Month: March 2025

Kimberly Sullivan was arrested this week after a man identified as her 32-year-old stepson told police he intentionally set a fire at the house where the horrifying acts had allegedly happened.

The 56-year-old woman is now facing a number of charges, including assault, kidnapping, and unlawful restraint.

Police said in a statement that responders in Waterbury, Connecticut, responded to reports of an active fire in February where they rescued the man.

Sullivan was able to evacuate safely but he had suffered smoke inhalation and exposure to the fire and was placed in the care of emergency medical services.

While he was receiving treatment, police say he revealed he had intentionally started the fire in his upstairs room, telling them: “I wanted my freedom.”

He went on to allege that his stepmum had held him captive since he was about 11 years old.

Following these ‘alarming’ allegations, authorities launched an extensive investigation and came to a harrowing conclusion.

“Detectives determined that the victim had been held in captivity for over 20 years, enduring prolonged abuse, starvation, severe neglect, and inhumane treatment,” police said. “He was found in a severely emaciated condition and had not received medical or dental care during this time.”

It was also found that he had been provided with ‘only minimal amounts of food and water’, leading to him being in a ‘extremely malnourished condition’.

The victim told police that the situation got worse when his father died last year.

Sullivan appeared in court for arraignment yesterday (12 March), were prosecutors explained the man lit the fire with hand sanitiser and paper from a printer.

“He lit that fire very well knowing he could die, but he had been locked in the room for 20 years, and for 20 years he’d been trying to get out of that room,” they described, per WFSB-TV 3.

The woman has been charged with assault in the first degree, kidnapping in the second degree, unlawful restraint in the first degree, cruelty to persons, and reckless endangerment in the first degree.

She was ‘stunned to hear the allegations’ and denied them, according to her attorney.

“What she indicated to me was that they were absolutely not true, and as we get more information we intend to put up a vigorous defence,” Kaloidis said, per the Independent.

“But she’s adamant she did not do the things that she’s accused of.”

Waterbury Police Chief Fernando Spagnolo said in a statement: “The suffering this victim endured for over 20 years is both heartbreaking and unimaginable. This case required relentless investigative effort, and I commend the dedication of our officers and the Waterbury State’s Attorney’s Office. Their unwavering commitment ensured that justice is served, and the perpetrator is held fully accountable for these horrific crimes.”

Kev Coles was suffering for months with stomach pain as he suspected he was suffering from gallstones or constipation.

However, the 46-year-old was left completely shocked when he eventually received a cancer diagnosis.

The Stoke-on-Trent man’s wife, Kayleigh, encouraged him to first visit the doctors last July, where she claims he was sent away.

But Kev’s pain only worsened, and the dad-of-seven visited the GP several more times, apparently only being prescribed laxatives and repeatedly sent home. And on the 22 August, things took a turn for the worst.

“He started to sweat like someone was tipping water over him and when he looked at me I noticed that he had gone completely yellow,” Kayleigh recalled. “Then he just vomited.”

The couple spent ‘weeks’ insisting he had an immediate scan which led to doctors finding a nine-centimetre tumour in his bowel. It was also revealed that the cancer had spread to his liver, causing his yellow skin.

This came as a total shock to the couple after the ‘bowel cancer itself was symptomless’.

Kev then started chemotherapy in October. However, after sadly having now suffered liver failure, he has been told he only has ‘weeks to a few months to live’ and is receiving end of life care at home.

“It is so upsetting that he was sent away countless times with laxatives,” Kayleigh said.

She described life as a ‘whirlwind’ since his diagnosis, adding it’s ‘such a shame’ the cancer wasn’t found earlier.

“It should have been taken more seriously when he first came in with stomach pain. It was a silly mistake, and a deadly one,” she added.

“It is now incurable. There isn’t anything that can be done to save him. I am having to lose my best friend because people didn’t listen to him.”

Kayleigh noted that they ‘only noticed’ the cancer once it spread to his liver, with him never having ‘blood in his stool like in the TV adverts’.

