Everything ‘seemed normal’, according to mum Darrah O’Sullivan, 28, and her fiance, Vince Greenaway, 30, until a paediatrician realised that Maeve hadn’t open her eyes, which they described as ‘strange’.

“We hadn’t even noticed because she was so tiny, we were fully unaware.” Darrah said. “We knew by them saying ‘strange’ and their tone of voice that something wasn’t right.”

The next day, doctors discovered that she had been born without both of her eyes due to a rare health condition that affects just one in 100,000 babies – which is called bilateral anophthalmia.

What is bilateral anophthalmia?

Maeve suffers from a rare condition called bilateral anophthalmia (PA Real Life)

Bilateral anophthalmia is when a baby is born without both of their eyes.

“There’s no treatment that can create a new eye or bring vision back for people born with anophthalmia or microphthalmia.” The National Eye Institute says.

“But early treatment can help babies and children with these conditions grow and develop.”

The condition could be caused by a change in genes, taking certain medicines while pregnant and coming into contact with harmful things in the environment, the website continues. But most of the time, doctors can’t detect why it happened.

Maeve given all-clear from any other health issues

Maeve was born without her eyes (PA Real Life)

When her condition was initially discovered, her parents had an ’emotional week’ worrying about her future, however, she was cleared from any other health issues and Darrah said her daughter is a ‘beautiful, happy, thriving little girl’ despite being unable to see.

The parent said she will be given conformers, which are plastic shells that help the eye sockets develop to a normal shape and size, which will be replaced with prosthetic eyes when she’s older.

“Maeve is 10 months old now, and I look back and think ‘What on earth were we worried about?’.” Darrah told PA Real Life.

“Maeve is the most beautiful, happy, thriving little girl… so what if she can’t see? She sees the world through a different way but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a bad thing. Maeve being blind, or her condition, will never, ever be a taboo subject in our house… we will all learn braille and it will just be such a normal part of our life.

“We don’t want her to ever feel like her condition will stop her doing anything.”

‘The best and worst week of our lives’

Darrah and Vince are focusing on the positives (PA Real Life)

Vince admitted that ‘there was quite a lot of trauma in the first few days’ after the discover, as Darrah said: “It was the best and the worst week of our lives wrapped up into one. We didn’t really believe it and we thought there had to be a cure, and they’d fix it, but they couldn’t. The first few days were filled with worrying about her future.”

Thankfully, Maeve was allowed to go home after a week in hospital.

“Maeve and Orla are non-identical twins, but I think we’ll give them the same colour eyes,” the mum said. “When she’s older, she can always decide to change them but all of us have blonde hair and blue eyes.”

To assist her with her mobility and tactile playing, Maeve has three specialists and she’ll have to learn braille when she’s older. As for reaching milestones such as crawling, Darrah says they’ll have to do it ‘differently’, adding: “But as she gets older, our knowledge of being blind will grow and we’ll keep learning as we go.”

To raise awareness of bilateral anophthalmia, Vince is set run the 2025 London Marathon for Macs on April 27 with Darrah’s sisters, Maddie and Chloe.

At the time of writing, they have raised more than £13,000.

Vince said: “The idea came from a few beers and a bit of emotion – obviously, the London Marathon is on TV every year and was on just after the girls had been born.”

Darrah added: “I’m so proud of them all, it’s amazing – Vince gets up at 5am to run, then still goes off to work and helps me with the girls.”

Leslie Sloane represents the couple who are currently in a public legal battle with the It Ends With Us director after Lively sued her co-star for sexual harassment in December 2024.

Baldoni countersued for damages and defamation, as Sloane and her firm, Vision PR, were named in the suit.

The actor and his production company Wayfarer Studios, among others, filed a 179-page lawsuit against Lively, Reynolds, Sloane, and others, for damages that includes lost future income.

Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds’ publicist has requested to be removed from Justin Baldoni’s lawsuit (Arturo Holmes/Getty Images)

According to E! News, the lawsuit alleges that Lively’s team, including Sloane, had spread ‘malicious stories’ against Baldoni and created a ‘smear campaign’ against him at the Gossip Girl star’s direction.

