Warning: This is a report of the inquest into the death of Darren Meah-Moore and contains evidence that may be distressing

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Police have used CCTV to piece together the final movements of a young man who ended up dead beneath cardboard boxes in a city centre laneway.

Darren Meah-Moore was also known as the drag queen, CC Quinn, Crystal Coutoure and Dolly Diamond in Cardiff. The video footage shows Meah-Moore engage with two men on the night, disappearing from sight but reappearing again. However, its after a third encounter with a man that he fails to reappear.

He was later found dead in a lane close to Windsor Place and Park Lane in Cardiff City centre on Sunday, January 22, 2023, reports Wales Online. The 39 year old lived in Newport but performed in venues across South Wales, England and abroad with his act that included jokes, funny stories and songs by Tina Turner and Amy Winehouse.

The CCTV video combined with witness statements show Mr Meah-Moore entering the lane where his body was found. The man that was with him cannot be named due to a reporting restriction made by the court.

The man gave evidence about a sexual encounter involving his pet dog on the second day of the inquest. South Wales Police detective superintendent Paul Raikes gave evidence the following day as he was the assumed senior investigating officer responsibility on duty on January 23.

He explained how there was “clearly concern and suspicion of the nature of the death” and it was a suspected potential homicide. Due to the location where Mr Meah-Moore was found, blood found at the scene, and cardboard covering his body was a “possible method of concealment.”

Mr Raikes explained how the investigation was focused on obtaining “hundreds of hours” of CCTV. This was obtained to track Mr Meah-Moore’s movements that Saturday evening.

The footage clearly showed him travelling on the train from his home in Newport to Cardiff and revealed that he visited some of the city’s LGBTQ+ venues including, the Golden Cross, the Cambrian Tap, Proud Marys, Main Stage and Popworld.

Mr Meah-Moore stood outside before engaging with an unknown man and vanishing out of view for 37 minutes. He then re-appeared on CCTV at 2:23am on his own before heading to Pulse where he stayed until 4:51am.

The inquest was told that he went into Park Lane with an unknown man before he disappeared out of sight for seven minutes. He then re-appeared with the same man before turning onto Queen Street and they walked in separate directions.

DS Raikes said that he could “confidently say” that Mr Meah-Moore looked to be uninjured and unharmed when he emerged from the lane. He then socialised for some time with others on Queen Street.

He is then seen engaging with another man, who cannot be named before entering the lane again. This time, as he disappears from view, he does not reappear. It was the last time he was seen before he was found dead.

It was originally thought that robbery could be a motive but DS Raikes reported that Mr Meah-Moore’s bag and belonging, which contained a mobile phone and £200 in cash were all present.

A pathological external examination carried out on Mr Meah-Moore at the scene, before his body was recovered and taken to mortuary for further investigation showed that there was a presence of semen. This was later confirmed to be both human and non-human through DNA sample.

The DNA sample was found to match a sample from the dog of the man who went down the lane. Mr Raikes said there were no signs of restraint and no injury to areas ordinarily associated with an assault.

He said, “His ears, nose, mouth, structure of the neck were not injured or damaged in any way. There were no defence injuries and no bruising present to hands that might suggest defence injury.”

Mr Meah-Moore had an allergy to dogs which may have cause some sensitivity and a potentially allergic reaction, the inquest heard. The man who entered the lane with him was considered a suspect following the incident which led to his arrest.

A further statement revealed that it had been discovered that Mr Meah-Moore had been in contact with a dog. Police are seeking expert advice from an animal behaviourist as part of the investigation through the National Crime Agency.

The inquest was told that the expert’s opinion was that it was “highly unlikely” this was the first time the dog had been used for this purpose. This was contrary to the evidence of his owner who said it was.

The man refused a police request to hand his dog over for examination. This had something that was considered a “cause for concern” for officers. Two mobile phones which had been taken from the man’s home were not examined which DS Raikes described as “unfortunate.”

The inquest continues.

Former Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba made his return to competitive football back in November but has now suffered another blow with French side AS Monaco

Former Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba has suffered another blow after his return to football. The Frenchman has been left out of Monaco’s squad for the knockout stages of the Champions League.

Pogba made his return to playing back in November, just over two years after his previous appearance. The midfielder joined Monaco on a free transfer in June, after serving a reduced ban for testing positive for a banned substance.

