A United Airlines flight had a close call at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey Friday after pilots reported nearly striking a drone during landing.

The incident happened around 5:20 p.m. as the Boeing 737, carrying 106 passengers and five crew members, was descending toward the airport after a flight from Key West, Florida, United toldThe Independent Saturday.

“We almost hit a drone,” the pilot said in air traffic control audio obtained by CNN. The pilot described the device as circular, about three feet wide, and flying “about 100 feet below us.”

Around the same time, the pilot of a United Express flight operated by GoJet Airlines also reported spotting a drone at about 2,000 feet while approaching Newark, the outlet reported.

United confirmed the incident in a statement. “United flight 1513 reported a potential drone sighting prior to arriving in Newark. The flight landed safely, and customers deplaned normally at the gate,” the company said.

The Federal Aviation Administration, which says it receives more than 100 reports of drones near airports each month, is investigating the incident.

Newark Airport is about 15 miles from East Rutherford, New Jersey, where World Cup matches are underway, though there are strict “No Drone Zone” rules on drone activity at the event.

Drone activity near airports continues to be a growing concern. Through March this year, pilots reported 319 drone sightings, but only eight required evasive action, the FAA says. Despite the frequency of reports, collisions remain rare, with just one confirmed crash involving a drone on a runway at San Carlos Airport in California.

The issue is not new in the New York and New Jersey region, either. In March, pilots at both LaGuardia Airport and John F. Kennedy International Airport reported multiple unmanned aircraft sightings, according to FAA data. Similar disruptions were recorded in April 2019, when drone sightings near Teterboro Airport, which is about 17 miles from Newark, led to flight interruptions in and out of Newark.

Flying drones near airplanes, helicopters and airports is dangerous and illegal, the agency said. Unauthorized operators can face fines, criminal charges and possible jail time.

A British medic wanted over the murder of a Colombian model found stuffed inside a suitcase has been arrested in Ecuador.

The body of Natalia Villalba Angarita, a 36-year-old model from Cúcuta, in northern Colombia, was found by cleaning staff when they entered her seventh-floor apartment in the capital, Bogotá, after the rental period ended on June 22.

With the shower still running, a grey suitcase was discovered in the bathroom, containing the model’s remains.

Matthew Foster-Smith had been named locally as the man police and prosecutors wanted to question over Villalba’s violent death.

The 46-year-old from Poole, Dorset, previously jailed twice in the UK for stalking and banned from practising as a doctor in Britain, insisted he was innocent hours before he was detained, using the World Cup as an alibi.

He told The Sun after leaving Colombia a day before her body was found on Monday: ‘I was watching England versus Croatia on a big screen in an Irish bar, so it wasn’t me.’

Foster-Smith claimed that, after the match, he went to the shopping centre for a ‘mooch about’ before buying an ice cream and going back to the bar later to watch another game.

‘I didn’t leave with anyone and went to bed myself at about 11pm local time.’

Overnight, Colombian prosecutors confirmed his arrest as they claimed he had beaten his victim to death before trying to conceal his alleged horrific crime, saying: ‘Pursuant to an arrest warrant obtained by a prosecutor from the Bogotá Sectional Office, and following the issue of an Interpol Red Notice, Ecuador’s National Police apprehended a British citizen at Quito International Airport.

‘He is alleged to be responsible for the death of a 36-year-old woman on June 18 in an apartment located in the Chico neighbourhood of northern Bogota.

‘Evidence obtained by the Technical Investigation Corps (CTI) indicates that he allegedly entered the apartment where the victim was alone, physically assaulted her until she died, and manipulated the body to place it inside a suitcase.

‘He then carried out various actions aimed at concealing what had happened, altering the crime scene, and fleeing the location.’

Their statement added that ‘the Office of the Attorney General of Colombia will carry out the necessary procedures to ensure that the foreign national is placed at its disposal and prosecuted in Colombia for the crimes of aggravated femicide and concealment, alteration, or destruction of material evidence’.

‘His location was made possible thanks to the joint efforts of the Attorney General’s Office, @MigracionCol, @SeguridadBOG, Interpol Colombia, and the authorities of Ecuador,’ it concluded, with one well-placed source telling Colombian press that Foster-Smith’s phone calls were traced as he tried to buy a ticket to Europe.

