Grime pioneer and rapper Dot Rotten has died aged 37.

The musician – born Joseph Ellis – was best known for his 2012 hit “Overload” and had worked with Ed Sheeran, Cher Lloyd and Chip and D Double E.

The circumstances around Ellis’s death are yet to be disclosed publicly. His family – who confirmed the news to the BBC – are yet to share details.

The music star has been credited as a pioneering talent within the UK Grime scene in the early Noughties. He began his rap career as Young Dot, releasing a 2007 mixed tape that was nominated for the BBC Sound of 2012 prize.

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He was nominated among the likes of Frank Ocean, Azealia Banks and Michael Kiwanuka – who ultimately took home the award.

Ellis teamed up with TMS for his single “Overload”, which made it into the Top 20 singles chart in 2012.

During his career, he made guest appearances on Ed Sheeran’s 2011 track “Goodbye to You” as well as Cher Lloyd’s “Dub on the Track” and Children In Need charity single “Teardrop” that same year. He joined forces with Gary Barlow to create the latter, making it to number 24 on the UK Singles Chart.

After releasing his last album, Interview, in 2014, Ellis adopted the stage name Zeph Ellis and began working on instrumental projects. He produced the instrumental “XCXD BXMB”, which was used on Kano’s track “Garage Skank” and AJ Tracey’s 2015 song “Naila”.

The last music to be released by Ellis was his 2020 mixtape, 808s and Gunshots, which he did without a label.

Music manager Bouncer Play Dirty paid tribute to the rap star on Instagram, writing: “Thoughts go out to his family. RIP to the brother.” While British rapper Sway wrote: “Very sad news. Sleep well Dot.”

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Wiley, who is said to have feuded with Ellis over the years, also paid his respects for the rapper, posting a video of one of his instrumentals with a dove emoji.

Meanwhile, grime artist DJ Logan Sama shared an emotional statement, describing Ellis as having “talent in abundance”.

“His impact on the scene was not just as a brilliant artist but also the guidance and inspiration he gave to hundreds of other aspiring creators around him,” he added. “Never, ever received the accolades or rewards for his craft that it deserved.”

The Royal Family, including King Charles and the Princess of Wales, gathered together for one of the biggest events in the royal calendar – the annual Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey

The Royal Family have been out in force for the annual Commonwealth Day service – but two major members of the family were missing. Joining King Charles for the colourful event at Westminster Abbey were Queen Camilla, as well as the Prince and Princess of Wales.

The annual service is a celebration of the 56 nations that make up the Commonwealth with fellow working royals Princess Anne and the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester also at the lively ceremony. However, two hard-working royals, both considered safe pairs of hands, were missing from the event – the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh.

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It is the second year in a row that Prince Edward and his wife Sophie have not been at the annual event. And it seems the reason for their absence is that they have been in Italy at the Milan and Cortina Winter Paralympics to support Paralympics GB.

Last year, the pair weren’t there as Sophie carried out a string of engagements in New York City to mark International Women’s Day, while Commonwealth Day fell on Edward’s 61st birthday last year.

Others not at Westminster Abbey this year were Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie. The two sisters are dealing with the fallout of revelations about their parents, the former Duke of York and Sarah Ferguson, and their association with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

It has been suggested that Beatrice and Eugenie should not make any public appearances with their royal relatives while the scandal continues to rage on. But it seems this is not the reason for their no-show at Westminster Abbey this afternoon. It’s because neither princess has attended a Commonwealth Day service in the past – with the event restricted to working royals only.

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However, those at the service today with the royals joining the 1,800-strong congregation were Prime Minister Keir Starmer and senior members of his Cabinet, as well as High Commissioners and young people.

Spice Girl Geri Halliwell-Horner, an ambassador for the Royal Commonwealth Society, which stages the event, gave an address and there was a reflection from former Strictly Come Dancing pro Oti Mabuse and a poem from Selina Tusitala Marsh, the inaugural Commonwealth Poet Laureate.

Charles said in his address to the Commonwealth: “In a world that can feel increasingly fragmented, this voluntary union of free association remains rare and precious – a forum for open and honest discussion and debate to help improve the lives of the nearly three billion people who call our member states home.”

