The ‘Reclaim Our Streets’ rally in Edinburgh is being held in response to alleged knife attacks, which the Prime Minister said appeared to have been motivated by “anti-Muslim hatred”.

Comedian Franklie Boyle and former First Minister Humza Yousaf are among the well-known faces backing a ‘Reclaim Our Streets’ rally following a series of alleged attacks in Edinburgh

A 36-year-old man appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Monday charged with five counts of attempted murder ‘aggravated by reason of having a terrorist connection’.

Two men were injured in Sighthill area of the city, at about 8.50pm on Friday.

Police said three other men were then allegedly attacked in the Telford Road and Leith Walk areas of the capital.

Counter-terrorism officers were brought in to investigate what happened, with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer saying that the incidents appeared to be motivated by “anti-Muslim hatred”.

A ‘Reclaim Our Streets’ rally is being held on Saturday afternoon at Montgomery Street Park and a number of famous faces have signed up to take part.

The event organised by Stand up to Racism Edinburgh, aims to show solidarity with minority communities.

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A rare double earthquake ravaged Venezuela on Wednesday, killing at least 188 people and leaving more than 200 trapped. Many more are feared dead.

Thousands of people have been reported missing and about 1,500 people have been injured. Some of the heaviest damage and casualties were in La Guaira, a coastal region north of the capital, Caracas.

Here’s what to know about the earthquakes and the search for survivors:

Two earthquakes in less than one minute

The powerful 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes struck 39 seconds apart along the San Sebastian fault on Venezuela’s northern coast, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

They were among the strongest in the South American nation in more than a century.

The first earthquake, a 7.2-magnitude foreshock, hit west of Morón on the Caribbean coast, about 170 kilometers (105 miles) west of Caracas, with a depth of 22 kilometers (about 14 miles).

The second, a 7.5-magnitude mainshock, was centered 16 kilometers (10 miles) southwest of Morón, with a depth of 10 kilometers (about 6 miles).

The back-to-back earthquakes — known as a doublet because of their similarities in magnitude, time and proximity — resulted from shallow strike-slip faulting near the complex plate boundary between the Caribbean and South American tectonic plates, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

Many people are dead, injured or missing

The death toll in Venezuela is likely to climb as rescue crews comb through buildings toppled by the earthquake.

Acting President Delcy Rodríguez said authorities have deployed rescue teams from other parts of the country to La Guaira, where dozens of buildings have collapsed.

The city, about 165 kilometers (103 miles) east of the 7.5-magnitude quake’s epicenter, is a “disaster zone,” she said.

Civilians and authorities pulled survivors out of concrete rubble, some of them covered in dust and blood. Families sobbed in front of destroyed homes.

Families began posting missing-person flyers with photos of loved ones, while others shared handwritten lists of names as they searched for those still unaccounted for.

Significant damage in Caracas and beyond

The earthquake destroyed buildings in Caracas and led to evacuation as far away as Brazil’s Amazon, about 1,700 kilometers (1,050 miles) away.

In downtown Caracas, hundreds of people spent the night huddled in parks, parking lots and other open spaces.

Parts of the city lost power and cellphone service. Venezuela’s main airport in Caracas was damaged and closed, subway service was suspended and natural gas was shut off.

Classes will also be canceled for several days as schools are used as shelters and donation centers.

Rodríguez said the government was creating a $200 million reconstruction fund for hospitals and homes damaged by the earthquakes.

Another challenge for Venezuela’s leader

The earthquakes are yet another crisis for Rodríguez, the former vice president who took office in January after the U.S. captured former President Nicolás Maduro.

Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, are jailed in New York City while awaiting trial on drug trafficking charges.

Rodríguez inherited a country that has been in economic turmoil for more than a decade.

Many Venezuelans reject the legitimacy of her political movement, while some loyalists have criticized her leadership and warming relationship with the U.S.

Venezuelans in the U.S. are rushing to organize donation drives. More than 770,000 Venezuelans live in the U.S., with large communities in Florida, Texas and Utah.

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Science tells us that plastic lives forever. From oceans to urban streets, plastic pollution has become a defining geological marker of our time – entangled with nature, yet often hard to see.

While we often measure plastic pollution in tonnage of microplastics, those numbers can feel abstract. The reality is more immediate: plastic is everywhere – in our homes, on our streets, in our bodies and from soil to sea spray. Waste is designed to disappear, but the truth is that it doesn’t.

