Bolton College students celebrate their A-level results day (Image: UCS Bolton)

Students gathered on the Deane Road campus to celebrate with friends, family, and staff as their hard work finally paid off and they learned of their next academic steps.

Bolton College students celebrate their A-level results day (Image: UCS Bolton)

Smiles, tears and hugs marked a memorable morning as students discovered they had secured places at universities, apprenticeships and employment opportunities across Greater Manchester and beyond.

Bolton College Students celebrate their A-level results day (Image: UCS Bolton)

A-level results day was celebrated throughout the day with a live DJ, mocktails, cupcakes and a photo booth.

Bolton College students celebrate their A-level results day (Image: UCS Bolton)

For many students, the day marked the end of two years of dedication and the beginning of exciting new opportunities as they prepare to take their next steps into higher education, professional training and the workplace.

Federal agents launched a sweeping undercover surveillance operation earlier this year targeting progressive organizations, labor unions and other groups protesting the immigration crackdown then raging through Minneapolis, according to court documents filed Thursday.

The program, dubbed Operation Puppet Master, was aimed at what officials called a network of conspirators helping “violent opportunists and agitators.” The documents were filed in a case involving 15 people charged by federal prosecutors in June with impeding the crackdown, accusing them of conspiring against the federal government through a range of actions, from throwing ice chunks to setting up blockades.

The government documents were released Thursday in connection with a motion from a defense lawyer in the case, Kevin Riach, who requested that officials disclose more material collected during the investigations.

The reality, according to government documents revealed in court motions, was Department of Homeland Security officers infiltrating meetings in churches, schools and parks that were often simply discussions of constitutionally protected protests.

A statement from the department said Homeland Security Investigations doesn’t comment on the existence or status of on-going investigations or investigative methods. The statement referred questions to the U.S. attorney’s office in Minnesota, which didn’t immediately respond to an after-hours email from The Associated Press.

Puppet Master, and a later operation called Project Whipple Shield, were a “broad and irrational investigation” driven by politics and not criminal conduct, Riach said in a motion filed Thursday.

Take, for example, a Jan. 31 meeting in a Minneapolis library, when a Homeland Security report says an undercover officer identified as “UCA 9833” listened as supporters of a progressive climate group, the Sunrise Movement, discussed sit-ins, de-escalation tactics and “having a police liaison and safety marshal present during events.”

“During the Action meeting, it was made clear that the Sunrise Movement organization focused on ‘peaceful’ protests,” the agent reported.

Dozens of pages of documents describe agents secretly infiltrating meetings, monitoring activist chat groups and using license plate numbers to compile names of people who attended gatherings.

A slide created by Homeland Security’s investigative branch titled “The Conspiracy” shows 18 organizations, from a small Minneapolis bicycle repair collective to the AFL-CIO, the largest federation of labor groups in the U.S.

The government also obtained years of certain financial records for groups ranging from the Sunrise Movement to major unions, including the Service Employees International Union and the Communications Workers of America.

“You are requested not to disclose the existence of this summons for an indefinite period of time,” warned a DHS request to FedWire, a money transfer system operated by the U.S. Federal Reserve.

“It’s very disturbing,” said Ahilan Arulanantham, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law. Over time, it could deter people from expressing their beliefs, he said.

Many people don’t want to live in a world where expressing their beliefs gives federal agencies the right to investigate them, he said.

“It’s that fear of that creeping police state,” he said.

Groups that the government investigated were furious at the news.

“Our union has become the latest target of a corrupt administration that weaponizes the legal process against law-abiding Americans exercising our Constitutional rights,” CWA President Claude Cummings Jr. said in a statement. “We will not be intimidated, and we will not be silenced.”

The AP News Guild, the union that represents many Associated Press employees, is part of the CWA.

On Thursday, a coalition of Minneapolis-area civil society groups defended the protests and criticized the investigations.

The government is “lashing out desperately in hopes of intimidating people and organizations that have shown the power of communities acting together,” said a statement distributed by Unidos MN, a local human rights group.

DHS deployed about 3,000 federal officers to the Minneapolis-St. Paul area for roughly three months starting late last year in what the department called its “ largest immigration enforcement operation ever.” It led to thousands of arrests, angry mass protests and the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens.

Minnesota U.S. Attorney Daniel N. Rosen said the 15 were part of two groups that he characterized as “antifa,” an umbrella term for a diffuse movement of militant left-wing activists.

