Month: January 2025

On 22 December 2024, an Aer Lingus plane crash landed at Belfast City Airport after attempting to land in adverse weather conditions. Strong winds had been forecasted for the Northern Irish city at the time, causing disruption with road, rail, air and ferry services.

The shocking incident, which saw the plane appearing to slam nose first into the tarmac after it’s front landing gear collapsed, lead to the airport being closed until the following day.

There were no passengers onboard the flight at the time, with none of the four crew members reporting any injuries, Manchester Evening News reports.

The emergency incident led to widespread disruption at the airport, as all flights in and out of Belfast City were either diverted or cancelled – throwing many peoples’ Christmas plans into disarray.

A new update on the incident has confirmed that a further investigation will now take place, with the damaged aircraft currently unable to leave the airport.

“The aircraft has not been moved because it is due to undergo further examination work as part of the ongoing investigation,” a spokeswoman for the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) said (via Belfast Live).

“Our investigation into the accident on December 22 is still ongoing and it is too early to provide an update.”

It is believed the investigation could take between nine to 12 months to complete.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Emerald Airlines – who operate a number of Aer Lingus regional flights – added that they were currently unable to say whether or not the plane would be able to resume service.

“An Emerald Airlines positioning flight, EA701P, with no passengers on board, flying from Edinburgh to Belfast City Airport, 22nd December 2024, experienced a hard landing upon arriving into Belfast City Airport due to adverse weather conditions,” the statement read.

“Due to ongoing reviews, we will not be providing further comment at this time.”

LADbible has contacted Emerald Airlines for further comment.

Last year’s incident isn’t the only disruption UK airports have faced in recent weeks due to adverse weather.

An Arctic blast which saw the Met Office issue amber and yellow weather warnings across the country last week saw numerous airports forced to close their runaways due to heavy snowfall, as temperatures reached as low as -13.9C in remote parts of the country.

Liverpool, Birmingham, Leeds Bradford and Manchester were amongst the airports forced to temporarily shut their runways, with the latter facing disruption on numerous days.

The body of Robby Kinlan, 21, was discovered by a friend at the BaanTao Bungalow resort on 9 January at around 11am local time.

According to police, he was ‘only wearing boxer shorts’ while holding his phone in one hand as it was charging.

Kinlan was staying in Koh Tao, known by locals as ‘Death Island’, which is 250 miles of Thai capital Bangkok. The island was given that name due to its reputation for murders and mystery deaths.

His body is waiting to be sent to mainland for a post mortem examination.

“Rest in peace my precious son Robby,” Kinlan’s mother, Tracy King from Clare in Munster, Ireland, said on GoFundMe. “He is resting in this beautiful Temple in Koh Tao, Thailand, before his removal back to Ireland.”

“I’m heartbroken and overwhelmed and so very grateful for all the kindness being shown to us at this time. Thanks to all friends and family.

“Robby wasn’t just a friend – he was the kind of person who lit up every room with his kindness and warmth. He was always the first to help others, putting their needs before his own without a second thought.

“In Thailand, he was surrounded by many friends and he was living his dream, spending his days doing what he loved – freediving and scuba diving in the place that made him happy.

“Now, we want to honor Robby in the best way we can by helping his mum and family. We want to give everyone the chance to say their goodbyes and celebrate the incredible person he was.”

Lieutenant Colonel Theeraphat Sanjai added: “The death seems to be acute heart failure. We are preparing to send the body for an autopsy, but the reason we haven’t been able to send it yet is due to the high waves on Koh Tao at the moment.

“We need to wait for the situation with the waves to subside before we can coordinate with the rescue team, boat, and vehicle to transport the body to the forensic department in Surat Thani Hospital. We also want to conduct the autopsy as soon as possible to determine the exact cause of death.”

Sanjai said when they got there, the staff couldn’t open the door because it was locked from the inside.

“They had to find a way to climb in and discovered that he had died in the room. The room had not been broken into or searched, and there were no signs of any assault. He died alone in the room.”

