An initiative that empowered girls in rural Bangladesh to tackle child marriage has shown encouraging results in a country where the practice is stubbornly persistent. 

Child marriage is illegal in the south Asian nation, but it is still widely accepted as a cultural norm and the law is poorly enforced. Consequently, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), 51% of young Bangladeshi women aged 20–24 were married before the age of 18. Bangladesh, it adds, has around 38 million child brides, with 13 million wed before turning 13.

The systemic problem is more prevalent in deprived and climate-vulnerable communities, where girls are seen as a burden and are ‘married off’ by their families to save money. Experts say that poverty remains the primary driver, compounded by climate shocks in vulnerable regions, where some areas have reported sharp increases in child marriage following environmental disasters.

Action Aid, an international charity working with women and girls in poverty, met the problem head-on in the remote Kurigram district. Through a 12-month pilot, it provided financial support to families, including scholarships to keep girls in education, assistance with school fees and lump sums to help them develop new income streams, including money to purchase livestock.

The charity also helped to establish a network of youth clubs totalling 120 members, creating a safe space for girls to discuss challenges, share experiences and actively stop child marriages from going ahead. 

According to Action Aid, the initiate prevented at least 18 child marriages, provided scholarships for 40 at-risk students, and generated new incomes for 30 vulnerable families.

Some areas have reported sharp increases in child marriage following environmental disasters

Romana, vice president of one of the clubs, managed to avert her own early marriage and that of a close friend. 

“We all came together and intervened,” she said. “We explained the harmful consequences of child marriage, emphasised the importance of education and informed her father about the legal implications. We also involved her school teachers to help reinforce the message and successfully stopped the marriage.”

Abdullah Al Mamun, who heads up Action Aid Bangladesh’s child sponsorship and child rights programme, said the charity hoped to roll out the initiative elsewhere, and said that it’s success should act as a clarion call to local authorities to improve enforcement.

Main image: Action Aid 

Richard Madeley has lifted the lid on a bizarre trick he used when he and his wife, telly icon Judy Finnigan, were trying for a family together

Richard Madeley has made a surprise appearance on Series Two of Last One Laughing – and revealed bedroom secrets about his relationship with wife Judy Finnigan.

The TV host, 69, is not a contestant on the Prime Video but appears as a guest star to try to make the comedians on the show smile and laugh. And he wastes no time on stage inviting them up one by one to be interviewed about a variety of topics.

But the most surprising moment comes in his chat with Romesh Ranganathan and talk turns to sex and having children. Richard asks Romesh: “You’ve got three children, haven’t you? Yeah, any tips for conceiving?”

When Romesh makes a joke in response, Richard adds: “The reason I ask is that when Judy and I were trying to conceive a few years ago, I used to douse my balls in icy water beforehand, right? Apparently it ups the sperm count. Yeah, it’s agonizing.”

Romesh didn’t laugh at the comment but did look shocked and as others looked on he clarified what Richard actually meant. Father-of-two Richard explained: “In a bucket, put several trays of ice, then in, count to 50 and out. You’re dropping in.”

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Romesh couldn’t help inquiring if this move by Richard put Judy off sex a bit afterwards and wondered if it gave her “the ice”.

Richard replied: “Well, I did that in the bathroom, and then I came out nicely, chilled with fast swimming sperm. So I just thought I would pass it on.”

With that admission the interview ended and Romesh left the stage without having laughed. In a piece to camera afterwards he said: “I mean, Richard Madeley, you know, broadcasting legend. The thing that I didn’t want was the image of him squatting to lower his testicles into a bucket of ice water.”

Romesh is one of ten comedians taking part in the second series of Last One Laughing. In 2025, Bob Mortimer, 66, won the first series of Last One Laughing.

Bob is back and up against Romesh as well as Mel Giedroyc, 57, David Mitchell, 51, Diane Morgan, 50, Amy Gledhill, 38, Maisie Adam, 32, Alan Carr, 49, Gbemisola Ikumelo, 39, and 34-year-old Sam Campbell.

The show has been a huge success and reports suggest that a third series has already been commissioned. The first series featured Danny Dyer amongst the special guests.

Richard and Judy have two children together: son Jack born in 1986 and daughter Chloe Susannah born in 1987.

The first three episodes Series Two of Last One Laughing is on Prime Video now with more episodes dropping on Thursday.

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It marks the end of an era after 50 yards of being in business

A popular card shop that’s been a key part of a Swansea community for generations has closed its doors for good. Colin’s Cards, located at Elgin Street in Manselton, Swansea, served its final customers on Saturday, March 21.

It marked the end of an era for the store, which traded in the area for 50 years under community stalwart Colin Lightfoot, who initially ran the shop as a cobblers before diversifying and becoming a specialist greeting card shop since the early 1980s.