Defense attorney Riach said at the time that his client, Isaac Sant, had no affiliation with antifa, which he called “a boogeyman invented by the far-right.”

___

Kelleher reported from Honolulu.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Federal agents launched a sweeping undercover surveillance operation earlier this year targeting progressive organizations, labor unions and other groups protesting the immigration crackdown then raging through Minneapolis, according to court documents filed Thursday.

The program, dubbed Operation Puppet Master, was aimed at what officials called a network of conspirators helping “violent opportunists and agitators.” The documents were filed in a case involving 15 people charged by federal prosecutors in June with impeding the crackdown, accusing them of conspiring against the federal government through a range of actions, from throwing ice chunks to setting up blockades.

The government documents were released Thursday in connection with a motion from a defense lawyer in the case, Kevin Riach, who requested that officials disclose more material collected during the investigations.

The reality, according to government documents revealed in court motions, was Department of Homeland Security officers infiltrating meetings in churches, schools and parks that were often simply discussions of constitutionally protected protests.

A statement from the department said Homeland Security Investigations doesn’t comment on the existence or status of on-going investigations or investigative methods. The statement referred questions to the U.S. attorney’s office in Minnesota, which didn’t immediately respond to an after-hours email from The Associated Press.

Puppet Master, and a later operation called Project Whipple Shield, were a “broad and irrational investigation” driven by politics and not criminal conduct, Riach said in a motion filed Thursday.

Take, for example, a Jan. 31 meeting in a Minneapolis library, when a Homeland Security report says an undercover officer identified as “UCA 9833” listened as supporters of a progressive climate group, the Sunrise Movement, discussed sit-ins, de-escalation tactics and “having a police liaison and safety marshal present during events.”

“During the Action meeting, it was made clear that the Sunrise Movement organization focused on ‘peaceful’ protests,” the agent reported.

Dozens of pages of documents describe agents secretly infiltrating meetings, monitoring activist chat groups and using license plate numbers to compile names of people who attended gatherings.

DHS deployed about 3,000 federal officers to the Minneapolis-St. Paul area for roughly three months starting late last year in what the department called its “ largest immigration enforcement operation ever.” It led to thousands of arrests, angry mass protests and the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens.

Minnesota U.S. Attorney Daniel N. Rosen said the 15 were part of two groups that he characterized as “antifa,” an umbrella term for a diffuse movement of militant left-wing activists.

Defense attorney Riach said at the time that his client, Isaac Sant, had no affiliation with antifa, which he called “a boogeyman invented by the far-right.”

___

Kelleher reported from Honolulu.

GameCentral speaks with the creative director behind the original Assassin’s Creed about the origins of 1666: Amsterdam, using generative AI, and the decision to do early access. 

Patrice Désilets is best known for being the creative director on the first two Assassin’s Creed titles and Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time, but for his latest game, he’s debuting an IP he’s been trying to get off the ground for 16 years. 

1666: Amsterdam began life at THQ Montreal in 2010, but development was suspended after Ubisoft bought the studio and unceremoniously fired Désilets. This led to a lawsuit over the rights to the IP, which was eventually settled in 2016. 

Désilets won the rights, but it’s still been a long road to making 1666: Amsterdam a reality – with its development prolonged by the pandemic. It now represents the second title from his studio, Panache Digital Games, after the 2019 survival game Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey. 

Although it’s not an easy game to describe, 1666: Amsterdam definitely has the bones of Désilets’ previous work – where you volley between stealth and action in a sandbox environment. This time, however, it comes with roguelike elements, witches, and playable cats.

Ahead of the game’s early access launch on August 25, we sat down with Désilets to talk about his relationship with the Assassin’s Creed franchise today, why he keeps coming back to multiple timelines, and the cancelled Prince Of Persia remake. 

GC: 1666: Amsterdam has existed in some form since 2010. How different is the game we see today versus what you started at THQ? 

PD: Oh it’s totally different. The only thing between the two that remains is 1999 and 1666, and Amsterdam. But it wasn’t a witch. It was [originally] my game after Assassin’s Creed. Now it’s my game after Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey. 

GC: So when did the witch element come into it? 

