A road closure was put in place while emergency services attended and tests were carried out on the substance.

A woman has been arrested and charged after an unknown substance was discovered on a lamppost in Edinburgh.

The incident was reported on Thursday evening, August 20, after officers were alerted to “items being placed on a lamppost” on Morningside Road.

A road closure was put in place while emergency services attended and the substance was removed. Police and firefighters were at the scene, while public transport services in the area were disrupted and a cordon was erected around the lamppost.

It remains unclear what the substance was, however it was tested and found to pose no threat to the public.

A 30-year-old woman has now been arrested and charged in connection with culpable and reckless conduct, reports Edinburgh Live. She is due to appear at Edinburgh Sheriff Court at a later date.

A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “On the evening of Thursday, 20 August, 2026, a further report was made about items being placed on a lamppost in the Morningside Road area of Edinburgh.

“A short closure was put in place while this was removed and further tests are being carried out on the substance to establish exactly what has been used. However, it was found to pose no further threat to the public.

“A 30-year-old woman has been arrested and charged in connection with culpable and reckless conduct.

“She is due to appear at Edinburgh Sheriff Court at a later date.”

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President Donald Trump’s border czar offered a stunning denial Saturday to the claim that immigration officials engage in racial profiling — by calling himself “an equal opportunity deporter.”

Tom Homan made the boast while responding to a suggestion by progressive Democratic Senate candidate Angie Nixon of Florida that Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers would “shoot and kill” Black Americans after mistaking them for immigrants “from Jamaica or Nigeria.”

“It was a ridiculous statement. Look, we don’t racially profile,” Homan told Fox News’ Saturday in America. “We don’t arrest people based on the color of their skin.”

Homan then said, “I’m actually an equal opportunity deporter.”

“I deported people to 180 countries last year, so I don’t care if you’re from Asia, you’re from Europe, or you’re from other countries. If you’re in the country illegally, you’ll be deported, regardless of the color of your skin,” he added.

Trump has repeatedly pledged to carry out the largest mass deportation operation in U.S. history, and more than 356,000 people have been deported during fiscal 2026, which ends September 30, ABC News reported last month, citing ICE data.

But the White House has set a goal of 1 million a year, which Mullin is unlikely to meet despite vowing to increase the number achieved by predecessor Kristi Noem, Politico reported early this month.

Homan’s Saturday remarks came after host Kayleigh McEnany played a video clip of Nixon, who is Black, recently telling the South Dade NAACP’s The Empowerment Zone Podcast that ICE was “gonna profile us, too.”

“They can’t tell the difference between an African-American or, you know, a Black American that is a descendant of slaves here in this country, or someone from Jamaica or Nigeria,” she said. “Like, they are going to racially profile us, and they are going to escalate things, and they are going to shoot and kill us.”

Federal law-enforcement officers have been involved in a series of fatal shootings during immigration crackdowns across the country, including the January killings of protesters Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.

More recently, ICE officers killed Mexican national Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston and Colombian national Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in Biddeford, Maine, on July 7 and July 13, respectively.

Both men were shot during traffic stops, but neither was the target of an investigation.

Their slayings led Mullin to order a temporary halt to vehicle stops by ICE, but his directive was immediately criticized by President Donald Trump, leading Mullin to countermand it the following day.

On Tuesday, Nixon scored an upset victory over Alexander Vindman, a retired Army lieutenant colonel, in Florida’s special Democratic primary to challenge Republican Senator Ashley Moody.

Outgoing Florida Governor Ron DeSantis appointed Moody, then the state’s attorney general, to fill the Senate seat vacated by Marco Rubio after he was confirmed as Trump’s secretary of state in January 2025.

Nixon’s landslide, 56-44 win over Vindman came despite her raising less than $1 million, compared to the $16 million war chest he amassed as of July, according to the Miami Herald.

The Herald credited Nixon’s victory to her campaign platform, which calls for universal Medicare, free childcare, a national rent freeze and a $25 minimum hourly wage.

Vindman, who was a key witness in Trump’s first impeachment trial, ended his primary campaign with more than $7 million on hand, and the state’s Democratic Party said he was donating $400,000 to “support General Election candidates up and down the ballot,” the Florida Politics website reported Thursday.

By ANDREW YOUNG

Published: 01:32 BST, 23 August 2026 | Updated: 02:18 BST, 23 August 2026

A damaged rotor blade from an earlier incident may have caused the helicopter crash that killed a British couple on honeymoon in Greece last week.