Mr Lightfoot sadly died aged 86 on Tuesday, June 17, having battled dementia. The shop remained open with new owner Jo Brooks in charge. But the shop closed at the weekend, with all stock reduced to clear. Never miss a Swansea story by signing up to our newsletter here.

The shop had an old-school traditional-feel and was not too dissimilar inside to the one seen in the TV show Open All Hours.

It became every bit as much of a community as it was a business with customers treated as Mr Lightfoot’s friends when they walked in.

Signs are displayed in the shop’s window informing the community that it has now closed down.

On its Facebook page, customers had been invited to visit the store in its final days and “raise a glass to Colin and his empire.”

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​Residents, politicians, and businesses have called on Yorkshire Water and the Environment Agency to speed up their work to improve water quality in Scarborough and to introduce a year-round testing regime of bathing water in the resort.

​Yorkshire Water has admitted that “for many it feels like too little too late” but promised further significant investment in its storm overflows and infrastructure in Scarborough and across the coast.

​“Irate” residents said “Scarborough is celebrating its 400th anniversary as Britain’s first resort, but it’s now the last resort” at a special meeting convened to discuss bathing water quality in the town.

​​Issues with Scarborough’s bathing water quality have continued to persist and last year’s ratings saw the South Bay still classed as ‘poor’ and the North Bay’s bathing water quality classed as ‘sufficient’.

​Steve Crawford of Surfers Against Sewage told the meeting on Monday, March 23: “Based on the ratings, if it was a restaurant, you wouldn’t touch it with a bargepole.

​“I think it’s fantastic that Yorkshire Water is investing in infrastructure, but it needs to clarify why its previous work failed, if I’m to trust it now.

“I’ve lost my shop, lost my business, lost my livelihood as a surfing instructor because of the water quality. I want to feel that I can leave this meeting and feel that something will get done.”

​Miles Cameron, manager of strategic partnerships at Yorkshire Water, said: “I’m really proud of the bathing water team who will be out working in communities, and Scarborough is a key priority for us.

​“I know for many in the room it feels like too little too late, but it is coming, and we are working on these projects. We hold the operational team to account.

​“We’ve seen improvements, including at Wheatcroft, which we are pleased to see, and were driving that improvement across our assets.

“The Scarborough investment programme will benefit Yorkshire by reducing spills from Scarborough’s five CSOs to no more than 10 per year and no more than two per bathing season, helping to improve and protect the bathing water.

​“The programme is a major AMP8 programme impacting a major urban area with a value of £150 million.”

​The Environment Agency currently tests bathing water quality from May to September, but councillors said Defra should extend the agency’s remit and funding.

​Cllr Roberta Swiers told the meeting: “The extension of the testing regime has to happen because we’re a year-round destination, because holiday parks are used consistently.

​“For everyone in this room its very frustrating that the issues remain and the change has to come faster, we need results, and we want to see Scarough going up in these water quality tables because it’s one of the best resorts in the country.”

​Professor Darren Gröcke has been investigating seaweed as an indicator of water quality in Scarborough for the past two years in a study supported by North Yorkshire Council.

​The Durham University expert said his findings pointed to Scalby Beck as the dominant source of pollution which is understood to be travelling through North Bay and into South Bay.

​He said the pollution itself was “either human sewage or manure from farms, but based on what the Environment Agency (EA) has shown us, human DNA seems to be the dominant one that’s coming through”.

​Professor Gröcke told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that the issue could be addressed by going to the source of the pollution.

​He said: “Go to the source, which is Yorkshire Water, and make sure that a lot of that water that’s being released into the Scalby Beck is clean, it’s sterilised, that there’s no DNA, no pathogens in it, and hopefully with monitoring that Scalby Beck through the two to three years, then we’ll hopefully start to see an improvement.”

​Alison Hume, the MP for Scarborough and Whitby, said she was concerned “by the issue that the people of Scarborough cannot be assured that the water they are bathing in is safe”.

​The MP said the system for rating bathing water quality should be more “dynamic” in order to reflect recent improvements “instead of this four-year cycle”.

​Ms Hume added that she would be pushing the Government to adopt “a more dynamic resolution to this, because people don’t want to wait for years, as the water is improving due to recent investment by McCains and Yorkshire Water, and we need to be able to say that”.

​Mr Cameron, of Yorkshire Water, described innovation in water quality monitoring as “the holy grail to inform all water users whether it’s safe to bathe” and noted that the company had installed 20 new monitoring units as part of a trial to assess “how we can provide near or ‘real-time’ water quality data for water users”.

Nuno Espirito Santo will rightly see the visit of former club Wolves to the London Stadium as a must-have three points, though the rest of West Ham’s run-in looks tricky, with home games against Arsenal and Everton plus short trips to Crystal Palace and Brentford, and a journey to Newcastle on the penultimate weekend.

A military transport plane, reportedly carrying 110 soldiers, was involved in an accident in Colombia‘s southern Amazon region on Monday, the country’s defence ministry has confirmed.