Since his diagnosis, Kev has lost 35kg has been struggling with his mobility.

“Life has been extremely hard. I am just making sure that I have as many seconds with him as I can,” his wife added.

A GoFundMe page has now been set up to help with the family’s expenses and to help Kev keep his independence.

“There needs to be more awareness. If you have a stomach-ache then get it checked out, and please don’t feel that you are being overbearing,” Kayleigh urged.

A spokesperson for University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust said: “We would encourage Mr Coles to speak to our Patient Advice and Liaison Team to raise any concerns about care at UHNM so we can fully investigate.”

The White House has been a revolving door of European leaders over the last month, and Micheál Martin is the latest one to sit in the hot seat in the Oval Office, with him meeting with the president yesterday (12 March).

Trump has welcomed a host of heads of state in recent weeks, including UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, but Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy probably had the most memorable one.

Thankfully, Martin’s sit down wasn’t half as explosive… but of course, it didn’t exactly go off without a hitch either.

The Taoiseach – which means leader – presented the US President with a shamrock bowl during the St Patrick’s Day reception, which is a tradition between the US and Ireland that dates back to 1953. And after graciously receiving the gift, Trump decided to reciprocate by doling out a series of bizarre backhanded compliments to a bemused-looking Martin.

The pair quickly got down to business after getting the usual pleasantries and photo ops out of the way, and began to discuss the contentious topics of tariffs and trade.

The European Union – which Ireland has been part of since 1973 – announced it will impose retaliatory duties on the US in response to the introduction of tariffs on all steel and aluminium imports.

Trump didn’t seem phased about going toe to toe with the 27-member bloc, as he told reporters in the Oval Office: “Whatever they charge us with, we’re charging them.”

“We have been abused for a long time, and we will be abused no longer,” the 78-year-old added, while claiming that the EU ‘treats[the US] very badly’.

“The EU was set up in order to take advantage of the United States,” Trump fumed.

Poor Martin probably wanted the ground to swallow him up at this point – but little did he know, things were about to get a hell of a lot more awkward.

After claiming the EU exploits the US, Trump was then asked whether he thinks Ireland does too.

Without missing a beat, he responded: “Of course they are. I have great respect for Ireland, for what they did and they should have done just what they did. But the United States shouldn’t have let that happen. We had stupid leaders, we had leaders who didn’t have a clue.

“All of a sudden Ireland has our pharmaceutical companies, this beautiful island of five million people has got the entire US pharmaceutical industry in its grasp.”

Trump pointed out that he has property in Ireland and ‘loves’ it there, but says he still isn’t happy about Martin’s nation supposedly getting one over on the US.

He went on: “For instance, when the pharmaceutical companies started to go to Ireland, I would have said ‘that’s OK if you want to go to Ireland, I think it’s great, but if you want to sell anything into the United States I’m going to put a 200 percent tariff on you so you’re never going to be able to sell anything into the United States’.

“You know what they would have done? They would have stayed here.”

The Republican was then quizzed about how worried the Taoiseach should be about tariffs, to which Trump replied: “Well he doesn’t look nervous. And if he was nervous, he wouldn’t show it.

“We do have a massive deficit with Ireland. Because Ireland was very smart. They took our pharmaceutical companies away from presidents who didn’t know what they were doing. The Irish are smart. They’re smart people. We don’t want to do anything to hurt Ireland, but we do want fairness and [Martin] understands that.”

The Taoiseach told the commander-in-chief that the pharmaceutical companies ‘are doing very well in Ireland’ and suggested a deal could be discussed.

“I think there’s room for those companies to grow in America and many of them, by the way, have already announced fairly significant manufacturing investments now [in the US],” Martin said.

Still, I guess any White House meeting which doesn’t emulate Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s is considered a huge success, eh?

Trump also said that he ‘loves the Irish’, adding: “We’re always going to have that special friendship. The bond between our nations is as old as our country itself.”