The Bell 206 helicopter was carrying Alexander Cromie, 31, and Marie Ebert, 30, when the pilot apparently lost control while coming in to land on the island of Sifnos on Monday.

Witnesses saw the helicopter spinning out of control, suggesting it had a tail rotor failure, before it crashed, killing the newlyweds and the Greek pilot.

Investigators are said to be looking at whether the crash was linked to a scare involving the helicopter 11 weeks earlier.

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Restraining straps were put in place after the aircraft landed on Paros on June 1 to immobilise the tail blades so they would not move in high winds.

But the pilot failed to ensure the straps had been removed before starting the engine again to fly passengers off the island, according to a report filed with Greece’s Civil Aviation Authority.

Experts are said to be assessing whether the straps could have caused any strain or damage to the tail assembly.

The investigation will be hampered by the intense fire that destroyed much of the helicopter.

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Alexander Cromie and Marie Ebert,were taking a ride in a private air taxi before it was suspected to have suffered a mechanical failure and crashed near a heliport in Sifnos, Greece 

 Footage showed the helicopter immediately engulfed in a fireball, with smoke seen billowing into the sky from the blackened wreckage

Pictured: Aerial view of the area where a Bell 206 helicopter crashed on the island of Sifnos

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Flight tracker records suggest the helicopter remained in Paros for three weeks after the June 1 incident. It later received an air-worthiness certificate, on July 2.

The civil aviation authority has ruled that ‘visual and functional checks’ be carried out on the tail rotors of all Bell 206 helicopters before every flight in Greece as a precaution following the crash.

Mr Cromie, a vice-president in private wealth solutions for asset management company Blackstone, and Ms Ebert are thought to have booked an 80-mile flight to Sifnos costing £1,300 as a honeymoon treat.

A spokesman for Blackstone said Mr Cromie was ‘beloved by everyone who worked with him’.

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Management consultant Bain & Company, which employed Ms Ebert as a senior specialist, described her as a ‘much-loved and deeply respected’ member of its London team.

Relatives of Mr Cromie and Ms Ebert are reported to have flown to Athens to formally identify their bodies.

PUERTO MALDONADO, Peru (AP) — Eight Peruvian navy personnel jumped from a helicopter into a clearing carved out of the Amazon rainforest by illegal gold miners along the Malinowski River in Peru’s Madre de Dios region, sending sand and dust swirling as they ran toward the mining site.

The forest gave way to giant holes gouged into the earth and filled with opaque, muddy water, gasoline and other chemicals glistening on the surface. Makeshift wooden mining platforms straddled the pools, surrounded by pumps and thick plastic tubes used to suck up and sift through sediment for tiny particles of gold.

As the troops closed in, several miners stood watching from a distance. The officer leading the patrol fired a warning shot into the air. Within seconds, they vanished into the forest.

The raid over several days this week was part of an intensified government campaign against illegal gold mining in Madre de Dios, one of Peru’s most biodiverse regions, as authorities try to stop the activity from advancing into protected areas of the Amazon. Mining has stripped away vast areas of rainforest, leaving behind a scarred landscape of contaminated pools and altered rivers in the hunt for lucrative gold. Mercury used to separate gold from sediment has contaminated waterways, wildlife and people, including Indigenous communities that depend heavily on fish.

Edy Reynaldo Dariquebe, an official with FENAMAD, an Indigenous federation representing communities in Peru’s Madre de Dios region, said criminal groups linked to illegal mining have been operating near or inside protected Indigenous communities. He said mining is destroying forests and contaminating rivers with mercury that accumulates in fish, spreading the impact to communities far from the mining sites.

Ronald Flores Yáñez, a deputy prosecutor for Peru’s Office of the Attorney General, said illegal mining has advanced close to military monitoring points and into protected areas.

“We can attest today that they have already entered the Tambopata National Reserve,” Flores told The Associated Press. “We are inside the reserve and around us we see dredges numbering in the hundreds.”

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Miranda said that with gold prices high and mining highly profitable, operators can acquire another engine, rebuild their equipment and return to the same location or move elsewhere.

“Every day they are advancing more and more and more, and we are being very slow,” said Flores, adding that their strategy needs to change.

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Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are reportedly set to return to the UK with their children, however, royal biographer Andrew Lownie believes Meghan may struggle with one part of life in Britain

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle sent shockwaves around the globe when they revealed plans to return to the UK.