“Currently, the body is still at Koh Tao. We have not yet received any contact from his relatives. The embassy is in touch with them, and we are still waiting for communication from his family.

“When he passed away, he was still lying in bed, charging his phone and holding it in his hand, as if he had been using it when he died. He was only wearing boxer shorts. We could not see what was on the phone.

“There were no alcoholic beverages found in his room, though we’re not sure if he had been drinking from outside. We have reported the matter to the Irish Embassy in Bangkok.”

Fury made the announcement on Instagram with a video accompanied by the caption: “Thanks it’s been a blast. Thanks to everyone who helped out along the way!

“Happy new year Jesus is king now & forever.”

He said, in the video posted earlier today: “Hi everybody. I’m gonna make this short and sweet. I’d like to announce my retirement from boxing.

“God bless everybody. See you on the other side. Get up.”

This comes following his second defeat to Usyk.

The duology Fury shared with the Ukrainian fighter marked the only two losses of Fury’s career.

Today’s announcement is not the first time Fury has announced his retirement.

Prior to his fight in 2022 with fellow British heavyweight Dillian Whyte, Fury said he was going to retire, claiming: “I’m a two-time undisputed world champion.

“£150m in the bank and nothing to prove to anybody”.

After winning that fight, Fury said: “I fulfilled everything I’ve ever wanted to fulfil. I will retire as only the second heavyweight in history, after Rocky Marciano, to retire undefeated. I was unbeatable at this game.”

This was short lived, as he announced not long after this that he was going to return to fight Derek Chisora.

In his post fight press conference, Fury had been coy as to whether he was going to return, refusing to commit to any further fights.

When asked about returning to the ring, Fury said: “You might do, you might not do. Who knows?

“We’ll talk about that next year. What’s next for me?

“I’m going home and having some time off. For sure. I’m going to go home and have a good Christmas. I’ve been away 12 weeks working for this fight.

“I’m going to go home now and enjoy it. We’re on for a nice Christmas in the Fury house and thank God we’re both out of the ring in one piece.”

Fury decided, prior to this fight, to forego seeing his wife Paris for three months, as well as the seven children they share together.

He was also critical of the judging in the fight, which he lost 116-112 on all three judges scorecards in Saudi Arabia.

He said: “I felt a little Christmas spirit in there and I think he got a little Christmas gift from them judges. An early Christmas gift.

“I was confident I had won that fight again.

“I thought I’d won both fights, but then again I’ve gone home with two losses on my record. I will always believe until the day I die that I won that fight.

“I’m not going to cry over spilt milk. It’s happened now.

“I know boxing, I’ve been in it all my life and you can’t change no decisions.

“I will always feel a little bit hard done by. Not a little bit, actually a lot. When you don’t get the knockout, this is what happens. You can’t guarantee the win.”

A man who was blamed for his girlfriend’s death in her suicide note has been cleared of manslaughter but found guilty of assault.

Ryan Wellings, 30, had faced charges of driving his girlfriend Kiena Dawes to her death after years of alleged domestic violence.

He is the first person to be tried before a jury accused of the unlawful killing of his partner after her suicide following domestic violence.

Dawes, 23, had died by suicide on 22 July 2022, leaving a note which included phrases such as ‘I was murdered’ and that Wellings had ‘killed’ her. She left her and Wellings’ nine-month-old daughter with a friend before taking her own life.

It is understood that Dawes made a statement to Lancashire Police after a final beating had left her needing hospital treatment. Wellings would later break his bail conditions but was not locked up – leaving the mother-of-one to feel let down by authorities.

Three Lancashire Police officers face disciplinary hearings.

The court heard how ‘swept off her feet’ by Wellings, who has a previous conviction for battering his ex-partner, in the early days of their relationship.

However, the relationship is said to have turned in to a ‘nightmare’, with text messages between the pair and from Ms Dawes to her friends being submitted as evidence.