While holidaying in Egypt and mucking around with his GoPro in the Red Sea, this bloke ended up picking up a highly venomous sea creature.

But he didn’t have a clue that he was handling an ocean dweller with deadly potential until a few months later when he shared a snap of it on social media.

The snorkeller, who is said to be named Frank, shared the image in a few animal-related threads on Reddit in the hopes of identifying the stunning ‘shell’ which he had found.

He explained: “I thought I just found a very pretty seashell and was thinking about taking it home as a souvenir.

“But I noticed it’s still alive, feeling some weight and movement inside, so I decided to at least take some pictures of it.”

Frank said he was informed months later that grasping a random item from the seabed is a ‘very bad idea’, so he was keen to find out exactly what he’d been clinging onto.

In an appeal to social media users, he added: “Could you help me ID exactly what it was and what kind of danger I was really in? Was it realistically a threat to my life?”

The short answer is yes – as although it might look like a standard shell with an interesting pattern, it’s actually something of a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

It might be lovely to look at, but the last thing you want to do is touch one…as it’s a textile cone snail, not a pretty shell.

These are ‘one of the most venomous creatures on earth’, according to non-profit Aquarium of the Pacific, which strike their prey with their harpoon-like hollow teeth.

It warns that they ‘rapidly jab’ their gnashers into their target to deploy toxic venom, which can cause severe pain, paralysis, and death.

Cone snails tend to live in the sand ‘beneath the coral and rocks in shallow waters’ and typically attack humans when they are stepped on in the ocean or picked up from the water.

Which just goes to show how you’re inquisitiveness could cost you your life, or at least a hospital trip, if you are not careful.

Aquarium of the Pacific adds: “The venom of the textile shell is very toxic and the sting is known to have caused human fatalities.”

Social media users couldn’t believe their eyes after seeing Frank’s holiday snap and flooded his post with comments reminding him just how lucky he is.

One person wrote: “Dodged a NUKE.”

A second said: “You’re lucky and you’re also foolish.”

A third added: “I’ve heard that most of the deaths from cone snails have happened when people put shells into their pockets to take home. You are SO lucky.”

A fourth joked: “Are you dead yet?”

While a fifth said: “Ok so now you know – DON’T TOUCH while scuba/snorkelling. This is a very good general rule not just for your safety (there are plenty of other unpleasant things that can happen besides death) but also necessary for health of the ecosystem that you’re enjoying.”

In response to the backlash, Frank explained that he was a tourist from an unspecified landlocked country who was more concerned about sharks and jellyfish than cone snails.

“I didn’t think for a moment about danger from this,” he added. “I’ll certainly never pick one up again.”

If you were wondering what could have happened to Frank if he had been stung, apparently it’s a seriously agonising experience.

The National Library of Medicine explains that each case depends on the species of snail and the victim themself, but the pain can range from ‘a sharp pricking sensation to unbearable pain’.

The sting can lead to local numbness or it can spread to ‘entire regions of the body’, causing some pretty concerning symptoms.

It can result in ‘initial weakness, sweating and visual changes to generalised muscle paralysis, respiratory failure, cardiovascular collapse and coma’, to name a few.

The National Library of Medicine also warns: “If a patient is untreated, death is rapid and often occurs within one to five hours.

“Less severe envenomations, resulting from contact with a molluscivore and vermivorous species, are milder in their toxic effects. These effects are also variable and may include numbness, paresthesias, and limb immobility.”

So next time you see a pretty shell, it’s probably best to admire it from a distance rather than having a full photoshoot with it like Frank.

Alaila Everett, 18, is said to now be facing legal consequences for the shock incident which unfolded during the Virginia State High School League Championships at Virginia’s Liberty University on 4 March.

The Lynchburg Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office has now confirmed that she is facing assault and battery charges in wake of the incident, according to ABC News.

Everett has insisted that she did not intentionally strike fellow relay runner Kaelen Tucker with the baton, claiming it was in fact down to ‘losing her balance’.

And the teen believes that further footage of the race supports her innocence.

