At about 9pm on Thursday, August 6, police were alerted by the ambulance service to an address on Alder Close, Pelton.

A woman was found with a single stab wound to her back and was taken to the Royal Victoria Infirmary, in Newcastle for treatment. She remains in hospital this morning where her condition is described as stable.

(Image: AMELIA ANDERSON)

A man was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder later on Thursday evening. He remains in custody and is being interviewed by police.

(Image: AMELIA ANDERSON)

Police can confirm that the suspect and victim were known to each other and officers are satisfied that this an isolated incident with no wider risk to the public.

Officers remain at the scene today while forensic teams complete their examination of the property.

The North East Ambulance Service (NEAS) has confirmed they attended the incident and took one person to hospital.

A spokesperson said: “We received a call at 8.57pm on Thursday (August 6) to reports of an incident at a private address in Pelton, County Durham.

“We dispatched an ambulance crew, a clinical team leader, a crew from our Hazardous Area Response Team, and requested support from our colleagues at the Great North Air Ambulance Service who attended by road.

“One patient was taken to hospital for further treatment.”

Pictures from the scene show a cordon in place around a row of homes. A police van and police car remain parked up at the scene this lunchtime. 

Any witnesses to the incident are asked to call Durham Police on 101, quoting incident number 470 of August 6.

Successful councillors to the board can expect to be paid “£8,772 per year for up to two business days per month”

No political party has nominated councillors to the board of Warrenpoint Harbour Authority (WHA) amid a town’s long running ‘stink’ problem.

Newry, Mourne and Down District Council chief executive Marie Ward had set a deadline for elected members to show interest in taking up the three non-executive roles at the port.

Department for Infrastructure Minister Liz Kimmins has invited councillors to apply to the board following resignations last July over concerns of foul odours at the harbour.

READ MORE: Minister slammed for ‘declining’ to meet DUP deputy over Strangford bridge project

READ MORE: ‘Gaslighting’ by council leads to investigation call over ‘scandalous claims’

The Local Democracy Reporting Service contacted all the political parties on the council with responses now confirmed.

Sinn Féin said: “Sinn Féin has not nominated anybody for the WHA as previous concerns raised have not been properly addressed.”

The SDLP said: “The SDLP has not nominated a representative to the WHA board.

“We recognise there is significant community concern about a number of outstanding issues relating to the harbour and believe our efforts are best focused on working with local stakeholders and the relevant authorities to help secure solutions.”

The UUP said: “The Ulster Unionist Party did not nominate any councillor at this time for the WHA board.”

The DUP said: “No, the DUP has not nominated anyone.”

An Alliance spokesperson said: “Alliance hasn’t been on the board historically and won’t be nominating anyone.”

According to the WHA website, the function of the board is to oversee and scrutinise the day-to-day management of the port as well as to help set the future direction of the organisation.

The non-executive directors on the board are appointed through a public recruitment process facilitated and managed by DfI with all appointments made by the minister.

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Successful councillors to the board can expect to be paid “£8,772 per year for up to two business days per month” according to a DfI letter presented to the council.

Currently, independent Crotlieve elected member Jarlath Tinnelly is the only councillor to sit on the board.

Environment groups and local residents have raised concerns for the last three years over a perceived stink at the port, they claim is linked to waste bales at the harbour to be shipped for Newry recycling company Re-Gen. The bales are exported to be incinerated in Scandinavian areas.

Former WHA board members, councillors Jim Brennan (Sinn Fein) and Laura Devlin (SDLP) resigned last year in solidarity with local people complaining of the bad smell.

In September (2025), WHA stated that it had extensive engagement with Re-Gen, with the Newry company agreeing to remove all RDF (refuse derived fuel) bales from the port, with a proposal to no longer store the waste there, but instead transport it directly to ships for export.

Only SRF (solid recovered fuel) bales were to be stored in future on the site, which the WHA was told should be non-odorous.

As a result of extensive talks and an independent environmental audit report, the WHA set up the community forum to provide a key communication basis on potential bad smells from the port located in the centre of the town.