He added: “Our Commonwealth of Nations holds untapped potential for prosperous trade between trusting partners. With nearly two-thirds of our population under the age of 30, we are a family defined by youth and possibility.

“It is our shared responsibility to ensure that they inherit not only hope and ambition, but also a world in which they can flourish. That inheritance depends upon the health of our planet and on the restoration of the natural world on which we depend. Across so many parts of our Commonwealth, climate change is not an abstract or distant threat, but a lived reality.

“The stewardship of nature, the protection of oceans and forests, and the pursuit of prosperity secured in harmony with the natural world are duties we owe not only to one another, but to generations yet unborn.”

Travel in the region continues to be severely disrupted

Travel expert Simon Calder has shared his thoughts on when ‘normality’ might return to airports in the Middle East. Flights to and from the region continue to be severely disrupted in the wake of the US-Israeli attacks on Iran.

A multitude of flights to and from Dubai, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi – all three being vital transport hubs for individuals travelling to and from the Gulf and Asia – have been cancelled. Approximately half a million passengers typically utilise these airports daily.

More than 37,000 Brits have made their way back to the UK from the Middle East since the crisis response commenced, with it believed that tens of thousands more remain stranded.

Mr Calder has been regularly updating on the crisis, which kicked off on February 28. He stated that whilst he anticipates an increase in the number of flights departing from the region, there’s no definitive end to the disruption in sight.

“There are tickets now being sold by Etihad out of Abu Dhabi,” he revealed. “Which is an interesting development. On top of that, I expect there to be a ramp-up in flights out of Doha and out of Dubai, but at the moment we are still a long way away from anything that could be described as. normality, whatever that looks like.

“You know, the idea that you have half a million people flying to, through, and from the three big hubs of Dubai, Doha, and Abu Dhabi every day. And it’s an interesting question as to what on earth happens when, of course, the war is finally over, which cannot come soon enough. But anyway, so I hope that people will be able to get out.”

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On Monday, 16 out of the 18 scheduled flights from the UK to Qatar were cancelled due to ongoing airspace closures, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.

Eleven out of 33 flights from the UK to the United Arab Emirates – encompassing Dubai and Abu Dhabi – were also scrapped. It’s anticipated that clearing the backlog of stranded passengers caused by the conflict will take weeks.

“British Airways has taken the view that we’re not going into Dubai or Abu Dhabi or Doha,” Mr Calder explained. “If you want to fly out, we’re happy to do that, but we’re going to be arranging flights from Muscat and looking at Friday night’s Virgin Atlantic flight to Dubai, that was arguably a good call because the effect was that the flight got to within maybe a couple of hundred miles of Dubai over Saudi Arabia and then turned around because of the attack on Dubai airport.

“It flew back, couldn’t get all the way back, went to Budapest to refuel and then continued to Heathrow. So it was roughly, I think, something like an 18-hour flight to nowhere.”

The seventh American service member killed in the United States war with Iran has been identified as a 26-year-old soldier from Glendale, Kentucky.

Sgt. Benjamin N. Pennington died Saturday after being seriously injured during an attack on U.S. troops at Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, March 1, the Department of Defense said Monday.

”He gave the ultimate sacrifice for the country he loved. That makes him nothing less than a hero, and he will always be remembered that way,” said Gen. Sean A. Gainey, United States Army Space and Missile Defense Command commanding general.

Pennington, who enlisted in the Army in 2017, was assigned to the 1st Space Brigade at Fort Carson, Colorado.

“Sgt. Pennington was a dedicated and experienced noncommissioned officer who led with strength, professionalism and sense of duty,” said Col. Michael F. Dyer, 1st Space Brigade commander.

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Pennington had received numerous awards and decorations during his time in the Army. He will be posthumously promoted to staff sergeant.

On Saturday, President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump attended the dignified transfer at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, of six U.S. soldiers killed in the war.