Everett reckons that a lot of people who have saw the now-viral video of what went down on the track have rushed to judgement.

Brookville High School student Tucker – who suffered a concussion and a possible skull fracture – was seen tumbling across the track after she was hit on the head.

According to the runner, her rival ‘kept bumping her arm’ during the race before ‘hitting her with the baton’ as she began to overtake.

“I still can’t believe it, I’m in shock,” Tucker previously told WSLS. “I’m still trying to take it all in, I can’t believe it happened.”

However, Everett maintains that she did not whack her with the baton ‘on purpose’ and she claims that footage taken from the opposite side of the track proves this.

While recreating her movements during the relay, the high school student told Good Morning America: “Her arm was literally hitting the baton – until she got a little ahead, and my arm got stuck like this.

“I would never do that on purpose. That’s not in my character.”

Everett and her parents allege that the new video shows that it was an accidental collision during the race, saying that Tucker is seen running too close to the 18-year-old.

In wake of the incident, Everett was disqualified by judges for the foul, which is known as ‘contact interference’.

The VHSL said that it is reviewing the incident, while adding: “The VHSL membership has always made it a priority to provide student-athletes with a safe environment for competition.”

Everett has claimed that she tried to apologise to Tucker, but the runner was not ‘receptive’ and had blocked her on social media.

She also alleged that the Tucker family served her with court papers that called for a protective order to be put in place.

People seemed to have treated themselves to a cheeky punt or two this week, with Cheltenham Festival taking place from Tuesday (11 March) to Friday (14 March).

It’s a big deal for Brits, with some even choosing to jet over to Spain to avoid the steep prices of drinks at the event.

Many hedged their bets on fan-favourite horse Majborough and were let down after a mistake cost people up and down the country a pretty penny.

However, one of the lucky winners was a man named Tom, who walked away with £55,000 in his pockets after making a small bet of just £5 on one winner.

The Tote bookies were left shell-shocked after the bettor took part in their popular Placebot bet.

His bet included Jango Baie, who put in a performance to remember, going from last-to-first in the Arkle.

The horse’s jockey, Nico de Boinville, said he had given up as they hit 300-1 on the in-running markets.

But after favourite Majborough’s mistake and L’Eau Du Sud running low on steam, Jango Baie made the improbably comeback to take the trophy home.

Sharing a photo of a till message reading ‘Insufficient funds to pay out. Please contact your manager’, Tote Racing wrote on X: “We’ve been cleaned out at @CheltenhamRaces.”

The festival was not short of other shocks either, as Burdett Road in the Champion Hurdle, who had odds of 66-1, came in second behind winner Golden Ace, who had odds of 25-1 to win.

Favourites Constitution Hill and State Man would fall in the race, leaving many bettors furious.

Tom’s bet was part of the Placepot, a bet where you pick a horse to finish in the places in the first six races.

You don’t have to win either, and if the favourites go crashing out, the dividend from the pool money increases significantly.

If you’re wondering how Tom made a near £55k profit, putting a quid in the Placepot on day one of Cheltenham would have won you £11,050.70 with the right pick.

The American actor, best known for his roles in Dallas Buyers Club and Interstellar, last appeared on-screen in a film in 2019, when he played cannabis mogul Mickey Pearson in The Gentlemen.

McConaughey, who recently spilled the beans on he and acting buddy Woody Harrelson potentially sharing the same dad, has taken a break from on-screen acting in recent years to spend time with family and friends, as well as dedicating some time to writing his memoir.

He spoke at the premiere of his new film The Rivals of Amziah King at the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival in Austin, Texas on 10 March.

As reported by Variety, McConaughey introduced the film at SXSW, saying: “It’s been six years since I did a film or was onscreen?… Why did I come to this film, what was it?

“Not often does something cross my desk where I’m like ‘Oh, that’s an original language! I’ve never heard that before, but I know those people.