Prosecutors named the arrested man (who was pictured wearing shorts and a baseball cap when he was held at Quito International Airport) as Foster Martinson in their statement for reasons that were not immediately clear this morning.

Angarita’s grieving mother, Claudia, said earlier this week that she became concerned after her daughter stopped taking her calls last Thursday, the same day Foster-Smith was reportedly seen leaving the apartment block after entering hers the previous day.

CCTV cameras reportedly recorded Foster-Smith taking bedsheets to a laundry room in the building before exiting.

‘My daughter had been living in Bogota for 17 years,’ said Claudia, adding that they spoke ‘all the time’, but her phone is now still missing.

‘Natalia told me she had a company and worked doing that. I don’t know what it was exactly, and I’m waiting to talk to one of her best friends, so she gives me more information about what she was doing work-wise.’

Angarita’s body has not yet been released to her family.

‘All we want is for the truth to come out.’

Investigators say Angarita initially checked into her apartment between June 3 and 7 with a man from Texas before subsequently extending her stay for another fortnight until June 21.

Foster-Smith left Colombia on Sunday, June 21, via the Rumichaca International Bridge, which is a bustling border crossing between Colombia and Ecuador.

In 2020, the murder suspect was jailed for 18 months in the UK after stalking an ex and posting revenge porn online. He denied all the allegations against him when he was arrested in June that year, but later pleaded guilty.

After his release, he began stalking another woman in her 40s by hanging around outside her workplace and engineering ‘chance’ meetings with her in public.

Dorset Police publicly warned people not to approach Foster-Smith and to call 999 if they saw him after he was charged with stalking in September 2024 but skipped bail and went on the run for a month.

The search was called off in October 2024 after he was tracked down to London and re-arrested.

In October last year, Foster-Smith was handed a new prison sentence at Bournemouth Crown Court of two years and two months.

Detective Constable Thomas Norman said at the time that his second victim ‘continued to live in fear’ and her life had been ‘destroyed’ by her convicted stalker’s behaviour.

Now, if convicted of the murder of Angarita, he is likely to face a charge of aggravated femicide, which carries a prison sentence in Colombia of between 40 and 50 years.

A Colombian foundation assisting the families of femicide victims called Justicia Para Todos, which in English translates to Justice For All, said before Foster-Smith was arrested: ‘We reject the violent death of Natalia Villalba, found on June 22 in an apartment in northern Bogota.

‘Behind every statistic there is a life, a story, and a family that today demands answers.

‘We call on the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation to conduct a thorough, prompt investigation with a gender perspective.’

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

For more stories like this, check our news page.

MORE: American dad faced lynching after heroics were mistaken for child abuse

Officers are looking for help in contacting these people

Police want to speak to these people following an alleged robbery in Longsight. Police say a victim was pushed into a railing with force before their headphones were stolen on Stockport Road.

The incident is believed to have occurred at 6:15pm on Tuesday 16th June. Officers would like to speak with the five people pictured as they believe they can assist with enquiries.

Click here to get the biggest stories straight to your inbox in our Daily Newsletter

GMP said: “Officers are appealing for information after an alleged robbery on Stockport Road.

“The incident is believed to have happened at around 6.15pm on Tuesday 16th June. The victim was pushed into a railing with force and had his headphones stolen.

“Officers would like to speak with the five people pictured as they believe they can assist with enquiries.”

Any info? Call 101 and quote log 3256-16062026. Alternatively, contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

The late drama was caused by a big crash for Verstappen, who lost control going into the high-speed downhill right-hander and spun across the gravel into the barrier.

Ferrari and McLaren did their runs early enough to complete their laps before Verstappen, but the Mercedes drivers were running behind the Dutchman on track.

Until Russell’s unexpected improvement, the crash had seemed to secure a front row for Ferrari, who had not looked like pole contenders until the end of qualifying.

Leclerc was 0.059 seconds faster than Hamilton, who had been the quicker Ferrari driver all weekend.

Hamilton made a mistake on his first run in Q3, locking a brake at Turn Three, and had to abort the lap.

That left him having a different risk-reward balance on the final lap and he did not have quite enough to beat his team-mate.

Antonelli backed off completely on his final lap on the approach to Turn Nine, and was nearly two seconds slower than his final run.

Verstappen’s first lap, which was third fastest behind Antonelli and Russell, was good enough for fifth place.