PD: When I went back to it in 2020. After I shipped Ancestors, I went back and said, ‘OK now is the time to do it’. [The game] is about the devil but I didn’t want to *be* the devil. But what would represent a cool character in the devil universe? Ah, the witches. Quickly [I said], ‘let’s do to the witches what I did to the assassins’; to have a witch as a main character that’s badass in the style of games that I make. So it started in January 2020 with the witches. 

GC: This project has existed for a long time and has been caught between legal battles – what has been your driving motivator to get this over the finish line? Is there a sense of unfinished business? 

PD: I guess so. Maybe it’s because when it all went down at the beginning, I said I’m going to fight to get it back. And then I did get it back, so I was like, ‘OK so, I guess now I need to do it.’ As soon as I finished Ancestors and I had a team, I kinda [thought], OK my team can do open world, let’s do it. Let’s have fun with it. Let’s work on this and make it a success, I hope. But I guess… I committed myself. 

I got the rights to a game that people know about. Even though it’s not that big yet, people knew about the game. So I have the rights to a thing people know about, that’s big in our day and age. The proof is when I went on stage at Summer Game Fest and I said, ‘It’s there!’ And people were like, ‘Holy cow he’s doing it! He’s crazy!’ But this is also why… I’ve got a business to run at the end of the day. So I have an IP, and having an IP creates a jumpstart. So I had to do it. 

GC: You’re juggling multiple timelines here, just like Assassin’s Creed, is there a reason you keep coming back to that motif? Is it just a fun storytelling device? 

PD: It’s everything you said, yes. I feel it’s a fun narrative device. I feel [time] is also something that as humans we cannot control yet. It’s the only thing we don’t control and it drives us crazy. Time moves forward, and the rest we control as much as we can. So playing with it in a game – even though it’s linear and it’s not like you’re controlling time in the game – this idea of going to the past and the future, it’s a fantasy for humans. I like that. 

There’s only one game in my career that time is not part of the structure, the Donald Duck game [2000’s Donald Duck: Goin’ Quackers] that I did. The first game [involving time] was 1999’s Hype: The Time Quest. There were four time periods and the main quest of the character; he was thrown back into the past and he had to find a way to come back to his own time. 

GC: I’m only familiar with your work from Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time onwards, so I didn’t realise it went back that far. That’s crazy. Is that just a coincidence? 

PD: [laughs] I guess so! I was 23 at the time and now I’m f***ing 52 and I’m still doing games with multiple time periods, and characters with brooms, or knights, jumping around, using magic. I’ve been doing the same game for 30 years now. That’s crazy. 

GC: [laughs] there are some differences… 

PD: Some differences! Somebody will eventually have analysed everything and [they’ll say], ‘The dude is not original whatsoever’ [laughs]. 

GC: I wanted to ask about the early access aspect. Why did you want to take that approach? You don’t often see it with single-player games. 

PD: You generally don’t see what we’re proposing. Some people say, ‘Oh you shouldn’t do it’. [But if] you’re telling me not to do it, then I’m going to do it [laughs]. It’s different. It’s a narrative driven game in early access but there is a toy component of it where you can have fun – you can put the story aside if you want to and discover using your abilities. But the narrative will be pretty much on us. And eventually we’ll come up with big updates of the narrative, new missions. But then on the toy level of things – the mechanics, the systems – we’re going to finish our game together. 

For me, it’s always been the vision of Panache. I’m an old monkey. I come from a time in the video game industry where we would give you a disc and there was nothing we could do. That was it. And now it’s not this time anymore. We can update the game. And on PC I can do early access, and it’s the best. 

Ancestors was supposed to be done like that. For multiple reasons, we finished something and we gave it to you but that’s why it’s called volume one. We’ve got a volume two ready, done and designed, and a volume three – and that was the idea. Eventually we’ll go back to Ancestors. 

GC: Do you know how long it’s going to be in early access? 

PD: We looked around and we noticed that the average time in early access is one year. So it’d probably be at least one year. 

GC: There’s been some generative AI controversy around this game in relation to assets in the prologue demo, which you’ve since removed. What’s your view on using generative AI in development? 

PD: I’ve got to be careful with what I say… we use it in development and in the final product we’ll make sure everything that’s in the game has been retouched by a human. 

GC: It’s a sensitive issue but from our perspective, it’s understanding what it is actually useful for, especially in the context of smaller teams. 

PD: It’s the iteration that the AI can do. The variation and the speed. But even [among] the big teams. I’m curious eventually down the road…

GC: We are seeing it among the big teams already, like Call Of Duty. 