Lawyer Sigrid McCawley filed a motion in New York federal court on Thursday (20 February), alleging that Sloane was ‘dragged’ into a ‘smoke and mirrors exercise to distract from their own sexual harassment and systematic retaliation’.

Whereas McCawley writes that Sloane has a ‘decades-long reputation for professionalism and trustworthiness’ and that the claims have caused her ‘irreparable professional damage and emotional harm’.

“Baldoni’s allegations about the creative issues are irrelevant and tellingly sexist.” the lawyer said (via The Independent). “Because Ms Lively – an executive producer on the film – dared to offer input on the script, wardrobe and editing, Baldoni blasts her as ‘tyrannical’ and ‘aggressive,’ among other coded terms.

“When Ms Lively bravely spoke up about Baldoni’s predatory behaviour, he and his team used every weapon in their arsenal to blame, embarrass and silence her, going so far as to hire a crisis PR manager who promised to ‘bury’ Ms Lively and ‘destroy’ her life.”

McCawley’s filing also claims there is no ‘basis’ for Baldoni’s claims of a ‘smear campaign’ or ‘malicious’ stories being planted.

Justin Baldoni has countersued for damages and defamation (Jose Perez/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images)

Bryan Freedman, Baldoni’s attorney, has previously told LADbible Group of Lively’s lawsuit: “This lawsuit is a legal action based on an overwhelming amount of untampered evidence detailing Blake Lively and her team’s duplicitous attempt to destroy Justin Baldoni, his team and their respective companies by disseminating grossly edited, unsubstantiated, new and doctored information to the media.”

He continued: “Let’s not forget, Ms. Lively and her team attempted to bulldoze reputations and livelihoods for heinously selfish reasons through their own dangerous manipulation of the media before even taking any actual legal action. We know the truth, and now the public does too.

“Justin and his team have nothing to hide, documents do not lie.”

Meanwhile, Lively’s lawyers called Baldoni’s lawsuit ‘another chapter in the abuser playbook’.

“This is an age-old story: A woman speaks up with concrete evidence of sexual harassment and retaliation and the abuser attempts to turn the tables on the victim,” her legal team said in a statement. “This is what experts call DARVO. Deny. Attack. Reverse Victim Offender.”

Brad Sigmon, 67, is currently awaiting the death sentence in South Carolina for a double murder conviction.

Sigmon was convicted of murdering his ex-girlfriend’s parents, William and Gladys Larke, in 2001 with a baseball bat in their Greenville County home.

He then abducted his former girlfriend, Rebecca Barbarbe, at gunpoint and shot at her after she escaped from his car.

“I couldn’t have her, I wasn’t going to let anybody else have her,” he later told authorities during his confession (via CBS News).

Sigmon received the death sentence after being found guilty for two counts of murder alongside a 30-year-sentence for first-degree burglary.

Brad Sigmon has been in prison for over two decades (Getty Stock Images)

After numerous failed appeals over the years, Sigmon is currently scheduled to be executed on 7 March, 2025 and has now chosen his preferred way to die, should the sentence be carried out.

In South Carolina, the default execution method is electrocution, however, inmates can also select lethal injection or firing squad as an option — with Sigmon opting for the latter.

Execution by firing squad is rare in the US, with Sigmon being the first person to chose it in 15 years.

The method would see the condemned seated in a chair with a hood placed over their head. After the execution order is read out and the inmate makes their last statement, three volunteer officers from the Department of Corrections will fire at their chest.

According to NBC News, the grisly method was last used in Utah back in 2010 as the execution method for convicted killer Ronnie Lee Gardner.

Death by firing squad is currently legal in five US states and has only been used four times since 1960, all taking place in Utah.

Sigmon has opted to face the firing squad over lethal injection or the electric chair (South Carolina Department of Corrections)

Explaining why Sigmon had chosen death by firing squad, his attorney, Gerald ‘Bo’ King, said his client had faced an ‘impossible’ decision.

“Unless he elected lethal injection or the firing squad, he would die in South Carolina’s ancient electric chair, which would burn and cook him alive,” he said in a statement (via NBC News) “But the alternative is just as monstrous.”