The McLaren drivers both improved on their final runs, but Norris ended up just 0.027secs slower than Verstappen, Piastri 0.009secs further behind.

Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar and the Racing Bulls of Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad completed the top 10.

Mohmed Bax, 45, of Eden Street, has been charged with possession with intent to supply cocaine.

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said he has also been recalled to prison.

The charge relates to a stop search carried out by officers from the Bolton North Neighbourhood Team on Eden Street on Friday (June 26).

Bax was remanded in custody and is due to appear at Manchester and Salford Magistrates’ Court today (June 27).

According to an earlier report, police made the arrest after attending a quarterly Partners and Communities Together (PACT) meeting, where residents reported suspected drug activity on Old Road.

A spokesperson for GMP in Bolton said: “The PACT meeting is an opportunity for the community to raise concerns about crime in their area with the police, local councillors and the council.

“One concern raised by the community was around people supplying drugs on the street in the Old Road area of Astley Bridge.

“After the meeting, officers from the Bolton North Neighbourhood Team searched a man on Eden Street, off Old Road, suspected to be involved in supplying drugs in the area.”

‘If he does end up in Number 10, the country will get the same Andy Burnham I am privileged to call my friend’, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region Steve Rotheram writes

I’ve known Andy Burnham for a long time. We’ve stood shoulder to shoulder through campaigns, rows with governments of different colours, and more than a few battles for the North.

On Monday night, amidst all the political frenzy and speculation, we managed to find time for a drink far from the madding crowd. It didn’t feel like I was chatting with someone who might be about to take the helm of a G7 country. It was just two mates putting the world to rights, catching up on family, football, politics, the state of the country, of battles won and those to come.

I found myself thinking that, for all the noise about what kind of Prime Minister Andy might be, he’s still the same person I first met nearly two decades ago.

For him, what matters has always been people, places and how power can be used to make life better. The truth is that a lot of people have fallen out of love with politics altogether. You can hardly blame them.

For years they’ve watched living standards stagnate, public services come under pressure and promises come and go without much changing in their day-to-day lives.

Meanwhile, politics has become dominated by people telling us who to blame. Migrants. Civil Servants. Benefits claimants. Young people. Older people. Pick a target and somebody will try to build a political movement around it. The grifter Nigel Farage has made a career out of it.

But I’m not convinced most people wake up in the morning looking for somebody to be angry with. I think they’re looking for reasons to feel optimistic. A decent job. A secure home. The chance for their kids and grandkids to do better than they did. The confidence that things are moving in the right direction.

Labour’s challenge is holding together the coalition needed to win and keep power. Reform’s rise reflects a frustration that is real. Dismissing that won’t make it disappear.

Andy gets that. He knows that people want politicians who listen – and then act. That’s why I think he could unite progressive voters, while also winning back people who have drifted away from us.

Not through the politics of gimmicks or grievance but by offering a commodity that has been in short supply for far too long: hope. And after putting the world to rights over a pint on Monday night, I came away more convinced of that than ever.

If he does end up in Number 10, the country will get the same Andy Burnham I am privileged to call my friend. And I reckon we’d be all the better for it.

‘Delivering Hillsborough Law isn’t finished yet’

There are some promises that carry more weight than others. For people in Liverpool, the Hillsborough Law is one of them.

The families of the 97 have spent decades fighting not just for the truth – but for justice too. They should never have had to endure what they did or had to fight so hard to uncover the truth.

Keir Starmer deserves real credit for bringing us closer than ever to making the Hillsborough Law a reality. But this isn’t a job that’s finished yet.

I know how much this means to Andy. He understands that this law is bigger than any single tragedy. It will forever rebalance the scales of justice and ensure no grieving family ever goes through the same struggle. A fitting legacy for the 97.

‘Grandparent the best job of my life’

Six weeks ago, we welcomed a beautiful new arrival to our family and I became a grandparent. I’ve become completely besotted.

People always tell you it’s different when it’s your grandchild. They were right. It’s given me a new perspective and a reminder of what really matters.

I’ve had many jobs over the years – Bricklayer, Builder, Councillor, MP, Mayor – but I’m assured that this is the best I’ll ever have!

‘How far can England go?’

I’ve watched football long enough to know better than to get carried away. But of course, we will anyway.

That’s the curse of being a football fan: hope gets the better of reality every time.

There’s real talent in this England side and, if they play with freedom, who knows how far they will go?