PD: And I know why, it’s f***ing fast. But I get the ethical aspect of it also, that’s why I asked my team, ‘OK that’s it’. [When] we’re all by ourselves because we need to see stuff quickly, [it’s] OK-ish. But now, no, we stop. I kinda went like, ‘No more prompts’. 

GC: I wanted to ask about your thoughts on Assassin’s Creed as well. Do you feel separated from it now? 

PD: Oh yeah. 

GC: Do you play the new games? 

PD: No, I don’t. Actually I played Assassin’s Creed 3 when it came out in 2012. I played for two hours and I stopped because I was working more than having fun. Not because it wasn’t fun, but [because] it’s my baby; I understand [it], and then I see the matrix. So I said ‘enough’, and after that, I didn’t want to.

So I don’t want to answer your question. I’m protecting myself from it, because somehow if I say it’s good or not, that’ll change the perception of the people on the game. Some people will say, ‘What? The father of Assassin’s Creed said it is ABC…’ and I don’t want to go there. It’s not for me to judge really. And it would be bad for the people who actually put their heart and soul into those games making them. 

I know it’s tough to make an Assassin’s Creed game, and you cannot please everyone. That’s the toughest part I would say in what we do. We feel like we need to please everyone and it’s not possible. It’s OK if you don’t like 1666: Amsterdam by the way, it’s OK, and some people [are like], ‘What?’ The beauty of being independent and smaller is that my budget is not as big as it used to be, so I don’t need to sell as many copies. 

GC: It’s refreshing to hear that, especially when it feels everyone’s striving for bigger budgets.

PD: Oh no, because after that you’ve got to recoup. And it’s the recoup phase that is tough. This is where you get, ‘Oh we sold five million copies but we need to close the studio because it’s not enough.’ Are you crazy? If I sold five million copies of this game [1666: Amsterdam], we’re good. We’re good for a long time. 

GC: We’re seeing a lot of people like yourself break out of the triple-A space and set up their own studio – do you think that’s a more comfortable place to exist in these days? 

PD: It’s so different. Because in a big, big studio – because I’ve been there – it becomes more politics than game creation, which is totally normal. It’s a big organisation. It’s not even who does what, but how do you manoeuvre and become this organic… in a smaller team, I know everyone on my team. I know everyone. I know their girlfriend, boyfriend, their kids, their dogs. It’s not a family, we’re a professional team together. [But] in a big organisation, there’s too many bosses, and you have to answer to your boss. So the craft of just having fun and making games, it’s a different thing. It’s about working in an office. 

And at the end of the day, we’re not working in an office. We’re making a game in an office. Not everyone, there’s a lot of people at home, but at Panache I try to… I’m in the office everyday. The PTSD of Covid… you have no clue. I have no pleasure working from home anymore. But then I’m lucky, my studio is five minutes walking distance from where I live. My life is f***ing designed [laughs]. So I know I’m lucky. 

The thing in creativity is this; what I’m just doing to you – I’m looking you in the eyes and my soul is talking to your soul. Do you understand what I want? Do you understand what we can make? On a screen, it’s gone. And me, I need that connection when I’m asking crazy s*** to people [laughs]. 

We were in full conception [on 1666: Amsterdam] in Covid. We were two months in. We started in January and boom, in March, everybody home. That was so tough because we were having a nice discussion and then boom, zoo closed. Everybody’s home. It was so tough. For a full year. That’s why it took us six [years], it could have been made in five.

GC: I wanted to bring up Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time too. It’s one of my favourite games, so thank you for that. 

PD: It was a good game. 

GC: [laughs] A bloody good game. Obviously there was that cancelled remake recently, were you ever consulted on that? 

PD: No, no. Ubisoft don’t talk to me. 

GC: I thought that might’ve been the case, but wondered if someone might have reached out in private. 

PD: Nobody, not even close. 

GC: Were you surprised by that? 

PD: No. We got into a fight, Ubisoft and I, so no. Nobody’s asking me anything about Assassin’s Creed at Ubisoft either. Never. But it’s OK. I don’t wake up at night thinking about them. I don’t care anymore. But I understand why they didn’t ask me. 

We did [Prince Of Persia] in maybe 28 months with 60 people. Panache is just about trying to recreate the fun and the team size I had on The Sands Of Time man, where the skies were the limit and nothing could stop us.