“Oh, that’s an original, time, place and space. Oh, there’s some real humour. There’s some real innocence and a whole lot of heart and [a] momentous amount of spirit.”

The 55-year-old added: “In a place that has do with a carny-Credence like a revival band that plays live shows in Dairy Queen parking lots; whose a beekeeper; love story between a foster parent and a foster child, love story of a whole bunch of misfits and underdogs, that come together, a bunch of hair-lips, knee-scraping people who’ll give the shirt off their back.

“Those are the reasons why I did it. It’s also some kind of musical!”

The Rivals of Amziah King tells the story of a born-again Christian who runs a town’s honey production, while criminal activity threatens his livelihood.

McConaughey plays the titular role of Amziah King, alongside Kurt Russell, Cole Sprouse and Angelina LookingGlass.

Reflecting on his return to the acting in an interview with Variety, McConaughey pointed out that he ‘remembered a couple of things’.

He said: “One, how much I truly enjoy performing. Two, I remembered, I am pretty damn good at this. And three, I remembered that acting is a vacation for me, and what I mean by vacation is that when I’m performing, it’s my singular focus.”

The academy award winner’s latest film delighted viewers at the premiere, and earned him a rare standing ovation but interested audiences may have to wait to see it on their screens, with an official release date not yet confirmed.

Excavations took place in the Tinshemet Cave, a newly excavated Middle Paleolithic site in Israel.

Taking to the site, teams wanted to see what they could learn about Homo sapiens from thousands, and thousands, of years ago.

And in publishing their findings in the Nature Human Behaviour journal, scientists have made discoveries that are beginning to reshape our understanding of human history taking back to the Middle Palaeolithic period in the Near East, which includes the Arabian Peninsula, Cyprus, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestinian territories, Syria, and Turkey.

The cave was already known to be rich when it came to archaeological and anthropological finds that could be studied by experts.

But it was also discovered to include human burials; burials that were the first to be discovered from the Middle Palaeolithic period in more than half a century.

The study, published yesterday (11 March), is revolutionary in that the findings include overwhelming evidence that Neanderthals and people in the region not only coexisted but also shared aspects of daily life, technology, and burial customs.

A species separate related to humans, Neanderthals were humanity’s closest common ancestor until they seemingly died out around 40,000 years ago. Shorter than humans, Neanderthals had broader bodies and shorter limbs.

“These findings underscore the complexity of their interactions and hint at a more intertwined relationship than previously assumed,” the paper writes.

The excavation of Tinshemet Cave was led by Professor Yossi Zaidner of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Professor Israel Hershkovitz of Tel Aviv University, and Dr Marion Prévost of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, with the entire process going back to 2017 when it first started in the cave.

A main aim of the research team has been to find out the true nature of human relationships with Neanderthals in the mid-Middle Palaeolithic Levant and whether they rivals, peaceful neighbours, or even worked together.

The research states that working together was very much a thing both species did. It writes: “By integrating data from four key fields – stone tool production, hunting strategies, symbolic behaviour, and social complexity – the study argues that different human groups, including Neanderthals, pre-Neanderthals, and Homo sapiens, engaged in meaningful interactions.

“These exchanges facilitated knowledge transmission and led to the gradual cultural homogenisation of populations.

“The research suggests that these interactions spurred social complexity and behavioural innovations.

“For instance, formal burial customs began to appear around 110,000 years ago in Israel for the first time worldwide, likely as a result of intensified social interactions.”

It adds: “A striking discovery at Tinshemet Cave is the extensive use of mineral pigments, particularly ochre, which may have been used for body decoration. This practice could have served to define social identities and distinctions among groups.”

Prof Zaidner said it showed the region and Israel was a ‘melting pot’ of different human groups that evolved together in sync, working together to ‘drive cultural and technological innovation’.

This may sound like a nailed on way to get yourself fired before even stepping foot on set, but thankfully this risky move ended up working well for former porn actor turned Euphoria star.

Casting an adult actor in a standard TV series may seem a little far-fetched, but this is Euphoria we’re talking about here — a series which shows a unrealistic depiction and highly sexualised of high school students.