However, in April this year, forum member Fionnuala McKinley, who lives just yards from port, stepped down and called for an independent environmental impact study.

Applications for councillors to the board will close on 28 August.

For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here and sign up to our daily newsletter here.

The Trump administration has released a fresh wave of UFO files, exposing dozens of reports and videos previously hidden from the public.

The fifth tranche, released on Friday, includes chilling accounts of enormous triangular craft, mysterious high-speed orbs and even a metal sphere allegedly carrying a human body.

Among the most extraordinary reports is a military pilot’s account of a silent, 500-foot triangular object that swept over Bagram Airfield, a US-operated base, in 2002.

The witness told agents that he was stargazing with another pilot at approximately 4:30am when the stars suddenly began disappearing above them.

‘It appeared as if something huge went overhead,’ the FBI interview summary states.

The pilot described the object as an equilateral triangle that moved silently across the sky at a steady speed and altitude, despite displaying no visible lights.

Another file recounts claims that a large metal sphere crashed into the center of Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro in 1963, gouging a hole 13 feet deep.

The mysterious object reportedly had window-shaped openings covered with thick glass, and contained a human body dressed in heavy clothing bearing inscriptions that could not be deciphered.

However, the records preserve witness statements and media reports rather than verified government findings, and they offer no evidence that either object was extraterrestrial.

Another file recounts claims that a large metal sphere crashed into the center of Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro in 1963, gouging a hole 13 feet deep

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Above is a screenshot of a video released on Friday showing an unresolved UFO report from 2025. The footage was taken in 2025, showing a small orb-like object traveling across the screen

US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said in a statement: ‘The Department of War is in lockstep with President Trump to bring unprecedented transparency regarding our government’s understanding of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena. 

‘These files, hidden behind classifications, have long fueled justified speculation, and it’s time the American people see it for themselves. 

‘This release of declassified documents demonstrates the Trump Administration’s earnest commitment to unprecedented transparency.’

One of the records, a three-page FBI interview summary, details the pilot’s alleged encounter with the enormous triangular craft over Bagram.

The witness said he and another pilot were watching the night sky when stars began disappearing from view, as though they were being obscured by something passing overhead.

‘It appeared as if something huge went overhead,’ the interview summary states.

He estimated that the equilateral object measured approximately 500 feet across and was traveling at around 173mph.

Despite its enormous size, it allegedly maintained a steady speed and altitude without making any sound or displaying visible lights.

Above is an artistic impression of a reported incident this year in an undisclosed part of the Western US

The second pilot reportedly witnessed it too, asking: ‘Did you see that?’ as it passed above them.

The witness said he did not report the encounter at the time and later failed to find anything that could explain what they had observed.

The same file reveals that the pilot subsequently reported unexplained lights during commercial flights beginning in October 2023.

He first noticed them while flying from Boston to Dublin at 37,000 feet and believed they were hovering at least 13,000 feet above his aircraft.

The lights reportedly brightened and faded in cycles lasting between 10 seconds and one minute. Some remained stationary while others traveled in straight lines or suddenly changed direction.

Although they resembled aircraft landing lights, the pilot said their behavior did not match planes, meteors, satellites or Starlink.

He claimed to have witnessed the phenomenon approximately 10 times, with individual encounters lasting from 45 minutes to two hours.

During a flight in February 2024, he recorded more than 10 lights moving and changing brightness as his aircraft traveled at approximately Mach 0.80 near Sioux Falls.

The pilot said he never felt threatened and believed the lights remained at least 100 miles away.

A separate FBI file describes an even more dramatic encounter involving a giant black triangle over Colorado Springs in October 2023.

The witness told agents that he was standing outside with a co-worker on a clear night when a strange, dark-gray cloud appeared in the sky.

He described the cloud as stationary and seemingly ‘pixelated or distorted’ before a red light emerged from it.

As he watched, an enormous solid-black triangle reportedly came into view, displaying a diffuse red light at each of its three corners.