GC: To round off, a throughline with a lot of your games is engaging with history, how much of that was a conscious decision and will it be a staple of your games to come? 

PD: It was fully conscious. Maybe one day I’ll do a science fiction game with a space marine. I don’t know, you never know. 

GC: 2066 or something. 

PD: Maybe [laughs]. There’s nothing coming along [like that]. But why I like history is that it’s a fantasy world for us. If you start digging and understanding how it works. I was thinking about my grandmother the other day, she was 96 when she died. And she died like five years ago. Could you imagine what she went through in 100 years? At first there was no f***ing phones. She comes from a little town in Quebec and there were maybe two cars. And at the end, she was writing to me on Facebook. 

And then you go 200 years. Then you go 300 years. It’s just f***ing Final Fantasy man. This is as weird and wild as the future we can imagine. A totally different world. That’s why I like history. It’s so far away from us even though we come from there.

Even though my 1666: Amsterdam is a fantasy land, you’ll go back [to Amsterdam] and go, ‘I see it a bit differently’. You can imagine all of those people walking around, going inside those houses now because you’ve seen it a little bit. So that’s why I like history. It’s as strange to us as a totally invented world. 

GC: And that’s a great note to end on. Thank you very much! 

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No motor vehicles (except those engaged in the work and emergency-services vehicles) will be able to park or drive on this section of road during this time.

A section of road in the Elvanfoot area is to be closed next week to allow improvement work to take place.

The resurfacing of the A702 Elvanfoot (Overfingland to Troloss) between its junction with Daer Water Road and the South Lanarkshire boundary will take place from 7am on Tuesday, August 18, for up to five days.

No motor vehicles (except those engaged in the work and emergency-services vehicles) will be able to park or drive on this section of road during this time.

A signed diversion route will be in place via the A702, A76, B740, B7078 and A702, and vice-versa.

Colin Park, South Lanarkshire Council’s head of Roads, Transportation and Fleet Services, said: “Unfortunately, it is not feasible allow any vehicles onto this section of the A702 while the resurfacing work is being carried out, and we therefore urge all road users to take notice of this closure and think how it might affect their journeys, and then plan ahead and allow extra time for travelling if necessary.

“We apologise for the inconvenience this will cause to people in the area, but their patience and understanding during the period of the work would be much appreciated. I know everyone who uses this road will see a benefit in the improved condition of the surface as a result of the works.”

* Don’t miss the latest headlines from around Lanarkshire. Sign up to our newsletters here.

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Jodie Foster tearing up a dirt road, yelling stellar coordinates into a walkie-talkie à la the 1997 sci-fi film Contact. Control rooms alive with a cacophony of “enhance that signal”. Real-time discovery. That’s what I pictured when my PhD supervisor told me I’d be going observing at a telescope.

Cut to 2am on top of a mountain in La Palma last April, at an altitude that makes you forget you’re in the Canary Islands. It was utterly freezing, and I had dressed for the sunny archipelago in thin layers. I almost dropped my mug trying to close the telescope door against the wind.

Coffee and food waited two minutes away in the service building. In the darkness, the wind caught a loose scrap of fabric and scared the life out of me. I fell over within 30 seconds. Winds of 40km/h aren’t uncommon at the observatory; I was just entirely unprepared.

I sat on the road, mourning my dignity. And I looked up. For the first time in my life, I saw the Milky Way. It painted the sky, reminding me violently of my insignificance. Nothing in my life has ever compared to that. I allowed myself to bask in it for ten minutes. Then the work beckoned me: I needed coffee, and hadn’t told my colleague which star was next on the schedule.

How is an observing night prepared?

A night at a telescope begins in the afternoon. At around 4pm, my colleague, who was training me to use the telescope, and I drove up to the Nordic Optical Telescope. It’s a gorgeous piece of kit, with a diameter of 2.56 metres. It collects enough starlight for exquisitely precise measurements.

Every instrument and filter had to be carefully tested. On my side, this was a few lines of code. The telescope operator ensured everything worked properly and set up the telescope. While calibrations ran, I started scheduling the night’s observations.

Telescope time is limited, so having three nights at the helm meant I had to squeeze out every second I could. Hollywood did not prepare me for how many spreadsheets this involves. This sort of scheduling requires careful balancing of many factors. For example, observing stars close together on the night sky consecutively to avoid spending too much time repointing the telescope.

