Manfield, coached by Nigel Clough, have giant-killing in their blood, and have already taken one Premier League scalp this season when knocking out Burnley in the previous round. Today, though, will be their biggest match in many generations. Not since 1992 have Arsenal been eliminated a team in the third tier, or lower – will The Stags make history this afternoon?

The BBC’s conspiracy thriller drama The Capture is back for a third season. The first two series had viewers hooked with a story that intertwined police investigations, facial recognition and deepfake AI technology.

As experts in facial recognition and AI, we’re separating the fact from the fiction ahead of the new season.

Fans of The Capture will be familiar with scenes of investigators using facial recognition software to identify the people they are tracking around London – the soldier Shaun Emery (Callum Turner) in season one and the Russian mercenary Nikolai Mirsky (Jack Sandle) in season two.

Real facial recognition

Real facial recognition work involves several steps. An operator first uploads an image into facial recognition software, which searches for the presence of a face. Features are then extracted from each detected face and compared against the features of faces from a stored database. Features are things that the algorithm has identified as important for recognition decisions and are probably not describable attributes of a face as we know it (such as eyes, nose, mouth).

It is not feasible, nor indeed ethical, to run a facial recognition system against all images on the internet. Not least because of the technical limitations of searching for, storing and processing such a staggering amount of data. In police or intelligence settings faces are searched against specific databases and a human almost always reviews the output because algorithms are not perfect. It is crucial that human operators are trained on the strengths and limitations of these systems and have the necessary skills to review the output.

In season two of The Capture, the fictional facial recognition software company “Xanda” claims their system can “recognise a face with up to 100% accuracy … from every corner of the world with equal precision”. But they are opposed to independent testing.

The best facial recognition systems are now extremely accurate, under increasingly difficult image scenarios. However, accuracy and demographic differences vary widely across different systems and testing parameters. Racial bias is a genuine concern and independent testing is of paramount importance.

In season two, Xanda’s technology claims it can literally “unmask” a face. In reality, some algorithms compare masked to unmasked faces with high accuracy, but they cannot recover information from underneath the mask. Attempting to do so would produce inaccurate and dangerous results.

In the show, patrolling officers receive images of targets, and eyewitnesses perform identifications. This reflects a genuine use of human facial recognition in forensic operations. Most humans make errors on facial comparison tasks involving unfamiliar faces. Super-recognisers (people with a naturally high recognition ability) and trained forensic examiners are more accurate. Familiar humans (people who know the target) often make accurate identifications even in low-quality photos.

Real deepfakes

Deepfakes are digitally manipulated videos, images or voices created with AI to make it appear that someone did something that they didn’t. This technology already exists. Real examples of misuse include fake political videos, non-consensual intimate imagery, child exploitation images and fraud.

Characters in The Capture frequently mistake deepfakes as genuine sources of information. In season one, manipulated video footage causes chaos for Emery, and in season two politician Isaac Turner (Paapa Essiedu) is the subject of a rampage of manipulated footage which the public believes is real.

When asked how Turner sounded in a faked call, a character replied “like Isaac Turner”. This acceptance of deepfakes is realistic. Human detection accuracy is around a coin flip: a 50% chance of a correct detection in scientific studies.

Turner’s wife (Charlie Murphy) was confused by the content of her husband’s deepfake speech, but complimented the way he spoke: “You did good though … Not what you said but the way you said it. You sounded … authoritative.” Cloned voices are typically rated positively and as more dominant than real recordings. Though in practice, deepfake videos tend not to be effective for the types of political activity depicted in the show, and manipulated imagery is not a new problem, as it suggests.

Depictions of deepfakes in The Capture involve almost instantaneous video manipulation and live broadcast. This is far from the current state-of-the-art. While the technology has improved, it is prone to producing obviously fake videos. Creating a high quality video requires a large and diverse collection of photos for the target person, along with iterative tweaks to the output. This is time consuming, and impossible to do in real-time.

