person appeared to be “broad”.

“I did see a shadow,” she told the court.

She said at the bottom of the blinds there was a gap and she saw what appeared to be an orange cloth which she said created “a wee bit of suspicion in me”.

Asked by defence barrister John Kearney KC whether she had seen the back door to Ms McNally’s home open, she said on “a few occasions” in the evening “it would have been opened”.

She said she could not remember if it was open on the night Ms McNally was killed.

Earlier on Wednesday, Kathleen McStravock, an aunt of Ms McNally, gave evidence on Wednesday about what she alleges McCullagh had said at the wake for Ms McNally.

Members of the Ms McNally family gave evidence on Tuesday about what they allege McCullagh said at a wake held for Ms McNally in the family home on Christmas Day.

Mrs McStravock said that McCullagh had said he had texted her niece at 5.55pm on Sunday to say he would not be in touch because he was about to start a livestream.

She said he said Ms McNally had replied to say good luck and that she “might jump on later” to have a look.

She said he said he replied after the livestream to say he hoped Ms McNally was not angry with him for drinking, and said he was not concerned that she did not reply because it was after midnight.

She said he said he got up the next day and sent her a ‘good morning’ message, and looked at his phone at midday and there were still two grey ticks on his WhatsApp messages to her, rather than blue ticks indicating they had been read.

She said he looked again in the afternoon and said the messages had still not been read, and he then sent a message to his friend to ask her “have I messed up here”.

The court heard he said he took a screenshot of the messages he sent to Ms McNally and sent them to his friend, who suggested asking Ms McNally a question.

The court heard McCullagh said he would ask her if she wanted KFC or home cooking after her scan the following day.

Another aunt of Ms McNally, Anne Anderson, told the court on Wednesday that he showed her a photograph of him as a baby and said that was what his and Ms McNally’s child would have looked like.

She said he also showed her photos of a holiday in Donegal, a knitted baby hat and a pram he was going to buy.

Defence barrister Mr Kearney said that the defendant said he had no recollection of meeting her and asked if the photo she was shown was possibly a generated image of what their child would have looked like based on photos of Ms McNally and McCullagh.

She said: “No, definitely not.”

She said McCullagh said a few nights before Ms McNally was murdered he was in bed when Ms McNally’s phone rang.

She said he said the number was withheld, and he did not know if Ms McNally answered but he knew that it was her ex-boyfriend.

Gavin Haddock, a cousin of Ms McNally’s, told the court that on January 7 2022, McCullagh was at the McNally family home.

He said McCullagh went to the back garden of the house to smoke and he went out and joined him.

He said McCullagh was playing a YouTube video on his phone and said it was the livestream from December 18.

Mr Haddock said he kept saying “look at me playing these stupid little video games” and looked “very distraught”.

He said that McCullagh fast forwarded the video by three hours and said it was around the time that Ms McNally died.

He said McCullagh said “I should have been there to protect Natalie” and that no-one would have got passed him.

“I felt really really sorry for him,” Mr Haddock said, adding that he told McCullagh he had “struck gold” with Ms McNally as he tried to reassure him.

Ryan Bonner, a partner of Natalie’s cousin Noeleen, said he was in the garden of the McNally home with Mr Haddock and McCullagh on that same date.

He said Mr Haddock had left and he was alone with McCullagh, who showed him his phone and said “this is what I was doing”.

Mr Bonner said he put a hand on McCullagh’s shoulder and said “there was nothing he could have done to stop it”.

The trial continues on Thursday.

For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here and sign up to our daily newsletter here.

It is set to premiere on Prime Video later this month

Prime Video announced the premiere date and revealed the official trailer for a new full-length Rory McIlroy documentary.

Rory McIlroy: The Masters Wait, a film from Everyone Else, in association with Firethorn Productions, follows the golfer’s winding road to his 2025 Masters victory and completing the career Grand Slam.

The documentary will premiere exclusively on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide.