King referred to previous concerns about lethal injection after three death row inmates recently executed in the state allegedly suffered a ‘prolonged’ death from the method.

“The only choice that remained is the firing squad,” he continued. “Brad has no illusions about what being shot will do to his body. He does not wish to inflict that pain on his family, the witnesses or the execution team.

“Brad’s execution would set grim precedents for South Carolina.”

The image taken in 2003 was that of Gabe Watson and his new bride, Tina Watson, on their honeymoon. Just 11 days after getting married, the American couple were scuba diving from a dive boat in Queensland, Australia.

However, Tina, 26, went missing after a strong current had caused them to drift off course. Then a photo accidentally taken by a fellow diver showed her lifeless body laying on the seabed floor.

Gabe was first put on trial for Tina’s murder in 2009 and reportedly broke down in court when he was shown the photo.

Gabe and Tina Watson were only married for 11 days (ABC News Australia)

As reported by The Mirror, he explained: “As soon as we let go, we were moving, moving quite a bit… it was definitely not what I was expecting, and neither was Tina.”

He claimed in a 2012 interview with Elizabeth Vargas that they couldn’t swim against the current to get back, and that he’d told his wife to fill up her buoyancy compensator so that they could float back up, but he revealed that it didn’t work as ‘nothing happened’ from the inflater hose.

“That was when I realised, you know, We’re — This isn’t good. We’re in trouble. So I reached out and grabbed a hold of the b.c. strap right there.” he said.

“And I just pulled her in, and then I turned and started heading back to the anchor rope.”

Then disaster struck as he said that on their ascent, he felt a ‘whack’ across the face from Tina, displacing his mask, and as he let go to readjust it, he looked back to see his wife 10 feet down and continuing to sink, as reported by ABC News.

Tina’s body can be seen in the background (ABC News Australia)

“She was face up, and she had her arms up. She was reaching out for me to grab ahold of her,” Watson said.

“I kinda just turned on my head and gave a few kicks down to see if I could grab her, and she was still out of arm’s reach. And that I just decided I got to go find somebody.”

He then swam to the surface, later admitting: “I don’t think I was making rational choices at that point. I don’t know what I would have done had I stayed with her. I don’t know that there’s anything that I was actually capable of doing.”

He said he then called for help, with a dive master going down to find Tina and bring her up, after which several crew members and passengers made numerous attempts at resuscitating her for 40 minutes.

The haunting photo revealed the lifeless body of Tina Watson on her honeymoon on the seabed floor (10 News)

After initially being charged for murder by Australian authorities, Watson was later plead guilty to the charge of negligent manslaughter, and he served 18 months in an Australian prison for a four and a half year sentence, ABC News reported at the time.

A murder retrial in Alabama was thrown out by a judge in 2012 due to a ‘lack of evidence’ to convict him.

According to The Guardian, Judge Tommy Nail acquitted Watson on his own, agreeing with defence that prosecutors had failed to prove that he had allegedly planned to kill his wife for insurance money.

Diving medical expert Dr Carl Edmonds said that ‘it all fits together… as a very common drowning accident’.

Additional words by Joshua Nair.

Donald Trump threatened the Democratic governor of Maine to her face during a meeting with governors at the White House on Friday (21 February).

The President of the United States, 78, told Maine Governor Janet Mills that she must comply with his executive order which bans transgender women and girls from women’s sport.

He said that if she doesn’t, she will risk losing federal funding.

“Are you not going to comply with it?” Trump asked the 75th governor of Maine.

“I’m complying with state and federal laws,” the 77-year-old responded.

That’s when the American businessman threatened: “We are federal law, you better do it.

“You better do it, because you’re not going to get federal funding… Your population doesn’t want men in women’s sports.”

“We’ll see you in court,” Mills replied.

Donald Trump threatened the Democratic governor of Maine (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

“Good. I’ll see you in court. I’ll look forward to that. That should be a real easy one.” Trump said. “And enjoy your life after, governor, because I don’t think you’ll be in elected politics.”