Moreover, a capability that can hijack any CCTV or live TV feed and instantly play any content does not yet exist. Camera networks exist over a variety of different technical protocols, ownership arrangements, and access models. That complexity is a roadblock for the kind of point-and-click hijacking depicted in the show.

What next?

In season three, detective Rachel Carey (Holliday Grainger) will encounter further deceptive footage. How can she trust what she sees?

Real strategies to detect deepfakes include training humans to detect artifice, familiarity with the person depicted, and liveness checks that measure natural human responses to various changes in the scene.

In season two, Carey recognised genuine footage of Turner because he held the cross on the necklace around his neck, which his deepfake never did – idiosyncratic mannerisms may be missing in a deepfake.

Detection algorithms developed by the media forensics community and digital watermarks (“invisible” codes in imagery detectable by algorithms) are technological countermeasures that also help.

There are new AI techniques, such as the creation of realistic fake faces and agentic AI, where autonomous software systems perform tasks independently of human control. Will we see the face of an identity that does not exist to throw off the investigators? Could AI get out of hand and create deepfakes for its own purposes, providing a dilemma for both the good guys and the bad guys in the show?

These are the challenges we’d like to see Carey tackle, because they’re ones society will probably face in the near future.

The Irish actress, 39, is known for playing panicky student Clare Devlin on the Channel 4 comedy

Bridgerton star Nicola Coughlan has said she has “no interest in body positivity” and that she finds it “boring” when people talk about her size.

The Irish actress, 39, known for playing panicky student Clare Devlin on Channel 4 comedy Derry Girls, stars in the Netflix regency series Bridgerton as Penelope Bridgerton.

Despite the success of the show, she has described how disappointing it is that so many people praise her body size and talk about her weight.

Fronting the cover of Elle UK’s April issue, Coughlan told the magazine: “The thing I say sometimes that pisses people off is I have no interest in body positivity.

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“When I was a kid growing up, I never thought about that. I didn’t look at actors and think about their bodies. So, I actually don’t care.

“There’s a lot of things I’m passionate about, it’s not one of them… That’s someone else’s thing. It’s not mine.”

The actress added that despite being a size 10, she will still be praised as someone who appears on screen as a plus-size actress, comments which she finds “boring”.

Speaking about the reaction to her nude scenes on the show, she said: “What was really bizarre was when I was shooting that series, I was exercising a lot because I knew I had to, so I had lost a bunch of weight – I was probably a size 10 and one of the corsets was a size 8.

“Then people talked about how I was plus size and I was like, ‘How f***** are we that I am the biggest woman you want to see on screen?’

“I remember this really drunk girl once talking to me in a bathroom being like, ‘I loved (Bridgerton) because of your body’ and started talking about my body, and I was like, ‘I want to die. I hate this so much’.

“It’s really hard when you work on something for months and months of your life, you don’t see your family, you really dedicate yourself and then it comes down to what you look like – it’s so f****** boring.”

Coughlan also told the magazine that she gives herself more “grace” since receiving her ADHD diagnosis.

She said: “It feels like I got the handbook to my brain that I wasn’t given when I was born.

“I understand things a bit better now, and I give myself a little more grace.”

Coughlan is also known for starring in the hit movie Barbie as well as Channel 4’s Big Mood, a role which secured her a Bafta nomination.

She also appeared in a National Theatre production of The Playboy Of The Western World alongside her Derry Girls co-star Siobhan McSweeney.

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Adam Quirk said his son Freddie “had such a short life but he touched so many people”.

A couple have paid tribute to their 18-month-old son who died unexpectedly. Freddie Quirk, from Netherton in Merseyside, was described by his dad Adam Quirk as a boy who “loved life” despite everything that was thrown at him.

Freddie died on Monday, February 23, after his mum Abbie Quirk found him unresponsive. Paying tribute, Adam, 28, told the Liverpool ECHO: ”He was just the definition of a cheeky little chappy. He loved life. He lit up the room with his smile and loved everyone.”