READ MORE: Rory McIlroy and father Gerry win prestigious Seminole Pro Member tournamentREAD MORE: Co Fermanagh golf resort named one of the best in the world

A description reads:”There are rare moments in sport when time seems to collapse—when years of heartbreak and longing compress into a single breath. For Rory McIlroy, that moment came on No. 18 green at Augusta National Golf Club in April of 2025.

“After a gripping playoff with Justin Rose, the final putt dropped, and Rory fell to his knees, gasping as though he had been holding his breath for fourteen years.

“Rory McIlroy: The Masters Wait captures that moment and unpacks the relentless pressure, devastating failures, and unwavering determination that made his triumph so profound—the story of a prodigy who became a champion, was knocked down year after year, and rebuilt himself into one of sport’s most resilient figures.”

The documentary is centred on Rory’s battle with one of the most storied and revered golf courses in the world: Augusta National, home of the prestigious Masters Tournament.

Watch the trailer below…

The synopsis continues: “To fans, Augusta National represents golf’s ultimate cathedral—pristine fairways, blooming azaleas, with a Tournament steeped in tradition and glory. But to Rory, Augusta National became a place of fears, failures, and expectations that tormented him for fourteen years.

“From his devastating 2011 collapse when he blew a four-shot Sunday lead at just 21 years old, to the near misses, disappointments, and outright heartbreaks that followed, Augusta National became his nemesis—the one place that refused to yield even as he conquered the other three major championships: the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship, and The Open.

“The Masters remained elusive, the missing piece that prevented him from completing golf’s most exclusive achievement, the career Grand Slam.”

Built around the dramatic final round of the 2025 Masters and unfolding hole by hole, the film is a “cinematic battle between man and course”, revealing why sport is never just sport, but myth played out in real time.

Directed by Drea Cooper, Rory McIlroy: The Masters Wait is an Everyone Else production, in association with Firethorn Productions. The film is produced by Dan Lindsay, TJ Martin, Zoë Morrison, and Ben Piner. Cooper also serves as executive producer.

For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here and sign up to our What’s On newsletter

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration’s top drug regulator, Dr. Tracy Beth Hoeg, is working to hire a researcher and friend who wants the agency to add new warnings to antidepressants about unproven pregnancy risks, The Associated Press has learned.

Dr. Adam Urato, a maternal-fetal medicine specialist and critic of antidepressant safety, is pressing the FDA to add a boxed warning to SSRIs, the drugs most commonly prescribed for depression. Urato’s petition says the medications can cause pregnancy complications, including miscarriages and fetal brain abnormalities that may lead to autism and other disorders in children.

That proposed labeling change has become a top priority for Hoeg, who regularly consults with Urato and is working to bring him on as a full-time FDA employee, according to people familiar with the situation. They spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential FDA matters.

Within the agency, Hoeg’s close relationship with Urato is viewed as a clear conflict of interest that, under normal FDA standards, would result in her recusing herself from any work on the petition. But Hoeg is actively working to speed up the agency’s review of her friend’s proposal, according to the people familiar with the situation.

Outside experts say the petition relies on flimsy data, including animal studies and small trials in people. They fear a new FDA warning could cause pregnant women to stop medication unnecessarily, leading to serious health risks from untreated depression.

“A black box warning is a big red flag with both practitioners and patients,” said Dr. Jennifer Payne, a University of Virginia reproductive psychiatrist. “What’s missing in this petition is an understanding of the risks of maternal mental illness during pregnancy, not just to the woman, but to the pregnancy and ultimately the infant.”

SSRIs include most of the bestselling depression medications, including Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft and their generic equivalents.

More than 15% of U.S. women, or about 26 million people, take medication for depression, according to the latest federal figures. Professional guidelines state that antidepressants are generally safe during pregnancy and should be discontinued only after careful consultation with a doctor.

Last fall, Hoeg gave a talk on the SSRI petition to top FDA drug officials, presenting the work as her own. Staffers who reviewed her slides found they were created by Urato, according to the people who spoke to the AP. The incident was first reported by Stat News.