Once calibration and scheduling were complete, I watched the sun set. It was beautiful, but also a warning – working hours will soon begin. If you catch the right moment, you can see a small fleet of astronomers in cars headed to their respective telescopes.

The mountain came to life with domes opening, catching the first starlight of the night. There’s more than 20 telescopes in the observatory on the mountain, whose specialisms range from observing supernovae to exoplanets (any planet beyond our solar system).

The night itself

Around 8pm, the first light from a star – HD153557 in this case , a dwarf star around 59 light-years away – entered the telescope. This is always a bit special. The whir of the dome moving, the shutters opening, seeing the monitors show the first traces of data. I sipped my coffee, turned up the 80s hits, and was content in the knowledge that I’d still be in that chair in 12 hours.

This night started rather predictably. The weather was perfect, not a cloud in sight, and the telescope behaved beautifully. Before long we had a spreadsheet slowly getting filled in with completed observations. I knew the peace wouldn’t last. I’d done ten observing nights at two different telescopes by that point in my career, and not one of them without something disrupting my colour-coded plans. Typically, a cloud will move right in front of a star I’m trying to observe, or it’ll rain and that means we have to close the dome. But every few nights, there’s something a little more exciting.

An email just before midnight brought with it a Target of Opportunity alert. These are observations that need to be done immediately, a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment. This one was a gamma-ray burst. It’s one of the most violent events in the universe, over a trillion times brighter than our Sun. This was picked up by a space-based detector and emailed to us to request the observation.

Gamma-ray bursts aren’t in my area of expertise – I research stars like the Sun and their surrounding planets. Far less explosive. Between switching observing instruments, rotating the dome, checking calibrations, I was also digesting as much information as I could about what a gamma-ray burst is. This was probably the closest I’ll ever get to my Jodie Foster moment, and it was a rather anticlimactic, blurry image loading very slowly on a screen.

After the gamma-ray burst was observed, the control room became quiet again. Back to my spreadsheets and falling over trying to get coffee. To feeling slightly lonely but seeing another dome rotating under the moonlight when I stepped outside, and being reminded of the other tired astronomers all working beneath the same stars.

It was 8:30am when I finally got back to my room. Ready for a shower, and bed, and to wake up in five hours and do it all again.

The scientific end product

The reality is that scientific interpretation rarely happens in real time. The telescope measurements are first cleaned and calibrated by a computer programme, which turns them into usable spectra. I then apply my own analysis code to these spectra. For me, this comes much later, at my desk in Birmingham once my sleep schedule has recovered. These particular observations gave us stellar spectra: when a star’s light splits into a rainbow, imposed with patterns that reveal its temperature and chemical composition.

The most common observing nights involve balancing spreadsheets, a whole lot of coffee, and slowly surrendering to the delirium of sleep deprivation. Some of them have dramatic alerts. Some of them end up entirely clouded out and allow for an early bedtime.

There is no pivotal “enhance that signal” moment, but there is the quiet, consistent sense of joy that I’m cataloguing and understanding the stars that could one day be found to host another Earth. Hollywood didn’t prepare me for the scientific process. But it got the wonder spot on.

Builders horrified after digging up human body in garden of home

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Police have confirmed that human remains have been uncovered in the garden of a London home, with the house sealed off for seven days as authorities try to piece together how the bones came to be there.

Builders made the shocking find at a newly bought bungalow in south-east London’s Biggin Hill – a quiet, leafy town usually known for its mega-celeb resident Tom Cruise, who owns a home there.

Officers from London’s Metropolitan Police were called to a property on Aperfield Road last Friday, at about 3.30pm, the force said.

The Met Police has now confirmed the bones found were human after they were sent for a specialist examination.

A spokesperson for the force said: “The bones were sent for specialist examination and were confirmed to be human.

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“However, further testing is underway to establish the age of the bones and ascertain identity.”

The force says that an investigation remains ongoing to establish the full circumstances.

The home has been cordoned off ever since. First with police tape and now with temporary fencing and forensic tents, with police coming and going at all hours of the night as the site seems to be a 24/7 active scene.

Neighbours have so far been left in the dark about who the body belonged to or what had happened on their seemingly quiet little street.

One neighbor told The Sun that the new homeowner had recently purchased the two-bedroom home and had not yet moved in.

They said: “Nobody lives there at the moment.