The witness estimated that the object was as large as the parking lot where he was standing and measured between three and five stories thick.

It initially traveled at a speed comparable to a helicopter before ‘almost instantaneously’ accelerating to what he believed was Mach 1 or Mach 2.

He claimed waves appeared to radiate from the craft, producing a shimmering distortion similar to the mirage seen above a hot road.

Despite its apparent size and speed, the triangle allegedly generated no noise, displayed no visible propulsion and produced no unusual odor.

The witness said it then abruptly rolled 90 degrees onto its left side while veering right, the opposite direction in which a conventional aircraft would normally bank, before quickly returning to level flight.

After the object disappeared to the south, he looked back and discovered that the strange cloud from which it had emerged had also vanished.

Around a minute later, he called his wife to describe what he had seen, but she told him his voice sounded ‘robotic,’ as though electronic interference was disrupting the call.

The FBI report records the witness’s account but offers no conclusion about what he saw and does not independently verify his estimates of the object’s size, speed or altitude.

This is a developing story… More updates to come. 

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A suspended Catholic priest on a tiny Caribbean island is embracing calypso to make his voice heard on topics including Gaza and sexual abuse within the church.

Father Gerard Paul, who hails from Grenada, can no longer officiate masses, funerals, weddings or baptisms after repeatedly criticizing the church and clergy. But that hasn’t stopped him from preaching via the lilting rhythms of calypso, an Afro-Caribbean music genre known for its witty lyrics and satirical social commentary.

“It’s a kind of pulpit for me,” Paul told The Associated Press in a phone interview this week.

The 64-year-old priest made his debut this year at Spicemas, Grenada’s biggest soca and calypso carnival. Like many annual carnivals across the Caribbean, it celebrates rebellion against enslavement. Paul sang his way into the finals and is scheduled to compete as “Father Paul” against 10 other singers this weekend, including “Killa B” and “Sour Serpent.”

Paul joined the seminary 40 years ago and has been a priest for 32 years: “I was always concerned about the plight of the masses, so I saw the church as a vehicle for societal change.”

His first taste of calypso came in 1988, while he was still in the seminary in Trinidad and Tobago. The seminary held a calypso competition where Paul made his debut and placed second.

His priestly duties then dominated his life, but after he was suspended two years ago following a sermon criticizing Israel’s actions in Gaza, Paul embraced calypso again. He has recorded two songs so far — “Oh Gaza” and “Ah Want Ah Radar.”

“I can’t quite say I miss the ritual,” he said, referring to being a priest. “Although I loved the ritual … there is a lot of limitation to it as well.”

He said that while he loved interacting with his congregation, being a calypso singer allows him to reach a wider audience.

“When you’re in a small world, you feel that’s the whole world,” Paul said. “As a much bigger world opens to you, you can’t go back.”

Singing as a form of social criticism

Paul is known for his song “Ah Want Ah Radar,” a riff on the U.S. government’s real-life request to install a radar at Grenada’s international airport last year as the U.S. military struck suspected drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean.

Paul sings about Grenada’s government dragging its feet on a decision, with the U.S. later installing a radar in neighboring Tobago.

In footage shot and later deleted by Good News Catholic Communications, an arm of the Catholic Diocese of St. George’s in Grenada, Paul criticized Israel and accused it of committing genocide in Gaza — which Israel vehemently denies — during a March 2024 sermon in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in St. George’s.

Paul called on the pope, bishops and priests to speak up during his sermon, which was published on social media by The Bubb Report, a local weekly investigative journalism program.

“We cannot rightly ever preach the gospel if we do not stand for justice,” he said as some in the congregation applauded. He added: “When you stand in silence, when you sit in silence, you are part of the injustice.”

Then-Bishop Clyde Harvey criticized Paul’s sermon, calling it a “diatribe” and said he did not give the priest permission to say what he did.

“We can be proud to belong to a church which fails sometimes, but … is always standing up wherever it can for justice,” Harvey said.