The soldiers killed in action were Maj. Jeffrey O’Brien, 45, of Indianola, Iowa; Capt. Cody Khork, 35, of Winter Haven, Florida; Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert Marzan, 54, of Sacramento, California; Sgt. 1st Class Nicole Amor, 39, of White Bear Lake, Minnesota; Sgt. 1st Class Noah Tietjens, 42, of Bellevue, Nebraska; and Sgt. Declan Coady, 20, of West Des Moines, lowa, who was posthumously promoted from specialist.

The six Army Reserve members were killed by a drone strike at a command center in Kuwait. The group was from the 103rd Sustainment Command, based in Des Moines, Iowa, which provides food, fuel, water and ammunition, transport equipment and supplies. They died a day after the U.S. and Israel launched a joint military campaign against Iran on February 28.

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Trump said Saturday there will likely be more U.S. casualties in the conflict with Iran. When asked if he thought he would attend more dignified transfers, Trump said: “I’m sure. I hate to… but it’s part of war.”

Top administration officials also attended the dignified transfer, including Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Attorney General Pam Bondi, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, special envoy Steve Witkoff and Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence.

Hegseth wrote on social media Friday of “an unbreakable spirit to honor their memory and the resolve they embodied.”

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Trump, wearing a blue suit, red tie and white USA baseball cap, saluted each coffin as it was carried by service members from the military aircraft to awaiting transfer vehicles. The families of the slain soldiers were also in attendance.

At least 1,230 people have been killed in Iran, more than 300 in Lebanon and about a dozen people in Israel since the conflict began over a week ago, according to the Associated Press.

The U.S. and Israel launched joint military strikes against Iran February 28, killing dozens of Iranian officials, including the country’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian officials announced his son, Mojtaba Khamenei, as Iran’s new supreme leader Sunday.

Iran has retaliated against Israel and U.S. bases and allies in the region. On Sunday, Israel struck Beirut, Lebanon, and an oil storage facility in Tehran, continuing to escalate the conflict.

ET could be phoning home, but we’re ghosting him, a new study has suggested.

The search for alien life often brings up images of men in black and cover-ups at the highest levels of government.

But why alien life has yet to be discovered could be as simple as space weather, according to the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute.

The institute’s findings, published in The Astrophysical Journal, said hunting for extraterrestrials involves listening to the heavens for sounds.

Think, for example, of the Wow! Signal that excited astronomers in 1977. The radio detection has never been properly explained or seen again.

There could be more of these signals being beamed to Earth, but the space weather caused by the sun could be ‘smearing’ the frequency, SETI said.

Dr Vishal Gajjar, astronomer at the SETI Institute and lead author, said: ‘[Traditional] Searches are often optimised for extremely narrow signals.

‘If a signal gets broadened by its own star’s environment, it can slip below our detection thresholds, even if it’s there, helping explain some of the radio silence we’ve seen in technosignature searches.’

By ‘technosignature’, Dr Gajjar means evidence that technology might have been used or is being used by alien life.

SETI figured out how space weather from stars could smear such clues by looking at radio transmissions from spacecraft in our solar system

Cool and dim red dwarves, which account for 70% of stars in the cosmos, are more likely to distort technosignature, the institute said.

In other words, we need to change how we detect signals to take into account volatile space weather.

Grayce C Brown, co-author of the study, added: ‘By quantifying how stellar activity can reshape narrowband signals, we can design searches that are better matched to what actually arrives at Earth, not just what might be transmitted.’

We’re ‘unintentionally ghosting aliens’ says expert

This gives decades-long alien hunters like Mark Christopher Lee hope, he told Metro.

Lee said SETI’s paper could answer the Fermi Paradox, the idea that if the universe is billions of years old, where are all the aliens?

He said: ‘It’s like trying to tune into a radio station during a solar storm; the signal gets broadened and slips below our detection thresholds, effectively “ghosting” us unintentionally.’

Lee said that from a UFO perspective, the sun’s plasma may also explain why sightings typically describe them as behaving erratically.

‘Perhaps alien tech is designed for interstellar travel but gets scrambled by our solar system’s “weather”,’ he added.

‘If true, it suggests we’re not alone, but the universe’s natural barriers are keeping the conversation one-sided.’

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

For more stories like this, check our news page.