The prosecution alleged that Wellings was an ‘entitled, aggressive bully’ who had physically assaulted Dawes as well as threatening her with further violence, such as threatening to use a drill to take out her teeth and throwing acid in her face to ‘make her look like Katie Piper’.

Meanwhile, the defence stated that Dawes’ medical records had revealed she had a history of mental health issues, including a diagnosis of unstable personality disorder, and was a ‘very troubled young lady’ who ended her life due to ‘multiple factors’.

The 30-year-old admitted that he’d been ‘heavy handed’ with Dawes, but told the courts that her accusations of violence were a result of his attempts to restrain her or accidental.

“I’m not a monster,” he told the court.

Wellings made no reaction once jurors returned their verdicts, which cleared him of manslaughter but found him guilty of assault and controlling and coercive behaviour.

His sentencing is yet to take place.

If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, please don’t suffer alone. Call Samaritans for free on their anonymous 24-hour phone line on 116 123.

If you are experiencing domestic violence, please know that you are not alone. You can talk in confidence to the national domestic violence helpline Refuge on 0808 2000 247, available 24/7, or via live chat, available 10am-10pm, Monday to Friday.

Guidance on how active we should be each day typically revolves around the magic number of 10,000 – which is actually a clever marketing campaign-turned-health advice courtesy of the Tokyo 1964 Olympics.

Meanwhile, other health experts have since suggested that a figure around a more conservative 7,500 steps a day.

But have you ever wondered what would happen if you chucked out the above advice entirely and got some serious stepping in?

Well now you don’t have to, as one YouTuber decided to find out what would happen if he walked 250,000 steps in a week

Documenting the journey on his channel, content creator Jack Massey Welsh (@JackSucksAtLife) attempted to walk about 35k steps per day (lets be honest, most of us probably aren’t doing that many in a week) for seven whole days. This meant to YouTuber would have to complete two multi-hour walks every morning and evening in order to reach his goal.

So, what happened to his body?

By the end of the week Welsh unsurprisingly had a lot of blisters on his feet, as well as a swollen ankle – as well as an overwhelming sense of achievement after completing a quarter of a million steps in a short amount of time.

Welsh revealed the challenge was worth it for him just for the ‘amazing feeling of accomplishment’ alone. When it came to results beyond the aching feet, Welsh took his body measurements and compared it to his physique at the start of the week.

“Strangely there is actually a visual difference,” the content creator revealed, after comparing before and after images of himself on-screen. “I seem to be narrower than when I first started, which I didn’t really expect.”

Welsh went on the add that he’d lost around two pounds overall and that his individual body measurements where smaller, with the exception of his thigh which had ‘grown’ by half a centimetre.

He also noticed a visible difference in the size of his calves, which wouldn’t come as too much of a surprise given how integral they are to your daily steps, as well as minor fat loss in the lower abdominal region.

Read More: People who walk 10,000 steps a day to lose weight warned it could be waste of time if they don’t do one other thing

Unfortunately, the changes didn’t stop at increased muscle definition, with the YouTuber also suffering from a black toenail, joint pain and ankle swelling which persisted for several days after completing the challenge.

So while we may not have a happy medium for our step counts, at least we now know how many is too many.

The film, which you can watch on Netflix, has a bonkers production, with Cruise and Kidman signing contracts with no end date.

The pair basically agreed to work until the movie is done, with production breaking a Guinness World Record for the longest constant movie shoot.

It lasted for over 15 months, with Director Stanley Kubrick famed for his perfectionism dragging out the shoot, taking so long that Cruise and Kidman’s children developed British accents, where it was being shot.

What is the film?

The film, called Eyes Wide Shut, is an erotic thriller featuring both Cruise and Kidman as husband and wife.

The pair play Alice and Bill and, after Alice reveals she considered having an affair, Bill goes on an adventure that culminates in him infiltrating a masked orgy.

After his death, Warner Brothers were required to digitally re-alter the orgy scene’s most sexually explicit moments to get it down to an R-Rating.