He had to wait to make his debut due to building up his match fitness after so long out of action. That debut came as a late substitute in the Ligue 1 clash against Rennes back in November.

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Pogba has gone on to make a further two substitute appearances but has missed the last nine games in all competitions with a calf injury. In a latest blow, Pogba has been left out of Monaco’s squad for the upcoming knockout stages of the Champions League. Speaking in a press conference, via RMCSport, Monaco director Thiago Scuro gave an update on the 32-year-old.

“The entire medical department is focused on finding solutions,” he said. When asked when Pogba will be able to train again, he added: “There’s no clear answer to that question.

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“We still need to develop the process to clarify the situation. As with any injury, the first step will be to get back on the pitch, then continue to progress in training to regain the necessary fitness to play.”

As well as Pogba, defender Mohammed Salisu and midfielder Takumi Minamino have been removed from the squad, with both players also out through injury. January signings Wout Faes and Simon Adringra have come in to replace them, with Krépin Diatta also added to the squad.

Monaco are back in action on Thursday night (8pm kick-off), when they travel to take on Strasbourg in the round of 16 stage of the French Cup. They return to Champions League action on Tuesday, 17 February, when they host PSG in the first leg of their play-off clash.

The second leg takes place at the Parc des Princes on Wednesday, 25 February (8pm kick-off). The winners will take on one of Barcelona or Chelsea in the round of 16 stage.

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The eldest son of Norway’s crown princess has denied that videos on his phone showed acts of rape as he broke down during his first day of testimony in his trial for rape and domestic violence.

Marius Borg Hoiby, 29, son of Crown Princess Mette-Marit and stepson ⁠to Crown Prince Haakon, could face years in prison if found guilty of the most serious of the 38 charges against him.

The case has shaken the Norwegian royal family, which has historically enjoyed high favourability ratings.

On Tuesday, the first day of his trial, he pleaded not guilty to the most serious charges of rape and domestic violence, but admitted some lesser charges, including driving too fast.

He also said he was partially guilty – a plea allowed under Norwegian law – of aggravated assault and reckless behaviour.

On Wednesday, Hoiby broke down in tears during his first day on the witness stand, saying: “It is very difficult for me to speak in front of so many people.

“I have been surrounded by the press since I was three. I have been harassed ever ‌since.”

He said he had received “heavy medication”, and would try to do as much as he could.

Hoiby spoke about growing up as the son of a crown princess.

He said: “I have an extreme need for affirmation. A lot of sex, a lot of alcohol. Few can relate to the life I have led. A lot of parties, alcohol, some drugs.”

Hoiby wore jeans and a dark blue jumper over a beige shirt, and spoke with his arms crossed, occasionally consulting handwritten notes from a notebook.

Some of the most serious charges against Hoiby are one count of rape ‍with sexual intercourse, and three counts of rape without intercourse, some of which the prosecution says he filmed on his telephone.

He denied the videos on his phone show acts of rape, and noted that he had never shared them with anyone.

“If I had thought I had material that showed an assault, I would never have kept that material,” he said.

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Hoiby’s trial is scheduled to run until 19 March, and prosecutors have said that he could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

The crown prince and princess do not plan to attend the trial of Hoiby, who is outside the line of royal succession and has no title.

A monarchy under pressure

The trial comes as the Norwegian royal family is facing challenges on multiple fronts.

Hoiby’s mother, Crown Princess Mette-Marit, is under intense scrutiny over her ties with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

An opinion poll conducted on ‍Monday for daily newspaper Verdens Gang, showed only 61% of Norwegians were in favour of keeping the monarchy – a drop of 11%.

First came the cars of the United Nations, then two coaches with blue paintwork. And then came a wave of emotion – proof that the heart has a power that the head can’t always match.

How to explain the logic of people desperate to return to the shattered ruins of Gaza?

To leave behind the safety and sanctuary of life in Egypt, and to rush back to a place where you search for running water, dream of functioning hospitals and fear the effects of airstrikes, collapsing buildings and unexploded bombs.

The only explanation is the profound sense of longing that can affect us all when we are separated from family, friends and the place we consider our home. And so it is in Gaza.

The people who came out of those coaches were among the first to have crossed the Rafah Crossing to pursue their dream of returning to Gaza.

It’s estimated that more than 40,000 people fled the Strip during the war. These were the first to come back.

