At least three dead after train derails in southern Germany
It was not immediately clear how many people had been injured.
Roughly 100 people were on board the train at the time of the crash, roughly 98 miles west of Munich.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, in a post on social platform X, said he mourned the victims and passed on his condolences to their families.
Deutsche Bahn, Germany's main national railway operator, has been contacted for comment.
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Scottish Sun
15 hours ago
- Scottish Sun
Brit siblings, 11 & 13, who drowned on ‘dream' Spain hols were ‘water babies' who went swimming every day, family says
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) THE Brit siblings who drowned during their "dream" holiday in Spain were "water babies" who used to swim every day, their family revealed. Ameiya Parris and Ricardo Junior Parris tragically died on Tuesday while on holiday at Llarga beach in Salou, near Tarragona. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 7 Ameiya Parris and Ricardo Junior Parris drowned during their 'dream' holiday in Spain Credit: Facebook 7 Family say the kids were 'water babies' who used to swim every day 7 Ameiya and Ricardo Jr were in the water with dad Ricardo Sr when the trio were swept up in the difficult waters Credit: Supplied 7 The siblings, known as Maya and Jubs, were enjoying a family holiday with their parents and four other children. Their aunty Kayla Delbrocco from Birmingham said the kids had been swimming "every day' in the sea - and would have had no reason to believe they were in danger. She told The Sun: 'It was supposed to be a special day - the kids love the beach, they go every day. 'They've always been water babies - they'd been in every day. We had gone on holiday together there six years ago, so they were excited to go back and knew what to expect. 'It's beautiful out there. They were older, so they could remember, but their younger siblings hadn't experienced it before. So it was nice that the six of them were going.' Aunty Kayla said the family headed to the beach just before 8.30pm on Tuesday for their nightly swim, just half an hour after lifeguards clocked off. Ameiya and Ricardo Jr, known lovingly as Maya and Jubs, were in the water with dad Ricardo Sr, when the trio were swept up in the difficult waters, with the alarm raised just before 8.50pm. Kayla continued: 'They weren't even that far in - they've been going there the same time every day. It was just another day for them. 'It doesn't look like it's dangerous - They had like a yellow flag saying you're safe to go in, but just be careful. 'We've come to learn that the beach was dangerous; someone had died in the morning, the same day. A 54-year-old German man died the same day as the little ones. Heartbreaking tributes to Brit friends, 27 & 29, who both drowned in Algarve holiday pool in 'unimaginable' tragedy 'There was no word about it or anything - no warning. We've come to learn that there have been 16/17 deaths there in the past month.' Ricardo Sr desperately tried to save Maya and Jubs, but got into trouble himself in what was described as 'stormy' seas off the Spanish beach. Their mum, Shanice, had taken the other four children to the toilet before returning to the dramatic scenes. Aunty Kayla said: 'When it happened, my sister [Shanice] went to take the little ones to the bathroom. Then, when she came back, there was everyone everywhere.' Emergency services rushed to the aid of the trio, and managed to revive Ricardo Jr, and with Maya and Jubs, Kayla said medics 'tirelessly tried to revive them'. She said: 'They managed to save Ricardo Sr Junior was airlifted straight to the hospital and Maya was worked on at the beach.' 7 Ameiya and Ricardo Junior tragically drowned off the coast of Spain 7 7 The siblings, known as Maya and Jubs, were enjoying a family holiday with their parents and four other children But tragically, despite the efforts of emergency services, Maya and Jubs both passed away - leaving the entire family devastated. Kayla said: '[Ricardo Sr and Shanice] are going through the motions, they're keeping it together. They wouldn't be able to do it without each other. 'This is the first holiday where there were six [children] and they hadn't been on holiday for some time. 'They've been doing everything they can to make sure the [four] little ones are engaged. It's been a difficult time for them.' Kayla confirmed that repatriation teams had been in contact with the family and that 'paperwork was ready' - with parents Shanice and Ricardo insisting they won't leave Salou without Maya and Jubs. She added: 'They are staying there until they can bring the kids home - they won't leave without them.' A GoFundMe was made by family friend Holly Marquis-Johnson in honour of Maya and Jubs, to help ' ease some of the financial burden' of repatriation and to give the 'dignified farewell they deserve'. Leaving a heartbreaking tribute on the fundraiser, Holly wrote: 'Maya was intelligent, thoughtful, and growing into a strong young woman. Ricardo Junior was playful, kind, and always smiling. 'They brought so much love, laughter, and energy into the lives of everyone around them.' The GoFundMe, which had a target of £15,000, has raised over £39,000 at the time of writing, with an outpouring of support from donors. In a statement sent as a voice message to The Sun, Kayla expressed her gratitude to the public for the overwhelming support. She said: 'We want to give our thanks as family for all the kindness and overwhelming generosity of the national community. 'Times are really difficult for everyone, yet people still sacrificed what they can to support our baby sister [Shanice] and Ricardo in this living nightmare. 'Our babies can come home now and we can all start grieving together. Thanks will never be enough, but sincere thanks from our hearts is all we can give you right now. 'We really appreciate what you have all done. Thank you.' It comes after six-year-old Casius, who was also on the trip, is now trying to make sense of the unimaginable tragedy. Casius is said to have told his mother: "Did you know Maya and Jubs are in heaven now? Juby went to heaven in a helicopter". The heartbreaking words were told to the Daily Mail by his aunt Macalia Del Brocco after Ricardo Jnr was airlifted to the hospital. Macalia said: "So that's his understanding of it, which is bittersweet, because that was what he saw. "And it's beautiful that he thinks that's what happened, but very sadly tragic at the same time."