On April 4, 2024, Paul was suspended indefinitely. In a statement, Harvey accused Paul of “persistent” attacks on the church and its leadership, saying his statements “have confused, harmed and scandalized many faith-filled persons. They have brought his fellow clergy into disrepute.”

Harvey wrote: “When Fr Paul said, ‘I have no regrets and I will do it again,’ he put himself beyond review and fraternal correction. No institution can survive when such attitudes and actions are adopted.”

On April 8, 2024, Harvey said in a video posted on social media that Paul was not suspended for his comments on Gaza, noting that such sentiments have echoed within and outside the Catholic Church. Rather, he was suspended for “his continuing lack of respect for the church of which he is a priest” and failure to “correct his errors,” Harvey said.

He added: “Father Paul has expressed his views in ways that seem to mock authority.”

Harvey stressed that the suspension is not a dismissal from priesthood.

Yet Paul remains suspended two years later.

The priest reached the upcoming finals by singing songs including, “Oh Gaza,” a biting commentary about the Israeli military offensive in Gaza that has killed more than 73,000 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, with Paul describing deaths “while Zion drums beat and missiles pound.”

“This is a time to make a voice for them,” he sings. “Cannot just pretend everything is fine, Gaza on me mind … When the Church would not take a stance, I go preach, I go preach.”

___

Gibbs reported from Port-of-Spain, Trinidad.

Former safeguarding minister Jess Phillips has said she “hated” being in Keir Starmer’s government as she described the battle she faced to persuade other departments to take action on violence against women.

Ms Phillips, who managed domestic abuse refuges for Women’s Aid before she became an MP, also also said she would not return to a similar role to “just start knocking heads together again”.

“I hated it. I hated being a government minister actually, I hated it,” she said.

Speaking to Sky’s Electoral Dysfunction podcast, she said that she was “deeply unhappy throughout most” of her time in the post.

Ms Phillips quit as a minister in May in a bid to force Sir Keir from No 10, and said that he lacked “the drive to get anything done with gusto”.

She warned the government was “nowhere near the level of will and commitment it will actually take to halve” violence against women and girls, the policy Labour set out in in the 2024 general election manifesto.

“The Violence Against Women and Girls strategy, if you were to do everything in it, you would probably drop [VAWG] by about 25 per cent,” she said.

She added that she used to give “gold stars” to ministers in other departments who took the pledge seriously – but expressed frustration at some departments.

“I understand other government departments have other priorities, but it’s not my job to be flexible,” she said. “I have one job, and it is to stop women having to be flexible about their safety.”

Asked if she would return to government, she said: “I won’t go back and be a junior minister who – whilst having an awful lot of gumption and kudos in the field – I won’t go back and just start knocking heads together again.”

She added: “I don’t think I’m suited to it, …is the actual answer… I won’t go back in and do more of the same. So no is the answer,” she said.

Sir Keir survived the attempt to force him from office earlier this year but bowed to growing frustration within his party at the start of the summer when he announced he was standing down, clearing the way for Andy Burnham to become prime minister.

By REBECCA DAVISON, DEPUTY HEAD OF SHOWBIZ

Published: 13:23 BST, 7 August 2026 | Updated: 13:33 BST, 7 August 2026

Pop music producer William Orbit has died aged 69. 

A statement on his social media, attributed to family and friends, said he died at home on 23 July and no cause of death was given. 

The post read: ‘It is with profound sadness that the family and friends with of William Orbit announce that William died at home on 23rd July 2026.

‘We are deeply saddened by his passing. He will be greatly missed by us and by so many whose lives he touched through his music, friendship and kindness.

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‘We kindly ask that the privacy of William’s family and close friends is respected during this difficult time.’ 

Pop music producer William Orbit has died aged 69, it was revealed on Instagram on Friday – he was famed for working with Madonna, U2 and Blur(pictured in 2022) 

A post on William’s Instagram announced the sad news on Friday 

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William was famed for his collaboration with Madonna on her 1998 album Ray of Light. He also worked with the likes of Blur, U2 and All Saints.