“An old lady lived there for years, but she moved away, and another woman bought it to completely refurbish it. She couldn’t move in until they’d finished.

“The builders discovered something on Friday, and of course, they completely had to stop work.”

Another neighbour added: “The woman who’s bought the property is having renovations done. She must be absolutely horrified.

“She’s had builders in doing all sorts of things. Last week they were digging up the back patio and there were piles of rubbish on the drive.

“A grab lorry came and took some of it away, and then suddenly Friday a police vehicle arrived outside and police tape went across, and they were there 24/7.

The neighbour added: “The cordon has come down now because they’ve secured the building.”

One insider also told the Sun that power, gas, and water have all been shut off at the home while police investigate.

He also revealed that forensics have been searching the property from top to bottom, and have been preserving evidence on green trays.

Local planning documents show an application for a single-storey rear extension at the premise.

Holidaymakers will need to know all the entry requirements ahead of their trip to avoid disappointment and potentially being refused entry into the country.

Children aged 17 or younger travelling to Portugal alone or with someone who is not their parent or legal guardian will need a letter of authorisation in order to travel there.

The letter must contain key details in order to be accepted.

What does the letter to enter Portugal need to include?

Authorities in Portugal have asked that a few things be included in the letter, such as a signature from the child’s parent or legal guardian and the date it was signed.

The signature must be certified by a notary or solicitor, and the notary or solicitor’s signature must be legalised by the Legislation Office.

The letter must be issued alongside a copy of the child’s parent’s or guardian’s passport.

It must include:

• full name, date of birth, and passport number of the child
• the dates the child plans to arrive and depart the country
• why they are visiting
• the address where the child will be staying
• the name and passport number of the adult in Portugal who is responsible for them while there
• the full name, date of birth, passport number, and contact details of the parent or guardian

6 tips for cheaper family holidays

What happens if you don’t have a letter of authorisation?

The UK government website has made it clear that if a child who needs a letter of authorisation is taken to Portugal without one, their entry will be delayed and could be refused.

It adds: “Teenagers aged 17 and under who travel alone, or with friends of the same age, and who are not being met on arrival by a parent or guardian, may be refused entry if they do not have a letter of authorisation.”

If a child is a resident of Portugal and aged 17 or under, they “must carry a properly certified letter of authorisation if travelling without their parent or legal guardian.”

Where does Manchester Airport fly to in Portugal?

You can fly to the following locations in Portugal from Manchester Airport:

• Faro
• Lisbon
• Madeira
• Porto

Did you know these rules were in place for travelling to Portugal? Tell us in the comments below.

The best sunglasses to shop now

Best lightweight glasses

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There’s nothing more classic than tortoiseshell. This pair of brown glasses comes in at just 23g, so it barely feels like you’re wearing anything at all.

SunGod also lets you choose between standard and polarised glasses, which reduce glare (and therefore eye strain) or you can pay extra for 8KO polarisation for 70% clearer vision.

No matter what you go for, they’re super durable, and would be just as at home on a run as they would be strolling the Sunday market. They even come in a handy blue dust bag for when you want to chuck them in your bag.

Best oversized aviator sunglasses

Oversized sunglasses had their moment at Copenhagen fashion week, and this pair is a staple you won’t want to live without. They come in a classic aviator shape, but those polarized lenses are shatterproof and come with UV 2 protection, so they’re a great incognito pair for an evening look or slamming on to head to the supermarket.

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Best affordable men’s sunglasses

Sometimes all you want is a pair of shades you can count on to get the job done. This minimalist metal pair won’t take the attention away from the rest of your outfit.

It has polarised lenses, to reduce glare, and comes with sleek and simple metal frames.

Best 90s women’s sunglasses

The 90s are clearly here to stay, and up there with the most popular trends are skinnyyyy sunglass frames. We’re a big fan of these ones from Jimmy Fairly, which are a perfect mix of square and round, and offer 100% protection against UVB and UVA. Stylish and functional, what could be better?

Best women’s colourful frame

We’ve been seeing pops of primary colours dominate fashion and interiors the whole year, so it’s no surprise that the trend has now reached our sunglasses, with colourful frames all over fashion weeks.

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These oversized frames from Jimmy Fairly come in clear, yellow, brown, and blue, but we’re partial to this deep maroon colour. We’ll just call you big red.