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Brenda Blethyn, known for her portrayal of Detective Chief Inspector Vera Stanhope, has parted ways with the role, but she’s apparently had no shortage of job offers

Actress Brenda Blethyn has opened up about “dealing with some personal things” while giving fans an insight into her career plans going forward. Best known for her iconic portrayal of Detective Chief Inspector Vera Stanhope in ITV’s —a role she held for 14 years before making her final bow last year — the in-demand star has found herself with offers.

It may come as some surprise to the 80-year-old actress, who initially didn’t think her phone “would ever ring” again. However, that clearly wasn’t the case, as she noted it has been “off the hook.”

Since parting ways with Vera, Brenda has kept busy. She appeared in Paul Andrew Williams’ 2025 film Dragonfly and is currently gracing screens in Channel 4’s A Woman of Substance, adapted from Barbara Taylor Bradford’s 1979 novel.

Opening up to Hello! magazine, Brenda confessed: “I didn’t think the phone would ever ring, but it’s been ringing off the hook. I didn’t know this was going to happen.”

In terms of the future, Brenda admitted that there is currently no work in the pipeline, although she has turned “some things down,” citing “personal things.” She elaborated further, telling the publication: “There’s no work planned, but I’ve been turning some things down. I’m dealing with some personal things at the moment, with family.”

Nevertheless, Brenda has one ambition firmly in her sights—reprising her role for a second series of A Woman of Substance, enthusing: “I want to know what happens next!”

This follows Brenda’s revelation earlier this year that her “idea of a holiday” would be visiting a cherished seaside port town in Kent, which she regards as her “happy place.”

She disclosed to Prima magazine: “My work takes me away from home all the time, so my idea of a holiday is going home. Ramsgate is my happy place. My mum and dad were here for a long time, so I’ve always had some connection with the town.”

Discussing A Woman of Substance last week, in which she appears alongside Jessica Reynolds, Emmett J. Scanlan, Harry Cadby, and Will Mellor, Brenda described how she has a personal link to the story.

The series follows Emma Harte, who starts out as a kitchen maid before rising to become a department store magnate.

Brenda explained the link on a recent episode of Lorraine: “Funnily enough, one of the reasons I was very interested in taking part was my mum started as a skivvy in a big rich house down in Kent around about the same time, maybe a few years after. That’s where she met my dad, who was the chauffeur. My dad was born in 1894; it’s just reminiscent of that, and I used to love hearing their stories.”

The ex-co worker said she hopes his death can bring ‘some closure’ to the town

A woman who worked with Ian Huntley before he murdered schoolgirls Holly and Jessica has reacted to his death. The woman who worked with him in Soham, Cambridgeshire and did not want to be named, said she “didn’t like” him when she worked with him.

Huntley, aged 52, died in hospital on Saturday (March 7) after being attacked at HMP Frankland on February 26. He was serving a life sentence for the murder of Soham schoolgirls Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells, 10, in 2002.

Huntley worked as a caretaker at Soham Village College after moving to the area in 2001. One woman, who wished to remain anonymous, used to work with Huntley at the school.

She told CambridgeshireLive that she “didn’t like him” even before he killed the two innocent girls. It was reported that Huntley’s life-support machine was switched off on Friday night after the 52-year-old suffered severe brain trauma during the attack and then he died in hospital on Saturday morning.

A spokesman for Durham Constabulary said: “A man who was attacked at HMP Frankland in Durham last week has died in hospital this morning. Ian Huntley, 52, was taken to hospital with serious injuries following an incident in the workshop on the morning of Thursday, February 26. A police investigation into the circumstances of the incident is ongoing. A file is being prepared for the Crown Prosecution Service for consideration for charges.”

The partner of Huntley’s former colleague, who also wished to not be named, said: “He [Ian Huntley] had one problem, he breathed. The only other problem is when he died, he wasn’t conscious.”

The former co-worker and her partner both said they hope Huntley’s death can bring “some closure” to Soham. She added: “They [Holly and Jessica] would be in their 30s now. They [Holly and Jessica’s] parents could have been grandparents now. [We hope] it’s a rest for the parents.”