Urato said in an email Wednesday that Hoeg is “an excellent scientist,” and that they have known each other for several years.

“I am friendly with her, as I am with many colleagues, but we do not have a longstanding personal friendship that would in any way prevent her from reviewing the citizen petition,” Urato said.

A spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the FDA, said that the agency would respond directly to Urato about his petition.

In January, Urato was named to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s panel on vaccine recommendations, which has been completely reshaped by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to include a number of anti-vaccine voices.

The latest COVID-19 contrarian elevated into FDA’s leadership

The antidepressant review is the latest in a series of controversial topics taken up by Hoeg, a sports medicine physician with no previous government or management experience.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Hoeg attracted attention as a critic of masking, vaccine mandates and other public health measures. She co-wrote papers with medical contrarians who would go on to join the Trump administration, including FDA Commissioner Marty Makary and FDA’s vaccine chief, Dr. Vinay Prasad. All three have become top surrogates for Kennedy.

Before the pandemic, Hoeg had published only a handful of medical papers, including one on health issues affecting ultramarathon runners.

A Danish American citizen and marathon runner, Hoeg was instrumental in the Republican administration’s recent decision to drop a number of vaccine recommendations for children. That is a change she has long proposed, to bring the United States more in line with Denmark.

Like many critics of vaccines, including Kennedy, Hoeg has also been skeptical of antidepressants, questioning their safety and benefits. Last July, she hosted a panel of outside experts at the FDA on SSRIs that included Urato and nine other critics of the drugs.

“Never before in human history have we chemically altered developing babies like this, especially the developing fetal brain, and this is happening without any real public warning,” Urato said at the meeting.

On a podcast shortly afterward, Hoeg echoed many of Urato’s points.

“I think women should be informed about the potential risks so that they have time to come off SSRIs if they want to when they’re trying to get pregnant,” Hoeg told the hosts of the Mom Wars podcast.

FDA officials typically avoid making public comments about matters under review because it could suggest the agency is basing its decision on individual opinions, rather than science.

But Hoeg has taken a hands-on approach to the SSRI petition, telling FDA staffers that their proposed review timeline of nine months needed to be shortened, according to the people familiar with the situation.

Reviewing a citizen petition involves detailed analysis of scientific references, legal issues and a number of other steps to ensure that the agency’s final decision can be defended in court.

“Apart from it serving FDA’s public health mission, there’s always going to be some concern about legal risk if the agency doesn’t take sufficient time to consider all the relevant data and arguments,” said Patti Zettler, a former FDA attorney now at Ohio State University’s law school.

Hoeg was tapped to the lead FDA’s drug center in December, inheriting the job during a period of unprecedented upheaval, including layoffs, buyouts and leadership changes. She is the sixth person to lead the 5,000-person center in the past year.

Staffers did not hear from Hoeg directly until a town hall last month, where she voiced her concerns about the safety of SSRIs and injectable RSV shots for children, a class of drugs that FDA is reviewing at her request. RSV is a respiratory virus that sends thousands of children in the United States to the hospital each year.

Antidepressant questions clouded by other health factors

The safety of antidepressants has been scrutinized for decades, leading to several updates to their FDA label, including the addition of a black box warning about the risk of suicidal behavior in children.

For pregnant women, the current label lists a number of documented safety issues, including risks of excess bleeding after giving birth.

Doctors who treat women with depression say they discuss those risks with their patients, balancing the possible safety issues against the potential harms of relapsing into depression: self-harm, substance abuse and other behaviors that negatively impact women and fetuses.

Researchers who have reviewed Urato’s SSRI petition say many of the studies claiming to show connections to disorders such as autism don’t take into account other important health factors. For example, women with depression have higher rates of smoking, diabetes and family histories of mental illness that can all increase the likelihood of developmental disorders.

“So how do we say that these outcomes are a result of the SSRI when all of these other factors are at play?” said Dr. Amritha Bhat, a University of Washington perinatal psychiatrist.