Best Y2K sunglasses

Run, don’t walk: ASOS is selling vintage now. Who knew?! I don’t know about you, but my social media has been absolutely awash with a Prada Sport comeback this year, and I love this pair of vintage Y2K glasses.

They’re a little on the spenny side, but totally worth it if you’re committed to looking like you just walked out of an episode of The Simple Life.

Best round glasses

If you’re taking the bohemian revival seriously, these round sunnies will tick off two trends at once: 70s inspired and colourful frames.

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They’re unisex, so you can share them with your lover, and come with 100% UV protection for protection you can rely on.

Best women’s sunglasses with a gold detail

What is life if not about that bling? If you wanna prove that you’re too blang for that thang this summer, these frames from Versace are the only accessory you’ll need, as they come with a gold logo detail on teh side.

We also appreciate that the lenses are grey, rather than black, for a touch of tonal difference to your ‘fit.

Best statement glasses

If you want your sunnies to make your outfit, Paloceras is a one-stop shop. With a selection of chunky statement sunnies, it has plenty of options for your next favourite accessory.

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These red ones are calling our name, because don’t they just look like they’ve come straight out of a cartoon? They’re 100% UV protective, and unisex. But if that’s not your jam, this clear pair is also enticing as hell.

Best budget women’s sunglasses

Apparently the butter yellow trend is out and lemon curd is in – let me know if you figure out the difference. Either way, this pair of pale yellow sunnies looks like they could be far more expensive than they are: they’re delightfully chunky, and also come in black if you’re more of a classic gal.

Best classic sunglasses

Groundbreaking, I know. But just in case you forgot these classic frames existed, here’s your reminder. I struggle with finding sunglasses as I have a pretty narrow face, and I love that Ray Ban allows you to choose your width.

You can also customise them, make them polarised, or add your prescription to them, which is pretty neat if you ask me.

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Best new designer collab

You might not want to look at the sun, but there’s no harm in looking like you’re wearing it on your face.

I mean, how fab is this collab between Ray Ban and D&G? The combo of the yellow lenses and gold frames is just *chef’s kiss* but if you don’t like yellow, you can choose from five other frame colours.

Best sporty men’s sunglasses

If you’re after a frame that is equal parts sporty and wearable, these frames from Cos fit the bill.

The angular frames will add a hint of interest to even the most basic of outfits, while the brown is a neutral you can fall back on come spring or autumn.

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Sunglasses trends to shop in 2026

The National Trust has told families to ‘avoid’ a section of beach it manages in England as it will ‘stay hot for days’ after a wildfire ripped through the coastline

An urgent ‘avoid the area’ warning has been issued to beach-goers by the National Trust after a fire ravaged sections of a hugely popular UK beach.

Although the fire is under control, the National Trust, which runs Formby beach and the nature reserve in the dunes, has warned the ground will ‘stay hot for days’ and must be avoided. The beach is hugely popular in the north west – not only with Liverpudlians locally, but also Mancunians and Lancastrians as it’s one of the closest beaches to major cities like Manchester and Preston.

Six fire crews raced to a ‘significant’ blaze on the sand dunes on Formby beach, in Merseyside, on Wednesday evening (August 12). They tackled a fire on sand dunes and gorse around 500 metres by 200 metres in size during the heatwave, reports the Liverpool Echo.

Fire crews used beaters and hoses to combat the blaze, with extended hose lines stretched across substantial distances to secure water supplies. Challenging conditions arose as strong winds drove the fire through dense gorse.

An MFRS drone was also deployed to give crews an aerial perspective of the fire. A fire engine from Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service and an MFRS off-road vehicle were also mobilised.

The scorched land now poses an ongoing safety risk, the National Trust announced. In an official statement, the charity confirmed that its ranger team had been working alongside MFRS to evaluate the damage caused by the fire.

It said: “It’s still too early to understand the full extent of the fire’s impact, but we’ll be closely monitoring this ecologically significant habitat and its affected species over the coming months.

“While the fire is now out, the scorched ground will remain hot for several days, so we ask visitors to avoid the area for their own safety.”

The National Trust also urged those visiting the Sefton Coast to exercise additional caution during the current hot, dry spell.

Visitors were reminded to ensure cigarettes are completely stubbed out, and that barbecues and open fires should never be lit along the coastline.

The organisation added: “We’d like to thank Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service for their quick response and hard work in containing and extinguishing the fire.”