Foreign journalists are banned from entering Gaza, but our Gazan colleagues have been reporting on our behalf ever since the war began. As they filmed, they saw a stream of emotional reunions and outpourings of joy.

Kariza Bahloul, 48, was one of those to have come home.

She told our colleagues in Khan Younis that it was “an indescribable feeling” to return: “I am very happy that I came back to my husband, my sons, my family, my loved ones, and also to my homeland. And the homeland feeling is the most important.”

A few feet away, Amati Othman Omran was also soaking up the feeling of homecoming.

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She had left Gaza to accompany her husband, Adel, to Egypt so he could have heart surgery. But her love for Gaza never diminished.

“When the road back was blocked, and I could not come back, I spent two years without a single day of peace, thinking of my sons, my brother, sisters. My family,” she said.

“I thank God that I have come back to Gaza. I smelled its scent and its air from far away.”

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Huda Abu Abed had left during the first ceasefire, traumatised by the death of her son. Then, she said, there were still houses and olive trees.

“Everything was not destroyed, as it is now,” she said.

So how, she was asked, did she feel about coming back to a land where she will be destined to live in a tent, surrounded by rubble?

“It is better than living in a villa,” came the reply. “If I sit under a tree, it is better than being away from home. I am happy to get back to a tent, because that tent will contain my family.”

It is an intoxicating strain of both optimism and loyalty. But it also feels so discordant to the reality of life.

Not only is everyday existence still unpredictable and fragile, but the danger of sudden violence lingers over everything.

Just hours after these people were joyously reunited with their families, more than 20 Gazans were killed by a combination of Israeli tank and airstrikes. Among them, a paramedic who had come to help.

The Israeli military later issued a statement saying it had targeted one of the leaders of the 7 October massacre, and offered its regret for any harm done to “uninvolved civilians”. It was near as the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) normally comes to an apology.

A little while later came a separate IDF statement, accusing “Hamas terrorists” of “systematically using ambulances in Gaza by transporting terrorists and weapons”.

The effect, whether deliberate or not, was to dilute their own words of regret. In Gaza, the place where some are desperate to flee, and others are desperate to return, nothing is ever sure.

Ryan Gravenberch looks set to start at centre-back with Joe Gomez (injury) and Ibrahima Konate (compassionate leave) unavailable. Andy Robertson is given the nod to start at left-back ahead of Milos Kerkez. There is no Curtis Jones in the squad.

Liverpool: Alisson, Frimpong, Gravenberch, Van Dijk, Robertson, Mac Allister, Szoboszlai, Wirtz, Salah, Gakpo, Ekitike.
Substitutes: Mamardashvili, Woodman, Endo, Kerkez, Chiesa, Nyoni, Nallo, Morrison, Ngumoha.

Qarabag: Kochalski, Cafarquliyev, Medina, Mustafazada, Silva, Jankovic, Bicalho, Zoubir, Montiel, Andrade, Duran.
Substitutes: Mmaee, Kouakou, Akhundzada, Addai, Bolt, Kashchuk, Qurbanli, Bayramov, A. Huseynov, B. Huseynov, Ramazanov, Buntic.

More than £66 million has been paid to over 33,000 bereaved people since Funeral Support Payment launched in 2019.

People in South Lanarkshire who lose someone over the winter months are encouraged to apply for support to help with funeral costs.

Funeral Support Payment is delivered by Social Security Scotland and is available to people living in Scotland who receive certain benefits.

The payment can help cover some of the cost of a funeral and can be used towards funerals for a baby, child or adult. The payment also covers funerals for babies who are stillborn.

More than £66 million has been paid to over 33,000 bereaved people since Funeral Support Payment launched in 2019.

Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Shirley-Anne Somerville, said: “A bereavement is one of the hardest things a person can experience. On top of their grief, people often face the staggering costs of paying for the funeral. The average price for a funeral in the UK is now well over £4,000 – this is a cost many do not have the resources to pay for.

“Funeral Support Payment is there to ease some of the financial pressure for grieving individuals and reduce funeral poverty for people in Scotland. I urge people in South Lanarkshire to check their eligibility to receive Funeral Support Payment.”

To find out more information on Funeral Support Payment, visit: www.mygov.scot/browse/benefits/death/funeral-support

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A decade on from Ireland’s most notorious gangland hit, Irish police say they have had “unprecedented” success in tackling Dublin’s drug gangs – and ending a bitter feud that claimed at least 18 lives.