For the past 15 years, I have used art to connect the public to this issue through reuse workshops and interactive art installations made from single-use plastics. In these exhibitions, visitors don’t just look at plastic waste; they experience it as a vibrant material that is capable of sparking new environmental conversations and creative approaches to reuse.

This work comes out of my studio, KraalDesignedisposal, which I set up in 2010. KraalD began as a playful experiment: exploring the circularity of plastic waste, turning discarded objects into art and inviting audiences to rethink what we throw away.

One piece, the Xmass workshop sign, captures the feeling I get every December when recycling bins overflow and streets glitter with festive decorations. It’s whimsical, but it also carries a deeper message – my unease about excess wrapped in celebration.

A walk along the Kent coast after a storm inspired one of my early works. The shoreline was covered in seaweed, shells, jellyfish – and plastic. I picked up a sun-bleached blue toy and realised how quickly a small piece of rubbish becomes part of the ocean food chain.

Weathered and worn by the waves, plastic fragments break down into microplastics that marine animals ingest. That simple encounter on Whitstable beach and Medway river became the spark for Plastic Waste Ecologies, an exhibition I co-curated with artist Carina Brand.

Visitors to the Plastic Waste Ecologies exhibition encountered plastic clouds suspended from the ceiling. Standing beneath them, people instinctively looked up – checking the sky, noticing tiny details. I hope this inspired them to think about how plastic circulates through the air.

Sea PET mobiles – hanging sculptures made from repurposed plastic – imagine a 150-year future where ocean acidification changes marine life, jellyfish thrive, and the flow of natural cycles, or planetary metabolism, becomes visible. These installations are built from pieces collected over a decade, demonstrating that art can make environmental processes tangible and immediate.

Through workshops and co-designed installations, participants become part of the work. They helped shape another work, Beach Wrack, and contributed elements to the mobiles, taking part in a process that merges creativity, care and environmental reflection.

Conversations were had about waste and conservation while making – this highlighted the ubiquitous presence of plastic and the small gestures through which people can engage with waste differently.

The artworks that result are more than just aesthetic; they are conversation starters and prompts for reflection, showing that the challenge of mismanaged plastic waste is both systemic and personal.

I believe installation art can be a vital tool in environmental dialogue – one that transforms curiosity into awareness, and awareness into action.

The climate crisis has a communications problem. How do we tell stories that move people – not just to fear the future, but to imagine and build a better one? This article is part of Climate Storytelling, a series exploring how arts and science can join forces to spark understanding, hope and action.

Princess Andre has been praised for her latest photos as her followers are left stunned by how much she looks like her mum, Katie Price

Princess Andre’s latest uploads have stunned her fans who cannot unsee the uncanny resemblance to former glamour model Katie Price. The 18-year-old is often compare to her mum, and her new Instagram images have caused quite the stir.

Princess posed in a pale pink outfit as she sat at a dinner table, showing off her mane of curly locks. Her followers were quick to praise her appearance.

One user wrote: “Look like a young Kate on here stunning x,” with others firmly agreeing. Another user wrote: “Absolutely your mom’s double when she was younger.”

A social media user said: “OMG like looking at young @katieprice,” paired with three love hearts.

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While Princess continues to forge her impressive career on her own, her mum is set to get answers from her man, Lee Andrews. The self-professed millionaire recently made a bizarre claim that he had adopted Katie’s kids, even though he has yet to meet them.

He had told one fan in a personalised Cameo clip that they had taken the huge step, and that he and Katie have plans to start their own family as they try for a baby. He said: “I haven’t got children, but we’re trying. I’ve adopted five of them. I love my wife and I love her children.”

But that was quickly shot down by Princess’ dad, Peter Andre. In a blistering response, Peter’s team released a statement to say that nothing could be further from the truth.

They denied Lee’s recent remarks and described them as “categorically untrue”. They labelled them “yet another lie” from the self-proclaimed millionaire, who was recently released from prison.

Clearing things up even further where Princess and Junior were concerned, the singer’s spokesperson added to Metro: “They haven’t even met him!”

Peter then took to Instagram and appeared to address the matter in his own words. He said: “When you get told you responded to something that you didn’t respond to and only found out that you allegedly responded by reading out it is quite something. Ah well, at least it’s summer.”