The Lockheed Martin C-130 Hercules aircraft crashed shortly after departing from Puerto Leguizamo, a remote location deep within the Amazon near the Peruvian border.

Defence Minister Pedro Sanchez stated the plane was transporting troops from the armed forces when the incident occurred.

Local outlet BluRadio, citing authorities, reported that 110 soldiers were on board the aircraft, which came down just three kilometres (two miles) from an urban centre.

However, Mr Sanchez cautioned that “the exact number of victims and the causes of the crash have not yet been determined.”

US defence company Lockheed Martin did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the accident.

At the end of February, another Hercules C-130 belonging to the Bolivian Air Force crashed in the populous city of Alto, barely missing a residential block.

More than 20 people died and another 30 were injured, and banknotes from the plane’s cargo scattered around the city, prompting clashes between residents and security forces.

Brian Thorley died on Almond Street, Astley Bridge, on Saturday (March 21) at the age of 64.

Police are appealing for anyone with information which might identify Brian’s next of kin to come forward.

A spokesman for Greater Manchester Police said: “Can you help us find the family of a man from Bolton?

“Brian Thorley (64), sadly died at his address on Almond St, Bolton, on 21 March 2026.

“There are believed to be no suspicious circumstances surrounding his death.

“Anyone with information about Brian’s next of kin should contact the Police Coroner’s Office on 0161 856 4687.”

Once the police have the details that they need, they will be passed along to the Coroner’s Office to let full cause of death be established.

‘Next of Kin’ is not fully defined under UK law, but is usually understood to refer to the closest living relative, be that a parent, a child, or a sibling.

A MAN who died following an incident at a North Yorkshire pub was ‘kind, loving, generous and larger than life’, his devastated family has said.

North Yorkshire Police is continuing its investigation into the death of a man earlier this month following a disturbance at The Elsinore Pub on Flowergate in Whitby.

The force has now formally named the man who died from injuries sustained during the incident as Jason Smith who was 49, and originally from Hull but living in Halifax at the time.

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Officers responded to reports of a disturbance at the pub at 11.12pm on Sunday, March 15, and found Mr Smith unresponsive. They gave him CPR until the ambulance arrived however medics were unable to revive him and Mr Smith was pronounced dead.

As reported, four men were arrested in connection with the investigation and have since been released on conditional bail.

In a tribute, Mr Smith’s family said: “On the evening of Sunday, March 15, a dearly loved son, brother, fiancé, uncle, cousin and friend was taken away from us all in devastating circumstances.

“The loss of Jason has left such a huge void in all our lives that cannot ever be replaced.

“He will continue to live on in our hearts and memories as the kind, loving, generous, hardworking and larger-than-life character that he was.

“Jason will be greatly missed by so many every day and for the rest of our lives. We are all forever heartbroken.”

Jason’s family have asked that their privacy be respected during this difficult time, and that they be allowed the space to grieve in peace.

North Yorkshire Police’s Major Investigation Team (MIT) is continuing to investigate – detectives have spoken to a number of witnesses but are urging anyone with information who has yet to speak to them to get in touch.

A police spokesman said: “Detectives are now appealing directly to anyone who was in the pub at the time and has not yet spoken to us to come forward. Any information you have may help us further piece together the events of that evening.

“If you have any information that could assist the investigation, please upload details directly to our Major Incident Public reporting portal (MIPP) here https://mipp.police.uk/”

Alternatively, you can contact North Yorkshire Police by calling 101.

If you would like to remain anonymous, information can also be provided confidentially to Crimestoppers via their website or by calling 0800 555 111.

Please quote reference 12260046853 when providing any information

NEW YORK (AP) — WNBA players unanimously approved the new collective bargaining agreement on Monday with more than 90% participating in voting over the weekend.

The seven-year CBA, which will begin this season and run through 2032, represents a landmark labor deal for the WNBA and its players.

“This transformational CBA delivers consequential economic progress and expanded benefits that support players on and off the court,” the union said in a statement. “It builds a stronger foundation for today’s players, the next generation, and those who helped build the WNBA. It affirms the strength of our union and the power of our collective voice.

“Now it is time to get back to the game and the fans we love, competing at the highest level, and showing exactly what this league can be.”

Once the WNBA Board of Governors approves the CBA it will become official. Then there will be a sprint to the start of the regular season on May 8.

First up is an expansion draft for the two new teams — Toronto and Portland. Rules regarding who the current teams will be able to protect and how the draft will work are still being figured out. The draft is expected to take place right around the Final Four.

Next up would be free agency. More than 80% of the league are free agents this year as players had signed deals that were going to expire last year. There are only two veteran players that aren’t under rookie contracts who are signed for this season.

The college draft is scheduled for April 13 in New York.

Teams are expected to start training camp on April 19 and will have little time to get prepared for the regular season.

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AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball