Liam Potts had not returned home after a night out with friends, sparking a desperate search which entered its fourth day.
The 22-year-old was last seen at about 12.20am on Saturday, August 15, heading into Wylam from Wylam Bridge.
Specialist officers from Northumbria Police’s Marine Unit made the discovery in the river close to Wylam Bridge on August 18.
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His family have since paid tribute, they said: “To our Liam. You may no longer be here beside us, but your presence will never be forgotten. Your family, friends and colleagues have all said the same thing, ‘once you met Pottsy, you could never forget him.’
“You really were the heart and soul of any room.
“We are going to miss your smile, your laugh, and the little things that made you who you are. Though time may pass, the love we have for you will never fade.
“You will always be remembered, and forever loved. Rest peacefully, knowing that your memory lives on in all those whose lives you touched.”
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They added: “Now to everyone who reached out with kind messages, calls, visits, flowers and thoughtful gestures; please know how deeply grateful we are.
“Your love and support brings us comfort when we need it most; it really has been extremely overwhelming the amount of support we have been receiving, it’s clear to see how loved Liam was.
“Thank you to everyone who tirelessly supported in the search for Liam including all the members of the public. As you will have hopefully already seen, a GoFund Me page has been created to donate to all the amazing volunteers of the Mountain Rescue Teams.
“However, beyond this, we would like to extend our appreciation to Northumbria Police, particularly the diving team that were able to successfully bring our boy home.”
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Today (August 22), it was announced that two men have been re-arrested on suspicion of manslaughter following Liam’s death.
The two men, aged 22 and 23, remain in police custody.
A disturbance had been reported the same night Liam went missing at The Boathouse, followed by a collision on Wylam Bridge involving a vehicle and pedestrians.
A man and woman, both in their 20s, sustained serious but non-life-threatening injuries in the collision.
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Northumbria Police have confirmed they are now investigating whether the two incidents are linked.
A 27-year-old man has died just days after he was punched in an ‘unprovoked attack’ while cycling.
George Glover died on August 20 following the attack in Leicester three days earlier which left him with life-threatening injuries.
Mr Glover was found by a member of the public on Narborough Road at around 6.30am before he was rushed to Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham.
A 24-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder last night and a man, 31, and a woman, 39, remain in custody after they were arrested on suspicion of robbery and conspiracy to commit murder.
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Mr Glover’s family have since paid tribute to their ‘much-loved son and big brother to his three siblings’ after his death.
They said: ‘His loss is already felt so deeply. He was a hardworking, focused young man who worked so hard to get a job he loved and enjoyed.
‘George lived a simple life. He went to work then came home to enjoy his gaming or putting bike parts together. He very much kept himself to himself.
‘His siblings looked up to him and as soon as he arrived home, the banter with them would start.
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George Glover 27, died from injuries he sustained when he was attacked while riding his bike in Leicester
He was found by a member of the public on Narborough Road at around 6.30am following the attack
‘He was loving, loyal and had a good sense of humour. He enjoyed Anime, Lego and Pokémon cards.
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‘He had a tough start in life with physical challenges but we’re so proud of the young man he’d become.
‘We know there are so many people who’ll miss him as he was held in such high regard.’
Detective Inspector Kevin Hames said: ‘From what we’ve been able to determine, this was a violent and unprovoked attack that’s sadly led to a young man losing his life.
‘We owe it to his family to identify those responsible and bring them to justice – and I’m appealing for public help ensuring this happens.
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‘Narborough Road is a busy route in and out of the city. Please cast your mind back to Monday morning. Were you there? What did you see?
‘I believe there are people who can help but have not yet come forward. Any information or footage you can provide could assist with our investigation.’
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Man, 27, dies days after being punched in ‘unprovoked attack’ while cycling: Two men and woman are arrested
For parents, keeping children safe is not only instinctive but a priority. We
babyproof the house, we check the car seat twice, we wake up in the middle of the
night at the smallest sound.
As technology has evolved, it also offered a promise to help parents watch over our kids even when we are not in the same room as them.
Throughout the different stages of kids’ lives, parents now rely on different technology to help keep kids safe. This tech now includes trackers, location-sharing apps and parental control apps. But at the earliest stages of our kids’ lives, we rely on baby monitors.
Monitors allow parents to keep an eye on babies without having to be in the same room. The first model was the Zenith Radio Nurse, released on sale in 1938.
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More recent products have many advanced features, including contactless breathing and vital signs monitoring, AI-powered sleep analytics, cry and sound analysis, and environmental monitoring. However, these new levels of functionality depend on ever more sensors, more cloud processing, and more data being collected on children.
Parents now have to weigh up the privacy of the data these devices collect, as well
as the security risks they bring into the home. In May 2026, a security researcher in France named Sammy Azdoufal decided to probe some of the weaknesses behind budget smart cameras.
Azdoufal discovered that he could pull up other people’s live and recorded footage without needing to guess a password or do anything that really counts as “hacking”. His findings, reported by CyberNews, traced back to a shared system used behind the scenes by more than 300 different camera brands sold on retailers such as Amazon.
He estimated that more than one million devices were affected, many of them baby monitors in bedrooms.
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Shared vulnerabilities
What most parents don’t realise is that the brand on the box is rarely the company
that built the camera or wrote its software. Many monitors, even from well known
sellers, come out of a small number of factories. They get sold under dozens of
different names, so one weakness underneath can affect them all.
The cybersecurity operations company Rapid7 published some of the first well known research into these cameras years ago, and a 2026 academic study found the same pattern repeating in newer devices and their apps.
Parents may not realise they have a right to see data collected from devices. Rodica Vasiliev
Regulators have started responding. Updated in 2022, new cybersecurity rules under the EU’s Radio Equipment Directive have applied to any internet-connected wireless device sold in the EU. These new rules require manufacturers to protect users’ data, stop devices being hijacked and guard against fraud.
Some manufacturers are taking steps to improve security. For example, the baby monitor manufacturer Owlet announced in late 2025 that its newest model was the first baby monitor awarded the SGS Cybersecurity mark. This mark requires manufacturers to include encryption, a unique passwords and a channel for researchers to report flaws. The certification gives parents something concrete to look for.
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Security is only half of it. Even a monitor that’s never hacked can still raise data privacy issues. Many collect more than video. They gather information on feeding times, as well as sleep and growth data, and share it with third parties for analytics or advertising under vague “partner” clauses.
Sleep pattern data from a baby monitor isn’t classed as medical information under GDPR, so companies can use it for analytics or advertising unless parents opt out.
This data often isn’t as anonymous as companies claim once combined with other details.
Cry detection and sleep analysis add to this, since both usually mean sending audio
and video to the cloud, where it may also help train a company’s algorithms.
Because these features depend on cloud processing rather than staying on the
device, the data often leaves the home network, increasing both privacy and security exposure.
The code requires the highest privacy settings by default, and gives parents a genuine right to see, or delete, what’s been collected, backed by fines of up to 4% of global turnover. Most parents just don’t know to ask.
None of this means every camera monitor is dangerous, or that the reassurance they
offer isn’t real. But the trade-off keeps showing up in the research. Internet-connected monitors carry more risk than simple closed ones that talk directly between two devices in your home.
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Treat the password like a banking one, keep the app updated, and check how long the manufacturer will support it. The bigger issue isn’t something one password can fix. The underlying issues in the industry mean new vulnerabilities will keep appearing, so the safest path is staying informed and choosing devices with transparent security and support policies.
Collections have been disrupted in some areas because of what Bolton Council described as unavoidable circumstances.
Residents affected by the delays have been asked to keep their bins outside while crews work through the missed rounds. They have also been told to check the council website for updates.
Bolton Council said via social media: “In some areas of Bolton, our normal bin collection schedule has been disrupted due to unavoidable circumstances.
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“We have 7 bin wagons out tomorrow collecting missed rounds from the week.”
The message was issued on Friday, August 21, and collections are continuing today, Saturday, August 22. The council said its crews were also providing waste collections at weekends to deal with the delays.
A Bolton Council spokesman said: “Please continue to leave your bins out and check the council website for information.”
The council’s missed-bin page was last updated on Friday, August 21 at 3.41 pm. It lists streets where the authority is aware that collections have not yet taken place, meaning residents do not need to report the missed collection.
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The list includes collections missed because of operational issues and other entries marked as no access.
It covers grey bins for general waste, beige bins for paper and card, burgundy bins for glass, cans and plastic bottles, and green food and garden waste bins.
Council records show 158 operational-issue entries between Wednesday, August 19 and Friday, August 21. These entries relate to 63 grey bins, 19 beige bins and 76 burgundy bins.
The largest number was recorded on Thursday, August 20, when the council listed 98 operational-issue entries.
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These included 36 grey bins and 62 burgundy bins.
A further 54 entries were recorded on Friday, August 21. They included 27 grey bins, 14 beige bins and 13 burgundy bins.
Six operational-issue entries were recorded on Wednesday, August 19. They involved five beige bins and one burgundy bin.
Streets listed include Academy Way, Chorley New Road, Gilnow Road, Ladybridge Lane, Manchester Road, Mornington Road, Park Bank, Shurdington Road, St Helens Road and Wingates Grove.
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Some streets appear more than once because different bin types were affected.
Residents whose street appears on the council’s list are advised to leave bins out for collection.
The authority says it aims to return to missed collections within two working days.
The council added: “Our crews are working hard to empty your bins, including providing waste collections at weekends.
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“Thank you for your patience and understanding while we manage any temporary delays to services.”
Travellers are being urged to fully charge their electronic devices before heading to the airport, as flat batteries could cause unwanted hold-ups at security.
UK airport rules require passengers to demonstrate that devices can be switched on if requested by security staff, meaning a dead phone or laptop could lead to delays.
Daniel Frost, product manager at Destination2, said: “Always charge everything at least the night before – don’t count on a top-up at the gate, as airport sockets are often in short supply, faulty, and let’s face it, you’d rather be in duty free than searching the terminal for the opportunity to plug in.
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“I’d always recommend packing a portable power bank in your hand luggage as a backup, but just double-check your airline’s limits as this can vary and will impact any chargers you wish to bring.
“Switch devices on and off again to confirm they’re working as intended.
“It’s such a simple thing to check, but it can be easily forgotten in the chaos of getting to the airport and the last-minute packing we’re all guilty of.”
The advice comes as Google searches for ‘airport security rules’ have risen by more than 1,000 per cent in the past year, suggesting growing confusion or concern among travellers.
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Passengers are permitted to carry most electronic items in hand or hold luggage, including mobile phones, laptops, tablets, hairdryers, straighteners, and electric shavers.
Mr Frost said: “Charging your devices should be as automatic as packing your passport – a two-minute check means one less thing to think about at security.”
He also emphasised the importance of checking airline restrictions on portable chargers, as rules can vary between carriers.
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Will you be trying this hack? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
Manchester United started their Premier League campaign with a whimper, as Michael Carrick’s side fell to a woeful 2-0 defeat away to newly promoted Hull on Saturday
15:18, 22 Aug 2026Updated 15:18, 22 Aug 2026
Alan Shearer has labelled Manchester United’s players ‘unfit’ after they produced a dire display in their 2-0 loss against Hull. Michael Carrick’s side got their Premier League season off to the worst possible start, with first-half goals from Hull defenders Semi Ajayi and Nobel Mendy – both from set pieces – making the difference.
But beyond the scoreline, there was plenty to separate the sides. United lacked intensity throughout and couldn’t break Hull down, as the newly promoted hosts held on to claim all three points.
Shearer gave a scathing assessment post-match, saying on BBC Radio 5 Live: “I haven’t seen Manchester United in pre-season. I saw them in this game and they didn’t look fit.
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“They didn’t look ready to play 90 minutes of intense, high pressure, high energy football. There was only one team that looked fit there and it wasn’t Manchester United.”
The Red Devils found themselves behind inside 17 minutes, with Ajayi pouncing on a rebound after Senne Lammens denied Oli McBurnie from a corner. Hull doubled their lead before-half time when Mendy converted an excellent free-kick from Regan Slater.
United captain Bruno Fernandes laid into his team’s performance, telling TNT Sports: “Same mistakes as we did last season, every away game we give too much of the ball to them. In the first 20 minutes, the goalkeeper was the one with the most touches.
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“We needed to press more, be more aggressive, and then again we need to work on set-plays and not concede these type of goals. Against these types of teams, they are waiting for that moment.
Where will Manchester United finish this season? Have your say in the comments section.
“We knew before the game set-pieces would be a big part of their game. They played all pre-season with a back four but had a five against us for some height, for these moments. The most frustrating thing is that we lost the game.”
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Carrick was less critical of the performance but vowed to ‘learn’ from it ahead of next Sunday’s home game against Ipswich, another newly promoted outfit. “I’m not going into areas [to improve] now, it’s for us to know and we’ll improve through the week and in the games,” Carrick also told TNT Sports.
“When we keep getting stronger as a group, that’ll come. Today’s a game we can’t ignore, we have a lot to learn from it – but we will.”
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Countdown to Kickoff: The Essential 26/27 Sky Sports Bundle
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Made some good saves in the first half, stopped a well-placed header from Oli McBurnie, but he could do nothing with the two goals. It spoke volumes that Lammens was United’s best player on the afternoon. 6
Noussair Mazraoui
Cleared the danger to prevent a dangerous cross in the first half, but he lost possession on a few occasions and looked vulnerable at the back. Carrick may switch to Diogo Dalot next weekend. 3
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Harry Maguire
Looked like the only defender who could deal with Hull’s physicality and aerial balls at times. Tried his best to drag his team back into the game in the second half, which saw him make runs forward in frustration. 4
A popular deli in Ancoats has issued a tongue-in-cheek response to a scathing one-star review left on Google.
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The reviewer described Ancoats Deli on Murray Street, which has a 4.6-star rating overall and dozens of five-star reviews, as the ‘most overrated spot’ in the area. They claimed the sandwiches sold there were ‘thinly filled, unhealthy, bland and absolutely slathered in oil’.
The user, who posted under an anonymous name, said ‘there are literally dozens of better sandwich spaces in and around Ancoats’ as they left the one-star rating. They rated food as one out of five, service as one out of five and atmosphere as one out of five.
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But the deli and bar responded with a playful three-word comeback commenting ‘it’s focaccia babe’. They shared the lighthearted response on the Ancoats Deli Instagram page, where it was met with dozens of comments praising the food and service.
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One user wrote: “Actually they’re absolutely delicious, beautiful fillings, fresh focaccia and lovely staff to boot.” Another said: “WHAT? I visited recently and I died and went to heaven. My sandwich was fabulous.”
Owner India Morris said it was important to respond because the review was ‘so ridiculous’. The 33-year-old told the Manchester Evening News: “I understand that one-star reviews are serious and very detrimental to businesses, but this one was just so ridiculous and the review from this person was just mental.
“I was speaking to my general manager in the Whatsapp chat and we were like ‘it’s literally just focaccia babe, what’s the issue’. I said just reply with that.”
India added: “It sounds like this person has never been in. The bread is literally made from oil.
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“We got reviewed one-star across the board for service, food, atmosphere. Which is just not true, the person that left the review has also always reviewed everyone else one-star as well.”
India said one-star review ratings, when untrue, can lead to damage for hospitality business. “We obviously don’t like real bad reviews from customers and we reply to those but when you do you get something like that you do have to make a joke out of it”, she said.
“What’s important to me is making sure the staff don’t feel like they’ve done something wrong. We’re very lucky that what we actually have is a good product and everything else hopefully matches up to that so I’m not too worried about it, but my concern across the board for other businesses is that people who have nothing better to do are trying to cause people’s businesses harm in a climate that is already difficult for independent hospitality businesses.
“When you get a review like that unless you make light of it it becomes a problem. I think it’s if something as ridiculous and damaging as that you should respond.”
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She added: “The team are really pleased with how everybody has got behind us and all the positive comments. I think the sad thing is I don’t think people understand how much damage a review can do.”
The crash occurred on the A66 in South Bank at 3.39am today (Saturday, August 22), and involved a marked police vehicle and a Volkswagen Passat.
Cleveland Police said the Passat was travelling in the wrong direction when it collided with the police car, which was travelling in the correct direction.
All seven occupants of the vehicles – two police officers and five members of the public – were pronounced dead at the scene.
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Pictures from the scene show a police cordon in place.
The road is expected to remain closed for the rest of the day.