Singer Sonique paid tribute, writing: ‘He was one of the first people I ever worked with. I am so sad to hear this. Sending all my love to his family. RIP my friend.’ 

DJ Abel added: ‘William, no. Rest in peace friend x.’ 

Darren Emerson added: ‘Oh no. Absolutely gutted to hear this. I’ll always remember our long phone conversations we used to have back in the day. It was a pleasure to work with one of the best producers I’ve known . You will be sadly missed mate and your music will always shine bright. Thanks for everything you gave us . RIP William.’

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More to follow… 

Swallowing capsules containing human faeces from someone with no food allergies could help people with peanut allergies become more tolerant to the nut, a new study has suggested.

The trial, conducted by researchers at Boston Children’s Hospital, is the first evidence that faecal transplants – transferring gut bacteria from faecal samples of healthy donors – can be used to treat allergies.

The findings will be a boost to peanut allergy sufferers, with around two per cent of children in the UK believed to be affected.

Six people who were highly allergic to peanuts found that their reactions improved after a trial that used frozen “poop pills”, donated by people with healthy gut microbiomes to transfer good bacterialstrains into 10 young adults with severe peanut allergies who reacted to traces of the allergen.

After a one-time treatment of 36 pills taken each over few hours, three participants improved when tested four months later tolerating eating multiple peanuts.

In the next round of the study, participants took antibiotics before the fecal transplant to see if the donor bacteria transferred more successfully when it didn’t have to compete with the participants’ own resident gut microbes. Three of these five participants improved in peanut tolerance and ingested more than four peanuts before reacting, suggesting that the antibiotics did increase the efficiency of the microbiome transfer.

Researchers analysed blood samples from the research participants and found those who responded to the therapy had increased levels of bile salts, which break down fats for the small intestine to absorb, when compared to the people who didn’t respond. They suggested that the good bacteria from the faecal transplants was more adept at metabolising bile salts than the original bacteria, and it increased levels of immune regulatory cells that protect from allergic reactions.

Dr Talal Chatila, MD, director of translational immunology, explained that the right bacteria can help make the gut immune system of those with allergies more tolerant.

“Food allergy reflects a failure of oral tolerance, the process by which the gut immune system learns to accept food, and what this study shows is that the right bacteria can help restore that process, working through bile acid metabolites to promote the immune cells that enforce tolerance,” they said. “Knowing how the bacteria restore tolerance to food in allergic individuals allows us to optimize the therapy for more effective outcomes.”

Dr Rima Rachid, director of the Food Allergy Program and the Allergen Immunotherapy Program, said: “This landmark study was the first to demonstrate that a microbiome-based therapy may improve food allergy in people while also revealing how gut bacteria, their metabolites, and the immune system work together to influence treatment response.”

“Larger studies of fecal and microbiota transplantation are now essential to confirm these findings, identify the patients most likely to benefit, and discover beneficial bacteria that could be developed into targeted probiotic therapies for food allergy.”

Peanut and tree nut allergies are the most commonly known foods to cause anaphylaxis, often developing in early childhood. In the past, certain antibody medications or small dose exposure immunotherapy were found to raise tolerance to a sensitive food, but allergic reactions soon returned once the therapy stops, meaning patents could still experience life-threatening reactions.

Dr Rachid hopes to lead a new study where teens will receive microbe transplantation therapy in collaboration with Alexander Khoruts, MD, of the University of Minnesota.

This newer therapy uses a purified concentrated form of microbes than the faecal pills that can be stored in a home refrigerator. Patients will take the capsules from home under medical supervision and undergo food challenges to evaluate for changes in their tolerance to peanut.

Noel Edmonds has posted a lengthy response after suffering backlash over a viral video which showed him buying live lobsters from a farm shop to release into the sea.

The former Deal Or No Deal host, 77, found himself in hot water this week after he shared a clip of himself and his wife Liz returning the crustaceans to the water at Peel Harbour on the Isle of Man after purchasing them from a tank at a local shop.

Noel’s move sparked backlash from his followers, as stressed lobsters are rarely equipped to survive in the wild, and releasing them can introduce foreign diseases.