Bhat and other researchers say they support more research into the effects of SSRIs, and they acknowledge possible downsides to their use.

“But in the meantime we need to provide options to people that are struggling with these symptoms during pregnancy,” she said. “We cannot just ask them to white knuckle their way through it.”

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Among the items stolen by the accused was £46.51p worth of meat, a £130 heater, cash, a purse and a pair of sunglasses

A MAN with a “lamentable” criminal record of more than 100 convictions has been jailed for six months over a shoplifting spree.

Maurice Chiz Kane, with an address given as HMP Maghaberry, had previously pleaded guilty at arraignment to three counts of theft and one of fraud by false representation

Prosecution barrister Emma McIlveen told Belfast Crown Court that at around 4pm on March 8, 2025, the 29-year-old entered the Spar shop on the Ravenhill Road in East Belfast.

“He selected a quantity of meat products valued at £46.51p. He made no attempt to pay for the items and then exited the store,” said Ms McIlveen.

Later that same day, Kane went into the Home Bargains store at Connswater Shopping Centre in east Belfast at approximately 6.27pm, lifted a £129.99p heater from a shelf and then left the shop without paying.

“On the same evening at around 9.57 pm, a woman was reviewing footage from her ring door camera and observed movement and the interior light on in her car.

“Subsequently on checking her vehicle she discovered that her purse had been stolen which included bank cards, driving licence, £20 in cash and a pair of sunglasses was also missing.”

The prosecutor said the woman reviewed her online banking and noticed two transactions at the Spar at Ladas Drive in east Belfast totalling £78 which she had not authorised.

“CCTV from the Spar was examined and Kane was confirmed as the person who made the transactions,” said Ms McIlveen.

Defence solicitor Damien Trainor said that following the commission of these offences, Kane had his licence revoked and was returned to prison to serve out the remainder of a two year sentence for burglary which was imposed at Belfast Crown Court in November 2024.

He added that the defendant was due for release from prison on St Patrick’s Day, March 17, 2026.

“He has no remand time gained on these matters and that is his fault of course but this case did take some 12 months to arrive at this stage and there is nothing complex about this case,” added Mr Trainor.

During his sentencing remarks, Judge Patrick Lynch KC said: “This defendant has a lamentable record of 106 charges. These include 46 for theft, 21 offences of burglary, one for fraud, one of handling stolen goods and others for criminal damage and drugs.”

A pre-sentence report compiled by the Probation Board said Kane had a “fraught childhood, his parents struggled with mental health issues and his mother and brother both died in accidental drug overdoses”. It said he left school at the age of 15 with no qualifications. He later started a bricklaying course but was unable to sustain it.

The author said Kane did not have a problem with alcohol but his addiction of choice was drugs, particularly diazepam, cocaine and Xanax.

Said Judge Lynch: “Unfortunately this is a scenario that this court is only too familiar with. The defendant has drifted into a dissipated lifestyle and I have no doubt that a number of these dishonesty offences were to sustain that lifestyle, including the extravagant use of drugs.

“At one stage he indicated that he needed 50 diazepam tablets a day.”

Imposing six months in custody, Judge Lynch said the sentence would run from Wednesday March 4 which would interfere with Kane’s release date of March 17.

For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here and sign up to our daily newsletter here.

The RAF base in Cyprus was hit by a Shahed-like drone on Sunday with no casualties, as the MoD confirmed it was not launched from Iran.

Advertisement

The MoD has provided a significant update in the wake of the drone strike on RAF Akrotiri.

The Cyprus-based RAF facility came under attack from a one-way assault drone on Sunday at 12.03am local time (10pm GMT). Defence Secretary John Healey confirmed no casualties occurred and damage to the installation was minimal.

He characterised the incident as illustrative of the “dangerous and indiscriminate attacks” perpetrated by Iran and its proxies.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has now clarified that the drone did not originate from Iran. In a statement posted on X at 5.03pm, it announced: “The Ministry of Defence can confirm that a Shahed-like drone which targeted RAF Akrotiri at midnight on 2nd March was not launched from Iran.”

Ensure our latest headlines always appear at the top of your Google Search by making us a Preferred Source. Click here to activate or add us as your Preferred Source in your Google search settings, reports the Mirror.

Senior Cypriot authorities stated on Monday that the assault was executed using an Iranian Shahed drone, most probably deployed by Iran-backed militant organisation Hezbollah from Lebanese territory.

Cypriot officials also indicated they believed the military base – rather than Cyprus as a whole – was the intended target. Iran and its allies have conducted missile and drone operations in response to US and Israeli strikes throughout the region.

US-Israeli military action has resulted in over 1,000 fatalities since Saturday, according to Iranian state media. The MoD also confirmed today that RAF Typhoon and F-35B jets have continued “defensive air operations”, supported by Voyager air-to-air refuelling aircraft, “in defence of British interests and allies”.

It added that over the past 24 hours the UK has resupplied air defence systems to British and allied bases in the Middle East, including UK-built air defence missiles.

The MoD also said Royal Navy Wildcat helicopters – armed with Martlet missiles capable of engaging aerial threats – are due to arrive in Cyprus in the coming days.

Two further unmanned drones heading towards the base were intercepted on Monday morning, Cypriot authorities said.

Following the drone incident, families of British service personnel were relocated from Akrotiri as a precautionary measure.

The UK Foreign Office updated its travel advice, urging British nationals to take “sensible precautions” due to “heightened risk of regional tensions”.

Get more Daily Record exclusives by signing up for free to Google’s preferred sources. Click HERE.

Do you agree with our readers? Have your say on these MetroTalk topics and more in the comments

‘Keeping a government of violent extremists in power in the name of ‘balance’ is unwise’

I am sure some Metro readers believe the weekend’s strikes on Iran were a bad idea and that the US should have let sleeping dogs lie.

In their opinion, the safest course was to leave an aggressive regime alone and hope for the best. Keeping a government of violent extremists in power in the name of ‘order’ or ‘balance’ is unwise.

Some fear the potential chaos following regime change. While these fears are understandable – given examples such as Libya and Iraq – if someone (Iran, in this instance) attempts to attack another (the US) and is injured while defending themselves from American reprisals, their subsequent medical issues are not America’s responsibility.

Proportional self-defence is recognised in England as legitimate. Responsibility begins with the act of aggression – and in this case lies with Iran.

Iran was moving towards nuclear capability aimed at Israel and, by extension, at the US and the wider Western alliance, including the UK.

When a hostile regime pursues such weapons while already suppressing and even murdering its own citizens and supporting terrorist violence abroad, waiting patiently can look less like caution and more like denial.

There was already violence before any strike. The regime had been killing unarmed protesters in large numbers.

Calling firm action ‘reckless’ while treating that reality merely as some kind of background noise suggests misplaced priorities. Ignoring a threat does not remove it. It simply leaves others to face the (lethal one way or another!) consequences. David Frencel, London

Reform are a ‘racist party’

As soon as the result of the Gorton and Denton by-election was announced, Reform UK started blaming their loss on ‘family voting’ (pressurising friends or family to vote for a certain candidate) in what Nigel Farage describes as ‘predominantly Muslim areas’. This is despite the fact that the local council saw no evidence of this.

It sort of suggests that Reform believe all Muslims vote the same way, think the same way, and force each other to conform to the same cultural values
and beliefs.

If Reform aren’t a racist party, then they’re certainly doing a very good impression of one. Mo, Bradford

Are reform pushing for an undemocratic voting system?

Unsurprisingly, after easily losing the vote in the Gorton and Denton by-election to the Green Party candidate, 34-year-old plumber Hannah Spencer, Reform and Farage are throwing all their toys out the pram because they don’t like the result of a democratic decision.

Reform have spent ages attacking ethnic groups, with the party’s candidate, Matt Goodwin, even blaming Muslims for his loss, and yet they are somehow surprised that minority voters would choose to vote against them.