Daily Mirror
a day ago
- Daily Mirror
Trailblazing jockey blames sex with drug using ex-partner for positive cocaine test
Sibylle Vogt, one of Europe's top female jockeys, was banned for six months by stewards in France after testing positive for the banned drug A trailblazing jockey has been suspended for six months over a positive cocaine test she blamed on contamination from her drug-using ex-partner. Sibylle Vogt, who is Swiss born but is based in Germany where she works for Arc-winning trainer Peter Schiergen, is one of Europe's leading female jockeys. She became the first woman to ride a Classic winner when capturing the German 1,000 Guineas on Novemba in 2021 and was due to take part in this month's Shergar Cup at Ascot until having to pull out after failing a drugs test. At the time she took time out she had ridden 17 winners in Germany which put her third position in the German Flat jockeys' championship. Vogt was riding at a meeting in Compiegne, France when she gave a sample which tested positive for cocaine, which was confirmed when a B sample was examined. The shocked jockey made a statement which said: "The news has completely shocked me. I can't, for the life of me, explain how this outcome could have come about. Throughout my entire career—and beyond—I have never had contact with drugs or other illegal substances.' She repeated the assertions when the case came before France Galop's disciplinary panel, with her lawyer telling the panel she had no reason to take a prohibited substance and was well aware of the rules. Vogt's counsel told the panel that her partner at the time had admitted using cocaine, which she was 'unaware of', and they had 'sexual relations in the days preceding the sample, particularly the day before'. The hearing report said the jockey 'does not dispute being particularly at fault having lacked prudence by maintaining relations with a person using prohibited substances'. She said the relationship was over and that she would be 'extremely vigilant' in future. The panel imposed a six month suspension which will end in November and ordered she undergo further drug testing. The report concludes: "The analysis of the biological sample revealed the presence of a substance classified as a narcotic and its metabolites. 'This is not disputed and explained by the jockey as a result of considerations of her private life, with Sybille Vogt providing relevant evidence and admitting her fault.'
New Statesman
2 days ago
- New Statesman
Anatomy of a Kremlin assassination
Russian law enforcement agents carry the body of former Transportation Minister Roman Starovoyt, who was found dead from a gunshot wound in an apparent suicide, outside Moscow, Russia. Photo by Evgeniy Razumniy/AP It bore all the hallmarks of a classic Kremlin assassination. This month, Russia's ex-Transport Minister Roman Starovoyt was found shot dead in his car. It was mere hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin had dismissed him amid rumours of Starovoyt's implication in a corruption probe. Suicide, proclaimed the Russian government. Well, it would do, wouldn't it? Yet, according to Mark Galeotti, Honorary Professor at UCL's School of Slavonic and East European Studies, that probably was the manner of Starovoyt's passing. He likely realised he was a scapegoat and chose death over hard labour: Russia's government has no need to assassinate a man it can easily imprison. 'It'll go after defectors abroad, but the Kremlin doesn't kill people at home,' says Galeotti. There are notable exceptions – opposition leader Alexei Navalny and ex-Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, whose high-profile challenges to Putin made their deaths desirable to deter others. Yet, Galeotti stresses that, on the whole, 'this is a system in which everyone has their own skeletons in the closet and so the instruments of the Kremlin are arrests, high-profile trials, imprisonments and expropriation of wealth rather than hurling people out of windows'. Russian businessmen do have an unfortunate habit of getting defenestrated – or, in the case of ex-Lukoil manager Alexander Subbotin, dying from a toad venom hangover treatment administered by a shaman. They can't all be suicidal or clumsy or unlucky with toads. Galeotti believes such deaths are more likely to be murders stemming from business rivalries at a time of increasing competition for resources and rising contract killings. The Kremlin is reluctant to take out foreigners like diplomats, spies or journalists. 'I'd hesitate to say they never would, but it would be a big escalation,' he says. 