Freddie was born without an anus, a condition officially called imperforate anus. This is where some babies are born without any opening for excrement to leave the body. In people with the condition the rectum (the last part of the bowel) is closed off.

Freddie had to have surgery when he was one day old and later had a stoma bag fitted, but Adam says his son brushed off any difficulties he faced.

He said: “He was such a strong little boy, nothing fazed him. He was climbing everywhere, running everywhere. He was just a smart, happy baby.”

Adam said: “Abbie found him on her own. I was on my way to work at the time on the train. I’d only gone one stop and I ran back. I was told Freddie had passed away on my way back.

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“It’s been a shock for everybody because we weren’t expecting it. He was a bit unwell on the Sunday before he passed, but nothing out of the ordinary.

“He was vomiting a little bit, but he was still drinking. We didn’t try giving him too much food because we didn’t want him vomiting it straight back up. He was still playing with his toys and wanted to be around us, so it was nothing unusual.”

The family don’t know Freddie’s exact cause of death. Adam said: “We don’t know how he died yet. His body was only released from the coroner’s office yesterday (Tuesday, March 3). They’ve given us a timeframe of six to nine months for a bit of testing to be done.”

Throughout this time, Adam and Abbie have been supported by Alder Hey Children’s Hospital. Now Lydia Pennington, one of Abbie’s close friends, is running the Mersey Tunnel 10K later this year to raise money for the hospital’s charity.

A JustGiving page has raised over £1,600 so far. Adam said: “Lydia is one of Abbie’s friends from university. They actually live in Blackpool.

“They already said they want to do the Mersey Tunnel run and asked us if they could do some fundraising. The original target was £150 and I think that was surpassed like the first half an hour.

Abbie, 29, added: “It got raised to £500 and I think that only took another hour maybe. It’s just really heartwarming.”

Adam said: “Alder Hey, we could never, ever sing their praises enough. We got transferred from the Women’s to Alder Hey on Freddie’s first day of life when he went in for surgery.

“The nurses and doctors are absolute godsends. They made sure to sit with us when we needed it, leave us alone when we needed it. We can’t even think about how hard it would’ve been anywhere else.

“Freddie had such a short life, but he touched so many people and he loved everybody he met so intensely. Everyone who met him loved him.

“He had his tantrums but he loved life and loved us, loved everyone, and we loved him. We’re so incredibly lucky that we live so close to Alder Hey and we’ve had that support.

“My brother’s fiancée had an amazing idea – on Freddie’s birthday every year, July 1, we’re going to be buying presents for him as normal, but we are donating them all to Alder Hey.

“They’ve done so much for us, it’s only right that we do something for them. We just can’t put into words how important Alder Hey has been to us.”

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The front window of one house was broken and a handbag containing a purse stolen from inside.

Police are appealing for information following reports of burglaries at two houses in Co Armagh.

Shortly after 5am on Friday, March 6 it was reported that a person had gained entry through the front door of a house at Ballyoran Park in Portadown but was disturbed by the occupant and left empty handed.

A short time later a report was received that the front window of a nearby house had been broken and a handbag containing a purse stolen from inside.

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An attempt was then made to withdraw money using a bank card belonging to the occupant at a shop on the Garvaghy Road at 5.40am.

A PSNI spokesperson said: “Detectives are appealing to anyone who may have information about these burglaries, who was in the area at the time, or who may have video footage – ring doorbell or other that could be relevant to the investigation, to get in contact with them in Lurgan on 101, quoting reference 130 06/03/26.”

Alternatively, you can submit a report online at http://www.psni.police.uk/makeareport/. You can also contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or online at http://crimestoppers-uk.org/.

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Passengers were taken into tunnels and flights were briefly suspended at Dubai airport after a drone strike appeared to hit nearby.