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Closer previously reported that Katie was “genuinely shaken” by Lee’s claims about her kids. A source said: “Katie has been left genuinely shaken after realising some of the things Lee has been saying don’t quite add up, especially around the claims about meeting the kids.

“It’s made her stop and reassess everything, and for the first time she’s starting to see through what she now feels has been a lot of smoke and mirrors. There’s a sense of relief from those around Katie that certain inconsistencies are coming to light, in the hope it acts as a bit of a wake-up call.

“At the same time, it’s knocked her confidence massively, because she’s now questioning who and what she can actually believe. Katie is feeling very vulnerable and doesn’t know who to trust, which has led her to pull back from almost everyone.”

Lee is set to be grilled by Katie in front of the camera as she looks to find out the truth about his recent disappearance.

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“The scale and pace of implementation of the final strategy will depend on the level of resources available”

Implementation of proposed childcare reform plans will depend on the level of resources available and the capacity of the sector to deliver, says Education Minister Paul Givan.

On Thursday, the Minister published the results of the Early Learning and Childcare Strategy consultation, showing “strong public support” for ambitious plans to cut childcare costs and expand access to pre-school education.

The draft strategy sets out the Minister’s ambitions to make childcare more affordable for working parents, ensuring more children can access full-time pre-school education.

It aims to support early years programmes targeting children facing disadvantage, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities. It also commits to strengthening the early years workforce.

Education Minister Paul Givan said: “This consultation sends a clear and positive message as there is strong support for transforming early learning and childcare in Northern Ireland.

“Parents, providers and stakeholders want a system that is more affordable, more accessible and delivers high-quality outcomes for children.

“This strategy represents a significant opportunity to reshape how we support children and families, including reducing childcare costs, expanding access to pre-school education and strengthening the early years workforce. It is about making a real difference to parents, helping them to work and balance family life, while ensuring every child has the best possible start.”

The Department received 469 responses through an online survey and written submissions.

A series of public events, both online and in person, supported engagement across the sector. Agreement rates for the strategy’s objectives were high, ranging from 77% to 86%.

According to the Department, the consultation responses indicated strong support for the standardisation of the pre-school education programme, the proposed increase to the Northern Ireland Childcare Subsidy Scheme, and the focus on children facing disadvantage, including those with SEND.

Support for workforce measures was also strong, with respondents highlighting that a skilled, valued and well-supported workforce is essential to high-quality provision.

While the overall response was positive, respondents also called for faster progress and detail on implementation.

Paul Givan added: “I acknowledge some of the feedback in the consultation called for faster progress and a detailed implementation plan.

“However, the scale and pace of implementation of the final strategy will depend on the level of resources available and the capacity of the sector to deliver.

“I will continue to press for the continued support and transformation of early learning and childcare across Northern Ireland.”

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The North Esst has the highest rate in England of 16 to 24-year-olds who are not in employment, education or training (NEET) – 21 per cent, totalling more than 64,000 young people, according to latest Government figures for 2025.

A landmark report from former health secretary Alan Milburn warned last month that the UK was at risk of a “lost generation” who are victims of a “perfect storm” of  issues – including a shortage of entry-level jobs and apprenticeships, the long-term impacts of the Covid pandemic, loneliness and mental health problems exacerbated by social media, and a lack of adequate careers support in schools.

Mayor Kim McGuinness has now unveiled a vision to help combat the crisis in the North East, which she plans to put on the desk of the next Prime Minister – a role which Mr Burnham looks set to take, following Sir Keir Starmer’s resignation.

She told employers this week that the next occupant of Number 10 must “roll up his sleeves and force change through a reluctant civil service” in order to bring about the radical shift needed to put inactive young people into work or training.

Her proposal would see the North East mayoral authority given greater funding and responsibility over the whole 16 to 24 system, managing the transition from school to work, including to design and deliver employment support and skills programmes.

She also wants the region to get early release of cash for retrofitting under the Government’s £15 billion Warm Homes Plan, in order to provide a clear pathway of work for young people who can be trained to go into the construction and housing trade.

It is hoped that such a model could support up to 3,500 jobs by 2030, reduce energy bills for struggling families living in households with poor energy efficiency, and cut harmful emissions.

Speaking at the Shine conference in Sunderland on Wednesday, celebrating the mayor’s employer accreditation programme, Ms McGuinness said: “Employers often tell me they can’t find the workers they need, yet we have thousands of young people unable to find a route into work. In the North East, that’s a problem we want to solve together.