'Putin has this distinction between 'enemies' and 'traitors'. Enemies you fight with, but the hope is you'll meet some modus vivendi with them. Traitors you can do nothing with but kill'. A notable exception would be the alleged 2024 plot to assassinate Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger and other European defence industry executives arming Ukraine. While US and German intelligence claim to have foiled such a plan, Galeotti remains 'dubious' about it, given how little information has been supplied and what an escalation it would be from the standard Kremlin playbook. Russian oppositionists abroad are another story, though. Ksenia Maximova, founder of the Russian Democratic Society, recalls that she and her compatriots marked the one-year anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine by projecting onto the Russian Embassy in London. Ambassador Andrei Kelin unexpectedly dashed out in his slippers to film them. Not long afterwards, she discovered via a fellow activist that she was on a Kremlin hitlist, complete with the patronymic only available on her Russian passport. She was reassured by Ukrainian government contacts that it was more likely to be 'psychological pressure' than the beginnings of anything more sinister. Then came attempted hackings and a sophisticated phishing attack, in which she received a realistic-looking email purporting to be from Natalia Arno, head of the Free Russia Foundation – someone she had been expecting to hear from. Underside, a Telegram channel linked to Russia's FSB intelligence service, posted an investigation into Maximova that was later featured on Russian television. It contained information on her activities dating back years, protest footage in which individuals had clearly come close to film her, and even her 19-year-old daughter's name, university, and photo. Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe She was amused by its portrayal of her. 'It was definitely to scare me, but it made me laugh.' The dossier claimed she had help from the Ukrainian government, exiled Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky and a friend of ex-premier Boris Johnson, presumably in the belief that 'there's no way a blonde ex-model could do all this by herself! I messaged the Ukrainians: 'Where's all my protection from the Ukrainian government?'' Maximova can rest easier knowing that the proxies upon which the Kremlin now relies are – in her own words – 'notoriously crap'. Recent plots have not been well-executed and so neither have the targets. This year, six Bulgarians were imprisoned in the UK for their roles in a Russian spy ring. The trial revealed their plot to murder exiled Russian journalist Roman Dobrokhotov: the Bulgarians quarrelled about how to kill him, one dismissing an accident in the shower as 'not dramatic enough' and proposing to poison him with ricin, spray him with acid or publicly burn him alive. Plans to transport the target back to Russia by launching him in a dinghy from Norfolk faltered over doubts about whether their handlers would trust them with a submarine. Five other men were convicted this month of an arson attack on a London warehouse filled with supplies for Ukraine. They had also received orders to kidnap Putin critic Yevgeny Chichvarkin and burn down his restaurant and wine shop. One of the ringleaders messaged his Russian handler about establishing a 'partisan movement' in the UK to 'punish Russian traitors,' conduct sabotage and spy on the British government – all of which came to naught when he was arrested in a B&Q car park. As Galeotti explains, the mass expulsion of Russian agents from embassies following the Ukraine invasion made Moscow turn to messaging apps and the darknet to hire local criminals and sympathisers. 'Their tradecraft is terrible,' he says, 'but they get it done. A thug with a hammer can do a lot of harm too. It's cheap, you can treat these assets as disposable, they're harder to identify in advance and there's always some other maladroit violent misfit willing to get hired'. Even if they fail to carry out instructions or get caught, Moscow doesn't mind, because 'everyone gets worried' all the same and 'Russia wants people to be scared of it. It likes plausible deniability with a knowing wink.' And who's behind the screen, issuing orders? The Bulgarians' internal discussions imply substantial latitude on determining the where and when of a hit. Last year, ex-MI6 chief Richard Moore claimed that Russia's intelligence services had 'gone a bit feral'. But those agents are still on a leash. 'A killing generally requires sanction from the very top,' confirms Galeotti. He explains that the 2015 murder of opposition leader Boris Nemtsov sparked a 'massive crisis' in Russia, not only because he was 'regarded as one of us by the elite', but also because 'this had not been sanctioned. This was something by Chechnya's Ramzan Kadyrov'. When the Kremlin does give that green light, it does not want targets removed quietly. Take the 2018 Salisbury poisonings targeting ex-spy Sergei Skripal. 'This was sanctioned from the top,' Galeotti says. 'It was complex and unnecessarily expensive. You use more outré methods because you are playing to the theatre of assassination, you want it to be shocking, bizarre and a news story. They wanted Skripal's death to be a lesson to other defectors or would-be defectors about what happens if you break the rules around your release'. While swapped agents are usually safe if they stay out of espionage, Moscow suspected Skripal of dabbling again, with the approval of the British government. 'Going after him was also a warning to the British government of 'don't try to double-cross us'.' So what should you do if you end up on a Kremlin hitlist? Stay calm, Maximova advises. 'If you're constantly afraid, it's futile because if they really decide to, there's not much you can do. Otherwise, you just get on with it'. [See more: Trump goes to Scotland] Related