In 2025, the Gardai recorded a total of zero gangland gun murders “for the first time in modern times” – believed to be at least 30 years.

Ninety-eight members of the two most infamous organised crime groups – the Hutch and Kinahan gangs – have been jailed, and 51 attempted hits have been foiled.

It was the Hollywood-style attack on the Regency Hotel that changed Ireland’s crime landscape forever.

On 5 February 2016, a hit squad of assassins disguised as a police SWAT team besieged a boxing weigh-in at the hotel, near Dublin Airport.

AK47-style assault rifles were fired as hundreds of panicked attendees fled. Several were injured in the chaos, and one man – Kinahan associate David Byrne – was killed in the lobby.

The attack, Gardai say, was carried out by the Hutch gang – their target was Daniel Kinahan, head of their bitter rivals.

It accelerated a feud that shocked Ireland with its ferocity, and ultimately backfired on both gangs as the police backlash strengthened.

The Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau, only a year old, led the way.

Dubliners became accustomed to heavily-armed police checkpoints in the inner city, as politicians promised all the resources necessary.

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The Regency Hotel shooting “was not just an attack on a sporting event, and the murder of Mr Byrne, but an attack on our state and and an affront to all right-minded and peaceful citizens”, according to Garda Assistant Commissioner Angela Willis.

The gardai responded “with a sustained and relentless campaign to disrupt, degrade and dismantle the Hutch and Kinahan criminal organisations and their criminal activity”, she said.

At a press conference in Dublin today, Detective Chief Superintendent Seamus Boland vowed that the force would not become “complacent” in combatting organised crime.

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“We don’t live in Nirvana”, he said, warning the continued demand for illegal drugs could fuel potential upsurge in gang violence.

Now, he says, the Kinahan cartel “no longer exists as it did in 2016”, although the Hutch group remains active and a target of investigation.

Its alleged leader, Gerry “The Monk” Hutch, was acquitted of Mr Byrne’s murder in a well-publicised trial in April 2023.

Against a backdrop of policing success, Boland says he does not regard that the absence of a murder conviction a decade on as a policing failure, or a regret.

“We’re not emotional about these things”, he says.

“There are no regrets.”

A famous expression, often wrongly attributed to Mark Twain, states that comedy is merely tragedy plus time. This theory highlights how our response to films can depend on the context in which we see them.

We tend to think of the genre of a film as something very fixed, decided by a combination of studio producers and marketers. But, in the right context, films can move across many different genres in the span of their lifetime, depending on the audiences that watch them.

To demonstrate this idea, here are five scary films for 2026. The twist, however, is that none of these films were ever intended to be horror films. Most on the list were satire or comedy when they were made. Instead, they have become horrific due to the way they touch on contemporary issues surrounding the global politics of President Donald Trump, impending environmental disaster, ever-accelerating technology and contemporary attitudes towards gender.

1. Duck Soup (1933)

The finest film produced by the famous Marx Brothers comedy troupe, Duck Soup is an anarchic political satire that tells the story of an unserious playboy president named Rufus T. Firefly. Beloved by film enthusiasts, the film showcases a series of mishaps and misdeeds caused by his selfish, erratic behaviour which inadvertently led his country of Freedonia into a war with its neighbours.

Duck Soup is considered a classic of Hollywood slapstick and quick-witted verbal comedy. But, in an era of a genuine unserious president, its central joke might not feel funny any more. Nor indeed is the idea that, nearly 100 years after its release, this biting satire on the politics of rising authoritarianism would be as timely now as it was then.

2. The Apartment (1960)

People often say “they don’t make them like they used to any more” when trying to articulate a nostalgia for the films of the past. That description can be aptly applied to Billy Wilder’s romantic comedy-drama The Apartment. They do not make films like this any more. But in this case, that’s a good thing.

Jack Lemmon’s “Buddy Boy” Baxter is the bachelor who routinely loans his apartment out to his bosses for them to conduct extra-marital affairs. Shirley MacLaine’s Fran is the loveable but down-on-her-luck elevator operator involved in a tawdry situation with Baxter’s boss. Their own romance emerges out of a suicide attempt, workplace harassment and abuses of power. It feels like the film is set not just in the past, but in some creepy alternative world.