Prior to the meeting, Mills said Maine ‘will not be intimidated by the president’s threats.’

“If the president attempts to unilaterally deprive Maine school children of the benefit of federal funding, my administration and the attorney general will take all appropriate and necessary legal action to restore that funding and the academic opportunity it provides,” Mills said (via The Independent).

Meanwhile, Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey said that Trump’s attempt to cut federal funding ‘would be illegal and in direct violation of federal court orders’.

Maine Governor Janet Mills challenged President Trump over trans women in sports (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

“Fortunately, the rule of law still applies in this country, and I will do everything in my power to defend Maine’s laws and block efforts by the president to bully and threaten us.” Frey said.

This comes after acting Education Secretary for civil rights Craig Trainor said Maine is being investigated for alleged Title IX violations, which are actions that discriminate against people based on their sex, gender identity, or sexual orientation.

“Maine would have you believe that it has no choice in how it treats women and girls in athletics — that is, that it must follow its state laws and allow male athletes to compete against women and girls,” Trainor said in a statement.

“Let me be clear: If Maine wants to continue to receive federal funds from the Education Department, it has to follow Title IX. If it wants to forgo federal funds and continue to trample the rights of its young female athletes, that, too, is its choice.”

According to PBS, earlier this month, the Maine Principal’s Association said it would continue to allow transgender female athletes to compete in women’s sports.

Their executive director, Mike Burnham, said that they would be following the Maine Human Rights Act, which goes against discrimination based on gender identity.

Mills said she’d be working alongside the general attorney in defence of Maine in court, however, she added in her statement: “But do not be misled: this is not just about who can compete on the athletic field, this is about whether a President can force compliance with his will, without regard for the rule of law that governs our nation. I believe he cannot.”

When we picture the training which NASA astronauts undertake, the first thing which comes to mind is most likely extended periods of time inside zero gravity machines, memorising every aspect of their spacecraft and gruelling physical training.

But it turns out there’s a lot whole lot more hoops astronauts must jump through before waving goodbye to the Earth’s atmosphere – including spending an afternoon hanging out by a swimming pool in your spacesuit.

The men in the seemingly carefree image would meet a sad ending (NASA)

Taken in June 1966, the photo taken at Ellington Air Force Base in Houston, Texas may look like every space fanatic’s dream birthday party, but it was actually a critical part of pre-mission training.

The three men suited up and sat on yellow floats in the image are Gus Grissom, Roger Chaffee and Ed White and they were in the pool that day to practice emergency landing procedures in water.

Astronauts still train in water to this day, but this is now undertaken in training facilities which look a lot less picturesque than Ellington Air Force Base’s swimming pool on a summer afternoon.

However, the story of Grissom, Chaffee and White is one which would end in tragedy just six months later.

Apollo 1 crew Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee (Space Frontiers/Getty Images)

What happened to the astronauts onboard Apollo 1?

The Apollo 1 mission was scheduled to launch on 21 February 1967, however, the spacecraft would never reach that date.

During a pre-launch test on 27 January, a devastating fire would break out in the cabin and claim the lives of the three men.

On the day in question, the three men would enter Apollo 1’s control module in order to simulate a ‘plugs-out test’, which would see the spacecraft disconnected from electrical systems on the launch pad and make sure it was ready for launch.

Dressed in their pressurised suits, Grissom, White and Chaffee were strapped into their seats and began working through a checklist as the module’s three-part hatch was installed. After the hatch was sealed, all air inside the cabin was replaced by pure oxygen.

It is at this point that the unthinkable happened as the cabin suddenly burst into flames, with the heat inside meaning it was impossible for the men to open the hatch from inside.

“Fire,” Grissom is believed to shout, before Chaffee can be heard saying: “We’ve got a fire in the cockpit.”

The three men can then be heard scrambling inside the cabin before one of them cries out in pain as the flames take hold.

Grissom was 40 years old when he died, White was 36 and Chaffee was 31.

The tragedy would lead NASA to make major changes to future spacecraft, including using a 60/40 oxygen/nitrogen mix in the cabin, removal of flammable materials and a redesigned hatch which opened in seconds.