Several blasts were heard in the city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Saturday morning as the country’s government said it had activated air defences, as Iranian strikes targeted the Gulf states in response to a joint Israel-US bombing campaign.

Passengers waiting for flights at Dubai international airport, the world’s busiest international travel hub, were ushered down into train tunnels at the sprawling airfield after the alert sounded.

Video footage shows an explosion and smoke appearing to emanate near the terminal. A whirring sound is heard just before the explosion in the footage.

The impact of the drone appeared to be near a concourse of the airport.

Later that morning, long-haul carrier Emirates resumed operations after briefly suspending all flights to and from Dubai.

A Dubai Airports spokesperson said: “Dubai Airports confirms partial resumption of operations from today, 7 March, with some flights operating out of Dubai International (DXB) and Dubai World Central – Al Maktoum International (DWC).

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“Travellers are urged to not travel to the DXB or DWC unless they have been contacted by their airline that their flight is confirmed, as schedules continue to change.”

The spokesperson added that Dubai Airports would continue to monitor the situation.

Just before 9am UK time, Emirates wrote on X: “Our post from 11:08am Dubai time regarding operational status is no longer current, and has been deleted to avoid causing unnecessary confusion.”

“Emirates has resumed operations. Passengers who have confirmed bookings for this afternoon’s flights may proceed to the airport.

“This includes customers transiting in Dubai, if their connecting flight is also operating.”

Authorities have not explained if there was an interception or damage at the airport.

It came as Iran’s president on Saturday apologised for the country’s attacks on regional states, insisting that Tehran would halt them and suggesting they were caused by miscommunication in the ranks.

President Masoud Pezeshkian made the statement in a pre-recorded address aired by Iranian state television and added that the demand by the US for an unconditional surrender is a “dream that they should take to their grave”.

There were repeated attacks on Saturday morning in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

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There is no foreseeable end to the fighting. Donald Trump’s administration has approved a new £112m arms sale to Israel after the US president said he would not negotiate with Iran without its “unconditional surrender”.

The president then said on Truth Social on Saturday that Iran will be “hit very hard” today.

He wrote: “Under serious consideration for complete destruction and certain death, because of Iran’s bad behaviour, are areas and groups of people that were not considered for targeting up until this moment in time.”

US officials had also warned of a forthcoming bombing campaign they said would be the most intense yet in the week-long conflict.

Footage showed explosions and smoke rising over western Tehran as Israel said it had begun a broad wave of strikes.

Also early on Saturday, loud booms sounded in Jerusalem and incoming missiles from Iran had people heading to bomb shelters across Israel.

There were no immediate reports of casualties by Israel’s emergency services.

Meanwhile, Israeli warplanes have also targeted Beirut and Tehran.

Death tolls continued to rise on Saturday with at least 1,230 people killed in Iran, more than 200 in Lebanon and around a dozen in Israel, according to officials. Six US troops were reported killed.

Lebanon was pulled into the widening U.S.-Israel war with Iran on Monday after Hezbollah, an Iranian-aligned group, fired rockets and drrones into Israel. Israel responded with heavy strikes across Lebanon’s south, east and near the capital.

Overnight flash floods in Kenya’s capital have killed at least 23 people and caused diversions at the country’s main airport – the biggest in East Africa.

The military has been deployed to assist after dozens of cars were washed away in Nairobi, with some motorists in the capital being stranded for hours.

George Seda, the chief of police in Nairobi, warned that the number of people killed may rise.

Mr Seda also said more than 100 vehicles were damaged, with some overturning on the roadside and in parking bays.

While Nairobi’s airport is still operating, Kenya Airways stated that flights were disrupted, with some diverted to the coastal city of Mombasa, and difficulties would persist for hours.

Heavy rain began on Friday and continued overnight, submerging vehicles and forcing motorists in some areas to wade through hip-high water to reach higher ground.

Kenya Red Cross secretary-general Ahmed Idris said search and rescue teams were working tirelessly to assist those stranded.