To be fair to The Apartment, it hardly treats some of the more problematic behaviour of its characters as virtues we are supposed to admire. But it never quite attacks the deeply unpleasant nature of its central conceit either. Baxter is not just a loveable goof unaware of what he’s got himself mixed up in. He’s a complicit enabler. And Fran is not a ditsy but loveable woman mixed up with the wrong crowd. She’s a victim.

3. Idiocracy (2006)

Idiocracy was something of a box office bomb, given neither the marketing campaign nor the reviews it needed to ensure success. The fact it has since become a cult hit speaks to how startlingly prescient the film is for contemporary audiences now discovering the film in droves 20 years later.

Idiocracy tells the story of a young man put into suspended animation who wakes up 500 years in the future. The average intelligence of the population has severely decreased, to the extent that the world has become increasingly consumerist, vulgar, crass and prejudiced in its thinking. America has even elected a former pro wrestler and porn star, Dwayne “Mountain Dew” Camacho, as its leader.

Made in 2006 during the final year of George W. Bush’s presidency and set against the rise of Barack Obama, the film failed initially as a comedy. It now works perfectly as a terrifying exaggeration of what the world looks like in 2026.

4. Wall-E (2008)

Wall-E is part of a long history of animations with an interest in the environment, from Princess Mononoke (2001) to Ferngully: The Last Rainforest (1992). That part of its dystopic vision still stands up. The film’s vivid opening of Wall-E wandering around a silent world of trash is still its best moment.

The film’s vision of the humanity that has left the garbage-strewn world behind, however, has become increasingly concerning over time. Predicting a world of humans who are dumb, obese and screen-obsessed, it is increasingly difficult to watch Wall-E as a nostalgic childhood treat.

5. Her (2013)

The amazing feat pulled off by this absurdist romantic drama was to somehow get an audience to root for the idea of a romantic pairing between a lonely middle-aged man and an AI-enabled operating system. More than a decade later, Her’s open-minded approach to AI seems far more fraught.

As the romance develops between Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) and Samantha (voiced by Scarlett Johansson), it is difficult not to imagine the fingerprints of powerful but not necessarily benign tech moguls turning the screws tighter, manipulating Theodore further into spurning human contact for his digital desires.

Equally, it is difficult not to wonder whose voice has been stolen to create her warm, affectionate tones, or to ask what the company might do with the recording of their conversations. The dangers in our current technological reality have once again spoilt a perfectly good film.

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CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — The Winter Olympics got underway Wednesday with the first curling matches in Cortina, but came to a halt only moments later because of a power outage.

Officials briefly paused the matches at the historic curling stadium when the lights dimmed and flickered. Curlers kept sliding on the ice to stay ready. Fans cheered when the bright lights came back shortly after and competition resumed. Venue officials said they were investigating and had no immediate word on what caused the problem.

Curling in Cortina — eight teams in mixed doubles — began two full days before the opening ceremony for the 2026 Milan Cortina Games. American curler Korey Dropkin said he has been waiting a long time for this moment.

“Being amongst the best, it’s a very cool atmosphere to be part of,” said Dropkin, a first-time Olympian who will begin competition Thursday. “We’re looking forward to being ready to compete and pour our hearts out on the ice.”

Italian duo Stefania Constantini, who is from Cortina, and Amos Mosaner are the defending world and Olympic champions in mixed doubles.

Stephanie Kahn is a volunteer at the curling center, who is eager to learn what curling is all about and how hard it is. Kahn is from the United States and moved to Spain when she retired. She aspired to compete in swimming in the Olympics when she was younger.

“That, for me, is what makes it so special. Being an athlete and knowing that to be at the top, top of your sport, regardless of what that sport is, it’s just such a commitment,” she said. “So I’m just excited to be in the presence of these athletes.”

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AP Writer Julia Frankel in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

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AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Officers were called to on Low Street on October 31 last year after receiving reports that fireworks were being thrown in the street.

An investigation was launched, which led to a 23‑year‑old local man being identified in connection with the incident.

A police spokesman said he was interviewed for the offence of throwing a firework and admitted his actions.

He has been referred to a scheme to undertake educational work to reflect on his behaviour.

“We’re going to keep up our work in the area. Please support us – if you witness crime or anti-social behaviour, tell us about it. You can call 101 (or 999 in an emergency), or make a report via our website.”