Of course, the actor we’re of course talking about is none other than Chloe Cherry, who was asked to audition for the show after creator Sam Levinson discovered her on Instagram.

She would land the role of Faye, drug addict who befriends Fezco (the late Angus Cloud) and Ashtray (Javon Walton) while on the run from the police.

The 27-year-old’s acting debut would unsurprisingly turn the spotlight back to her work as an adult performer, leading fans to discover that she’d previously starred in a porn parody which featured a popular scene involving characters Jules (Hunter Schafer) and Rue (Zendaya).

Obviously the discovery would send fans into a frenzy, with a rumour which stated that Cherry had landed the role after playing the porn parody version of Jules in the video later doing the rounds on the internet.

Which would be an absolutely wild way to land a role on television, but unfortunately it isn’t true.

Setting the record straight in a 2022 interview with Vulture, Cherry said: “It was funny because I made that probably five months after I was cast on the show.”

Going on to explain how the idea came into fruition, Cherry added that she was studying the show after being cast and thought it was prime content for a pornographic parody.

“I started rewatching and I realised I had already done a lot of adult-movie parodies, and I figured, ‘Oh, that’s the perfect one to do, because it’s a really popular scene’,” she explained.

“It’s funny the way people are reacting to it, like ‘She was discovered off a porn parody.’ And I’m like, ‘No, no, no, that was literally just something I made for my OnlyFans forever ago, and now everyone’s finding it’.”

Cherry is currently expected to return in the long awaited final instalment of the series, which is currently in production, with her character being promoted to a series regular, via The Hollywood Reporter.

The news will likely be a welcome one with fans after Cherry had previously cast doubt on whether or not she would be invited back for the third season, telling MailOnline: “I would definitely go back, but they just leave me in the dark, let’s just say that.”

You may have first heard of Thorne through her role on Disney Channel’s Shake It Up in the early 2010s, but the 27-year-old is more known nowadays for the creation of adult content.

The Blended star featured among the top 10 celebrity earners on OnlyFans in 2024, but it turns out that she didn’t join the site for the fun of it.

Thorne made a splash when she joined the site in the summer of 2020, shocking fans around the world as the former child star charged users $20 (£15) per month to subscribe to her X-rated content.

Financially, it was a wise choice, as the actress made over $1 million (£770,000) in her first day alone, with her first week’s earnings estimated to be around $2 million (£1.5m).

But in a previous article with the LA Times, it seems like the real reason behind her starting the page has been revealed.

It turns out that it was all an experiment, though she did make money from it, starting an OnlyFans also allowed the then 23-year-old to do research for a film she was looking to make with Anora director Sean Baker.

Thorne was only on the platform for a short period of time, asking users a series of questions about the platform and how they used it.

She explained that she wanted to make a movie about a sex worker in the modern world, adding: “It’s a feature we are researching as I’m living it currently. What are the ins and outs?”

She went on: “What does a platform like this do to its users? What’s the connective material between your life and your life inside the world of OnlyFans? How can it change your life for the worse and the better?

“How far are you willing to go, and how far do you WANT to go? You can be me, or this talented girl from Montana, and OnlyFans could change your life – if you want it to, of course.”

Thorne didn’t post any nude photos on her page as well, making that £1.5 million payday even more impressive, as she claimed in 2020 that she’d use the money to invest in a production company, fund research for a film, and donate to charity.

Her membership would be hit with ‘transaction limits’ though, and Baker would later deny that he had any involvement with the actress’ OnlyFans project.

On top of all of this, subscribers claimed they were scammed into believing that she would be nude on the site, mentioning a screenshot where she apparently promised a naked photo for $200. However, Thorne told the publication that she never offered nudity on the page and that the screenshot being mentioned was not real.

The 27-year-old even said that she hoped she could use the page as a place to be ‘more personal’ with fans, sending them personal messages through voice memos.

Her page is currently inactive.