And now, pulling from the same playbook as Donald Trump, Farage wants to change the voting system so UK residents from the Commonwealth can’t vote – hoping to ban people who have every right to vote, because they didn’t vote for him.

Rather than accept defeat with dignity, Reform are just keen to change the rules until they get the result they think they are owed. Matthew, Birmingham

Westminster leaks on decline?

Perhaps there won’t be so many leaks at Westminster with the new Gorton and Denton MP in situ. J Ambrose, via email

And asylum seeker applications too

I see that asylum seeker applications have dropped sharply from 175,457 in June 2023 to 64,426 last December and the processing backlog is down nearly 50 per cent on the year.

This must be a huge relief for all those concerned with the rise of immigration levels in recent years. If this trajectory continues it could deliver a serious blow to Reform’s election prospects. E Gilligan, Salford

MORE: Operation Epic Fury could burn through precision missiles to strike Iran ‘in days’

MORE: US ambassador to Israel jokes about staff ‘procreating’ during war

MORE: Calls for calm over panic buying fuel after Middle East crisis escalates

“I am that close to asking if this is a joke…It is a ridiculous application and it is refused,” the judge confirmed.

An east Belfast man accused of racially-motivated assaults on staff at a McDonald’s restaurant failed today in a legal bid for permission to attend public demonstrations.

Neil Pinkerton’s application to vary his bail conditions while facing allegations that he verbally abused victims before recorded footage appeared on TikTok was dismissed as “ridiculous”.

Instead, a judge reinstated a ban on the 37-year-old using social media platforms amid police claims that he remains involved in vigilante patrols and setting up anti-immigration accounts.

Pinkerton, of Clandeboye Street, is charged with common assault, attempted criminal damage, harassment, incitement to hatred and disorderly behaviour over incidents at Connswater Retail Park in the east of the city on September 6 last year.

Belfast Magistrates’ Court heard he allegedly threatened a delivery driver outside the restaurant, becoming racially abusive and demanding to know his reasons for being there.

The victim realised he was being filmed on a mobile phone and asked for the recording to stop, only for a second unknown man then joined in the tirade.

Fearing an imminent assault, the driver got into his car and locked the door for his own safety.

Pinkerton continued shouting and swearing while punching the vehicle’s bonnet, it was claimed.

Later that day, the complainant discovered videos of the incident had been posted on TikTok.

“It caused him further anxiety as he fears his identity, workplace and vehicle are now known,” a Crown lawyer said.

Pinkerton is also accused of confronting two door staff at McDonald’s after they stopped teenage girls from entering the premises due to an anti-social behaviour policy.

“He became aggressive, shouting at them, pointing in their faces and implying they are not allowed to speak to females from Northern Ireland,” the prosecutor added.

“The door staff viewed this as particularly aggressive and racially motivated.”

Police later seized two mobile phones in searches carried out at the defendant’s home.

With Pinkerton out on bail since last September, he applied to vary a condition which prohibited him being at any rallies.

Defence barrister Turlough Madden said: “He wishes to attend public demonstrations as his right in a democratic society.”

But District Judge Steven Keown described suggestions he should remove the condition as being ludicrous.

“I am that close to asking if this is a joke…It is a ridiculous application and it is refused,” he confirmed.

During the hearing police succeeded in having a previous ban on Pinkerton using social media put back in place.

An investigating officer claimed information obtained on January 30 this year suggests he has created and promoted new TikTok accounts and Facebook pages.

“These continue to promote anti-immigration sentiment, and Pinkerton and others continue to carry out vigilante patrols throughout east Belfast,” she alleged.

Mr Madden insisted the defendant had not breached any of his bail terms and urged the court not to grant the PSNI’s application.

However, Judge Keown ruled: “I disagree and I reinstate the (condition) not to access any social media platforms, based on the information police have.”

With the case adjourned until next month, Pinkerton was released on continuing bail.

For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here and sign up to our daily newsletter here.