“We are severely limited by the traffic and the situation on what used to be roads. We are doing our best to reach those in need,” he wrote on X.

Some residents blamed the flooding on clogged drainage systems, stating that city authorities ought to have prepared by ensuring there was functional drainage infrastructure ahead of the rainy season.

Shocked resident Cedric Mwanza described seeing the Nairobi River, which burst its banks, as being full of “so many cars, so much stuff”.

“Everything was just (washed away),” she said.

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The country has been hit by heavy rain since late February, which marks the start of the long rainy season.

Previous rain seasons have seen flooding, landslides and mudslides that have left hundreds of people dead and seen thousands of others displaced.

Further rain is expected for the next two weeks, with thunderstorms predicted for Saturday and Monday.

A predatory driver who pretended to be a cabbie attacked and raped a woman in her home after forcing his way in.

Shabir Sultani, 27, has been jailed for 13 years after the sickening attack in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, last year.

The woman had been out enjoying a night with friends in Sheffield in spring last year, when she decided to go home.

Outside a nightclub, she got into a car driven by Sultani, which she thought was a taxi.

Sultani then lied to her that he was a cab driver and he would take her home.

He offered the woman vodka during the journey, but she refused.

Once they reached her home in Chesterfield, Sultani crept behind the woman to her front door and forced his way in.

He continued to kiss her despite her telling him to stop repeatedly, and raped her.

The woman managed to kick him off her.

Sultani fled the scene, but he was later tracked down and arrested thanks to CCTV footage, and automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) technology which spotted his car.

Sultani, of Sturton Road, Sheffield, denied the charges, but he was found guilty following a trial at Derby Crown Court in November.

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On November 25, 2024 Metro launched This Is Not Right, a campaign to address the relentless epidemic of violence against women.

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With the help of our partners at Women’s Aid, This Is Not Right aims to shine a light on the sheer scale of this national emergency.

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The 27-year-old sentence included an extension of seven years due to dangerousness, and he was handed a Sexual Prevention Order designed to prevent him from contacting the woman, and he was ordered to sign the Sex Offenders’ Register.

The Detective Staff Investigator Beth Waite, who led the probe, commended the victim for her bravery and coming forward to report it.

She said: ‘Sultani clearly preyed on this woman on this occasion, pretending to be a taxi driver and offering to take her home.

‘Despite her repeatedly saying she wasn’t interested and asking him to leave her alone, he continued to force himself upon her, ultimately raping her.

‘I’d like to commend her bravery in coming forward and reporting this incident, and her support for the police investigation and subsequent prosecution.

‘This incident will undoubtedly have a long-lasting impact on her but her courage has ensured that we were able to bring the perpetrator to justice.

‘I hope that knowing he is now behind bars will allow her some form of peace.

‘I’d encourage anyone who has been a victim of rape or a sexual assault of any kind to please come forward and report it to us. We will listen without judgement and support you throughout.’

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

For more stories like this, check our news page.

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Emergency services were called to the A181 at Wheatley Hill at about 10.50am this morning (March 7) after reports of a crash.

Two ambulance crews and a paramedic were called to the incident, and two people were taken to North Tees Hospital for treatment.

A spokesperson for North East Ambulance Service said: “We were called to a road traffic incident on the A181 at Wheatley Hill at 10.52am on March 7.

“We dispatched a double-crewed ambulance, a rapid response paramedic and a clinical team leader.

“Two patients were treated and discharged at the scene and two patients were transported to North Tees Hospital.”

The road remains closed following the crash, and police have warned drivers to avoid the area.

A spokesperson from Durham Police said: “The road is closed between Wheatley Hill Service Station and the Salters Lane junction at Wingate (both directions) due to a collision whilst emergency services deal with the incident.

“Please avoid the route – an update will ensue once the scene is cleared and road is reopened.”

The Northern Echo has contacted Durham Police for more information.