The former working royals are anticipated back in Britain later this month, with their children, Archie and Lilibet, set to begin at British schools for the upcoming academic year, which commences in September.

However, one leading royal commentator believes there’s a particular challenge Meghan will find especially difficult to cope with as the couple readjust following more than six years living in California.

Considerable speculation has surrounded where Harry and Meghan will settle when they arrive back. As private individuals no longer within the Royal Family, their exact location is unlikely to be made public.

It’s anticipated they’ll reside on a private estate away from London, with two areas being widely discussed, reports the Express.

One possibility is Northamptonshire, close to the ancestral home of Harry’s late mother, Princess Diana. The alternative is the Cotswolds, an area already populated by celebrities and the ultra-wealthy.

According to royal biographer Andrew Lownie, there’s one aspect Meghan might not have fully considered – Britain’s notorious weather.

While the country has experienced (or suffered through) successive heatwaves over the past three months, conditions are set to deteriorate as winter draws near.

Andrew told The Daily T podcast: “I can’t see Meghan enjoying a Cotswolds winter with the rain coming down, and her mother a long way away. So I just can’t see this working.”

The writer has penned several volumes about the Royal Family, most recently Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York, which examines the Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor controversy.

Throughout the podcast, he also discussed what Harry and Meghan’s apparently abrupt choice to abandon their American lifestyle and return to the UK reveals about the evolving balance in their marriage. The move was so unexpected that it reportedly caught Harry’s father, King Charles, off guard.

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He explained: “I think it’s a really interesting dynamic because we’ve always thought that Harry was under the thumb of Meghan, and that there wasn’t much give or take there.. And now there seems to be an understanding that he wants to have children with a British education, he wants to come back to his friends, I think he’s felt very isolated in California.”

In other developments, a property specialist suggested the family’s new residence might not be the most impressive for one significant reason.

Cal Graham, from We Buy Any Home, reckons this will be true if privacy and security are their primary priorities.

To prevent people from identifying their whereabouts, Cal suggests a “shielded” property would be the ideal choice, which doesn’t automatically mean a luxurious one.

Cal told us: “If the reports are correct, the most suitable property would probably be one that looks relatively unremarkable from the public road but offers considerable privacy once inside.

“A modern home on a privately managed estate, set well back from the road and shielded by mature landscaping, would attract far less attention than an instantly recognisable country mansion.”

Across the countryside are fields, earthworks and ruined buildings marking places where communities once lived, worked and farmed before their settlements shrank or disappeared altogether.

Some were abandoned during the later Middle Ages, when England was affected by population decline, disease and changes in farming. Others gradually dwindled over several centuries.

The abandoned villages of County Durham and Darlington (Image: ARCHIVE)

Historic England says more than 2,000 deserted medieval villages have been recorded nationally, with abandonment particularly common during the 14th and 15th centuries. Causes could include changes in land use, enclosure, economic decline and population losses associated with epidemics such as the Black Death.

Here are some of the lost, deserted and dramatically shrunken settlements that can be found in and around Darlington and County Durham.

Barforth, sometimes known as “Old Richmond”

Near Gainford, beside the River Tees, lie the remains of the medieval settlement of Barforth.

The site has long appeared under the intriguing name Old Richmond, although Historic England’s research records say the name is probably misleading.

Barforth was recorded in the Domesday Book and again in medieval documents between 1301 and 1334. Depopulation may have been reported there in 1517.

Historic records describe the settlement as having included streets and crofts, while surviving remains in the area include St Lawrence’s Chapel and a medieval dovecote. Barforth Hall survives nearby.

The alternative name Old Richmond may have developed because a de Roaldo de Richmond was recorded as holding Berford or Berforth in 1287, rather than because the settlement was an earlier version of Richmond itself.

Ulnaby

One of the best-preserved deserted medieval villages around Darlington can be found at Ulnaby, near High Coniscliffe.

The site is now a Scheduled Monument and contains extensive earthworks surrounding Ulnaby Hall.

Archaeological investigation found the remains of a planned two-row village arranged around a green. Rectangular plots represent medieval tofts and crofts, house plots with their associated yards and gardens, while a manorial enclosure included a fishpond and dovecote.

The abandoned villages of County Durham and Darlington (Image: ARCHIVE)

The settlement expanded and contracted over the centuries before gradually becoming smaller.

Historic England’s research indicates that Ulnaby Hall was established by the early 17th century on land previously occupied by village plots. Three cottages were still documented in 1629, while the last surviving medieval building disappeared sometime between 1855 and 1896.