Four days on, Noel has tried to explain his actions and ‘elbow out the lies’ in a new Instagram video captioned ‘lobsters and pork pies are on the menu today.”

Conceding that he ‘probably only delayed the inevitable’ and the lobsters could now be dead, Noel explained how the incident all started when he and Liz were shopping at his friend Matt Harrison’s farm shop on the Isle of Man and Liz saw two lobsters in a tank.

‘She said “Oh I feel sorry for them in the tank” and Matt said “you’re not the first person to say that actually,”‘ Noel told his followers.

The star, 77, found himself in hot water this week after he shared a clip of himself and his wife Liz returning the crustaceans to the water at on the Isle of Man after purchasing them

‘She said “I’d like to buy them and release them.” And Matt said “you’re not the first person to say that.” But do you know what he then did? He offered us the lobsters for nothing as a gift. We actually paid for them because we felt that was really important.’

Noel continued, explaining how Matt ‘gave us a box to put the lobsters in and he said the temperature of the tank is very similar to where they came from, which is Peel on the west coast of the Isle of Man. And he told us how to release them.’

‘And that is the absolute truth,’ insisted Noel. ‘At that point those lobsters were ours and it was our choice to return them to their natural environment as best we could, I mean we had to do it in the harbour because we don’t have a boat.’

Noel then did admit that the freed lobsters could now be dead, saying ‘I concede we probably only delayed the inevitable but hey maybe those two lobsters are still out there, well I don’t know what lobsters do, but having a wonderful time. So there you have it.’

Noel was also keen to stress his love for the Isle of Man, where he owns a holiday home, heaping praise on his neighbours and local businesses like Matt’s.  

‘I really like the Isle of Man, it’s how England used to be before it became what it is now,’ he said. ‘There’s a real sense of community, we know all of our neighbours and they’re lovely.’

‘People on the Isle of Man are really proud of the island and they really like people who like their island.’

Noel’s move sparked backlash from his followers, as stressed lobsters are rarely equipped to survive in the wild, and releasing them can introduce foreign diseases 

Releasing a supermarket or restaurant lobster is generally discouraged due to low survival rates. 

Handled and stressed lobsters are rarely equipped to survive in the wild, and releasing them can introduce foreign diseases or disrupt local marine ecosystems 

In response to Noel’s original video on Tuesday, Matt, the owner of the farm shop said he’d be moving its lobster tank to a less prominent position and was considering removing it completely.

He said: ‘At the moment the tank is still in the shop but we’ve moved it.

‘I’m sensitive to people’s feelings.

‘But the vast majority of people want us to keep it and for us to keep supporting local businesses, which is the whole point of the shop.

‘I’m still mulling over whether to keep it. There are still lobsters in there; they’re really healthy. We’re just going to see what happens.

‘But customers will be able to buy it in plenty of other places along the Peel seafront.’

He said the lobsters were caught near Peel by a local, young shellfish fisherman, who he had wanted to support. 

Harrison said the tank was charcoal-filtered, maintained weekly and kept at salinity levels matching the surrounding sea.

And the water was maintained at between 7.1C and 7.4C.

He said the lobsters were delivered approximately every one to two weeks and were rotated through the tank, meaning they were not normally kept there for more than a fortnight.

Knile Albertson-Prescott, 60, of Noels Court, Catterick, appeared at Newton Aycliffe Magistrates’ Court on August 4.

He was sentenced after pleading guilty to driving with a proportion of Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in his blood above the specified limit.

The incident took place on Parkside, Darlington, on August 11, 2025, when Albertson-Prescott was driving his MG.

A blood test confirmed Albertson-Prescott had at least 3.9 micrograms of THC per litre of blood, exceeding the legal limit.

The court imposed a 12-month driving disqualification and fined Albertson-Prescott £460.

He was also ordered to pay £85 in costs to the Crown Prosecution Service and a £184 surcharge.

The fine will be paid in monthly instalments of £150, starting September 1.