“Nationally, there is a huge growth challenge facing the new PM, a growth problem which covers low productivity, economic inactivity and the future of our young people.

“But these are not three problems, they are really one – access to opportunity – and the North East has a strong solution ready to go. Right now too many of those young people don’t feel they have a future and can’t even see the path to a career. We need radical change, and the powers to deliver it.

“When it comes to that horrible acronym NEETS – those not in education, employment or training – the North East has the worst record of the English regions. Around 20% of our young people are without purpose.

“If we’re going to change that, if we’re going to give hope and a career, we need to be able to take much more direct action. Because, clearly, waiting for Government to act isn’t working.”

The North East mayor’s office already has some responsibilities over services for young people aged 19 and over who are NEET, as well as a £50 million Connect to Work programme aimed at getting thousands of people with disabilities and health conditions get into jobs by 2030.

But regional leaders fear those powers are too narrow to tackle the systemic problems at the heart of the NEET crisis and that a serious overhaul is needed to join together housing, retrofit, construction, skills, careers, and employment support and create a clear pipeline of new opportunities.

While metro mayors now have the ability to ask for new powers directly from the Government under a Right to Request process, Ms McGuinness wants to mirror the landmark devolution of health and social care to Mr Burnham’s former mayoral authority in Greater Manchester with a 10-year deal from the Government to boost employment. 

Ms McGuinness said it was “time to take a risk” in order to “ turn around the lives of struggling young people”.

She added: “The North East can deliver better results. And we can deliver for less. Our NEET pitch is essentially this: let us take on the risk, and if we succeed let us pocket the money you save in benefits and reinvest it in the North East.

“Give the North East 10 years, give us more responsibility, give us the risk, judge us on the results.”

The Home Office has announced it is expanding the use of military bases to house asylum seekers, with three new sites set to open up in England.

Barracks are considered a less problematic alternative to hotels for accommodating those who have arrived in the UK to seek asylum, while their claims are assessed.

However, they are not without controversy, with questions over cost and their suitability from people on both sides of the immigration debate.

A plan to house asylum seekers at Cameron Barracks in Inverness has been shelved, the local MP confirmed on Thursday, after outcry from locals and politicians.

Now, the Home Office has confirmed it is seeking planning permission for MOD Bicester in Oxfordshire; MOD Barnham in Suffolk; and MOD Linton-on-Ouse in North Yorkshire.

In addition, the use of Crowborough in East Sussex and Wethersfield in Essex is being extended until 2030 and beyond 2027 respectively.

Wethersfield is also being expanded to allow 1,200 more bedspaces for people awaiting a decision on their asylum claim.

The expansion in the use of military facilities across the country was announced alongside the closure of 20 asylum hotels, including the Bell Hotel in Epping which became a focal point for protests last year.

Border Security and Asylum Minister Alex Norris said the number of hotels used for this purpose had ‘more than halved’ from its peak of 400, with just under 170 currently active.

He said: ‘Instead, we’re moving asylum seekers into ex-military sites that are a far cry from the hotels the last government left us with.

‘This is a system being brought back under control – and we will not stop until the job is done.’

According to the Home Office, the closure of these hotels – alongside a further 11 announced in April – will save taxpayers £170 million this financial year.

Asylum costs as a whole have fallen by almost £1 billion, the department said.

The total number of people claiming asylum in the UK is also down 12% compared to last year, following the sharp rise that came with the end of the Covid pandemic lockdowns.

However, the use of military sites has been criticised by groups including the Refugee Council, which said the new announcement was ‘storing up problems for the next Prime Minister by repeating policies that failed in the recent past’.

The Council’s Director of External Affairs Imran Hussein argued the government could lower costs by ‘housing people in communities and improving Home Office decision-making’.

There are currently around 7,000 more asylum seekers living in dispersal accommodation – meaning flats or houses in communities around the country – than at the time of the 2024 general election.

Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp, meanwhile, said the Labour government ‘should be putting illegal immigrants on a plane home rather than messing around with military camps and hotels’.

He said: ‘Only the Conservatives have the backbone and the plan to leave the ECHR and end the lawfare that blocks removals, so every illegal immigrant can be deported.’