This decision was criticised by legendary critic Roger Ebert, who said in his review: “Kubrick died in March. It is hard to believe he would have accepted the digital hocus-pocus.

“Eyes Wide Shut should have been released as he made it, either ‘unrated’ or NC-17. For adult audiences, it creates a mesmerizing daydream of sexual fantasy.”

What was the contract clause Kidman had added?

Nicole Kidman had a very specific contract clause regarding her nudity in the film.

Speaking to New York Magazine, she said: “When I went to work with Stanley Kubrick, he was like, ‘I’m going to want full-frontal nudity,’ and I was like, ‘Ahh, I don’t know’.

“So we came up with a great agreement, which was contractual. He would show me the scenes with the nudity before they made it into the film.

“Then I could feel completely safe. I didn’t say no to any of it. I’d wanted to make sure that it wasn’t going to be me standing there nude and everyone laughing at me.

“I was protected, so I got to explore a complicated marriage and the way in which Tom [Cruise’s] character is having those jealous images.”

She went on to say: “Sexuality is over here in a box, and we don’t deal with it.

“I’m happy to deal with it, but there needs to be a place where you can go, I’m not going to be exploited.

“Then I’ll go down the road with you. I love the relationship between a director and an actor. When it’s pure, it’s exquisite. And the other actors, when you’re all there doing the work, it’s exquisite.”

How was the film received?

Response to the movie were mixed when it released, but it has grown into a cult status.

Particular criticisms were made of Tom Cruise’s performance in the film, with Eyes Wide Shut breaking his streak when it released in 1999 of box office successes.

The movie has grown to a 7.6 on IMDb and 77% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Ebert gave the film 3.5/4 stars, and Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave the film four stars, saying: “Stanley Kubrick’s last film, starring Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise as a warring, sexually obsessed couple, is fascinating and disquieting.

“There are tears, and Cruise in particular lays himself open in that fiercely committed way that he tries everything as an actor.”

Many of us have kicked off the year with either a cough, a runny nose, or a fever – not exactly in the New Year’s resolutions list.

Although these symptoms, which are typically associated with the flu, could also be a case of Addison’s disease.

What is Addison’s disease?

Addison’s disease is a rare disorder of the adrenal glands, which are the two small glands that sit on top of the kidneys, according to the NHS.

“The adrenal gland is damaged in Addison’s disease, so it does not produce enough cortisol or aldosterone,” they explained, stating that 9,000 people in the UK are estimated to suffer from it, ‘with over 300 new cases diagnosed each year’.

However, the health service warns that ‘in its early stages, symptoms of Addison’s disease can mimic those of other conditions, such as clinical depression or the flu’.

What are the symptoms of Addison’s disease?

While some people are likely to experience fatigue and muscle weakness, others might be in a low mood, with unintentional weight loss and a loss of appetite.

“Over time, these problems may become more severe and you may experience further symptoms, such as dizziness, fainting, cramps and exhaustion,” the NHS explained.

“You may also develop small areas of darkened skin, or darkened lips or gums.

“Although these symptoms are not always caused by Addison’s disease, you should see a GP so they can be investigated.”

How can Addison’s disease be treated?

If you have Addison’s disease, you’ll most likely need to take daily medication to replace the lost hormones.

“In some cases, the underlying causes of Addison’s disease can be treated. For example, tuberculosis (TB) is treated with a course of antibiotics over a period of at least 6 months,” the health service said.

“However, most cases are caused by a problem with the immune system that can’t be cured.

“In general, the medications used for Addison’s disease don’t have side effects, unless your dose is too high. If you take a higher dose than necessary for a long time, there’s a risk of problems such as weakened bones (osteoporosis), mood swings and difficulty sleeping (insomnia).

“Some people find that needing to take regular doses of medication is restrictive and affects their daily life or emotional health. Missing a dose of medication, or taking it late, can also lead to exhaustion or insomnia.”