Today the earthworks make Ulnaby an unusually clear archaeological example of how a medieval County Durham village was laid out.

Whessoe

The medieval village of Whessoe once stood on what became the northern side of Darlington, close to Whessoe Grange.

Unlike Ulnaby, much of the physical evidence for Whessoe has disappeared.

Historic England’s research records state that the deserted medieval village survived as visible earthworks until the early 1950s.

The remains in a field historically known as Village Field were subsequently bulldozed and ploughed. Large stones were reportedly encountered during the work, while only limited earthwork evidence remained afterwards.

The name survived even after the settlement itself had vanished, providing another reminder that modern Darlington has expanded across what was once a much more rural medieval landscape.

West Hartburn

Another important lost village lies near Middleton St George.

West Hartburn is recorded as a deserted medieval settlement and was first documented around 1200.

Remarkably, two rows of cottages with a central well were reportedly still standing as late as 1823, showing that the disappearance of a medieval settlement did not always happen suddenly.

Archaeological excavations uncovered longhouses and other buildings, together with a paved causeway.

Finds ranged from medieval pottery and a 14th-century dagger to coins and later objects showing occupation continuing beyond the Middle Ages. Surviving earthworks include house plots, crofts and a hollow way marking the route through the settlement.

Some features north-west of the hollow way have since been levelled, but earthworks on the opposite side were still identifiable in 2018 lidar data.

Archdeacon Newton

Just outside Darlington lies Archdeacon Newton, described in Historic England’s records as a shrunken medieval village.

It was associated with a manor belonging to the Archdeacon of Durham and its surviving archaeological remains include banks and ditches forming former enclosures, along with evidence connected with a manorial complex.

Surveys have recorded medieval settlement earthworks, ridge-and-furrow cultivation and evidence of a moated manor-house complex.

Unlike a completely deserted settlement, Archdeacon Newton never vanished entirely. Instead, the settlement contracted dramatically, leaving surviving buildings and farms surrounded by archaeological evidence of the community that once existed there.

Garmondsway

Farther north in County Durham, near Kelloe, is one of the county’s most impressive deserted medieval village sites.

Garmondsway is a Scheduled Monument containing both the abandoned village and part of its medieval field system.

Historic England describes the settlement as extensive and exceptionally well preserved.

At least 13 rectangular enclosures survive as earthworks, with some containing gardens, yards and foundations belonging to medieval longhouses. Two hollow ways, sunken routes worn through repeated use, also help reveal the former shape of the settlement.

Part of the surrounding ridge-and-furrow field system survives alongside it, meaning the site preserves evidence not just of where villagers lived but also of the farmland on which their community depended.

Old Wingate

Near modern Wingate and Wheatley Hill are the remains of another largely abandoned medieval community.

Old Wingate is recorded as a deserted medieval village with its associated open-field system.

Earthworks show former house plots and crofts arranged around a central village green. In places, stone foundations belonging to buildings can still be identified.

The surviving archaeology also includes ridge-and-furrow cultivation and other earthworks associated with the medieval agricultural landscape.

Modern farms occupy part of the area, so Old Wingate is another example of a medieval settlement whose footprint is considerably larger than the community surviving there today.

The incident took place in July, at the same time as a series of attacks on US water infrastructure which sparked worry in the White House and affected 12 states

A power plant in Great Britain was forced to close for four days after a cyber attack by Iran-linked hackers, it has been revealed.

According to reports, the facility was disabled “while staff fought to bring it back online” after the attack last month – the exact location of the site has not been revealed due to security reasons.

It is, however, understood that the plant affected was not one of the biggest sites in the country, according to the Telegraph. Due to the relatively small nature of the plant, the outage had no impact on the UK’s wider power supply or energy generation. This has been confirmed by the Government, which has described the UK’s energy system as ‘highly resilient.

The incident took place in July, at the same time as a series of attacks on US water infrastructure – those attacks affected 12 states and caused concern in the White House.

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In response, the Government briefed the chief executives of power companies and wrote to businesses with advice, direction and next steps.

A Government source told the Telegraph: “We have thresholds for important generators to legally notify us of cyber activity, and this site is nowhere near. It’s a very small scale site, less than a rounding error compared to grid capacity.”

A Government spokesman said: “The UK has a highly resilient energy system. We work closely with the energy sector to protect infrastructure and ensure the highest security standards.

“This story refers to an incident impacting a small-scale energy generator, and at no point was there a risk to the wider energy system.”