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

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Roksana Lecka, who abused babies at two nurseries in the UK, has been living as a free woman since landing back in Poland following a deportation error

A nursery worker who was sentenced to eight years behind bars for abusing 21 babies while on drugs is now living free in her native Poland after serving just 14 months in jail in Britain, authorities have confirmed.

Roksana Lecka, 23, was jailed last September for abusing children aged as young as ten months at two nurseries in west London by pinching, punching and kicking them over a period of seven months. She was deported to Poland in February as part of the Government’s Early Removal Scheme.

But officials in her home country have claimed they did not have the powers to detain her when she landed back in the former Eastern Bloc.

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Major Dagmara Bielec, of the Nadwislanski Border Guard Unit, reportedly told local media: “A Polish citizen expelled from Great Britain has returned to the country, but her arrival did not take place under any of the formal international co-operation procedures in force between Poland and Great Britain.”

According to reports in Poland, Lecka was not entered into the relevant criminal databases or international alert systems in a way that would have allowed officers to detain her. Officials claimed that because there was no official documentation from the UK regarding her expulsion, and no corresponding entries in national or international law-enforcement systems, border guards had to process her under normal entry procedures.

Lecka is understood to have landed in Warsaw on February 5, but her current whereabouts are unknown. Her crimes, which included her kicking a tot in the face repeatedly during nine months of “gratuitous” and “sadistic” violence, took place between 2023 and 2024.

Lecka, who is banned from returning to the UK, was jailed for eight years in September after admitting seven counts of cruelty to a person under the age of 16. She was convicted after a trial of another 14 counts, the Mirror reports.

At her sentencing last year, Judge Sarah Plaschkes KC said Lecka “pinched, slapped, punched, smacked and kicked” children, “pulled their ears, hair and their toes”, and toppled them “headfirst into cots” causing bruising and lingering red marks.

Describing the crimes, she said: “Often the child would be quietly and happily minding its own business before you deliberately inflicted pain, causing the child to cry, arch, try to get away or writhe in distress. Time after time you calmly watched the pain and suffering you have caused. Your criminal conduct can properly be characterised as sadistic.”

Lecka was caught after parents and staff spotted children in her care had been bruised and scratched and police then found CCTV footage of her scratching and pinching children under their clothes, on their arms, legs and stomachs.

Parents of her victims later told a court of their feelings of heartbreak, guilt and distrust and described Lecka as the “worst kind of human”. She attempted to defend her actions, carried out at Riverside Nursery in Twickenham, which is now closed, and Little Munchkins in Hounslow, by claiming she was sleep-deprived and hooked on cannabis and vapes.

At the time of her deportation, it appeared unclear whether Lecka would continue her jail sentence in Poland. But some parents spoke at the time of their horror at media reports she would immediately be allowed to go free in her homeland.

One father whose son was physically abused by Lecka said at the time her deportation after serving just 14 months, which included time on remand, was “completely inappropriate” and “really hard to swallow”.

He told the BBC: “We felt it undermined all that time and emotion that had gone into the trial. Preparing our witness statements and our victim-impact statements, going through the trauma of that whole investigation and trial, to get a sentence brought a sense of closure and we could all move on from it. But then for that sentence not to be served, it was a bit of a hollow feeling.”

The victim’s father claimed there is “too much focus on cost savings, rather than upholding the principles of the system”.

At the time of Lecka’s deportation, Lib Dem MP Munira Wilson told the House of Commons victims’ parents had not been told whether Lecka would continue to serve the rest of her eight-year sentence or go free. She called for information regarding Lecka’s release terms.

After raising the matter in parliament and writing to the Home Office, Wilson was told by ministers that, due to time on remand before her trial, Lecka had become eligible for deportation on 7 October 2025 – less than a fortnight after receiving her eight-year sentence.

Alex Norris, minister for border security and asylum said in a letter to the MP: “Whilst Lecka is not required to serve the remainder of her sentence in Poland, we have made Polish law enforcement aware of her convictions so that appropriate safeguarding actions can be taken by the Polish authorities.”

However, according to reports in Poland, the authorities there are unable to monitor her movements or warn childcare institutions about her past convictions and there are even fears she could find a new job working with children.

Last month, a Ministry of Justice spokesman said: “These were appalling crimes, and our thoughts remain with the victims and their families. This Government is deporting foreign national offenders at pace, with more than 5,000 deported last year – a 14 per cent increase on the previous year.”