Chief Constable Victoria Fuller of Cleveland Police said: “First and foremost, our thoughts are with the families of everyone involved in today’s incident.
“No one should leave their home and not return safely, including police officers serving their communities and protecting the people of Cleveland.
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“This tragic incident will be felt across Cleveland, within our communities and throughout the entire policing family.”
Jihadists have kidnapped and slaughtered scores of people in an attack during Friday prayers in central Nigeria.
The exact toll of the attacks, which also hit the village of Binzi in Niger State, was unknown, federal representative Jafaru Mohammed said.
Jibril Ahmad, a civilian who survived the attack, said: ‘Soon after finishing the normal Friday prayer, the armed group of Lakuwara, in their hundreds, wielding guns, knives and machetes, began to attack us.’
‘They slaughtered some of our people, saying we are not practising the true teachings of Islam,’ Ahmad added.
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Some are understood to have escaped when another jihadist group, known as Mahmuda, started clashing with the militants.
Niger state police said they were aware of the kidnapping, but had not received reports of deaths.
Africa’s most populous country is battling a 17-year insurgency by jihadist groups, who have made such abductions a key tactic – including the 2014 kidnapping of hundreds of schoolgirls in the town of Chibok.
The insurgency is concentrated in the northeast, though Friday’s attack was in the west of the country, an area that has seen increased activity by armed groups and militants from the Sahel as the conflict has splintered.
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Jihadists have kidnapped and slaughtered scores of people in an attack during Friday prayers in central Nigeria. File image shows a Nigerian jihadist in 2014
Some of the jihadi militants in Nigeria have presented themselves as an alternative to the government in areas with limited government and security presence.
A key issue in Nigeria is the poor welfare of the country’s overstretched and underpaid security forces, which President Bola Tinubu has sought to address by recently announcing pay rises and mass recruitment for the military.
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The latest kidnapping comes just weeks after 163 kidnapped Nigerians were rescued from jihadi captivity.
The freed captives, mostly women and children, were handed over to authorities by security forces in Ilorin, the capital of Kwara State, earlier this month.
The Nigerians were abducted on February 3 when jihadi militants stormed the village of Woro, killing over 160 others.
February’s attack was one of the deadliest in Nigeria in recent years, and showed how militants who had previously focused their activities in the north are moving south through Africa’s most populous nation, where gangs compete for territory and control of natural resources in villages where they outnumber the country’s overstretched security forces.
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The US is providing military support to Nigeria under an agreement it says aims to protect Nigerian Christians, though much of that support is restricted to logistics and intelligence-gathering at the heart of the violence in the north.
The victims in the Muslim-majority Woro were rescued this month alongside 145 other victims who had been kidnapped, mostly from the neighbouring Niger State.
Local authorities did not say how the captives were rescued from the dense, expansive forest of the Kainji Lake National Park.
President Tinubu described it as the ‘largest rescue operation ever’ undertaken on a single day, and promised to intensify operations against armed gangs.
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Jihadists slaughter and kidnap dozens of people for ‘not practicing the true teachings of Islam’ during Friday prayers in Nigeria
Also, Rash Masum (Neet Mohan) received some really positive news, as he learnt that he had finally become a consultant!
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Elsewhere in the ED, this boxset saw Rida Amaan (Sarah Seggari) come to terms with her alopecia diagnosis. She was supported by friend and colleague Jodie Whyte (Anna Chell), who helped pick Rida back up whenever her confidence was low.
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A new era awaits (Picture: BBC/Metro)
Speaking of Jodie, the character turned into a bit of a detective this mini-series, as she became passionate about exposing the truth surrounding a local housing development Wyvern Hill.
Here’s everything you need to know on why Casualty is not on TV and when it’s back.
Why is Casualty not on tonight and when is it back?
Casualty has finished its Lethal Legacy boxset and thus it is currently off air – and won’t return to our TVs until the start of September.
The doctors of the ED will face their biggest challenge yet upon Casualty’s return (Picture: BBC)
Lives hang in the balance and the ED team are pushed to their absolute limits in a tense and emotionally charged story, bringing together some of the show’s most beloved characters.
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A major rescue operation unfolds, forcing impossible life-or-death decisions and testing the courage, resilience and leadership of those at the heart of the hospital.
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