The tragedy prompted other police forces to send their condolences with Assistant Chief Constable Melanie Jones, of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, saying: “The loss of two dedicated officers in the line of duty is felt profoundly across the entire policing family and I have personally reached out to Chief Constable Victoria Fuller today, to extend our sincere sympathies.

CLEVELAND (AP) — The Buffalo Bills are giving defensive tackle Ed Oliver support and space following the accidental death of his 2-year-old son.

Oliver has been grieving throughout training camp and many of his teammates only learned of the tragic accident on Friday. Following Saturday’s 31-7 preseason win over the Browns, Bills quarterback Josh Allen said the team is standing with Oliver.

“Obviously, very unfortunate what happened and as a teammate of him, as someone in this locker room, all we can do is love on him,” Allen said. “There’s nothing that you can say to make the situation any better except being there in whatever ways he needs.

“That’s what we’re going to continue to do. That’s what teammates do. You love up on each other when we’re down, and I can’t imagine what he’s going through. But the way that he’s dealt with it has been unbelievable.”

Oliver has asked for privacy and prayers while still mourning his son, who was also named Ed. The toddler was pronounced dead after being found unresponsive in a residential pool in Harris County, Texas, on June 28, a person briefed on what happened told The Associated Press. The person spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity because the team and player have not revealed that information.

Without providing many details including names or ages, the Harris County Sheriff’s department posted a note on its Facebook account that evening regarding the drowning of a toddler in a neighborhood community north of Houston.

“This is a tragic incident and our thoughts are with the toddler’s family during this incredibly difficult time. The investigation is ongoing,” the post read.

A sheriff’s official told The Associated Press on Saturday that a report was not immediately available.

Before Saturday’s game, Bills general manager Brandon Beane issued a statement expressing his and the organization’s condolences.

“It’s an unthinkable tragedy for any parent. We will continue to support Ed and his family as we grieve this tragic loss,” Beane said.

Bills first-year coach Joe Brady was equally compassionate toward Oliver, who is in his eighth season with Buffalo.

“Ever since I found out the news, I can’t fathom what he’s going through,” Brady said. “As a coach and a father, there really aren’t words to describe it. It’s all about us loving him and giving him the privacy that he deserves.

“It’s hard when I see him. I don’t have the words, but all I can do is support him in whatever way he needs.”

The 28-year-old Oliver was selected by the Bills in the first round of the 2019 draft out of Houston.

Oliver reported for training camp on time last month and appeared with the starters in the Bills’ preseason-opening 29-14 win over Carolina last weekend. He has not practiced this week because of an undisclosed injury.

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Wawrow reported from Buffalo, New York.

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See AP’s full NFL coverage here

A Texas judge denied a new trial for Karmelo Anthony on Saturday in the stabbing death of a 17-year-old athlete at a high school track meet, a killing that drew national attention and led to harassment of the families.

Anthony, 19, was convicted of murder in June and sentenced to 35 years in prison for the April 2025 killing of Austin Metcalf, 17.

Judge Michael Chitty denied the retrial motion in a half-page order following a two-day hearing this week near Dallas, citing a review of the evidence and arguments. He did not elaborate.

Russell Wilson, Anthony’s attorney, said the defense would appeal.

“Our commitment to our client has not changed,” Wilson said. “We will continue to advocate vigorously on his behalf through every lawful avenue available.”

Prosecutor Bill Wirskye defended the trial as fair this week.

“We respect, and expected, the court’s decision denying the motion for a new trial,” Collin County District Attorney Greg Willis said after the denial was announced. “The jury’s guilty verdict stands, and we remain confident in the process. Every defendant has the right to appeal, and our thoughts and prayers remain with the Metcalf family in the painful wake of last week’s hearing.”

Anthony’s attorneys also demanded a retrial because they said trial judge John Roach’s courtroom rules were so strict that they limited the public’s access to the proceedings. And in asking for Roach’s recusal, they noted that he gave a posttrial interview with a Dallas TV station in which he said the jury “got it right.”

Roach said his rules were necessary for a fair trial, and prosecutors insisted he did nothing wrong.

The case attracted widespread attention in part because of a flood of social media posts that amplified the killing in racial terms. Anthony is Black; Metcalf was white. Lawyers on both sides, however, told jurors that the case had nothing to do with race.

Jurors rejected Anthony’s claims that he was defending himself during a confrontation with Metcalf in the bleachers of the track meet.